The gates of the Mall Of The East were open, surprisingly. The parking space near the entrance they both walked in had some cars. “See? I tol—told you. Not—not only us,” you know who said that.

They moved to this white Renault where they saw no one inside. All these parked cars were vacant. “I think they are inside the mall,” said the girl. “let’s go.”

She led the way, running to the tall glass doors of the mall. They walked in. Different stores in each side. They slowly moved; kept checking backwards but saw nothing, no one. School shoes squeaked on the shiny tiles, both of them looking up and down the stores they walked past, as if they’ve never been to the Mall Of The East before.

“Really there’s no one?” the girl said. The various lights of the mall fell on only them. The silence here felt more weird than the outside one, like something was waiting to happen or like some people were prying on them from a distance somewhere. The cameras above had the feel and look of another person secretly checking up on the two learners. It felt as though a bunch of people will pop out from one of the stores and yell “Surprise!”

There was nobody in the mall — only Adam and this girl.

“Hello!? Anybody here!?” he yelled. His voice echoed back to him.

“it’s only us,” the girl said. They came across the Checkers supermarket, one of the biggest shops in the entire mall. The doors were fully opened. Poster advertisements of low prices for chicken and baked beans and other foods. Get three 2L Cokes for only R59.99!

The girl giggled. “who said we need money?” she ran inside the store.

“wai—wait,” Adam cried out and tried to follow her.