Ell - Chevrotain (mouse deer)

T?h - Duck

Ané - Quokka

Alonzo - Tapir

Brandon - Beaver

Start

There is little more sad or haunting than an abandoned store. A place that should be bustling with activity, full of sound and color, now stood silent and still, covered in a patina of dust. What sounds there were to hear would not have been audible under normal circumstances; the scratching of bird claws on the roof, the occasional collapse of some flimsy thing under its own weight, or the rustle of the wind against the doors and windows. The light of day filtered in through uncleaned windows and chipped paintings that, in their day, were bright and inviting and tempting with sales and specials.

It was in this gloom that Ell became aware. It was itchy and hazy. Reaching up to rub uncomfortable eyes, Ell gasped when dusty hands made it worse. Tears welled up immediately, and a slapping of the hands sent up a new poof of dust, but this cleaned things up enough that the second rub helped tremendously. Ell blinked and tried to focus in the half-light in the empty room.

It wasn't completely empty, as far as Ell could see. Everything got darker towards the back, and it had a general sense of near emptiness. There were shelves and racks still in place, as well as dozens upon dozens of figures standing motionless. Clothing, such as there was that remained, lay piled and arranged, but clearly abandoned to judge by the dust and cobwebs. Not much of a selection.

Looking down, Ell was wearing a shirt. Long sleeves, simple lined pattern, unbuttoned with another shirt underneath. That one was plain to make the overshirt stand out. Below were a pair of dark denim jeans and simple black shoes without laces. Grey, nearly featureless hands stretched and flexed, before brushing the dust off the clothes. Their thumping reassuring that everything was really real.

Ell was standing on a small platform set at the edge of an aisle. Mannequins, some just a torso and head, some without arms, all featureless, stood around showing parts or completely bare. No memory came about before the awareness, just a vague certainty that things had been... different before.

Lights. There had been lights before. And noise and color. Everything had been alive and active. Ell couldn't remember actually doing anything in this sense of activity, but was certain of being a part of it. Everything had happened, not to, but rather around...

Stepping off the platform brought the resounding echo of footsteps bouncing off the distant walls. Mental pictures danced through showing people walking around in a bright alternate reality. Music played, uncertain but familiar in this mental space. Children cried or laughed or chased each other while adults went about their business. Fashions, seasonal trends, and the latest memes and cartoon characters emblazoned everywhere.

One of the signs stood over a table, a strange yellow-circle face with a smiling arrow for a mouth. That had been it. The symbol, the logo for the store. Looking around, it was everywhere. It had promised low prices and one-stop shopping. That had lasted through constant trials and politics, maneuvering and bargaining... but something had clearly ended this place.

Stepping toward the front, where the sun shone in around boards and dirty glass, Ell saw the registers. A line of twenty registers, or possibly more since some of the lanes seemed to host half a dozen smaller registers, stood empty and waiting, powerless and dark. So many of them had printed black and white signs that read "Help Wanted, All Positions Available."

Whatever had seen the end of this place, they had been trying to keep it going. Someone, perhaps several someones, had just... what... given up? Just decided that it had failed and walked away? Turned off the lights, carried out some loads of inventory, and... that was it?

Dissatisfaction welled up in Ell. It wasn't fair. It wasn't right. Things shouldn't just stop like that. Everything inside just left and forgotten about until it fell apart. It was like...

Ell stopped, confused. Why did this matter? There wasn't anything alive here. It didn't matter, did it?

Hands. Ell looked at the hands upon wrists attached to shoulders and... a body... and...

Shouldn't there be memories? More than just waking up... however long ago... in an empty store, at least? Family? Friends? Places? Had everything just _started_like this? There was a name, a body, clothes, thoughts, and knowledge of language, but... that was it?

Without knowing quite why, Ell walked over to a register and buffed the screen with a sleeve. Dust gave way to a black surface that reflected what light there was. A brown and black furred face, pointed snouty nose, a pair of long teeth that stuck out from the sides of the mouth, and big black eyes that seemed to flash when they were turned at just the right angle. The reflection raised skinny arms and touched the face just the same as Ell did.

What was strange wasn't the reflection, but that Ell didn't remember looking like... anything. This was a revelation! Ell had... a face. A for-real face. This wasn't a dream and...

Ell looked around at the partly empty store. The realization that this was not a dream had raised more questions than it answered. Something had happened, Ell had always been here, but clearly not when... whatever this was. More information was clearly needed. An explanation, a hint... anything.

Walking toward the front of the store proved fruitless. The windows that could be seen through showed an empty, dusty parking lot and chain link fencing in the distance. But off to one side there was a door upon which a sign in red read "Staff Only" and which had no handle at all. It opened at a push as Ell poked inside. Counters and mostly empty cupboards, shelves standing bare, pegs upon which hung old dusty vests, and a stained refrigerator stood in its alcove. A wide open space had marks in the linoleum that suggested where tables had been.

Papers left pinned and abandoned on an old cork board told of policy updates and procedures, legal notices and requirements, and finally of the closing schedule. The final closing schedule. It had a list of the duties for ending operations, dates, contacts... everything. It was a death certificate and funeral rites for the place.

But none of that explained how or why Ell had come to be here. Narrow fingers scratched at a soft fuzzy head as Ell tried to understand or, failing that, to make any sort of guess. On top of that... what was there to be done? What was there to do? Did anyone else even know? Was anyone going to check on this place? Why was so much left abandoned and not just taken away?!

Can I starve,_thought Ell, _is this really real? Why don't I remember anything else beyond this store?

Why am I alone?

An hour later, Ell had gone through as much of the store as possible. Some old snack cakes had been found in a half empty box in the break room cupboard, the kind with creme filling that never went bad. It felt unexpectedly jarring. The flavor was cringeworthy and cloying, and Ell spat out the first mouthful. Wishing the water worked, Ell wiped out the mush with some paper towels.

