ASBO: A Novel of Extreme Terror(22)

The ambulance was parked outside the small group of shops that served the estate. When Andrew realised the emergency vehicle was parked directly outside of the chip shop, his stomach twisted into knots. A sense of dread enveloped him like a shroud.

He rushed forward and looked for the nearest paramedic. There was a young, blond-haired man in a white shirt beneath a green jacket. He was carrying a large holdall, and blue and white NHS emblems adorned his clothing in several places.

Andrew approached the man. “What’s happened? Who’s hurt?”

The paramedic pushed past him, not making eye-contact. “Please move aside, sir.”

Andrew grabbed out at the man’s sleeve but missed. The medical worker hurried away before there was any opportunity to stop him. Several spectators stood around in various corners of the shopping area car park. Andrew examined them one after the other, eventually spotting a young girl wearing the same chip shop uniform that Charlie wore during her shifts.

He sighed with relief.

Thank God. That girl is obviously working tonight, not Charlie. This is probably all down to some poor person having a heart attack or a funny turn.

“What happened?” Andrew asked the chip shop girl as he closed the distance between them.

The girl’s eyes pointed at him and were moist with recently-shed tears. It was obvious she’d witnessed whatever accident had befallen the poor soul in the ambulance.

Andrew put a hand on the girl’s shoulder and seemed to snap her out of a trance. “I said what happened?”

For a brief moment it looked like the girl was going to faint, but she managed to refocus herself and look Andrew in the eye. “She…she got burned.”

“Who got burned?”

“Cha…Charlie.”

Andrew’s knees threatened to fold beneath him. His stomach felt light and somehow heavy at the same time. “Charlie is the one that got hurt?” he said.

The grief-stricken girl nodded.

Andrew shook his head, hoping she was mistaken. “W-What happened?”

The girl gave no answer, just stared into space.

Andrew gave her a little shove. “Tell me!”

She snapped back to reality again. “I…I don’t know. She slipped into the fat-fryer. Got her arm all burnt up.”

Andrew examined the girl’s expression closely. She was staring into space again as if she were incapable of making eye-contact.

“Bullshit!” he said.

The girl flinched, looked at him, but still said nothing. More tears began to expel themselves down her cheeks.

Andrew put a hand on her shoulder again and squeezed gently. He looked her dead in the eyes and made sure she saw him. “Frankie did this, didn’t he?”

The girl shrugged free of his grasp and hurried away. She rushed inside the chip shop and locked the door behind her. Andrew shook his head and felt tears of his own well up in his eyes.

So much for answers, he thought.

The ambulance revved its engine and started to pull away. Andrew tried to get a look in through the back windows, to see if Charlie was okay, but the glass was frosted and gave no opportunity to do so.

He stood in shock for several minutes, praying to god that the poor girl on her way to the hospital was not hurt because of him.

Because of Frankie.

As the initial shock diluted into his bloodstream and eventually faded away completely, it was replaced by a fury so alive with hatred that it seemed electrical in nature, sparking through Andrew’s system and making his flesh tingle. He started for home again, wondering how he would ever explain to his family that, for the second time this week, the chips were cancelled.

***

“What do you mean you’re going to the hospital?” Pen asked him.

“I need to go check on someone,” Andrew told his wife. “The girl from the chip shop. She told me where Frankie lives and I think he’s hurt her because of it.”

Pen almost spat the red wine she was drinking and had to swallow carefully to avoid choking. “He’s put a girl in hospital now? Jesus Christ!”

“And it might be my fault,” said Andrew, “which is why I need to go.”

Pen collapsed onto the sofa, almost spilling her wine. Not that it would have mattered with the carpet in the state it was. “Crazy! This whole thing is just…crazy!”

Andrew sat down beside his wife and put an arm around her. “I know, but perhaps the girl will press charges and Frankie will get banged up again. Lord knows he deserves it.”