A shiver shot through my body. I froze. So did my good friends. Skipper was the only one who moved. He spun around and squinted through the blackness. He hissed my name and pointed right behind me. He ordered me to shine my light over there. The sounds were still at it. Rum, rum! Sounded like machines. Cling, clang! Cling, clang! Metal was beating against each other.

Curiosity overwhelmed me. I wanted to know what the heck was making those loud sounds. I had to. All of us. So I shined my light on the store across from us. It was the video game store - and supposed to be closed down like all the other businesses. But the bright white lights were on. And the metal gate was moving up. In front of my wide eyes, it was slowly going up by itself!

Impossible - unless that monsters are involved.

Most shops here have a security gate. The gates used in malls. Our large gates can only be locked and unlocked using a small key that only the top workers have. These gates can only be pushed up or pulled down too. There is no button to make them open and close. But they are not...too heavy. Wish that I was as strong as those who can handle said gates with ease. I did not think that we would explore both the stores and fast food places, so I was not worried about the gates. Until now.

The eerie silence took over the mall once again as soon as the gate was up. If we wanted, we could now explore the video game store.

Sammy sprinted and stood next to me. "Cool. A person opened the video game store." He faced Samuel. "Bro."

"I am not your bro."

"I will always look up to you as my brother. Now come. Maybe they got in new games today." He rushed to the shop.

Samuel chased him and grabbed his shoulder. "We are not stepping foot in the store. Besides, we were in here earlier today. The clerk said that new games will arrive next week."

Sammy slumped. His smile turned upside down. "Aw."

"You were not listening to her, were you?"

"Who has time to listen when you are surrounded with video games?"

Samuel let his shoulder go. "Did you see that the lights turned on themselves? And the gate was raised with no help whatsoever."

"It was electronically. This gate rolled up and the lights turned on electronically. It is the twenty-first century."

Samuel shoved his hands into the pockets of his slacks. I was going to explain to Sammy that the gates and the lights in this mall switch on and off and open and close manually. Samuel just shook his head at me and got in front of Sammy.

"How long have we been going to the mall?"

"For as long as I can remember. And you know that my memory is as good as crackers under the fridge."

Alyssa and Alice snickered. I covered my mouth with a hand and tried to not laugh. But I snorted. I glanced at my friends - and Skipper - to check whether they heard me. No one looked at me funny or questioned my snort - thank gosh. I was especially relieved that Skipper was clueless.

Why do I feel weird around him?

Eddie was still comforting Elsa. "We have been friends and going to the mall since that we were toddlers."

"You expect me to remember that?" Sammy asked.

"Have you always assumed that all the gates and lights are controlled electronically?" Samuel said.

"I knew, not assumed. I still know. My mom explained how some lights can switch on and off without flipping a switch. When I discovered automatic doors, I put the pieces together and knew that our mall would have the automatic doors and sensory lights. This mall is one of the busiest - if not the busiest - places in Forlot. It only makes sense to upgrade it to make both the customers' and workers' lives a bit simpler. When electronics were getting hype in the real world, I knew around that time that the mall would shift to electronic."

I had my fist on my waist. "How long do you think that it advanced?"

"Since 2015." He motioned to the store. "I was right all along. You guys cannot call me a cuckoo head now that we saw the gate go up and lights turn on automatically. I am smarter than you perceive."

I walked to the store. "Someone should record our stay in case that more scary things happen."

"I am on it," Alyssa volunteered. "I will use my phone."

I pulled open the glass door leading into the store. "So, you were saying, Sammy?"

His eyes bulged out of their sockets. His mouth shaped into an O. He remained silent for a minute or two. "Ah. You know that I do not have the sharpest memory."

"Carly," Alice piped up. "Is the door not supposed to be locked?"

I looked at the door and released it. Then I looked back at her. "Yeah. Maybe the monsters unlocked it."

"Or...maybe the worker whose job was to lock it forgot, Carly," Eddie said.

"Nah. It was the monsters. Ghosts or magical monsters - or both - flashed on the lights and rolled up the gate."

"You have more loose screws than Sammy does."

"Hey!" Sammy exclaimed.

I smiled. "Thanks for the compliment." I strolled to the middle of the store and put my hand next to my mouth and called to the monsters. I did not care what my pals - and Skipper - thought. Monsters were shopping here. They were in the mall now. I felt it. "Monsters. Are any monsters here? Did you open this video game store? It was cool! Amazing! My friends and I would love seeing more tricks."

No monster answered. Nothing except silence.

Skipper walked to me. "Carly—"

The door slammed shut - and locked.