The Darkness in Dominion Mall

Chapter 2

Traffic was next to nonexistent on the road. To his memory, Layne could only remember seeing three cars pass by him and maybe five on the other side of the highway heading towards Blue Field. This made their journey somewhat faster by a few minutes and a lot more relaxing.

To pass the time, Layne turned the radio to a local channel that played classical music from their parents’ time; Mostly because he loved older music, but also because the other stations that played modern radio was heavily static filled and not enjoyable to listen to. Everyone in the car knew most of the songs by heart anyways and so they sang them as obnoxious as they could. So far, they managed to butcher great classics like September, Rocket Man, Under Pressure, and were nearly done demolishing Come on Eileen.

“COME ON EILEEN!” The entire car exploded into song after a small drum solo. “OH I SWEAR, WHAT HE MEANS, AT THIS MOMENT, YOU MEAN, EVERYTHIIING! WITH YOU IN THAT DRESS, MY THOUGHTS, I CONFESS, VERGE ON DIRTY! AH, COME ON EILEEN! COME ON EILEEN, OH I SWEAR WHAT HE MEANS, AT THIS MOMENT, YOU MEAN, EVERYTHIIIING!” They laughed as the song faded and the stations host began talking about the news for the day.

“That’s definitely going on Instagram.” Renae said as she wiped away a tear from her eye.

“You recorded that?!” Jonathan said with a worried tone that was too high for someone of his size.

“I recorded everything, even your little solo for Rocket Man!”

“Please, my dearest Renae, delete it!” He said with his hands crossed together.

“Don’t worry, don’t worry.” She waved. “I think I’ll just keep this between the seven of us. Plus, I can use it for blackmail. Don’t do anything to piss me off, big guy.”

“Don’t give me a reason to, missy.”

Layne’s phone received a text from Renae that the video she recorded. Judging by the others’ reactions, it was a good angle that got all of the highlights of their singing. He would watch it later, since he was driving, and the GPS on Jill’s phone told him to take the next right onto some road he never really noticed much in his life.

As he made his way down the narrow streets and dirt roads that were in severe disrepair, a thought crossed his mind. Why was he just now hearing about this place? Eighteen years of living in Blue Field and he never even heard a mention of it. It made him feel like something was off. It wasn’t the sticks, old logs, and layers of leaves and pine needles that creeped him out, it was something he couldn’t rightly figure out. He wanted to turn back but decided not to since everyone was enjoying themselves. He did decide to ask Reggie for any more information about the place though.

“Hey Reggie.”

“Hey Layne, how are you?”

“No.” He laughed and shook his head. “Do you know anything else about the mall?”

“Only what Lucas mentioned. Uh, it opened up sometime in the fifties and closed about five years after they opened up the mall in Augusta. Something about an arsonist kept setting some things on fire towards the end of its run, but they never caught the guy. They never renovated it, so it just got old looking to everyone. Plus, they didn’t feel safe with an arsonist running around.”

“Why would he never renovate the place? Was he wanting it to run out of business?”

“He was probably a cheapskate. He’s also missing, though.”

“Woah woah woah, what!?” Layne said as he slowed the car down slightly.

“Chill dude! The cops figured out he was using the mall as a big money laundering scheme. They went to arrest him, but they couldn’t find him. Lucas figured he went to Mexico or somewhere out of the country. So, he’s missing in the sense that he ran away and no one’s really seen him since then.”

“Nah, the mafia got him.” Billie said. “I bet they buried him somewhere in the mall and covered it with cement.”

“I hope not.” Layne laughed “How does Lucas know this anyway.”

“Hell if I know man.” Reggie shrugged. “Sometimes I don’t even know what he’s really talking about. I just nod and agree most of the time.”

“I bet…...woooooooooah.” Layne said as he slowed the van down to a full stop.

There was a large tree fallen across the road. The leaves on it were a faded green, its exposed bark was still a little bright, and the dirt around it looked freshly made. It appeared as if the tree had fallen at least a few weeks prior and was in the first stages of decomposing.

“Yeah. That’s a sign.”

“No.” Jill said flatly, as if she were startled. She looked at Layne with a completely serious face. “That’s a tree. Idiot.”

“Alright Mrs. Literal.” Layne said, but couldn’t help smiling.

