The Unnamed Protagonist

LXXXIII

Iriga, Philippines, January 17th, 2006. The mall I was in had no water and I desperately needed water, as I was dehydrated. It hadn’t rained for a month, so our water supply was dwindling. Thus, the mall didn’t have any water. If I can find my way out of the mall to get some water or find it in the mall, I would be fine. The mall I was in was like a maze, no easy way out.

I walked over to the water fountains and hit them, but no water came out. Feeling desperate, I threw a penny in the fountain just to see what would happen. Then, orange liquid came pouring out of the fountain. I tried to drink the orange liquid, but it tasted horrible. All of a sudden, I found myself shrinking to the size of a penny.

Now that I’m the size of a penny, it will be hard to travel through the mall. I watched as motorcycles started driving through the mall. One of the motorcycles hit a wall and detonated, leaving shrapnel and gasoline flying. I was then covered in gasoline. I started feeling sick from the gasoline, so I started to try and run the gasoline off, leaving me slipping in the process.

After twenty minutes of breathing in the gasoline fumes, I started feeling dizzy. “I love you so much. I’m real.” I heard coming from behind me. I looked behind and saw nobody speaking to me. Confused and dizzy, I sat down in exhaustion. I then heard “You will die” coming from behind me. I then passed out.

I felt sandpaper rubbing my body. I woke up only to see a small dog licking my body. The moment the dog saw my eyes open, it screamed and ran away from me. Thankfully, the gasoline was licked off my body and I could breathe normally again. I then got up from the floor and started walking again.

As I was walking, I saw a grey man and a pink woman walking together. The woman’s eyes were following me as I walked.

“Hey, do you see that?” the woman whispered to the man.

“What?” the man asked.

“Look over there.” the woman replied.

The man looked right at me and got angry.

“Get out of my mall!” the man yelled.

I was promptly chased by the man and woman. I was lucky to find a crack in the wall to hide in. The crack was located on the side of a restaurant booth. I then hid in the hole and waited for the man and woman to leave.

After five minutes, I peeked out of the crack in the wall only to see the man and woman intently staring at me. Then, the man grabbed an axe and started hitting the restaurant booth. I felt the vibrations in the structure, and I was knocked down from the shaking. Full of fear and anxiety, I run and hide inside of the fridge in the restaurant booth.

Inside the fridge was very warm, like the fridge had never been plugged in to begin with. I walked around, climbing on the food in the fridge looking for water. I then found very small pieces of cheese wrapped in saran wrap. On the saran wrap was a label that said, “Fall Free Cheese”. I grabbed a piece of the cheese and ate it. I immediately grew to my original size after eating the cheese, breaking the fridge to pieces due to my sudden growth.

“What the hell are you doing? Why did you eat the Fall Free Cheese?” yelled the man.

“I only ate it because it looked good.” I replied.

“Sorry, but you’re kicked out of my mall.” the man replied.

“I’ve been trapped here. Make your damn mall easy to navigate through and I would have been gone a while ago. I also need water badly.” I replied.

“Oh, so you need water. Well, take this.” the man said as he threw the axe at me.

I dodged the axe quickly. I was almost hit by the axe as it was just inches away from hitting my head. I then blasted fire in the man’s face. The man was completely enraged at that point. Then, the pink woman from earlier came to stab me with a key but I avoided that attack too.

“Wait, let’s just give him what he wants.” the woman told the man.

“Well, I don’t like him. I don’t want to give him any water.” the man replied.

“Aww, come on. I’m sure he’d leave our mall if we give him water and show him the way out.” the woman replied.

“Alright, sure. Here’s some water.” the man said.

I finally got my hands on a bottle of water. I immediately drank it all, chugging the bottle of water almost as fast as the god of chugging would. I was then shown to the mall’s exit and I left the place satisfied.



Published Jan. 1st, 2022