The rest of the place was just the same: deserted and half full of untouched inventory. Cleaning seemed futile and an overwhelming task, especially without water. There were cleaning supplies, but there was no way it was enough. Going outside seemed unthinkable as Ell had no ideas of identity other than a face and a certainty that there was no past to draw upon. No family or friends.

Though it felt pointless, Ell gathered up a few pieces of broken mannequins. This one a duck model, that one a quokka or something... the species names just appearing from nowhere, but like they'd always been there... and one by one began slotting bits into place.

Some needed clothing to display. Pulling from under the stacks, Ell got a few articles that were mostly dust-free. Once dressed, the mannequins seemed more... what was it? Not normal, though every instinct tried to say that was correct. Something else. Complete?

Ell wandered away looking around the camping section. Generators would help, and there were a few... but no one would have left gasoline behind. Flashlights and camp stoves and lanterns would help, sort of, but how long would they last? Much of the more expensive things were locked away in cages and cabinets. Especially the guns and ammunition.

Dark thoughts made Ell realize just how dark it had gotten. Not twilight, but the angle of the beams through the windows said it was not far away. Something needed to be done, and soon. Grabbing one of the larger flashlights and jamming in a handful of giant batteries, Ell made for the employee lounge once again. This time something moved in the store.

Ell jumped.

"Who..." Ell started, surprised at the movement and at the tone of the voice that had said the word.

A figure moved in the clothes section, but the dimming gloom made it hard to tell. The flashlight threw a dazzling beam upon the figure who recoiled, hands up to shade against the sudden sharp light.

It was a duck. Definitely a real duck and not a mannequin. And it was wearing the clothes that had been put on it not long ago. It was a real duck person, moving to block the light with their hands, wearing the clothes that Ell had put on the mannequin model duck.

"I'm Ell, who are you?" Ell asked, lowering the beam.

The duck looked around, clearly confused, and then did a pat down of their body. They didn't reply and the silence was uncomfortable, so Ell added,

"I woke up here too, not long ago. I've been trying to figure out what happened. Sorry if I startled you, but you're the first other person I've seen."

The duck looked back up, not unfriendly, just uncomfortable.

"Why don't I remember coming here? I remember the lights were on... but that's it."

"I remember the lights too," Ell admitted, trying to stay calm, "but I can't remember anything else. I just... I just know things. Not a lot, but like I know the names of stuff and I know where things are supposed to be. I know you're a duck and that the cash registers up front are supposed to add up prices."

After a moment the duck spoke, " chevrotain, right? That's what you are?"

"That's right."

"And I'm... my name is... T?h."

"T?h?" Ell asked.

"Yeah, but with a flat high tone. 'Taaah'. Don't let your voice go up or down. It's important, but I don't really know why. Like... if you said it with the 'ah' part going up or down or bouncing around... it would mean something different."

Ell thought about this for a moment, "Alright then, nice to meet you T?h."

Another voice cut in, making them both jump.

"Umm, excuse me?"

The flashlight beam sought out the new voice, but Ell had already guessed who it would be. And the guess was correct. There stood the quokka with the charming grin, looking somehow cheerfully amused at all this.

"Hi, uh, I'm, umm." The quokka, hesitated with a throat clearing, "My name is... is... um. I think it's Ané."

Ané pronounced it as two syllables, with the ending almost sounding like a question.

"Ahn-eh?" Ell asked, trying to confirm, "did you just wake up too?"

"Just a minute ago when I heard you and T?h talking. Why is it so dark and what are we supposed to, y'know, um, do?"

"Well, I was going to the lounge to see if there was anything I missed. You two should probably come with, and we'll see if we can find anything useful. I know the old employee vests had pockets, and that would be better for carrying stuff. We might have to spend the night here."

Both the newcomers nodded and fell in step, saying nothing more. Ell couldn't shake how eerie it felt, like they didn't know how to be... people. But then, Ell reflected, being people might not have been a thing before. What did people actually do?

"Hey..." Ell said hesitantly as they reached the door, "I don't want to be weird here... but..."

The other two waited expectantly, and Ell had no other recourse but to press on with the insane statement.

"I think... I... I think we're the mannequins."

Silence.

"I think we_were_ the mannequins. That's why we remember the store but we don't remember anything else. I was picking up and I... I put a couple of mannequins back together. And then... there you were. Wearing the same clothes."

It was T?h who broke the following silence.

"Okay. But. I don't know if that helps us right now."

Ell was confused. It had been so groundbreaking, so revelatory, that it was a surprise that the others weren't surprised.

"Wait, if you put us together and we came to life," Ané asked, "did, um, was there, i mean, does that mean someone put you together too? Was anyone else here when you woke up?"

"No one. I was alone. I looked all over before I put you two back together."

"Wait, um, so... we were... ew. In pieces?" Ané asked with disgust, "like... my arms were off?"

"Look, this isn't helping," T?h interjected, "it's dark. We have one flashlight, and the store is closed and locked. We gotta do something now or else we might as well go back to sleep."

T?h pushed into the lounge ahead of the others, headlong into the windowless darkness of the lounge. Blinking, T?h tried to adjust eyes to total blackness to no avail, but after a minute Ell and Ané came through with the light. Right as they entered, T?h saw it.

"Wait! Turn the light off, I saw something." T?h exclaimed.

Obediently, Ell clicked off the light and stood waiting.

"There! Look!"

The sound of footsteps was all Ell and Ané could detect, but then they too saw it. A dim green light shone in the darkness. The flashlight showed it was coming from the seam on the panel of a metal box on the wall.

"Hey, I know what that is," Ané exclaimed, dashing over to it, "and.. oh yeah! It's open!"

