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It was the fifth of March. Sunshine started slowly pouring into Andy’s room that morning making his glow in the dark stickers unfortunately invisible. But that was something Andy wouldn’t particularly mind on that special day. The sunlight reached his face and touched his little freckles and blonde hair. It would have been a peaceful sight if Andy hadn’t woke up in annoyance because of the sudden warmth. He kicked the blankets off him and got out of bed. No one in the house was up yet, so Andy casually followed his morning routine. While brushing his teeth he knew he was missing something, but couldn’t exactly figure out what. It was also the reason why he couldn’t sleep last night and had couldn’t stop grinning. Andy shrugged and put his toothbrush back to its place. He was just leaving the bathroom when he realized.
“I’m a complete idiot!” he said out loud and ran to Barry’s room.
He pushed the door open at once - as impossible as it may sound.
“BARRY! Barry! Wake up!!” he yelled in excitement.
Barry bolt upright in bed. “What?”
“Do you know what day it is!?”
“No, I don’t, let me sleep!”
“It’s the fifth of March, my birthday!”
Barry frowned puzzled and glanced at his calendar. He saw the little note he had scribbled for that day a while ago ‘surprise 4 andis b-day’. He had completely forgotten to plan the surprise party Mo and himself had suggested. He mentally slapped himself for ruining his little brother’s special day.
“So..? You said you had something big for today.” Andy smiled and looked Barry in the eyes with excitement.
Barry looked away embarrassed. How could he forget his brother’s birthday?
“Oh, ugh.. about that..” Barry scratched the back of his head. He had to come up with something and fast! “Let’s wake up the twins first, alright? Because we really do have a surprise for you, little bug.”
“Yay!”
Barry gulped and faked a confident dance move while entering the twins’ room. Andy was right behind him.
“Uhh… come on! Wake up sleepyheads!” Barry tried his best to sound excited.
He received two annoyed grunts. In the double bed they shared, Maurice was usually taking over Robin’s side as well, leaving his brother without a blanket or squishing him to the edge of the bed. That was once again the case. It happened so often that Robin didn’t even complain anymore.
Barry sighed and slapped Maurice with a pillow that was hanging out of bed.
“Heyyy!”
“Wake up Mo, will you? It’s Andy’s birthday, time for the surprise we were talking about..!”
Maurice huffed and rested on his elbows, still processing what Barry was on about.
“Come on, wear some clothes and get your skateboard. Robin, you’re coming too.”
“Do I really have to?” Robin muttered, but received another pillow on his face as a response.
Twenty minutes later they had left a note for their parents on the kitchen table and were skating through the city. Andy was cheering the whole time.
“Could you at least tell us where we’re going?” Maurice asked his older brother, but Andy wouldn’t leave his side for one minute, making it impossible for Barry to explain the new plan.
“We’re almost there.” Was all Barry could say to satisfy his curiosity.
But he didn’t need to wait any longer. Soon Barry stopped his bike in front of an old building, squished in between modern shops. The walls were covered in a thick layer of posters, announcements and advertisements that have surely been there for over a decade. Any signs of life or color were missing.
“What are we doing here, that’s the abandoned mall that has been closed down since the nineties.” Robin muttered confused.
“We’re getting in, of course.” Barry said casually. “I had promised to take Andy skating with us, this place is perfect.”
Andy squealed in excitement and hugged Barry. “That’s the best birthday gift ever!”
Robin’s mouth was now slightly open. “Are you saying that for your little brother’s birthday, you’re taking him to an abandoned mall, far away from home, in this weird place that gives me the creeps already? Are you serious, Barry?”
“I’m nine, not eight and a half anymore, there’s a difference. Mo said that.”
Robin looked over his twin as if expecting an explanation, but all Maurice did was shrug.
“Andy, look..” Robin did his best to communicate with his brother, something he wasn’t particularly good at. “You know it would get us all in trouble if mummy learns about this. Besides there’s nothing but dust in there. Pretty boring, right? Who wants to get in there, it’s illegal anyway.”
“But I saw you setting fire to one of the desks in art classroom, that’s illegal too. And you don’t have to say ‘mummy’ when talking to me, I know you never use that, I’m not a baby!”
Robin sighed in frustration “Alright, fine! Since no one listens to me, I might as well head back and let you guys do whatever you want. But I won’t cover you if mum asks where you’ve gone to.”
“Hey, Rob, you can’t do that!” Barry whined.
“I can and I will.”
“It’s not even that dangerous, you’re just scared!”
“No, I’m not! I’m simply sane enough to know when it’s time to get going.”
“Yeah, sure, all you do is spoil all the fun.”
“Guys! Guys! Stop!” Maurice got in the way.
Both Robin and Barry glared at him almost annoyed that he interrupted their fight.
