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They Live in the Mall (chapter 4)
By SeanArcher
Everything was coming to an end. The mall that had been my ultimate home and playground for the past two weeks was now threatening and a place I feared to be in. I was about to go to the Greyhound bus station and leave the mall behind forever, but I still had to pack my things.
I slowly and cautiously headed for the emergency exit door for my theater. I thought about everything I needed to get. Only the important things. Fuck the tent, fuck the bike, fuck everything on the roof. Fuck the mall. All I needed was some clothes, my wallet, and my computer. I just hoped it was still there and wasn't hidden in some corner of the mall for me to have to go looking for.
I waited outside the door for a minute, gathering my courage. I really was terrified, I imagined me going inside and the door closing behind me and something happening to me. I knew everything I needed to get and decided to just run in and grab everything as fast as I could and run back out.
I took a breath and ran into the dark theater and crawled under the curtains. I found a flashlight on my shelf and went in the tent, noticing the zipper door was still open. Everything looked like it was still there. I started cramming stuff in my duffle bag. When I did I noticed there was some kind of wet stuff all over everything. It was clear but like puss, or ooze. It was sticky. It was almost like oil or something. At first I thought I might have spilled something when I was eating. It was all over my bedsheets and I noticed some on the door and curtains also. I remember mouthing very quietly, "What the fuck?"
I just wanted to get out of there so I didn't pay attention to it too much. I zipped my duffle shut and put my laptop and DVDs in my backpack along with my wallet. I had everything packed but I just needed to get dressed, so I grabbed the clothes that were on the floor that I had worn the day before and started putting them on.
Not five minutes had passed since I went in there. I was putting my shoes on and was about ready to leave when I heard something that truly made me unable to move and my heart sink. The projector was starting up and spinning to life. 'Oh my God. It's in here with me.' I thought. The ghost was in there.
I hadn't even finished tying my shoe when I grabbed my two bags and ran out of the tent. Then when I threw the curtains up and stepped into the theater, I saw something that forever changed everything I believed about spirits.
This is no joke, I promise you. Between me and the door was a black, floating mass hovering above the ground. There were these "ripples" coming off of it. It was a black sort of emptiness about the size of a man about two feet off the ground. It didn't move, it just floated there about ten feet in front of me, right where I had been a minute before. I saw it as clear as day. I can't even begin to describe how terrified I was. I was probably in a medical state of shock. I don't know for how long, it seemed like forever, but I just stared at it face to face.
I couldn't breethe, my muscles went numb and I could barely move. I tried to say something and I think I managed to say "What are you?" and I had an overwhelming feeling in my mind that I wasn't welcome there and to leave. This thing wanted me gone.
I had to get out of there. It was right between me and the door though. I remembered the door on the opposite end, but I was too afraid to even move. My heart was beating. I had sweat all over me. I was staring right at the thing, I couldn't believe it. After maybe fifteen seconds I started to back towards the other door. The ghost never moved. After a moment I quickly pulled myself together and turned and bolted for the door. I was so scared I was almost crying, my legs feeling like dead weight. Finally I made it to the door and threw it open, bursting out into the light. Right as I did, I turned to get a last look at it. It was still there, floating in front of the screen, probably "looking" back at me. As I ran, the frame of the doorway swept past and the dark spirit was cut out of view.
I kept running across the parking lot, not stopping, wanting to get as far away from the mall as possible. Before I knew it, I was at the end of the parking lot. Life on the outside was going by perfectly ordinary - plenty of cars on the highway and kids on bikes. I ran through the bushes and didn't stop until I reached the bus stop at the edge of the mall's property.
I couldn't believe what I had seen. I wanted to run and tell everyone what I had saw. I wanted to shout, 'There are ghosts in Belle Promenade!' Instead I've never told anyone, until now.
I stared back at the mall, recollecting over everything that had happened while I waited for the bus. It was all an adventure, from the night I first snuck in to when I was staring at a ghost face to face. Now it was all over. I had lost the mall but I will remember the adventure for the rest of my life.
I saw the city bus approaching down the street and I stood up, holding my bags. I got on and took a seat by the window. As we pulled off, I watched the mall pass by. From the outside, it looked innocent and quiet, completely normal. The mall is probably still there with something lurking inside, something that will remain there until the mall is demolished sometime in the future. Eventually I lost sight of it and was soon back at the Greyhound station.
"One ticket for the next bus leaving for Toronto." I said at the ticket counter. I got my ticket at sat at the same bench where I had been exactly thirteen days earlier and waited for the bus. I was so completely in disbelief. I wasn't so much scared as I was "excited", if that's even the right word. I felt lucky and privelaged that I had actually seen a ghost. For the rest of my life I don't have to wonder whether they're real or not. I now believe in them one hundred percent. It's a good feeling to be able to say, 'I know for a fact ghosts exist. I've seen them and I've been touched by them.' Not many people can say that.
Four hours passed. Around 6 p.m., I heard that the bus had arrived and I climbed aboard it. Soon the bus pulled out of the station and I was on my way to Toronto. And just like that, New Orleans and Belle Promenade mall were gone, out of my life forever...
8/8/2003 5:43:56 PM
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