The squeal of metal rang through the room as Ané opened the panel lid, revealing rows of switches. Ell brought the light up and saw that each one was labeled in sharpie. Tapping the big one marked 'Main' Ané jiggled it first and then snapped it to the side. It resisted, but then locked into the ON position. Following that, Ané flipped the E.L. switch.

A high pinging sound was heard and then ceiling lights flickered on, bright as daylight but yellowed by dust. Bathed in light the lounge was now revealed in all its neglected, mostly empty glory. Tables and chairs and empty cupboards and spaces where appliances had once been. The thrumm of a water dispenser added its noise to the room as both the heater and cooler kicked on at once.

"We had power this whole time?" Ell wondered.

"You didn't check the breakers?" Ané giggled.

"I didn't know to check them. I've never had to deal with electricity before. I... and just how did you know what to do?"

"I have no idea," Ané replied with a shrug, "it was just obvious. I think I can turn on the water too, if you want."

"If we're going to be stuck here," Ta replied, "for now anyways, it'd be way better with lights and water. We can figure everything out if we can see and clean up."

The water came on, just as Ané said, and the three got to work. Cleansers and towels were surprisingly easy to find, being the supplies that were typically removed last, if at all. Dust gave way to floral and fruity scents as the break room yielded to their attention. Ell located a stepstool and wiped the overhead lights clean, brightening the room. Soon enough everything had been wiped and straightened to reveal a complete, though sparse, break room. They cleaned the lockers and bathroom, though they seemed to have no use for these. Somehow just getting everything in order gave them a sense of satisfaction.

"What next? I mean, we have this place in order, but... what do we do now? I don't have anywhere to go and I only know you two. We all just met tonight." Ané asked with worry touching their voice.

"I don't really know myself," Ell sighed, "I think... well..."

"We're not really people are we," Ta said flatly, saying what the others were afraid to say, "whatever happened, we know what people are and what people do. We feel real to ourselves and we know things, but... we're not actually real."

"But, I mean, why are we here then? We don't have, what, parents or anything? We just happened?"

Ta shook their head, "unless you've got definite answers, then we don't know. All I'm saying is that my life seems to have started in a dusty, abandoned building and that matches your experiences too. We cleaned this room, we can make our own decisions, but until someone from outside says anything different, it's what I have got to go on."

The trio sat and stared for a while, lost in thought and processing T?h's speculation.

"I can feel myself trying to make believe that it isn't true," Ané said, breaking the silence at last, "I don't want it to be true, but I'm afraid that it has to be. It's just too weird otherwise."

"I have memories," Ell interjected, "I can remember being in the store and people walking and talking around me."

Nods

"We were here when the store was open, but I don't remember actually _doing_anything. I saw other people in the store's uniforms working. I wasn't always in the same place but..."

"Yeah, we were the mannequins," T?h interrupted, "you said earlier. You put me and Ané back together and dressed us and we... came to life? I guess that's close enough."

Ané frowned, which was all the worse for the perpetual smile of quokka faces, "Ok. Ok, so... what. Magic? No idea why but I'm certain mannequins don't just "come to life" normally. Also, are we even really alive? Do we have to eat or drink or use the bathroom or sleep? Are we... are we going to die because we're alive?!"

"Woah. Slow down." Ell gently said, hands held up to calm things, "I have been awake since the sun was still up. I tried eating and... it was just so gross. We've been working a while now and i don't feel like i need to drink or anything, even with the water on. If we feel like we need to, we will, and if we don't, we won't."

Ané took a deep breath, held it a moment, and slowly let it out. Then another breath followed, experimentally. Then another but this was held.

"We breathe, I guess, if nothing else," T?h mused speculatively watching the concentration and wobbling cheeks of Ané, "I wonder how long..."

Ané's head shook, eyes panicked, but held the breath. Seconds ticked on into a minute, then two, three, five.

"I guess we_can_ breathe but don't need to," Ell concluded as Ané pushed through minute six and then exhaled.

"I felt myself panicking," Ané explained, "but... I think I could have just kept going. Like... forever. I think we just need it to talk."

Ané forced all the breath out and tried, but failed to speak. Then, drawing in a breath, words formed with a horrible croaking.

"Oh my, that was just unpleasant," T?h said, "I wouldn't try talking while breathing in without people being ready for it."

"Yeah, but... well... I might do it just for fun." Ané announced, arms crossed and looking smug, "You two should try it. You could both use some fun."

"Why... why would I want to do that?" T?h asked, sounding disgusted.

"I think, so you're not a tightwad, a buzzkill, or a robot." Ell stated flatly.

"Or... a mannequin come to life?" T?h added, equally deadpan.

"Well I'm_a mannequin come to life and _I know how fun works. Come on already, just try it. No one else is here and no one can judge you. Who cares?!" Ané exclaimed.

T?h considered, frowning, and then gumbled a bit as the decision battled inside, and then, "fine," T?h croaked, "but I don't think it's dignified."

Ané and Ell burst out laughing.

"That was awesome!" Ané exclaimed, "I knew you could do it!"

"You sound wicked," Ell croaked.

T?h ripped out with a wordless internal growl, prompting laughs all around.

T?h let out the breath in a big whoosh, "I don't know why I was resisting."

The three spent some time playfully experimenting with their voices. One would make a new noise and challenge the others to mimic it. They played with their words, making them sound accented or emphasizing syllables in strange ways. No one kept track of how long it went on, only that it was enjoyable. Without any good reason, it wound down and left then simply laughing around the table.

"Alright Ané, since you know fun, what else can we do?"

Searching the store, and with the lights on now, opened the three up to possibilities of amusement. They found a largely ransacked toy section with many board and card games still remaining. The neighboring electronics section was completely bare, with even the display screens having been removed. The automotive sections still contained rows and rows of bottles and sprays and other small objects, but every locked cabinet had been cleaned out, with few exceptions for odds and ends that someone clearly couldn't have been bothered with. Tools were likewise largely missing. The housewares sections were hit-and-miss, with a surprisingly large number of the cheaper appliances left on the shelves.

