Beneath the Mall
If you’re reading this, you’re probably pretty confused. I know I was. I’ll explain everything, but I’m going to start at the beginning. That’s the only way that this will make sense, and maybe the only way you’ll believe me. It all started with that damn job. Mall security. Just as prestigious and exciting as it sounds. You’d think working the graveyard shift would be the worst part, wandering empty halls in the dead of night just in case some kids decided to sneak in or whatever. But honestly the nights weren’t too bad. No, it was the day shifts that were the worst. Kids running around screaming, filming videos in the middle of the walking paths, spilling food and drinks everywhere. Sometimes I felt like a janitor with a plastic badge. Hell, maybe I was. So at the end of the day, the night shifts were my preference, and I took them as often as I could. Wandering in the dark surrounded by empty storefronts was a little eerie, I won’t deny that fact, but once you got used to it it could be… peaceful. I’d just listen to something on my phone and do my rounds. Nobody ever tried to break in or anything, and hell, why would they? The only problem I ever had was once when a group of teenagers tried to hide out and spend the night there. They were at the food court, where there’s some small playground equipment for young children, and I found them hiding in the slide. They weren’t exactly being sneaky, so I heard them from a mile away. Think I gave them quite a scare, but it was nothing compared to the way their parents chewed them out. I miss times like that. Where everything went wrong was with the basement. I know how glamorous I make it sound, but the nights got real boring once the novelty wore off. So I started exploring. It started out small, just poking my head into the booths along the center of the walkways, checking out their stuff. It was remarkably easy to lift products, and some of them may have even been worth the effort. But, of course, I never did. Once I knew the inventory of all the tiny rip-off booths there wasn’t much more to see that I couldn’t find during the day. Just halls and closed storefronts. I started poking my head into whatever doors I could find, but they were all broom closets, storage, employee bathrooms… until the basement. The doorway to the basement was a little out of the way, which is why it took me so long to find it. It was down one of the dead-end hallways between a Forever 21 and some long-closed, vacant storefront. Usually I just peered down the hallway and moved on. But one day I was bored enough to go check out that empty store and I saw it. In the back, between some old mannequins, was a door. Heavy steel, painted an old, pale yellow. I whipped out my key ring and got to trying the lock. I had a key to every door in the place, so it took a while, but I finally found the right one. It was a key I’d never used before. I was expecting a normal backroom, gutted of all the supplies, but no. What lay before me as I finally swung that heavy door open was a set of concrete stairs. There were no lights on that stairwell, so the steps stretched down into blackness. Now, the mall did have a sublevel. Access for maintenance, plumbing, and electricity. At first I assumed this was simply a door to get down there, but the stairs seemed to go on too long… and the lack of lights was a serious safety hazard. But then, with how out of the way this entrance was and the fact that the store it was in had been long closed, it felt safe to say that nobody had probably used it in a long time. I shone my light down the stairs and they seemed endless. Definitely deeper than I would have expected. Was there a basement to the mall this whole time? Why? Extra storage? But I had never seen anybody use it. Whatever it was, it seemed likely that it had been abandoned. I stepped back. The stretching darkness was making me anxious, and I had to complete my rounds. The mannequins nearly made me jump out of my skin. They hadn’t moved or anything, but I had forgotten they were there. Standing like guards barring the door from entry. I closed the door and locked it, deciding to come back some other time. Instead, I finished my rounds and went home. I lived in a small apartment by myself, nothing particularly nice, but it was my own space and I loved it. Took good care of it, too. God, I miss that place. What I would do to spend just one more night there, in my own bed. But as I lay there that night, all I thought of was the stairwell. Staring down into the darkness, unable to gauge anything of what might be down there. It was unresponsive, like a brick wall. I knew I had to go down and see for myself. The next night I did just that. I hurried through the rest of my rounds instead of wandering and sightseeing like normal, and made my way over to the door. Part of me expected that it wouldn’t be there, that the mannequins would be in different positions, looking at me or something. But no, it was there, and the mannequins stood sentinel as always. I opened the door again, hinges squeaking quietly as it presented me with that open maw. I used one of those mannequins to hold the door, afraid of being locked inside. Then, I stepped down. For a while I thought the staircase would never end. My