“What do we do?” Renae asked as she looked ahead.

“Stay inside ladies. Let the men handle this.” Jonathan said with an exaggeratedly deep mans voice. “But seriously, you two stay in the car and keep an eye out for us.”

As all the guys got out of the minivan, including Layne, he couldn’t help but overthink everything as he walked towards the tree.

‘What if this is a trap.’ He thought to himself. ‘Would the cops really put a tree here and then wait for someone to come along and arrest them? Nah. What if it’s a murderers trap though and he’s stalking us from a high place?!’

Michael snapped his fingers to get Laynes attention. “Down here Layne.”

“Oh sorry.”

Layne placed his hands under the tree and readied himself to lift it. It wasn’t too big for them to lift combined, but it would definitely be a struggle for them to move out of their way.

“Alright boys.” Reggie said quietly. “The girls are watching us, probably recording us as well. For the sake of every men on Earth, don’t embarrass yourselves.”

Layne looked behind him to check the girls out. They had their phones out and their cameras pointed towards the guys. Jill and Renae both had a large grin on their face as they appeared to be ready for something to go wrong.

“In the name of testosterone, LIIIIIIFT!” Jonathan yelled.

An orchestra of loud grunts erupted from the guys as they lifted the tree. It took most of Laynes strength to keep his grip on the tree. He didn’t want to disappoint the others as they lifted with all of their might.

They slowly moved the tree towards the side of the road. Some of the branches dug into the ground and made it harder for them to drag it, but they persisted anyways.

“Come on y’all!” Jonathan grunted. “Don’t be a bunch of limp d***s and make me do all the heavy lifting.”

“You’re the one that made us come out and do this.” Layne moaned as his arms burned.

“You got me there.”

They reached the edge of the road and stopped. Michael counted to three before everyone pushed the tree off to the side. Reggie and Billie tried to say something through their weary breathes, probably something funny, but were too weak to.

As they climbed into the van and buckled up, Renae and Jill began to joke with each other.

“That was some nice lifting out there, you guys just might be able to qualify for the junior weightlifting competitions.” Renae said with a smirk.

“Yeah. Im pretty sure my old man wouldn’t have had any trouble moving that little itty-bitty tree.” Jill chuckled as she looked back at the video she recorded.

“I’ll crash this car.” Layne said flatly with a wide smile. “I ain’t afraid to take you two with me.”

They didn’t say anymore jokes about the guys as Layne drove forward down the road.

Layne turned right as the GPS told him that he had arrived at their location. Only large pine trees and thick overgrown brush on either side of the road were visible. There was no sign of any kind of building, until they went around a few bends in the road to see the sign.

Layne slowed the van down to a crawl as he neared the sign.

The large sign in the dead grass said “Dominion Mall” with the “ini” letters in the middle missing. Only water stains on the faded background was what told him the full name. The letters could have fallen years ago into the thick weeds and vines below. To no one’s surprise, the mall didn’t appear to be any better.

The architecture reminded him of how people in the fifties imagined the future to look. Its design was very retro feeling yet very outdated as well with its random exposed metal struts and simple details scattered on the outside of the buildings. The once vibrant colors were now faded due to weather abuse and were mostly white with the faintest color of their past poking out. Many of the decorative shrubs and trees were now overgrown and obstructing much of the buildings exterior. It was looked like a series of small forests’ in a sea of old and cracked concrete. Layne was both mesmerized by the sight of the mall, but also off put at the same time by the feeling of abandonment that surrounded the area.

Reggie climbed up to the front and poked his head out from in-between the driver and passenger seats. He pointed to Layne’s right to a path that seemed oddly clear compared to the rest of the landscape.

“Go that way and drive down it a bit. We’ll hide the van in there.” Reggie said.

The small trail was a simple dirt road that probably went down about a hundred more feet. Layne parked the van about half way in since the foliage was thick enough for his red van to be covered enough without being seen. Once everyone was ready, they left the car and walked towards the mall with Reggie leading the way.

‘Reggies being oddly quiet.’ Layne thought as he walked behind his friend.

It was usually at times like that, when they would walk that Reggie walk talk up a storm. Today, however, he wasn’t saying a word as he walked. Layne thought about it and couldn’t help but thinking that he looked like he was paranoid about something.

