B008GMVYA4 EBOK (7 page)

His smile
grew a few inches wider as he realised Madison had been staring at him for a
few seconds too long. Madison saw her mistake by the expression on his face -
her cheeks turn scarlet with embarrassment. Feeling slightly awkward and
nervous she let go of the handle of her suitcase, letting it sit upright by her
side. Her eyes still fixed nervously on the stranger as he slowly pushed the
handle of the suitcase back down inside the suitcase and picked it up from by
the handle as if it weighed no more than a feather. Instead of leaping in front
of Madison and sprinting up the platform like she had suspected his intensions
to be, he held his arm out, gesturing for her to exit the train first.
 

“Thanks”
Madison said shyly, half meeting his gaze. Madison lowered her head and step
cautiously over the gap out onto the platform. The platform was empty. There
was no sign of the two hooded teenagers now. Madison was unnerved and anxious
after tonight’s events, but she couldn’t help but feel strangely settled in the
company of this new dark handsome stranger.

She waited
for him to join her on the platform, a small innocent smile on his lips. She
couldn’t help but feel embarrassed and self conscious about how she looked. Her
appearance must have been amusing to start with, a face full of heavy
foundation and a head of messy, un-brushed hair. She was vulnerable and this
kind stranger must have picked up on this vibe.

“Where are
you travelling to?” he said, as they began to walk slowly towards the exit
together.

“Umm…..”
Madison said flatly, unsure what to say as realistically she had no clue where
she was going.

“That
question wasn’t supposed to be a stumper” he said, chuckling.

Madison
turned her head towards him and smiled slightly.

His eyes
narrowed as he tried to read her expression, he frowned slightly giving up.

She lowered
her head and kept walking, finding the situation difficult to comprehend.

“I’m
Madison” she said after a few seconds of awkward silence.

“Brendan”
he said as they both stepped onto the escalator which led up, out onto the
streets of London. Brendan held the suitcase as they rode the escalator to the
top. He was medium build, but clearly stronger than he looked as he held the
suitcase without even flinching.

“That’s a
pretty name, Madison” Brendan said after a few more moments of silence.

“Umm….thanks”
Madison said shyly, butterflies fluttered wildly in her stomach.

As Brendan
and Madison moved up the escalator a breeze of fresh air swooped down the
stairs from the street above hitting Madison in her face, her hair spread out
wildly behind her and a sharp shiver flew down her spine making her feel more
awake and refreshed then she had in hours. She kept her body pointed forward
towards the top of the escalator, but she watched Brendan curiously from the
corner of her eye.

Brendan’s
face was lost in fascination and frustration as he openly watched Madison from
her side. His intense eyes studied every inch of her face and body as he tried
to figure out the story behind the lost brunette. To Madison, Brendan seemed
like the perfect gentleman, he seemed polite, caring and his mannerisms were
old-fashioned - respectful. The doubt in his intentions had now disappeared and
she felt oddly calm and comfortable with the handsome stranger, but also
unnerved and sceptical of his interest in her. Her head instructed her to be on
guard, that Brendan being intrigued with her had ulterior motives, but Madison
heart fluttered with excitement and urged her to find out more about the dark
handsome stranger.

Slowly
Madison turned her head back towards Brendan. She smiled faintly as he
continued to gaze curiously at her. Brendan blinked a few times as if he was
trying to wake himself up from a day dream, he was conscious of the fact he had
been staring at her pain stricken but equally beautiful features for longer
than he had intended. Madison held his gaze as he struggled for something to
say.

“So, where
are you from?” Brendan finally said, stuttering slightly at first.

“Umm….”
this question caught Madison off guard, she wondered whether to tell him the
truth or lie. A few moments passed as Madison thought about the right thing to
say. Brendan chuckled again as he leant closer to her face. She could feel his
sweet, cool, breath gracing her face as he spoke.

“That one
wasn’t meant to be a stumper either” he said, a wide smile stretched across his
face.

