The Mesmerized

A cluster of dazed shoppers bustled past, ushering their families toward the escalators. Some were tripping in their haste, and there was an increasing chance of people being trampled. Huddling together, Jake and Minji endeavored to avoid the wild flow of the crowd.

“What do we do, Jake?”

Both daughters were sobbing loudly and Minji felt close to joining them. Ava’s face was pressed firmly into her mother’s side and since Minji’s t-shirt was hitched upward, her hip was smeared with the snot and tears of her daughter.

“We need to get away from here. We should hold up in the hotel room and wait until the authorities let us know what to do next.” Jake’s blue eyes worriedly scanned the pandemonium before them. “It’s just going to be tricky getting to the elevators.”

Bailey’s snuffles tugged at Minji’s heart and she reached up to console the baby.

“Leave her in the backpack, Min. She’s safer in there for now. Carry Ava and keep close, okay?”

Lifting her whimpering eldest daughter onto her hip, Minji nodded. Jake was always level-headed, but fear for his children’s safety eroded his usual calm demeanor. His heightened color and the obvious worry in his eyes were unsettling. As though sensing her disquiet at his ruffled exterior, he slung an arm around Minji and kissed her lips before leaning down to press one to Ava’s cheek.

“We’re going to be okay,” he said to his daughter, and if the confidence filling his voice was fake, Minji didn’t care. Rising, he said to his wife, “We’ll deal with this together.”

Minji nodded. “I know.”

“Ready?”

“Yeah,” she lied.

Gripping her hand, Jake started to push through the human stampede.

The next wave of disorientation seized not only Minji’s brain, but her body. Stuttering to a halt, she was immobilized by the sensation of icy water rushing over her flesh and freezing her limbs. Ava slipped from her grasp and hit the floor with a resounding thump. Unable to move or cry out, Minji fought against the overwhelming power attempting to subsume her. A black void swallowed her eyesight, rendering her blind once again. This incident felt different from the preceding ones. This time, the power that seized her mind and body felt absolute, terrible, and eternal.

No,no,no,no...

For the single beat of her heart, her eyesight returned, but the world was transformed into a miasma of brilliant colors. Eerie voices rose in an off-key chorus of unimaginable beauty. The shocking, abysmal magnificence of what she was witnessing left her on the verge of madness.

Was she seeing heaven or hell?

As abruptly as it had come, the glorious, incomprehensible vision vanished, leaving Minji trembling in the wake of what she’d experienced. Darkness returned, but the blindness was welcomed after the terrible hallucination she had suffered.

In increments, mobility returned to her body. Warm liquid trickled from her nose and a coppery taste seeped between her lips. With quivering fingers, she wiped blood from her face.

The mall was eerily quiet. At first Minji thought she’d been deafened by the latest attack, but then her ears detected the rumble of the waterfall. Minji sucked in a harsh breath through her chattering teeth as her sight returned.

Every person in the area was unmoving, unblinking, and silent. Those who had been helping the bleeders now stood next to the dead in perfect mockery of stone sentinels over quiet graves. No one moved or gave any indication of awareness. It was as if the scene had been caught and suspended in a single moment of time.

“Jake!” Minji gasped. “Jake! What’s happening?” She pivoted toward her husband.

The tall Swede was completely still, blue eyes staring straight ahead. Jake didn’t flinch when she grabbed his arm and shook him.

“Jake! Wake up! Please, babe, wake up! We need you!”

Her husband remained impassive. Though his chest moved with breath and his eyes blinked every few seconds, he didn’t respond to her increasingly desperate cries. Slapping her hands against his chest, Minji attempted to awaken him.

Whirling about, she mewled in despair when she saw Ava among the human statues. Dark eyes unfocused, Ava didn’t react when Minji clutched her arms and gave her a frantic shake.

“Ava, Ava, please, look at mommy. Look at me!”

The five year old remained stock-still and silent.

With a sob, Minji pressed her palms against the rounded cheeks of the little girl. “Please, Ava, if you can hear me, look at me.”

Minji’s heart sank when Ava’s gaze remained blank.

Fighting against the heavy weight of fear and despair, Minji straightened and took several deep shuddering breaths of the much colder air. The phantom touch of a thousand strands of spider silk drifted over her flesh. She shivered.