the end

TRIGGER WARNING: blood, illness, and implied death towards the end of the chapter, in Anjali and Venus' sections.

—
MALLS were not Carolyn's favorite places.

She wasn't big on crowds, especially with her four-year-old son. Theo was just at the right age where he wanted to see everything, and if Carolyn wasn't careful, he would get away from her because he saw something shiny or colorful. He was like that: easily distractible and very fast. But Carolyn refused to be one of those moms who kept their kid on a literal leash—even if she was what a college friend once called an "overprotective" mom. She wanted Theo to be safe and saw no problem with that, but the kid-leash seemed wrong to her. He was her son, not a pet.

But that meant that Carolyn had to keep a very close eye on Theo while at the mall. And she had to keep an eye on the crowds around them, and on the ground to ensure neither of them stepped on something or tripped over anything. And she had to look out for the store she wanted to shop at.

Needless to say, taking Theo to the mall was a lot.

She'd promised him, though, that when she had a day off he could come to the mall with her to find a birthday gift for his beloved Gramma. Carolyn had a hard time denying Theo such things, especially considering how great her mom had been through the whole divorce process, with both watching Theo and dealing with Carolyn's own emotions. So yeah, helping Theo pick out a gift for her was important to Carolyn. And, of course, important to Theo.

He tugged on her hand. "Mommy, come on, faster!" He looked back at her, his brown curls messy as always. Carolyn could never tame his hair, and had long since given up trying. He was pulling her towards a toy shop that caught his eye. Luckily, it was next to the Ulta Carolyn actually was aiming to go to, but Theo would not be nearly as interested in makeup and perfume as he was in toys.

Carolyn reached forward and picked up the boy. "We can look at toys after we get Gramma's present, okay?" she said, ruffling his hair.

Theo wrapped his arms around Carolyn's neck, not hard enough to hurt, but enough to be secure. "Okay Mommy," he said, leaning his head against her shoulder.

Her heart swelled with love, and Carolyn kissed the side of his head, carrying him into the shop. "Now, let's see what Gramma might like..."

—

DEVON kicked the side of the counter idly. He leaned across the countertop, his slender body squeezed into the space between the ice cream cooler and the register, fingers tapping on the countertop. It was, for lack of a better word, a very slow day at the Groveland Dairy Queen.

Devon wasn't exactly surprised by that. It was one in the afternoon on a random-ass Tuesday in September, no one wanted ice cream except kids, and they were all in school. The last customer was somewhere around two hours ago.

Devon, to put it simply, was extremely bored.

One of his coworkers poked them in the arm. "Move, Dev. You know Martine doesn't like that." The mention of their manager made Devon groan, but he stood up straight, pushing himself up with his forearms. It hurt, but Devon never was one to think their actions through before doing them.

"There's no one here," Devon said quietly. He spoke quietly at most times, so as not to startle others with the deepness and volume of his voice. Best to only surprise people with one of those things, they thought.

Their coworker, Linden, rolled their eyes. "Yeah, but you know the rules," they said with a scoff.

Devon did, in fact, know the rules. That didn't mean he liked them.

Honestly, Devon just wished something would happen.

—

ALICE wasn't talking to him.

She wasn't angry with him—Alice was a sweet girl, nothing but nice and willing to get to know Griffin, but being together without her mother as a buffer between them was awkward. For him and Alice both.

It was Katie's idea for the two of them to spend a day together. Well, most of the day. Alice had her half-day kindergarten in the morning, but after lunch at Katie's house, Griffin picked her up and drove to the mall. He'd tried to make conversation, but it was hard to talk to your five-year-old daughter when she didn't know you were her father and you'd only met her a few months ago. Griffin didn't know what to say to her, how much he could express and tell her. He wanted to know her, to be someone Alice trusted, more than anything.

Even if he didn't deserve it.

Now, Alice walked beside Griffin through the lower level of the mall. She'd mentioned a candy store that she liked, and he planned to take her to the Build-A-Bear upstairs too. He hadn't been around kids in so long, but he was pretty sure a plushie would be good. What little girl didn't love plushies?

...He really hoped Alice wasn't that one weird kid who hated them. That would make this awkward.

"So..." he said as they passed the Victoria's Secret. He resisted the urge to cover Alice's eyes with his hand. She wasn't even looking at the store, instead watching the crowds around them. "Do you and your mom come here a lot?"

She looked up at him. She was, pretty objectively, an adorable kid. Her blonde hair was done up in braids, and she wore a Rapunzel dress. According to Katie, Rapunzel was Alice's favorite princess. Griffin didn't know why, but Alice was pretty damn cute in the outfit anyway.

