“Venti pumpkin spice latte,” said the woman, barely looking up from her phone. “Extra pumpkin spice topping. That’ll be all.”

Autumn punched the order in on the touch screen with practised ease, suppressing a yawn of boredom. She didn’t have the energy to deal with being yelled at for not looking passionate about taking a hundred identical orders.

The woman paid with her card and then stepped away to the other end of the counter to wait for her drink. Thankfully, there were no more customers behind her, so Autumn could take a much-needed breath until the next wave.

The yawn decided it would not be held back any longer.

“Wow, Autumn.” Her coworker Jay appeared at the second register, his hands behind his back as he tied his apron. “Didn’t get much sleep?”

“No, not really.”

“Everything alright?”

“I’ll live,” she answered. She’d had another nightmare, but this wasn’t something she was about to tell her fellow baristas about.

Jay knew her well enough to tell when she was using her ‘I don’t want to talk about this any more’ voice. “So I just got here. How’s the first day of pumpkin spice season been?”

“Same as last year, I guess,” she said. “Every other order maybe. Haven’t really been counting.”

“No white girl zombie apocalypse horde?” Jay asked.

“Give it time,” Autumn said with a slight smirk.

The store manager, Chase, came by at that moment. “Jay I need you to do a supply run.” He handed Jay a slip of paper with all the milks, cups, ingredients, and everything else they’d need from the back room. “Autumn, face the front. You have a guest.”

Autumn suppressed a sharp remark. She’d looked away for only a few seconds to talk to Jay, but of course Chase couldn’t miss a chance to bust her balls. She turned back around to the front of the store and what she saw took her breath away.

A gorgeous woman was making her away up to the counter. She was tall, nearly at eye-level with Autumn herself. Her hair was jet black, with highlights of red and blue. Her skin was pale, and her makeup was applied so perfectly that Autumn was envious. Her clothes were fittingly dark and stylish, and left no doubt to which store at the mall they’d been acquired from.

Normally Autumn wouldn’t have been very impressed by someone so desperately clinging to mid-2000’s goth fashion, but this woman pulled it off so well that she couldn’t criticise her.

“Hello,” the woman said as she reached the counter, smiling warmly.

Autumn’s gaze was captured by a view of the front of her top, which was cut just low enough to NOPE DON’T STARE AT THOSE.

Autumn forced herself to make eye contact. The woman’s eyes were a striking shade of coppery brown, and it was nearly as distracting as her breasts.

“Uh... Hello,” Autumn managed, remembering that she had a job. She hadn’t been tongue-tied that long, right? “What can I get for you?”

The woman looked away bashfully. “I’m afraid I’m not really sure. I’ve never actually been here before. One of my employees spoke so highly of you I just had to check this out. What would you recommend?”

Autumn considered for a moment. God, she was pretty. “Well, the pumpkin spice lattes are really popular right now.”

“I’m vegan, I’m afraid,” she answered. “Do you have anything without milk?”

“We do, yeah,” Autumn said, feeling a little more sure of herself now. Her favourite part of the job was helping people figure out what they wanted. “There’s the berry refreshers. And we can substitute almond milk in any of the drinks.”

The woman considered, chewing on her black-painted lip as she looked over the menu. She asked about a few other things, before finally deciding on an almond milk latte.

“Name for the order?” Autumn asked as she typed it in.

“Summer.”

Autumn paused. What a weird coincidence. She hoped this woman wouldn’t notice the name tag she was wearing and say-

“Oh hey, your name is Autumn!” Summer said with a laugh. “What are the odds? I guess that makes us like sisters, huh?”

Autumn smiled politely. At least it was better than the myriad of people thanking her for the weather, or creepy guys clumsily comparing her red hair to leaves or some shit.

“Your drink will be ready at the end,” Autumn said.

“Thank you so much,” Summer said, as she stepped away. “I’ll see you around.”

Something about that sent a shiver through Autumn.

The lunch rush was well over by now, and there were no more customers waiting behind Summer. Autumn let out a tired sigh.

She felt her phone vibrate, and after checking that Chase wasn’t looking, discreetly checked in.

Taking lunch in 5. Meet me at the usual spot?