Madison’s
cheeks glowed visibly red - even under the layers of thick foundation.

“I’m sorry,
I don’t mean to be rude” she said, looking away shyly from Brendan.

“It‘s fine.
No awkward questions” Brendan joked.

They both
reached the top of the escalator, smiling awkwardly to each other.

Madison
could smell the cool, fresh air from of streets outside. It was mid march and
the weather was oddly mild for this time of year, the Underground was stuffy in
comparison to the cool air outside.

The main
hall of the Underground station was brightly lit; the white stone flooring
looked glittery under the florescent lights. It was empty. Small shops and food
stand lined the large white room, but were drawn with large grey shutters.
Brendan still carried her large suitcase as they began to cross the large room,
side by side.

“Where are you from, then?” Madison asked bravely, the words
came out of her mouth before she could even fully think the question. She
flushed slightly pink as Brendan’s eyes met hers in surprise.

“Umm….” he said, looking down towards the white stone floor.
He ran his free hand through his slinky brown hair, almost scratching his head
for the right answer to respond to Madison’s question.

“That wasn’t meant to be a stumper” Madison said slyly, a
smirk spreading across her lips. Madison found it weird to smile with
everything that had occurred tonight, with the pain so fresh inside. Her
insides were tangled and twisted in distress, but she felt momentarily amused
with Brendan’s reaction to her question. A sharp pain twinge in her cheek
reminding her of the damage that Phil had done, her smile slowly faded until
her face was blank again.

“Okay, you’ve got me. Let’s leave the awkward questions
until we get to know each other a little better” Brendan finally said, noting
Madison expression.

Confusion clouded Madison’s thoughts her eyes narrowed as
she looked at Brendan skeptically. She picked apart his statement,
until we
get know each other a little better?
Was he expecting to see her again? She
was shocked, unsure how to react. She studied his expression for some clue to
what that statement entailed, but there was nothing. Her body tingled with
excitement, but this quickly dissipated when it occurred to her that it was
probably a
fly away comment
and at present she was in no position to
even consider the possibility of dating someone if that was what his intentions
were. There was something about Brendan that she couldn’t shake off, a feeling
of comfort, protection, trust and more importantly complete infatuation.

“Taxi?” he gestured towards the two open glass doors a few
feet ahead of them.

Madison nodded, a frown still spread across her brow as she
still processed the statement and what she had concluded. She lowered her gaze
to the floor and slowly walked the remaining distance to the exit. Brendan
followed silently behind her, his eyes firmly fixed on the back of her head. He
lifted the suitcase down the ten long concrete steps onto the pavement – taking
the lead. Madison followed, taking each step one at a time - the way a small
child would. It was almost pitch black outside the terminal the only source of
light being a few street lamps and the glow from the two large doors of the
main hall of the Underground. Madison rubbed at her eyes as she struggled to
see through the sleep that covered them. Her mind buzzed and her chest was
tight with anxiety, she was conscious that she would be leaving Brendan soon
and she would have to carry on her journey alone.
 

Brendan headed for the nearest taxi which sat directly in
front of the concrete steps. He went around to the back of the car and opened
up the boot, dropping the suitcase in without even flexing a muscle. He slammed
the boot of the car shut and turned to look at Madison who stood motionless on
the pavement - the same blank expression once again present on her face.
Brendan’s eyes wondered over the forming bruise underneath Madison’s eye, he
was too much of a gentleman to stare, but he couldn’t help but notice how she
tried to hide it.

“Thank you for helping me, I really appreciate it” Madison
said flatly. Her arms felt heavy as it hung down by her side, her whole body
was tense and throbbed from the whole ordeal of tonight. Madison smiled shyly
and reached for the door handle to the back seat of the taxi. Brendan grabbed
the handle before Madison‘s fingers could touch the cold solid metal of the car
door. She felt her face flush at the prospect that her fingers were so near to
his - she could almost taste the sweet scent of his aftershave.

