The shroud veiling the elderly man’s body began to grow larger, its sinister presence unknown to everyone in the supercenter.
“A-Ashanti, do you see it?” I asked her.
“Y-Yeah,” she answered. “Must mean somethin’ bad is gonna happen if I can see it too. What do we do?”
The man growled before he went on a tirade about the price of an item, causing those waiting in line to back away from him. His menacing voice became deeper and more eerie with each word, and I was certain we were witnessing the shroud’s influence firsthand.
“This doesn’t make any damn sense,” he hollered. “The sign says it’s on sale, so why the hell is this place still charging so much for an air conditioner? Companies and the government don’t give a rat’s ass about us. They only care about money with these ridiculous prices and taxes on top of that.”
Tory walked up to us and asked, “Yo, why that old dude trippin’’?”
“He’s being controlled by the shroud,” Ashanti answered him. “Somethin’ bad is gonna happen.”
Tory narrowed his eyes and examined the man. “Shroud? I don’t see nothin’. All I hear is an angry white man gettin’ mad over taxes. To be fair, taxes are like microtransactions, so I hate’em too.”
“Bro, what?” I said to Tory. “This ain’t a joke.”
A female employee and a security guard approached the elderly man. “Excuse me,” the female employee began, “I’m sorry, but I have to ask you to leave. You’re causing a disturbance in the store.”
“You think so?” the man replied loudly with a glare. “Maybe a ruckus is needed to get those corporate assholes to listen to our demands. I am a senior citizen in desperate need of an AC. This heat is killing me, and all I want is to be comfortable in my own home. I want to feel good in the cold. Why can’t I have that? Give me that.”
The man shouting in the woman’s face caused the guard to step in. “Sir, it’s time to go. I’ll escort you to—”
Like the rest of us in the store, the security guard froze at the sudden decrease in temperature and the trail of ice forming underneath the man’s feet toward the different sections of the building. The glistening frost on the floor suddenly cracked open just as our mouths did to unleash horrid screams from the icicle shards magically shooting toward us.
His desire for cold was manifested. How?
Ashanti and I pushed past those running from the frozen projectiles and slid on the frozen floor to hide behind a checkout counter. “Where’s Tory?” I shouted over the wails of pain from those being pierced around us.
“Over there,” she yelled back, pointing at the apparel section across from where we were hidden. He was crouched down, hiding behind a small shelf full of clothes.
I locked eyes with him through the crowd of people sprinting for their lives. “What the hell is this, bro?” he called out to me. “We’re gonna die.”
His words must’ve been a beacon for the winds of death because a bone-chilling gust blew its way through the doors of the supercenter. The air removed the stacks of clothing he used for cover, forcing Tory to run for his life at the sight of ice shards launching toward him.
Seeing him flee in fear, I stood up to chase after him, but Ashanti pushed me aside and bolted in his direction before my feet could even move. If this was any other moment, I’d question if she ran track before moving here. But now was not the time; they were both in serious danger.
I followed behind her through the chaos and saw Tory use everything from clothes racks, bookshelves, and other means of defense to shield himself from the flying daggers of ice. His efforts to survive seemed pointless, though, as more frozen needles rapidly manifested.
“Watch out,” I shouted, spotting a couple of shards darting toward him. Ashanti leaped on top of him and took the blow as the two fell to the floor, her white T-shirt soaking in blood from a shard that grazed the side of her abdomen.
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“Dammit,” she cried out, rolling her body off him. Her screams only got louder as Tory helped her to remove the shard before grabbing a sweater off the ground and applying pressure to the open wound.
I rushed to their aid and stretched my arms out to protect them from further harm, but the ice levitating in the air flew away just as sparks came down from the ceiling. Only the sunlight from outside the building and the glistening ice of the frozen interior created a glow in the now darkened supercenter.
“Turn back time,” I urged Ashanti.
“I already did.” The lump in my throat was heavy at her response. “To save your friend.”
The elderly man made his away over to us with the sound of crushed ice crackling on the floor. I looked over at Tory in desperation. “Take Ashanti and hide somewhere.”