flashlight was high-powered enough that I really should be able to see the bottom rather quickly. But it was just more stairs, the light terminating in inky darkness. I descended slowly. There were no handrails, and falling on these concrete steps who knows how far down would be extremely painful. I passed 50 steps. That should be multiple stories. How far down did it go? What was in there? I noticed that the stairwell had the slightest curve, bending left almost imperceptibly. By 100 steps the door up at the top was shrinking into a rectangle of light, curving almost out of sight. By 200 it was gone. Just me and those stairs. The darkness felt like it was choking me. The air was stagnant and unpleasant. Minute after minute there were no changes. The stairs looked the same. The walls and ceiling were smooth, bare concrete. No signs, graffiti, nothing. I walked for a long time. I was beginning to think I should go back, I had been walking down those stairs for almost half an hour by then. No, that’s not right. I knew I should go back. Not just for my shift, but because this was dangerous. Falling here would probably kill me, and who knows what might be down there? This was deep. Far too deep to make any real sense. But I didn’t stop. I had to know what could possibly be hidden so deep in the earth. Finally, after about 45 minutes, a landing came into sight. I hurried down the last few steps, excited to see what all this had been for. The landing was the same as the rest of the hall, smooth, bare concrete. It occurred to me that not even dust, crumbs, or animal droppings populated this strange walkway. The walls directly to my right and in front of me were similarly bare, and the ceiling hung low, just as featureless as everything else. But on the left was a door. Not just any door, elevator doors, with just one button. It must go up, I figured, which makes sense. Who would want to walk all those stairs? But then again, why come down here anyway? Putting that aside, and feeling desperate to return to the surface, I pressed the button. Surprisingly, it actually lit up. The elevator dinged, indicating the carriage was already on my level, but the doors didn’t open. Then I realized that there was a keyhole below the button. I tried the same key that had worked on the door, and sure enough it opened. The elevator was well lit, a welcome surprise. Poking my head inside, I saw that it was old. Not mining shaft elevator old, more like fancy hotel old. The kind of elevator where a man in a funny hat operates the buttons for you. Cautiously, I stepped inside. I looked at the buttons, which would once again require a key to operate. I know you may think this was stupid, but I was rather desperate to get out, so I put my key into the hole and pressed the button with an arrow pointing upwards. The button didn’t stay on, and the doors didn’t close. Nothing moved. I pressed it a few more times. Then I realized it. This was the top floor. The elevator only went down. I ran back up the stairs, throwing caution aside in a moment of panic. Down? Further down? This was insane, nuclear bunker levels of deep. Maybe that’s what it was, I thought, slowing as I ran out of breath and began to cramp. Yeah, probably just an old bunker. That would make sense. The strange stairwell, the long distance. A bunker, it must be. The rest of the climb was agonizing. My legs were already sore, and now I had this cramp in my side making everything worse. It took a long time to get to the top, but when I did that mannequin was still doing its duty, keeping me from being stuck down there forever. I stood it upright and thanked it for its service, then closed and locked the door. I decided that whatever was down there wasn’t interesting enough to warrant the effort. Hell, it was dangerous, too. I was lucky the elevator hadn’t snapped and fallen to the bottom the moment I stepped inside. But beyond that, it was obvious – painfully obvious – that something wasn’t right. That place was not meant for me. I went home and decided to put it all out of my mind. I would never go back there again. Except, if that were true, I wouldn’t be writing this. And you wouldn’t be reading it, either. I stayed good to my word for a while. Doing my rounds like normal, living my life… but the thoughts of that place never left me. For the next three months I continued working at that mall. I took more day shifts. Part of it was to avoid the discomfort the night now held, and part of it was to avoid temptation. I still felt drawn to that place, I felt that I had to know what was down there. Eventually, looking to avoid it entirely, I managed to find a new job. Security for another company or something like that, truth be told I don’t really remember anymore. I would only work at the mall for a couple more weeks and then I would be done with the place. But, of course, there was still one thing I had to do. I loaded up before the trip. Lots of extra batteries, a couple extra flashlights, a portable charger, a small medical kit, and some protein bars and water bottles just in case. I knew that my phone wouldn’t get reception through all those layers of concrete, so I wanted to be prepared. It was stupid. Of course it was stupid. I know it was stupid. I knew it then, too. And I’m