Carousels

Help

Alice was leaning against the wall of the bathroom in JC Penny's at the mall. She felt like dropping her phone in the toilet and never talking to her boyfriend, Jake, again. Her face was wet with tears and water from the sink, which she had splashed on her face in an attempt to make it appear as if she hadn't been crying. Alice's phone finally beeped, it was Jake. She tapped open, but before her phone could pull up the message, the screen went black. She tried several times to turn it back on, but it seemed to be dead. She slipped it back into her pocket, she could just charge it at home. Alice opened the bathroom door and stepped out into the store, closing the door behind her. All the electricity was off, the store empty and silent, except for an odd music coming from the mall. Alice looked around, trying to figure out what had happened. She saw a woman standing at the customer service desk, she seemed frantic. She looked to be about 10 years older than Alice, probably 27, 30 at the oldest.

"Hey," Alice called to the woman, "what happened?"

The woman responded, "I don't know, I came out of the dressing room and all the lights were off and everyone was gone." Alice gave the woman a suspicious look like she didn't quite believe her. "I swear I'm telling the truth, look, I found this in the customer service desk," she pulled a recording device out of her pocket, "it has my daughter's voice on it. She went missing and I think she's still in the store somewhere. " there was something in the woman's voice that made Alice believe her. "Please help me! I need to find my daughter! I was going to call the police, but my phone died." Said the woman.

"Mine's dead to..." Said Alice. "But maybe we can find a charger in the store somewhere."

"We should split up, we'll find one faster." Alice and the woman split up. Alice searched the juniors section while the woman searched the check out counters.

After about 10 minutes the woman called, "I found one!" They both ran to the bathroom, the only place in the stores with light, to charge the woman's phone.

After 5 minutes the phone was charged enough to make a call. The woman dialed 911. It rang twice, then a voice came, "Springfield Police Department, what's your emergency?"

Another girl and I are trapped in the Springfield Mall, we don't have electricity except in the bathroom, my 3 year old child is missing, I believe she is still in thee store, please send help!" The woman cried frantically.

The girl on the phone responded, "what's your name? What store are you in?"

The woman answered, "My name is Regina, we're in JC Penny's."

There was a pause, followed by the girls voice, "emergency crews are on the way."