Chapter 23
Twenty-Three
Brian
As soon as the police drove away, Brian stepped from behind the lounge curtains and joined Curtis in the kitchen. Curtis passed him an energy drink out of the fridge. ‘Why would Abel say we were with him?’ he asked.
Brian struggled to think straight so he took a long swig of the sickly liquid, hoping that it would wake him up a bit.
He’d felt so groggy since being up half the night.
‘I don’t know. Why would Abel have anything to do with a woman from a dog salon disappearing?
I know he didn’t like those two women but then again, there’s a lot of people he doesn’t like, but what are we talking about? Kidnap?’
‘He told the cops we were with him for a reason. He expected us to lie.’
Brian shrugged. ‘Maybe we should have. I mean, you walked past the shops to get to mine. Maybe he assumed I was with you and that was all there was to it. We should have just said we were with him.’ Brian had no loyalty to Abel after he got his sister into trouble but he blamed Tabitha, too.
She was such a stupid douche and she chose to have sex with him.
‘No, mate. I’m not going down for Abel so I said what I know.
’ He paused. ‘I had an uncle who lied to the police once, he got arrested for perverting the course of justice. I remembered that because it sounds like pervert and at first I thought he’d been a perv but it means…
I don’t know… lying to the police or something like that. ’ He put his can on the worktop.
‘Why did you run? You couldn’t have made us look more suspicious.’ Brian didn’t need people, especially the police, poking into his life while he’d been watching the live streams. He didn’t need to be given a slap on the wrist and have his computer taken away from him.
Curtis shrugged. ‘Dunno. I thought you’d done the dark path thing and that they were after you. I thought they’d think I was you or that I’d been logging on as well so I panicked.’ He paused to pick at a spot on his chin. ‘Did you do it?’
‘No. Anyway, I think we can forget the police now. They’re after Abel, not us. We’re safe and I don’t think they’re coming back.’
‘You know what we watch is illegal?’ Curtis leaned on the island. ‘I don’t think it’s right.’
‘Well, I wish I never gave you the login if you think like that.’
‘I haven’t used it. We shouldn’t be watching people, should we?’
‘We’re not hurting anyone. They don’t even know. It’s a victimless crime.’ Brian wondered if he was just talking crap. He knew it was illegal but he couldn’t stay away.
‘If my dad found out, he’d go mad and I don’t want to make him mad again. It’s not safe. Someone will trace us to OpenMeSmiler.’
‘That’s the beauty of it. They won’t. It’s on a part of the web that’s hidden. We use a VPN like Cody said whenever we’re on the net at all. It’s a laugh though, isn’t it?’ He knew he was taking all the precautions he needed.
Curtis took another swig from his can. ‘I guess you’re right. I’m just feeling paranoid right now. So, when are we taking the next step?’
‘We?’ Brian was under the impression that Curtis had been all ready to back out.
‘Yep, as long as it’s on your computer.’
No, no, no – he wanted to do the next step alone. ‘I wasn’t going to bother. Given what’s happened, I think all you said before was right. I’m not looking again. I’m going to disable everything and drop it.’
‘Seriously?’ Curtis raised his brows.
‘Seriously.’
‘Whatever. Maybe it’s for the best. I went to the café looking for you earlier. You weren’t at work today, were you?’
Brian shrugged. Great, he could do without people spying on him. The truth was, he couldn’t get Cody and the long dark path out of his mind all night and by morning, insomnia had left him a bit spaced out. ‘I woke up with bad guts so I called in ill.’
‘But you were out.’
‘I went for a walk. Geez, are you the walking police now? Anyway, I’m not feeling great so I’m going to bed for a bit. I’ll message later.’
‘Okay. I should go home. I have to walk Rex while Dad’s at work, then I’ve got to go for this job my dad found for me. I’m sure I’ll be a terrible candidate.’ Curtis laughed.
As soon as Curtis slammed the door behind him, Brian was up the stairs and logging on to OpenMeSmiler.
The police were gone. It was all about Abel, not Brian.
Abel was obviously chief suspect and more than likely guilty, so the police weren’t coming back.
He had to take the path before Cody got back from college.
It was time he did it and he had to do it all on his own.
He opened the site and the box came up. He copied and pasted the passcode that Cody had sent him. A message flashed up.
You are about to take the long dark path of which there is no return. Are you ready?
He typed, yes.
Are you sure because once you see, you can never unsee?
He typed yes, again.
Black and green whorls filled the screen, hypnotising him as they disappeared into each other with new ones instantly taking their place, then it was as if he, the watcher, had been spat out into a dark room.
He breathed as silently as he could so that he’d hear any instruction that might come through his speakers.
Nothing was happening. He hit his keypad and pressed the arrow keys – again nothing.
His cursor wasn’t even moving on the screen.
His computer had crashed. Maybe Cody sent him a virus and his computer would never work again.
He sighed, wondering if the bit of money he had saved from his café job was going to be spent on getting his silly mistake sorted.
He almost fell from his gaming chair as a robotic voice boomed from his speakers. ‘Don’t turn me off. Wait and be patient because the best things are yet to come.’
‘Hello.’ He wondered if they, whoever they were, could hear him, but no one answered.
‘Use the arrow keys to navigate the path.’ That voice again, haunting and robotic. His heart almost felt like it was about to stop when a face covered in graphic armour filled the bottom corner of the screen. ‘I am your guide. Walk the path.’
He used the up arrow to move forward, hearing his screen avatar’s footsteps on the ground.
As he reached the end, there were two doors.
He pressed the arrow key forward after lining up with the left-hand door and hit enter.
Nothing happened. He did the same with the right-hand door and it slowly creaked open.
He yelled as the guide’s armoured face filled the screen and laughed demonically, then he entered the room through its mouth.
He stared at what was before him, mouth open and heart banging, listening to that voice again.
‘You have the power, Brian. Use it wisely.’