Cosmetics, however, stood completely empty. Even the mirrors and samplers had been removed. A lawn and garden section opened into semi-darkness, with huge racks standing holding pallets full of empty pots and equipment. Bays for fertilizers and chemicals stood bare with only a lingering odor and a carpet of debris to show that they had once been full at all. Rows of plant displays held dead, dry and cracking specimens who had been neglected when the store had closed.

"I find this... upsetting," T?h grumbled at the sight of the plants, "They left these here to die. No one cared for them."

The three stood looking for a time before Ell piped up,

"It looks like they weren't finished. Perhaps whatever this was, was canceled before they could take them out?"

"I. It still makes me angry. These were alive. They're dead now. It... We..."

Ané moved closer and gave T?h a gentle hug.

"They left them here. They couldn't do anything. No one cared for them and they died."

T?h hugged back, but then gently and firmly pushed Ané away.

"We've been alive for a matter of hours... but we have to do better."

"What do you mean 'better' T?h? Like you said, we've not been here long. Who knows what happened to cause all this. We don't know. You're putting judgment on people you know nothing about."

T?h turned, face scrunched up in sadness and anger, "We don't know _nothing_Ell, we know that they left things to die and took away a bunch of things that weren't alive first. They took the things with high price tags. Things other people might... steal."

"How do you even know that?!" Ell said, exasperated, but then stopped for a moment, "How do I know you're right? You're right. But somehow I still disagree on the plants thing. That's weird."

"You two aren't considering that maybe the plants there had died before anyone could have moved them. Or it could have been some other thing that, while we know many things for only being a few hours old, that we _don't_know. You're forming judgments on incomplete evidence."

"Ok, Ané," T?h countered, "Then how do we know the difference?"

"Well, let's compare something. These plants were left behind, yeah? So, let's look at something else living that may or may not have been left."

The three stopped to think and look around at the large hanging department signs. As a collective their stomachs sank as they saw the place.

Pets.

"Oh, I don't like this, What if..." Ell said, trailing off at the horrible thought.

"It's going to be like the plants, but ..." T?h added.

"We don't know unless we look," Ané finished, "And we have to look. Whatever happens we have to know."

They walked down aisles scattered with pet food and dime-a-dozen toys to the back. The source of their dread. The place where they would see if the people who had left the store were monsters or maybe just victims of circumstance.

Empty tanks greeted them. No water, and most importantly, no dead fish. Just bare, mineral whitened decorations and gravel. Not even that much in the feeder goldfish tank, which was just crusted with hard water stains on all sides. Bays for birds and reptiles stood bare, in various states of cleaned out, and the large back room which encouraged adopting was empty and open, with every cage door unlocked and ajar.

"Oh goodness," Ané sighed, "I know I was trying to sound like I was keeping it together there, but I swear I was expecting something awful just the same as you two."

"They took the animals, but left the plants," T?h said, confused, "Why? Why not save everything they could?"

"My guess, it's because they didn't feel the same about plants as animals. It's the only thing that makes any sense to me." Ell replied.

"I still don't like it," T?h grumbled, "It still seems wrong. But I guess there's nothing to do about it now."

The three wandered then, picking through the shelves to see what else remained. They passed by the clothing sections on the way to groceries. They looked at the selection of other mannequins that populated the clothes on the way through, though none moved to do anything about them just yet. Produce stood completely empty as well as all the refrigerated and frozen sections, though now the cooler units all made noise with the restoration of power. Ané went to the end of the racks and turned off the coolers without a word.

"Why bother?" T?h asked when Ané had finished, "We're not paying for it. It's not even ours. If they left the power on, that's their business."

Ell balked, "You're concerned with the dead plants, but not about the costs?"

"They're both consequences of negligence," T?h said, "the main difference is who suffers the consequences. The plants suffered from the store's negligence and that's bad, but if someone doesn't turn off the power, then the suffering is only their own."

The three thought on this. Ané filled this time by playing with whatever was at hand. Ell walked stiffly, arms dangling and head staring up at the ceiling. They all knew this store belonged to someone, they knew that everything here belonged to someone, and that now it was abandoned. Someone was responsible, but they weren't sure who. The company, that was whose stuff it was, and their logos were everywhere, but certainly there must have been an actual person who was in charge of this place.

"So, we're basing if things are right or wrong depending on who, or what, suffers?" Ané asked.

"I am, and only for now until I can think of something better," T?h replied, head shaking, forehead held in one hand, "look, I don't know more, I just know what I feel. We have to decide on these things otherwise we're not going to be able to make all of this work."

Both Ell and Ané were about to object and question, but they realized then that they both understood without explanation what T?h meant about making things work. They knew that inevitably they would need to either open the store again or...

...the only other option was to leave. In each of their minds this was a realm of complete uncertainty. None of them knew anyone, they all knew that they weren't 'real people' in the colloquial sense, so leaving into a world where they had nowhere to go made no sense. And so, there was no other option. They had to get things running again.

"Ok, alright," Ané said, breaking the spell, "we'll make this work, and we'll get things going again. But I think before any of that, we need to learn to get along and be a team. Nothing has to be done right, right now, but we can't make this work if we can't agree on things. For now, I'm going back to the games. You two meet me in the break room and we're going to see about having some fun instead of worrying. We'll get to work when we're done."

***

Two hours later in the break room the trio sat around a table laid out with board and game pieces. Little pawns of several colors festooned the hexagons as did several tiles to mark borders and ownership. A deck of cards waited near a pair of dice in a cup while T?h tried in vain to shuffle a different deck. Nothing in the instructions had shown how to shuffle and three attempts already had resulted in a scattered mess.

