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  Both boys walked over to the seat across from Madison, squeezing past her suitcase which blocked the gangway and sat down. Every movement was synchronized between the two boys, they were puppets joined at the hip - a large hand above the train manipulating their identical movements. Their shoulders were slumped forwards and their heads lowered towards the floor – covering their faces in complete darkness. They were deep in conversation, their voices muffled and low. Both boys ignored Madison and she was unable to hear their conversation over the fast strum of an acoustic guitar in her ears. Every movement the boys made was motionless, as if they were floating in the sky like a cloud, being pulled along with the wind. They had no intent, focus, or even purpose – they just were. Their bodies moved with the motion of the train, every movement mimicked identically by the other.

  Madison eyed them both wearily, she was spooked. The way the two boys moved wasn’t normal. She wondered whether the two boys were trying to spook her by sitting in the same carriage as her, dressed completely in black with the hoods of their jumpers pulled up over their heads looked suspicious enough, but the posture of their bodies so defensive and shielded - like they were trying to conceal their identities from her caused her more concern. Madison threw that theory aside, even the best circus performers couldn’t mimicked each other’s movement the way the two boys did - it was unreal, even their breathing matched identically. Anxiously Madison straightened up in her seat and she removed one of the earphones from her right ear. Curiously, she tried to hear what they were discussing but their voices were too low and husky for her to make out what they were saying. They whispered wildly to each other, almost frantically like they were panicked by someone of something. Madison pulled the suitcase in closer to her seat, unsure of their intensions and wanting to keep her belongings safe. She turned off her ipod and pulled the remaining earphone out of her earlobe. She wound the earphones around the small oblong black ipod, quickly popping it back inside her handbag and throwing it over her shoulder. She jumped as the train driver’s voice sounded over the tannoy - announcing they were arriving at waterloo. Grabbing her suitcase she jumped to her feet and slipped out into the gangway – yearning to leave the train as quickly as possible. Madison pulled the suitcase to the door at the rear of the carriage. The train jolted forwards as the train-driver hit the brakes. She balanced herself against the pull of the train, staring curiously around at the two boys who remained seated - ignoring her glances. They continued to whisper frantically, their heads lowered, the hoods of their jumpers hiding their identities. The train slowed to a stop. She gripped the suitcase tightly, readying herself to step through the sliding doors as soon as they opened. The train doors slid slowly open. A breeze of cool fresh air flooded through the open train doors. A cold shiver ran down her spine as the breeze impacted with her body.

  Taking a big step, Madison cleared the cap between the platform and train. She pulled the suitcase from the train down onto the platform next to her, quickly pulling the handle up and towing the suitcase behind her. Her hair flew up wildly as the wind caught it, spreading out unevenly across the back of her leather jacket. She scanned the platform her eyes focused on the exit sign.

  Quickening her pace, she headed towards the exit without stopping to find out whether the two hooded boys had vacated the train yet. A flickering of a shadow caught the corner of Madison’s eye - two small shadows danced on the ground next to her. Both shadows floated motionless like the two boys had when they entered the carriage. Shuffling footsteps now echoed around the platform from behind her. She twisted around to search for the source of the footsteps - keeping her pace at a fast steady speed. The two boys walked motionlessly about five feet behind her, the hoods of their jumpers still pulled up over the tops of their heads – blocking their features out in shadow. Their feet seemed to graze the concrete floor as if they were suspended above the ground, floating almost two inches above the floor. Their pace was faster than Madison’s, they were gradually closing the distance between them both.

  Fear flashed wildly in Madison’s eyes, she bit her bottom lip stopping herself from whimpering. Although both the boys were shorter and younger then her, she knew that together they could overpower her.

  She took large steps trying to quicken her pace, she was unsure what the two boys intension were, but she had heard rumours about the muggings that occur in the London area and how children as young as 13 years old carried knives around with them for protection. Her heart pounded rapidly in her chest, the irritating dull pain in her arm now fading as fear and anxiety took over her senses. The suitcase wobbled reluctantly against the speed that it Madison pulled it, the wheels clunked nosily under the weight of her clothes. She reached the exit of the platform, making her way towards the sign directing her to the Underground. Quickly glancing behind, she stopped dead in her tracks. The platform behind her was empty. The train remained stationed by the side of the platform, but the two boys had vanished. The only movement on the platform was a white plastic carrier bag that had been caught in the wind - sending it soaring wildly across the concrete. Narrowing her eyes, Madison scanned the full length of the platform - nothing. The ice cold breeze gushed towards her, flowing through her body as if it was nothing more than empty space. She inhaled, taking a deep breath of soot tasting air. Another gust of wind rumbled around the platform, sending plastic bags that were scattered around the platform soaring towards her. Turning back around, Madison headed towards the underground before another gust of wind could hit her.

