A/N: It really helps to be familiar with Penny's backstory for this chapter. Her mother was an alcoholic, her dad took pornographic photos of her sisters, Dahlia and Rose, but not of her. Her father was sent to jail where he eventually hung himself. After this, Penny, Rose, and Dahlia got sent to live with her Aunt and Uncle. Penny got sent to Coates for putting Drano in her sister's cereal. If you want the full story you can find it in FEAR. I made up Penny's last name (Xiong), her mom's name (Janice), and her dad's name (Chet).
Since all the communication in this chapter is done on signs, it is important to note that Janice's signs are written in bold italics, while any other signs are written in regular italics.
I had been sober for two months when the anomaly went clear. I was so excited at the prospect of seeing my daughter, Penny. I'm ashamed to admit that I hadn't taken a very active role in raising her, so I barely knew her. When the dome first appeared, I realized that there was a good chance that I would never be able to see her again. When a couple of scientists started to say that there was a possibility that the dome would come down one day, it inspired me to turn my life around and get clean. I had first started drinking because of Chet's "hobby." That's what I had always called it, so I didn't have to think about what he was really doing.
While I definitely wouldn't say that all of my hard work was wasted, I didn't ever get the chance to make things up to Penny. I learned about her death so suddenly. My brother Steve called me and told me the dome had become transparent, and that he had seen Penny on the news. I asked him for details, but he wouldn't give me any. Apparently, he hadn't had the heart to tell me what had really happened to her. So, I pulled up the internet. Before I could search "Penny Xiong Perdido Beach Anomaly" my homepage, MSN, showed me exactly what I was looking for. It was a photo album entitled "5 of the most Horrifying Photos from the Perdido Beach Anomaly."
My curiosity got the best of me and I started to click through the photo album. I wanted to know about all the terrible things that my daughter had been strong enough to survive. I had assumed that if she had been on the news, she had to be alive. The first picture in the countdown depicted a pile of rubble that had once been a church. Most reports said that a boy named Caine Soren had destroyed it with his telekinetic powers.
The next picture was a monster made out of gravel. Most of the kids who were trapped in the PBA referred to him as Orc, but those who knew his real name said that it was Charles Merriman. Despite his foreboding appearance, most kids said that he had been relatively harmless ever since he'd stopped drinking. While I was proud that he had been able to overcome his addiction, it nearly brought tears to my eyes to think of someone my daughter's age going through the same Hell that I had. How had had he been able to do it without any AA meetings?
The next picture in the slideshow depicted a boy with an arm that looked like a long, red snake. He had been identified as Drake Merwin. It was rumored that he uncontrollably transformed into another girl named Britney Donegal. Both children had supposedly returned from the dead. On a less disturbing note, both Drake and Britney had attended Coates Academy with Penny. I doubted that she knew Drake, seeing as he was a few years older than her, but she and Britney were both relatively close in age. I couldn't help but wonder if they had been friends.
Then, I saw it. My daughter, Penny. She was covered in burns and her head had been cracked open by a cement block. Seeing her brains spilled out onto the pavement made me feel painfully alive in a way that I had never felt before. There was nothing I could do to keep myself from breaking down in tears. I had wanted to drive down to Perdido Beach and reconnect with her. Now, I would never have the chance to do that.
I didn't want to know how it had happened. All I that wanted was to forget that I ever saw that damn picture, but I couldn't stop myself from reading the caption.
"Penny Xiong (12) was killed by Caine Soren (16). Based off of testimonies from inside the anomaly, the murder was not premeditated. Xiong had encased Soren's hands in cement, stapled a tin foil crown to his head, and declared herself "the queen" of Perdido Beach. Soren retaliated by using his telekinetic powers to bash her over the head with a cement block. Some accounts say that he had assistance from his brother, Samuel Temple (16), but this has yet to be confirmed. Xiong was reported to have powers of illusion, which she allegedly used for both good and evil. Based off of interviews with children living on the inside, Xiong and Soren are disliked by a majority of the Anomaly's residents."
What had Penny done to be so disliked? I had to find out. I drove down to the anomaly with a nothing but a notebook, a red sharpie, a soft purple blanket, and a can of Coke to keep me company. When I arrived at the dome, I sat down on the blanket like I was having a picnic. I used a permanent marker to write this message:
My name is Janice Xiong. My daughter Penny was just killed by a boy named Caine Soren. Could anybody tell me what she was like before she died?
