Late Closing

Another late close... Mel was becoming accustomed to these long hours given it was the holidays. The store she worked for extended their hours during the holidays. It was December 23rd and all she could say to herself was, "just one more day..."

She lowered the steel partition, and locked it making her way through what was once a busy winter wonderland of shoppers, now a dim desolate ghost town reeking of stale popcorn and soft pretzels.

Reaching the North exit, she came to a sign that read: CLOSED EXIT PLEASE USE FOLLOW ARROWS TO EAST EXIT

"Great." Mel muttered to herself.

She would have normally had an associate with her, so walking in the parking lot late wasn't a huge worry, but she let Jen out early due to a family emergency.

Mel was unusually anxious because she had noticed she seem to be the only one left in the mall. Most nights were accompanied by other retail warriors closing up shop, walking silently towards the same destination, freedom.... the parking lot. Tonight was unusually quiet, but Mel tried to not be distracted by the eerie, but focus on the mission, which was to leave the building and get home safe.

Did the holiday music turn off at a certain time? Was she really there that late? She stopped to look at her phone. Dead. Are you kidding?!?! Ok don't panic just walk faster.. you're almost home...DO NOT LOOK AT THE PUPPIES...

The puppy mill store breaks her heart. She doesn't park over here for that very reason. She found herself one day running late coming back from a lunch after being distracted by the puppies. She often would daydreaming saving them. After observing a beautiful mastiff pup laid with his big wet nose pressed against the window, protein built-up in his eyes as if to suggest he been crying all night; she decided to not torture her soul every lunch hour and minimized to once per week.

Approaching the East exit and the puppy mill store in her peripherals, Mel decided to take a quick detour since she was going to be off for some time after the holidays and she had not stop by for over two weeks due to how congested the malls were regardless of the CDC guidelines for social distancing. Plus she looked at the North exit being closed as a sign, an invitation practically.

As she turned to head towards the pet store, a small brown package laid between her and the store.

It could be something someone forgot, dropped maybe? That's an awful large something to drop to not notice. She decides to take a close peek. As she gets closer she noticed, how neat the package was wrapped but the package was unmarked. Could it be from the gift wrap area? Leave it alone.

She heard a faint ticking coming from the package but started to wonder if she was truly hearing that and how to investigate such a package closer without touching it. She crouches down about 3ft next to it to find the sound is just a little louder; she was yearning to pull this mystery brown ticking package right up to her ears to confirm the sound, but she was also in favor of going home and not blowing up her face.

She decides going home not faceless was priority and she promised herself she'd visit them tomorrow during lunch instead. She turns and heads towards the East exit to find yet another "CLOSED" exit sign. Frustrated, she trots back in the same direction she came to find the brown package is now gone. She's not alone after all, and it must have been someone who had worked there and realized they dropped their package. Yeah, that's it. She knew of a maintenance hall near the food court that lead to the outside. That should be open.

Arriving to the food court, she smelled what may be victory. There were no signs of closure. She decided on holding it, instead hitting the restroom right before exiting, even if the restrooms were conveniently placed there. With her luck this evening, she'd end up stuck in the restroom. She proceeded to exit finding this exit was closer to her car than she recalled. Perhaps she'll start coming in this way.

Entering her small Honda coupe, she noticed a small brown package sitting on her passenger seat. This startled her because she knows she did not have this package prior to her shift and her car was locked. Looking frantically behind her seat and locking the doors, she laughed to herself, Are you paranoid or what?!?!

Feeling somewhat safe she brings her attention back to the package. Again, noticing it's meticulous sharp edges and symmetry. It weighed no more than a kitten. Ticking from before must have been imagined, because there was no sound coming from it now. Perhaps it was safe to open. It didn't smell like anything so how dangerous can it be?

Finally she gets the courage to unravel the mystery. She had a boxcutter in her glove box and decided she'd open it, phone was charged enough to record the incident if something should happen. As she starts to cut the very last edge, the car parked in front on her, turned on their brights then blared on their horn. Overwhelmed with sensory overload, she decided enough was enough and just started to drive home.

Shaken and frustrated by the aftermath of closing Christmas Eve Eve, Mel was exhausted and ready for bed and decided the package could wait. It has caused her a bit of trouble already. She did her best to keep her eye on the prize which was the road and not the package. Hypnotized by the melodic nature of the lines on the road, Mel starts to doze off. Feeling this coming on, Mel decides to roll down her windows and change the station to a more lively upbeat station to try to stay awake. Overly confident and sleepy, Mel actually dozes off and starts to go off road. Awaken mid her off road venture and skidding straight towards an elm, she closes her eyes to prepare for the inevitable.

She wakes up the next day in a hospital, memory a bit foggy from hitting her head. Head pounding.

"You sleep like a bear in hibernation." commented the Doctor, who coincidently looked like her boss. "I hope you're ready to cooperate today." Confused Mel looks around to find herself in not just a hospital but a mental rehabilitation facility.

"We don't like to sedate you, but we need to think of the safety of not only our patients but our staff."

Still confused, she realized she was constricted to her gurney.

"Don't panic. you are safe, we would never harm you. We will give you your package as soon as you cooperate, do you understand?"

No she didn't understand, she had not known if she had been dreaming of her closing shift, finding the package, and getting into a car accident. she wasn't even sure if this was a real doctor. Could the package he mention be that very package she never got opened? Did they open the package? Before she could speak, her mind went blank, her eyes rolled back and she started to seize.