atom_cable

At the edge of town, just outside of city limits, in front of a thicket of trees that threatens to swallow it whole, there is an old strip mall. The windows are dark and broken. The faded marquees are littered with insect corpses. Nothing stirs within the disintegrating walls.

But locals say if you walk to the edge of town just after dusk, and you try your hardest not to blink, you might see a dull glow bleeding out of the forest. The light will seem warm, almost inviting. The shops are open.

Sep 27, 2018 at 9:54pmWeb
Show threadatom_cableSep 28, 2018
The first store in the mall at the edge of town sells clothes. It's perfectly normal in every respect except that the background music has been replaced by the sounds of a small child crying in an empty room.
Show threadatom_cableSep 29, 2018
The second store in the mall at the edge of town sells books. Trade paperbacks mostly, but there is one book behind the counter. If you ask the cashier, she'll show it to you. It contains your entire life in excruciating detail. The book has an ending, if you're brave enough to read it.
Show threadatom_cableSep 30, 2018
The third store in the mall at the edge of town looks bigger from the inside. Impossibly bigger. The walls disappear into a dusty blackness. People get lost in the third store in the mall at the edge of town. Some of them, forever.
Show threadatom_cableOct 1, 2018
There is a black beaded curtain on the back wall of the fourth store in the mall at the edge of town. Nobody knows what's behind it, but every once in a while they say you can hear a low and hollow wind, like night gusts across a graveyard.
Show threadatom_cableOct 2, 2018
The fifth store in the mall at the edge of town sells knives. All kinds of knives. The owner has named each of them. He's missing several fingers.
Show threadatom_cableOct 2, 2018
The sixth store in the mall at the edge of town sells everything you've ever lost. Pens, hair brushes, books. Pets that ran away. Childlike innocence. The feeling of being loved back.
Show threadatom_cableOct 3, 2018
The seventh store in the mall at the edge of town sells real estate. Psychic real estate. The chance to buy a permanent place in someone else's mind. The salesman says you can do whatever you like in there, but warns that such power can be intoxicating.
Show threadatom_cableOct 4, 2018
The eighth store in the mall at the edge of town sells mirrors. Customers watch your reflection. Their eyes follow you with an unspeakable hatred.
Show threadatom_cableOct 5, 2018
The ninth and final store in the mall at the edge of town sells model sets. In the center of the store, under glass, is an exact recreation of the strip mall itself. If you get close enough and squint really hard, you'll see a figure in the ninth window, stooping over a model of a strip mall, squinting really hard.
Show threadStevenDBTOct 5, 2018
@atom_cable Like a super short Kafka story.
Show threadatom_cableOct 5, 2018
@StevenDBT
Color me flattered!