Alice nodded, looking at Griffin's hand like she wasn't sure if she was supposed to grab it. "Yeah, we do," she said. "Mommy likes to bring me for a fun day." Fun days, as Katie called them, were just days off when she took Alice to do something fun, whatever they wanted, for a few hours. It was kind of nice, he thought.

"That's nice," he said, a little awkward. He hoped they would get to that candy store soon.

—

THE voice on the radio was too loud. "Reports have increased," it said, "about what health officials are calling 'The Mors Virus' spreading throughout the midwestern United States. Not much is known yet about the virus, but most cases are fatal. Citizens are encouraged to remain calm, but report to medical professionals immediately upon experiencing symptoms-"

Jairo reached out and turned down the volume. He'd been hearing news about this for days now, weeks even, and he was honestly kind of tired of it. He took it seriously, of course, but hearing about it all the time was... a lot. Especially with Angel in the car.

Keeping an ear out for when the radio switched back to music, Jairo glanced in the rearview mirror at where Angel sat in her booster seat—which she didn't like still having to sit in, but she was still small enough it was recommended she did. "Still good?" he asked. Angel sometimes got carsick, which they both agreed sucked, and Jairo liked to check in on her when on the road for a while.

She met his eyes in the mirror, nodding. "I'm okay," she said, giving him a smile. "Are we almost there?"

Jairo checked the GPS on his phone—mounted on the dashboard so he didn't have to look far and risk crashing. He'd only moved himself and Angel to Locksley a few months ago, and while the town was small, the mall was a few miles out of town and he'd never been there before. Thank god for GPS, honestly. "Yep, almost there," he said. "You got any ideas for what we should do?"

He swore he could see Angel roll her eyes in the rearview mirror. "Ice cream," she said. "My friend Kirstin says there's a Dairy Queen there and I think we should go."

Jairo honestly wasn't sure what he should have expected. Angel was seven; of course she wanted ice cream. Besides, they were celebrating. "All right, all right," he said. "We can get Dairy Queen. Anything else you think we should do?"

"Maybe there's a music store?" Her feet kicked the back of his seat lightly, and Jairo looked in the rearview to see that she was bouncing a little. "I want to see if I can find any of your music."

That made Jairo's heart soar. He was a producer, making music for a living, and Evangeline knew that very well—considering she could often hear the beats echoing from his headphones or home office. Calling the songs he produced "his" music wasn't quite accurate, but it was as far as Evangeline knew. Her dad made the music, so it was his.

And his music was what they were celebrating—a song Jairo had produced, had spent weeks working on, reached number one on the charts for the first time, and to him, that was reason enough to take Evangeline out after school to celebrate.

They both deserved it.

—

THE smell of fried food permeated the Groveland Mall food court. Edie was used to it; she often brought her grading to the mall to work on. Being around people, with the bustle of the mall around her, energized Edie and, paradoxically, helped her focus on what she needed to do.

Which today was to grade her tenth-grade class' essays. Such fun.

Except that wasn't sarcastic at all in Edie's case. She genuinely enjoyed teaching high school English, and would say so to whoever asked. She'd already gotten through quite a few of the essays, and leaned back in her seat, stretching. She'd been leaned over her work for so long that her neck and shoulders hurt a little, and so she stood up, twisting her limbs back and forth in an effort to loosen them up. She tried to keep herself as limber as she could—it made life easier for her.

An older woman sitting at the table beside Edie smiled at her as she sat back down, tucking her skirt neatly under her thighs so the hard seat wouldn't bite into her skin. "Need a break, dear?" she asked.

Edie smiled at her. "I'm all right, Juliana," she said. "But yeah. A break is in order."

Edie had a habit most people thought was kind of weird: she liked to hang out with the older ladies who spent time at the mall food court, chatting with them and getting to know them. Juliana was one of them. She was eighty-six, widowed, and very proud of her cloud of white hair. She also liked to say that Edie was like a daughter to her. Juliana had kids, all adults, but they didn't talk to her much anymore, finding her kind of uninteresting. Edie disagreed. Juliana, along with all the other ladies who frequented the food court, was incredibly interesting simply by virtue of their lived experience and the things they'd seen and learned. Edie wanted to know about it all, or at least as much as they were willing to tell her.

Juliana nodded, and pushed a drink cup towards Edie—a frozen lemonade from the Auntie Ann's on the other side of the mall. Edie's favorite drink. Juliana really was too sweet.

