Nils was trying to drink a pink Turbo Shake while checking his phone.

It was painful to watch, but I couldn't look away. The man seemed to be unable to put the straw in his mouth.

I'm pretty sure it went up his nose at least once. It hit his sunglasses a couple of time.

His lips were doing that thing like they were trying to get away from his face.

"Do you need help with that?"

"What? No, I know how to use a phone!"

He sounded defensive.

"No, I mean, with your drink."

"No. No, I got it."

Uh. Was he blushing?

"Don't go there," I told myself. The guy is nuts.

"This is really good! What's in it?"

"Pink Sludge".

He started coughing.

"It's not that bad. I mean, it is, but..." I trailed off; something was wrong.

There was the eerie silence again. How could it creep up on us like that?

"Nils!"

He was still coughing hard. He looked at me; I could see he was scared.

I jumped over the counter and manhandled him toward the supply closet.

Once I had locked the door, I had a good look at the guy.

He had somehow fallen on his ass and was clutching his shake.

I crouched in front of him.

"Nils, you need to tell me what the fuck is happening in this mall".

He gave me a fierce look, which was somewhat diminished by the fact he had protein shake all over his hands and shirt.

"Now is not the time, Ben", he whispered.

I sat down next to him.

"Why?" I said softly, trying to match his tone.

That when it happened.

A knock on the door.

And then another.

Then the doorknob rattled.

Shit, shit, shit! Not again!

Wait, what was I thinking? For all I know it could be the owner wanting to know why I ran in the supply closet with some random guy.

But no, something felt wrong, the utter silence, the sudden cold.

The look on Nils' face.

I wanted to ask, "What do we do now?" but got as far as a whispered "What" before the thing on the other side of the doors spoke.

It sounded like a low rumble at first, like the first shakes during an earthquake, the ones that only animals can sense.

Out of the rumble came out layers of voices. Some so low that I felt them in my chest, some so piercingly high that they made my ears hurt.

Nils quickly wiped his hands on his trousers and put them on my ears. He was looking at me with an intense look that I couldn't understand.

I could still make out what the thing was saying; it made the same request as before.

It wanted a BlueBana Hardcore Impact Shake.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

I felt myself shivering. Nils was holding on to my head for dear life, and it was starting to hurt.

I put my hands on his, motioning for him to let me go.

He misunderstood my gesture and pulled me into a tighter hold. He was almost hugging me, which could have been nice if his protein-shake covered shirt wasn't right in my face.

I must have made a noise because the thing on the other side of the door repeated its request in its hell-choir voice.

"This sucks", I whispered to Nils.

He made what he probably thought was a petulant sound but to my ears sounded like a rubber duck getting stepped on.

The door started vibrating. At that point, I admit I was getting a bit fed up with all that racket.

"Can't we just tell it to piss off?" I asked Nils softly.

More duck noise, followed by an indignant "No, we can't tell it to piss off!" whispered loudly.

There was a noise like a blimp deflating on the other side of the door. I recognised it from the other time. It sounded like my dad's sigh of disappointment but much louder and sadder.

Nils removed his hands from my ears at the same time my phone rang.

Shit.

Shit.

Shit.

It was Leon, the owner of the protein-shake parlour.

"Nils, it's been great, but I got to get back to work."

"We can't go back yet! What if the spirit comes back?" We? There is no we, is there?

"My boss is calling; I gotta go."

I started registering sounds from the mall; the music came back first, then sounds of people walking and chatting.

"That's pretty weird."

"What is?" asked Nils, who was casually trying to mope himself up with a roll of toilet paper. And doing a pretty bad job at it.

"Wait." I went around him and got some hand towels.

"Use this."

He looked at me with his puppy eyes. I wanted to punch myself in the face for thinking that he looked pretty cute, all helpless and covered in goo.

"What's weird is how quiet everything got when the thing showed up. What's up with that?"

I don't know why I asked about the thing. I didn't believe in ghosts. But despite myself, I wanted to know more about what the hell was happening.

I realised Nils was wiping himself off in silence.

"Nils? Mate, what are you not telling me?"

"Uh. You don't wanna know."

"I think I do."

There was a loud series of knock on the door.

"Are you in there, Rookie?"

Shit! It was Leon, and he sounded pissed off.

Before I could say anything, Nils shouted back a "Just a moment!" in what had to be his most cheerful voice.

A key rattled in the lock.

Then the door opened.

Leon, in all his glory, appeared framed by the supply closet door.

"Rookie, you've got a lot of explaining to do."

He shot a look a Nils.

"You, ghostbuster, get out of here."

I mouthed the word "ghostbuster?" to Nils.

He had a helpless shrug and whispered, "We'll talk later," and then loudly exclaimed, "Bye, Ben! See you later!" and exited the closet, leaving me alone with my boss.

"It's not what you think!" I started.

"It better not be. You have no clue what you're getting into, mate. First rule of the mall, you don't talk to the ghostbuster!"

"Wait, what,"

"Second rule of the mall, you don't fuck the ghostbuster."

"That's not..."

He put a finger up and continued.

"THIRD rule of the mall, if the ghostbuster comes to you, you tell Leon."

He grinned.

"Now tell me. Which rule did you break?"