He had just been there, I looked around scanning the area for any sign of him, but the mall had fallen back into its eerie silence, and then I heard it a soft muffled crying.
The sound was faint at first almost too quiet to notice, but as I stood there frozen in place, it grew louder more distinct, a woman voice sobbing, quietly somewhere nearby... my skin prickled with unease.
I knew the rules I had them memorized by now, and I knew exactly what this was Rule no. 9, if you hear someone crying in a dressing room..do not open the door.
I swallowed hard trying to block out the sound, but the crying...it's to be coming from one of the stores up ahead, the muffled sobs equally faintly, so the deserted hallways, every instinct I had... was telling me to walk away..... to get back to the office and wait, but the last hour of my shift in silence.
But there was something about the crying that pulled me towards it and almost magnetic force that made it impossible to ignore..."what if someone really need help needed help, what if this was on my head? What if the rules were just some sick jokes?"
I shook my head trying to clear my thoughts, I had already broken too many rules tonight, this wasn't a joke, he had warned me and I wasn't about to ignore him now. But still, the crying continued, it was louder. Now, more insistent, the sound echoing from somewhere deeper in the store, just ahead of me. It didn't sound right. It was too hollow to distorted, like a recording of someone crying rather than an actual person.
I stood there torn between curiosity and fear until finally, the decision was made for me, the crying stopped. Suddenly, everything was quiet too quiet, but the air felt thick oppressive, like the walls of the mall were closing in on me, which is tightened and I realised I had been holding my breath.
Then slowly, a figure appeared on one of the security cameras I had been monitoring through the corridor. I had left the office, but the cameras were still connected to my device. I couldn't tear my eyes away from the screen, as I saw her a woman pale but long dark hair that hung limply over her face of suffering her features, she was dressed in plain outdated clothing. Her body hunched over as she moved slowly down the hallway, her feet barely touching the ground....she was floating my heart leaped into my throat as I watched her approach, the dressing room, her body drifting closer to the entrance, her shoulders shaken with silent sobs.
She hovered just outside the door as if waiting for me to follow her insight. I took a step back pulse racing. This wasn't real, it couldn't be. I had seen things tonight. Strange things, but this was something else entirely. I squeezed my eyes shut ....willing the figure to disappear to leave me alone when I opened then.....she was gone. But the crying had started again.
This time...right behind me. I didn't think, I bolted down the hallway running as fast as my legs could carry me, the sound of the one cries echoed through the halls growing louder and most desperate with every step I took, I didn't dare look back, didn't there risk, another glance, all I knew was that I needed to get out of there.
Now by the time I reached the security office, I was breathless my entire body was trembling by fear. I slammed the door shut behind me. Locking, get as quickly as I could and collapsed into the chair in front of the monitors, much have feel with each breath. The adrenaline is still coursing through me. The fluorescent lights overhead flickered faintly, casting airy shadows on the walls. I felt trapped like a corner enamel with no way out, but the faint hope that my shift would end soon.
I glanced at the monitor my heart sank there, she was the woman.... the same painful figure, her hair hanging limpy over her face, moving in that a natural hovering pain.
She was no longer just roaming in the halls. She was headed directly towards the security office. As my blood ran cold as I watched her on the monitors, she floated down in the hallway closer and closer her slow jerky movements. She didn't walk like a normal person, she barely moved her feet at all, gliding just above the ground. The sobbing was gone, but the weight of her presence was suffocating.
It was as if the very air around her restored with her approach bending reality itself. I checked the camera feeds desperately flipping between angles. She was getting closer my breath quickened as I watched her drift past the closed stores, her face obscured by her hair, her arms limp at her sides.
Every second she got nearer and I felt my panic rising, clawing at my throat. I reached for the list of rules gripping it tightly in my trembling hands..don't open the door, I repeated the thought over and over in my head like a Mantra, don't open the door no matter what.
The woman stopped just outside the security office. I could see her now on the monitor, the camera trained right on the door.... she stood there, she stood there silent and still like a statue.
For a moment, I dared to hope that she would leave, she had fade away like a bad dream. But then the knocking started soft at first barely a tap, but each knock grew louder more forceful, until it felt like door was drifting. My pulse pounded in my ears, drowning out everything else. She was there, just inches away on the other side, and I could feel her presence like a cold weight pressing down on me.
I checked the monitors again, praying she would vanish, but she didn't. Her body was rigid, unmoving but the knocking continued, growing louder and more violently with each passing second. The door frame shook as if it\n Wouldn't hold much longer. I clammed my hands over my ears squeezing, my eyes shut trying to block her out. This wasn't real. It couldn't be real, but the knocking only grew more intense. More insistent, like someone pounding with their fists, my heart raced....my body trembling and then I heard it.
"Hey open up..its the manager". I froze... the voice was familiar too familiar. It was Mr Hensley but something felt wrong, I checked the clock, my heart thundering in my chest.
6:01 AM...relief washed over me, but suspicion crept in immediately. Was it really him or was this another trick? I checked the camera one last time, the woman was gone. No sign of pale figure..no shadow...no presence.
"Everything okay in there?" Mr Hensley voice called again, sounding closer now, more concerned.
"Open up...your shifts over". Hesitated, my hand hovering over the door handle. I had survived the night, hadn't I? The clock showed it was past 6 AM and nothing had come for me in those final moments. But the events of the night had shaken me to the core and I wasn't ready to trust anything anyone without checking one last time.
I glanced at the monitor one last time, double-checking the feed outside the office and there he was, Mr. Hansley standing just outside the door, looking exactly as he had when I first met him. No eerie figure, no distorted face....just him. The manager...with a trembling hands, I unlocked the door and opened it. Mr Hensley stood there, his expression softening as he saw the look on my face.
"Rough night, huh?" he asked, his voice filled with concerned. I nodded slowly, still trying to process everything. "Yeah, you could say that".
He frowned, noticing the look of fear fetched across my face.
"You all right...you look like you've seen a ghost?" I laughed bitterly under my breath something like that. I didn't go into detail. I didn't tell him about the mannequins or the crying woman. It didn't seem really anymore. I was just happy the night was over, but something gnawed at me, something that I needed to know before I left this place for good.
"What about the Janitor?" I asked suddenly. "The one who works the night shift?" Mr Hensley looked at me, puzzled.
"What Janitor?" my stomach dropped. The one who was here all night...he gave me a list of rules to follow. Mr Hensley shook his head, his expression turning serious. "There's no night Janitor. No one works here at night except you". My mind reeled.
The pieces didn't fit together, none of it made sense. I stared at Mr Hensley my thoughts racing. If there was no Janitor, then who or what had been warning me? and the rules? Where had they come from? I didn't ask any more questions.
I handed him my keys, quit on the spot and walked out of the mall without looking back. Whatever had happened there, whatever lurked in the dark corners of that place, i wasn't going to stick around to find out more.
As I drove away, the weight of the night still heavy on my chest, I realized that some places are better left alone. In that mall, it was one of them. I will never return to that place again.