While I'm a woman, I always had a intense fear of the mall.
Part of it was the shopping complex, with stores and advertisements everywhere, but most of it was due to the people inside, fellow students of my town. Like many other children there was always this fear of seeing people you regonize, as if I was supposed to assume nobody else except myself was intended to visit, at least, that's what was probably running through my subconscious.
Besides anxiety, the mall bored me. I haven't consider myself a shopper until recently (got a job!), every third store was clothing, and on weekends, when I most often visited, was overwhelming.
Eventually, the time came where I had the option to visit, eight years later. There was no intention to visit the mall that day, but it was on a weekday, I had the day off work, and wanted to watch a movie I've been hyping months for which was at the direct entrance of the mall. Movies are discounted on weekday afternoons anyway.
Being the pleasant fool, I've arrived a mere fourty-five early, leaving me time to either stay in the movie theater or walk around. I ultimately chose to walk in the mall, the first time in eight years.
It's suprisingly, underwhelming. Many of the familiar sights were still there. The clothing stores were still overcrowded as ever (How do they survive there's really a lot!), the food prices had definitely gone up (six dollars for a single pretzel?!), and the music, in an empty mall, carried a ghost like feel, echoing to a sole audience who don't appreciate the repeated tunes of the popular pop songs of the 1990s.
There was a store I did wander into, two actually. The first was a crystal store, being fond of various forms of crystals from a young age, and the second was a Yankee Candle, having recently built an affinity of scented candles. None of the stores had doors, leaving people to walk in on fully stocked shelves.
It seemed like there was more employees here than customers. It's a bit depressing for everyone else, but it was alright for me.
And yes, I enjoyed the movie. It's been forever since I've laughed so much at a comedy.