“42.98.” The cashier tells me with a smile, handing me my bag, “Have a nice day.”

“Thanks .You, too.” I answer. I take the bag by the bottom, not bothering with the flimsy handles.

I pull my cell out of my pocket and start texting.
Mom-
at front entrance. Katie and Molly already left. Come soon.
-India

I click send and stuff my phone back in my pocket, dropping a chain necklace that I borrowed from my sister’s room. I pick it up and clasp it behind my neck.

If I know my mom, it’ll be a while until she picks me up.

I walk over to the girl’s room and step inside. I pull a little come out of my purse and wet it under the sink, putting it through my frizzy bangs. As I walk out, someone steals my purse.

“Hey!” I shout to the man, who was running outside. I’ve never been the type of person to shy away from danger that involves me. “Get back here!” Good thing I decided to wear my sneakers and not my heels.

He pushes open the automatic doors and an alarm goes off.

“Great,” I mumble, much too quiet for anyone to hear, “a crazy man just set off the fire alarm and took off with my purse.”

I still won’t give up. The only picture left of my brother is in that purse.

I don’t obey the orders to “stay calm” or “exit in single file.” I dash out the door onto the sidewalk. The man throws my purse down an alley in-between the two sections of the mall. I sigh and go in after it.

The alley is dark, and smells of car exhaust. I bend down to pick up my small, leather bag when someone pushes a dumpster to block my only exit.

I am trapped.

I hear chuckling. A sly man emerges from the darkness.

“You see,” he says, suddenly serious, but still holding his sly smile, “The funny part is that you really thought you could get away.”