The Darkness in Dominion Mall

Chapter 10

Most of the blankets and sheets were either rotted, torn, or not strong enough to hold any of their weight. It was Reggies idea to tear the blankets into strips, tie them together, and braid them all into a long enough rope for them to use. His logic was that if there was one or two part of the rope that were weak, there would at least be one strong braid to hold the whole thing together. Layne wasn’t sure how safe it really was, or even if the braid would hold up when the real climbing would begin, but no one argued with him. It was a solid plan and that was all they needed. Something solid.

As Billie and Reggie tore off strips of the blankets, Layne tied each of them together as tightly as he could. At the same time, Jill would braid the individual ropes together to form the one stronger rope that they would need. Renae didn’t help them, but she was doing the work of two by keeping an eye out around them in case a mannequin was in the store with them.

None of them spoke a single word as they did their jobs. Layne waited patiently for someone to say something, anything. No one said anything. Not even Reggie, who couldn’t work without at least muttering something every now and then. He hated it, but he understood their silence.

They were all probably coming to the same realization that Layne was. Between living mannequins’, gigantic monstrosities, and a being that seemed to be watching them from everywhere at any time, the five of them were well out of their leagues.

‘Is this what it’s like when a bacterium is being killed by a drug and being observed through a microscope? If it is, then helpless doesn’t even begin to describe it.’ He thought to himself. Layne knew he couldn’t say anything negative to their group in their current state. Doing so would probably push them closer to the edge.

He looked at Billie and his visibly bruised neck. His friend appeared to be contemplating something as he effortlessly tore off a piece of cloth.

“Does your neck hurt?” Layne said to Billie.

Billie nodded his head, not looking away from the cloth. “A little.”

“I thought so. At least now we know that you don’t get turned on by being choked.”

Billie didn’t say anything for few seconds, but he eventually started to chuckle. It was warming to see him smile, not just for Layne but for the others as well. His laugh appeared to brighten everyone up until all five of them were lightly chuckling.

Then it was quiet once again, though.

“Do you guys remember that fight Jonathan got into with Trevor Selby a few months ago?” Renae said as she continued to look around.

“Yeah, why? Wait, weren’t you in that Reggie?”

“Yeah.” Reggie laughed dismissively. “I was in it, but I got knocked out by the first punch. Jonathan did all the fightin’ for us.”

“Why did he fight y’all? We could never get an answer out of him or any of y’all.”

Reggie looked at Renae to tell her that she should tell the rest.

“Trevor was pissed that Jonathan was getting all the attention, and not him. He was always that Alpha type douchebag that wanted all the attention. I guess He felt threatened by Jonathan and tried to talk s**t to him to his face. Jonathan was fine with everything he was being told when it was about him; He was smirking and laughing all throughout it. When Trevor started talking about me though…” Renae shook her head. “…Jonathan wasn’t having any of it. He didn’t get into that much trouble, since one of Trevors friends threw the first punch.”

“Trevor was a real asshole to everyone.” Jill said as she braided the rope. “I’m surprised he even had fiends’. Him and his buddies would talk all through my forensics classes and it would annoy everyone. The teachers never did anything because he was a star athlete, I guess. Even when they’d bully some of the quieter kids, they wouldn’t say anything but a warning. I don’t care what might have happened in his life, but there’s no reason to be such a detestable person.”

“Amen.” Billie said.

“What did he say about you?” Layne asked Renae.

“He said that the only reason Jill and I hung out with all of you guys was because we liked to be ‘broken in by two white boys’ and an Asian before being finished off by two blacks.’ His words, not mine. I found it funny, but Jonathan didn’t.”

“What an asshole.” Jill said angrily.

“You said it.” Layne sighed.

It went quiet again. A few seconds passed before Reggie spoke up.

“Did Mi….” He stopped himself, contemplated his decision, then continued. “Did Michael tell any of y’all what he tried to do when he found out his parents’ were getting divorced?”

Layne looked around. Everyone else had a puzzled look on their faces just like him.

“I don’t think so.” Layne said.

“What did he try to do?” Billie asked.

“Well, he’d kill me if he knew I told y’all, but…. He tried to kill himself when were just starting high school.”

It was quiet now, not out of feeling powerless or depressed, but pure shock.

“W-w-why!?” Layne stuttered. He knew Michael was depressed about his mom and dad seperating, but Layne didn’t know it was to that extent.

“He said that he was always at the center of almost all of their fights’. I guess he felt responsible for them getting their divorce and he tried to stop it the way he thought he could.”

“How do you know he tried killing himself?”

“Well…I went over to his house one day after school to look for my phone charger, and I found him in the bath tub. He filled it to the brim and placed a cinderblock on his chest to keep himself down under the water.” Reggie started laughing a little. “I pulled that thing off of him and pulled him up, and the first thing that fucker asks me is ‘you left your charger, didn’t you?’”

“That’s a very ‘Michael’ thing to say. Make a joke after something dark.” Renae smiled.

“Yeah.” Reggie smiled and then sighed. “After I talked with him, he promised me not to tell anyone, not even you guys. I didn’t. Not until now, at least.”

It was quiet again. This time, however, no one appeared to be depressed to Layne. He saw a look of determination on their faces.

‘Good, we’ll need that spirit in us.’

They were going to get out of there together.

He just knew they would.