“Hey Chase, isn’t it about time for my thirty?” she asked.

The manager looked up from the planner he was reviewing at the clock. “Yeah, okay. Amy, take her spot on register.”

After clocking out and folding up her apron, Autumn looked down at the end of the store, where Summer was waiting for her drink. The other lady was still there, sipping her latte and smiling as she listened intently to whatever Summer was saying. Her phone was nowhere in sight.

Hillview Mall was once a hip, thriving place to be. Or so Autumn had heard from old people, after telling them she worked there. It was a great place to go if you wanted to shop for overpriced clothes, or waste your money on Funko Pops. The only hip thing there were the skaters that she occasionally saw being chased out of the empty movie theatre parking lot by the mall cops.

She took a drag from her cigarette and let out a very tired sigh. It was cool to work somewhere that she couldn’t afford to shop at. The drinks were free, at least, though she wished there was something stronger in them than espresso.

A cool breeze blew through the lot, sending brown leaves dancing over unoccupied parking spaces. Everything just looked so... dead.

The door back inside opened with the sound of a push, and Holly emerged backwards, her hands occupied with a food court lunch and a soda.

“Hey there!”

Autumn wordlessly waved ‘hi’ with her non-cigarette hand.

Upon noticing the smoke, Holly’s perky smile dropped a bit. “Aww, rough day?”

“Just tired,” she answered.

Holly sat down on the concrete ground beside her, pulling her legs in under her. “You should have more for lunch than a cigarette, you know.”

“I had a sandwich on the way here.”

Autumn finished her cigarette and put it out on the wall behind her. She flicked the butt away, where it joined it’s brothers who she’d left on prior days, and then she slid down the wall to sit beside Holly.

“How were things today?”

“Not as bad as I’d been warned,” Autumn said. “Everyone told me how crazy it would get once the pumpkin spice was rolled out, but it hasn’t seemed any busier than usual. I dunno, maybe this fucking mall is just dying out.”

Holly frowned, perhaps unsure if she should say anything.

Their friendship was an unusual one. There was Autumn, tall and ginger, dressed in plaid and denim, and not the friendliest person on a good day. And then Holly, tiny and cute as a button, with her blonde hair and her unending fountain of positivity. Holly was the sort of person who could and would befriend anyone, and Autumn’s natural inclination to push people away seemed to only embolden her. Eventually she had won out and they now shared a lunch break whenever schedules permitted.

Unlike Autumn, Holly was taking classes online, studying to become a pharmacist, which was the last thing Autumn would have guessed at first glance.

Autumn rubbed her tired eyes. Four more hours of this shit. She looked at the cigarette box, wondering if it was worth it to have another one.

“You shouldn’t smoke,” Holly said. “Remember what Brandon Lee said in that movie? Those things’ll kill you.”

“Capitalism will kill me long before cigarettes do,” Autumn replied, though she did put the box away.

“You look really tired,” Holly said. “You have bags under your eyes. Maybe you should ask if you can go home early.”

Autumn scoffed. “What did I just say about capitalism?”

Holly frowned. “If there any way I could cheer you up?”

A sad Holly was like a sad puppy; instantly, Autumn felt bad for her attitude. “I’m sorry. I appreciate it though. It was an okay day, I really am just tired.”

Holly smiled and took an adorable bite from a french fry.

Wanting to change the subject and avoid any further snark, Autumn asked, “So how has your day been?”

“Ah! So, you remember how I was talking about the old store manager leaving?” Holly immediately perked up. The easiest way to sustain a conversation was to get Holly talking.

“I think I remember that. You were glad to see him go.”

“Mhmm! So the new lady started the other day, and today was my first shift with her,” Holly continued excitedly. “She’s amazing. We were friends right off the bat, and we were talking about music for hours. She’s so cool, and she actually seems like she wants to be there!”

“That’s cool,” Autumn answered, with a slight smile. If only someone would come in and replace her dipshit of a manager...

“I told her about you and Starbucks, and told her she should get a drink on her break. Did she come by when you were leaving?”

Autumn considered. “Hmm... Tall, curvy lady, dresses like she’s late for the MCR reunion tour?”

