Browtober 3

DAY 10. LIMINAL SPACE

Lance could have sworn that, before he took a small bathroom break at the closeby city’s mall he was currently wandering, the whole place was bustling with cityfolk. He almost couldn’t believe his eyes- not a single person was in the whole area of it that he was in, everything was dead silence minus the uncertain sounds of his footsteps on colourful but cheap linoleum flooring. He felt like he had just been transported to a whole other dimension.

“What’s… going on here?” He asked aloud, not aimed at anyone but his own baffled self. Every step he took echoed in the newly emptied building… it really felt like at this point the whole mall had been abandoned… maybe for years? He would go into stores, to see if maybe there might still be a clerk behind a counter or something, only to be met with everything being seemingly where they originally were, but covered in a thick layer of dust… Or maybe it was dream sand- at this point it really did feel like he might be dreaming, despite his attempts at pinching himself awake being in vain.

Trying to call Coriander wasn’t working either. The ring would just go on and on and on, endlessly until he gave up and ended the call. He tried calling literally every single person within his contacts… no dice on that, but he should have known that would be the case… he kind of felt silly even thinking that time would work.

DAY 10. LIMINAL SPACE (PT. 2)

He wasn’t quite sure what to think anymore, wandering aimlessly through the hallways and dodging past the kiosks left behind by other joyful browbirds and talkative painted satyrs that had been there just minutes before. Lance had seen his fair share of odd, frightening occurrences this month (He didn’t think he’d forget the ink incident for as long as he remained breathing and in the universe- he still hoped he might someday find out who caused that to happen and yell at them for it… ink is expensive, damnit!!), but this one was beginning to take the cake, all things considered.

He peeked his head around the corner slowly, anticipating some sort of scary monster to be in the distance when he did. After all, that’s the kind of scenario that happens in times like this, right? Person finds themselves all alone, goes searching for other people, ends up finding the monster and getting eaten- it’s classic horror story stuff! And boy, had Lance seen enough horror movies to know… but there was nothing. Nothing at all was around the corner, except for more empty mall space.

“You have GOT to be kidding me…” He groaned. He really didn’t want to have to deal with something like this, especially when he had friends waiting for him back home- who knew how long he’d be stuck here, in this… this liminal land?

At the very least, with everything exactly where it was, he could make something should he start getting hungry…

DAY 10. LIMINAL SPACE (PT. 3)

Lance sighed as he sat at a corner table in the food court, eating a burger he had prepared himself since no one was present to do it for him, now that he was in some sort of liminal hellscape. How long had he even been here? It felt like hours at this point- and indeed, when he looked at the big clock on the central pillar, it seemed that at least 3 had passed since he ended up finding himself totally alone in the mall.

He glared at the clock, hoping maybe if he tried hard enough, his gaze would break it or something, signifying that it was at least something that wasn’t really happening and that he might wake up in reality any second now- but nothing did. He was really starting to get irritated now, wondering if he could just leave the entire place behind.

In fact, he decided to try just that. Putting down his burger on the little wax wrapper (That he absolutely DIDN’T steal because, how can you be stealing when you’re in some kind of weird liminal realm?) and standing up, walking a straight beeline for the large double doors that would normally lead to the parking lot outside. 

He held his breath- moment of truth. Taking a hand out of his pocket, he pushed on the door, to see if it would open… and alas, it was entirely locked.

Lance felt a little stupid. Of course it wouldn’t be open, why would it be?