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  “You frightened me” Madison said shyly.

  Rich didn’t reply.

  Madison met his gaze. His eyes were wide and empty; no humanity was present in them. His posture was lowered forwards as if he was gawking at Madison like a bird of prey. A revolting smell filled Madison’s nostrils; she wrinkled her nose and breathed through her mouth. The same smell had been present in the corridor many times since Madison had moved into this building. She guessed that like her bathroom, something had become trapped under the floor boards and died, and with the amount of holes on the exterior of the house it could have been any type of animal. However, the smell became stronger the closer she got to Rich and Suzie’s room. Madison imagined that it was probably filthy in there and had never been cleaned. Madison broke eye contact and moved quickly towards the stairs. Rich unnerved Madison out in a different way compared to Bernie, Madison was generally scared of Rich, whereas Rich was just a bit slimy. Rich was quiet, but not a shy quiet more of an eerily quiet type of person where you just don’t know what they are thinking. He was unsocial, unpredictable and clearly violent towards women. Madison quickly ran down the stairs, taking two steps at a time and leapt towards the front door, leaving Rich still motionless in the upstairs corridor. She yanked the front door open, flew through the gap and slammed it shut behind her. She sighed in relief as she stood on the stone step outside the front door. A bitter cold shiver ran down her spine, causing every hair on her body to stand on end. She stepped down the stone steps and walked casually down the garden path and out of the gate into the road of the alley. Like she did every night, Madison looked back at the house as she began to walk past it down deeper into the alley. Her eyes automatically redirected to two figures standing in the window of Rich’s bedroom window - Rich and Suzie stood in the window. Rich was crossed armed, his head lowered watching Madison. Suzie had her right elbow lent on Rich’s shoulder and her left hand placed on her hip as she too watched Madison, but not angrily like Rich had. They both continued to stare until Madison had passed the house and had been concealed by the thick darkness of the alleyway.

  Madison shook her head a little in confusion; she couldn’t understand what their problem was.

  Dark shadows danced on the brick walls of the towering buildings. The ally was oddly quiet, almost unnaturally quiet for an alley in Central London. Most alleyways in Central London would be plagued by the constant rumble of passing traffic from the main roads, but for some unknown reason this alleyway was completely different from other alleyways in Central London - it was deathly silent and un-habited apart from the two houses. Although Madison had never seen anyone from the neighboring house next to the bedsit, she assumed that someone still lived there as sometimes when she returned home from in the early houses of the morning the curtains were drawn.

  There was small proportion of orange light from a window in one of the neighboring buildings; it lit up a section in the alleyway about halfway down. Madison knew by meeting the orangey glow that she had met the halfway mark of the alleyway. The spill of light from the neighboring buildings had become land marks for her over the last few weeks and they had become something to aim for in the pitch black of the alley.

  She passed the section of light and proceeded through the remaining darkness as her mind began to play tricks on her. She saw the outline of people standing in the shadows - waiting to spring on her as she passed. Cautiously, she jumped several times while walking the remainder of the alleyway. She knew the shadowy outlines of people were from her imagination, but she couldn’t help but feel spooked from the threatening alleyway. There were aspects of the alley which were similar to the re-occurring nightmare she continued to have, but she told herself that the nightmare was just a dream – probably some pent up anger from what had happened with Phil.

  Madison headed towards the brightly lit street at the end of the alleyway. She could hear the hum of cars as they whizzed by and the sound of people laughing in the distance. She quickened her pace closing the distance between the darkness and the safety of the lit up street ahead. The light from the street head now penetrated the alleyway, making it easier for her to see and causing her to relax slightly.

  She turned onto the pavement of the main road and continued on her ten minute walk to work.

  Outside the entrance of the club was a queue of about fifty people, they lined up against the outside wall of the building which continued along road and around the corner towards the estate agents. Madison gasped and slowed her pace at the sight of so many people. They had no hope getting in the club tonight; if a queue had formed then Luxuriance had already reached its maximum capacity of people.

  As Madison approached the entrance the bouncers moved aside to let her enter, a few people within the line shouted out in protest.

  “She works here!” one of the bouncers shouted to them in anger.

  “Thanks” she murmured, as she walked up the stairs and through the open doors into the reception area of the club.

  Swarms of people lent against walls of the reception area sipping their drinks, while other groups of people squeezed themselves on the sofas around the coffee table. Sophie sat behind the desk at the entrance; she smiled at Madison as she walked past. Madison nodded a hello and continued towards the main club. Sophie was in her late 20’s and had long blonde hair and she was very intelligent for her age. She was tall and slim, and absolutely stunning – model quality. Sophie took the door fees and did all the admin work for Luxuriance. As well as an annual membership fee, guests were expected to pay a donation of £10 upon entering the club. During the day anyone could enter Luxuriance, but from 7pm onwards the club became one of the most exclusive places to be in London.