“Yeah, Summer! You met her?”

“I did, just before my break.” Now that she thought about it, it was pretty obvious someone like that would be Holly’s new Hot Topic manager. If she wasn’t so tired, her synapses would have probably fired a bit faster and made that connection.

“She’s so cool!” Holly exclaimed. “Isn’t she? Was she nice? Did you guys get along?”

“We didn’t talk for very long, but yeah, she seems nice. I’d take her over some of the people I dealt with today.”

Holly rested her chin on her hand and sighed dreamily.

Autumn frowned. Sighing dreamily about a pretty girl was more her thing. Holly usually only got this excited when a new boy had entered her life. “You sure seem charmed by her.”

“Honestly, how could I not be? I hated that sexist jackass that was there before. I was honestly thinking about quitting the job before he told us he was leaving. To go from someone like him to... her?”

“I mean, you’ve only known this woman for what... four hours?”

“Ahh, sometimes with people you don’t know, but other times, you do. Do you know what I mean?”

Autumn sighed. “No, I can’t say I do.”

“Autumn!”

She snapped awake in a moment of confused panic. What was-?!

Her surroundings came to her: she was still at Starbucks, at the register. She was safe.

Well physically safe; Chase was standing beside her, and he wasn’t pleased that she was nodding off on the job. Luckily, there were no customers at the moment.

“Sorry,” she said, rubbing her eyes.

“You know, even if there aren’t any guests to serve, we expect you to be working when you’re on the clock,” Chase told her, in his very carefully-measured boss voice. “You can always find something to do.”

She looked over the cafe. There was nothing to do. It was near the end of the day, the seats were empty, there were no orders, the place was spotless, and the sink was empty. The only others there were Amy and Jay, and they looked as bored as her.

“What would you suggest?” she asked, putting in significant effort to make that sound like a genuine question, instead of a cheeky remark.

Chase mirrored her examination of the store, before frowning under his bushy beard.

“Well,” he said, checking his watch, “there’s only twenty minutes left on your shift. You clearly need the sleep, and I got these two here. Just go home.”

Autumn nodded without saying anything. She didn’t trust herself to stay professional right now. From anyone else that might have sounded like concern, but she knew the bastard was just using that as a chance to shave her hours a little more. If so many of her coworkers weren’t students, she knew she wouldn’t be getting full time as it were.

It wasn’t much of a favour in any case; Holly had texted her earlier and needed a ride. Her parents were out for the night, and she had to stay until closing, so Autumn couldn’t just go right home either.

Autumn clocked out at the back office. She folded up her green apron and stuffed it away in her purse, down deep where it couldn’t hurt anyone else. Then she pulled her scrunchie out, letting her wavy red hair loose with a shake of her head.

On her way out, she stopped by the register, which Amy was now standing guard at.

“Can you ring me up a drink to go?”

“Sure thing,” Amy said, smiling. “The usual?”

Autumn considered. “Add an extra espresso shot to it. I’m dead on my feet.”

Amy nodded, and punched up her order. “You know, if you’re having trouble sleeping, you could try melatonin. My sister swears by it!”

As if I’ve never heard that helpful suggestion. “Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.”

A few minutes later she was back outside at the same exit door as before, the sun setting behind the apartment complex buildings across town. The autumn air was noticeably cooler now, and the plastic cup of hot mocha was a welcome relief.

She could have just waited in her car, but sitting down in that seat was a temptation to sleep that she didn’t need right now.

Autumn checked her phone again.

Sorry, will be there asap. Still closing.

Summer is so cool!!! :D

Sent 12 minutes ago.

Autumn sighed. It could be another hour at this rate.

She sipped her coffee and browsed the web until that bored her. Then she watched stupid videos on it, until that too bored her. She finished the coffee and set the cup on the ground beside her. She had another cigarette and once she’d finished that, she checked her phone. Twenty-five minutes had passed; no update from Holly.

“Girl, I’m gonna leave your ass here at this rate,” she muttered.

Autumn woke with a start. She was still outside, sitting against the wall. Her phone was in her lap, and her empty coffee cup had blown away at some point. The parking lot was dark.

