The Mallrat Chronicles
Introduction
I spend ever waking hour I can at the mall. I don't go to the mall to shop, and I don't go to the mall because I have a job there working at one of the stores. I go there to escape for a while from the world around me. The mall is my refuge from the world around me. I know the layout of the mall like the back of my hand, I can tell you what stores offer hand-outs and what stores to avoid. I'm a loner and a drifter. I have no friends, But I do record what I see on a daily basis on scrap sheets of paper. So, I hope you enjoy these stories, they are a collection of small stories, and small segments of my daily life. I call them “The Mall Rat Chronicles''.
If you saw me, then you would not have seen much of anything. What would have seen is a thin as a rail androgynous teenager with long brown hair, brown eyes, who speaks with a slight southern accent Dressed in a pair of fading washboard bluejeans, thread bare sneakers, and a pink Real Tree Hoodie. Most people think I'm a tomboy and the girls at Forever 18 are always bugging me to come in and get some new clothes. Most people think I'm some kind of undercover shopper, because I'm always seen caring around a tattered satchel that carries the tools of my trade, a notebook, a few pens and some extra spending money.
A few more bits of information about me, while I tend to roam a lot, visiting all the stores in the mall in the course of one day, a few I tend to visit certain stores more often and spend considerable amounts of time in. The first store on the list is EB Games, I'm a gamer, I've always admired people who could game. EB Games is like my home away from home. The staff know me, I'm on a first name basis with them. I have something of a crush on the cute college age guy at the counter on weekends, the shift leader, and his boss hates me. She is a real bitch, who often talks down to me and rolls her eyes whenever I come in. She kind of tolerates me flirting with the guy, who's name is Noah by the way.
Anyway moving on, the next place I often visit is Book's-A-Billion. I spend most of my afternoon's here, reading, and sometimes I buy something. The staff are cool and allow me to read as much as I want. And I normally end up buying a book or two. Moving right along, FYE is next on my list, I spend my time listening to CD samples there and looking at the used Anime DVDs they always have on mark down. I normally buy one or two just to keep the staff off my back.
Up next is Diamond Jim's Arcade. If I have any pocket change left over from my day of roaming the shops, I often swing by Diamond Jim's to empty my pockets of loose change. The staff are cool, if I'm low on funds they would often let me play for free or would spot me a fountain drink. They're cool, I guess and don't see me as a pest as most people do.
Up next we have the Food Court, now the Food Court is the heart of the mall, after all everybody has to eat. Place's here tend to come and go depending on the season. Most people tend to gather here and regroup after a long day of shopping. You know, getting a bite to eat before heading back home. I often tend to end up here around late afternoon, when my small breakfast has finally left me. There is one corner toward the back that I tend to lurk in, here I go over my notes for the day, count my money, get something to eat and you know collect myself before heading home.
One last place I'd like to go over with you. It's not really part of the mall, but in a way it is. It is a movie theater. The theater is this beast of a thing you know, it's one of the biggest ones in Ridgeland. There are also some pretty nasty rumors that surround the place. One rumor says there is a guy who hangs around the darkened hallways of the theater. He said to stalk his prey like a lion is said to stalk the open plains of the savanna.
And that's it. Looking back, I can see this is kind of a half ass introduction. But I hope you stick around, trust me, things get wild at the mall. What in store you might ask? Dunking booths, pie tosses, gunge tanks, exploring a haunted changing room at JCPenney, running in with the mall's rent-a-cop, and an unfiltered look at the teenagers in the wild. So if you made it this far, please stick around.
I guess I should tell you guys, before we get into things, about the people you'll meet once you get into the stories, that right stories, sometimes stories form arc's like in some weird video game. I think that what my daily life is, a video game. I just wish I could see the bloody health bar some days, I guess some can. Anyway, some stories form arc's, others are just stand alone stories. I felt like you guys on the internet might enjoy reading. I hope some of you guys have read the introduction first, if not please go back and do that. Anyway let's move on shall we. I'm going to call this segment “Cast of Characters' ' Here you would learn about me, the principal character in this story, and people who make my time in the mall either a living, breathing hell or joy.
Cast of Characters
Thomas ``Tabitha” Quinn Stonewall: That's me, the protagonist of these stories. Nothing to really say about me, beside I'm androgynous, I have shoulder length brown hair and blue eyes, I wear lose fitting clothing, and I'm an avoid gamer. I'm also into anime. Four years ago when I was twelve I happened to stumble upon reruns of Sailor Moon, Cardcaptor Sakura, Dragon Ball Z, and Pokemon on Toonami. After that I was hooked. Later, while staying up late one summer I discovered such cult classics as Yu Yu Hakusho, Inuyasha, and Neon Genesis Evangelion. All these aired on the Adult Swim Block.
Around this time I discovered roleplaying on some message boards. I joined a few sites and decided on the name Tabitha as my user name and later as the name for my first main character. As I played her more, she became something of an alter ego. When I'm at the mall, she kind of comes out more often than not and I like to think I'm Tabitha at the mall. Does it sound like I have mental issues? Maybe, maybe not. Who really knows at this point.
Ashley Baylock: Up next we have Ashley Baylock, Ashley is in college, she is also the weekend manager of EB Games. Trust me when I say this, she hates to see me come into the store. I mean, I guess because I kind of shamelessly flirt with the cute guys that work the counter, but then I'm always really nice to her when she is the one who checks me out. She often throws in bitchy comments about the video games I'm buying and often asks “If I have any REAL friends to hang out with”.
Noah Hinds: The cute guy who works the counter on weekends, he is really sweet, and kind of cute too, he often takes time when the shops are not really busy to chat with me about anime he's watched, or animes I've watched. He also sometimes recommends new video games for me to play and would even allow me to use his employee discount when buying used games. He's a real sweetheart, I wish I was a few years older, I would totally date him.
Officer Sean O' Keen: An Irish Mall Mall Cop who often takes time to chat with me. He often depends on me to be his extra set of eyes and ears when the peak shopping times come around. Like most Irish cops, he's a devoted Roman Catholic. His Irish Accent is okay.
Amanda Fair: Manager at Forever 18 always wants to play dress-up with me.
Tiffany Anna Percy: She is the general manager at Diamond Jim’s Arcade. She is something of a big sister to me and I guess she kind of adopted me, because she treats me like a little sister. When I’m low on pocket change she gives me free drinks and a few tokens to play the games. She keeps begging me to come to work for her. Sometimes though I do some work for her off the clock and she pays me in script, like tokens and tickets and stuff. Her uncle is a big time lawyer in Greenville, Ms. And somewhere down the line she kin to William Alexander Percy who inspired me to write this collection of stories.
The Phantom of the Mall: A ghost that is supposed to roam the mall early in the morning and late at night before the mall closes. I've never spotted the ghost before, but from time to time I'll hear people say that the mall is haunted.
Anyway, there are other people who come and go. But this is the main cast. Stick around there more to come soon.
About these stories.
There are eight stories I've collected for this first edition of The Mallrat Chronicles. I don't expect these stories to be popular. I don't expect people to like them. If you're looking for ground breaking prose, then look somewhere else. My prose is terrible. I'm not here to win a Pulitzer Prize or anything. I'm not trying to be the next William Faulkner, I'm trying at best to tell a story. I've been inspired to write these stories by William Alexander Percy, who's Lanterns on the Levee I was forced to read by an old English Teacher. These stories are not told in chronological order, so keep that in mind. They are also written in what I hope to be simple, plain English. Anyway I hope you enjoy them. Most of them are under two thousand words long, some maybe a little longer. They are short stories, plain and simple
