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Alex was terrified. He realized he shouldn't have come here, but it was too late. Here he was in the dark, with a pair of arms wrapped around him. He wasn't sure what was happening.

"Don't worry, Alex, I'll let you go as soon as we get into light again. I don't want you to wander off and get hurt. The lift has some holes in the cage."

Alex hated physical contact, just hated it. Yet here he was again, being held by Nicky. It didn't seem to bother him as much as it normally would have. Maybe it was because he was so scared of this situation he had stupidly fallen into.

The lift stopped, a set of doors opened, and they stepped out into a dimly lit room. The lift doors shut, and all traces of the lift vanished as if it never had existed. The air smelled funny, different, unlike anything he had experienced before. The air was stale, old, almost ancient. The room was solid rock, the old-fashioned stone and mortar construction. There was a wooden door on one wall. Other than a small wooden bench and table, there was nothing else in the room. Alex was reminded of a medieval dungeon.

"Where are we?" asked Alex.

"Oh, don't worry, you're still in London," replied Nicky.

"Nicky, you're scaring me. Look, I just want to go now. Ok? Before I freak; this is just too weird." Alex was angry with himself for admitting his fear.

"Stay. You'll be fine. We'll go to my room and talk."

Alex ran to the door, swung it open and ran outside into the corridor. He looked both ways. Neither seemed better than the other, so he went right. He ran as fast as he could. He could hear footfalls behind him and knew it had to be Nicky. I just don't understand. How could I let this happen? What do I do? I don't know where I am. It just doesn't make sense. I should confront Nicky forcefully. No, I'm a coward. For such a smart guy, I can't believe I did something so fucking stupid.

"Alex! Alex, where the sod are you?" shouted Nicky. Why did I bring Alex here? I thought he'd understand. It's my fault. Of course he's terrified. He probably thinks I'm going to kill him. I have to take him back and hope it turns out all right. I have to trust him to do what's right. "Alex, please, I'll take you back."

Alex had become hopelessly lost. He clearly was in some sort of underground tunnel system. He made a decision, "Do you promise to take me back?" he shouted. He knew that Nicky was his only way out.

"Yes, I promise," replied Nicky.

Alex stopped. The footfalls approached. Nicky rounded the corner and stopped in front of Alex. After a quick second to catch his breath, Nicky spoke, "Alex, I'll take you back 'cos I want to be your friend. Really, I do. I'm sorry; I didn't intend it to play out like this. Follow me."

They took a circuitous route, through many tunnels and corridors. Alex was hopelessly lost. He probably wouldn't have been much surprised to find out Nicky wasn't in any better position. They finally found the corridor Nicky had been looking for whereupon they came to a lift, and Nicky pressed the call button. Soon the lift arrived, and they got in. As the doors shut, the darkness was complete. Alex expected the arms to wrap around him again, and he was oddly disappointed when it didn't happen.

"Alex, I'm so sorry. So very sorry. I did this all wrong."

"What wrong? I don't understand."

"Don't hate me. You'll be out in a few moments. Please, just try and forget me. I'm sure you'll be happier."

The doors opened, and Alex walked out followed by Nicky.

"Your train is coming now, Alex." A few moments later the train pulled into the station. The doors on the third car opened. "Hurry, get in before the doors shut again." Nicky put out his hand, extended his finger, and gently touched Alex on the cheek. "Goodbye," and then he ran back to the lift as Alex boarded.

The train pulled away, with Alex on board. Alex looked at his watch. He'd been gone at least two hours, yet less than five minutes had passed on his watch since he first got off the train into Lord's station. The train pulled into Baker Street, and he exited, heading straight for his hotel. He heard a busker playing, but he knew it wasn't Nicky; he could tell by the sound.

As he entered the hotel, he began to think. I have to do something to get Nicky out of my head. First, he packed his suitcase, a small wheeled bag, with his clothes and the few souvenirs he bought. Then he decided which books to pack and which books to put in his backpack. In his suitcase, he put his well worn copy of Ender's Game which he read on the flight over. His dog-eared copy of Lord of the Rings went into his backpack where he would finish it for perhaps the tenth time. He loved that book. It really helped him get lost in his fantasy world. Finally, he began to grow tired.

Alex lay in his bed, his suitcase being packed and ready to go at the morning's wake up call. He was thinking. Why can't I get this guy out of my head? The first time in my whole life, someone's stuck in my head, and it's someone who tried to do something bad to me. Shit, that's not true. He didn't try to hurt me, and I know it. Before that bizarre experience in the subway station, we seemed to be getting along pretty well. Great, I finally make a friend and he's some psycho. Alex drifted off to sleep.