She groaned, sitting up and rolling her shoulders with a crack. Not a comfortable posture to sleep in. She checked her phone. It had been forty-five minutes since Holly’s last message.

Autumn sighed and typed out a message to her:

Autumn: U dead in there?

She stood up and paced around the lot, not straying too far from the door; she feared if she got too close to her car, the temptation to get in and drive home would conquer her. A warm bed sounded heavenly right now.

She looked at her phone again. The message wasn’t even marked read.

“Fuck this, I’m at least getting out of this cold.”

Autumn pocketed her phone and went back inside the mall.

By now, Starbucks was closed, so getting another drink was off the menu; they were only free when she was working, anyway. She strolled the mall aimlessly, passing countless luxury clothing stores she wouldn’t have shopped at, even if they were open.

She was tired, and wanted nothing more than to sit down, but she needed to stay awake for the drive home.

Well, there was one place that she knew she could go.

She found Hot Topic at the far end of the mall, tucked away in the corner as if the building were ashamed of it. Her surroundings were so quiet, she could hear the music playing before she was even inside.

Within, she found a hell of poseur consumerism; a time capsule untouched my human hands for fifteen years. As far as the eye could see, Jack Skellingtons and pokey-mans filled every visible corner. Only shirts of characters from recent Netflix fad shows gave any indication that the store was still receiving new product.

“Hey,” someone called to her, “I know we’re not locked up, but we’re actually closed.”

“I’m here for Holly,” Autumn replied, unable to tear her eyes away from the My Hero Academia Funko Pops. “I got tired of waiting for her outside.”

“Oh right, she said she was getting a ride from someone.”

Autumn turned to look at this person. They appeared female (though Autumn quickly spotted the ‘they/them’ pin on their shirt), with short-ish purple hair styled in that one-sided undercut that was so popular a few years ago. They had ear, nose, and eyebrow piercings, and on their neck they wore a black chocker. They looked as bored as Autumn felt, no doubt the reason for the open paperback they had on the counter.

Autumn approached the counter, looking around for any sight of her friend. “I take it she’s busy?”

“Yeah, she’s in the back with the new manager.”

“Ah,” Autumn said. She looked down at the name tag on this person’s shirt. Bonita. Well, it wouldn’t have been her first guess. “I hope this new manager wouldn’t be too upset if I kill some time in here?”

“Nah she’s chill,” Bonita said. Now that Autumn was close, she could see they were chewing gum like a stereotypical office receptionist. “I can’t sell you anything, but knock yourself out.”

“Thanks, but there isn’t really anything here I’d want to buy anyway,” she replied. “Not really my style.”

“I can tell,” Bonita said with a slight smirk, before returning their attention to the book.

Autumn glanced down at the book as she stepped away and caught the title at the top of the page: Quit smoking in less than 30 days.

Now she knew why Holly had been getting on her case earlier.

She strolled around a bit, idly checking the things on the shelves. Aside from one or two band shirts, there really was nothing she’d want to actually spend money on. She genuinely could not understand how they managed to stay in business. She came across what could only be described as a ‘Kingdom Hearts’ section; she remembered trying those games as a kid and not being able to take them seriously after seeing Mickey Mouse in a fucking trenchcoat.

Eventually she found herself at the back of the store, looking at more of the same.

“At least Spencers has sex toys back here,” she muttered to herself.

There was a door marked ‘Employees Only’ there, and she could very faintly hear voices on the other side. Holly and Ms Summer, no doubt. They were probably preparing for the next work day, but good lord, how much longer could that take?

Autumn looked at her phone again and cringed at the time. She really needed to get home soon, and she still had to drive Holly back yet.

“I have to say something,” she said to herself. “Her boss must not know I’m waiting for her. I’ll just pop in real quick and-”

She stopped just short of pushing open the door, as she was now close enough to hear what was being said.

“...feels so good...”

What the fuck...?!

That was unmistakably Holly’s voice.

“It does feel good to trust, doesn’t it?” That was Summer now, her words flowing like honey. “To let down those guards you keep up around others. So friendly on the surface, but so afraid of being hurt that you keep everyone at arms distance.”

