Forums » General Roleplay » The Old Abandoned Mall

This is a free-form open roleplay set in the modern day at an abandoned shopping mall. This is basically an open writing prompt anyone is welcome to join. We'll just see what happens.

The Greenwich Village Mall was a thriving, three-story shopping plaza in its day. It began to decline in the late nineties and was closed in 2001 due to its location and people moving to shop online. The mall is off the beaten path with no other businesses around it and a good 20 minutes outside of the nearest town. When the developers built it, they had anticipated more businesses springing up around it. Unfortunately, it sits among undeveloped farmland and no neighborhoods or other businesses filled in the space. The mall was slated for demolition but the contractor went bankrupt. There have been various offers over the years to redevelop the property, but nothing ever came of those offers. It now sits vacant without any electricity or working utilities. Due to cost of security, the mall has not had any active kind of security patrols in years. A chainlink fence and various no trespassing signs are all that protects it. Barricades prevent vehicles from entering the parking lot or parking garages. This does little to prevent urban explorers from entering the forsaken structure.

Keep it PG-13. You are welcome to take the plot wherever you want to. Be considerate of other writers and build on what they wrote but you are welcome to introduce your own elements as long as it compliments the prior actions posted. Feel free to give the setting a deeper purpose. Is there more to this abandoned shopping center than meets the eyes? Who dwells here? What secrets lie inside?

Malachi was in the very deepest, darkest parts of the malls large basement. There were so many capartments and crevices to store the malls freight and such. But now it was just more free space for him to explore. This was his home for the most part. He had no where else to go. Some people were scared of him because of the tattoos that covered his face, others thought he was some sort of satinst. He was not of course. Just a poor, lonely man who had no where else to go.

The man put together a nice warm fire and sat down to warm up by it. He also started to prepare some homemade coffee. He ground it and them mixed it with some water before straining into a cup. He took a small sip and smiled as the warm substance drizzled down his throat.

Daz sat in the darkness silently cursing herself. How could she have been so stupid and careless? She'd been doing this forever and should have known better and kept her guard up. She'd run into trouble before, mostly in the form of homeless people wanting money. Once or twice, she'd run into security people that threatened to have her arrested for trespassing. This was the first time she'd ever been jumped before, however. Daz had explored countless empty and abandoned sites before from old grain silos, to factories, an amusement park or two and even abandoned train yards. This wasn't the first empty mall she'd come to.

Her car had been parked in a secluded area off the road just over a mile away and she'd walked here. It was doubtful that the police or anyone else would have seen her car, but the parking lots and garage had been blocked off by large concrete barricades ages ago. She'd left most of her belongings in the trunk opting only to bring a Hello Kitty backpack for her camera, a few snacks, a thermos, a flashlight and extra batteries, her cell phone which she kept in her pocket and her car key in a different pocket.

Daz had first spent time exploring the parking garage. The elevator shafts had been sealed and deactivated. The ticket machine that charged for parking had been removed and all that remained of the barrier arm that stopped cars until they paid was the part that made it go up and down. The booth that held the operator was boarded up and heavily vandalized, but it had made for some terrific pictures. She'd even found two overturned abandoned golf cart on an upper level. It looked like someone had used them for an impromptu demolition derby. The glass had been broken out at one of the entrances from the parking garage. Getting into the mall itself had been easy. That's when misfortune took its toll.

Daz hadn't taken more than a dozen steps inside before someone grabbed her from behind in the shadows as her camera and flashlight were ripped from her hands. A moment later her backpack had been snatched and she'd been dragged into the shadows. She wasn't sure how many people had attacked her, nor had she gotten a look at them. That was the last thing she remembered.

As Daz slowly came to, she found herself in a dark closet. The flashlight she had been holding was in here with her and on, providing just a tiny bit of light. At least whoever had grabbed her had offered her that courtesy. As she struggled to sit up, she realized her hands had been tightly bound behind her and her arms had been secured to her sides. Scooting into the light and looking down, she realized she'd been tied up with rope. She was also bound at the ankles and above the knees. Something had been stuffed in her mouth and wrapped around her head to silence her. As Daz studied her surroundings further, she realized that she wasn't in a closet at all, but rather an old elevator car. The steel doors were parted ever so slightly with a gap of an inch or so. She could see various graffiti on the walls inside the car and what looked to be a ripped out button panel dangling by some wires.

Taking a deep breath and letting it out through her nose, Daz realized that at least she hadn't been harmed, aside from being bashed on the back of her head. Absently, she tried to reach up to rub the knot but was unable as the ropes held her immobile. She closed her eyes and leaned back testing the bonds around her wrists, but they held tight. It didn't appear she'd be able to free herself. It began to set in that she could be here for hours, if not days before she was found. Daz could see a distance glow through the cracks of the door. She let out a muffled moan and kicked the doors with her bound feet making a little thud noise. Was someone out there?

Daz struggled to see how much movement she had. She could bend her knees and waist. Aside from being able to wiggle her fingers which were behind her back, she had no use of her arms or hands. She could move her head freely aside from her mouth because of the gag. Her tongue was pressed behind something and her teeth were biting down on whatever it was. Her lips were held tightly shut by what felt like tape. Some kind of cloth had been tied over it to help hold the tape in place and knotted behind her head.

Using her legs, Daz pushed herself against one of the elevator walls pressing her back against it. With a little effort, she was able to stand although it was hard to balance with her feet tied together. Doing her best to steady herself, she took several short hops towards the door and peered through the crack. There wasn't much light. The orange glow looked to be a fire. It was at the other end of wherever she was. She wondered if whoever lit it was responsible for her abduction.

It took some effort, but Daz was able to turn around and wedge her fingers into the open crack of the doors she'd been peering through. She didn't expect she'd be able to get the door open due to her present predicament but to her surprise, the half of the door she pressed her weight against easily gave way. The hydraulic fluid, or belt or whatever had held the door shut must be gone.

Daz wasn't expecting to force the door open so easily and lost her balance as she spilled to the floor landing on her side. She let out an involuntary grunt, followed by some unintelligible muffled curse words. After a pausing a moment to let the pain subside from her fall, she struggled to sit up. Finally, after several minutes and with some effort, she managed to upright herself but was no closer to freeing herself from her bonds.