Ané had been patiently encouraging as the other two struggled with setup. The ignorance of the mechanics was universal, though Ell had commented how odd it was that they all could clearly read the things. T?h had surprised them all, pointing out that they not only could read the primary language of the instruction booklet, but could read the foreign languages as well... all of them... even the ones that were written back to front or made up entirely of pictogram symbols. Granted, all the foreign languages said was how to obtain a copy of the rules in that language.

The biggest problem was that the instructions assumed they knew how to do things that they had no context for. And as the cards scattered for the fourth time T?h threw the last of them in the air and let out a frustrated growl.

"I give up. I just don't know what I'm supposed to be doing," T?h huffed, "no one has been able to figure out shuffling, so how can we play?!"

Ell drew in a breath, held it, and exhaled in a sigh. Somehow it made things come into better focus. The deck of cards was such a basic thing, just fifty-two simple objects, but as a stack they became something else. Do things wrong and they scattered, or lumps of cards jumped all at once. The deck was getting a possibly permanent bend because of their fumbled attempts. But the true issue was that they weren't thinking about why the shuffling needed to be done.

Ell took up the deck and divided it, trying to ignore that the halves were uneven. Thumbs at the ends and fingers bending the stack, Ell made ready.

"It's about mixing up the order. We keep trying to do it perfectly, but it's all about mixing up the cards in a way we can't keep track of."

Ell's thumbs slid.

Flllump-ump

The cards clumped and no control was possible. Ell's shuffle was another failure, the edges of the two halves failing to merge and clumps of cards falling free. With a grunt of frustration breaking through the focus, Ell smeared the cards around on the table, forcing some cards up and over and others under. Catharsis came as the cards were scrambled and then marshaled back into a stack. Ell picked up the reformed deck and slapped it down on the center of the table.

"There. Shuffled. I don't care if it's not perfect."

Two stares met the satisfied smile.

"Yes you do," Ané said with a wider-than-normal grin, "you're just trying to hide it. Good for you."

"Fine," T?h grumped, "Let's just play."

***

Several games later.

"It will be dawn soon," Ané declared, "we should probably get started cleaning up."

The other two grumbled but nodded.

"I think it's less the time and more how much you haven't been winning."

Ané grinned, which mainly served to enhance the quokka-ness of the perpetual smile, "it's not about winning. It's about being comfortable while you win."

"...or lose." T?h added, smirking, "whichever the case may be. But yes. We need to clean this place and get it back to..."

Ell looked back and forth between the two as T?h trailed off, "were you about to say 'normal' just now? I get it, but what in the world could be normal about any of this? We are mannequins that woke up in an empty store and became real. We can eat and breathe but don't need to. We have the knowledge to run everything in the store, and somehow we can't figure out why any of this happened. This can't be_normal_.

I feel like I am about to freak out just talking about it! I feel like it must be a dream, but I don't think I have ever been asleep. And now we're just going to, what? Clean the store? Get it working again? Invite in new customers to buy the last of whatever is left here? Then what? What happens when everything is sold? What happens if the owners find out?

Like, I know, just like you know that we're going to go clean and all, but... am I alone with these questions?"

Silence flowed in as Ell stopped.

T?h sighed, an intentional action certainly, but convincing, "no you aren't the only one. I think it too. Pretty much just as you described and I'm willing to bet Ané was thinking it too."

Ané nodded slowly, a dazed look crossing those jolly features.

"I was probably going to say normal, yeah, but as you were talking I thought of words like 'baseline' or 'usability'. Nothing about any of this is normal, but it is what we're going to do."

All three sighed and pushed themselves up from the table.

"Well, we had better just do it so that it's done," Ell said, "We can do other things when this place is clean."

The three got to work clearing out as much as they could. They worked individually, each taking a section along the periphery and moving methodically, top to bottom, corner to corner, letting dust and debris fall down to the floor where it would be included in that portion of the cleanup. Brooms were found and put to use, though garbage space quickly became an issue. While many cleaning supplies were on hand, the trash bags were lacking and those that were available ran out fast. In the end, the three simply put what they cleaned in a pile near the loading dock.

The only noises came from their labors and from outside the store. As the windows came clean they could see that past the wide empty parking lot strewn with dead trees was the chain link fence separating them from the street. Traffic passed occasionally, and sometimes piled up to ridiculous numbers, as well as occasional pedestrians. But other than passing glances when taking things up to the front, the trio did nothing more.

The portion that was saved for last, or more appropriately uncomfortably ignored until last, was the clothing sections in the middle. As the edges were cleaned, it looked dirtier and dirtier, the gray dust contrasting heavily with the cleanly wiped black and white metal of the shelves and the restored colors of the remaining signage. Regardless, the area shrank as more and more got done and the uncomfortable conversation loomed.

At last the store was clean, sparse, but clean, except for certain patches of the clothing sections and the three found themselves retiring to the break room once again. They sat and stared for a while, even the normally cheerful Ané remaining silent. Finally Ell broke the silence.

"I was the first one, and I don't know why I awoke. But I know you two were the ones I reassembled before you woke up. I didn't know it would happen either. It just seemed so natural to do. The pieces fit..."

"And there's no doubt if we did it," T?h interrupted, "there would end up being more of us. But for my part, I don't blame you for anything Ell. It just... well, happened."

"That does leave the problem." Ané added, "Now that we know, we _would_be responsible if we made more of us. We came to life, cleaned the store, and now we are coming to a philosophical cliff. I don't think we're like robots or anything, but we all know that we're doing what we know we should do."

"I don't know, but, I think we're trapped here too." T?h continued, "I thought about leaving and I just, well, I couldn't figure out how I would. And all it would mean would be walking away. I would just have to start walking and keep going, but it's like a stop in my mind. If we made more of us, they'd be trapped too, and then what?"

