Circle in the Mall

Elaine Belen

Awake as the rising sun, Sekari lays dumbfounded on the glossy ceramic tiles in the midst of a lavishing ritzy mall. She catches sight of an exquisite cave with waterfalls surrounded by shoulder-level metal railings. Dainty flowers bloom from its natural spring waters as they fall down the cave as bright-colored butterflies roam around the circle. Sekari stands up in awe, mesmerized by the “circle”. She tip-toes toward it, unable to tear her eyes away from the sight. As soon as she extends her arms to reach the circle’s balconylike railings, a soft resounding voice behind her ears swiftly passes by saying, “Do not go there, my child.”

Sekari’s hands halt at the words, a sudden sense of foreboding filling her bones. The way the voice phrases it makes it seem like she might get in trouble.

“I am your guardian.” A seraphic, middle-aged woman stands behind her, glowing like the gates of New Jerusalem. “It is my duty to protect you from the circle, Sekari.”

If she’s a guardian, Sekari thought, what is it that they would need guarding from? But most of all—

“Where am I? How do you know my name?!” Sekari asks. She had never seen this woman before.

The guardian simply flashes a delicate smile, unperturbed. “Look around, my child. Your eyes are now open to the striking reality of your fantasy and finally found the way to fill into your existence. I have been within you all your life, fostering dreams you thought were unreal. I must know who you are by now.”

Unsurprisingly, her words only caused Sekari further confusion. As if sensing her disorientation, the “guardian” then offers her hand to Sekari, which Sekari takes almost willingly. Almost.

“Let me take you somewhere you love to stand by,” the guardian insists. She leads Sekari to both roam around the mall, away from the circle.

As Sekari keenly observes her surroundings, she proceeds to gather information about the strange mall and its circle from her guardian. How come other people inside the mall could pass through the circle while she is being restricted? Are there any qualifications to be able to enter the circle? Is there an audition before one could step foot inside? But before the guardian responds, Sekari finds an adorable puppy-like creature along the way, almost resembling a bony greyhound breed. She immediately picks up the mutt and tries to feed him with available snacks from the food court.

Biting that crusty and slightly toasted loaf filled with peanut butter and jelly is Sekari’s cherry on top from her à la carte meal. In the middle of brunch, a skinny yet well-dressed man trudges out toward her like a zombie, trying to beg for food. Although the man looks affluent just like any other stroller inside the mall, the man persistently asks for Sekari’s peanut butter and jelly sandwich like a child demanding their mother to buy them a new toy. Out of terror, she instinctively hands over the whole sandwich to the grumbling man who munches it in front of her.

Sekari felt two taps from her shoulder, both from her guardian. There’s an odd expression on her face as she says,“It’s almost noon, you should have not given him your sandwich.”

Sekari scrunches her eyebrows together, “Why?”

As soon as the clock strikes half a day, Sekari notices the man’s offwhite skin immediately turns purple after one bite of the sandwich. Swollen lumps grow all over his body, like gruesome blisters waiting to pop. Sekari thought that maybe he is allergic to jellies so she plans to perform the Heimlich Maneuver. But before she could do it, her guardian grabs her arm, pulling her away from the purple man.

The guardian then whispers in her ear, “You might want to run for your life right now, unless you want to transform like him if he gets a hold of you…”

Looking back at the man and then turning to her guardian, Sekari asks with full concern, “What are you talking about? I have to help him, he might be allergic to the jellies!”

“He is not allergic to jellies, Sekari… That man really turns purple every noon time! This is their time to find more jellies!” The guardian explained. “...And if you plan to perform the Heimlich Maneuver on him, you must know

that that kind of technique is used for those who are choking, not for allergic reactions,” the guardian adds to enlighten Sekari. Despite this, she still leads her to the staircase exit to hide from the transforming man.

As they both sprint away, Sekari suddenly becomes stiff as a board after she realizes that she almost forgot her newly found pet. In panic, she turns back to where she must have left it, leaving her guardian alone in front of a clothing store. When Sekari reaches her destination, she spots from afar how her supposed pet mutates into a dog-faced kangaroo. Much to her horror, she covers her mouth to stifle a scream as the small animal’s once dainty hind legs turned muscular, kicking its feet while it twitches and snaps. On its back spring an enormous tail, enough to knock a grown man off his feet. Sekari’s eyes widened. For a harmless creature to evolve almost like a Solgaleo, a Pokémon character, what kind of place was this?

Yet before the transformed creature notices Sekari, she manages to hide behind a plain wall from her side and walk away from the food court. Being alone for the first time, she takes the opportunity to head toward the circle. Sekari then takes a good view around it. The place is swarming with more purple-skinned beings along with dog-faced kangaroos. These creatures are also chasing “normal” human beings like Sekari, and somehow bringing them inside the circle.

What’s happening right now? Is this the reason why my guardian keeps me away from the circle? So that I won’t be dragged into the circle by one of those creatures? Sekari questions herself, not realizing that almost an hour has already passed.

After an hour of chasing, countless thoughts still fill Sekari on how the circle can be something so magical yet covered with a dark abysmal curtain from behind, where unimaginable creatures appear, making her doubt whether she still wants to walk inside it or not. Sekari then hears a call from a distance that makes her knees weak like a twig. Feeling heavy-eyed and a bit drowsy due to overthinking, Sekari finds an unidentifiable radiant star slowly approaching her way. She cannot look away from the ablaze up to the point that her eyes can only see the pure luminescent spotlight. Many boggling thoughts continuously run inside her mind, leading to absolute confusion. And just as the full tilt of the approaching light comes face-to-face with Sekari, she faints in a heartbeat.

Awake as the rising sun, Sekari lays dumbfounded on the glossy ceramic tiles in the midst of a lavishing, ritzy mall, immediately catching

sight of an exquisite cave with waterfalls surrounded by shoulder-level metal railings. Dainty flowers abloom from its natural spring waters as it falls down over the cave as bright-colored butterflies roam around the circle. Sekari stands up in awe, mesmerized by the “circle”. She tip-toes toward it, still unable to tear her eyes away from the sight. As soon as she extends her arms to reach the circle’s balcony-like railings, a soft resounding voice behind her ears swiftly elapses saying, “Do not go there, my child.”

Sekari can not recall the voice calling her yet she turns her head from behind. She glances with no recognition to this angelic middle-aged glowing woman as if she’d seen her for the first time.

“It is my duty to protect you from the circle, Sekari,” the woman says.

“Where am I? Wh-who are you?” Sekari replies.

The glowing woman then smirks lightly at Sekari’s obliviousness. “I am your guardian.”

Everything is on reset as soon as Sekari wakes up. The same scenarios play over and over like an endless loop, until the beginning blurs with the end. Through it all, one thing remains constant: whenever the clock strikes noon, the hour-long chasing show always begins and ends with Sekari fainting.

At some point, Sekari has long grown out of her confusion and began to ponder actions she could have done differently. Exhaustion had taken its toll, causing countless possibilities to run through her mind: What if I went inside the circle and did not listen to my guardian? What if the creatures are trying to take me inside the circle… to be free from this time loop I am in?

What if, all this time, the creatures were trying to save her?

Time and time again, Sekari subtly tries to reach out for the railings around the circle everytime she wakes up in the midst. But she is never firm with her decision to pass through because of the terrifying transforming creatures trying to take her inside the circle. Long consumed by her fear, Sekari thought it was easier to trust her guardian, even if it meant going around in circles.

Although the guardian never fails to lead Sekari to “safety”, she still wonders if “safety” is worth all this madness with no escape.