Sun Catch Her (Book 1: Three Rivers Deep series) COMPLETE

Chapter Seven | B

It took me fifteen minutes to stomp to the store, pick out a phone, and have them transfer Indy's contacts. With the credit card cutting into my palm, I thought about purchasing one of the most expensive models but decided against it. I wouldn't do something that underhanded. My mother taught me better.

I bought the phone I originally picked out from their website with Indy's approval and left. Exiting the store, I crossed the width of the mall to make a slow beeline for a gumball machine that was situated just outside of a questionably out-of-date arcade, the big glass globe heaped full of colorful, round balls beckoning me even as I'd passed by it the first time.

Oh, why not? I reasoned and proceeded to jam a nickel into the slot. I'd picked up thirty-five cents in change on my way here while I watched out for more rain puddles. The mall needed a new roof in a bad way. A tiny ball released, and I stood there listening to the slow rolling of its round-about descent. It sounded like the beginnings of a personal revolution to me. Buy the predetermined phone. Defy her with gum. You badass rebel you. I rolled my eyes.

Popping the red gumball into my mouth, I peered into the cavernous depths of the arcade as I chewed. The room was a wall of black pitted with softly glowing screens. Joysticks were still, machines vacant. From somewhere inside came the distinct sound of Pac-Man dying.

My gaze shifted in the direction of the uniform shop. Store entrances lined either side of the long corridor, a toy store, a Walgreens, Subway, all their thresholds empty of customers. Skylights rose in great glass domes, most above fountains, jumping water catching the sunlight. Benches sat below those that didn't have fountains. Even these seats were vacant. The mall was completely dead. I chewed harder on the gumball, feeling a bit on edge.

The scarcity of customers was the reason for the record purchase time at the Verizon store. Sure it was a Thursday afternoon and most people would either be at work or in school, but still. Where was everyone? Where were the students from the nearby college loitering between classes? Where were the small groups of power-walking retirees? Feeling weirded out, I stepped over yet another patch of water and started off in the direction of the uniform shop.

A distant, metallic clang of the mall's ventilation system kicking on caused anticipation to spark through me. Fresh air. The coolness of it stirred overhead. Slowing, I drew in a deep, lung expanding breath, the sudden relief of it making me press the wad of gum to the roof of my mouth with my tongue-which caused something unexpected to pop behind my eyes.

Oh no, not again. My eyelashes fluttered. I pressed fingers to my temples as I dealt with the temporary pain of it, my face tilted up to the nearest skylight when my vision began to drain away now that the stopper that bottled it in place had seemingly been uncorked. Panic gripped me as a green cast turned everything somewhat see-through. I had to find Indy. I had to get to the other side of the mall before the green ate up everything and I couldn't see where I was going. I started jogging.

My hurried progress to the distant uniform shop blurred into a green narrowing of low walls and small openings. I passed the Walgreens where a display poster announced it was time to get a flu shot. The text on the sign blurred and disappeared, and I broke into a full run. The bag holding my new phone swung wildly, and I clenched the wad of gum between my teeth. I dodged another pool of rainwater and kept going.

With my heart in my throat, I skidded to a halt in front of the uniform shop and peered in on tiptoes in an attempt to see over several translucent racks of clothing as they blended together as one, big blob. The shop was empty. Indy wasn't inside. Apparently she had moved on to the next item on her shopping list.

Great. I didn't know where my aunt was, and I had her phone.

Squinting to see through the green, my gaze swept the vacant mall, landing on what looked to be a bench out in the middle, across from the shop. The seat itself was translucent, but the potted plants backing it were not. Looking up, I could see straight through the ceiling to the clouds moving across the sky. So I could clearly see these two things as solid, but nothing else?

None of this makes sense! Unsure of what else to do, I turned to make my way over to the bench with quick strides, needing to get to it before its indistinct shape disappeared altogether. I would just have to wait for Indy to come looking for me and... then what? What would I say? Sorry I didn't catch up with you, and oh, by the way, I've gone selectively blind. Could this day get anymore lame?

I was almost to the bench when my foot hit a puddle.

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Oh jeez.
VOTE if you expect our "lame day" is about to, quite literally, take a nose dive :(