Four friends were sitting in the food court of Meadow Valley, a very large shopping centre in Sheffield, which was previously a prison up until about seven years ago, enjoying their meal. Dwaine Evans was the youngest of the four, had almond-shaped brown eyes, long, silky, straight, charcoal-coloured hair and had recently grown a goatee and was very proud of it. To his left sat Alice Medina, who, like Dwaine, was 17 years old. She had wide brown eyes like two bronze coins, with fine, straight, coffee-coloured hair that reminded you of a flag gently blowing in the wind.

Dwaine looked at his watch.
“Meadow Valley’s closing soon” said Dwaine, “We’d better hurry and finish our food”.
“That’ll be no problem for Alice!” said Damien, with a big grin. Damien was Alice’s brother. He was the oldest of the friends, but, like Alice, he was short, but felt he had to be very masculine to make up for it. He was well built, with narrow brown eyes.

Corinne kicked Damien under the table, causing him to jump and let out a small yelp. Damien brushed his medium-length, chestnut hair from his eyes. “What was that for?”
“You should be nice to your little sister!” exclaimed Corinne.
“Yeah!” grinned Alice, cheekily. Dwaine sat back, laughing quietly. Corinne flicked her long, thick, jet-black hair over her shoulder and finished her food. Damien sat back and smiled as he realised something. He leant forward and quietly said to the others “Do you know what today is?”

They all looked at each other and shook their heads, slightly intrigued. Damien leant closer, “It’s the tenth anniversary of the death of Loomis Archiro Velox, one of the most deadly murderers the world has known. He killed well over a hundred people, raped a lot of women, and actually ate some of them. It took fifteen men to subdue him and arrest him and he had to be taken into prison wearing a straitjacket and face mask! He went to prison, and was sentenced to death two weeks after his incarceration. Two days after his trial he was found dead in his cell, on this very night, ten years ago. Nobody is sure why, but he suffocated, yet there was nothing that caused him to suffocate, and no-one shared his cell with him. Supposedly, he made a pact with the devil, to take his life right then, and to let him come back in ten years to get revenge.” Damien looked at his friends’ faces; the girls were looking a little scared, and he felt quietly proud of this, but Dwaine wasn’t as reeled in. Alice quietly asked “What prison was he in?”
“That’s just it” replied Damien, “Meadow Valley was his prison”
Dwaine laughed loudly. “But we are in Meadow Valley, it’s a shopping centre you goof!”

Damien grinned slyly, “Yes, it is, but it’s only been a shopping centre for the past seven years. Before that it was a prison, in fact it was the most high security prison in the world!”
“Is that true? All of it?” asked Corinne.

“Yes, it is, although the whole bit about the pact with the devil might be false, but there’s one way to find out…” grinned Damien, raising one eyebrow.
Dwaine leant forwards “Are you suggesting we stay here tonight, to find out?”
“Yep, I certainly am” replied Damien, sitting back in his chair.
Corinne and Alice looked at each other, worried by the thought of staying in a huge shopping centre, alone, at night, with a murderer and cannibal chasing them.
Dwaine laughed at them. “Don’t worry! Think about it, people can’t come back from the dead, can they? So we will be fine. Just think, we will have this big eerie place to ourselves, we can buy some beers, and sit and have a laugh all night.”

Alice and Corinne looked at each other again. They turned to Damien at the same time “OK, we’re in!” they exclaimed, smiling and giggling.
“OK then, let’s hurry. We have to go get beers and then find somewhere to hide until it closes” whispered Dwaine.
The four friends got up and left, heading to the newsagents at the other end of Meadow Valley. Half way there, Damien pointed out a door down a small corridor.
“Hey, how about that room? Dwaine, go check it out.”
Dwaine looked around, and walked over to the door and opened it slightly. Seeing no light in the room, he opened the door and poked his head round the corner.

“There’s not really anything in here, just some big cables, a few shelves and what looks like a huge fuse box” he informed the others.
“Cool, well that’s where we are going to hide. Now though…” Dwaine pointed down the corridor and shouted: “to the newsagents!”