The three sat silent for a moment, considering.

"And what happens when everything is done? What if we just stop? Go back to how we were?"

"Back to being plain old mannequins, not aware, not alive, no thoughts but... I mean we weren't even observing then we just have memories of observations. It's not like we have anything to worry about. We don't eat, breathe, drink, or use the restrooms, which is what we know living people do. We seem to be here to clean and fix this place up. If it's all over when it's over, then what does it matter? And if we have others, well, then they'll share it with us no matter what else. If we do keep going... well, maybe one of us will learn how to shuffle properly."

"If we're going to just do what we do, then I guess it doesn't make too much difference." T?h said, head shaking in confusion, "but I feel like I can make decisions on my own even though I _know_there's stuff I can't do. This feels like a big decision now that we know we are making it. Are we really just going to do it because we're thinking about it? Do we really have no choice even though we feel like we do?"

"Well. Ok," Ané interjected, "I say let's test it. I was thinking about it as you were saying it. Let's test making decisions. Like those games, we have to figure out the rules. Once we know that, we can see about decision-making. Like... well, what if we try to leave anyway?"

The three thought about this for a while, distracted from the more pressing matter by this proposition.

"Morning then." Ell stated, "I'm going to try and leave in the morning. I'll come back, but I have to know. I'll go as far as I can and you can keep an eye on me if anything happens."

The night passed with a lull of activity. Conversation stopped beyond Ané proposing more games. T?h, wandering the back storage and loading areas, found several boxes of merchandise which had likely never been taken away. As no one would really be around to object, T?h simply took them all out and shelved them, reasoning that if anyone cared they would simply pack them back up when the time came. Ell swept again, dusted, and wiped down every surface; the methodical motions calming in the face of the coming attempt to break the apparent rules.

The dawn crawled its light up the horizon, creeping brightness finding its way through the windows and into the already lit store. It was a shock when the three finished their tasks to find that the sun was already well up. Wordlessly they gathered at the dock, an air of palpable apprehension surrounding them.

Ell walked out, crossing the parking lot, occasionally stopping or slowing to kick a rock, toss a stick aside, peer at the not-so-distant mountains rising around the horizon, or tracking a flying creature that moved by. Hesitation punctuated every step as something inside screamed to stop and give up. Nothing seemed to slow down the actual motions, but there was an expectation or perhaps an anticipation of some sort of effect like that. Ell could move freely in the parking lot, but the true fear kicked in at the sidewalk near the street.

The street was empty and had been for some time. Occasionally the three had heard the sounds of passing traffic, but now there wasn't a vehicle as far as could be seen. Unpatched cracks webbed the asphalt and weeds grew in some places amongst the loose gravel. Disrepair, just like so many other things. There was a patch of open fence, where the couplings had separated and the panels of chain link had moved apart.

Pushing a hand out from the sidewalk felt like pushing into clay, not impossible but tangibly resisting. Ell's fingers slowed and went stiff, the skin growing fuzzy and hard like felt over plastic. A strange tranquility settled as Ell pushed on, knowing that whatever happened next, it was proof of free will. A sigh of relief, and it all went black.

Ell awoke in the clothing area with no memory of arriving. Not dusty this time, and that was a relief. Having the first memory of the discomfort of dust rubbed into bleary eyes was not something that Ell hoped to repeat. Looking around revealed a mostly clean store, bright and quiet, if still a bit sparse in terms of inventory. The only remaining dust and dishevelment that remained was in the very section Ell had awoken in, one with the incomplete mannequins.

Blank faces with only depressions where eyes or nostrils would go, some only torsos with heads. Disembodied hands showed, or used to show, bracelets and rings. Legs further along for displaying what had once been the latest in footwear fashions. They had once been alike with Ell, unaware and static. Unsure, Ell stepped out among them looking for another mannequin that could be completed. A wonder occurred that Ané and T?h hadn't shown up.

A short but fruitless search concluded that no others could be completed. Somehow giving two left legs or right arms was certainly wrong. No doubt it couldn't work if a mannequin was incomplete and disassembling some to hodgepodge one final form made Ell queasy. In short, there was no way there would be any more besides Ell, Ané, and T?h.

Ell sighed, relieved but also disappointed at the same time. It wouldn't be right to make someone new, knowing they could never leave, knowing they had no choice in their existence. On the other hand, it would have been nice to have more people around. But regardless, with that resolved, Ell set to work with tasks at hand, cleaning up the clothing display section, only offhandedly wondering where the other two had gotten to.

"Look, I'm telling you, there's people in there. The lights have been on for days." Alonzo insisted.

"Don't be such a fucking pussy," Brandon snapped, "I set us up a space, I've driven by like every day, I ain't seen one car, one person in the lot. They don't got those camera trailers. Even the fuckin' bums don't camp here. But they left shit in there and all we gotta do is take it. You gonna chicken out right now?"

Alonzo shifted on his feet and scratched at his face, "I'm just saying, if it's abandoned, why are the lights on?"

"Oh my god! Who fuckin cares?! Dude, if you're worried, take something to hit people with. If we get spotted we run. If anyone's in there it's probably a homeless that I didn't see and who the fuck cares then? Now come on, I ain't carrying all this shit by myself."

Brandon shoved his way between the gap in the fence he had opened the day before. He swung the bolt cutters in his hand, pretending to smack imaginary foes aside as he made for the door. Behind him, Alonzo struggled to fit through the same gap, rattling the chainlink and scraping the struts against the loose pavement.

Puffing along as he tried to keep up, Alonzo didn't notice much around him as he made his way to Brandon who had sped to the loading dock. Getting there he found the door already propped open and Brandon nowhere to be seen. Alonzo pushed in, wondering how Brandon had gotten the door open so quickly, and was surprised to see how clean and well lit the bay was. Trash and dirt were piled in a corner, but the rest had been scrupulously cleared away, leaving a large space where cargo was supposed to go.

