Memory Documentation

chapter eleven | documenting this beautiful, sorrowful day

This is no good, I thought, bringing an arm up to shield my face. Quickly, I ran to take refuge under a stationery and gift store's front awning. I was shivering in my sneakers.

"Which way do I go?" I muttered as I scanned my surroundings. Some of the stores looked familiar, like the Bath and Body Works at the end of the alley and the Sephora that had a revolving door but no regular door. However, though this mall was the one I came to whenever I needed to get any sort of shopping done, some of the stores were foreign to me. Since when did this place get that sweets shop down there? What about that photograph store a few buildings down from it?

"Crap, am I really lost? Have I not been here in that long?" I said, still speaking to myself. There wasn't a single soul to be seen.The mall was seemingly deserted. Everyone else must have read the weather report before coming out shopping.

As cold and wet as I may be, it didn't look like this weather was going to let up anytime soon. If I wanted to get out of it, I might as well brace the rain and head out into the storm. Standing around meant I was going to turn into a dripping icicle. Maybe, if my intuition doesn't fail me, I'll somehow stumble across one of entrances for the main shopping building.

Opening my stupid, torn umbrella again, I headed out. Since I'd been walking from the south end of the alley, I went straight. There were no other pathways for me to take. I was surrounded by stores on either side of me. Eventually, my path led me to a circular quad, where three different routes opened up on every side. In the middle, standing as the beautiful centerpiece, was a large, three-tiered fountain. I couldn't help but stare in awe as I noticed how the water had frozen over. The mall must have left the water spouting so that it would freeze beautifully like this. The curtain of icicles were so thick and white that I could barely see the speckled emerald detail of the basins. Would the ice not melt with this downpour?

I looked to my left, then my right. At first glance, the stores down either end didn't look very familiar. So, I continued straight.

As I walked quickly past the basin and towards the path branching ahead of me, I noticed movement in the corner of my eye. I turned. A woman, an older one, sat on the rim of the fountain, holding a small, orange coin bag. I took a step forward, squinting.

"Miss Sylvi? Miss Sylvia is that you?"

She didn't hear me, but it had to be her. I could tell by her (utterly soaked) clothing. She was wearing her favorite long, yellow cardigan and the brown loafers with a buckle design on them. I made my way to her, calling her name again. This time she heard me and looked up as I approached her. A smile stretched across her face, showing off the small gap between her two front teeth. Droplets of water raced down her forehead, plastering white hair to her temples. Her ponytail looked like a wet dog's tail.

"Oh, Darcy, honey. What are you doing here?" she greeted loudly over the pelting water. It didn't even look like the drizzle of snow and rain was bothering her, but I stepped closer and held my umbrella over the two of us. 

"I should be asking you the same thing, Miss Sylvi! You're barely dressed for this weather!" Granted, I somehow made the nonsensical decision to come out here with a torn umbrella, but that's besides the point. I tried taking hold of her arm, saying, "Come on, let's go find somewhere dry."

But she shook her head. Instead, she reached into the coin purse she was holding and picked out a nickel. "Oh, but I'm not done just yet, dear."

My face twisted in confusion as I watched her toss the coin into the frozen bottom of the fountain. It landed with a light tinkle, the noise blending and disappearing in the patter of rain and snow. "Miss Sylvi..." I began as she used her finger to rifle through the coin purse again, "Um, the fountain is frozen. I don't think this is the best time for wishes."