  She should have relaxed with the knowledge that the two boys were no longer hot on her heels, but she couldn’t shake off the feeling that she was being watched. The hairs pricked up on the back of her neck as she reached the underground, she pulled out her ticket from inside her handbag as she had approached the automatic gates. Madison slipped the ticket for the Underground into the card reader. The gates swung open, allowing Madison to slip through with her suitcase after recollecting her ticket from the machine. The dull nagging pain in her arm had returned now that the threat of the two boys had dissipated. Every muscle screamed, urging her to let go of the large heavy suitcase, but Madison ignored her distressed muscles. Her head was hazy from dozing on the train journey and she was still uneasy and spooked by the disappearance of the two boys. The raw emotions of tonight weighed heavy over Madison - she felt dumb. Every feeling or thought was sucked into the empty abyss that lay inside her, only the stronger feelings of fear, hate, guilt, sorrow and pain were able to scratch the surface. All her energy had been channelled into reaching her destination and this allowed some of the stronger feelings to bubble up to the surface, causing fresh tears to spill out over her cheeks. Madison let them slip down her face and neck, wincing from the stinging sensation as the salty tears grazed over her damaged cheek. She towed the suitcase swiftly along a dimly lit corridor which led down towards the underground. Her head felt heavy on her shoulders, the thick layer of haze that hung around her mind put pressure on her head. Her senses were still spiked, the boys disappearing act had unnerved her more than she realised. Her mind wondered as she continued down the corridor towards the Underground. Images of Phil’s expression just before he struck Madison flashed into her mind, reminding her of the unfortunate occurrence that had led her up to this point. Madison scanned the corridor wearily. The walls of the corridor were painted beige and the floor was thick concrete, making the corridor eerily dark and cold. The few wall lights that lit up the corridor illuminated the grey concrete in an orangey glow. Torn advertisements for gigs and movies scattered one side of the corridor, graffiti in an arrangement of colours covered the opposite wall. The corridor opened out into a long platform of the Underground. The bright lights of the Underground stung Madison eyes, she walked along the platform towards the track. The weight of the suitcase lessened on Madison’s arm as the floor smoothed out spreading the weight of the suitcase out evenly. She stopped about three feet away from the edge of the platform. The Underground was empty ap
art from a businessman talking on his mobile phone while pacing up and down the platform. He swung his suitcase back and forth as he shouted angrily into his hi-tech phone. The top button of his shirt was undone and his black and red tie lay loose around the collar of his shirt. His black suit jacket was undone revealing a large blue ink stain in the centre of his white shirt. He frowned and narrowed his eyes as he caught Madison’s gaze. She looked away quickly in embarrassment, staring out onto the empty track ahead. The two boys who had been on the train earlier were nowhere in sight, Madison found herself beginning to relax slowly, but she couldn’t shake off the knot that had formed in her stomach from the anxiety of feeling like she was being watched. Tonight’s occurrence had completely crushed her. Her exterior remained like stone, the tears had now passed and she was numb again, however, on the inside her thoughts and feelings were in chaos. She doubted her decision to leave Phil, but she knew deep down she had to escape now or she never would. She bit her lower lip hard to stop it from quivering, forcing any emotion that had risen to the surface back down inside to the pit of her stomach where she could deal with it later.

  Madison stood the suitcase upright, letting go of the handle to flex the muscles in her arm. Her arm screamed with pain as it relaxed without the weight of the suitcase -releasing some of the tension. Madison examined the red imprint of the handle on the palm of her hand. Her fingers throbbed as the cool air soothed the burning skin. The buzz of electricity from the Underground train hummed from the pitch black tunnel at the end of the track to her left. A whistling sound thundered through the tunnel as the train sped through the air towards the platform ahead. The wind thundered through the tunnel whipping Madison’s hair up into the air in a wild frenzy, it showered down over her face and shoulders. She brushed it away letting it flow out wildly behind her. Madison’s gaze turned towards the businessman who was still shouting down the receiver of his phone, his free hand that held his briefcase now covered his other ear from the sound of the train - drowning out the screeching of the brakes. She watched curiously as he shouted “bye” to someone and slammed the phone shut angrily, placing it carefully in the inside pocket of his jacket. The businessman’s eyes flickered over to Madison’s direction, he was conscious of the fact that she had been watching him. Madison met his eyes for a moment, she looked away quickly again towards the train that was now stopping slowly at the platform. The businessman held his gaze, his eyes narrowed on Madison before he slowly looked back towards the train. The train screeched to a halt next to the platform, a high pitched buzz of electricity filled the air. A loud hiss sounded from the hydraulics as the doors slid slowly open. The businessman quickly walked towards the carriage and entered the Underground train. Madison grabbed the handle of her suitcase and followed slowly, entering a different carriage to the businessman. The brightly lit carriage seemed dim and dismal compared to how the Underground normally appeared, a small light flickered on and off with a fault. Madison’s eyes scanned the empty underground carriage. Her legs ached underneath the weight of her body. The walk from one platform to the other was too much for her drained, tired body to manage under the circumstances. She pulled the heavy suitcase to the front of the long row of seats on the left hand side of the carriage doors. She slumped down in the seat next to her suitcase. Her body relaxed and tingled as the weight of her body was lifted from her feet. The aisles of the Underground carriage were wider than the aisle of the train, allowing Madison to stretch her legs out fully. She sighed loudly and allowed her body to fall limp. The pressure in her arm was immense from lugging the large suitcase around for hours. Madison’s eyes felt heavy and she struggled to keep them open, slowly her eyelids fell shut, her body momentarily became light as sleep threatened to take a hold of her. A cool breeze disturbed Madison from her sleep and her hair flowed forwards spreading out across her face. Madison sensed that the breeze wasn’t the cool air from the underground tunnel, but a gust of wind from something moving very fast. Her eyelids flew open, her gaze automatically located to the two black figures that sat side by side, motionless, on the left hand side of the carriage. She jumped, her heart beat fastened as she realised the two boys that followed her through the underground were sat no more than ten feet away from her. Their heads were still lowered in an unnatural fashion, the hoods of their jumpers pulled up over their foreheads, masking their features in thick black shadow. Madison couldn’t pinpoint what she found so frightening or uneasy about the two boys. Living in Thatcham Madison had experienced many circumstances where it felt as if she was being followed by a teenager dressed in same kind of attire, but nothing had ever progressed further. However, there was something about these two boys that made every hair on her body stand on end. Just the sight of them made Madison’s blood run cold and her heart bounce against her rip cage as if it was trying to escape her body in absolute fear. It was the kind of feeling you get when you walk into a haunted house, when you know something is out of place and even though you have no reason to be - you know you should fear the unknown.

