I had to stop. My side was aching to the point where I thought that I was going to throw up. Abby slid to a stop next to an open door to the back of a store and bolted through it, dragging me behind her and then quietly closing the door. I turned and looked right into the wide eyes of a balding man, probably in his mid thirties.

“You guys can’t be back here,” He said, his voice full of astonishment, probably not used to having two almost teenaged girls come running in the back door of his shop. There was a thud on the door behind Abby.

“Call security,” Abby said, her voice almost not audible because she was trying to catch her breath. I wasn’t as bad as Abby was. “We were being chased by four boys, who are from the sounds of it still in the corridor.”

“Open the door you pansies!” Shane shouted from the other side of the door. The shopkeeper dropped the bag of trash that he had been holding and called security. After he hung up the phone he looked at the two of us.

“Are you girls alright?” he asked.

“We will be,” Abby said, her cheeks starting to return to their normal color.

A few seconds later two mall security guards appeared, and I heard a small scuffle on the other side of the door. One of the guards, a woman in her twenties crouched in front of me. I was crouching, almost under a desk, my arms wrapped around my knees, and probably showing my panties.

“You can come out, sweetie. It’s safe now.” She said, her voice full of compassion.

I glanced at Abby, who had stood and was walking over to me. She held out her hands and helped me up. “Are you ok?”

“Twelve twelve to sixteen twelve, can you open the back door?” one of the radios warbled.

“I will be.” I said after Abby had helped me up. One of the security guards opened the door up and they escorted Shane’s three friends in, but Shane was nowhere to be found.

“Are these the young men that were harassing you two young ladies?”

“There was a fourth,” I said. “His name is Shane Barker.” I looked around for my purse. “Where’s my purse?” I was still holding the bags from the store, but my purse was no where to be found. I was pretty sure that I had it when we had entered the corridor. Abby looked at me, the floor where I had curled up under the desk, and even in the bags from the store.

“Let me call it,” Abby said, pulling out her phone. A few seconds later, someone answered my phone that was not me. Abby handed the phone to one of the security guards.

“Good Afternoon, Sir,” the guard started on the phone. “I’m Officer Jackson with Mall Security, we had a report that a young ladies phone was stolen. This is the number she gave us.” Officer Jackson pointed at his microphone that was clipped to his shirt and pointed at the floor. The other four guards turned down their radios. ‘He’s in the food court’ Officer Jackson mouthed. One of the other guards nodded and walked into the service corridor. “Ok, you just found the phone laying in the hallway by the restroom and were taking it to customer service?” The guard that walked into the corridor nodded and spoke into his phone.

“We’re gonna take these three and the two girls to the office.” Officer Jackson nodded, and gestured for Abby and I to follow him into the corridor. The two other guards were already five hundred feet ahead of us in the corridor. We had a guard in front of us, and one behind us, I felt like I was a princess or something. When we got to the security office, which turned out to be a pretty drab affair. There were several rooms, the most interesting being the one right after we had walked into the office. It must have been the command center for the mall’s security team. TV monitors showed various parts of the mall, including service corridors. I had wondered why Abby had chosen to go that route rather than just scream for help. She knew that someone would be watching and see six kids running down a corridor that they weren’t supposed to be in. The guards led Abby and I to what appeared to be a break room.

“What are your names so we can document everything in the report?”

“Abigail Lynn Jenkins” Abby said. I smiled at her. The name worked, and the guard wrote it down on her little note pad. She turned her attention to me.

“Emma Michelle Fisher.” The guard scribbled my name in her pad and smiled at the two of us.

“Do you girls need to call anyone?” she asked, tucking her pen back into the pocket on her uniform.

“We can’t,” Abby said. “My phone is with one of your people, and,” Abby tilted her head toward me. “Her phone is currently unaccounted for.”

“Right.” The guard said, smiling. “Use that phone right there, and dial nine to get out.” She pointed to a phone that was mounted on the wall. Abby had just picked up the phone when the door to the security office slammed open and three guards were carrying Shane in, carrying my now soaking wet purse.

“Put me down you rent a cops!” Shane shouted, “I’ll have your jobs…” I watched as the three guards unceremoniously dumped Shane in one of the small rooms and pulled the door shut.

“Was that this Shane Barker person?” The guard that had taken our names asked.

“Yeah,” Abby said. The guard walked over and handed Abby her phone. Abby looked at it and saw that she had missed several calls from her father and my mother. Abby looked at her phone as it rang again. “Hi Daddy.” Abby glanced at me. “Yes, we’re fine.” There was a pause, and then, “I don’ t know what happened to her phone exactly, but her purse is soaking wet. If her phone is in there, it’s cooked. Ok, I’ll call her.” Abby hung up the phone and looked at me. “Your mom is freaking out, your phone dropped off the tracking screen, and your mom is going nuts.” Abby handed me her phone. “Call her.” Before I could dial, mom was making Abby’s phone ring.

“Hello,” I said into the phone. Before I got a got a chance to say anything, mom was talking.

“Emma, Are you ok? Do you need me to come get you?”

“Abby and I are fine, we had a run in with Shane Barker, I think he stole my purse, all I know is one of the guards just carried it in the security office and it was soaking wet.”

“Ok, I’m with Daniel and we will be there shortly.” In the background I could hear Daniel on the phone, talking to someone and then car doors shut. Abby’s phone beeped and I saw that Mom had simply hung up, I presumed that she wasn’t happy. Abby and I had nothing to do but sit and wait for our parents to show up.