We were at the coffee shop. It’s in section B of the mall. I don’t know why it wasn’t in the food court. That would have made so much sense. Instead, it was near one of the exits to the mall. Although when I say “exits”, I use that term loosely. As the barista made my caramel frappuccino, I looked wistfully towards the big glass doors. It looked like a nice warm sunny day. It was always sunny out. Except when it wasn’t.

The barista gave me my drink. I tapped my debit card against the card reader, then also put in a tip although it wasn’t really necessary under the circumstances. And my balance was getting low too. But tipping made me feel good.

I turned to my friend, JC. Maybe friend wasn’t a strong enough word, but boyfriend implied a stability I didn’t feel in my life. He was drinking his latte or whatever it was, since he liked the hot drinks. He had also bought a piece of coffee cake that he would insist on sharing with me, and that I would accept after only one polite refusal. He had offered to pay for my drink too, but I knew he couldn’t have too much on his card left either.

We left the coffee shop, passing two younger girls as we did so. They looked like maybe high school seniors, here after school for coffee and shopping and whatever. I instinctively moved closer to JC, even though I knew I had nothing to fear from the two girls. Together, JC and I started to head back to the food court. That’s where everyone we knew tended to hang out. It was a nice central location, and it was easier to get from there to any place else in the mall when you had to in a hurry.

Then the top forty music playing over the speakers stopped, and a tone played instead as a prelude to an announcement. JC and I both froze.

A pleasant voice rang out loud and clear over the public address system. “Attention, shoppers. The mall will be closing in five minutes. Tonight’s green zone is store E-343. You have five minutes.”

The shoppers disappeared. They didn’t leave. They just weren’t there anymore. The two high school girls? Gone. The barista I had just tipped along with his coworkers were just as gone, as was every other mall employee.

And outside was gone too.

Full Script Here

Another horror story of sorts set at a mall. No mannequins in this one though, or at least not as a the villains although presumably they're there. I keep things vague in this story, partially because I'm not 100% sure what is actually going on myself, although I have some leading theories/ideas, and I don't know if I necessarily need to decide which one is "real".

Please do not tag any content makers in the comments. If they are meant to record this, they will find it on their own and make their own call.

My policy on use of my scripts is here.