sorry. It’s kind of ridiculous for me to apologize to you given the circumstances, but I do feel the need to. I’m so, so, sorry. I went back to the doorway. I descended the stairs, now with confidence and renewed vigor. It’s funny how much easier it is when you know there’s a bottom, right? So I made my way down. A while later I got to that elevator again. It was waiting for me, old and regal. I inserted the key and climbed inside. Then I turned the internal key, and hesitated. A wave of doubt so strong it made me nauseous. Maybe some small part of me knew, but maybe it’s just hindsight. I pressed the button. The elevator jolted and groaned as it began to descend. At first I was worried it would be a nerve wracking ride of groans and potential snaps, but it smoothed out before long. I was anxious, but very excited. I never knew I had this adventurous, urban explorer tendency. I couldn’t wait to see what this old relic hid. So I stood in the cab with bated breath. And waited. And waited more. After 15 minutes of that slow descent, I started to wonder if it would ever reach the bottom. Was it even moving? I knew I had felt the motion at first but it had been so long by now that I was no longer sure if I had simply adjusted or if it had stopped altogether. There was no light for the floor, no indication of any kind to tell what the elevator was doing. It was then that I realized there was no emergency button either. Nothing to call for help if I did get stuck. Just an arrow up and an arrow down. That scared me. I felt panic begin to grip me, but managed to calm myself down. It was another 30 minutes before I finally caved. It was getting late, and if I didn’t turn back now I would be there until morning. I reached out and pressed the up arrow. And nothing happened. I pressed it again and again, but the thing didn’t respond. At this point, panic took me. I slammed the arrow, hitting it, trying the down arrow, hitting both… nothing. No in-flight controls on this machine. After a while I curled up on the ground and decided I had no choice but to wait. According to my phone, it took 2 more hours. Usually I would be home by then, asleep. But instead I was gradually losing my mind in a broom closet sized cabin descending what must be thousands of feet below the earth. How much rock was above us? Whatever was down here, how did they manage to excavate all of it and bring it to the surface? And who the hell used it? I was lost in these thoughts when I heard it. A low, resonant sound. Like someone striking a gong, but… pluckier? The elevator jolted and shuttered. My heart leapt into my throat, and suddenly the ceiling came down to meet me as we plummeted into the abyss. The rest of the journey down is a blur. I don’t know if it was more like 3 minutes or only 20 seconds that we rocketed down, my backpack flying around in the chaos. The seeming lack of gravity may have been a fun experience if not for the fact that it would likely kill me. Finally, we hit the bottom. Hard. The last thing I remember is that suddenly I was falling and the elevator wasn’t. How did I survive that impact? I don’t know. I woke up a while later, my head aching terribly and my whole body groaning in pain. The elevator’s light had gone out, so I couldn’t see anything. I grabbed my flashlight out of the bag and flicked it on to examine the damages. Remarkably, I seemed okay. On the outside, at least. My insides felt like they had been hit with a sledge hammer, but I didn’t have any protruding bones, so I counted that as a win. I turned up to examine the cabin. The doors were slightly ajar from the impact, which was a good thing because they didn’t seem to be opening automatically like they were meant to. I tried the buttons, but of course they didn’t work. So I got to prying the doors open instead. It took time and quite a bit of effort, but I got them far enough apart that I could crawl through on my elbows. Finally, I could see what was down here. And maybe I could find someone to help me get back to the surface. When I shambled to my feet, I saw a large open space ahead of me. I didn’t need my flashlight anymore, as some of the overhead lights were functional, giving a strange ghostly feeling to the place. I took a few steps forward to examine my surroundings, and heard them echo back to me. I saw glass doors, shutters, booths in the middle of the walkway… it was a mall. Not the same mall I had come from, but similar enough that I knew it immediately. Under the mall, miles below the surface, was another mall? Why? What possible reason could there be for such a place? I moved to examine the stores, looking in through the glass doors to peer inside. They appeared normal, toy stores, candy shops, and empty, unused spaces. Like any other failing American mall. But this was good, a mall meant phones, entrances, and people. How all that was down here was beyond me, but there would be no purpose to a mall without these things. I checked my phone, the screen now cracked from the impact, but of course I had no reception. So I began to walk the halls, like so many night shifts before. I walked a long time that first night. Looking for entrances, maybe office spaces, anything that might have a landline or a way out. But as I walked, I felt that I gained no