It was a beautiful sunny Saturday morning and a small five year old boy woke up
from his sleep as the sun brightened his room. He got out of bed wearing his dinosaur pajamas, opening the door to leave his bedroom. The little boy had blondish brown hair, rosy cheeks, a slender physique, and blue eyes. He made his way down the hall opening his parents bedroom door to see his mom and dad were still asleep. He quietly tip-toed his way to their bed, sneakily climbing on the edge of the bedframe before standing where his parents’ feet were. He prepared himself to jump before leaping onto his parents screaming.
“WAKE UP! WAKE UP! IT’S SATURDAY! MOM! DAD! WAKE UP”, he yelled in an excited, slamming his body on top of his parents startling them awake.
“CALVIN! Knock it off. We only get two days to recharge and…..agh forget it”, said the dad in a raspy tired voice, too exhausted to lose his temper.
“What happened? Did you forget you were just asleep a second ago”, said the
mom, with her eyes still closed all snuggled in her blankets.
“It just took a moment for my exhaustion to catch up with my mind”, said the dad with his eyes half open with a glum sleepy look on his face.
“Momma! I wanna go to the mall today”, said Calvin, in a sweet excited tone.
“Oh, you wanna go to the mall huh”, said the dad, in a sarcastic tone.
“Yes! Yes! The mall! Hooray”, said Calvin in an excited tone getting up off his
parents and bouncing on the bed.
“Can you please go get him some cereal”, asked the mom, still snuggled under her blankets.
“Yeah. Yeah. I’ll get him some cereal. Come on Cal let’s go eat some food then get ready for the mall”, said the dad, getting out of bed.
“Okay daddy”, said Calvin in an excited tone, before jumping off the bed and
following his dad out of the bedroom.
Calvin and his father made their way downstairs having some cereal and milk
enjoying their breakfast together, while the mother showered and got ready for the day.
Once the whole family was ready to go off to the mall they went with Calvin bringing a couple toy cars to play with on the way. When they arrived the mall parking lot was almost barren with the exception of a few vehicles. When the family entered the mall Calvin heard his parents talking while he held their hands excited to enter his favorite store Romanovs.
“Jeez everytime we come here this place has less and less stores open”, said the
dad, in a casual tone.
“I don’t even know why they bother keeping the place open. With the exception of the exterior stores the interior ones are all closed practically”, said the mom, in a disappointed tone as they walked past countless empty spaces now locked up.
“Well maybe eventually they’ll knock it down and turn it into something better”, said the dad, in a hopeful tone.
“I just hoped we will have moved somewhere more lively before that happens”, said the mom, as Calvin was completely unbothered by the discussion since he wasn’t really paying attention.
The one thing going through Calvin’s mind was going into Romanov’s to head
straight for the toy section before getting to jump around on the display beds and couches. Maybe even try getting away with a game of hide and go seek through the clothes racks. Calvin even at five years old was a little creature of habit, and also liked getting a little toy car every time he went to the large retail store. Romanov’s was a large retail store with a large variety of products and two floors. The first floor sold mostly men’s and women’s clothing, perfumes, and jewelry, while the second floor contained furniture, toys, and kitchenware. Calvin always loved to make a dash for the escalator knowing a toy car was waiting for him to pick out. It was always a little frustrating when his parents would tell him to slow down or wait as he wished they’d move a little faster since there was fun to be had.
“Calvin, slow down”, said the dad in a firm tone, before grabbing Calvin’s hand and getting down to his level. “I know you’re excited, but we don’t want you wandering too far and someone taking you. What do we do when we have gotten lost”, asked the dad in a calm tone.
“Retrace my steps to when I first got lost then stay put”, said Calvin in an annoyed tone.
“Alright good boy”, said the dad, letting go of Calvin’s hand.
