The mall parking lot was packed. It was near Christmas on a Saturday, so I should have expected as much. After searching for a parking spot for what felt like an hour, I found a spot far from the entrance but closer to the highway. I needed the steps anyway.

The inside of the mall was no different. I couldn’t get any shopping done because every line was out the door, so I went to Marsducks Café on the second floor to do some people-watching. The jewelry store was also on the second floor, so I could grab the engagement ring when the crowd died down.

Sitting in the café, I looked around. There was a couple walking past. The girl was super-excited as she led the way, pointing to different shops. Meanwhile, the guy was carrying bags and boxes of various sizes. You could tell he was ready to leave an hour ago from his expression. There was a man in a suit sitting on a bench. He stared intensely at his phone. You could see the sweat forming on his forehead as he loosened his tie. I could only imagine what text he was waiting for, maybe a baby on the way or an important business deal. Looking elsewhere, I saw a girl standing against a wall. The top of her hair was black like ash that faded into orange, yellow, and red, like little embers slowly going out. Even though it was winter, she had such a great tan. Looking closer, she seemed oddly familiar; then it hit me. There’s no way that’s who I think it is. She’s not supposed to be in town.

Finishing my coffee, I made my way to her. Hopefully, it was just someone who looked like her. I cut through the crowd as if I was a hot knife slicing through cold butter. As I got closer to her, I realized who she was. “Ruth?” I said. She looked up with excitement on her face that slowly melted into horror as our eyes met. Without a word, she ran.

It’s moments like these when the body moves on its own. It was like my subconscious took over—tired of all the inconsistencies, only wanting real answers. This determination to find out the truth caused me to chase after Ruth. A part of me knew the only way I could get those answers was if I caught her. The mall was a lot more crowded than it had been when I first came in, so I needed to push past people to keep up with her. I ran into the guy carrying the various bags and boxes for his girlfriend. He fell to the ground, everything in his hands scattered across the floor. I have to remember to apologize to him later. After that obstacle, I noticed Ruth was getting too far ahead, and I needed to close the gap or risk losing her in the crowd. I pushed past more people and slipped through any crack in the crowd to reach her.

Finally catching up to her, I was close enough to reach out and grab her, but then she ducked into a nearby Stacy’s, so I had no choice but to follow her. Ruth realized I was still hot on her tail, so she knocked over racks of clothes and nearby mannequins to slow me down. This would normally have worked to slow my pursuit, but chasing suspects was a part of my imaginary basic training obstacle course. So, this was nothing, or so I thought. It had been years since I practiced, so I was a bit rusty. I did my best running across display tables filled with clothes, jumping over fallen mannequins and racks of clothes. Even though I was rusty, I could still close the distance between us. Climbing onto one display, I jumped off the table and stretched out to grab her.

Suddenly, in mid-air, I was tackled to the ground. Dazed and confused, I felt a body on top of me. Looking back, I saw the woman on top of me was a mall cop. She stood; I tried getting up too, but she sent me back to the ground with her foot, pinning me down in place. Reaching for her radio, she said, “I’ve got one of the hooligans. The other one is still wrecking the Stacy’s. Wait, it looks like she’s heading to the store’s exit back into the main mall area.” When I looked up, I could see Ruth turn around for a second with almost a disappointed expression on her face; then, she left. Afraid of losing her, I took one of the nearby broken-off mannequin arms and hit the cop’s leg, causing her to lose her balance just enough for me to lift myself up and send her crashing to the floor. Running out of the store, I started my pursuit once again.

Reaching the mall area, I moved into the crowd, making sure the mall cop in Stacy’s hadn’t caught up to me yet. Looking around, I could see a dozen mall cops were looking for us. I frantically looked through the crowd to find Ruth. I needed to find her before one of the Paul Blarts did. Finally, over the railing, I saw her moving quickly through people on the first floor with sunglasses on. I mean, it was a good attempt, but with such a unique hair color, it was obviously Ruth. She started moving faster toward the exit near the gigantic Christmas tree where Santa sat. With the high ground, I ran in the same direction while monitoring her.

There was too much distance between us. I was coming close to losing Ruth and getting caught and thrown into mall jail. I couldn’t take the stairs. It would be too slow, and the elevator was out of the question. That was when it hit me. I had a great idea; it was crazy, but it could work. I could start an entire mall riot that would slow her down, and then I could sneak up to Ruth and pull her into a store to interrogate her in a changing room. On second thought, that would make things much worse. Plus, I had to think of the children. If a kid saw Santa beating people with a sack of coal, it would cause severe trauma.

Then it hit me. The answer was clear as day. But if I messed up, my jingle bells were going to get rocked. I climbed onto the railing overlooking the ground floor. Standing on top of it, I saw the mall cops running toward me, shouting for me to get down. Looked like there was no turning back now, so I took a leap of faith, reaching for the Christmas tree and grabbing onto one branch. Once I had my footing, I started my descent. I was so glad I went rock climbing with Jackie; otherwise, I would have wanted a lot more than my two front teeth for Christmas. Slowly, I made my descent until I was at a safe distance from the ground to jump. Letting go of the tree, I fell to the ground, almost landing on Santa and a little girl. I apologized, then pushed past Santa’s angry little helpers and ran toward the direction Ruth was heading to.

I could barely catch up to her as she turned into the corridor leading to the exit of the mall. As I made my way down, I could see her go through the exit into the parking lot. Behind me, I could hear angry shouting from the mall cops around the corner. But it didn’t matter. I pushed myself to run faster and burst through the mall exit doors.

However, it was all pointless because she was already in a car right outside the door when I finally got outside. I saw Ruth in the passenger seat looking at me, wearing a disappointed expression. I looked past her to see if I could recognize the driver. But it was too dark out, and I could only see the driver’s wrist—he wore a watch with a crack on its face. Not a moment later, the car pulled off.

Thinking quickly, I pulled out my phone and took a picture of the license plate. The vehicle continued to drive off into the distance, getting onto the highway and out of sight. I heard angry screaming behind me. I turned around to see a dozen angry mall cops almost at the exit. Realizing I was going to get more than a slap on the wrist if they caught me, I ran to my car, leaving the mall behind.

Hey its Kai,

First I want to thank you for reading up to this point. This is the last free chapter I will be releasing of my debut novel Swipe Right for Catfish. If you want to see how Autumn solves the mystery of who is catfishing her, if this story reaches 25 subscribers and 25 likes, then I will release the entire story for free. 

If you don't want to wait for it to be free, you can buy the book on Amazon or where ever else you buy your books.