“Look, I’m only paid to patrol this mall at night, not to settle turf wars going on between the damn mannequins!” she said.

"Kathy, please try to understand, the fact that you weren't bombarded with product yesterday means they trust you." he said.

"I don't give a fu-"

"I'll double your pay. Double" He said. He tilted his head down and stared at her, unobstructed by his big glasses.

She thought about what that meant. Double pay would mean placing Aiden in a better preschool (somewhere where they actually remember to cover the electrical outlets). It meant she didn't have to constantly play Bill Collector to Marcus. She'd be able to pay off her nursing school debt in half the time. She mulled it over.

"ok, but this better be it. I don't want anymore surprises, so if you have anything else to tell me about this mall now is the time." she said. Kevin, her manager, was extatic. "Just the manequins, aside from that it's a pretty normal mall" he said.

The mall was a normal modern mall. It was dead. No customers and the little foot traffic they did have was from elderly people walking laps.

She looked at her watch and noticed the second hand ticking in the same place. The screen on her phone was cracked making it useless for telling time. "What time is it?" she asked her boss. "Seven, seven" he told her. She made her way towards the exit, passing the now frozen manequins. Now the weird poses made sense. One manaquin towerd over another, who was on it's back with it's arms fully extended in a defensive posture. Other manaquins froze mid battle with heads underneath armpits of others. When she first interviewed for the security job she assumed the manaquin displays were caused by bored retail workers trying to draw attention to their storefront. Now it was all too obvious that every night at midnight these things came to life and viciously attacked each other.

"its double the pay, it's double the pay, Its double the pay..." she kept repeating to herself.

"'Look, I’m only paid to patrol this mall at night, not to settle turf wars going on between the damn mannequins!'" The man in white said.

I had never been so intrigued by a mall. Now, as a detective, I must see what's going on. I took my flashlight out to see the said mannequins. My eyes were met with a bunch of tall plastic figures about 5 inches taller than I.

'Well, sir- I hate to say this but- there is nothing going on. Mind showing me the security cameras?' I asked, carefree.

'Of course, it's right this way, follow me.' The man in white replied.

He lead me to the cameras, a dark room with monitors all around. I had to take a closer look, but that's when I realized that the man in white had a mask on. It looked as if he was punching and kicking the mannequins.

I turned around, to ask him something, but he was gone. I had to go find him. But that's when I felt a hit onto the back of my head. Was is a bat? Crowbar? I don't know... but, the next thing I knew is when I woke up, I saw the man, he was pacing back and forth in his mannequin outfit.

That's when it hit me, the mannequin killer. I had to get out, I hit my panic button that my agency gave me. But, the man knew I was awake now. He turned to me.

'Ah, so the pretty one is awake? Well, how was your sleep, dear?' He asked.

My mouth was taped, my hands were tied but my legs were free, I used the wall to stand up, and I kicked him into a nearby table. That's when you guys showed up. My head hurt, so perhaps I was hallucinating.. But, it felt all real, sir." I told the cop who was getting my side of the story.

They had finally caught him.. The Mannequin Killer. But now, I was laying in a hospital bed wondering, "what if I were someone else?"

My name is Richard. I’ve stood post on the ManUp! Sector for many seasons. Many of my headless brethren have come and gone during my time here, but I am the veteran, I have always been here. Richard is always in fashion. Of course, there have been many casualties in the branding wars with the fellow inhabitants of our Mall Nation. Crevice Fashion have been our sworn enemies for longer than even I can remember, but they have lost far more than us over the many seasons. Now it looks like the long war is coming to a close, as Crevice have fell victim to the notorious Prices Slashed! epidemic. The red banners with the white wedge shaped cuneiform emblazoning it were the death knell for any and all outlet in our Mall Nation. Those that are above stated that we were meant to stay where we were, display what we have, and not get involved in what the other’s do. But this was too ripe an opportunity to pass by. With the support of several others, I, Richard, lead an attack against those dreadful Crevice lot, it was time for us to make our mark. This was when we met the Face.

As you are all aware, the Faces exist during the horrible burning hours of daylight. They are allowed to pass through our lands, look upon and admire our glory, our bodies, our attire. They can only hope to earn such prestige. But this one Face stood between Richard, our people, and our enemy. He held up a stick of light, and proclaimed in the harsh, vocal way that only Faces speak.

“Look, I’m only paid to patrol this mall at night, not to settle turf wars going on between the damn mannequins!”

It had been a while since we and ours had heard such harsh, guttural tones, but after a few moments we processed the meaning of what the Face shouted. We did not like it, and we reacted in kind. The scarlet stains would take some time to be cleansed from our pristine bodies, but the loud Face was silenced, so now we could proceed. Onwards through Crevice Fashion. Then onwards further.

First the rest of the Mall Nation would fall to Richard. Then, we would silence the Faces once and for all. They would look upon us, no longer.

"Look guys, I'm only paid to patrol the mall, just to walk around looking scary. I'm not paid to settle mannequin wars. Why are you fighting anyways?"
"They have better racks."
"No, they do." another responded.
Exasperated, I looked at them and stammered "They're identical! Same brand, same oddly crisp white, same size. Anyways, there are easier ways to settle this."
"Like what?"
"Like just use those perfectly functional legs, walk over to the other racks, and swap racks?"
"Oh."
"Good idea." said another.
"Yeah."
I sighed and face palmed. Then, turned to watch them peacefully changing racks. I let out a grin before continuing my night.

Another story here https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/122gr53/pi_abandoned_ghost_tries_to_timetravel/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb

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