“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.

The bright rays of light warmed Ethels skin. She was thankful for the tranquility and grateful for the company next to her.

"Those people are in the news again..." Said Barry.

Ethel already knew who "those people" were. She didn't want her friend to get worked up again.

"Oh, you pay those people no mind, Barry" she said hoping to come up with a different topic.

"if I would have known that this is how the world would have ended I would have never given the best years of my life for those- those-"

"You need to just focus on the good. The time you spent over there was not wasted. You got out alive, you raised a beautiful family." She was hoping bringing up Barrys family would inspire him to change the subject.

"You know what they called me the other day? They called me a Nazi. How the hell can I be a Nazi?" He said.

"They did not." she said. Flabegasted by the very thought.

"A couple of them came into the store, holding hands and kissing. It was disgusting. There were kids there and these- these-"

"They were kissing? In front of kids?"

"Hell, if I wouldn't have stopped them who knows how far it would have gone. I kicked their butts out of my store and thats when one them called me a nazi." Barrys voice squeaked when he said it.

"It's all over the place." He continued.

Ethel asked about his grandkids: "Does Marcus like living in DC?"

"aww, hell, we barely hear from Marcus ever since he left for Howard" Barry said in the same tone.

"It's not the same university I went to when I was a kid." Barry was getting ready explode.

Just then Duke, their neighbor across the courtyard, waved at the widow/widower couple. Duke was a young man, he looked to be about 20 to Ethel and Barry (altough to them, anyone under 40 always looked like a 20-year-old).

"How you doing young brother?" asked Barry. Despite Duke being a white man, Barry still called him brother. It was just like Barry to treat all people with the same level of affinity. Duke was a respectful young man that went out of his way to be friendly to his neighbors. Duke was in PT attire but still postponed his workout to chat with the elderly couple. He brought up the weather and made a few self-deprecating jokes. That seemed to change Barrys whole demeanor. Duke waved goodbye and went on his run.

"I like that boy" said Barry.

"Me too, he's so respectful" Ethel said.

"Not many men his age know how to wear their shorts" he said.

"or pants" said Ethel

"It's a damn shame"

The two sat on the bench, absorbing sunlight and enjoying each others company. If Ethel wasn't on dialysis she would have brought tea for them to enjoy. Barry reached into his pocket and pulled out a some hard candy. He silently offered Ethel a piece but she politely declined. The two had been neighbors for a long time. Neither of them had ever met each others spouses but each knew about them in detail. Ethel would talk about her late husband, Frank, and Barry about his late wife, Gladys. Sometimes Ethel would cry at the memories of Frank and sometimes Barry would hold back tears when he brought up Gladys. The one thing they both had in common is that each one found a perfect love and were given big families because of that love.

Before either of them knew what time it was Duke was back from his run already. He was drenched in sweat and his smile was an indicator that his run went well. The sun had shifted and two no longer were under it's direct light.

"Well, that's it for me Ethel. I got to back inside and take a nap" said Barry.

"ok, Barry." she said.

Barry made a grunting noise to get up and slowly made his way back to his home.

"Barry!" cried out Ethel. He turned around (despite all his shuffling he was only a few feet away from her).

"Try not to watch so much news, they only want to make you mad, it's how they sell their crap" she said.

Barry laughed, agreed with Ethel and made his way back home.

Ethel sat on that bench a little longer and took in the site. For her, every breath was like a fine glass of wine. She knew that soon her and Frank would be together again.

I came on here to say that most celebrities lie about everything but after seeing your list, I'm not suprised by those names. All of those people are undeniably talented. What they are popular for is just the tip of the iceberg for them.

Observe and Report

He breathes through his nostril. He's never been a fan of 'nose breathing'. He thinks he would understand the appeal if he himself had a pair of working nostrils. He's doing it so as to not suspect weakness in front of the girl.

She looks at him without a care in the world. She's half his size but twice his weight. She could topple this stick if she needed to. "Turn around!" she shouts. This guy isn't getting away, she's finally caught him and despite her lack of back-up she not going to risk him getting away. Not again.

"Turn around! I won't ask you again." she reaches for her tazer and aims at his torso.

He thinks about taking those prongs out. He could sweep across at the right moment and let momentum swing his arms across the electrical wire.

With one hand on the pistol and the other on tazer, she stiffens her wrist and bringt the weapon to her sights. She know this guy is up to something.

He throws his hands up and turns around. She''s going to have to put her weapons away to arrest him. He can still take her...he hopes.

She tells him to interlock his fingers behinde his head and to slowly drop to his knees.

"I've got bad knees!" he yells out. Lying.

"I don't care. Drop!"

"This is bullshit!"

"On your knees, or on your face!"

"Fuck You!"

"Listen, my dude.." she says condescendingly.

"Your'e going to drop to your knees or you're going to stand there all day until my back-up arrives. But if you move from that spot right there-like, if you unlace your fingers or drop your hands I'm going to shock the fuck out of you!"

He stays quite. All that's going through his mind is that he's not going back to prison. Her back-up isn't coming. He can time his reaction just by the sound of the tazer shooting out.

"ok, this is just going to look worse on your arrest record"

He spits on the ground. Hoping that would cause her to react.

"Listen, my dude-"

"shut up! stop calling me that!"

"What's your name?"

"What?"

"What's your name?"

"My name?"

"Yeah, you're name"

"My name if Fuck-You-I-got-bad-knees!"

She notices that despite him being less than six feet away they are still yelling at each other.

"Ok, F.Y.I.G.B.K..." she says, sounding out each letter in quiter tone.

"If you want to stand here all day we can. I'm half your size- I mean personally I know I can take you- but I don't know if you have any other weapons. So we're going to stand here all day until my back-up shows up." she says, taking huge gulps of air.

"Ok, well I'm not dropping to my knees, I earn my money doing labor if I lose my knees I can't make a living." He tells her. He's biding for time. Despite what she says, his back-up will be back before her's.

"I understand that-"

"No, you don't! You get to go on medical leave and get paid time off if your thumb is sore from paperwork! Regular folks don't have that. I'm not dropping to my knees. Come and arrest me or we wait for back-up."

"Or I can fucking taze you if you move," she says. Losing her patience.

"Do it!"

A loud burst of gunfire erupts on all sides. She feels bullets wizzing by her and retreats to a secure position. She ducks behind a solid object and keeps her firearm at the ready.

The man takes a deep breath but feels an obstuction. It's as if he's breathing in water. He notices himself laying down. His breaths get shallower and more labored. His back up he thought, dying.