Random stories

'In about twenty minutes you can expect a SWAT team. Start moving to a cafe. Listen to me and you will live. Pack a bag and take your wallet, leave your phone behind.'

I look around the room. Nothing seems off. My vision is normal. Just the same crappy apartment at usual.

'I can't hear you, so don't try talking to me. Just do what I say or you're dead.'

I take off the hat.

_I'm either insane, or..._

I get up. The ridiculous hat sits on the coffee table next to my bong. I suppress the urge to use it. Instead, I get up, stretch my legs. In the fridge is a half bottle of orange juice. I down it. I'm so tense, but what can I do. The ridiculous hat is looking at me. Overcome with curiosity, I put it back on.

'Hi, I can see that you might think you are going nuts, but you need to take this seriously. Every second is crucial and you just lost two minutes. But the main thing is you put the hat back on. That's gonna save your life. Listen to me- what you see is not the reality. That's just what they want you to think. I've been through it. Please trust me. Keep the hat on and start packing your stuff. I've got a lot to tell you but you need to get moving.'

I just sit there. My mind is racing. I guess I must have accidentally taken some weird shit, but there are no other symptoms. The bong is just a bong. The voice is independent of my entire reality.

'Move! Stop thinking and fucking go!'

I get up and go to my bedroom. I pick up my backpack. In goes socks, underwear...

_What the fuck am I doing?_

'Stop resting and finish packing! You wanna die? They'll shoot you. You need to leave ASAP!'

I decided to listen to the voice. I throw a bunch of stuff out of my bag and get my wallet.

'Now, when the SWAT team gets here, they are gonna start looking for you so you need to leave inconspicuously. If you look distressed, someone is gonna notice and that will give them their first clue to track you. Wear a hat if you have one.'

It's almost a hundred degrees outside but I put on my woolly hat and go. The aluminium hat under it scratches my head but at least most people won't see it.

Out on the street I start sweating immediately. Everything looks normal enough. Across the road a guy in a suit is on his phone, and gives me a passing glance. An older woman passes me and gives me a look. A cat stares, and I realise I'm starting to be paranoid.

'You listened to me. That's good. Everything will be explained in due time. For now you just gotta lie low. Spend tonight outside and we'll pick you up tomorrow, once we know that you're not gonna get captured or that you're leading them to us. My name is Nate, by the way. You don't know me yet, but I know all about you.'

Ignoring the obvious discomfort of the cashier, I order a hot chocolate at Starbucks. I get out my laptop and start googling like crazy. Get nowhere. End up playing flash games like a loser.

I'm on the floor before I know what happened. Shouts of orders break out, footsteps, a scream, a weird kind of loud silence. I turn my head and see the boots and rifle butts of the swat team. I look up, at the same time as the nearest one turns his head to me, staring intensely just over my eyes.

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Submitted by aghicantthinkofaname on Mon, Aug 01, 2022 to /r/WritingPrompts/

The prompt

For Halloween, you decide to dress up as a crazy person wearing a tinfoil hat. However, once you place the hat on your head you hear a strange voice: “Finally, the gamma waves are gone! Now listen up, we don’t have much time!”