The Day an Idiot Robbed Wal-Mart

-Chapter 1-

Chapter 1

My fingers drummed over all the options, landing on one infused with strawberry scent. You know, that always seemed to be what the girl's hair smelled like in romance books and movies, and for some reason it always turned the guys on.

Shaking my head, I moved on, searching for one with a minty smell. I finally found one, but it was meant to get rid of dandruff. I didn't want any friends who came over to think I had white flakes on my head.

With a long, drawn out sigh, I leaned against the cart. I'd already been in the shampoo section for fifteen minutes, and it was getting late. People were leaving, and Wal-Mart was getting ready to close.

I had to find a minty shampoo. I just couldn't deal with any other kind.

It just so happened that Wal-Mart chose to stop selling my favorite brand, which had manufactured mint shampoo for years. The one I had grown obsessed with.

I should go on that show 'My Strange Addictions' for being obsessed with a certain kind of shampoo. Well, laugh at me if you want, a girl's gotta have what a girl's gotta have.

So there I was, staring dumbly at the rows of shampoo in front of me.

That's when it happened.

A siren began to wail loudly, nearly deafening me, and red lights flashed on the walls all around. My heart began to beat faster and I immediately felt guilty. What if they had closed the store, not realizing I was in there, and now they thought I was trying to steal shampoo?

Falling to the floor, I shot my hands up in the air, dropping the bottles of shampoo I had been analyzing. "I surrender! Oh my god, I surrender!"

Nothing happened. No armed officers came running around the corner to snap handcuffs on me. Instead, I turned to find a young man watching me, a huge grin lighting up his face. He tilted his head, taking in the sight of me lying on the ground surrounded by shampoo bottles. He began to nod, as if a strange acceptance of the situation, crossing his arms across his chest.

My hands flew back to my sides and I shot up to my feet, surveying this stranger. He raised a dark eyebrow at me, his eyes questioning my every move. Eyes still on me, he lifted a hand to scratch his head, and I tried to brush the thought away that he looked like a monkey. Even his ears; they were a little on the large side.

"Um..." That was all I could say, as I scooted sheepishly back towards my cart, not liking the closeness of this stranger. What if he was the reason the sirens were going off and he was here to take me hostage? "I'll just take...this one." I snatched a shampoo off the shelf, deciding strawberry was better than nothing.

The sirens were still wailing, but I could barely hear them as I had a staring contest with this stranger. Was he going to make a move? Try to snatch me while I wasn't looking?

Finally, the guy spoke. I had begun to think he was mute. "So why exactly do you surrender?"

Oh the horror. He had heard that. Well, one does say funny things in a moment of utter confusion. You're such a fool, Lacie.

"Oh...you know," I said, shrugging and backing up even more, until I bumped up against the basket. "I was surrendering my soul to God, in case anything were to happen that might cause me to die...you know?"

The raise of his eyebrows suggested that he didn't, in fact, know, but I felt pretty satisfied with my cover-up. It was better than the truth.

This stranger nodded, watching me with keen eyes. His smile was actually beginning to creep me out. It still seemed to be glued on in the exact same way as when I had first laid eyes on him. Did he not hear the sirens?