The air inside the mall was stale, thick with dust, yet impossibly lit. Fluorescent strips buzzed overhead, their light stuttering and humming like dying insects. Ethan and Maya moved cautiously, their footsteps echoing far louder than they should have in the cavernous space.
Hallways stretched in every direction. Escalators sat motionless, rusted and clogged with debris. Shops gaped open, some with shattered glass, others displaying mannequins slumped in cobwebbed clothes.
They turned corners, searching for anything—a map, a sign, an exit. But every corridor seemed to lead back to where they had just been.
"Didn't we already pass this?" Ethan whispered.
Maya frowned. "I don't… I don't know. Maybe you took a wrong turn."
His head snapped toward her. "Oh, so it's my fault? Just like it's my fault you went to your fucking ex-boyfriend for help?"
The words hit like a slap before her hand even did. Ethan staggered, stunned, the sting sharp on his cheek.
Maya's voice cracked, raw and bitter. "You are a fucking prick, you know that?"
Ethan opened his mouth, but nothing came. The silence between them stretched like wire pulled too tight.
Maya's eyes brimmed with tears as she spun on her heel. "I can't do this right now." She stormed off toward a stairwell lit in a dim, unnatural purple glow.
"Maya!" Ethan shouted, chasing after her. His footsteps echoed hard against the tiles. He hurried down after her, but halfway the air shifted. Thickened. His chest tightened—then suddenly as he reached the bottom step the stairwell wasn't there.
He stood in a wide lobby.
Dust blanketed cracked tiles, yet vending machines lined the walls glowing bright and alive, humming like they'd just been serviced. Inside, rows of faded candy and soda gleamed under fluorescent lights.
"Maya?" His voice cracked, bouncing unnaturally across the walls. "Maya!"
Movement.
At the far end of the lobby, a man sat slouched in a chair, his hands folded. He wore a messy lab coat with a faded name tag. Slowly, he looked up, and when his eyes met Ethan's, he muttered: "Astonishing."
Ethan froze.
The man rose to his feet, steps deliberate. Ethan's chest tightened; he stumbled backward. "Stay back."
The man lifted his hand, palm open. "Relax. I'm not one of them. I'm human. Same as you."
Ethan swallowed. "…Who are you?"
"Harold." His voice was raspy, broken. "Been here… longer than I can say."
Ethan's eyes darted around. "Here? You mean this place? How long?"
Harold gave a dry laugh. "That's the problem. Time doesn't seem to work here. Could be weeks. Could be centuries. Feels like both."
Ethan looked around the room. "How did you end up here?"
Harold studied him carefully, then said, "December 1987, I worked with a group of scientists. We found ways to move between worlds. The multiverse. It's all vibrations—frequencies. Every reality hums on its own channel."
Ethan blinked. "And you tuned into this one?"
Harold's jaw tightened. "I was careless. I went behind my colleagues back on that night and tried it alone. I was… under too much stress. I think stress interferes somehow. I think it messes with the frequency." He gestured to the lobby around them. "And I landed here, somewhere in between realities."
Ethan stepped closer, desperation breaking through his fear. "But if you got here, you must know how to get out."
Harold's eyes darkened with pity. "If I did, kid, I wouldn't still be here rotting in this place. But I've learned one thing—your emotions are the key. Lose yourself to anger, to fear, to despair… you'll never leave. Control yourself. Stay steady."
Ethan's heart thudded hard. He thought of Maya storming away. "My girlfriend—she's here too. Have you seen her?"
Harold's lips parted to answer—then the air shifted. Heavy. Cold.
The Hum.
It rose from the walls, the floor, the ceiling, vibrating through Ethan's bones. The vending machines flickered.
Harold's body wavered like static. His voice broke. "No… not now…"
"Wait!" Ethan lunged forward. "Tell me how to find her!"
Harold's outline bled into nothing. "Beware the echoes!" His voice fractured as his form dissolved. "When your voice begins to echo… it means they are near!"
Then he was gone.
The Hum pressed harder, rattling Ethan's chest until he could hardly breathe.
And he was alone.