Something Amiss (Hoodie x Reader)

Twenty Five: Liar Liar

A/N: This chapter was a hard slog so it's late and definitely not perfect lol.

The rest of your shift passed by quietly, though not quickly. Elijah, bless his heart, found out that the woman he'd been talking to was not only married, but had just assumed he was gay. You'd taken over the bar to let him go be frustrated in the bathroom for a few once she'd left, giving him a consoling pat on the shoulder when he returned. You wished you could say that this wasn't a weekly occurrence; gay men assuming he was straight, and straight women assuming he was gay. Every time you felt bad about your own love life, you only had to think of how fed up Elijah must be.

The walk to Cassandra's apartment started out as usual. The place would never feel like yours, even after living there for a few short months. You hadn't bothered unpacking. Call it paranoia, but you just had some strange feeling that you wouldn't be staying there for long. A feeling of ominous impermanence that followed you everywhere nowadays, from your job to the apartment and back again, over and over. You rarely went anyplace else.

Cassandra's place was a fifteen minute walk to and from the restaurant. You'd taken your car or carpooled with Lily up until a few weeks ago, when Cass had gently suggested that maybe you should start walking every now and again. You weren't getting enough exercise, you knew. Being a hermit wasn't the best for you health, admittedly, and so you'd taken her advice.

Now that it was summer, the evening walks were warm, though the urban air was far from fresh. The path you took wound through alleyways, concrete jungle stretching to the sky. If you were to look up, you'd hardly be able to distinguish the blackened buildings from the night sky. City smog concealed the stars, the only light shed from neon strips along the backs of buildings.

You could hear the distant hum of a bass guitar. From an apartment above, a television played a familiar tune. You turned into the tightest of the alleyways; this one was always a challenge. You had to all but force yourself down this one every time, not even four feet between the shadowy walls that separated one side from the other, abandoned back doors lining the way. You took a deep breath, footsteps echoing off the pavement as you quickened your pace.

In times like these, you liked to remind yourself of the things you'd survived. The alley seemed to slowly contract around you. But a little cramped space wasn't going to make you cry. Not these days. You journeyed towards the center. It was particularly steamy in this part of the alleyway, ventilation shafts and grates in the concrete causing white clouds to form between the walls. You held your breath.

Click, click, clatter.

A noise came from behind you, the sound of a small stone bouncing across the pavement. You glanced over your shoulder. Something seemed to be moving back there, but it may just have been a flickering light. Smoke and mirrors. You turned back around, not far now.

Clunk.

A metallic thud. You turned again, yet you were so far down the path now that you couldn't see beyond the filthy murk and darkness. It was probably someone taking out trash. Still, like any girl in a dark alley at night, you felt your heart thud a little harder. If you got too freaked out, you'd have to make a run for it - you didn't have pepper spray on you, there was a certain nihilism that came with being a murderer. You didn't think yourself to be invincible, certainly, but if you were going to get stabbed in an alleyway, you knew that this time you might actually deserve it. You didn't carry a phone these days, either. Reachable was just not something you wanted to be, anymore.

Scree-ee-eech.

What the fuck? Was someone trying to move a whole fucking dumpster back there?

You didn't look back again this time, walking faster. The sound was jarring, but you weren't in any immediate danger, you knew. Probably just a really angry raccoon. Or a cat. Something like that. You hadn't heard any footsteps so far, whatever was back there seemed to be staying put at the end of the alley.