Luke drank his coffee. The rich bitter taste filled his mouth. It was just another night at work. He worked as a security guard for a local mall. It was a pretty easy job.
All you had to do was stay up all night and make sure there were no delinquents around causing trouble. For a night owl like him, it was a walk in the park. You just hand him his coffee, and he would cruise through the night.
The mall had three floors. He started his routine inspection from the top floor. Rows of shops filled the sides. In the middle was an empty open space. Standing from the railings, one can see lower floors.
There was nothing odd about the top floor, it was just some hardware shops, some liquor stores, and an arcade center.
He went and checked the toilets. It was a common place for delinquents to hide and go out when it's nighttime. Only for them to do some vandalizing and break a couple of things.
Luke would just shake his head whenever he encounters the pesky troublemakers. They just couldn't think of better things to do in their lives.
He doesn't blame them though, some of the kids he met had problems at home and would just rather spend their time messing around somewhere else.
After all, who in their right minds would want to stay at home when your parents are fighting and swearing at each other. Maybe break a couple things and at worst take it out on you.
Luke used to be like them, although he didn't have the same issues. Truthfully, he was just a punk when he was a teenager. Skip classes and mess around. Rob a few stores cause he was a minor and he would get away with it. Those were the days.
Though he had long grown out of it. He didn't get to finish college, cause he didn't change until he dropped out and saw the harsh reality. That the world ran on money, and having a degree would be essential to live a proper life.
Of course, there were outliers in the world. People who had no degree, but somehow managed to start their own company leading to their success story. He used to daydream that he would one day become like them.
However, he was a punk. He didn't take school seriously and no one wanted to make connections with him.
It was only because of his parents, that he managed to turn his life around, and he was thankful for it. His parents, knowing someone high up in the local mall managed to get him into security work. He took his training which his parents paid for, and started his work as a security guard.
Now five years have passed already from when he started his security guard career. He was now a Senior Security Officer making decent money. A few trainings and seminars away from promotion into a supervisory role.
Every now and then, he would send money and visit his parents as he was grateful. For they didn't abandon him even though he was a lost cause back then.
Setting aside the past, Luke went out of the top floor toilets as he found nothing. He then went down to the second floor.
Unlike the top floor, the second floor was filled with shops of different clothing brands. Brands like Richie Glam, Vucci, and Wode filled the second floor. Luxury brands that were popular international, and guaranteed to sell due to established reputation.
Hiss.
The sound of a can spray echoed from a certain direction.
"These punks." Luke shook his head and rushed at the direction where the sound came from.
He arrived at a corridor that lead to the toilets. There he saw three delinquents vandalizing the wall. Two were boys and one was a girl. They wore a black hoodie and had face masks on.
On the walls, were a plethora of swear words pasted on by their paint. The paint dripping, still fresh.
"Hey! You punks!" Luke shouted at the bunch of delinquents.
"Oh shit! Run!" One of the boys said as he took off like a surprised cat. The rest followed him in frantic.
However, there was only one way out, and that was the corridor that Luke occupied.
"Damn punks!" Luke said as he rushed at the leader, his arms spread open ready to take down one with him.
When Luke was close enough, he went for a tackle at the waist. However, the boy was nimble and was able to dodge Luke by diving between his legs.
Luke missed and dropped to the ground as the boy intentionally pulled his leg to make him trip. Thanks to the leader, the other two were able to speed past the sprawling Luke. They all laughed at him.
"Haha! Stupid security! You should get some exercise old man!" The boy said as his friends laughed at Luke before they all run off.
"Old man? I'm 25 years old for fuck's sake." Luke said as veins popped out of his forehead.
"That's one nimble brat, I must admit. I'll make sure to catch that brat next time and give him a good old spanking." Luke said as he pictured himself scolding the little brat.
Drip.
"Huh?" Luke muttered as he heard a sound echoed from the toilet.
"Heh, looks like one of them hid in the toilet. Or maybe took a dump? Regardless, I guess I'm not so unlucky after all." Luke grinned as he imagined scolding the kid and making an example out of him to scare his friends away, making sure they'd never come back messing around in the mall.
He got closer the public toilet doors. The sound got louder and louder. It seemed to have come from the men's toilet, Luke concluded.
Luke went inside. What greeted him was a bunch of cubicles and urinals. There were five cubicles, and the sound seemed to originate from the furthest one that was near the window.
"Come out now brat! I got you cornered!" Luke grinned.
Grrr.
A low growl replied, and Luke found it funny. Luke thought the kid was pretending to be a monster to scare him off.
"Huh, pretending to be some monster aren't you? Well, you've mess with the wro-!" Luke said as he yanked the cubicle's door wide open. The sight shocked him.