It was 3pm, the busiest hour of the day and I was surrounded by kidnappers. Well, I didn’t entirely know if they were kidnappers, but the odds were pretty high. Not to mention, I was armed only with my Vera Bradley lanyard and mango bubble tea, so I was pretty much dead already. I was in grave peril.

It was a rainy Saturday afternoon and I was at the mall with my mom. I was standing in the food court holding an abundance of shopping bags. My mom had gone into one of those 40-year-old mom stores, the stores I wouldn’t be caught dead in, and I had to go to the bathroom. Now, standing alone, I was seriously regretting it. I could feel everyone staring at me, even though I knew they weren’t. They were plotting to kill me. I could feel it. 

 I’ve watched plenty of kidnapping videos on YouTube, and they all started in the same situation as me: a teenage girl is alone at the mall, surrounded by middle aged men, innocently walking to the bathroom. It was only a matter of time before some stranger came up to me and asked to help him find his lost puppy or something. I clutched my phone tighter, ready to call 911 at any second. Crossing my arms and keeping my head low, I hurried to the bathroom. 

After quickly slamming the door of a stall and locking the door, I breathed a sigh of relief. I was safe for now. I knew I couldn’t stay in that stall forever, but I could manage for a few more hours. At least until I starved to death. I stayed in the stall for about fifteen more minutes, until I glanced at my phone screen and saw 20 texts from my mom hounding me to get out of the bathroom. Groaning inside my head, I reached for the lock, but then my fear deepend. How was I supposed to leave when death could be awaiting me on the other side of the wall? 

I stayed in my stall until they left, and then unlocked the door and washed my hands. I took a deep breath and cautiously reached for the door handle, my hand reluctantly settled around the cold metal. Open the door Katharine! I whispered to myself. I quickly threw the door open, exposing myself to the mass of possible kidnappers. It seemed like there were thousands of them. They all seemed to be staring at me, their beady eyes gleaming with interest. Maybe they were just interested in fries in front of them, but the idea had not crossed my mind at that moment. After locating the store my mom was in, I walked as fast as I could back there, where I was thankfully reunited with my mom. She was carefully browsing through masses of colorful sweatshirts. 

“What took you so long?” My mom asked, not looking up from her sweatshirts.

I shrugged. I was not about I answer that, I would have sounded pretty stupid. ‘Oh the most dreadful thing happened to me! I was so completely filled with fright that I couldn’t even find the strength to open the door!’ My mom rolled her eyes.

Fortunately, I did not get kidnapped. I have survived to tell the tale. We stepped out into the parking lot, and I was greeted with hot sticky summer air. The rain had stopped, but the sky was still gloomy. However, I felt the happiest I had ever been in my life. I was just grateful to be alive. Cheerfully, I sipped my mango bubble tea while my mom desperately searched for our car.