ground. The space didn’t repeat, per se, but it seemed endless. There were no entrances, hell there weren’t even windows. Some places had power and lights, others were pitch black, forcing me to use my flashlight to get through. I decided to check out a few of the stores, see if there was an office space in the back or something. I was ready to smash my way in, too. So what if I set off an alarm, all the better if someone heard me. But my keys actually worked. In fact, I could open the door to any store I liked. I could open every door in the entire place. But how? That should have been impossible, some of these keys were totally new. I figured that maybe the locks were more for looks, opening when any key was used. But no, they all rejected the other similar keys on my ring. Each place had its own key, and it would accept no others. I didn’t find any phones. Finally, I gave in and went to look for somewhere to sleep for the night. I stumbled across a food court next to a Dick’s Sporting Goods. I caught the scent of something other than acrid, stagnant air. Walking over to the food stalls in the area, I saw that they were still stocked. Food in the containers, some even kept warm. It made no sense to me, but I wasn’t going to argue. I was hungry, and a few protein bars only gets you so far. I went for some Chinese food. I hadn’t had Panda express in a while. Lo Mein noodles and orange chicken. It wasn’t bad. It wasn’t good, either. When I finished up, I went to see what I could figure out for a sleeping arrangement. I decided to push some tables together and sleep out in the open. After all, being found in the morning was the best result. I went to a nearby clothing store and rifled through their wares, finding the fluffiest options, and found a Spencer’s with one of those giant tortilla blankets, and made myself at home on the makeshift bed. It wasn’t comfortable, of course, but it worked for me. After a long time, I finally fell asleep. When I woke up, I had no idea what time it was. Nothing had changed, the lights were still intermittently turned on, and everything was dim. I looked around, but there were no signs of life. I called out into the hallways around me. “Hello? Is anyone there?” I checked my phone. It was 3 PM. Had I slept that long? Or did that fall do me worse than I had thought? I wasn’t sure. Either way, nobody had shown up. I spent a while back at my fort, brainstorming. Then I heard something. A quiet slapping noise. Bare feet on the tile. So quiet I could barely make it out. It stopped as soon as it started. “Hello?” I called again. Across the court from me, two more tentative slaps. Someone was getting closer. I tried to convince myself this was a good thing, probably security or an employee. But then, why were they barefoot? They rounded the corner slowly. Peering around as though they were afraid of what might be on the other side as much as I was. It was a strange, gaunt figure. Naked and generally humanoid. It had grey skin and long, white hair. Its eyes were black, its teeth missing. The expression on its face was horrible, agony and fear. Over every part of its body the skin was stretched so tight that its bones were clearly visible. It reached its hands towards me and began to stumble in my direction. Its mouth drooped open and a raspy breath emerged, starting like a whisper but ascending to a howl. It screamed and began moving faster. That sound was horrible. Shrill, piercing wails that sounded like they were shredding its vocal chords, like it hadn’t spoken in years. Whatever it was, it was not human. I got up and ran. I had my bag thankfully, and wasn’t worried about much else. I heard other noises as I booked it down one corridor after another in that long, winding maze. Other things waking up perhaps? Was its wailing cry a signal to them? Or would they hunt it like it did me? Inevitably, I got lost. Losing the creature was not difficult, it was rather slow, but I no longer knew where I was either. I had taken escalators both up and down, but everything looked more or less the same. Out of breath, I found myself in a long corridor where the lights didn’t function, and slowed to a walk. I turned on my flashlight as I made my way down the hall, trying to keep quiet. It reminded me of my nights as security all over again. And that was when it hit me. Security. There should be a security office somewhere. That would have cameras, typically pointed at the main entrances and exits, not to mention multiple methods of contacting personnel. I had an idea of how to find it, too. The place was massive, but that didn’t mean it was impossible. They may very well have multiple security offices in a place like this, how else could an officer possibly respond to calls from opposite sides of the mall? And though I didn’t know where they were, I could use my intuition for that. Overall, the mall was laid out like a normal mall. Things were generally where you would expect them to be, with the exception of any way in or out. So if I relied on my intuition, maybe my feet would guide themselves to the office. Brilliant, right? Okay, maybe not, but it was all I had. The next two days were spent in pursuit of this goal. I walked through the mall, trying to automatically orient myself. I didn’t call out