Penny Dreadful by Mary Hallberg

Author:Mary Hallberg [Hallberg, Mary]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-02-11T00:00:00+00:00

Nobody noticed when Penny left the banquet early. She stood outside in the warm, humid air, hoping to go unnoticed both by the people still inside and the occasional passerby on the quiet road. After an agonizing five minutes, Emma finally pulled up.

She reached over and rolled down the passenger side window. “Ready to go?” she said.

Penny heard footsteps behind her. She turned around and saw Stephen making his way toward her from the side of the building.

She gasped. “What are you doing here?”

“Penny, can we talk?” he asked.

“I don’t want to talk to you.”

“Please? Just give me two minutes. That’s all I need, I promise.”

“Stephen?” Emma stuck her head out of the passenger side window. “Stephen Campbell? I’m Penny’s friend Emma.”

“Nice to meet you, Emma. Can I borrow Penny for just a second?”

She smiled. “Sure!”

“Emma,” Penny hissed, “What are you doing?”

“What’s that, Penny? I couldn’t hear you. Did you say that there are two sides to every story, and you want to hear what Stephen has to say? Why, I think that’s a great idea! You kids have fun.” She rolled the window up, and Penny was left virtually alone with Stephen.

Stephen gently touched her arm. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s go somewhere else.”

Penny shook her head furiously. “No, I’m not going anywhere with you. You can’t make me.”

He sighed, but nodded. “All right then. But Penny...”

“Look, Stephen...I don’t think you and I hanging out is a good idea.”

“Why not? You haven’t even let me say what I wanted to say.”

“Well, that’s what I wanted to say. Whatever happened this afternoon, it shouldn’t have happened. You might as well forget about me.”

“Why, Penny? What’s so horrible about you that we can’t even hang out anymore? Okay, I know the whole thing where I cut my head open was weird…but I can explain it.”

“Come on Stephen, that’s not the problem. I’m not stupid, okay? I know your type. I know what kind of guy you are, and they all want the same thing. And I can’t give you what you want, so it might as well be over.” It was an excuse, of course, but it sounded better than the truth.

“How do you even know what I want, Penny?”

“You’re a guy, Stephen. You want the same thing every guy wants.”

“What? That’s not true at all.” He sighed. “Okay, maybe I do. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to...Penny, I’m not like other guys.”

She scoffed. “Yeah, right.”

“Look, I get it. You don’t believe me. And you have every reason not to.”

“I know you’re lying to me. I know you’ve been lying to me. Maybe not about what you want, but about who you are. You said you moved here from San Diego two years ago, right after your parents were killed in a school shooting. But there were no school shootings in San Diego two years ago.” She hesitated before saying what she had to say next, afraid of his reaction. But when he didn’t respond to her, she continued anyway.

“But there was one ten years ago.

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