Something Amiss (Hoodie x Reader)

Two: World's Worst Sales Pitch

You knew you'd have to leave the apartment for class on Monday morning. Holy hell, the very thought terrified you. That's why you were doing this: forcing yourself out of the apartment before you actually needed to, on a trip that wasn't part of your weekly schedule. If you were being stalked, as your worst fears kept insisting in your mind, your stalker probably wouldn't be anticipating this move.

Those thoughts were irrational, though, right? The police had certainly thought so on Friday. The thing was, as intimidating as the intruder had been in his strange getup and close proximity, he hadn't tried to hurt you. Nor had he threatened you. But, that being said, you and Harry had searched the apartment thoroughly yesterday and found nothing missing. That left you with the unsolvable puzzle that was the strange man's intentions.

You were convinced that the strange occurrences of the past few days were his doing, though you didn't have an ounce of proof. Harry believed you, but you were scared to tell any of your friends what was going on. You didn't want to look nuts. It annoyed you, though. You knew what you had seen.

You thought he had a gun. But, the police had insisted when you told them such, that you were only being paranoid. You'd probably imagined it, they told you. Still, when you had got annoyed and insisted on knowing what their asses thought of the situation, they couldn't chalk up a feasible solution, either. Pea brains.

Harry was tagging along to the store with you. You could've insisted that you'd be fine alone, but you knew he'd never believe you. He was worried, really worried. He was quick to call your landlord when he found out how little help the police had been, but they didn't pick up. As per usual.

You sighed as you removed your keys from the ignition. The neon lights of the store shed light across the mostly empty parking lot. This Walmart was on the outskirts of town, a forty minute drive from your apartment. Nobody would follow you here, for sure. You realised in hindsight that you probably should've come out here during daylight hours, but you had been so frightened earlier today that you only found the guts after stuffing your face with comforting pizza for dinner.

"You ready?" Harry turned to you with an encouraging, gentle grin. He knew you tended to put on a brave face, and he was trying subtly to let you know that it was okay to turn back now, he'd never judge you. You appreciated it, you really did. But you needed to do this. Hang out in a Walmart with little reason, as the two of you had often done with high school friends back in the day - well, for Harry, only a few months ago until he moved in with you, but you get the point.

Inhaling and forcing a cheesy smile onto your face, you called "Race ya!"

His reply of "You're on!" came quickly as you both threw yourselves from the car, darting toward the sliding doors. You liked running, but this little game was more an excuse to outrun your fears. Biting the bullet, so to speak, otherwise you knew you'd never psych yourself up enough to leave your car. You needed this, or you'd never be able to force yourself into your classes tomorrow.

You were fast for your size, but Harry was bigger than you and an athlete. He was competitive as ever, making it through the glass doors well before you. The dark parking lot felt to be closing in around you, spurring you into a full-fledged sprint. You hurtled through the doors shortly after him, attracting glares from a pair of old ladies.

You laughed nervously as you caught up to your brother, who gave you a goofy grin. "You owe me snacks."

You agreed, and the two of you made a beeline for the junk food, grabbing a few of both of your favourites. This included a copious amount of sugary cereal, the kind your parents had never wanted the two of you to have growing up. Buying your own cereal as an adult was truly living the dream.