The coin fell from his fingertips and into the slot cut out of the plastic paneling. The screen of the game machine instantly changed as a new game began. Bobby Rogan was pretty decent at these shooting games. The young adult gripped the plastic prop gun with his right hand and steadied his aim with the left, angling the crosshairs toward the large inset screen of the arcade machine. First he encountered a small wave of enemy soldiers, but he quickly dispatched them with his virtual bullets. Not soon after, he was battling some sort of zombies sucked straight out of a George Romero film. But he defeated most of them with ease. Yeah, he was pretty decent at these games. He came down to the arcade maybe once a month, but he hadn't seemed to have lost the touch. He would only pop in to play a few rounds, blowing off polygonal heads and watching the nonexistent blood coat the pre-rendered backgrounds, and then leave once his craving had been satisfied. Just as he squeezed off another lifeless round and blew a gasmask-wearing soldier to pieces, his cell phone went off inside his pants pocket. "Shit," he mumbled, and quickly fished it out. As soon as he flipped it open, he realized it was too damn small to hold with his shoulder and play the game at the same time. He glanced at who was calling, and placed the plastic firearm back in its metal holster with a sigh.
"Hey," he greeted, already knowing who it was. It was, in fact, his girlfriend, whom he had parted with an hour earlier so she could peruse the clothing at every retail outlet in the building.
"Where are you?" her small, feminine voice filtered through the cell's speaker.
"The arcade. You ready to go?"
"Yeah, I am. I'm outside the main entrance."
"Alright, I'll be there in a minute." Bobby closed his clamshell phone and dropped it back into his baggy pants. The girl waiting for him at the main entrance of the mall was Alexis Mahoney, a 24 year-old ice princess. A stone-cold ice princess bitch. But she was beautiful, and that was the main thing that kept Bobby from telling her to shove a pineapple up her cunt. He exited the arcade and made his way toward the wide arching entrance they had passed through not too long ago. The glossy tiled floor squeaked beneath his sneakers as he examined each and every hottie within viewing range. There was a short red head standing at a cell phone kiosk, exhibiting her washboard stomach with a tight, low-cut "belly shirt" and a long skirt with a high slit up the side. A long strip of tanned, leg flesh peaked out and made Bobby stifle an approving moan. On the opposite side of the floor, he noticed a girl working at the Baskin Robbins that looked particularly sweet and delicious in her own right. Shoulder-length brown hair curved around to frame an impossibly cute face that held large, glowing eyes and thin pink lips that were begging to be kissed. She was wearing a tight green sleeveless shirt that displayed an excellent rack and delicately thin arms that were just as well tanned as the redhead's exposed thigh. Bobby shook his head and tried to stop looking at all of the attractive women in the place. The mall was a magnet for them, and he knew it.
He finally reached the front entrance and immediately spotted Alexis standing by the curb, spewing some diatribe into her small, purple cell phone. He opened the front doors and walked over, hoping she was successful with her search. It might have saved him from her bitching for the rest of the day. But he immediately knew she had failed due to the number of store bags in her other hand; there were far too few. He stood beside her and absent-mindedly scanned the entrance area while she finished screeching into her phone about not being able to find "those fucking pants, like, anywhere". She finally signed off curtly and hung up. Bobby feigned interest in her quest.
"No luck, huh?"
She looked at him and rolled her large brown eyes before starting across the parking lot. He watched her ass as she stiffly sauntered toward the brand-new SUV her father had just bought her. If it weren't for the money and the body, Bobby thought, he would have had nothing to do with her. Her father was the vice president of some successful dot com based out of Little Rock, and he picked up a healthy annual salary, to put it mildly. Alexis had never had to work a day in her life and you could certainly tell. Bobby came from a middle-class family that did alright, but they were nothing compared to the Mahoney clan and, quite frankly, he was surprised she ever expressed interest in him in the first place. He wasn't the best looking guy around and his reputation was almost non-existent. With her looks and her money, she could have any guy she wanted. He supposed his charm won her over initially, but he was stumped why she had kept him around as long as she had. He figured that he would've been tossed aside long ago, but he was still here, somehow. So he accepted her constant bitter attitude. At least for now. She was too damned hot. So he followed her to the car and got into the driver's side.
"Ready?" she asked sarcastically from the passenger seat as soon as he shut the door. He put the key in and started the engine. It was going to be a long day.
For a Saturday, the streets were surprisingly empty. Bobby noticed this as he drove the large vehicle around aimlessly while Alexis picked up clues over her cell phone. She finally hung up, exasperated at the ineptitude of her friends.
"Where to, Captain?" he asked, knowing full well she wasn't in the mood for cute little nicknames.
"If you didn't want to come along, then why did you?" she spat at him.
"What? You
ordered
me to!"
"No, I didn't. I just suggested it." She eyed him maliciously.
"Yeah. You suggested it, alright. And if I said no, you wouldn't have spoken to me for a month," he shot back.
"Whatever." She looked out the window, apparently finished spewing her venom for the moment. He looked out his window as well, and saw a small shopping center approaching them. A few clothing outlet stores names made up the large sign in front of the plaza.
"What about there?" he offered, lamely. She barely moved her eyes to glance at his referral—and immediately lit up.
"Yeah! Stop here!"
He quickly slowed down the SUV, surprised by her sudden agreement, and turned into the parking lot. By the time the car came to a stop, she had already undone her seatbelt and was opening the door. "You weren't completely useless after all," she grumbled before slamming the door.
"Bitch," Bobby said loudly in the confined space. He got out and jogged to catch up to her. "You think they're here?"
"Drew said she thought they were from an Elliot's," she responded without looking at him. "I just didn't think there was one in town."
Sure enough, one of the stores in the center was an Elliot's. It was a small chain of expensive department stores that catered mostly to rich women. There were probably only two in the whole state. Bobby came to a stop while Alexis kept marching toward the entrance. She noticed he wasn't with her anymore and turned around.
"What are you doing? Let's go!" she commanded, impatiently.
"I think I'm gonna look around the other stores while you look for your pants." She sighed heavily, threw up a hand, and turned back on her journey to the store. He watched her until she disappeared inside, then began patrolling the sidewalk in front of the stores, casually looking inside the large windows for anything of interest. He came upon a small shop that looked very different from all the other ones. There were no promotional posters hung in the windows or neon signs. The only sign here was an old-fashioned "OPEN" sign hanging from the inside of the door. Bobby put his face up to the glass and peered inside. The walls were lined with shelves that held strange-looking antiquities, masks, costumes, magic items, and objects that Bobby didn't recognize at all. The name of the shop was "The Forum", and, deciding it was by far the most interesting of the stores he had seen, he went inside.
There was a short counter against the back wall. Old, small dolls dangled above it. But the dolls didn't look like anything a child would want. They were dressed in strange clothing and their faces were contorted into painful and angry expressions. One of the dolls' eyes were sewn shut. No one was behind the counter. The whole shop appeared empty. Bobby turned away from the gallows of evil dolls and started browsing through the items on the shelves. Everything was extremely dusty and when he picked up some of the artifacts, a clean spot of wood was left beneath them in their shape. It was as if nothing had been touched or sold here in years. Next, he perused the costumes hanging on a rack. They seemed odd, as well. Some were bondage-type outfits like gimp suits, while others looked like ordinary clothes. One costume was simply a white T-shirt with some orange shorts. What the hell was this place?
