Lost in the Mall

Lost

When I was 10 years old, my parents took me to the MegaCity Mall. I remember being extremely excited for the three weeks before because it would be the first time we would go there and one of the few times my parents did anything together other than work during the school holidays. My parents had debated which day we would go there because it was the biggest mall in the world at the time, and they needed to find the right day to take off out of their busy schedules.

"So out of this list of things to see, can you mark down from one to five the things you want to see the most?" My mother presented a long list of attractions in my face.

"Okay mother." I said.

We didn't live very far from the Mall itself, I could see it from my bedroom. It loomed like a mountain across the strait from our apartment, so most of my friends from school had already been there and I'd already seen heaps of photos and knew exactly what I'd want to see.

"Legoland, The Aquarium, Dinosaur Park, Foodie Joe's, and Freefall Space Trainer." I listed off.

My mother pursed her lips and sternly said.

"You are too young for the Freefall Space Trainer and Foodie Joe's has too much junkfood. You should know better Davis."

"Sorry mother."

"Very well then, we will go to the Shizukesa Furniture Store at 10am for ideas on organising my workspace, 11:30 Electro Outlet because your father needs a new computer, then we'll have lunch at Veritas Italian before going to Legoland at 2:00 which is next to Dinosaur Park."

"Excellent Caroline. That is our day planned." My father gave my mother a kiss and then checked that we had purchased our day passes.

We parked our hovercar at the designated parking that my father had already booked. Along the way while we sped along in our accelerated lane, I saw lines of buses of tourists and trains speeding into the building.

"Lots of people at the mall today." My father frowned.

The mall itself was packed with people. There were people gawking at the mannequins in storefronts, kids running around and babies screaming.

"Icecream! Get your Gelatissmo icecream here!" A round man with a big moustache shouted.

"Ugh! This is so unpleasant." My mother shivered.

"Let's go to Shizukesa. It should be quieter there." My father said helpfully.

We bumped our way into Shizukesa and walked through a red painted wooden gate. A worker whispered to us.

"I am Mary-san. I'll help you with your visit today. When you walk through the Shinto gate. Please keep quiet and mindful." She bowed and gave us headsets.

"If you need to ask any questions, please say, 'Hello Mary-San'. I'll be available to answer any questions."

"Thank you." My father awkwardly replied.

The store was very quiet. We walked past a waterfall. There were other kids splashing around and laughing underneath the slow trickling water.

"Peter-san! Please help my kids get out of the waterfall!" Their father cried exasperatedly.

My father was too worried about my mother to notice them and held her while we walked through a foliage of trees.

"Caroline, take a deep breath. It'll be better soon." We walked along a path made up of large stones and found ourselves at the door of a wooden hut. The inside of the hut was a fully furnished apartment with beds, kitchens, and even mirror and art on the wall.

"This must be the first showroom. It's a little bare." My mother murmured. "I'm much better now." She let my father's arm fall and inspected the room.

"Mary-san. We are looking for a home office where we are looking to focus. Two desks on one side of the room, with a third desk for craft work on the other side." She motioned with her arms.

Mary-san's voice came through our headsets.

"No problem Caroline. Walk to the caves at the back and go through the second door."

We climbed up a small hill and found the moss covered caves. It was amazing how big this one store was. There were giant wooden doors all along the caves. The second one had a brass knob shaped as a grinning fox in the form of the number 2.

"Go ahead son. Knock on the door." My father nodded.

I reach out and knocked it against the door. The dew on the metal felt very cold against my skin. The door swung open and we walked into a narrow dark room. With a slight lurch, I felt the room shake as we moved along a circular path before stopping in front of a pastel wooden door that opened automatically in front of us.

We were inside another apartment now. This time the windows showed modern Tokyo with hovercars speeding along the road and neon-signs and building lights splattered on the background.

'Welcome to your new apartment'. A humanoid robot drove up to us at the door and presented us with hot tea before bowing. The study room was exactly like how my mother had described with pine wood tables overlooking the city views. An aluminium pencil case sat on the table, along with a mock computer, filing cabinets, decorative statues, and a heavy looking brushed aluminium pencil sharpener.

"This is so neat and clean." My parents assembled themselves in the study room while scrolling through all the different options for pencil cases, and statues on their phones.

I sat down at the other table feeling a little bit bored. I checked what my friends were doing.

Harry was going fishing with his parents in the Carribean, while Rachel was touring Europe.

"Yo Harry, Rachel! What are you doing right now?"

"Yo man! We just caught a giant shark! It was awesome!" He showed us the dead shark on his boat.

"Yo Davis, we're waiting in line for The Big Splash in Disneyland Paris." Rachel said. "There's only two more families in front of us. You wouldn't believe how long it took to get to wait in line."

"How long?" I asked.

"Like 30 minutes." She said.

"Sheesh." Harry gasped. "That's a long time."

I saw Harry's dad wave to him in his screen window. "Harry! Stop talking to your friends and help me cut out the shark's guts!"

"Okay dad!" He yelled. "Okay, I got to go. Dad's busy with the shark."

"Me too." Rachel nodded to the family in front of her. "Let's talk tonight."

"Seeya."

"Seeya." I waved.

My parents were still fiddling around with the designs.

"No, this Mesopotamian Tiger does not fit into the theme of the room. We are designing with Japanese in mind." My mother said to my father. He looked up and saw me.

"Why don't you put down your phone for a little bit and explore the rest of the apartment. You might get an idea for upgrading your room."

I looked around the apartment to see what I could do but the kid's room was pretty bland with only one Japanese baseball player poster on the wall. Instead, I found a secret door behind a bookcase. It opened leading to a dark hallway that only had ground strip lights for illumination.

"Hey mother and father! Is it okay if I went down this hallway?"

"Yes, of course. We'll be here for some time. I'll ring you when we go to Electro Outlet." My father called out to me.

"Wow, this looks cool." I said to myself.