"Hey Mikes!" JJ smiled at me as I approached the ancient abandoned cottage that we knew of as home. It was a simple one story bungalow with boarded up windows and part of the roof had fallen in at one side of the house but the rest of the grey stone and rotting wood seemed okay for now. It was almost abandoned in the middle of a field with ravished fences guarding it with a small beaten track running quickly past the front door. Hills towards on one side of the house, with little white dots of sheep looking down on us from above and a river crashing on by somewhere close. The sun had made an appearance and it warmed the slightly cool air by a fraction as grey clouds floated gently across the sky in the early morning breeze. JJ stood at the doorway with his arms stretched wide, I walked quickly up to him and he wrapped his arms around me.

"I've missed you Mikes...." He sighed, hugging me even tighter.
"Um, me too...." I yawned sleepily. "It was a long journey back though."
"Did you complete task 1 okay Mikes?" He asked me as he tilted his head to the side and readjusted his beanie.
"Um, well, what if I hadn't?.." I pulled away from the warm hug.
"Then....well," began JJ as a frown took over his face, "well, I'd be disappointed and think you of incapable of completing the other tasks, and I'd be annoyed at you and quite angry and I don't like getting annoyed at people."
"Well, we'll be okay then," I tried to smile convincingly, "because it's fine, I completed the task as easy as pie!" I lied.
"Good!" He smiled, "if you hadn't of then I might not let you back in!"
"Haha" I fake laughed as I patted him on the back, "well it's a good job I did then."
I yawned, geez! My eyes were red and puffy with dark shadows hiding under my eyes.
"Hey come here!" He said picking my up and walking back into the house, "you should get some rest."

He carried me inside and placed me onto the mattress and covered me with the stiff blankets. As soon as my head hit the non existent pillow I felt the darkness creep in around my eyes and I slipped off into a deep sleep.


I awoke to JJ shuffling nearby, he jumped out of his skin as he saw me sit up and rub my eyes.
"Morning sleepy!" He laughed at me.
"Ugh! Piss off!" I joked as I flopped back down onto the mattress. Sometimes a nap for a few hours makes you feel a lot better, sometimes a nap just makes you feel like shit. This nap definitely had the latter effect on me. It took a few minutes for me to open my eyes properly and look to see what the actual fudge JJ was doing.

He had laid out a bunch of old clothes in front of him, an old baseball hat, some greying converse, a pair of black sunglasses, a guitar pick necklace, and some old brown knee-length shorts.
"JJ, what are you doing?" I asked with curiosity running clearly through my voice.
"Getting ready for task 2." He replied as he set a pair of flip flops down in front of me.
"Task 2?" I replied, still just as confused.
"Yeah." He nodded towards me, "you'll need a disguise for task 2 though."
"When do I take task 2?" I asked, fear running through my voice, what if it was like the last task? What if I was killed? What if I didn't complete this task as well? I don't think I could manage to lie to JJ again.
"As soon as possible, we'll set off in an hour. The quicker the tasks are completed the better. I'll come with you this time and watch to make sure you are okay. We are going into town this time."
"Um, okay then..."
I didn't have a choice.
"I'm going to go and make tea, put your disguise on and then we're going."

- .- ... -.- / ..---

Task 2:

"Okay so task 2...." JJ stated as we hid in the corner of the bustling town square where people crossed paths with bags flying in all directions and chatter filling up the biting cold air. The sun gently peeped through the clouds that hung above in the clear white and blue swirling sky that sent cold showers through the air. Old, beige buildings surrounded us with black handrails from balconies clinging onto the side with towels and washing hung over the edges. "Yep....task 2..." I whispered, "what do I need to do?"
"You see this scarf?" JJ replied as he pulled something from his bag.
I nodded. It was a white silken scarf, laced with flowered patterns which swirled and wrapped it's way around like an unknown disease.
"And you see that man over there?" JJ's shaking hand pointed to a man who slunk into the shade of a side street where a small red mini stood waiting.
I nodded again.
"Go and give this scarf to him, make sure he wears it." He pulled his beanie over his ears again as he slipped into the shadows.
"JJ, why do you always pull your beanie over your ears?" I asked.
"Why don't you pull your beanie over your ears?" He replied sarcastically as a grin formed on his face.
"Um...maybe because I don't have a beanie....but why do you do it?"
"Um....." He muttered back, "b-because it's really cold, maybe....now stop asking questions...off you go."
"Okay." I prepared myself as JJ nudged me forwards.

Was this going to be as dangerous as the first task? Was I going to be caught and end up running for my life again? Was this person going to try and kill me? Was I going to get a knife stabbed through my chest as I lay barely breathing in the middle of the unforgiving road?

I took slow and steady steps towards the side street, clutching the scarf tightly in my hands. Turning around to look back towards JJ I noticed that he had completely disappeared into the shadows and was nowhere to be seen, at least if I was killed he wouldn't have to see it.

My palms started sweating as I approached the mysterious man and I could feel my heart beating violently against my ribs. I almost became numb to my surroundings with my voice shaking with fear as I attempted to speak.

"Um, hi..." I managed to say, standing in the middle of the shaded side street with flats and buildings rising up on each side as if I was trapped in a giant urban jungle.
"Hello to thee...." The man stood in front of me replied, tipping his black hat in my direction. Something seemed familiar about his voice, as if I'd heard it before. He was about the same height as me, wearing a pristine black suit (ironed within an inch of its life) and a white shirt with a handkerchief neatly folded in his top pocket. A golden watch dangled from his pocket and his smile seemed welcoming but I couldn't help noticing the almost cold look in his grey and tired eyes which were clear from his greying hair which was swept under his hat.
"How are you?" I asked nervously, hiding the silken scarf behind my back.
"Very well thank you sir. And you?" He replied with a deep and rumbling voice that was tainted with wealth and an overall posh-ness.
"Um....Good." I replied, "I just wondered if you wanted this scarf?" I pulled the scarf from behind my back.

This was probably the time that he'd kill me in. JJ was nowhere to be seen and I was stood in a side street with a stranger offering him a scarf. This is when I'd die. I was simply waiting. You see, I thought that by the simple description of these tasks that they would be easy to complete and not dangerous but they are much harder than they sound. Like task 2, I thought I'd be just giving this guy a scarf but in a split second I could be fighting for my life.

"Yes please good sir!" He replied, taking the scarf from my waiting hands and wrapping it three times around his neck, "thank you so much!"
He hugged me and I just stood there awkwardly thinking that he was going to stab me or something.
"It's okay." I replied with, shell-shocked.
"I like this scarf." He replied with as he climbed into the red mini (that had its roof down despite the cold) and started the engine, "I'll repay you some day my fine fellow!" He called out to me as he allowed his car to roll away from me. I waved to him as he drove off into the distance with his long scarf dancing through the breeze behind him.

Well I guess that that was task 2 successfully completed.

Notes

Hello again. I hope this update was okay though I did write it on about 4 hours of sleep! Woo! So sorry if it was a bit shit.
its too warm! the sun is out, it's like 30 degrees and I can't function like a normal human, sorry I sound pathetic but I'm ginger and the sun shows up around once every 7 years where I live.
Hope you guys are doing well, I have exams in just over a week so I'm sorry if there aren't many updates because I should probably revise for them....probably.
Thank you for reading though. :)
-LOu