The Penn Friends Series Books 5-8: Penn Friends Boxset Page 18

  As she approached a sharp corner, she slowed––the highway signs were warning of ice, and advising motorists to reduce speed to fifty. She braked hard, the car skidding, but managed to pull up in enough time to come to a complete stop. In front of her was a severe car crash, something that must have just happened moments before, though she’d not heard anything on her approach.

  A petrol tanker lay on its side, though underneath it and poorly twisted was the remains of what must have been an SUV. A liquid was dripping from the back of the tanker, smoke visible somewhere behind the wreck. Besides those apparently caught up in the initial accident, there were no other vehicles around.

  Penny got out of the car. She could hear screams coming from somewhere, though couldn’t see anyone. Then, some people––presumably motorists who had stopped further up the road on her side when the accident happened, or drivers passing in the other directions––emerged at the front and back of the tanker. One motioned as if to try and lift the lorry, but it was impossible. Other people were now frantically trying to reach the vehicle crushed underneath the tanker. Penny soon realised the cries were coming from there. Whoever had been in the SUV, they were still trapped inside. The weight of the truck was making it impossible to free them, and the dripping liquid––Penny could only imagine it was a fuel of some sort––only made the scene before her a living nightmare.

  Penny froze to the spot. She was a hundred metres or so from the incident but dared go no nearer. Her insides were fully alive, however. Her best role would be to somehow think of a way to help. Behind her, the road was still empty.

  One man was standing at the front of the tanker––possibly the driver himself, though Penny couldn’t be certain––and another man at the rear. Three others were frantically trying to free the people in the SUV. One of these helpers had spotted Penny, and raising a hand to warn her to stay back, had continued to help the others trying to free the victims. It was evident; unless the tanker was lifted, they weren’t going to be able to release anyone. If the truck were to catch fire, whoever had survived the initial accident would surely be killed.

  Still, one man stood straining with everything he had at the front of the tanker, another at the back.

  Give that man enough strength to lift the tanker enough to free whoever is underneath Penny said as she focused everything she had on the man underneath the driver’s cab.

  Slowly, he managed to stand a little more, the tanker visibly pivoting just a little, liquid now dropping over him, presumably from the engine itself.

  Still, he stood. Those at the SUV were suddenly able to drag one woman from the wreckage and take her to safety, though there was at least someone else still in the vehicle as they soon rushed back, ignorant of the potential danger they were putting themselves in. The man at the rear of the truck was straining too as if he also should be able to lift it, but that wasn’t needed, as with one side pivoting, the first guy now standing entirely, it was enough to create the space the rescuers required. By then, this strong man was drenched in fuel.

  Then it happened. The flames lapped at him almost immediately. Penny looked as, to her horror, the man she’d just given strength to was engulfed, before an explosion, from the engine of a third vehicle she’d only just seen pressed tight against the central reservation, threw the man to the ground. The tanker fell back onto the front of the SUV, the strongman obviously dead––his corpse still burning.

  Then the moment that would cause Penny to question everything she’d ever known about the world and her life, in particular, happened right in front of her eyes.

  It started as a black mist, or a cloud of smoke, a presence rising from the body of the man to whom Penny had given strength. Soon it was hovering just a few feet above the body, as if darkness itself, its very reality like looking into the eye of a monster, a beast of the depths that few people ever encountered. Every hair on Penny’s body stood on end––a coldness she’d never known ran down her spine. There was an evil in the blackness.

  Then it moved, leaving the deadman entirely, a thin tail the last to leave the corpse as he breathed his last and with a swiftness that seemed to defy the moment, it moved towards the other man still standing underneath the other end of the tanker. He was unaware of what had just happened, unable to see anything but the lump of metal in front of himself that he was trying to move.

  The darkness entered the man.

  He started to stand more upright, the tanker now pivoting the other way. Once again the rescuers were seen dragging out a male from behind the wheel, this time keeping their distance, calls shouted to the man underneath the rear end of the tanker to come away. Everyone was now rescued.

  Penny saw the tanker drop down back onto the SUV, the strength of the man gone, and he could barely crawl away. It had been only a matter of seconds––maybe one minute in all––but time had seemingly stood still for Penny as she’d been transfixed there, frozen to the spot, despite the flames lapping in front of her, the heat of which was starting even to reach where she was. Sirens were audible in the background, and a few cars had stopped some way down the road behind her. The smoke was visible in all directions.

  Penny had known right away what she had seen. She’d given the first man strength. When the explosion killed him, that gift had moved into the other man. He’d suddenly been able to do what the first man had been doing. The power had transferred itself. It wasn’t the first time she’d had something like that happen––there were a few things she had never known about, times when Penny had questions she couldn’t answer.

  But she’d never seen anything before. She’d never seen that before. And right then, she knew it wasn’t natural. Is that what was inside her?

  8

  That incident got a lot of local press coverage. Both heroes died at the scene. The first man from the initial explosion, as I’d witnessed, and the second when the tanker exploded. He hadn’t managed to crawl far enough away to be safe.