“Robi, you know we can’t just go home now, do you really want to ruin Andy’s birthday? It’s the least we can do, look how excited he is.”
Mo intentionally used Robin’s favorite nickname, earning a small grin from his twin. He knew if he insisted Robin would eventually give in. It never worked with Barry, but it did with him.
“I guess then we’ll have to be careful..” Robin said after a long pause.
“That’s the spirit!” Barry cheered “Now come on, I think Andy has already crawled in through the broken window while we were talking.”
“HE DID WHAT?!”
Ten minutes and another fight between Barry and Robin later, the brothers were exploring the dark corridors of the mall. The floor was covered in dust and shattered glass from what once used to be shop windows. It seemed like life was taken away from this place with such cruelty. Familiar spots where children would play are now shelter for rats and cockroaches. In the embrace of deep shadows, one could think that any kinds of creatures were lurking in the dark.
“Awesome!” Andy smiled in awe.
“I regret watching all those Hitchcock movies last week..” Robin murmured having already wondered how many pairs of eyes were set on them as they walked past the old stores. Who knows, maybe a psycho killer was waiting for them just around the corner.
“Hey! Look at this cool hat store!” Maurice broke the silence and stood outside the store.
He could see old baseball hats of teams he has heard of. Maybe some of them had made it to the finals and managed to reach the spotlight. Some others might have failed and given up on sports. So many things can happen in ten years.
“ ‘High Desert Mavericks 1991’”Andy read out loud. “They have a cool logo.” He commented.
“You think I could try it on?” Maurice wondered.
Robin also stuck his nose on the surprisingly not broken shop window and looked around the place. “It looks as if the ghost of this miserable hat shop owner is daring us to come in. No one probably did when this place was still not out of order. He could be still sitting in that old worn out brown chair.. and watching the souls of the customers who died in here walking past his store, not even giving him a chance in the afterlife..”
Maurice, Andy and Barry slowly turned their heads to look at him.
“What the fuck, dude-
“Maurice, language!” Barry elbowed his brother since Andy was around.
“What? He does this all the time when we’re studying, it’s so creepy!”
“Yeah, well, try to ignore him.”
Maurice rolled his eyes and walked into the store. When going shopping with mum, Maurice liked trying on different types of hats and then walking around as if he actually owned them. That was until it was time to go and he would eventually return them. Barbara said they couldn’t afford buying them, they boys already had guitars and toys to play with. But now it was different. No one would accuse him with theft if he ‘borrowed’ one. A cowboy hat caught Maurice’s eye and he palpated the top of it. It looked good for its age.
“Why don’t you try it on?” Barry suggested.
Maurice grinned and adjusted the hat on his head after blowing the dust off.
“Is there a mirror?”
“Uh, yeah, over there, but it’s broken.”
“Fine, then you’ll be my mirror. How does it look on me?”
Barry thought for moment and asked him to make a spin.
“I think it’s a little bit too big for you, but that’s exactly the reason why you look cool in it.”
“So do we take it?”
“Absolutely.”
They high-fived and walked out of the store. Before walking away, Maurice drew a smiley face on the dust of the shop window.
“See?” he told Robin “Now your ghost is happy.”
After a while of skating through the corridors, performing tricks and Robin picking up every old newspaper he spotted on the floor, the brothers gathered outside the cinema. There a few leaflets on the floor advertising movies they had watched and loved.
“Hey, look, Toy Story 1!” Robin exclaimed. “It was only brand new then.”
“I like Toy Story 2 better.” Barry commented. “It was much more funnier.”
“No, the first one is wayy better.”
“No, it’s not!”
“And what do you know about humor, you’re always plain boring.”
“Now look who’s talking-
“Barryyy, come look!” Andy suddenly interrupted.
Barry sighed and walked up to see what was Andy holding.
“What’s that over there?”
“I was looking for rats so I might become friends with them” Andy started explaining and received disguised sighs “until I found a candy! It’s still in its plastic wrap.”
“Ew, Andy, don’t eat that, it’s gone bad, it has been buried in trash for god knows how many years! Are you listening to me?”
Andy didn’t speak for a moment and then turned around looking more pale than usual.
“I.. I think you’re right, it didn’t taste good.”
“Did you.. did you just eat that?!”
Andy slowly nodded.
“GUYS COME HERE RIGHT NOW! MO! ROBIN!”
“What is it?” Maurice popped in.
“We’re getting out of here!” Barry yelled and took Andy by the hand.
“I told you it was a bad idea-
“Shut up, Rob!”
No one talked on the way back. The Gibb brothers got out of the mall and Robin was the only one to enjoy the fresh air and sunshine again.
“Oh, and happy birthday, Andy.” Maurice randomly added.
Barry had been pretending to be angry, but he couldn’t hold in a snort of laughter. Soon all of them were giggling and skating back home.