Art by Ramon Sierra (Cocor)
On a lazy winter day Anna explored the levels and shops of a mall that was close enough to her house that she could walk to it. She didn’t have any money on her person but that didn’t matter to her, as simply looking at all of the different trinkets, gadgets and clothes was just as enjoyable as owning them herself. The floor of the mall was shiny enough that she could see her reflection as she walked along it, watching her short brown hair bob slightly up and down, and once or twice gazing into her own watery green eyes. She wore a light pink shirt and long white skirt and her shoes were a combination of those two colours. Once in a while she bumped into someone or something as she was looking at herself and apologised in her own uncertain and soundless ways.
The reason that she had entered the mall in the first place was because she knew her friend Chloe would be somewhere within the premises once her classes ended, which had been approximately ten minutes earlier by Anna’s count. Anna herself was not a student as she seemed to be under a constant illness that caused her to be too weak and tired and generally not feeling well enough to attend school. At the time of this small story Anna was thirteen years of age, which would have placed her in elementary school if she attended, and Chloe was fourteen, placing her in high school.
Anna had not been directly invited to join Chloe whenever she arrived, as Chloe had simply mentioned that she would be touring the mall on the day of this story. However, Anna had been feeling quite restless and lonely spending all of her time in her room, so a lightbulb turned on above her head and she decided to see if she could catch her precious friend like a butterfly fluttering low to the ground.
Anna walked into a coat, accidentally knocking it from its rack. From within the folds and layers of fabric came a person no larger than Anna’s hand, flapping its oily multicoloured wings until it was hovering an inch above the ground. Anna sat on her knees, watching the creature with great curiosity as it hovered in one spot, returning Anna’s gaze with glowing almond-shaped eyes. The creature’s snow-white skin was completely bare so Anna could tell that it was female.
Anna reached out to the tiny creature with her own pale white hands and gently scooped her up, then brought the creature closer to her face so that she could get a better look. This was when the small creature spoke to Anna, which was so unexpected that it caused her to jump a little, and the creature clasped onto one of her fingers to prevent herself from tumbling. Possibly the most remarkable aspect of the creature’s ability to speak was that it spoke in perfect English, or rather perfect casual English replete with slang. In its unique brand of tongue, the creature revealed her name to be Alice and related its plight.
Apparently Alice had been banished from the mall by its king for smuggling cookies and ice cream to her friends and family. Creatures of her type relied on such food for sustenance, so within the mall kingdom Alice had been flourishing. With such a kind heart as hers, she could only think of supplying those closest to her with the delectable treats, with no regard for her own safety or position. Once a pawn had caught her dragging a waffle cone through an opened door her life had become a toy train wreck.
Alice wept as she threaded the fabric of her tale and Anna couldn’t help but let her tiny heart go out to her. However, Anna could not think of how to help the small creature, though she did in fact want to, very much so. Alice gave a sigh of understanding though Anna never actually said anything, and dejectedly began fluttering away. Anna quickly scooped her up again and ran outside the mall with her, where she hid from sight between two tall bushes and a tree.
Once Anna let go of her, Alice took some dizzy steps across the dirt and fell into a moist patch of soil, which felt and looked so much like chocolate cake that it suddenly brought her back to her senses. She rubbed her head, gazed up at Anna’s curious, smiling face and knew she meant well. Although Anna thought she was bringing Alice to safety, Alice had in fact been trying to sneak into the mall for more ice cream and cookies.
Back in the mall Chloe was holding up a shirt to her body as though engaging in an elegant dance, though it was soon squashed when Anna seemingly came out of nowhere and hugged her. The poor shirt slipped to the ground and Chloe and Anna bumped heads as both of them bent down to retrieve it.
Chloe was understandably surprised to find her friend all by herself in the mall, especially since Anna had a habit of becoming lost in various public places when left to her own devices. At least Chloe had some welcome company, and Anna would say the same if she could talk, though the encounter with Alice had been pleasant in and of itself. Chloe took Anna’s hand like a protective mother takes her child’s and led her away from the store. Now that they were together Anna could take more time looking things over even if she had seen all of the things before, as sometimes it takes a second glance to truly appreciate the beauty in something.
They moved closely together as though sisters keeping each other safe in the dark, due in part to Anna’s swelling joy at being with her friend and fellow soul.
As Anna gazed up at the multicoloured lights of one particular clothing store, reminding her of the wings of the small creature she had recently met, Chloe held up one of her friend’s arms and slipped it into the sleeve of a fuzzy brown jacket. Anna wiggled the tips of her fingers through the long sleeve’s opening and slid her other arm into the soft warmth of the other sleeve as Chloe helped her into it, and zipped up the jacket for her. It was slightly large on Anna but Chloe knew that she would grow into it, as her mother had always told her and always ended up being true.