“Yesss...” Holly answered, sounding like she was about to burst into tears.

“What the fuck is this?” Autumn whispered. Unable to help herself, she drew over to the door and very carefully pushed open the door.

Summer was sitting on a cardboard box, her legs crossed. And kneeling before her on the floor was Holly, staring up at her with what Autumn could only describe as rapt adoration.

Summer held Holly’s chin with one hand, using the other to gently stroke her blonde hair. “You couldn’t fool me even for a minute. You wanted to let me in, but you were also afraid. You felt you didn’t deserve true kindness, because you’re not used to it. But I saw right through you, didn’t I?”

“You did...” Holly replied, her words coming out heavy and breathy.

“You can trust your heart,” Summer told her intently. “Trust yourself to trust the people you feel safe with. And you feel so safe with me, don’t you?”

“Soo... sooo saaafe...”

“You don’t need to remember what we’ve discussed here,” Summer continued. “As far as you need be concerned, we unpacked boxes and talked about our mutual love for Simple Plan. But the lessons will stick with you, deep within your mind, reminding you any time those doubts resurface. And when I tell you to obey, you will obey.”

“I will obey...” Holly sounded as though there was nothing more pleasurable in the world.

“Good girl.” Summer grinned. “Now come here. There’s something I need from you. You won’t remember this either, will you?”

“I won’t,” Holly said, rising to her feet.

Summer gently moved Holly’s hair to the side, and then, in one very short moment, she had fangs in her grin.

Holly gasped as Summer bit into her neck.

Autumn’s blood ran cold.

She was paralysed with fear. Part of her was screaming at her that she needed to run in there and help her friend. Another part of her was saying that it was too late, that this predator creature had Holly and she needed to run to save herself. And another, smaller part, was wondering how the hell this was real.

Do something, do something YOU IDIOT!

But as soon as it started, it was over. Summer pulled away from Holly’s neck, who swayed in place. She held out a red cloth to Holly’s neck.

“Hold that there, sweetie,” she instructed, licking the red from her lips. “Nice and firm until the bleeding stops.”

Holly blinked in a daze. “Why... why did-”

“Shh,” Summer interrupted. “What did I instruct you a moment ago?”

Holly thought for a moment. “Oh. Of course.” She smiled in a stupid daze.

“Right.” Summer smiled. “You forgot it already, haven’t you? Because it wasn’t important; it wasn’t worth holding on to. Just like those anxieties and fears. You know you can trust me, and if it was important, I would tell you.”

“Of course,” Holly chuckled like a ditz.

“I have one last thing before you go,” Summer told her. “We don’t want to keep your friend waiting all night, do we?”

At that, Autumn remembered herself. Finally giving her instincts agency, she closed the door, which thankfully shut without any sound. She stepped away, her steps slow and laboured as if her body was fighting her.

That... couldn’t have been real.

And yet it was. She was tired, but she’d seen that with her own eyes.

“What the fuck,” she whispered.

She needed to get out of here. She needed to get away from that woman. Away from that... thing, whatever she was.

In a daze, she walked to the front of the store. The bubblegum-chewing employee, Bonita, was still there.

“You okay?” they asked

“Yeah,” Autumn replied automatically. “Just tired.”

“Mmm, I saw those rings under your eyes,” they said, loudly chewing that gum. “You should get some cream. There’s a Sephora somewhere here in the mall.”

“Thank you,” Autumn remarked with heavy sarcasm. Even the shock of what had just happened wasn’t enough to make her just let a comment like that hang.

She heard the door opening at the back of the store, and she tensed up. Thankfully, a moment later, it was only Holly that appeared.

“Oh, Autumn, hey!” she greeted cheerfully, bouncing on her steps as she always did. “Got bored of waiting for me?”

“Um... yeah,” Autumn managed. She looked fine; no different than she had earlier in the day when they’d met for lunch.

Unable to help herself, Autumn’s gaze travelled to Holly’s neck. She half-expected, half-hoped that there’d be nothing there, and she could convince herself this was all a weird dream she’d experienced while nodding off.

There were no bite marks to be seen, because Holly was wearing a black choker; identical to the one that was on Bonita.