Edie grinned and reached out to take the drink. "Thanks so much!" she chirped. "You always know just what I need."

"I try to help, dear," Juliana said, still smiling tenderly. "How are the students doing today?"

Edie gladly took the out. Juliana had been a teacher herself, though she had taught fifth grade rather than high school. Either way, Edie knew she could commiserate. So Edie turned to face Juliana, sipping on her gifted drink, and started talking.

—

JUNIPER shoved his hands into his jacket pockets as he strolled along the upper level of the Groveland. He passed the Hollister, a supplement shop, a toy store. Normally, he would have headed straight for the Barnes & Noble on the first floor, knowing that books were always there for him. Today he'd changed it up, deciding to peruse the upper level of the mall. Nothing caught his eye. Not yet. He needed a distraction, though.

He was homesick.

Juniper missed his dads and his siblings. River and Rowan were starting their first year of college, and Juniper was halfway across the country, not able to be there for them. At least the twins were together. Juniper...

He felt so alone sometimes. Being so far away from his family, the people who understood him more than literally anyone else honestly sucked, and being as quiet as he was, Juniper didn't... have many friends at school, or Locksley in general. He kept to himself, always had, but that didn't really help with the crushing loneliness and homesickness.

He sighed. There was an escalator back down to the first floor up ahead; he could go back down to Barnes & Noble and find a book, maybe get a coffee. This wasn't working, and he could practically hear the books calling to him.

Maybe they would help.

—

THE store wasn't too busy this time of day. Considering it was a school day, and lots of parents worked, Build-A-Bear wasn't exactly bustling. A couple kids had come in, though—a trio of three-year-olds who were, according to their parents, best friends, and a little blonde girl dressed as Rapunzel and a guy who introduced himself as her uncle. Bunny said hi to all of them, smiling in genuine happiness as they chose their plushes, got them stuffed, and inserted the little cloth heart "to fill them with love!"

If you asked Bunny, seeing their faces light up as they hugged the stuffed animals, watching them squeal over the cute designs and soft fur, and helping them fill out the birth certificate was honestly one of the best things ever. Making kids so happy they couldn't contain it, but instead jumped up and down like little springs and babbled nonstop made Bunny smile.

As he finished with a couple of after-schoolers getting matching Hello Kitty bears, his co-worker Ian came in, already shedding his jacket. Ian took over after Bunny and was never early, so if he was here, Bunny's shift must be almost over.

Ian looked... frazzled, though. His longish dark hair was much messier than usual, and his movements were all jerky—Ian was a dance student, grace was his standard. Bunny waved goodbye to the kids and stepped aside as Ian came around the counter to drop his stuff in the back, asking, "Dude, what's got you all weird?"

Ian didn't answer right away. He disappeared into the back room, leaving Bunny and the other on-shift floor worker (Alana—a short blonde lesbian who took No Shit) looking after him in confusion. When he came back out, hair slightly more tamed, Ian took a deep breath, propping his hands on his hips.

"It's that virus," Ian said finally. "They're reporting that people are dying within hours." He leaned forward, doing his best to look both Bunny and Alana in the eye at once. "Hours. That's-"

"That's fucking insane!" Alana burst out. Bunny nodded in response, turning to glance around the main lobby of the store. No one had walked in and overheard them. Good, considering that they really weren't supposed to swear in the store at all, much less on the clock.

Ian pressed his lips together, flattening them out into a thin, pale line. "That's one way to put it," he mumbled. "I almost called out, honestly. This is like, 'hide in your house and hope no one tries to visit you' time."

"Why did you come in?" Bunny asked, frowning. He could feel his own anxiety mounting, rising in him like a wave. He pressed a hand to his chest, trying to push the feeling down.

Ian and Alana both turned to him, giving him a Look, and Bunny already knew the kind of answer he was getting. Alana and Ian were both college students, and though Bunny wasn't, he knew exactly how broke college kids were—mostly from the two of them. He knew why Ian had come in: he didn't think he had much of a choice, he knew that he needed the money, even if he did get sick. Especially then.

Bunny just hoped the rest of this day would go all right.

—

MIKEY switched off her news notifications as she and JJ walked into the Groveland Mall. It was their last day in Locksley, JJ's hometown, and they both wanted to not be distracted, to go through the day just having fun together. That meant, for Mikey at least, no random articles sent straight to her phone's notification bar at all times. Most of the news pages she subscribed to were health-focused—as a school nurse, Mikey thought it was important to keep up with healthcare news—and she figured it'd be okay to leave it alone, just for a day.

