Sheltered

Chapter 51

"Welcome to the mall." Luke smirks, Savanna picks up a hint of anxiety from his smile.

"It's an office building." She points out.

Lucas widens his pale brown eyes in mock surprise.
"No shit."

Savanna ignores him as they step inside the sliding doors of this huge glass building.

A man in a tuxedo stands behind a marble counter.
"Good morning!" He nods to them both.
"How may I help you this morning?"

"Hey, morning." Luke grins. "We're just taking a trip to the mall."

The short, pale man behind the counter types at a (very expensive looking) desktop.
"Identification please." He smiles warmly.

Lucas digs in his pocket, pulling out a small wallet. Inside is a thin, shining silver piece of metal resembling a credit card.
He hands it to the man.

He swipes the metallic sliver in a card reader.
"Thank you, Mr. Lucas."

The man hands back the card, making eye contact with Savanna.
"Your ID please, ma'am."

She looks up at Lucas, who replies.
"She's my plus one."

"Right." Tuxedo man mutters. "I'll let it pass, make sure she gets an ID soon."
He types at the computer and walks over to a small printer. A plastic card slides out, the words Plus One and today's date printed onto it.

"Thank you, sir." Luke nods, taking the plastic card and handing it to Savanna.

"Have a great day."

Lucas leads Sav to an elevator.
As the door slides open with a ding, the tuxedo man calls out "Good to see you, Luke."

He smiles "You too, Charlie."

They step into the elevator, and Luke presses a button with a glowing phone icon.

A small beep sounds from the elevator speaker.
"The mall, please. Charlie just checked us in."
Luke speaks to the elevator.

"Welcome, Lucas and Plus One. Going down."
A robotic voice chimes from the speaker.

A few moments later, the door opens to a small, carpeted room with a door on the opposite end.
They're greeted by two men dressed in tuxedos and twisty black wires leading to ear pieces.

"Welcome to the mall. Identification, please."
One of them calls in a very deep, monotone voice.

Luke and Savanna hand over their IDs, the two men each taking one and swiping them in card readers.
They place the cards in a small metal box along with dozens of others.
"Your plus one card expires at 11:59 tonight."

Luke nods, "Thank you."
He takes Savanna's hand and walks toward the door at the far end of the room.

"I don't wanna hold your hand." Sav whispers, pulling her hand away.

Luke chuckles, opening the door.

Savanna looks inside. She takes Luke's hand.