anymore, and stuck to the stores to sleep. Food and batteries were not difficult to find. Somehow, the place was fully stocked. Realistically, this place had everything I needed to live. Bathrooms were easy enough to find as well, meaning water and a place to relieve myself. I stayed in the lit areas whenever I could, avoiding the dark even if it meant losing track of that ‘gut feeling’ I was chasing. Something about those dead zones unnerved me. Finally, I stumbled across something. Signs of life. I was quietly rummaging through a food court, when I noticed something odd. Someone had beaten me to it. Of course there was plenty left, but someone had been there. Or something. Trash was left by one of the freezers, showing that the culprit had been in the mood for a refrigerated sub. I wasn’t sure whether to feel relieved or afraid, but the concept of someone else being there gave me a spark of hope. That kind of isolation can make you insane quickly, and I was craving the opportunity to see someone, to speak to them. So I got to work scouring the surrounding areas. I moved quietly in case more of those things were nearby. Again, I was left to follow my gut, but this time it worked. I found what I had been looking for. A security office next to the bathrooms. The door was left ajar. Excited, I went to open it, finding that the desk inside was covered in piles of paper and one of the microphones they use to make announcements. The place had been renovated, like a room of sorts. String lights on the ceiling, blankets piled on the chair, extra clothes even. Whoever had been in the area was probably staying here. I examined the room closer, distraught to find that there was no phone, but elated at the sight of a wall of screens. Functional cameras. I leaned over the desk, examining them closely. None of them showed an entrance, but still, a lay of the land would be useful. As I was examining the camera feeds, the door swung open. It was a man, with brown hair and glasses… that looked like me. No, not just looked like me. He was me. Exactly. The face I had seen in the mirror every day, suddenly looking at me with a similar expression of shock that I was sure I was making. I jumped back, sending piles of paper spilling to the ground. He looked wary. He put a finger to his lips and looked at me intensely, gesturing downwards with a flat palm to tell me to “keep it down”. I came a little closer, away from the wall, to get a good look at him. He looked tired, defeated. He was skinnier than I was, too. How long had he been there? As I leaned in, he began to panic, reaching out at me and shaking his head. It scared me, and I lost balance briefly, falling over the desk. I caught myself, but found what he had been so worried about. I had hit the button to activate the microphone, and feedback was beginning to whir through the speakers outside. He glanced around, and gave me a sad, pitying look before running off. He didn’t bother to try to gather his belongings, just bolted. I should’ve followed suit. Instead, I raised my hand from the button, turning off the speakers. Their shrill cry still echoed through the halls, ringing out as though calling for a mate. Something called back. Not like the thing earlier, this was deeper, and much louder. I heard it from a distance, a roar more than a scream. That was enough for me to finally bolt. I turned hall after hall, hoping to impede its line of sight as best I could. I could hear its loud, thumping footsteps, it was gaining on me. It could hear me running, and it was faster. The only way forward was a dead zone, so I whipped out a flashlight and kept running. I decided my only option was to hide. I turned to the nearest store and tried the handle. Locked, like every other store. I threw my flashlight to the ground and began searching my keys in a panic. I found the right one and flung open the door, jumping inside as fast as I could. I hid towards the back of the room. I could see the hallway through the glass door thanks to my dropped light. The creature’s booming thuds slowed, but they didn’t stop. They drew closer and closer, until I could hear the thing breathe. Large, heaving breaths that sounded pained. Finally, it entered my sight. It was huge. Grey skin like the other thing, but so much larger. It had the dimensions of a giant gorilla, with massive bulky arms in the front ending in thick, sharp talons. Its head resembled a human skull, to the point that I was unsure if its sunken sockets even had eyes in them. But the lower jaw was missing. Its rib cage was splayed totally open, the remnants of some entrails hanging out, and the opening continued to its upper jaw, where there were no teeth. Did it have no organs? How did it live? And could it even eat? It seemed to sniff the air over my flashlight, and turned towards the store I was hiding in. A moment later, giant hands slid under the shutters. I went to hide behind a shelf of stuffed animals. The shutter screeched as it was pulled open. Lumbering steps came inside the store, coming up on the aisle on my left. There was nowhere to run. My only hope was to make it out the same way the beast had come in. I crept slowly around the opposite side of the aisle while the thing lumbered closer. When it was just rounding the