Julie heaved the backpack off her back and got out her phone to check the time.
"12:35?! How did time manage to pass so fast...?"
She stopped and turned. Attempting to hide behind the lamppost was the boy from earlier.
Julie put her hands on her hips.
"What were you doing? Were you trying to follow me?" She said. "And that's a lame hiding place," she added.
"I thought you might have needed an extra little bit of protection on your way home," he answered. "And, I know," he added.
Julie sighed impatiently.
She put the phone back in the bag, heaved it onto her back again and resumed walking, this time with a bit more pace.
She desperately hoped that Alex hadn't somehow woken up and found out...
There was the sound of cackling. Loud, maniacal cackling.
Julie span around again.
This time the boy did as well.
"That's odd," Julie heard him whisper under his breath. "I could have sworn-"
She saw another boy walking up the road. He was thin and lanky, a bit like the thin man from before, but without the tattoos. He looked around the same age as her, and had spiky brown hair and wild green eyes.
He laughed again, like a maniac.
"Hi, there, little girl!"
He grinned. It wasn't an evil one, but all the same, it wasn't a pleasant one.
"Go back to the madhouse from whence you came from," the first boy spat.
Another laugh.
"Oh, please! This how you treat strangers? You know as well as me they call it a psychiatric hospital!"
Julie was getting seriously creeped out by his laugh.
The first boy stepped back, as if to shield Julie from the horror of this new, maniacal boy.
"Is everyone from a psychiatric hospital like this?" She whispered.
"No. I know a few, and they're really nice. It's just a few of them who have..." He paused. "Messed up concepts. Like this one."
"You look tasty, girl!"
Julie stared at him.
"Jackie said that you weren't due out of that place for another two years," the first boy shouted.
"What did Jackie know?! Jackie DESPISED me! She'd have anything to make me look bad! But, admittedly, there might have been some truth to that..."
"You escaped?"
"... Maybe!"
Julie covered her ears as the laughter rang inside her skull again.
"Roger, it's people like you who give psychiatric hospitals a bad name," the boy said. "I don't think there's anyone who could rival your madness..."
Roger grinned and cocked his head.
"Enough of the talk. I want the girl now."
"You speak as if she belongs to you."
Roger frowned.
"Well, I don't care. I want her."
He lunged.
The boy was taken aback and slammed into a wall. For a couple of seconds they wrestled and punched each other before eventually Roger was thrown off and onto the road.
"I want my mamma," he whispered. He scrambled to his feet and walked off, his back as crooked as his smile.
Julie held her hand out this time. The boy wiped the blood from his mouth and took it gratefully.
"Thanks..."
"Julie."
"Thank you, Julie. I'm Tom, by the way."
Julie smiled.
"It's me who should be thanking you really..." She looked down. "Thank you for saving me twice, Tom."
"'S fine," he grinned sheepishly. "Now..." He adjusted his jacket. "Shall I escort you home?"
Julie gave him a playful slap. "Maybe."
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