  As Madison entered the main club, the vibrations of the music ran through the floor, up her feet and into her body. She enjoyed working at Luxuriance, but the loud music made it difficult to bear sometimes. Luxuriance mainly played dance music on a Friday nights and Saturdays were a mix of chart music and hip hop. They played a variety of all kinds of music throughout the week days which Madison preferred.

  She stood at the edge of the dance floor in disbelief, an ocean of people squeezed on the dance floor before her. In the weeks she had been worked at Luxuriance she had never seen so many people in the night club.

  Madison had to physically fight her way through the swarms of people to the entrance at the side of the bar. She ducked under hatch and stared out to the queues of people, fighting to order a drink at the bar. Faye was at her side within seconds, a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

  “What’s going on?” Madison shouted over the loud music.

  “Who knows?” she exclaimed.

  Faye patted Madison on the back in encouragement and smiled widely before heading back to the other end of the bar.

  She took a step forwards, towards the first person in front of her and started to take drinks orders.

  After two hours of continuously serving drinks the crowd surrounding the bar hadn’t even begun to get any thinner. Madison served one person after another – as one person left the bar, another person took their spot. There was no end to the queue of people, it went on forever. All of the bar staff were working as fast as physically possible, bumping into each other as they shot around the bar mixing drinks and serving customer after customer.

  Scott was working tonight, and had made it perfectly clear that he was not comfortable with Madison being called in. Since their drink together and Madison attempting to let him down gently which consisted of her ignoring all of his advances, he had asked Faye if he could change shifts as he was no longer willing to work with her. Since then, if by chance they were scheduled to work the same shift he made it perfectly clear he was pissed at her.

  Faye sensed the tension between them and threw Madison a few concerned looks over the duration of the evening. All Madison could do was smiled weakly and shake her head. She had tried to act as normal as possible with Scott, always making an effort to say ‘Hello’ a
nd ‘Goodbye’, but Scott’s pride was hurt and he wouldn’t let her off the hook lightly.

  The crowd began to thin after another hour of solid serving. Sections of the dance floor were now visible as people started to vacate in search of food and their homes. They could now start to breathe a little - take a break and stand back from the bar. Scott suddenly made a beeline for Madison, a smirk spread across his face - he obviously had thought of something very witty to say to her. Over the weeks he had become a bit of a stalker, always watching her and dropping random comments about her to the other bar staff. A few of the other bar staff had started to notice and mentioned it to Madison; she had always shrugged it off and denied any knowledge of any type of tension. But when Faye had mentioned it, Madison had come clean and told her everything.

  Her stomach flipped as she spotted Scott heading towards her. - Chest tightening and her heart racing.

  “Madison, we’re nearly out of glasses” Faye said, looking from her to Scott.

  Madison sighed in relief and grabbed the plastic glass collector from under the bar before Scott could make the distance towards her. She ducked underneath the hatch of the bar and headed towards the sofa’s and glass tables to collect the empty glasses. Once the glass collector was full, she took the dirty glasses back to the bar and loaded them into the dishwasher - and started again. Madison headed over to the high tables on the left side of the dance floor. She collected the empty glasses and popped them inside the glass collector. Every table in the club seemed to be covered with empty glasses - it would take her the remainder of the night to collect them all.

  A flash of crystal blue distracted her from what she was doing; she turned abruptly to my left. Her heart almost stopped completely as she searched the crowds of people for the source of the beautiful blue colour. A crowd of people parted allowing Madison to see to the back wall of the left side of the club. Stood in the corner of the room against a far wall was Brendan. His beautiful crystal blue eyes made eye contact with Madison instantly. They held each other gaze - staring straight into each other’s souls. His eyes were amazingly bright, piercing through the darkness of the club. He was even more gorgeous then Madison had remembered, his features waxy under the coloured flashing lights from the DJ both. Stood next to Brendan was a man with long dark hair which was pulled into a low pony tail. She took no notice of the strange man Brendan was with, only staring straight at Brendan. After a few seconds, her eyes flickered over the man who was standing beside Brendan, his eyes had followed Brendan’s gaze and he was now also staring at Madison from the corner of the room. His face was waxy just like Brendan’s was under the flashing lights. He was good looking, but not Madison’s type. He was looked quite rough, someone you wouldn’t want to mess with or antagonize. He had dark brown eyes and was cleanly shaven - not as rugged as Brendan. His hair was wavy and very shiny; he was taller than Brendan and well built. Madison directed her gaze back to Brendan - a smile began to spread across his face. Her heart started to pump hard again, twice as fast as normal – the same response it had the first time Madison had laid eyes on Brendan. Butterflies fluttered wildly around her stomach, nerves kicking in once again. She swallowed hard, trying to contain all the excitement she was feeling. Her mind swam at the sight of Brendan - the face she had been longing to see for nearly three weeks. It felt longer since she had last seen him, like a life time had passed and they were now finally being reunited. Even though his face had remained clear in her mind, she had forgotten little details like the curve of his jaw, the neat stretch of flawless skin of his forehead and the pinkish tint of his cheeks. The only memory of Brendan that had continued to be completely clear was the image of his breathtaking crystal blue eyes - they were just as Madison had remembered. She found herself becoming drawn to Brendan - her body and soul craved him. She couldn’t move - she was frozen by his crystal blue eyes. They made her body melt and stick to the floor. Brendan’s smile grew wider - he lent in towards the man beside him and whispered into his ear. Madison’s eyes met the stranger gaze as he turned to look at her. She flushed with embarrassment and looked away quickly. Slowly, her gaze returned to the two men. Brendan patted his friend on the shoulder and began to walk towards Madison. The long dark haired man watched as Brendan approached her - then after a moment he disappeared into the crowd.