  Electricity buzzed as the brakes were released and the Underground train leapt forwards. The doors of the carriage slid shut, locking Madison inside the train with the two hooded boys. The tracks clanged underneath the carriage as the train built up speed. Darkness clung to the windows of the Underground carriage as the train was sucked into the darkness of the tunnel. Reflections of the inside of the carriage danced on the black windows., the dancing shapes and distorted images from inside the carriage made Madison nervous, but she couldn’t pull her gaze away from the two boys for more than a moment. The two boys held their gaze on the empty space before them. Both boys sat perfectly still, their body language and posture still mirrored one another - unnaturally. The underground from Waterloo took no more than 15 minutes to reach central London. Today, 15 minutes would feel like forever for Madison. She pulled her ipod out from her coat pocket, popped the earphones back in and hit the play button. Madison’s head was filled by the sweet sound of an acoustic guitar again, for a moment she forgot herself. The peculiar two boys and the bizarre dancing shadows on the windows of the carriage had unnerved her and in the split second it took for Madison to forget herself in the music again, her heavy eyelids fell shut blocking out the strange boys and the growing shadows. She exhaled as some of the tension was released from her body. Two seconds passed before she found herself again - every moment from the last few hours came rushing back in stirring her from the sanctuary of the music. The pain, sadness and confusion all flooded in like water rushing through the open gates of a dam. Madison struggled to breathe and control her emotions as they were still so raw and overpowering. Her eyelids flew open as she realised where she was for the second time that night – it had become difficult to shake the sleep that gripped her. Her gaze automatically flickered over to the two boys. Movement in the reflection of the window behind the two boys caught Madison’s attention. She gasped quietly as she caught sight of man stood across from the two boys. Madison turned sharply in the direction of the stranger. He looked about 26 or 27 years old, dark brown hair that hung down either side of his shapely cheek bones. His hair was straight and shiny; every hair was pristinely in place - almost in too pristine and his hair in too good condition for a man. His features were soft and he was extremely handsome. He almost looked like a wax work from Madame Tussauds, his skin was too flawless and the stubble on his neck and jaw looked like it had been drawn on. Madison couldn’t make out the colour of his eyes from her position, but she imagined they would be blue and stand out beautifully against his dark hair. He was dressed in black denim jeans, a simple black jumper and a black fashionable leather jacket. This dark handsome stranger reminded Madison of some the celebrities she read about in her trashy magazines - perfection to the eyes. She couldn’t help but feel suddenly self-conscious next to the flawless beauty of the stranger. She realised that in her haste to leave Thatcham she hadn’t even bothered to run a brush through her knotted, frizzy hair and the thick layers of
foundation that she had applied to her face to cover up the read swollen bruising hadn’t done a great job at concealing the damage, and had now become cracked and very orange against her normally pale complexion.

  The handsome stranger appeared to be in deep conversation with the hooded two teenagers. Madison couldn’t hear what was being said over the loud twang of an electric guitar in her ears, but he didn’t appear to be getting any response from the two boys. There was no movement in their posture or change in their fragile frames, their heads still hung down towards the floor, the threatening dark shadow from their hoods consuming their facial features. However, all three appeared calm and comfortable as if they had known each other for years. There was no awkwardness coming from the new stranger to indicate there was any tension between him and the two boys, all three of them were oblivious to Madison who watched eagerly. Madison was so fascinated by the dark stranger that she had forgotten to breathe; she caught her breath and coughed as the oxygen filled her lungs. This seemed to interrupt the flow of his conversation, slowly the dark handsome stranger turned to look in Madison’s direction.

  Madison caught her breath as his brilliant crystal blue eyes met her hazel eyes. Never before had Madison seen eyes so unique and stunning as this dark handsome stranger’s. The hairs all over her body stood on end as the warm sensation of blood rushed around underneath the surface of her skin.