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CHAPTER NINE

Sawyer

I fall into a deep sleep. I haven't had one of those in so long, let alone a dream. A dream is a weird thing. Samantha says that it's the subconscious trying to tell you something, stress, anxiety, happiness etc. However sometimes my dreams are just normal. Do people ever have just normal dreams?

I'm usually just walking around, sometimes at school or around my house I'm not doing anything in particular, just observing. I like to think I'm observant, noticing things people generally wouldn't. I memorise numbers on missing pet signs and license plates. For someone who reads as much as I do, you'd think my dreams were vivid, containing adventure and danger and romance and drama. No. Just walking around, taking it all in.

That's why my dream is so shocking I didn't have my normal plain Jane one. It started off normal though. I was at school, walking around from class to class. Up the stairs to the Biology labs then across to the History rooms.

The school has a small overpass, connecting the senior buildings to each other, only a few metres long. As I walk from senior building D to senior building C, the ground beneath me vibrates, looking down I see it starting to crack above the concrete. Earthquake? I think. A massive opening appears below me and I feel my legs give, with nothing holding me up... I fall.

I fall slowly. My body relaxes as I sink into the floor. I don't hit the concrete below, instead another opening appears in the ground and I slowly sink through that. I keep falling, through the ground to the bridge and then through the bridge to the ground. A continuous loop.

I'm not screaming, normally people scream when they fall but I find comfort in it. Slowly watching the loop unfold around me, that is until it speeds up. Slowly at fast then all at once.

My arms start flapping around, trying to regain my calm position but I can't, I just keep falling and falling at an increasing rate. My lungs gasp for air but I can't catch any my heart beats quicker. In a state of panic I don't know what to do, I'm helpless.

I wake in a jolt, a tear falls down my face and I open my eyes to darkness. At first I forget where I am, then remember I'm still at the shops when I see the Stephen King book resting on my chest. I stand up from my little corner I created and push aside the blanket I found. Why is it so dark in here?

I check my phone and it only has about 5% charge left. Its 7:20, and the stores generally close around 6-7. Umm. Excuse me.

Target must be staying up late I guess. The staff do a sweep before they lock up for the night, for obvious reasons. I'm just surprised they haven't done it yet.

I continue to stay in the small section I've created and just peak my head through the bookshelf, moving some books over to get a better view but can't see any other people. I guess I'm one of the last people here. I hop up and move the bookshelf over careful not to let any books fall on the ground and stretch my legs out.

I miss the warmth of my blanket when the air around me gets cooler. "Hello?" I call out, then walk around toward the entrance, handbag around my shoulder. As I pass the clothes section my hearts to quicken. Where is everyone?

"Hello?" I call again, this time louder but don't get any response. I walk toward the entrance to get back to my car. Mum used to tell me the story of a monster that lived in the dark. It only came out in the pitch black and when it was perfectly silent. This is generally something you don't tell your child when you want her to sleep with the nightlight off and to keep quite.

I remember mum scaring the crap out of me and Katherine used to tell me it was just a story. I'm not exactly sure what angle mum was trying to get at but I needed to sleep with a light on for the next year and a half. And all of a sudden, I'm reminded of that story, and all of a sudden I don't want it to get quiet because I didn't have a nightlight with me.

"Is anyone here? Hello? Or am I just talking to myself? Yeah, probably. That would make sense," It relaxed me. "All of my friends are in Europe right now. Have you ever been to Europe?" I waited for a moment until the echo of my own voice dissipated.

When I get to the front of the store I look around for anyone. "Of course you haven't been to Europe, you barely leave town." I head over to the checkouts. "Hello? What on earth is happening, where is everyone? Oh My God, has the apocalypse happened?" The second I said it, my imagination ran wild, too many fiction books. I made a note in my head not to read as many and kept going.

As my inner dialogue turned outwards and I kept saying random shit, I looked around for workers, any workers.

I see a piece of paper stuck to the glass sliding doors. This was definitely a dream, my whole life they had always been open. I walk towards it and the sensors don't cause the doors to open. "Hmm, odd," my outer dialogue.

The piece of paper has small print on it, gibberish. It was backward, facing the outside to the rest of the shopping centre. I press my forehead to the clear door. Lights out. No one in sight. Even if there were people outside they probably couldn't see me since it's so dark in here too. I bang on it, even if they can't see me, they could hear me, but it was useless anyway because no one was outside.

I remember about two years ago the Stone brothers broke in and stole all the left over Christmas toys. Their defence was 'nobody wanted the toys anymore' and they were 'going to give it to charity'. Since then, they swapped out the normal glass door with the clear stuff that won't break.

But that door is the only thing keeping me from leaving. I'm definitely dreaming, there's no way this is real. But then again, if I was dreaming, the place I'd been locked inside with no way out is the library. And just like the Library, Targets' sign read;

'CLOSED FOR HOLIDAYS, BACK ON THE 27th. MERRY CHRISTMAS, LOVE FROM ALL OUR TARGET EMPLOYEES'