  Madison didn’t know where to look, she had been waiting for this moment since Brendan had left her at the Underground terminal, and now it had finally arrived all the questions she wanted to ask him had escaped her mind. She couldn’t move and couldn’t breathe; all she could do was watch as Brendan approached – almost suffocating in her own anticipation. The few short seconds it took for Brendan between them both was like an eternity. Madison felt her legs become weak beneath her and shifted her weight against the high table to balance herself from falling. She inhaled quickly – her lungs filling with oxygen.

  “Hi” Brendan said, smiling.

  “H… Hi” Madison stuttered, catching her breath and exhaling.

  “How are you?” he asked, happy to see her.

  “Fine thanks. How are you?” she replied.

  “Great, thanks. You look really well. Your eye has healed up nicely; I can see the whole of your beautiful face now” Brendan said, chuckling.

  Madison’s face redden, she felt hot and sweaty as embarrassment crept back once again. When she had met Brendan in the Underground, he didn’t seem to notice the damage to her face or he was too much of a gentleman to say anything at the time.

  Her mind swam, not only was she embarrassed that Brendan had noticed the bruising to her eyes when they first met - she now had to contemplate Brendan calling her beautiful.

  She opened her mouth to say something but no words came out - the answer to his statement had escaped her mind altogether. Madison now frantically tried to think of something to say to fill the silence. Brendan lent in close. She felt his cool breath on her face, her heart raced in response and butterflies swarmed in her stomach, spiraling around wildly in excitement. She looked thoughtful for a moment, panicking for anything to say to him before finally shaking her head as she wasn’t able complete sentence.

  “I think your boyfriends jealous” Brendan whispered.

  “What?” Madison almost shouted, confused.

  Brendan straightened up, gesturing for Madison to follow his gaze he looked over towards a clearing in the crowd which allowed them to see the bar. Madison eyes shifted over to Scott who was watching them both contently from behind the black marble bar. He frowned, shifting angrily on the spot – he was pissed. Slowly his eyes moved from Madison to Brendan, and then back to Madison. He gawked at them both angrily, his eyes marking Madison as his property defensively.

  “He’s not my boyfriend” Madison replied irritated.

  “Oh… good” Brendan said, turning back to Madison and flashing his perfect white teeth in a toothy grin.

  “I don’t like him” he continued.

  Madison couldn’t help but laugh at his bluntness. She stared into his enchanting eyes, a large smile spread across her face. Her body sang in the presence of Brendan, the warm fuzzy feeling returning and she felt happy again. Madison felt true happiness when she was with Brendan - something she hadn’t felt in a long time and she had been longing to feel since Brendan had left.

  “You never actually told me how you got a black eye?” Brendan asked curiously.

  This question caught Madison off guard. The blissful happiness dissipated and she was left searching for the right thing to reply to him with. No matter how hard she tried to hide the incident that had occurred with Phil, she couldn’t escape from it – it always seemed to creep back one way or another.

  “Um, I fell…” she said. Instantly regretting choosing to use that lie as the words left her mouth - everyone uses that excuse when they had been physically abused?

  Brendan could see through it and Madison knew she had made a mistake not being truthful from the start.

  “You shoul
d really be more careful” he said skeptically.

  “Anyway, the last time we met you said no awkward questions. You just broke your own rule” Madison exclaimed, jokingly.

  “Your right” he laughed “But I also said I wanted to get to know you better”.

  Madison’s cheeks burned red again, she was flattered and excited at the same time.

  “So, who’s the guy behind the bar?” he asked.

  “Who? Scott? He’s just… a friend” Madison said awkwardly.

  His eyes narrowed, he looked back at Scott then towards Madison again.

  “Well…we went for a drink. It was stupid really, I guess he thought more of it then I did” she corrected.

  “Oh” he said a little disappointed “Well, I still don’t like him”

  “He’s a good guy, he just has some issues with taking no for an answer”.

  “I can see that!” he said, flashing his perfect white teeth again.

  Madison was thrilled; she could barely contain her excitement. Her whole body urged her to throw herself at Brendan, kiss him and make love to him. If her legs weren’t still shaking beneath her she probably would have grabbed him by now and embracing him in a passionate kiss.

  “What are you doing here anyway? It’s crazy running into you like this?” he asked.

  “I work here. It’s just something to keep me going until I get something better, you know, paying the rent and stuff. It’s close to where I live anyway”

  “What time do you finish?” he asked.