  I had got back into my car and reversed, so I was nowhere near the scene at the time of the second explosion. No one else was killed. Because the three rescuers were so focused on the SUV, they didn’t know what had happened with the tanker––nor would they have believed it anyway. That bit of information would stay with me, for a while.

  The whole thing had scared the life out of me. My initial take had been it could have been the drugs, though I wasn’t high at that moment. I couldn’t be sure. It would be a few days before I knew more. I needed to get back to the forums. The more I thought about it, the more I knew these two cyber strangers could help.

  I was desperate.

  As Penny sat at home that night––the following day was New Year’s Eve, and she was working the late shift at the pub that would see in the New Year––there was still no further response from Rogue2017 or User123456 about any further contact. It had not been that long, yet the absence of additional conversation was frustrating.

  Penny started to mingle in the many ongoing threads there were. She was learning how to read the usernames, and what each choice told her about the person behind the avatar. Penny was quite confident she had identified at least one fraud, though there were also plenty of calls for help. She wanted to be a source of encouragement. She went looking for those with whom she could engage. One thread started with the question; I don’t know what’s happening in my body.

  WAI2001: What’s happening SweetTeen2705?

  SweetTeen2705: Hi there WAI2001.

  WAI2001: What’s up?

  SweetTeen2705: Things are changing. Is this normal? I’ve just turned thirteen.

  WAI2001: Everyone is different, that’s what makes us all unique.

  SweetTeen2705: I want to ask you some questions, but I can’t ask it here. Can we private message?

  Penny wasn’t going to be so naïve––she’d been suspicious from the moment she’d seen the thread, especially given what Rogue2017 had said about the choice of username.

  “Make the user behi
nd SweetTeen2705 only be able to type the truth from now on,” Penny said aloud, alone at home as she was, her gift on high alert for minutes already.

  SweetTeen2705: I’m a forty-six-year-old man from New York.

  Penny laughed, though there was a large part of her that cringed at the idea this man was posing himself as a teenager, probably a girl too. They’d not got that far.

  SweetTeen2705: I don’t know why that came out.

  Penny did laugh at that, the thought that this man had no control over what he was typing.

  SweetTeen2705: But it’s the truth. Can we private message?

  WAI2001: Why?

  SweetTeen2705: Because I want to send you inappropriate pictures of myself and get nudes from you which I’ll put on the Internet to make money.

  WAI2001: Go to hell!

  The thread, unsurprisingly, was suddenly deleted from his side, all the comments gone. Penny knew it wouldn't matter. Whatever the guy wrote in the future, he’d only be able to type the truth.

  It was an hour later that Rogue2017 had written back to Penny.

  Rogue2017: I think we can get you in, WAI2001.

  WAI2001: Where have you been? I’ve been on here for hours.

  Rogue2017: It took a while. Sorry.

  WAI2001: Look, since we last chatted, something’s happened.

  Rogue2017: What?

  Penny proceeded to describe the accident, without giving a specific location. He hadn’t obviously heard of anything, which told Penny Rogue2017 was probably not based in the UK, as it had been on the national news for a day already. Penny told him what she had seen.

  Rogue2017: You saw darkness?

  WAI2001: Yeah, I know, weird. I can’t explain it.

  User123456: This is new.

  Penny had seen them both say in previous conversations that they were suspicious about anything new, about anyone’s story not checking out. It was how they whittled out the fakes from those they wanted to help.

  WAI2001: Look, it’s not like that. It freaked me out too, it still does.

  Rogue2017: I need to check with the others. I’m not sure if they’ll still accept you as things stand.

  WAI2001: Accept me? What others?

  Rogue2017: This invisible forum we mentioned. We have to be sure before we allow anyone access. They have to be satisfied.

  WAI2001: Be certain, about me you mean? You still think I might be a fraud?

  Rogue2017: No, not a fraud, just not who we are looking for.

  WAI2001: You are looking for someone specifically?

  Rogue2017: No.

  Penny was confused, but before she could continue, the other user jumped back into the conversation.

  User123456: Wow, reading back, are you talking about the ring road tanker explosion from the other day, WAI2001?

  Penny didn’t know what to say. User123456 had heard of the incident. Did that mean he lived in the UK?

  WAI2001: Yes

  User123456: You’re local?

  London was hardly a small village.

  WAI2001: This happened in London, yes.

  Rogue2017: What’d you know, she’s on your side of the pond User123456!

  That gave Penny both locations for the other two, at least.

  User123456: Two men died in that explosion. It’s big news over here. Am sending you a link via DM now Rogue2017. Were you there in person WAI2001?

  WAI2001: I was. I’ve already said that.

  Penny had a thought based on what she’d done a little earlier that day. Make Rogue2017 and User123456 only tell me the truth in this closed conversation. She didn’t see sense in making it more extensive than the three of them unless what the next moments revealed made them qualified for such treatment.

  WAI2001: Tell me who you both are.