They were at the edge of the tree line before he stopped them. He scanned the entrance they came in from the left and all the way to the right.

“Let’s go.” He said as he began to run towards the mall.

No one ran for a moment, not understanding the situation. Reggie yelled for them to run and so they did. Having to break out into a sprint to catch up to him, the group eventually caught up to Reggie. They ran towards the right end of the mall and behind it to a small building with three exits.

On the side of the building was the word “Cinema 8” with the last half of the letters missing. The bricks on the outside had chipped paint and crumbling mortar. The exit ramp that Reggie ran up was rough and jagged at some points. The ramp had a door at the top that was boarded up on the bottom with a piece of flat ply-wood. He could tell that there was a large hole on the other side of the wood. It was their way in.

“Lucas said this would be here. I guess his crazy ass was right twice for once.” Reggie laughed as he tried to pull the door open to no with no results. “Jonathan, you got the key?”

‘Key?’ Layne thought to himself.

“Oh, you know I do.” Jonathan said as he pulled out a small crowbar from his backpack. The pack was big, but he didn’t expect a crowbar to be amongst the inventory.

“That’s not a key.” Layne said

“No s**t Captain Obvious. Can someone keep an eye out for the cops?” Jonathan grunted as he tried to yank the board free.

“Are we really going to break into this place? I don’t like that at all.” Layne said anxiously.

“We’ve got to man!” Reggie protested. “Don’t worry about it. It’s not like the cops search the place top to bottom. We’ll open it up, go inside, have a fun time, leave, and put the board back. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.”

Layne didn’t like it, but he couldn’t really fault Reggies plan. If it was true that the cops didn’t really search the place, then they really wouldn’t have to worry about it at all. He soaked up his pride and let it go.

“…Fine.” Layne finally said after thinking it over.

“Great! Now, who’s going to keep an eye out for us?”

“Layne and I can do it.” Jill volunteered the two. “I’ll watch from down the ramp and watch the back, while you go around the building to the right and keep an eye out on the front. Okay?”

He looked in her eyes and could tell she had some sort of ulterior motive but couldn’t rightly pin it down. He guessed what the motive could have been “…...You want me to do all the walking, don’t you?”

“…. Well, I just figured that, you know, since your legs are a lot longer than mine, it’d be better for the both of us if you took the farthest place to watch.” She said with a smirk and a glow in her eyes.

“Fine. If you see any cops coming your way, yell at the top of your lungs. Okay?”

“Okay. You too!”

Layne saluted her, walked back around from where they came, and rested on the corner of a wall. He kept his eyes open for any sign of the cops. Blood coursed through his body as he prepared himself to warn the others at any moment.

Minutes soon passed, however, and he found himself observing the somewhat empty parking lot out of boredom.

The parking lot, to his bewilderment, wasn’t fully empty. Layne could count at least a dozen abandoned cars from where he was at. Most of them appeared to be cars and trucks from the early eighties or late nineties, with a couple that were even older than those. Heavy rust patches formed on most of them, with one car being only a rusty shell of its former self. Every wheel on the cars were as flat at the ground underneath them. It actually surprised Layne that there were even still tires on the cars.

‘No one stole them? Not even the rims? That’s really weird. That one looks pretty newish though, its moving and…what’s that? Letters? It says BFPD I think…………………SHIT!’

Layne sprinted around the corner to the back. Once he saw his friends, he shouted. “COPS! COPS! COPS!”

Jonathan, Reggie, and Billie then began to push down on the crowbar. Michael, Renae, and Jill waited at the bottom of the ramp. They all had a worried expression plastered on their faces.

He could hear the metal scraping of nails and the cracking of wood as he ran up the ramp towards them. Yet, their way in was still blocked. He could peer into the darkness of the theatre on the other side. The nails appeared to be a lot longer and a lot harder to pry out than any of them had anticipated.

“We need to hide before they get here!” Layne said through heavy breathes.

“There’s nothing around here to hide behind or climb up on to get to the roof!” Reggie grunted “We need to get in if we don’t want the cops to find us! Wait, which way are they coming from?”

“They were coming my way I think.”

“Then that means that we can’t run to the car or around the mall without them seeing us.”

