Riley's heart nearly popped out of her chest. She couldn't believe what she was seeing as a puff of small smoke oozed from the camera. She didn't even think polaroids could make smoke! She brushed it away, then glanced around, embarrassed and hoping nobody saw that, especially not Emily.
Around her there seemed to be no eyes drawn towards her, but what she saw caught her interest for some reason. There were tons of people walking by in extravagant colors. There was a cute skinny blond with purple leg warmers and a large scrunchie, dancing to her walkman. There were businessmen talking on their rectangular, massive cellular phones while kids skated by laughing and screaming catchphrases from the ninja turtles. Riley leant against a poster from some new movie about time travel staring Michael J. Fox, then felt her head.
Why did this feel... wrong? Why was she noticing particular items and aspects of people? Before she could think about anything else, a hand suddenly being placed on her left shoulder pad broke her train of thought.
"Woah kid are you okay? You look like you're about to Ralph all over the place." Emily asked.
Riley glanced up to see her superior and mentor, Emily, looking somewhat concerned at her. Emily was a 31 year old woman with big brunette hair and even bigger dreams. She wore her normal grey work suit with accompanying shoulder pads, dark purse and heels. She always kept her sleeves rolled up outside the office and usually had a cigarette in her mouth at all times.
"Oh, like, it's nothing heavy. Just felt gross for a second... I-I'm fine now." Riley lied, trying to throw in a giggle to ease her friend.
Emily squinted at her coworker, scrutinizing her. Riley was a younger kid in the business from her perspective, being only 26. She had bright auburn hair, which Emily had noticed she had been recently trying to wear in long messy locks like she did, despite usually having more unkept curls. Likewise, she had pads added to her dark purple suit in an effort to mimic her.
Emily found Riley at a Dentists office, acting as a somewhat ditzy receptionist. However, the longer Emily was there she noticed that this seemed to be more of an act if anything, and that her business drive was killer. She took the kid under her wing at their company and had been close ever since. Because of this, she knew when the kid was lying.
Riley was twirling her hair, jittering a leg a bit, and constantly was fixing her skirt in-between messing with her hair.
"Alright, just stay focused k?" Emily asked, deciding to ignore her friends behavior for now. "Anyway, how'd that pic come out?" She asked.
"O-oh!" Riley gasped, forgetting to grab the photo. She looked at the camera, glad that it was no longer smoking, and removed the photo which had already come into focus. She smiled seeing it was a clear and good shot of a passing group of four older women. "It came out great. Totally bodacious!" She laughed.
"Nice, but kid, what'd I say about certain slang?" Emily scolded.
"R-right, sorry m'am." Riley sighed.
"It's alright, just watch yourself. If it was up to those old farts back at the office I'd never have made it past secretary slash personal ass to pinch and I'd never been able to hire you too." She explained once more, in-between a puff of smoke. "It's cause of those sexist pigs that we're out here to begin with." She remarked, generally waving at the mall. "They called this 'women's' work. Ha." She sarcastically remarked.
"Of course." Riley smiled, with her memory suddenly coming back to her. She and Emily came here because this mall was their businesses main competitor. Their business owned a mall in the next town over, and recent data was showing that this mall was steadily rising above their own. She wondered how that slipped her mind.
"Yeah, so let's be subtle about this key?" She added. "You take the pics, and I'll act as a look out. You know, making sure we don't look out of place or like we're wigging out."
"Yes m'am." Riley agreed. "So, where should we start gathering evidence first?" She asked.
"Well we gotta get pics of places, people, etcetera. Why don't you decide kid? Probably doesn't matter much." Emily shrugged.
"O-okay." Riley beamed, glad Emily was giving her some say.
She looked over the camera again, still hoping that whatever caused it to smoke was a one time thing, then glanced around the mall.