Whether it was out of fear or from the cold, his mouth shook. “Y-Yeah. Okay.”
Tory pulled Ashanti aside on the icy floor while I braced myself to confront the elderly man. We were only a few feet away from each other, but his dark, overbearing presence made it feel like he was right on top of me.
“You kids are the only ones left,” he said in a demonic voice. That alone made me wanna cower away. “What are you gonna do, huh? Try to come at me? You’ll end up like everyone else.”
Looking around at the dead bodies with gaping holes in them, he was probably right, but I had no other choice but to put my headphones over my ears, pray for a miracle, and fight.
Please work, I begged in my mind before hitting play on a song. Seeing the shroud circulate around the man, I knew my wish was granted the instant a jolt shot through my body and objects began to vibrate.
This man ain’t know what he was in for, but I was ready to show him.
Charging in with a clumsy punch because of how slippery the floor was, my fist failed to connect with his jaw due to a brick of ice manifesting in front of him to block the hit. I had more control over my actions this time around, but I couldn’t get used to an unexplainable force assisting my movements so aggressively.
Looking at my red knuckles, I held back my cries of pain to avoid showing weakness. That scream was soon let out once the man countered with a blow to my chest that slid me back against a wooden shelf.
I wasn’t gonna go down without a fight. I needed to go harder.
Seeing him step forward with his hands behind his back, I stood still and waited for his attack to avoid losing balance like last time. What helped was the hard-hitting bass and emphatic voice of the rapper on the chorus, which somehow made me feel stronger and capable of delivering a punch that shook the area once the man was in striking distance. He flew across the supercenter on impact and out of view, giving me time to take a breather.
Turning around to look at Tory hiding with Ashanti, I could see his mouth moving with a panicked expression, but his words were inaudible because of the music playing in my ears. I was afraid of taking off my headphones out of fear of losing my power, and that decision to keep them on saved my life once I turned back around and saw several icy daggers shooting toward me. A twist of my body helped to evade two of the blades, but not the third that penetrated my left arm.
The man reentered the scene with a toothless smile. His mouth opened wider for what I assumed was devilish laughter overpowering my hollers of agony. What the hell do I need to do to beat this guy? My desperate thoughts grew the second the song ended. What now?
The situation was not looking up for me as I pulled the sharp weapon out of my arm and saw blood drip onto the glittering surface. The man’s lips moved as frozen daggers manifested above him with each of the blades pointing in my direction. At this point, I thought it was all over for me, but the next track in my shuffled list of songs played, and a calm, euphoric sensation swirled in my chest before flowing into my arms and legs. When the R&B vocals whispered into my ears, the slow tempo somehow relaxed my nerves despite the dread of what’s to come.
No matter the danger, my body was ready to embrace it.
The daggers fired like torpedoes, and though my teeth were clenched in anticipation, my legs were nimble and looser than they’ve ever been. Something about the soft melody of the song made me feel lighter than the rap music that gave me strength.
With such agility, my body swayed left and right to evade the daggers as I slid across the supercenter like a figure skater. Watching his icy weapons shatter after failing to hit their mark, the man summoned a brick of ice in front of him in preparation for my attack. Sucks for him that I was already expecting his defense and dashed behind him with style to deliver a punch with my uninjured hand. He fell to the ground face-first, and just like that, he was out cold; but the shroud was more active than ever. It circled the man’s body like a tornado, possibly trying to revive him and take control once again.
At the sight of it, my hands started to vibrate before my arms extended out on their own to release a shockwave toward the shroud. The force sent the dark entity into a frenzy until it shrieked and fled the building. The ice consuming the supercenter rapidly melted away afterward.
It was over. Finally.
Removing my headphones, I sat on the floor in exhaustion while looking over at Tory. Man were we relieved, but we ain’t have time to celebrate. Ashanti needed to get to the hospital.
“Let’s go, bro,” Tory urged, coming over to help me to my feet. “We need to get outta here.”
We both carried Ashanti outside, where numerous cops and EMTs pulled up in front of the supercenter. Our lives were forever changed after this incident. Whether that was a good thing or a bad thing remained to be seen.