"Dude, there's clearly been people here," Alonzo insisted, "it's too clean, the lights are on, this is fucked dude, we gotta abort."

Brandon was already out of sight. No reply.

"Fuckin shiiit," Alonzo muttered as he pushed on inside.

Ané and T?h watched as the figures entered the store. First the beaver, posed as if ready for a fight, and after a few moments a nervous looking tapir, both dressed in distressed street clothes, both with a yellow bandana tied to their heads. T?h and Ané could hear them talking, but weren't able to discern the words.

"We're just, what, going to let them have the run of the place?" Ané asked, a look of consternation marring the normal quokka smile.

"Look, none of this stuff is ours in the first place. It's all abandoned. Them taking things is not worth putting us at risk. We just keep quiet, stay out of the way, and they'll take what they want and leave."

Ané sighed, "you're right. But it just feels wrong I guess. Oh look, that one just grabbed the other's shoulder..."

"Fuckin_listen to me_," Alonzo hissed through his teeth, "there's people here! It's too clean, the lights are on, we're gonna get busted if we stay here. There's probably even cameras working right now! I think I saw someone moving even!"

Brandon shoved the hand off his shoulder. Alonzo jumped back as a clacking snap sounded right before the tip of a metal baton was pointed in his face. Brandon pushed his baton at Alonzo's nose and took a step forward, forcing him back.

"If you're that much of a pussy, start grabbing some shit and get moving already. Anyone comes near me gets a shattered jaw, and if you don't nut up and get me something to sell, it's your ass."

Alonzo turned and ran back towards the shelves with locked cabinets. One of the reasons Brandon wanted him along in the first place was because he knew how to jimmy the locks and get at the good stuff. In his pockets were a magnet set, a sturdy knife, and some bits of shaped metal that could let him open pretty much any of the basic cases. The electronics were cleaned out, not surprisingly, but he found some decent tools. Tools were good since every pawn shop or back alley dealer could move them. A few minutes work had the cases sliding open.

Ell ducked behind a display rack as someone approached. A figure was moving through the aisles. Whoever it was, it wasn't T?h or Ané, that was for sure, and unless they had put someone new together during the... the blankness... this wasn't another mannequin. The figure swung a tapered pole in one hand with every stride and their eyes darted around, clearly looking for trouble. The figure stopped at a display of movies across from where Ell was hiding, muttering something about how they weren't surprised those had been left behind. Regardless, they grabbed a handful and tucked them into the jacket they were wearing.

Rounding the end of the aisle was another figure, this one moving at a hustle, looking nervously round. Ell pulled aside to hide from this new person, but did not like the idea of fleeing just yet. These people were obviously here to take the inventory, and although it felt wrong, Ell knew the best thing was to just let them. It had all been abandoned anyway, and even when the store had been open there were policies against trying to be a hero. But aside from that, there was a nagging contrary feeling that this was wrong. Nevermind the strangeness of being alive at all, something had made all this happen.

Ell pondered this strange intrusive feeling while watching the figure move on and pocket a few random shiny accessories from a rack. Ell remembered cleaning some of those, the dust being especially stubborn to remove without damaging the cardboard backings. But some of those hadn't been there before. Where had the new stock come from? Was it whatever had caused a mannequin to come to life? Something had caused all this to happen, so how would... whatever it was... react to burglars? Certainly if this one got away it would only encourage more thieves, and if there were more thieves, then how long until they discovered who had been cleaning the store?

"Is there fuckin someone here?!"

The shout made Ell jump and cower back, but the figure was thankfully not looking in the right direction. The hand with the baton swung about threateningly. Another voice and the sound of feet sounded.

"Gawddammit Brandon, it's me!" Another voice called in reply, "I got some of the cases open. Come look."

"Bout time, damn," Brandon growled, "Anything worth it?"

"A few things, probably get a few hundred for them. I can't believe how clean this place is though. It's been closed for like a year at this point."

"Quit talking and let's get loaded," Brandon snapped and shoved past his accomplice.

Watching them walk back towards the tools section, Ell decided to sprint instead for the employee lounge, reasoning that maybe T?h and Ané had done the same.

T?h had opened the door so Ell could run inside, pulling it firmly closed behind. Ell collapsed in a seat around one the the tables, forehead slamming to the surface with a sharp thwack. A moment of breathless silence was followed by a groan of frustration. Another groan followed and then the thump of a fist on the table.

"Are you..." Ané started,

"We can't leave, we're being robbed, we can't do anything, so no I am not," Ell interrupted angrily.

T?h rounded the table and took the seat opposite. Ell started as T?h's hand slipped forward. Raising Ell's face, T?h stared neutrally before tilting and twisting for a better view.

"You're alive again. I don't see any difference. Do you remember anything that happened after you crossed the fence line?"

"Nothing. Everything was difficult, then fuzzy, then... like... nothing, but a sense of nothing. I don't know how to describe it better. I was doing it... I was gone... then I woke up somewhere else. I think my mind is just trying to fill in the blank in between with, well, a blank. I wasn't me in the same way I wasn't me before I woke up. What was it like from the outside?"

Ané's arms slipped in from behind to deliver a hug.

"You turned back into a mannequin. Stiff, featureless, neither hot nor cold. Like you weren't a person anymore. You didn't move, you didn't even look like yourself anymore. Just a plastic blank."

T?h's head slammed onto the table, causing the other two to jump and for Ell to jerk up to look.

"We're not real people, we're trapped here, and now we're being robbed." A sob punctuated the outburst, "no one cares about living things, and... that hurt my head. Ow. And we can feel pain it seems. What is this? How is this fair and who would do this to us? What's the point of any of this?"

