Real life NPCs?
I wouldn’t believe this story if it didn’t happen to me and I probably would question myself if my mother hadn’t also been there and seen the same thing as me.
My mum and I were shopping in this little mall for furniture. By little mall I mean, it only had maybe 10-15 stores that only sold furniture, electronics, homewares, etc. It didn’t have the traditional multiple entrances or food courts or anything else normal malls have. It did have one small cafe though.
The whole mall was pretty much empty, it was the middle of the day during the workweek so not many people out and about. My mum and I were looking specifically for mattresses so kept hopping around the bedding stores. To get to the next store, we had to walk past the cafe.
There were tables and chairs inside the cafe that were empty, but outside the cafe (in the walkway of the mall) there was a row of tables for couples set up. Maybe 5 tables, with 2 chairs each. ALL of these were full. Approaching the cafe, my mum made a comment that it was weird all these people were sitting at the cafe when there was no one else around the mall, and I agreed.
As we walked past them, it seemed like they were all talking at the same time. All their mouths were moving as if deep in conversation. But as we walked along the line of tables and chairs, we couldn’t make out one word. It sounded like general background noise. We were walking close enough to definitely pick up a word or two (think of the classic “and they were roommates” Vine lol) but nothing. Just a bunch of people staring at each other and talking but not saying words.
My mum and I were squeezing each other’s arms the whole time and when we finally passed the cafe, we immediately started talking about how weird it felt. It felt like they weren’t real people. It didn’t feel like we were in the presence of people, if that makes sense. It felt like an empty mall despite the cafe patrons chatting at the tables. By the time we finished at the store and came out again, the cafe was empty. We were in there for maybe 20 minutes.
We still talk about it to this day but no one else really gets how weird it felt. You just had to be there I guess. Now “NPCs” or weird humanoid creatures are a recurring theme in my nightmares LOL