He pulled open the car door and held it out wide for her, an
endearing smile stretched across his lips. He faced Madison, but his eyes
wondered back towards the open doors of the Underground main hall. Madison
watched as a flicker of concern and anxiety flashed through his crystal blue
eyes, she frowned confused at what had caused such a reaction from Brendan.
Slowly Madison tilted her head towards him, her gaze wondering curiously back
around to the Underground and what had grabbed Brendan’s attention so abruptly.
Madison’s eyes flickered over the brick wall of the Underground, then over the
transparent glass of the double swing doors into the brilliant golden glow of
the main hall. In the center of the large white room and under the golden glow
of the florescent lights stood the two hooded boys. The hoods of their black
jumpers pulled up over their heads as before, their bodies motionless - frozen
in time. However, this time both their heads were tilted upwards towards the
ceiling instead of the normal slouched position they had remained liked through
the duration of the train & underground journey. The florescent lights on
the high ceilings of the Main hall shone down on the two boys illuminating
their faces. Since Madison had first laid eyes on the two youths, their identities
had remained masked by the black deathly shadow of their hoods. Now, for the
first time the light was able to penetrate the darkness, revealing their
identities to her. Madison gasped, sucking in a sharp gallon of bitter cold air
into her lungs. Her chest ached and forced her to exhale quickly, almost
choking on her own breath. The eyes of the two boys were hollow, covered in a
black mass of darkness that remained over the area of where their eyes and eye
sockets should be. Their skin was pale, almost transparent. Thin blue
spider-like veins were visible underneath the thin layers of skin. Their mouths
hung open revealing a large black hole of which Madison could only imagine
would be utter horror if looked directly into it. Their faces were ghastly,
twisted in a way she had never seen before. Each boy’s expression was mimicked
by the other – identical like twins or the repercussion of an experiment gone
horribly wrong. Their faces were aged beyond the years of their teenage bodies.

Every hair on Madison body stood on end as she gazed at the
two boys, unsure what she was really seeing to be real or some kind of weird
hallucination due to lack of sleep.

She wanted to scream, but she couldn’t open her mouth to
allow the sound to escape. Her body was paralyzed by uncertainty, a veil of
dread crept over her – stopping her from calling out to Brendan.

“Madison?” Brendan said, his voice firm – pulling her
attention back.

“Huh?” she croaked, confused. Her body swayed a little as
her mind swarm, she turned back around to face Brendan. His face was creased
with a frown, his eyes narrowed towards Madison as he watched her expression -
searching for answers in her eyes. Disbelieve and panic clouded Madison
expression, she gazed a Brendan but looked through him rather than at him.

 
“Madison?” he
repeated again, a lot more firmly this time – almost frustrated.

“Sorry…” she murmured, blinking several times to awaken
herself from her haziness.

Madison attention drifted back round to the open doors of
the Underground. She needed to know what she had seen was real or whether it
had just been a figment of her imagination, probably a side effect of the
damage Phil had caused tonight. Madison’s eyes met the empty space where the
two boys had stood, she scanned the area but the room was now empty. It would
have been impossible for the two boys to leave the building without Madison
noticing, both her and Brendan had remained at the only exit. She turned back
to Brendan, unconsciously shooting him a worried look. Brendan picked up on her
concern, but remained silent. He gestured to the open car door with him eyes,
watching Madison awkwardly. He smiled faintly, his crystal blue eyes shining
brightly in the dimly lit street. His eyes had lost the curiosity he once had
for Madison, now he was frustrated and willing Madison to go. Sensing his
frustration, Madison slowly slid into the warm back seat of the taxi. She
remained confused and worried about what she had just seen, mentioning it to
Brendan who didn’t seem to notice the two boys would only confirm what she had
seen was not real and that she was almost definitely going crazy. Madison
couldn’t help but feel slightly sad and disappointment that her time with
Brendan was now over. The confusion of what she had just seen disappeared as
she realised this was her goodbye.