part 3

I stayed about 10 metres behind him. He wasn't walking very fast, waddling his little feet through clumsy clothes. He put down his Spiderman comic on a nearby shelf as he hopped on the escalator going down. I followed. I tried to watch him without actually looking at him, pretending to look at something else. His hands held the handrail, and he looked around curiously. I tried to look up ahead to see where the group of strangers were heading. They had already left the bookstore, and were walking into the mall. I knew the boy was going to keep following. Briefly I saw one guy turn back and wave to the boy, telling him to hurry. The boy responded by running over to the crowd. My heart skipped a beat. I was going to run after him and tell him that it wasn't safe, but I couldn't. And I was still not sure.

They kept walking through the mall, looking at the different stores that sold different things. They weren't in a hurry, and enjoyed the time together. But I couldn't help but notice that they were walking toward a particular corridor, lit in red, at the end of the hall. The crowd stopped. The boy now stood behind the corridor, about to step in.

"Are you really going to go in?" one teeanger in the crowd said to the little boy. "It could be dangerous."
He nodded. "I'm going to go in. I think it's worth it." Another teenager said, "It may be too much. You don't need to go all the way."
"We'll see what happens," he replied. And without looking back, he walked into the red-lit corridor. And he disappeared!

I screamed. Disappeared? Into thin air? All of him. I didn't hesitate to run to the crowd and shout at them.
"Where is he?!"
They looked at me like I was crazy. "You know where this leads," one said.
Me?
"What are you talking about?"
"You know where this leads! Don't think that we didn't see you follow him. Otherwise you wouldn't have went in."
What the heck were they talking about?
"He's just a KID!" I yelled.
They didn't respond. I saw some of them whisper amongst themselves, and some beginning to walk away. I was angry at them, and I shouted at them. But I didn't realize that in the emotion I had stepped into the corridor as well.

The mall left behind me, and the red lit corridor began to fade away. All of a sudden, my body jolted, as if a shock of electricty ran through my body. I fell to the ground, and my body and mind was numb. Rushes of emotion went through my head. I felt happiness, sadness, excitement, pain. I didn't realize it, but I was screaming. I couldn't see. I couldn't hear. I couldn't..

It stopped. I opened my eyes.

(Where the heck is he now? Our little boy is walking away by himself.. gonna get abducted by aliens or something.. our hero better be able to save him..)