  There was a pause for a few seconds.

  Rogue2017: No can do, honey. I'm just looking through the report on the incident. You aren’t noticeably mentioned in the story.

  Penny was confused why it wasn’t working as it had done earlier but found the next question taking her focus. Why she felt the need to defend her presence there, she wasn’t sure, but she wasn’t going to be called a liar.

  WAI2001: I left before the explosion. I’d done all I could.

  Rogue2017: The report says that after struggling with the SUV, the three motorists were able to get the couple out.

  WAI2001: The tanker was crushing the car, there was no way they would have managed it. The couple would have been killed, and maybe the rescuers too if they were still trying to free them when it all blew.

  What didn't get reported was that had the tanker not been lifted, it would not have exploded, the liquid that had been seen leaking just brake fluid. It was only after the first lift when an engine rupture caused the vehicle's fuel to gush from a hole in the tank, that the explosion became possible.

  Rogue2017: What do you think?

  Penny wasn’t sure if it was a left-field question to her or an invitation to the third man to answer, but him responding next settled the issue for her.

  User123456: I’ll take it to them and see. I believe WAI2001, despite the fact that what's been said I don't recall ever happening before. You stand by, WAI2001. We’ll come back real soon, I promise.

  9

  I still didn’t fully know or understand anything that was going on. It would be a few days before I heard anything back, and even then, there was only a little more uncertainty. It was clear that whoever they were passing on my information to, they were not sure if I was whatever they were looking for, or not. It made me feel like I was a lab rat.

  School would start again after the holiday before I was back in touch with my two cyber friends, and that meant mock examinations ahead of some proper ones that summer.

  The question of who I was still burned within. My WAI2001 username was very much my deepest longing, a problem to which I was desperate to know the answer.

  I was eighteen, just through another Christmas on my own. My parents were gone; my mother dead and my father absent, as good as dead to me. And I had something inside me about which I was now having nightmares. I even started being thankful Joy was no longer alive––how could I have ever told her about that evil, that darkness?

  I was also hooked on heroin, as much the filthy addict to the drug as my mother was to alcohol, and worse still, could only afford to keep up the habit if I kept working for Clive.

  Why was this happening to me? I didn’t deserve it; it wasn’t who I was, and yet I was trapped. Why was I the only one?

  The start of college again after the break was a welcome distraction. Penny needed to reconnect with Millie––she didn’t now care what the others said––and for their part, things had dramatically quieted down following the rocky first month. It was as if Penny was now old news, or the others were mature enough to realise bullying of that nature was beneath them. They were old enough to know better.

  With everything that Penny had been up to, she’d not seen Millie once during the holiday, and Millie no longer came to the pub. Penny was to find out that Millie's father had stepped in and put an end to his daughter's bar visits when he’d found out about the rave. Penny wondered how much he knew about that night, but she didn’t pry.

  “How was your holiday?” Millie asked, as her friend took the seat next to her five minutes before their first class of the day was due to start.

  “Working, mostly.” Penny had taken drugs that morning, hoping it would last her the day. She realised, sitting there surrounded by a room of peers, that her life would seem wild compared to what most there were experiencing. Penny was free, for sure, and yet that freedom had only tied her in knots. There was little about the last few weeks that Penny could even say to Millie.

  “I can see,” Millie said, referring to the new outfit Penny was wearing, assuming the extra earnings had helped to update Penny's wardrobe. Penny was more than happy to let her friend believe that.

  “What about you?”

 
“Just the usual family Christmas. It was only us on Christmas Day and the wider family on Boxing Day. Twenty-two of us in total, crammed around our house! Can you imagine?”

  Penny looked away. It had been too long since she’d had a Christmas Day spent with one member of her family, let alone twenty-one others. The thought saddened her, and it must have shown, as Millie put her hand on Penny’s shoulder at that moment.

  “Look, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you feel bad. I know it can’t be an easy time of year, not with being on your own, with not having any…” but Millie couldn’t finish that sentence, and the teacher came into the room at that same moment, breaking the conversation.

  Penny said very little to anyone else for the rest of the day, going through all her lessons as was expected, but keeping her thoughts to herself. Millie was around her, often watching Penny when she thought Penny wasn’t noticing but left her to it. Millie was sure she’d get the chance to go over everything with Penny before too long; it was just too soon at that moment, she could tell.

  Penny was on a different forum that night, having gone online once again to see if there had been any contact with anyone, but there was nothing. She’d then spotted a thread titled why is this all happening to me? There were no usernames on the thread that she recognised––which was a good thing––and she sat there reading a few posts, most of the conversation several months old. There had been a few more recent ones, but even these were four days past already.

  WAI2001: Fascinating conversation. I’ve just come to this thread today, but understand what you are getting at CFH1979. I hear your cry for help, and I’ve been there. That’s not true. I’m in that place myself. I’m in a situation I wish I wasn’t in, want with every fibre of my being that it was different. I hate myself, hate my life. I’ve often thought the same thoughts you have about wanting a way out.