The family went up the escalator and made their way towards the toy section. When they got close enough Calvin rushed over to where all the toy cars were and the first thing he checked out was a blue bin with stacks upon stacks of small unique looking cars called “Road Burners”. He picked out three that he wanted and then looked to his parents.
“Mom. Dad. Can I have these three cars”, asked Calvin, in an extra cute sounding voice.
“What do you say when we ask for something Cal”, asked the mom in a patient tone.
“Oh. Pleeeaaase”, said Calvin, holding up his toy cars to his parents.
“Alright I’ll get them for you”, said the dad, in a pleasant tone.
“Yay! Thanks dad”, Calvin said, in an excited tone.
After looking around the toy section the family made their way to the furniture
section letting Calvin jump around and climb on the furniture as music was heard playing around the store. They walked around for a little while until they came across a clothing clearance sale. The mom and dad started looking at the selection available when Calvin saw the opportunity and took it. It was time to play a little bit of hide and go seek. He took off running into the clothes racks as the dad chased after him and played with him. Calvin moved from clothes rack to clothes rack dodging his dad who was trying to grab him. He then made his way through a clothes rack between two long black dresses when Calvin tripped on a metal bar attached to the bottom of the rack. He fell between the black dresses. The mall floor was now quiet. No music was playing, the lights were no longer bright, but a dark blue lighting that surrounded the store. Calvin then noticed his parents were gone.
There was a quiet eerie stillness in the air and Calvin started to get worried not
knowing where his parents were. No store employees were walking around and he felt completely alone.
“MOM! DAD! DADDY! MOM! WHERE’D YOU GO? YOU THERE”, Calvin shouted, as fear started to grow throughout his body.
Calvin repeatedly called for his parents as he started to wander the second floor of the store feeling as though he was being watched. It wouldn’t be long before he realized that there was something on the floor with him. The first thought that came to Calvin’s mind was when he found his parents his daddy was going to be mad at him for getting lost. He knew he had to find them; he didn’t want to be in trouble, but he also didn’t understand why they disappeared and left him. Calvin started to wonder if playing hide and seek through the clothes made his parents mad and they’re teaching him a lesson.
He started to cry as thoughts of being alone forever settled in his mind when a sound echoed through the eerie quietness of the store. Calvin could’ve sworn he heard footsteps before it all went quiet again. He started to look around for where the sound came from when he noticed something that moved chills up his spine. A few pillars away there was a head and neck poking out from behind a store pillar staring directly at him. It had no features and almost appeared like a blur. The thing moved awkwardly from behind the pillar onto the walkway like it wasn’t sure how to walk properly moving with each step erratically. The person’s whole being was blurry to the eye, featureless, and naked. It was tall as it stumbled its way towards Calvin, who was frozen with terror.
The closer thing got to Calvin the more features started to take shape and become less blurry. Calvin started to recognize the thing as it got closer and closer. It now appeared to wear clothes, the same clothes as his fathers. It started to walk more human-like, but still awkward. Calvin for a brief second thought his father found him, but then he looked at the face and immediately knew, that’s not my daddy’s face. Calvin took off running in the opposite direction trying to get as far away from the fake daddy as fast as he could.
He could hear footsteps moving quickly after him. Calvin noticed the store’s drape room with several rows of tall shelves and made a quick dash to hide. When he entered the drape room he hid behind the multiple rows of tall shelves listening for the imposter to enter the room after him. After a few moments Calvin could hear the footsteps enter before moving around the room as Calvin moved from behind the shelves he thought he could sneak past the aisles quietly so the imposter wouldn’t notice.
When Calvin tried to make a break for it and rushed for the exit of the room he froze. The imposter was staring at from the other end of the aisle, its head upside down due to it bending its back backwards. Calvin couldn’t scream; he was too afraid to make a sound as his whole body was shaking. It looked at Calvin with a small friendly smirk, its face even more uncanny as though the imposter was wearing a realistic human mask of Calvin’s fathers face that didn’t fit right. The imposter suddenly moved in its backwards state towards
Calvin making the boy come out of his state of fear and just run for it. He dashed between the rows of shelved drapes as he heard the imposters footsteps close behind him. Calvin was able to escape the drape room when a loud otherworldly wailing screeched from behind him making his whole body tremble as adrenaline kept him from tiring out. Despite all the terror that filled little Calvin’s mind one thought was able to overshadow everything. The words his father spoke to him before he got lost in a different place.
