Member-only story
Lost In The Mall of America
Mischief, Maps, then Home
Emma, a curious nine-year-old, wandered wide-eyed through the Mall of America, enchanted by the dizzying colors and endless shops. Her parents were just a step behind — and then… they weren’t. She turned, clutching her ICEE , looked around and realized that she was utterly alone in the sprawling maze of escalators and corridors.
Her first stop was the indoor amusement park, where she squeezed through a crowd and accidentally ended up on a roller coaster. Screaming through loops, she realized she’d lost her backpack. Panicking, she dashed off the ride and ran into a mannequin display, knocking over a particularly stylish one. “Hey, kid!” a grumpy store clerk called, but Emma was already gone.
In her search, she followed the smell of cookies to a bakery, where she ate a sample without realizing it wasn’t free. The baker scolded her, and she fled, colliding with a janitor and spilling her ICEE all over his mop bucket.
Finally, near tears, Emma spotted a map. She climbed onto a bench, studied it like a pirate with a treasure map, and navigated her way to the main entrance. There, she saw her worried parents…