Ané and Ell were stunned at the outburst. T?h had been the practical one so far, and despite being mildly irritating and bossy at times, it was disturbing to see such a breakdown. Ell broke the silence.

"Ok, so we're not real people. But we can make our own choices. That's something if nothing else. We're here to work, but we can choose not to. We can sit around and literally do nothing, or screw around and play games, or whatever. We can't leave, but it doesn't matter. And I'm telling you from experience that if we go back to the way we were, we just wake up again. If we never wake up again, we won't even notice. But we're here now, and nothing can ever stop us from changing our mind if we want it."

"What about when other people come then?" T?h demanded, "What do we do when people show up, start asking questions, trying to tell us what to do, or maybe destroy the whole building? What if the police show up and try to arrest us?!"

The scene was broken by laughter as Ané burst out. T?h jerked up from the table and scowled through teary eyes. Ell stared, head cocked to the side. Snorts and giggles signaled the ebb of Ané's outburst.

"Sorry, sorry," Ané gasped, "I pictured... hah.. ok, I was thinking of police officers arresting us, right?"

The others continued their stares, moods darkening.

"Ok, they arrest us, handcuff us, and march us out the doors. Ok? Ok, now we get in the cars. And they drive away, and then..."

Ell burst out with an explosive laugh as the coin dropped. T?h snapped around, confused.

"What?! What is funny about that?!" T?h demanded.

"Dude," Ell shouted through a smile, "the cops drive away and we turn back into mannequins!"

"YES!" Ané shouted, "they get to the station, wonder why we're so quiet, and they get yelled at for arresting fake people!"

T?h's head thumped back down on the table. Silence for a minute, and then a slow groaning chuckle.

"That. Ok. Jeez." T?h said at last, "That alone would be worth it."

"See?" Ell said, "who cares about all that? We can..."

A thump at the door stole all their attention.

"I heard something!" Shouted Brandon's voice from outside, another thump followed, "whoever's in there, you best be ready to cough up whatever you got!"

"Dude, leave it, there's no one here," Alonzo demanded, "we've got all we can carry, let's go already!"

"Fuck that, there's someone in there," Brandon snapped.

A sudden, loud metallic clacking sound had T?h and Ell snapping their heads around.

"AND IF YOU WANNA EAT A SHOTGUN SHELL, KEEP COMING ASSHOLES!" shouted Ané, who was now holding a metal folding chair.

Ané slapped the chair hard against the table with an almighty BANG, which was quickly followed by the sound of mad running and hasty repetitions of expletives. Ané pushed out the door shouting after them:

"Y'all better run! I always wanted a reason!"

Gripping the chair's legs in both hands, Ané gestured to the others to follow. Together they followed slowly, tracking after the fleeing thieves. Objects were scattered in the aisles, dropped in haste as the thieves fled. The back bay doors were wide open and sunlight poured through. The three cautiously but quickly moved out and peaked around the corner and out into the lot. There, at the fence, were two figures who looked as if they were trying to run through the pulled open gap in slow motion. One was clearly winning this stop-motion race and was also clearly moving faster. The other thing that was obvious was that their skins and pelts were fading to gray and turning more like felt than actual hair.

Ell, feeling a compulsion that was no doubt coming from recent experience, ran out into the open, shouting from cupped hands, "Drop everything! Don't take anything away!"

One of the pair, the portly tapir, turned to look back at Ell with the speed of a charging snail, nodded, and threw everything away. The effect was rapid, with color returning and the pace picking up. The tapir reached the fence, gripped the edges, and pulled himself out to the street beyond. With never a look back, he ran for all he was worth away.

The beaver, on the other hand, also snapped a look, but rather than dropping everything, raised a finger and made a further effort. With a final burst of effort, he reached the fence and attempted to leave. Ell and the others caught up to the fence seconds too late. Now, instead of a living person, stood only a mannequin dressed in the same clothes the beaver had been wearing.

Ell touched the felt-lined vague features in awe and then turned to the others.

"Is this what it was like for me? Is that how it happened?"

Heads shook in the negative.

"It didn't do that slow motion thing," T?h confirmed, "but you went from... you... to that. Just... I don't know... like..."

A snapping sound brought attention to Ané who held up a hand and wore a satisfied expression.

"Like snapped fingers," Ané chuckled.

Ell sighed, "well, I suppose we should take this one inside. We can put back whatever was taken and get back to doing our thing. If... this one... wakes back up, they are going to want to be on their way, I'm sure."

Over the next week the store became completely clean. Boxes of inventory came into the bay, but no one saw them being delivered. Regardless, the items were shelved. No one could remember who had found the price label maker, but it made its rounds. In short order the place came back to life through the hands of three former mannequins who spent the evenings playing cards and debating philosophy. They never found out why they had come to be, and no one could figure out where everything came from.

Night did nothing in the clean and brightly lit store except to blacken the view out the windows.

It was in this brilliance that Brandon became aware. It was clean, with the sharp tang of floor cleaners. A hand came up to rub at sensitive eyes which stung like the sensation of stepping from a pitch-black room into daylight. Memories flooded back with frightening sobriety. Breaking into the store, loading up with stuff, the... upon reflection it actually hadn't sounded like someone cocking a gun had it... and then running. Running to the gate before it all went black.

Brandon knew who he was and where he was, but not how he had gotten there. While this wasn't a completely foreign experience, this was unnerving especially with how clear headed he was. Sounds came to his ears, laughter and chatter. Whoever was here, they didn't seem at all worried that he was inside. Regardless, he knew he had to get out.

Picking his way through the brightly lit lanes, he hardly noticed how much fuller the shelves were than when he had gone on a spree. He made his way to the loading bay, finding it open in spite of the hour. Stepping into the night, Brandon made for the fence as fast as he dared. A scant few minutes later, he had squeezed through a gap in the fence and then ran as fast as he could away from the store.

End.