aisle, I made my move, creeping around the corner and heading for the opening. I heard it grunt. I turned to look at it. It had seen me. I ran. It was on top of me in an instant, its hand pinning me to the wall so hard the tile cracked. It slammed me into it a few more times for good measure. Then, it held me up and went for the killing blow. Its long, sharp fingers pierced my abdomen and I screamed. I had never felt pain quite like that before. The world grew fuzzy and distant as it threw me to the ground. It wasn’t long before I blacked out completely. I awoke in agony. I knew I should be dead, yet I wasn’t. I felt incredibly sick, and I was completely unable to see. The air smelled dank and atrocious. Like meat and rot. I touched my stomach and found a horrible hole had been torn into my gut. It was bleeding profusely, far more blood than was safe to lose. My left arm hurt terribly too, and wouldn’t respond right when I tried to move it. Badly broken, as it turned out. I fumbled for my bag, trying to find a flashlight with just one arm. Finally, I did, and I pulled it out and turned it on. Nothing could have possibly prepared me for the sight that awaited me. It was a long, seemingly endless hall. Smooth concrete like that staircase. But all along the ground lining either side of the hall were bodies. Almost human, with facial features all too familiar. They stretched into the distance, so many of them that I couldn’t count them. They turned to look at me with long hair and sunken eyes. They were rotting, melting into the ground and becoming part of the walls around them, totally unable to move or act, but not dead. They resembled mold colonies. If I could have screamed then, I’m sure I would have, but my internal organs were in such disarray that I saved myself from summoning that thing again. The bodies began to mumble as I moved towards the nearer end of the hall, where I could see a door in the distance. I was worried they would scream, but they seemed unable. They didn’t seem to care when I stepped on them to get by either. I made my way down to that door and saw it was ajar. A hand was on the floor, holding it open. I felt lucky not to be locked inside with those things. Whatever the hand belonged to wasn’t moving. Opening the door cautiously, I saw what it was. A mannequin. The same one I had used so long ago. I stepped outside and recognized the old abandoned store from the original mall, though all the lights were out. I turned back towards that thing’s nest, and recognized the pale yellow door as well. I shambled outside into the surrounding darkness. It was the same as ever here, just repeating endless stores. Slowly, carefully, I managed to escape. Those next couple of weeks were hard. I was silent, but every now and then I would have to hide to avoid the smaller zombie-like things slumping around. My wounds began to heal themselves, though that took quite a bit longer. At the time, I thought it was a sort of miracle. I see it now for the cruel joke it is. I made it out of that thing’s hunting grounds before too long, and wandered aimlessly. I tried going in one direction for as long as possible, hoping that there had to be an end if I went far enough. There wasn’t. Whatever this thing is, I think it truly goes on forever. Finally, I came across another security office where I found a note. This note. Well, maybe not this exact note, I honestly don’t remember. But I found this note, describing everything I’ve just been through as I’m sure it will for you. I hope that this was enough to convince you. Whatever is happening here, it’s not just the mall repeating. It’s us, too. I put off writing this note for a long time. It must have been multiple decades by now. My body hardly ages, but I still look different in the mirror. I’ve tried to end it all more than once. But it doesn’t work. Trust me, it just hurts. The other versions of us I come across are the same. Hopeless and defeated. We don’t make good company. I think you already know what I’m going to tell you next. Those things that prowl the halls, the bodies behind that door, even the giant beast… I think it’s all us. We spend enough time here and go mad enough and that’s what we become. I don’t want that, but what can I do? There is no eternal rest for us. Are we cursed perhaps? What did we do to deserve such a fate? My only hope is that things aren’t set in stone. I hope that this letter is at least a little bit different from the one I read, or the one you’ll probably write. That would mean it’s possible to change things. With enough of us, maybe someday one of them will figure something out. As for me, that doorway calls me again. Somehow, I know how to find it. Intuition, I guess. I wonder if maybe the giant beast isn’t making a nest there, maybe it’s… guarding it. Keeping it quiet and dark. A pale imitation of death. If I go there, maybe I can find some instance of peace. Wait out the aeons in quiet oblivion. I hope you can change things. That you can avoid the fate I have. But if not… See you there, partner. Credit: Bicepts Copyright Statement: Unless explicitly stated, all stories published on Creepypasta.com are the property of (and under copyright to) their respective authors, and may not be narrated or performed under any circumstance.