(Story begins here.)
Shumei led the way as I followed her groggily, as though my head were weighed down by something that I couldn't really describe. There was just something amiss that I could feel but was unable to pinpoint exactly---then it suddenly occurred to me---Shumei was reacting rather strangely. There was something odd about her demeanour, and that she had to run an errand with me in tow. Her reply when I asked where we were heading was surprisingly muted, as though she were trying to hide something. Perhaps all these hallucinations that I have been seeing are related to her errands.
We rounded the corner and found ourselves on a quieter side of Katong Shopping Centre, the kind of quiet place where most people would pass by without a second glance; that was how off-the-road it was. The off-shoot corridor felt a little dimmer than most places, even though I was sure that the lighting system in shopping centres were mostly consistent since they are all installed by the same contractors at construction time. Yet the corridor did have that darkened feeling about it. Unconsciously, I blinked my eyes and what I saw confused me further.
Where we were standing, outside of the corridor, the mall had that same husked feeling that I got when I first realised that I had entered the mall. But within the corridor itself, instead of the dark and quiet husk, the entire corridor was painted in hellish colours of red all over, with swirling maroon clouds emanating from one particular shop door, with the rest seemingly unlit and passive looking. The redness seemed to be concentrated most at that one particular door, and as the distance from it increased, the hellish red seemed to give way to the dull darkness that made up the rest of the mall. Horrified at what I saw, I blinked my eyes once more, and everything seemingly went back to normal.
``Junhao?''
``Yeah,'' I replied as reassuringly as I could. ``I'm fine. Maybe I'm just too tired and need some rest.''
``Maybe...''
``Will you be taking long?''
``Hmm... not too sure. Anyway, let's go to the place together,'' Shumei said as she led the way again.
Out of curiousity, I asked her which shop we were heading to. What she pointed to me startled me a little.
It was the same door that I saw the red light emanating in that moment of strangeness!
Trying hard to hide away my discomfort, I followed Shumei as she led the both of us towards the shop.
The door gave a little creak as Shumei twisted the handle and opened it. I could feel a sudden coldness that was emanating throughout my body, as though someone has suddenly decided to turn up the power of the air conditioner, with the only difference that this time, the ``air conditioner'' that was powered up higher was within my body itself. I shivered for a slight moment before shrugging it off. Couldn't really bring myself to look like a wuss in front of Shumei; my pride just wouldn't stand it.
Shumei had already stepped through the door of the shop at that point, and I followed suit. The interior of the shop was an oddly dim location, with inexplicable sources of ambient light that gave the room with enough illumination to allow one to manoeuvre through it without tripping over anything. Apart from the general darkness of the shop, there was a general orderliness within that made it look just like any other shop that was in the shopping centre---there was a counter that stretched from the left side of the door all the way to the back, where columns of cabinets dominated. While on the outward glance the shop looked ordinary save for the low lighting, there was still something that was odd about it. Then it hit me.
There was no clue what the shop was selling. It was true---the counter was a solid mass of grey, while the cabinets lining the back had no windows to show what they were holding. All in all, a very strange place indeed.
I was tempted to ask Shumei if she had make a mistake, but she had already gone towards the rear of the shop already. As if on cue, a person stepped out from behind a hidden curtain at the rear and approached Shumei with a grin in his face. I couldn't bear to stand at the entrance of the shop looking like an idiot, so I walked into the shop tentatively, waiting and observing what was going on.
``Hi Uncle San!'' Shumei said to the newcomer on the scene, ``I'm here with Junhao.''
``Eh heheheheh,'' Uncle San started, ``so you came with Junhao?''
``Mhm.''
``Veerry good, veerry good,'' Uncle San continued, his voice creaking and screeching at the same time. I shuddered a little when he started to speak.
``Hold on a minute Shumei,'' I said, finally finding my voice. ``I thought you were supposed to be doing some errand?''
``I am,'' Shumei said as she turned around to face me.
``Then what has this got to do with me being here or not?''
``Don't you understand?'' Shumei replied, with a face of forlornness. ``My errand is to take you here.''
``What?!'' I ejaculated. ``What is this place? Why did you have to take me here? Who is this `Uncle San'? Answer me Shumei, answer me! Just what the hell is going on?''
Shumei giggled in a most disturbing way and stepped aside to give Uncle San a better view of me.
``Ah!'' Uncle San said, seemingly oblivious to my outburst, ``you have indeed brought Junhao here.''
I swore under my breath. Just what was going on in this place?
(Story continues here.)
