The One Who Pulls The Strings (Doctor Who Regenerated)

Pet Store Problems

(Harmony's POV)

"Oh my, gersh! Hellurrrr!! Hellurrr!!!" I gushed like a goody-two-shoes grandma to the wriggling ball of fur in my arms. Because being at work, such talk is always appropriate.

The energetic, Goldendoodle puppy panted up at me, joy quite clearly alight in it's big, brown eyes. A few slobbery kisses later and it went scampering off to the next closest person—my coworker Lily, who gladly greeted the pup.

This was a normal day for me—petting dogs, talking to customers about their dogs, giving dogs treats, and getting paid to do all of it. I enjoyed it.
The door rang, indicating another customer had entered the store. I turned to greet them.

"Hello! What brings you in today?" I said cheerfully like I had so many times before.
My eyes were met with equally deep, big, brown eyes. My heart skipped a beat. Ooh, I thought. A cute customer.

The man's face was covered in stubble. His hair was neatly groomed, and he wore a dark blue suit with a black tie, adorned with little skulls (skulls? Whatever, I think it's cool). In his arms sat a sweet-faced, wrinkly pug. My face lit up—I loved pugs.

The handsome man gave me a charming smile. "Ohhh, nothing in particular." He had a thick Irish accent. "Just a look around, really. But thank you, sweetheart."

He winked at me.

I blinked, then laughed. I usually didn't know how to respond to strangers when they acted flirty like that. "Oh, heh, no problem! Uh, just let us know if you have any questions!"

With a smile he walked off down one of the dog food aisles, and I turned back to the registers, where a couple of my coworkers were standing. After relaying my encounter with the Irish dude to them, Mike, our manager, smirked. "Ooh-hoo, you should ask him out, Harmony," he teased.

I made a face back, snorting. "Mmmm, I don't think so. Anyway, what was I working on?"
He gestured to the ever-changing sign we had—we would draw new ones or use pre-made ones sent by home office. "Sign."

"Oh, yeah!"

I would have to get the one of the blank blackboard signs from the basement, so off I went, into the back room, around the corner, and down the stairs. The motion-sensing light switched on the moment I came in range. The trickling of water from the "well" in the corner was ever present, as always. I made my way to the table filled with signs, maneuvering around donations and backstock. I flipped through the signs, humming to myself.

CLANG! CLATTER!

I jumped, a gasp escaping my mouth. What on earth...? It had come from the other side of the staircase—the darker side of the basement where the lights never worked.

There was silence now. A thought crossed my mind, and I placed my right hand on my hip. "Randy, is that you?" I called. He was always trying to spook me.

Silence.

I walked towards the wall, expecting to turn the corner and see Randy, standing in the dark, smirking, since he'd scared me. But the hallway was empty, save for a few unused objects against the wall, just as always. A metal rod lay on the floor—that must have been what fell. A shiver ran through my body, and I pursed my lips. "Randy?"

Someone touched my shoulder. "Harmony?"
I squeaked, my feet actually leaving the ground for a moment. I whipped around and was met by the familiar tall, dark figure of my coworker. "Randy, you scared me!"

He laughed. "Sorry! Hey, in my defense, I wasn't actually trying. I just came down cuz I heard you call me."

I raised my eyebrows. "You weren't hiding back here?" I gestured to the dark hallway.

"No."

"I heard that metal rod fall over and it freaked me out," I explained. "I thought it was you."

Randy furrowed his brows. "Hope it's not a rat."

  He stepped over to take a quick look, then shrugged. "I dunno."

Not wanting to have a run in with a rat, mouse, snake, or who-knows-what, I quickly grabbed the blank sign that was now sticking out from the pile and ran back up the stairs, followed closely by Randy. As I walked past the aisles I realized the Irish dude was still looking around, his pug now on the floor. I set the sign on the counter up front and went to check up on him.

"Finding everything ok?" I asked once I'd come down the HBA aisle where he was.

"Just fine, thank you," he replied. "Oh, she's not very friendly—"

I had knelt down beside his pug and stretched my hand out in greeting for her to sniff. She growled for a second and I flinched, but then she changed her mind and came up to lean against my leg, purring (wait, purring?) I smiled and pet her head gently.

"My, that's interesting," the Irish man mused. "She never likes strangers. Are you secretly some sort of animal goddess?"

I beamed. I felt like a freaking animal goddess. I realized the customer was smiling at me with a curious look on his face. His gaze lingered a moment, then was interrupted by a scuffling noise coming from the aisle just across. His head flicked up and he pulled the pug away rather abruptly.

"Come, Peppercorn. Daddy needs to look over here now. Thank you kindly for your hospitality, Harmony." He walked sorta quickly in the direction the scuffling had come from.

I would have been creeped out by the fact he knew my name if I hadn't remembered I was wearing a name tag, so instead I decided to wonder about the man's odd behavior. I dismissed my thoughts a moment later, standing up to head back up front. From the corner of my eye I thought I saw a small animal, and assumed it was just someone's dog. But when I turned there was nothing there.

*･゜ﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*･'*ﾟ *'･*:.｡. .｡.:*･゜ﾟ･**･゜ﾟ･

Five o'clock came around a little slower than expected, and it was time for me to go. The strange Irish man had left without another word to any of us, heading out the back entrance in a rush. I continued to wonder about him as I pulled my coat on.

"Ok, I'm heading out," I said to Mike and Lily, who were closing.

My manager raised his hand for a high-five. "Alright. Good work today."

I slapped his hand back, and said goodbye to Lily.

It was cold out, of course, being the end of February. I tread carefully across the icy parking lot toward my blue Ford Focus, wishing it would just be spring already. Something caught my eye to my left, and I turned my head to find a dog sitting in the snow on the sidewalk. But something about it was off. Wait... is that a—?

My feet went sliding erratically across the ice as some redhead dude went shoving past me in a hurry. "S'cuse me, Miss! Sorry, Miss!" He was British.

I lost my balance and landed in a pile of snow. "Oof—!"

By the time I looked over again he was charging down the back alleyway. "Get back here!" He shouted.

The dog was gone. Must have been his, I thought, getting up to brush myself off.

I wanted to help him, but it was getting dark out, and running after some stranger probably wasn't the best idea ever. Plus I needed to get going since I was gonna be hanging out with my close friend, Haven. Oh, well. I do feel kinda bad, though.

Today sure had been weird.

Written by A.F.