Page 2 of Haunt the Mall

I sighed and shoved the popcorn bucket into AJ’s lap. “I have to take care of something.”

He gave me an incredulous look. “You’re going to miss the movie.”

As if I didn’t know that. But this was supposed to be fun, not nightmare fuel. Even if Willow did volunteer for it. So much for our group outing. Bree snatched the popcorn from AJ. I rolled my eyes and got up, gesturing for Willow to follow me.

“I-I’m so sorry,” Willow whimpered as we hurried up the aisle. “I can just close my eyes. Or sit in the lobby and try to work up the courage to go back in.”

“Don’t be silly, this is a team-building thing. I’m not leaving one of my teammates by themselves.” Especially when they were sixteen. Plus, a tall guy lurked in the exit hall. The whites of his eyes flashed as they slid from the screen to me and my employee. He had rolled-up-sleeves and the same shape of that guy from the balcony. It was hard to distinguish his features in the dark—and I didn’t want to stare him down like a creep while he was clearly watching the movie. He bowed slightly and sidestepped into the shadows to let us pass.

I looped our arms and put myself between her and the slender figure.

She scrunched up her shoulders. “I know how badly you wanted to see this.”

Suppressing a sigh, I nodded. “I can always come back next week.”

“Really?” she asked.

“Yeah, it’s a good date movie. I’m sure I could get some unsuspecting victim to take me,” I said.

The guy in the shadows exhaled sharply.

Was he laughing? That guy probably couldn’t even see me in this lighting. Anyone would be lucky to date me. I shot him a sharp look and towed Willow out of the theater. Once in the warm lights of the lobby, I unlinked our arms and stepped aside. “Okay, what do you want to do?”

She tugged her long, striped sleeves. “I don’t know. I can’t call my parents for another hour.”

Nothing else was open unless she wanted to spend exorbitant fees on sickeningly sweet cake at the restaurant on the south side of the mall. I gestured to the adjacent screening room. “How about we try another movie?”

She glanced around. “Are we allowed to go in? I thought it was all assigned seating.”

I shrugged. “They already got our money, and I’m sure there are a few spare seats.”

Willow tangled her arms into her stretchy sleeves. “Are you sure? I can wait out here.”

And hang with a giant mech of the spider that scared her shitless?

I crossed my arms. “Pick. Another. Movie.”

She scanned the posters. “Okay, how about ‘Mummy’s House?’ It’s a cartoon, but it’s probably funny.”

She was sixteen going on six, it seemed. Although, I had hired a teen. So, she wasn’t ready for her first R-rated movie. It wasn’t anybody’s fault. Just annoying. “Sure. Our store carries some of that mummy stuff, so we can still consider it job research,” I said.

For the first time since we got to the theater, Willow smiled.

Damn her youthful innocence. Why did doing the right thing feel so shitty?

I texted the group chat an update and confirmed we’d all be out around the same time. At least my team got to enjoy themselves tonight.

Understandably, very few people were at the late-night showing of a kids’ movie, so we snuck into the back row without any trouble. The plot was easy enough to pick up part way through. A mummy ran a foster care of various creatures with crappy or otherwise unavailable parents, like Frankenstein. Willow propped her Converse on the empty seat in front of her and tickled her lips with her hair. She giggled at a zombie chicken decapitation. I smiled and shook my head. When it came to appreciating the macabre, everyone had to start somewhere.

My fingers itched to swipe open my phone and browse paranormal fanfiction, but even in the back row, I wouldn’t dare defy basic theater etiquette.

I sighed and settled in for the next hour of colorful humor and mild thrills. At least the black and red theater combined with the faint candlelight-esque glow of stair LEDs gave us some spooky ambiance.

A long limb stretched above the side railing dividing the stairs and seats from the entrance.

I craned my neck. Was I hallucinating? The limb bent, its outline blurry. Was it furry? I certainly wasn’t going to ask Willow and risk scaring her again.

Another limb climbed over the railing, then a creature’s head popped up, beady eyes shining in the low light of the projector. It was a spider plush. Looking this way.