Ring. Ring. Ring. Alex answered the phone with a grunt.

"It's a quarter past seven, sir. You asked us to ring you up."

"Thanks," said Alex, jumping out of bed, and getting ready for his ride to the airport. He had arranged for a taxi, because he didn't want to deal with the tube on his way to the airport. Truthfully, he didn't want to run into Nicky again. On the way down to the taxi, he grabbed a chocolate chip muffin from the tray the hotel had in the lobby.

The cab was waiting. Probably with the meter running, thought Alex ever the cynic. He jumped in, carrying his suitcase and backpack with him. "Heathrow or Gatwick, young master?"

"Heathrow. Terminal Four, please," said Alex as the cab pulled away. The cab sped on through the foggy streets of London. With this being an early Sunday morning, traffic was light. Alex stared out the window.

"Sir, you seem to be distracted by something. Is there something I can help with?" asked the cabbie, assuming Alex was interested in the sights they were passing.

"No, I'm fine," Alex lied, "I just don't do mornings." Alex's thoughts were still on Nicky and their bizarre encounters.

The traffic ground to a sudden halt. Apparently there was an accident or some other obstruction barring the traffic from moving. "Sir, what time's your flight?" asked the cabbie.

"I've only got another hour before I have to check in. Do you think we'll make it?"

"Not bloody likely with this mess. If you don't mind the tube, the Northfield stop's a few metres ahead on the left. You can hop the tube the rest of the way. I'll give you half-off the fare to make up for the trouble."

"Done," said Alex has he forked over his sterling notes.

Fuck! Here I am in the middle of fucking London and a plane to catch. Why does this shit always happen to me? Alex looked around, and saw the tube station ahead on the left. He trudged towards it, wearing his backpack and pulling his suitcase behind him. He was glad it had wheels. I hope I don't miss the plane; that would just be great. Stranded in a foreign country with almost no money. My parents will probably think I did this on purpose. Hell, I can't tell them anything about this. They'll think I'm making this up. Nobody in their right mind would believe this shit. FUCKFUCKFUCK!

Once again, Alex began thinking to himself. He should have taken the train to begin with and avoided all this mess. The train was deserted. Alex assumed it was because it was an early Sunday morning. One wouldn't expect the tube to be crowded at this ungodly hour. He sat there, angry, lost in his thoughts.

Alex dug into his backpack to pull out a book, and instead took out his Sony Discman. He popped in a CD. Most of the people in his school listened to hip-hop music, rap, or country. Country music is so ghastly. I don't understand how anyone can stand it, and to call 'rap' music is an offense against nature. Alex liked classic rock, alternative rock, some new age, and an eclectic mix of other things. But for his trip, he was only able to pack a few CDs to economize on space. Being his trip was to England, he picked Elton John, the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones ‹ it seemed very appropriate to him. He decided on Elton John, put in the CD, pressed the 'random play' button, and listened.

I can't light no more of your darkness. All my pictures seem to fade to black and white. I'm growing tired, and time stands still before me. Frozen here, on the ladder of my life. Too late to save myself from falling. I took a chance, and changed your way of life. But you misread my meaning when I met you; closed the door, and left me blinded by the light.

"Don't move," said a loud voice as a hand covered his mouth. He froze, in fear as Elton continued to sing in his ears. Suddenly, the volume went dead. "Don't scream," said the voice pulling the hand away. "Hi Alex," said Nicky.

Alex turned pale white. "You're stalking me, aren't you?"

Nicky's face scrunched up with a pained look. "Does this mean you won't be my friend? 'Cor that sounds so pathetic. I can't believe I said that. Listen, I really want to talk to you. I don't want it to end like this. I'll come with you to the airport, and we can talk there. It's a public place, you'll be safe."

"It's not like I have a choice, is it? You're going to follow me there anyway, aren't you? How the fuck did you find me here?" Alex really was worried. How did Nicky find him here?

"You think way too much, Alex. When are you going to figure out that if I was going to hurt you, I already could have? Look at me."

Alex looked at Nicky but said nothing.

"No, look me right in the eyes."

Alex complied, though with reluctance.

"Alex, I give you my word of honour I won't do anything to harm you, won't do anything to you against your will. Please, just give me a chance. You need me, and deep down inside you know it."

"Nicky, this is so weird. It's almost as if you aren't human. What I mean is, you say things to me, and I hear them, but I feel them too. You know this is just too much for me to deal with."

"Well, are you willing to talk to me? Can I stay with you until the airport?"

