Bella
“You go use the restroom,” Daphne ordered, “I’ll go get the food.” I still had a reflex reaction, when someone spoke to me like that, as though they were issuing an order, I felt compelled to obey.
“I--okay,” I felt uneasy about going to the bathroom myself, but I didn’t want to act like a baby, so I adjusted my purse over my shoulder and headed purposely toward the sign for the women’s bathroom. I kept glancing back over my shoulder, scanning the faces of all the other shoppers that were seated in the food court, or walking casually around the mall. No one paid me any attention. I was the only one acting suspiciously.
The bathroom was located down a narrow hall that led to the mall offices, and eventually, to an outside loading area that the restaurants used to bring in their orders from the delivery trucks. I paused with my hand on the door, watching the corridor for any movement. An old man exited the men’s room across the hall and brushed past me with a mumbled, “excuse me”. After he shuffled off, I was alone in the hall. I shook my head at my own nerves and pushed open the door.
On the best day a public restroom is a creepy place. I crouched down and checked under the stall doors to see if anyone else was inside. I saw no dangling feet, and breathed out a sigh. whatever had me on edge, it was only in my imagination. I entered a stall delicately, trying my best not to actually touch anything. Probably the germs on the door handle were the most dangerous thing I was going to face. I squatted over the toilet, taking care not to let my bum touch the toilet seat and relieved myself. I carefully rearranged myself and flushed the toilet with my foot before easing out of the stall. Thinking I was still alone in the restroom, I went to the sink to wash my hands.
I was looking at my own reflection in the dirty mirror that covered the wall in front of the three sink basins. My crazy hair was mostly confined to a sloppy bun on the back of my neck. Pieces had escaped to frame my face and trail across my shoulders. The florescent lights made me look a little pale and washed out, so I wrinkled my nose at myself before I reached for the paper towels. That’s when I saw it, out of the corner of my eye, reflected in the mirror, a movement from the janitor’s supply closet in the corner.
I barely had time to turn around, when a woman slipped out of the closet. She was dressed casually, as though she were just another shopper out for a day of casual shopping at the mall. But my instincts were screaming that she was anything but...She wore ripped off jeans and a David Bowie t-shirt. Her hair was blue-black and tied back with a black bandana. I noticed that she had a scar down her face, three jagged lines, as though an animal had clawed her cheek. That’s all I had time to notice before her hand moved to her back pocket.
I thought she would pull out a gun. I shrank back against the sink. There was no time for anything, I couldn’t scream, let alone pull the cell phone that the brothers had given me out of my purse to call for help. I saw a glint of silver as she palmed some kind of throwing knife, and then with a flick of her wrist, she sent the blade flying toward me.
Did I raise my hands? Did I do anything? I felt the lights grow dim around me. That damn florescent light was flickering so bad it was going to give me a seizure. The air seemed to shimmer around me, so that it was like looking at my attacker through a pool of water. Her form was fluid and shimmery. The knife seemed to ping off something in the air, and flew harmlessly off to the right, embedding itself in the stall door.
In quick succession, another one landed in the wall behind my ear, and a third mysterious clattered to the floor by my feet. Although none of the blades had hit me, I was feeling strange, woozy and weak. The lights were growing dimmer and dimmer, and the woman with the knives seemed to be blurring more and more, as though her essence was dissolving in to the water. I was trying to make sense of what was happening, but I couldn’t think. I held only one thought clearly in my mind... my mates. I wanted my mates.
I felt myself sinking toward the floor, as if my own weight were too much for my weak legs. I reached for something, anything to hold myself up, but the edge of the counter slipped through my fingers. I heard a colorful amount of swearing coming from the black-haired woman, but her voice seemed to be going in and out as though someone were playing with the controls of her volume. She whipped out a cellphone. “Bring the car Bruce. We’ve got a fucking problem. I’ve got the girl. But she’s not dead.”
I felt myself sinking into the floor, and the room was spinning. I actually felt like I might fall right through the tile into the basement. Does a mall have a basement? I saw the blurry figure move over me, felt someone tugging me under my armpits. I opened my mouth to say something... anything... but I couldn’t make my voice work. She was fading, and it was growing darker. Finally, I let my eyes close, and accepted that it was time for me to die.