The Watcher of Midnight Mall

I work as a security guard at one of the largest shopping malls in the state. On most nights, my job is routine: patrol the endless corridors, check locked shops, and radio in with the other guards. But that night... the night before Halloween... everything changed.

It started during my evening shift. The mall was packed with Halloween shoppers, making my rounds extra hectic. As I walked through the crowded main hall, I noticed something off — a dark, cloaked figure gliding smoothly through the crowd. It wasn’t just its appearance that unsettled me, but how it moved... too fluid, too unnatural.

As it brushed past me, an icy chill stabbed through my chest, filling me with a primal, suffocating fear — something no trained security guard should ever feel. I spun around, shouting:

“Hey! Stop right there!”

The figure didn’t even flinch. Determined, I followed it as it weaved through the mall, occasionally glancing back... as though inviting me to chase it. Suddenly, a loud crash from a nearby shop shattered my focus — an elderly man had fallen. I rushed over and helped him up, only to realize... the cloaked figure was gone.

Later during my break, I ran into my coworker Rex.

“Hey, have you seen a cloaked figure wandering around tonight?” I asked, trying to sound casual.

Rex’s face went ashen, his voice trembling:

**“Yeah... this time... it was looking at me.”

Night fell, and the mall emptied. Stores closed. The eerie stillness of the deserted shopping center set in. My shift continued on the bottom floor, where darkness stretched far beyond the dim beam of my cart’s spotlight.

Then... the laughter started.

Faint, echoing giggles echoed through the empty halls — children’s laughter. Impossible... the mall was closed. The sound seemed to jump from place to place, circling me like a predator playing with its prey.

“Who’s there!?” I shouted, my voice bouncing off the dark walls.

Suddenly, bang!

Something heavy crashed upstairs on the second floor. My heart pounded as I rode the escalator up, gripping my flashlight tightly. As I rounded the corner, my blood ran cold.

A vending machine lay toppled, its contents scattered. But worse... beside it crouched a massive black shape.

I flicked my flashlight toward it. The rear end of a bear. A huge, hulking grizzly, far larger than any I’d ever seen. But when it slowly turned to face me... I realized this was no bear.

Its front half was that of a bobcat, its twisted face disfigured by glowing red eyes and razor-sharp fangs. Drool dripped from its open maw as it locked onto me, hatred burning in its unnatural gaze.

With a grotesque, bone-crunching sound, it rose up on its hind legs, towering over me at eight feet tall, balancing on its grotesque, clawed paws.

Then... in a distorted, mimicked version of my own voice... it rasped:

“Who’s there?”

Before I could react, it let out a blood-curdling screech — an inhuman, soul-piercing sound that shattered the silence of the entire mall.

I ran.

I jumped into my cart, flooring the accelerator, headlights slicing through the suffocating darkness. I didn’t look back. I didn’t dare.