The Dancer | Wattys2018 | COMPLETED

3 - Hampton Street

He sat down on the opposite bench to her and looked at her. 

The Ashborne brothers all had striking green eyes with dark hair. There was an older brother who owned the only mechanic store in town, the second eldest helped at the store, and then there were twins, one of which she was looking at right now.

She wasn't sure of their names, only their last name. Three years ago, they were investigated for the murder of their mother but cleared and since then, everybody had been afraid of them. Not much of the details of the murder was revealed to the public, but everyone knew to stay away from the boys.

The boy she was looking at was quiet, sitting, staring at a spot on the table. Neither of them had said anything yet. She wasn't sure where to start, and he seemed to not be all there.

"Sorry to be rude, but, um, which one are you?" Madison asked and he broke his focus and looked at her again,

"Sebastian." He said, his eyes not breaking away from her, "Madison, right?"

"Yeah." She said bluntly. She was nervous. Maybe they killed her parents? 

"I actually came to ask you something." He said and Madison's heart beat faster. Was he going to ask about her parents? They had been suspected with the murder of their own mother, so it could be possible that they killed hers.

"Sure." She said, trying to keep the worry out of her voice. Was he here to kill her too?

"I heard you dance, ballet, am I right?"

"Yeah." Her voice dropped at the end, sounding more like a question. This was about her dancing? Not about her dead parents?

He bit down on his lower lip, "I was wondering if maybe we could do a dance together."

"You dance?" Madison choked out, surprised. An Ashborne brother, a dancer? That couldn't be right. Maybe he was trying to bait her out so he could kill her next.

"Yeah, I know. People kind of have that same reaction." He said with a dry, low laugh. He sounded offended, "How can an Ashborne be a dancer? I get it." He stood up to walk away, "See you around, Madison."

"Hey, wait." Madison stood up and he turned and looked at her, "I'd love to."

Sebastian gave her a small, indistinct nod, "Hampton street, four thirty after school."

***

The rest of the day seemed to go too fast. Madison was waiting for Alessio to pick her up. He was never late, so she wasn't sure why he would be today, of all days. 

She had messaged him about the four thirty dance practise with Sebastian Ashborne. Alessio didn't know much about the Ashborne brothers, so it wasn't as though he was purposely delaying himself so she couldn't meet with a murderous boy.

She finally saw the white BMW pulling up and she walked over, pulling open the door, "Alessio, we have half an hour before I have the practise and you're late."

"Sorry. I got held up." He apologised quietly. Madison strapped her seatbelt on and looked over at Alessio. She sucked in a deep breath,

"What the hell happened?" Alessio had a bandage across the left side of his head, that was stained red. His hands were shaking as he drove out of the school gates.

He didn't reply until they reached a red light. "A man came looking for you while I was home."

"A man?" Madison repeated, "Did you call the police? What did he want? What did he look like?"

Alessio took a deep breath, "He wanted you, he said."

"Why?"

"He did not say." Alessio said, grimacing from the pain. "I only remember he had green eyes. Before he slashed me with a blade and I blacked out."

Madison's jaw had dropped, "Alessio, the police."

"I called them afterwards. They want you to change apartments again." He said, "You are not safe, Madison."

Madison took a deep breath, "You said he had green eyes?"

Alessio nodded.

Would that have been one of the Ashborne brothers? Maybe they were the killers, now after her to finish off what they started. But they have no reason to kill her parents, or her.

"Hampton street." Madison said, "Let's go there."

"Your apartment?"

"We'll worry about that later." Madison said, a thousand things going through her mind at once.

How did the man with the green eyes know where she lived? She only moved in there not even two weeks ago. Why was he looking for her? What did he want from her? Was he the man that killed her parents? Why would he hurt Alessio?

Alessio stopped the car. He looked over at her, "We're here, Madison." 

She looked at him for a few seconds. He was definitely Italian, with the dark hair and dark eyes. He was only older than her by two years, mid-way through a degree in business of some sort. He was very respectful to her, and was the closest thing she had to a friend right now. He offered to come here and look after her, on hearing his favourite dancers had been murdered.

"Thanks." She smiled, "Don't go too far though. I don't want you getting hurt again."

"I'll be fine." He said, "Now go on, and do whatever it is you do."

Madison stepped out of the car and looked back at Alessio, "Ah, there's an idea. Why don't you come inside and see whatever it is that I do?"

"Would you like me to do that?" He asked, "All bandaged up like this?"

Madison scowled, "No one will notice you, it's fine."

He shrugged and turned off the car, "Okay then, if you insist."

They both walked towards the huge dance studio. Madison had to take a double-take on the name of the studio.

The Dancer.

That's where her parents used to dance.