The Jagged Edge of Sanity

A Swift Retreat 

She jumped over a chimney and kept running as fast as she could, she was scared and had to find a place to hide. She got to the end of a flat roof and looked behind her, she could see two figures in the distance. She backed up ten metres, nervous as hell, but her adrenaline kicked in, she picked up speed and jumped. 

She flew through the air and landed on the garage roof. Slate fragments shattered and scattered through the air. It made a satisfying cracking noise which caused the birds to panic and take off into the atmosphere, heading for Space. She bounced off the garage onto an industrial sized wheelie bin, ran across the road and hid in an alleyway. 

She called Brett. 

“Brett, I’m out.

I think I’m being followed.

I need picking up.

Pull up outside Moss Bros. South Street, I’ll jump in.”

Within three minutes Brett pulled up, she got in and they drove to a safe house. 

Brett,

“Did you do it? Did you manage to pull it off Penny?”

“Yes Brett, I did it. I think they saw me, but I had my mask on.”

Three months earlier…

It was the 12th of September, Dane drove to Penny’s house to pick her up, she had three jam packed suitcases. It was lucky Sal had decided to go to Manchester to study, because there was no way he would have fitted in Dane’s Fiesta. Penny had packed enough clothes to last her the whole three years.

They’d rented a couple of rooms in a large, shared house. Originally, they were going to commute but as the first year was full on for both of them, they thought staying there would be beneficial, educationally, and socially. 

The house was on the outskirts of the city and was with several other students. Some were foreign and others were in their last year; it was a good mix and there were several rules set in place to make the house run smoother. Bobo was the oldest and took overall charge of the house, she was the self-appointed matron. A fair young woman from Slovenia, she was planning to be an engineer and took it incredibly seriously.

The friends had settled in and got stuck into their courses, both enjoyed the environment and made their own friends in their lectures. Dane had befriended some of the lads who enjoyed drinking and getting into mischief. Penny had met some girls; they went to the gym together and also went out clubbing and dancing.

One night during Freshers Week, Penny was out with her friends, and she bumped into Fe and Lorri. They caught up with the latest gossip and Penny was invited into the world of all things ‘Taylor Swift’ (again). The Swifty Society was due to have its first meeting of the new term on the following Saturday night and Penny was going to attend, she was very excited.

The following day over breakfast, Penny told Dane about her upcoming Swifty meeting. Dane found it hilarious, and they reminisced about Penny’s previous encounter and laughed about the stupidity of the beef with the Shafters. Penny played it down and said,

“I think that the whole story of the beef had been blown up for dramatic effect. I don’t believe it’s as bad as they say. Adults aren’t going to dress up like Kilroy-Silk and parade around a university campus to distract students from their exams. It’s ridiculous.”

Dane began to laugh at the thought of it and said,

“Yeah, you’re right, it does sound a bit far fetched. Maybe it was the drink that made the stories more compelling than they were.

You had a few beers, because you fell asleep in the car.”

Penny looked at him, smiled and said,

“Well actually, I wasn’t asleep Dane.”

Dane smiled back, unsure what she meant. Had she heard his statement of love? Did she ignore him on purpose? Why did she mention Brett?

Dane was in a tizzy and could feel his face blushing, he went as red as a fire truck.

He had a few seconds to either push this further or forget about it forever.

He still had Penny’s eyes fixed firmly on him and he was staring at Penny. He realised his mouth had dropped open, and he really had to say something.

“Sooooo, were you awake when I dropped you off back in June? Had you heard what I erm said?”

Penny replied,

“I wasn’t asleep, and I heard what you had said. I panicked, I didn’t know what to do or say. I didn’t want it to affect our friendship, especially as we might have gone to different universities.”

“Is that why you mentioned Brett’s name? Was it to put me off?”

Penny looked away and felt embarrassed. She took a few seconds and said,

“I’ve never been in that situation before; I thought it would buy me some time. But Brett is gay, of course he’s gay, he’s a member of the Swift Society!”

“Brett’s gay? I had wondered.

So now it’s out in the open, where do we go from here Penny Lane?”

At this point and with the timing of a fart in a lift, two of the foreign students walked into the kitchen. Penny and Brett broke eye contact and began speaking to their new housemates. The moment had gone; Dane made his excuses and went upstairs for a shower.

A few days later, it was the day of the Swifty Society meeting and there was going to be a karaoke contest. Penny got dressed up in her Swifty gear and knocked on Dane’s door to show him how silly she looked; she was laughing and in a great mood.

Dane opened his door, and they laughed at her makeup and hair. She walked into his room to be nosy and looked through his collection of aftershave’s.

Penny was picking up and smelling each one and then said,

“This was the one you were wearing on our first trip to Chichester. I’ll never forget it.”

Dane was taken aback, he couldn’t understand where this was going. He laughed and said, “Yes, it’s my favourite, Santa bought me that last Christmas.”

Penny smiled, walked up to him and said,

“The answer is YES by the way.”

Dane was confused,

“YES? Yes to what?”

“Yes, to your question in the car. Yes, I will go out with you. Yes, I do like you.” Blurted out a confident Penny.

Without another word, Penny instigated a kiss. Penny smiled, Dane smiled back, and Penny left for the karaoke. Dane lay on his bed and just smiled to himself; he was so happy.

Penny enjoyed the karaoke night but was never the biggest Taylor Swift fan, however she enjoyed the social side of the society so continued to go. Penny and Dane’s relationship went from strength to strength. They were already good friends, so they knew they would always get on. The romantic side was an added bonus. Fortunately, they had a lot in common, music, food and movies.