Layne looked around him. The tree line would definitely be in the cops’ sights, there wasn’t anything to hide behind or climb up, and there was no way they could keep a consistent pace around the mall to evade the police. He hated to admit it, but Reggie was right. Their only salvation was to hide inside the cinema.

“Grab the other side of the wood Michael.” He said as he walked to the farthest end of the wood and planted his fingers in between the wood and door. It was a tight fit, but it left him enough room to get a decent grip. Once Michael was in position, Layne yelled.

“Pull!”

They pulled.

Nothing.

“PULL!”

They pulled again.

Nothing.

“Come on you p*****s, PULL!”

The guys pulled with all of their might. They were all either grunting heavily or yelling as they pulled away from the door. Layne could feel the edges of the wood dig into his fingers, nearly slicing them. It hurt a lot but getting arrested would hurt a lot more in his opinion.

‘We’re gonna get caught. Since were all eighteen, were most likely going to get arrested. This isn’t something small that they can just give us a warning for. This will definitely get us arrested. We might as well kiss our futures goodbye.’

Suddenly, and miraculously, the wood was freed from the door. The forces they were putting in to pull away from the door caused them to fly back and into the railing.

After a second of regaining their composure, they got up.

“Ladies first!” Michael yelled as he rubbed his back.

Jill and Renae, who carried the back pack, ran into the cinema first. Layne grabbed the crowbar and hammered down the nails to be perpendicular with the board. Jonathan went in next, followed by Billie, then Michael, and finally Reggie. Once Reggie was inside, Layne crawled through and pulled the board against the door to make it seem like it was still nailed into place. He made sure to hold the nails and not expose any of his body near the holes, leaving only a thin sliver of space for an opening to see out.

About a second after he pulled the board close and held it in place, the cop car came around the corner. The two cops in the car seemed to be bored and not really looking around. That was, until Layne heard the car stop and park in place.

‘Oh God.’ He thought to himself.

Layne didn’t know if anyone could see him, but he stuck his lips out and made a very quiet “Shhhh.”

He could scarcely hear them talking from what sounded like the bottom of the ramp. One sounded young, like it was his first day on the job, while the other had a more scruffy and veteran sounding voice.

“What do you mean something’s off?” The young cop yelled from the inside of the car.

“I dunno. There’s just something off here. I don’t know what, I just know there’s somethin’ wrong with this picture.”

The footstep of the older cop grew louder and louder as it sounded like he was coming up the ramp. His boots clicked and echoed off the walls outside. A large shadow crept up to the bottom of the board as it sounded like the man stopped. Layne was afraid that the cop would be able to see how the board wasn’t completely on.

“Maybe you’re just tired and imaginin’ things. Let’s get done making our lap around, head back to the station, and grab somethin’ to eat. You’ve been working overtime a lot lately. I bet you just need some rest and some sugar in you.” The young cop said with a reassuring but tired sounding voice.

“Uuuuuuh.” The older cop seemed to either be thinking things through, or spotted something off. “Oh alright, you’re probably right anyways.”

The older cop walked down the ramp.

“Doughnuts?”

“If I have to eat another god dam-” The older cop said before the closed door cut his voice out.

The car drove off steadily until he could no longer hear the old cruisers engine. Once it was gone, Layne sighed heavily.

“Thank Christ!” Layne said as he slowly let the board down.

“Bro I about pissed myself.” Billie said as he crouched down. It was obvious that his adrenaline was wearing off because his hands shook silently. “How close was he?”

“He was close enough that I could see his shadow.”

“Fuuuuck.” Michael groaned as he relaxed himself on one of the seats. “I need a beer.”

“Me too.” Jill joked back.

“Oh, An Irish girl that wants to get drunk. What else is new?” Jonathan joked.

“Oh, a black guy breaking into a building. What else is new.” Jill joked back.

Reggie touched Jonathans shoulder and made a hissing sound. “Damn! That was one hot burn right there!”

Michael unzipped the backpack and held it open for everyone to get a light out from it. Jonathan had brought with him two normal bulb flashlights, three LED flashlights, and two LED lanterns. Reggie and Layne had to settle with the lanterns since they were last to get them.

Layne didn’t mind it since he thought it kinda of cool.

“Guys. We’re HEeeEEeEEeEEere.” Reggie said menacingly and put on a ghost voice. “OoOoOooOoooo!”