Fuck! Fuck! FUCKFUCKFUCK! What do I do? I am so confused. This is too much, too fast. Something's going on and I don't know what. I'll be at the airport in a few minutes, I can walk through the security gate and never see Nicky again. My whole life, nobody ever seemed like they wanted to talk to me. Now, someone does, and I'm running the other way. Why me? Great, self-pity. That's what I need. I am such a fuck-up. I've got to take a chance but it's so damned risky. "Yeah. I suppose so."

Nicky reached over, turned the volume back up on Alex's Discman. The train pulled into the Hatton Cross station, leaving just one more stop before Heathrow. Nicky sat with his thoughts. How am I going to talk to Alex? Everything seems so complicated, but I can just feel like he needs me. This is so weird. I've had these types of feelings, but they've never felt this strong before, but I just know we'll be good friends. I wish he'd give me a chance. I hope I'm not too much a coward to tell him the truth.

Alex listened as the next song came on his Discman. He thought again about his home life, his social life, and everything else. He realized none of it meant much to him. He knew he'd always been afraid of being close to anyone, and afraid of being hurt if it didn't work out. He always assumed he was the only one who felt that way, but maybe he wasn't. Maybe this was normal. The train pulled into Heathrow, and Alex put his Discman away in his backpack.

"Isn't this your stop?" asked Nicky.

"Yes it is Nicky, but I'm not leaving. You're stuck in my head and I can't get you out. I can't let it end like this. Let's go talk somewhere private. I'm going to take a chance. I have to. I don't know what to think or believe, but I believe you when you say you won't hurt me."

The bright smile that greeted Alex's statement, would have made the sun look pitch black. Nicky, reached over and gave Alex a big hug. Alex turned bright red with embarrassment, and Nicky let go with a sheepish grin, "Sorry, Alex."

"I'll live," said Alex. That hug felt pretty good. I wonder why. I usually hate that shit.

"If it's ok, we'll go back to my place at Lord's if you trust me enough."

"Fuck it. I'll do it. I'm scared. Really scared. I've never admitted that to anyone."

Nicky didn't reply, just sitting there with a stupid grin on his face. A change of trains, a short lift ride later, and they were in the same odd room deep below Lord's station.

This time, Nicky led the way out the wooden door. He walked deliberately down the winding corridors, clearly knowing where he was headed. He came to an old arch made of brick which marked the entrance to what appeared to be the oldest section of this section tube from the late 1860s. As they passed through the archway a tall, slender man stood in their way.

"He's with me," said Nicky.

"There are rules, young sir. Outsiders aren't allowed down here."

"I'm changing the rule. Here and now."

The guard frowned, looked puzzled, glared, then stood aside with an odd gesture that Alex took as a salute. "Come on, Alex."

There were some scattered people moving about, though it wasn't crowded by any means. At least there were more people in this section than anywhere else he'd seen in the station. They were all tall, light, and very quiet people. Alex thought they moved with an unusual grace.

"Nicky, it looks perfectly safe down here. Last time when I ran out you looked panicked, like it wasn't safe for me."

"It wasn't. That sentry we passed would have killed you without a second thought had you found him and not had me with you."

"You promised you weren't going to scare me again."

"Well you asked me a question. I gave you the answer. It's important you understand that down here the rules are different than up there," said Nicky emphasizing his words carefully. "You're safe once you belong here. But until you belong here, to be alone is to be dead. I'm not saying this to scare you, but to make you understand how secretive we are."

"We? Who is we?"

"Please, wait until we get to my room. We're almost there. Privacy is important. It'd create some issues if we talked out here. Besides, not everyone here is fond of those from above. There's a great deal of pent up hatred of your kind among some of us."

"My kind?" inquired Alex testily as if he had been belittled. He was on the verge of something. He knew it, but he just didn't know what. He hated when it was clear complex things were swirling about him and he wasn't able to grasp them.

They came to a well lit corridor into which doorways had been cut at regular intervals. Although not big on architecture, Alex noticed the intricate masonry work here and it was clearly not part of the original design. The people here were finely dressed, everything was illuminated by what appeared to be gas lanterns. It was cool and breezy, though he couldn't figure where the fresh air was coming from.

He was also sure they were far below what was the original construction of the underground system. As they descended, the brick and mortar construction gave way to marble and granite inlaid walkways and clean, tiled walls. There was no paint in evidence, but he supposed that was because the pervasive dampness would ruin it quickly.

"This is it. This is where I live," stated Nicky suddenly stopping three doors from the end of the corridor. "I have a condition I'd like you to agree to. No, wait. I'm going to ask you; you don't have to agree. I'm going to trust you. Don't take anything from down here back with you without asking. Some things cannot go above."

"Ok, I can do that. I agree. So, are we going in?"

Nicky swung the door open, and went in followed by Alex, who stopped a few steps inside the door, his mouth agape.