The studying took most of their time, both wanted to start off well in their courses. Penny drifted away from the Swifties but attended every now and then, it was Brett that pulled her back in. The Shafter’s had made a move. They had rehired the main hall in the city, taking it away from the Swifties. As the Shafter’s were made up of middle-aged adults, they had more money to throw around. Not only that, but they also tried to belittle the Swifties by mocking them in a leaflet campaign to local businesses about not allowing the Swifties to use their premises due to the anti-social behaviour the members cause. However, the worst moment came during a night out in a pub. An unknown member of the Shafter’s overheard a few Swifty’s talking and as he left, he poured his pint of bitter over their heads. It was a step too far and a callous move and definitely one that the Shafter’s would live to regret.

The Swifties had been trumped but wanted revenge. They had various meetings about the Shafter’s with some wanting to end their society and others wanted to take action. They created a plan, which was to plant some red flares into the meeting hall. They wanted to create a massive red mess and get the Shafter’s evicted for being unable to look after the hall. They underestimated the possible consequences and the repercussions that could occur. The Swifty’s were young and hot headed, and the mission was on.

This is when Penny got back involved, she loved a bit of drama and wanted to help her friends. The plan was simple; it was to make the Shafter’s look complacent, and untrustworthy. The Swifty’s leader, Bobo, thought that no one would ever let them hire out a meeting room ever again.

Brett supplied the dangerous flares but only the flexible Penny was able to clamber up on the roof and drop them down the chimney. She had competed in gymnastics from a child, so this type of challenge was easy for her. Penny also knew it would make her infamous and an important part of the Swifty’s. Brett had shown Penny how to start the flares by striking the top of them with with the cap and they would ignite for around two minutes. The meeting place had a huge fireplace, so they were hugely confident they would drop down the chimney and cause enough disruption to scare off the Shafter’s.

Brett picked Penny up and he dropped her off at the wheelie bins where she could climb up onto the roof, he gave her a small backpack with the flares in it. Penny quietly made her way up the rooftops carefully, like a cat burglar, she identified the correct chimney’s and dropped the ignited flares in.

Little did they know how violent they appeared as they bounced down the chimney and into the iron fireplace. The red smoke erupted into the meeting room causing panic and fear among the Shafter’s. One member collapsed and had a heart attack, another fainted and the firefighters had to be called. A couple of the younger, fitter members of the group left the meeting hall to pursue the perpetrator.

Penny flew over the rooftops to her meeting place with Brett. Little did they know of the carnage they had left behind them. Once in the car they escaped to safety, they had made it to a friend’s house on the outskirts of the city and went in for a debrief.

It wasn’t long before they were receiving phone calls from other members of the Swifty Society. Some had just been in town for a drink and had witnessed the aftermath. The meeting place was surrounded by police, firefighters and ambulance crews, it was a major incident for the city. The area was cordoned off whilst a huge investigation took place.

This spelt the end of an era for both groups, the Swifty’s disbanded, and the Shafter’s took a leave of absence whilst things calmed down, but it’s believed the group never fully recovered. It was the end of the beef.

Penny was never caught but did leave the University of Chichester where she found herself in constant danger and concerned about revenge attacks or even being arrested for attempted murder.

She later found out that the elderly man who had the heart attack survived and that there wasn’t any fire damage to the meeting place. It was the shock of the whole situation to the poor people who had met up to reminisce about their favourite game show.

Penny played the incident around in her head for a long time and it almost broke her. She ended up seeing a psychiatrist and was put on medication. The whole battle for her adolescent mind was too exciting not to be involved but it was taken too far. At the age of eighteen it changed her, she became more thoughtful and caring, she volunteered at a care home, she sang in the choir at Christmas, and she helped walk her elderly neighbour's dogs when the weather was bad.

She moved to Liverpool and continued her studies there. Dane stayed in Chichester and their relationship continued, however a long-distance relationship is never easy. Dane loved his Penny Lane and was not going to abandon her in her time of need.

On one of his visits to see Penny, they walked around a car boot sale on a Sunday morning. It was a nice morning, and they got themselves some coffee. There was one stall selling puzzles and jigsaws. Penny thought it would be nice for some of the residents at the care home to have some new jigsaws. The stall owner was a tall, slim man with silver hair and was tanned.

Penny said to Dane,

“Dane this is odd, he looks like Kilroy-Silk.”

Dane played it down and told her it was just a coincidence and not to worry.

When they got home, Penny wanted to make sure all of the pieces were included in the jigsaws as she didn’t want to frustrate or annoy the residents.

The first jigsaw was a one-thousand-piece picture, but the scene on front of the box had faded. She poured the pieces onto the table and began to move the pieces into place. Dane tried to help and made some tea whilst Penny worked away.

The further she got, the faster she worked, then around 90% of the way through, she stopped.

The picture was of the skyline of Chichester, with a figure running across the rooftops. Penny completely froze.

Dane appeared from the kitchen with two mugs of tea. Penny got up and walked upstairs, Dane assumed she went to the bathroom. He walked over to the table and looked at the jigsaw. He picked up piece after piece and finished it off.

The figure on the rooftop was running from a burning building. It suddenly dawned on Dane what he was looking at and why Penny had run away.

It was a picture of the near fateful night that almost ruined many lives.

Dane ran upstairs to comfort Penny, she was rigid, pale, and speechless. Dane held Penny, he could offer no explanation but reassured her he would always be there for her. All Penny could say was,

“Why is this happening?”

“We cannot change the past, but we can start where we are and change the ending.” C.S Lewis.

The End.