Even though the date was nowhere near Anna’s birthday or Christmas or any other special day where people were the recipients of gifts, Chloe had enough money and heart to purchase a present for her friend simply because she was as good a friend as she was. Anna was visibly glad about her new bit of clothing and felt warm and protected by its high quality material. She decided to view herself in the mirror of a changing room and it was there that she was shocked by the visage of the King of the Mall.
He gazed back at her as though he was her own reflection, though he was much shorter than she was, which was especially short considering how short Anna was herself, and looked rather grumpy. Stunned as she was by the sight, Anna found herself incapable of making any motions for self-defence when the King reached his astonishingly long arms through the mirror and grabbed her unresisting body, pulling her through to the strange place on the other side of the mirror. It was there that the King of the Mall held an audience with her in his throne room, surrounded by hundreds of tall windows that revealed views into various changing rooms from around the mall. However, Anna was so embarrassed by the sight of so many people in various states of dress that it took much frustrated shouting on the King’s part to gain her obedient attention.
When the King finally had what he sought after, he explained to Anna between sneezes that she was in much trouble for assisting the traitor known as Alice in her dastardly deeds. Anna was of course quite confused by this as she had assumed she was helping Alice, which she was, and didn’t rationalise that what was good for the small creature was not necessarily good for the King. She understood that she was in trouble and that she would pay penance for whatever wrong doings she was being accused of, so she knelt in front of the King as the servants did in the fairy tales that were read to her as a child and listened intently to all that he commanded of her.
The King of the Mall said that Anna could extricate herself from any further punishment if – and here the King had an enormously long fit of sneezing that was only settled after two of his servants held him down like a child refusing his shot and one of them pinched the king’s nostrils together until he gave one final sneeze that was so devastating it left him deflated like a popped balloon, but still well enough to continue his speech – she made sure that Alice was never seen within the mall again, under penalty of great sadness. With this weight placed unexpectedly upon her shoulders, Anna was escorted out of the throne room by two very tall and elegantly robed figures who pushed her through a window into the dressing room she had first come from.
Anna could hear Chloe knocking on the dressing room door, slowly opening it as Anna had never bothered with the locking mechanism. When Chloe peered through the gap she had made, Anna was still on the floor from when the King’s servants unceremoniously dropped her off, causing Chloe to worry about her friend’s state of health. However, Anna’s smile at being with someone familiar tore through any veil concerning her health and Chloe helped her up from the dressing room floor. She paid for the jacket with her allowance money and led Anna by the hand towards the mall’s entrance, as any further stay at the mall could lead to the loosening of more money and the tiring of Anna, who seemed very tired indeed for so early in the afternoon.
She rubbed her eyes sleepily as the Sun shone down on both of them and slowly melted the shimmering patches of snow remaining along the walkways and parking lot. As they were leaving the vicinity of the mall and crossing the street in the direction of Anna’s home, Anna made out a certain soft glow that could only come from that small creature that she had met during the day, the diminutive lover of sweets known as Alice. Anna pulled free from Chloe’s grip, which had gone on for far too long in any case, and scurried towards the direction of a skeletal bush where the glow had been emanating from. She soon took notice of the spectacular multicoloured wings that had captivated her not much earlier.
Of course, Chloe found Anna’s behaviour to be quite strange but, being the good friend that she was, managed to humour her with good-natured patience as she stepped towards her friend in no great hurry to turn her back onto the right track.
The small creature was holding up a tiny pair of binoculars to her eyes as she watched the mall with an intensity much larger than herself, then turned the binoculars upwards when she suddenly noticed the presence of someone bending over her and was startled by the sight of Anna magnified one hundred times. The binoculars fell to the ground as Anna gently scooped Alice into her hands like a kitten from its litter and slipped the small creature inside of her new jacket. Chloe placed a hand on Anna’s shoulder as she peered over it, trying to see what Anna had found but, finding nothing, she could only shrug and lead her friend back onto the sidewalk, where they walked along silently while Chloe and Alice wondered what Anna was up to.
On the way to Anna’s house was an ice cream parlour fashioned in the shape of a vanilla ice cream cone and Chloe, once again being the good friend that she was, offered to buy them each their own cones, which Anna could in no way refuse for two reasons: One was that she had decided to sneak Alice into the parlour so that she could thrive on ice cream to her and her loved ones’ content, and the other was that she could rarely if ever refuse ice cream as it was one of her singular most favourite foods.
While Chloe ordered them the dairy delights, Anna reached into her jacket and pulled out Alice, covertly nudging her across the counter behind the obscuring view of a napkin dispenser. Alice fluttered slowly to the ground and looked up at all the ice cream machines and chocolate chips, grinning from one ear to the other. The sight of a chocolate ice cream cone appearing in front of Anna caused her to smile almost as wide and she took it from Chloe’s hand, and the two of them left the parlour while enjoying their cold treats. The Sun warmed Anna’s shoulders and everything was fine and lazy once again, or at least until the King of the Ice Cream Parlour discovered his unwelcome guest.