“What do you do when we have gotten lost”, Calvin’s dads voice echoed.
Calvin knew what he had to do to escape this nightmare. He started running as fast as he could to clothing racks. Calvin could hear the footsteps getting louder as the store floor started to shake and walls began to rumble. It sounded as if the imposter was growing in size. Even with all the chaos around him Calvin managed to see the clothing rack with the two black dresses. He was almost there; he just had to run a little longer.
The footsteps were so loud and close it was as if the imposter was right on top of him. He briefly looked up only to see a nightmare beyond his understanding to where his mind can only process fragments of the horror above. An open smiling mouth with only a black void within. Its eyes were two massive orbs with spiraling galaxies. Its hair was now black, growing and spreading rapidly along the store ceiling like roots filling the second store level with darkness. Calvin was about to make it to the clothing rack when he could feel two massive fingers trying to grab the back of his shirt. All he could now hear was his heartbeat as he closed his eyes then leaped between the two black
dresses. When Calvin flew through the clothes he landed on the floor of the retail store.
It was bright and colorful again, Calvin could hear the music playing above and he realized he was back in his world. He moved into a fetal position and started to cry his little eyes out before he screamed.
“MOMMA! DADDY! I NEED YOU”, he screamed.
Calvin’s screams got the attention of a female employee walking side by side with a tall male police officer who quickly rushed over to Calvin.
“Hey kid! Are you alright”, asked the female employee in a worried tone, she was
wearing a green vest and blue jeans.
“This is Officer Colpepper! We found the child! He’s on the second level where the clothing racks are! Go ahead and send the parents up”, said Officer Colpepper, in a calm tone speaking into his radio.
The employee continued to comfort Calvin until his parents arrived escorted by a female officer. The moment they laid their eyes on Calvin they ran over to their child to comfort the crying boy. Calvin’s mother immediately started crying as his father cried tears of relief knowing his boy was safe.
“Oh thank God! Calvin you scared the crap of us! Where did you go”, asked his
mother, crying and holding him tightly.
“We’re so glad you’re safe buddy! Don’t ever disappear again okay”, said the dad so relieved.
The family was so thankful to be reunited as the cops left with the female employee ending their search for Calvin. Calvin was in a state of shock after the nightmare he endured not uttering a word since being found. His mom carried him out of Romanov’s when he realized it was no longer morning but evening as the sun was setting. He was missing for hours and he still was having a hard time coming to terms with being safe back as the monstrous face of the imposter haunted his mind. He felt his dad gently rub his head, but Calvin aggressively brushed his hand away. It would take time for Calvin not to be afraid even though he knew it wasn’t his father who chased him he couldn’t but be afraid trembling in his mothers arms. Calvin’s mother put him in his car seat and
buckled him in before sitting in the seat next to him, while his dad got in the driver’s seat starting the car engine. The family drove away from the mall as Calvin simply looked outside the window watching the outside world pass by. He felt his mothers hand brush along his cheek before he closed his eyes and fell asleep.
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About
Hello, my name is Logan Monaco and I’ve been writing stories for nearly two years now. I’ve always been involved in some sort of creative activity playing music, acting on stage and film, narrating audiobooks. Been active for years and had countless ideas swirling around in my head. In 2020 I wrote my first short story “Into the Humming Tunnel” and after a few years dealing with life I finally had time to sit down and put my stories to paper. Being a huge Batman fan my dream is to one day write a professional Batman story for DC. For now I’ll stick with my weird horror tales hope you all enjoy.
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