It was December, and Stephen couldn’t feel his hands. New York always had frigid weather this time of year, but the winter of 2008  was by far the worst he had ever experienced. He shoved his hands in his pockets and turned to his friend.

“Frank, out of all the days you could have chosen for this ‘exploration’ you managed to pick the coldest.”

“Oh stop complaining, you have like, three jackets on.” Stephen was Frank’s best, and only friend. “Besides, we’re almost there.” The duo walked down the snow covered street, stopping and looking up at the mall in front of them.

“What the heck is a…” Stephen squinted his eyes. “G-al-ira? Galira?

“Galleria, it was a mall.” Frank corrected his dyslexic friend. “Used to be a popular hang out. Two months ago it was announced it was closing down. Nothing was wrong with the building, still had good business.”

“And we’re going here, why? It’s not that old?”

“Because,” Frank paused. “All four people who’ve gone to explore it haven’t come back.” Without waiting, he moved forward towards the entrance.

“Woah woah woah!” Stephen stepped in front of him, “This is a good idea why?!” The two of them had been to places with urban legends of ghosts and murders, but this felt off.

Frank, unphased by any of this, stepped around Stephen and strolled in.

“Comon, it’s not that bad.” Infact, the mall wasn’t too damaged or scary. There were some overturned tables, decomposing piles of mush that were once pretzel littered the floors, and the occasional wire bunch dangling from the ceiling. Stephen, not wanting to stay out in the harsh cold, reluctantly followed.

The building was well lit, the giant skylights illuminated everything but the stores. Most of which were caged closed, or had piles of random junk in the windows. “I bet the vending machines are still operational, I’m hungry.”

“Stephen, we ate an hour ago.” Frank poked his head into one of the kitchens, grease still pooling on the floor.

“Geeze, Frank look at this! How much electricity do you think a Scuba needs?” Frank looked over, Stephen had found an old Subway with the W, and Y missing from the sign.

“Subway. Not Scuba.” But the slip up was forgotten as soon as he saw what Stephen was talking about. All different color wires poured into the vendor stall. They came from the kitchen door, the vents, even the sink.

“What…” Even the microwave had cords spewing out of it. “That’s…interesting…”

Before Frank could stop him, Stephen climbed over the counter. “Comon, let’s see where they’re coming from.”

“I don’t think-” Frank was about to say something else, but stopped. It was his idea to come here, why leave because things were a bit unnerving. They had explored stranger places before, what could go wrong.

“Ok, let’s go.”  It was dark in the kitchen, for the first time since entering the mall Stephen had to get the flashlights. Even with them, it was difficult to see. But they didn’t need to see anything, it was all wires. Cables reaching across the ceiling, twitching with electricity.

“Frank…what’s that…” Stephens’ shaky voice echoed through the room. Sitting on what must have once been the sink, was a beat up CRT television set. Static danced across the screen, and then pixelated words typed out slowly in blood red.

“Connecting… please hold…” 

“Frank..FRANK IT’S GOT MY FOOT!” As Stephen started sinking into the wires, Frank stood paralyzed in terror. He couldn’t move, couldn’t speak.

He felt the coils slowly wrap around him, pulling his body down, down, down.

“So this is it, this is how I die.” 

More and more wires snaked around him, crawling up his face, circulation was slowly being cut off from his limbs. Before the wires overtook his sight, Frank spotted five other bodies among the wires. One of them was Stephen, the other four unrecognizable.  The last thing he saw was cables fused with flesh, part human, part monstrosity.

Above the wires, the television glitched again, only for a frame before more text appeared.

“Connection established…thank you for your patience.”