Tucking her phone back into her jacket pocket, Mikey reached for JJ's hand. "Okay, so where should we go first? You know this place better than me."

JJ pulled his hand out of his jacket pocket for her to take. "The bookstore, probably," he said. "Oh, and there's a cute stall that sells fun socks, I think you'd like that. Also," he poked her gently with his other hand. "Kandy Kingdom."

Mikey couldn't help it: she grinned. "Kandy Kingdom?" she asked, though she was pretty sure she knew exactly what kind of store that was.

"Oh yeah," he said with a nod and that crooked grin she loved. "Coolest candy store ever. Spoken as a local, of course."

Mikey nodded, laughing. "Of course, of course," she said. "Well, Mr. Local, I trust your guidance. Lead on."

With a laugh, JJ tugged on her hand, pulling her further into the mall for a day of relaxation and fun, and Mikey smiled, watching the joy on his face. She loved to see JJ happy. Hopefully, the day would keep the joy there.

—

ANJALI idly lifted a bottle of nail polish, examining the color with a critical eye. A red, bright and bloody, with glitter suspended all throughout—a good color, he thought. They did, however, already have one almost identical to this. He put the nail polish down, wrinkling her nose a little. Too bad, it was on sale.

The lights of Ulta Beauty were almost too bright, if you asked Anjali. She got it, you needed light to really see the colors of the various makeup products, but come on. It shouldn't hurt xeir eyes just to look inside the store. He had to resist the urge to squint the whole damn time.

They tapped a finger—perfectly manicured, of course, in a lovely shade of purple—on their pouted lower lip. She was just killing time, really, until her shift at their parents' restaurant started, and what better way to do it than by pre-blowing her check on makeup and nail polish?

Exactly. No better way existed.

Xey sighed, turning and strolling down the aisle. Nothing new, nothing interesting... He sighed in boredom. It looked like it wouldn't be entertained here today. They turned and headed for the door, back towards the main thoroughfare of the mall's first floor.

As they did, the lone girl behind the checkout counter doubled over, clutching at her torso. The girl gagged, scratching at her pale skin and stretching her mouth wide. Anjali stopped where he stood, staring, brown eyes wide. What was happening?

The girl hacked, coughing what sounded like her whole lung up—which seemed true when blood arms bile spurted from her mouth, spraying onto the counter and floor. Her retching became almost deeper, more desperate, and she started crying. Her tears streaked her makeup.

Anjali didn't see any more. Xe ran from the store, blinking tears away from xeir eyes. Fear pulsed through him, crawled into his throat. What the absolute fuck?

They had to get away.

—

VENUS pulled her jacket close, pushing into the mall as quickly as she could. It was busier than she'd expected, but maybe school had let out for the day—it was after three in the afternoon, so that would make sense. Either way, she hadn't prepared for the amount of people inside. She reached into the bag at her side for the disposable mask she'd put inside yesterday. With all the reports about the Mors Virus, and the pandemic a few years back, she figured it was better safe than sorry.

She just needed a scarf. That's all. It wouldn't be hard.

Or it shouldn't, anyway. The entire lower floor had nothing she liked, so Vee headed up to the second floor. There was an H&M there, she'd try that, even though it wasn't her favorite store.

As she made her way to the store, though, everything changed. She slowed down, frowning. The air seemed different, more tense somehow. Nearby, a kid started crying, saying that "it hurt". A man covered his mouth with a hand and rushed towards the bathroom. Someone collapsed. The word "virus" spread through them like it was catching itself, and it seemed almost everyone was caught in the rising wave of sick.

Venus' breath caught in her throat and she adjusted her mask, moving as far away from the crowds as she could—it admittedly wasn't much of a crowd, but it still felt like far too many people. She wedged herself into a small space between two stores, watching with wide eyes.

There was nothing else she could do. Even if she wanted to, Venus was helpless. Helpless to even move as she watched people—who had been moving, shopping, living, fall and suffer right before her eyes. She didn't know how long they'd been sick, if these were even the first in the mall—in the city—to die. But Venus watched it all.

And she wept.

—

3663 words.
Holy shit is this a long one! But it's here and I'm actually really proud of it; though I do apologize to poor Venus for what I put her through at the end there.
Fun fact: Dev's weird lounging position at the beginning of his section is very much based on something I do at work sometimes, lol.
Anyway, do let me know if I'm writing your character incorrectly, and any other thoughts! Also, I'm considering a poll to see which, if any, of the side characters named in this chapter make it, so let me know your thoughts on that! Love y'all!
Mags💛