Mickey at the mall

Disclaimer: Work of fiction


A girl in her early twenties walked into the mall. She looked for the friend of her childhood - the Mickey mouse man who played around in the central foyer. He often distributed balloons and chocolates to the children while their parents shopped away.

The Mickey Mouse man was an entertainer at the mall - he wore a plastic head three times the size of his body with the Disney character's face painted on it. Nishi would always come to the mall since the time she was a kid. While her mother worked at one of the stores in the mall, Nishi would stay with the Mickey at the mall - he would play with her, he would give her chocolates and more importantly, Nishi would talk for hours with him. Mickey was not allowed to speak by the mall authority rules but he would be a good listener to this little girl who loved to talk.

As time passed and Nishi entered her teenage years, her affection towards Mickey only grew. She had told him about her first crush, her early career plans - he knew it all about her.

Today as Nishi was looking around for him, she could see images of all the wonderful times she had spent with this stranger yet a friend at the mall.

Nishi was not particularly well-off. Her parents worked to make a paltry income for the family. She used to fight with her parents these days, her dad especially. She thought he could never understand her career aspirations and never let her take the risks she wanted to. It's only risks that makes a person above ordinary, she thought. She sulked and fought and came to this mall nearly every day with the hope of meeting Mickey.

She always wondered how this stranger felt closer to her than her parents. The stranger who never spoke but only listened - and her parents who could never understand her.

She would often be surprised at the relationship she shared with the Mickey at the mall. And was worried why he wasn't coming to the mall these days.

That day again, she returned home. Her father, visibly upset at his daughter, was sitting on a chair with his head down. Her mom had told her that her dad couldn't go to work because he was so depressed due to Nishi's behaviour. Nishi only sulked and ignored it. "Know what dad, there's this entertainer at the mall. He's closer to me than you!", she said to him.

One day, she fought up with her father - it was the last straw. Her father disappeared in the middle of the night.

Nishi lodged a police complaint. The police officer asked her to search his room for parting letters of any sort - or anything that would leave a clue of where he could be.

She went to her father's room. He had a box which he had never allowed her to touch. She thought she would find something there. She opened it.

She saw a huge structure inside the box. It was a large-sized head - head of a Mickey mouse.