thing from the wall. Glass shattered, alarms screeched and people screamed bloody murder in the aisle ways outside.
Without hesitation, Eliana bolted after the man who ripped
and shoved through shouting people and crying children. Eliana followed suit, carefully dodging figures, though she didn’t
truly need to. Every now and then, her shoulder or foot swung
through people’s bodies mystically, reminding her that she was,
in fact, invisible.
Behind Eliana, the security guards tore through the parted
crowd yelling, “Stop! Stop that man!”
Eliana’s heart pounded, her breathing was short and abrupt
as she stalked the man. She chased him for two more minutes
until they reached the end of the mall.
He’ll take the shortcut out the back, no doubt! Eliana thought
to herself.
Panting, she skidded to a halt and watched the burglar unexpectedly go, not out the shortcut to the dumpsters that she
thought he would, but out the back up toward the neighboring
freeway.
Eliana squinted then ducked out a different door to the
dumpsters.
We’ll cross paths! She thought. We’ll have to!
Eliana snuck out to where the trucks loaded off clothing and
items to restock the mall. Invisibly, she dashed to the corner and
hid behind the dumpsters to wait. To her left was the end of the
building and around the corner was the door that the Blackout
Burglar would escape from in order to get to the freeway, which
she supposed he was trying to reach. She huffed, glancing around
the corner in the skinny alleyway.
44