Ruth got on with her new promotion and her new life, but like a small wrinkle that won’t iron out, her disquiet stayed. It was only natural after such a stressful experience, Lucy reassured her. She didn’t tell anyone else, as her family and friends would only worry. She nearly told Sir Robin Get, but she didn’t, despite the fact he was very easy to talk to. He didn’t judge, either. He simply listened and offered advice from time to time. Although neither of them would admit it, both Ruth and Lucy had begun to regard him as extended family. She wondered if she should have spoken to him, since for all Lucy’s assurance that she would forget about her experience in time, Ruth didn’t.
Three months on and she was having little success conquering her fear, although she was beginning to get used to living with it. One bright, frosty morning, a rare occasion dawned when she and Lucy were leaving for work at the same time. Since they used the same tube line this was always a pleasure. It meant they could gossip all the way in – well, almost. Ruth got off at Farringdon but Lucy carried on to Aldgate. As they headed for the tube, two tall men rounded the corner at the end of their quiet residential street. Ruth stopped abruptly.
“What’s up?” asked Lucy breaking off, mid flow, from a story of Nigel’s exploits with the wine list at a top London restaurant.
“Those guys,” said Ruth, starting to walk again. They crossed the road, while up ahead the two tall men slowed and turned their heads in unison, eyes-right style, to look over at the two girls. They stayed where they were, on the other side of the street and carried on walking.
“See what they’re wearing!” whispered Lucy as they passed. It was pure sci-fi. Dark grey leather tunics with, no? Really? Yes, swords and what appeared to be guns, slung from their belts. Woollen trousers, also in dark grey, with a red stripe down the sides and jackboots. Similar but not the same as the man who’d followed Ruth into that garden. How did they manage a get-up like that on a London street without being arrested? Then again, people probably thought they were on their way to a sci-fi convention, that New Romanticism had made a return or the like.
“Coo,” said Lucy, “is one of them your man?”
“No. Not nearly as sinister, but they’re the same.”
“Wow. I can see why it freaked you out. I’d have left the city and sought witness protection.”
“Yeh right! Witness protection from what?”
“You know what I’m saying.”
That she understood why Ruth had been scared, that she didn’t blame her. It made Ruth smile. It was great to have a friend like Lucy around.
“Yeh,” she said, “I do, and thanks.”
“They’re very pale,” said Lucy. Yes they were. As if they’d been living under a rock all their lives. So pale that when Ruth screwed her eyes up a little they almost appeared to be light green. “Like vampires.”
“Yeh. OK Luce! Don’t feed my warped fantasies; they scare me enough on their own.”
Oops, Lucy, who was only trying to make a joke, now wore a worried frown. Time to lighten things up, “I’ll be sure to keep up my garlic intake.”
They were wearing sunglasses, like the one who had followed her, except they were merely frightening, a little bit creepy perhaps? The other one had been in a class of his own, the sheer malevolence of him had been almost physical.
He was still out there somewhere. Searching for his ‘Chosen One’.
What if he’d sent them to follow her? What if she actually was? That was a bad thought. Time to stop thinking. She kept staring straight ahead, but glanced back as she turned the corner of the street and saw with relief that they were continuing to walk in the opposite direction.