It took about seven minutes for me to get a response. When I did get a response, it was extremely disappointing.
She was a creep.
That's all they wrote before they walked off. The answers only got worse after that. I couldn't get more than one sign out of anyone, and nobody had anything but negative things to say about her. I was about to pack up and go home when I saw a floating notebook that said Wait! Don't go! I can tell you about your daughter.
You can?
Yeah.
I noticed that the pencil was moving by itself. This probably had to do with somebody's mutant powers. It could've been Caine Soren, but I doubt that he would want to sit down for a Q & A session about somebody he had killed. It had to be somebody else, with similar powers. Then again, this could all be some crazy hallucination and I was writing signs in response to nothing. I didn't care where the answers were coming from, even if they were just hallucinations, so I held up my next sign.
How did you know my daughter?
There was a long pause like the person was thinking of an answer.
We stayed on an island together with two other people.
Were you friends?
No, not really.
When did you first meet? On this island?
No, we both went to Coates Academy together, but we weren't in the same grade, so we didn't talk until the FAYZ started. I didn't even know that she existed until she developed her powers.
I read online that she had powers of illusion. What EXACTLY does that mean?
It means that she could make people sense things that weren't really there.
I see. What was she like?
She was something else
I heard she was insane. What drove her to it?
Well, she had a crush on Caine Soren. You've probably heard of him before. She was obsessed with him, but he didn't like her back. She kept it a secret until we got to the island. She tried to tell him she was into him, but he didn't want to hear it because he been arguing with his girlfriend while trying to kill some kids in a helicopter.
And, why exactly was he trying to kill some kids in a helicopter?
They had drugged him and tied him up.
So, he decided to kill them?
It wasn't his best decision, okay?
Did he succeed?
No. Now, back to your daughter. Penny tried to help Caine kill the helicopter kids, but he wanted to do it himself. So, Caine had held Penny above the helicopter blades and threatened to drop her unless she stopped annoying him. Then his girlfriend, Diana, walked back off the cliff that we were all on, so Caine would save her instead of killing the helicopter kids. Caine saved her, but when he did that he had to drop your daughter. Both of her legs were broken, so we kept her in the bathroom and Diana took care of her. We're pretty sure that was what made her go from "more troubled than the average Coates kid" to "completely psychotic nut job."
Did she ever get her legs fixed?
Yeah. The Healer, Lana, used her powers to fix them when Caine took us all back to Perdido Beach.
And then what happened?
Well, Caine was the king of the town, so he was in charge of choosing people's punishments. When a boy named Cigar murdered another kid, Caine sentenced him to a day being tortured by Penny. She took it too far and made him claw his own eyes out.
There was an awkward silence. I wouldn't have thought that was possible with signs, but it was happening anyway.
You look sick. Do you want me to continue?
I just nodded. I needed to know what had happened to my crazy little girl.
Okay, so this Cigar kid was a fisherman. All of the fishermen were super close, still are, so they went on strike until Caine kicked Penny out of town. If the fishermen stopped working, everyone would starve. So, Caine went over to Penny's house to negotiate the terms of her exile with her. Penny didn't really want to be exiled, though. She had something else in mind.
What did she do?
Penny offered Caine some hot chocolate, and he'd obviously accepted it because NOBODY has hot chocolate nowadays. Caine didn't know this at the time, but she had spiked his drink with valium. When Caine woke up he wasn't wearing a shirt, had a tin foil crown stapled to his head, and his hands were stuck in a block of cement. Penny paraded him around town and declared herself queen of Perdido Beach, but nobody went along with it. Eventually, Quinn, the head fisherman, and Lana drove her out.
How did she get killed?
Well, Penny ran off to team up with Caine's ex-girlfriend Diana, ex-best friend Drake, and daughter Gaia (who's possessed by an evil alien virus called the Gaiaphage). Yeah, I know, it's a lot to take in. Meanwhile, Caine was getting all the cement off of his hands. When your daughter and the others showed up in town, we knew that we had to stop them. Caine saw your daughter, and she was trying to kill innocent children. So, he and his brother did what was best for the town and took her out.
Well, I had heard it. A warm salty tear streamed down my face. I was so ashamed of myself. If I would've raised her right, her Aunt and Uncle never would've had to send her to Coates, and none of this would've happened. I know it wasn't all my fault how Penny turned out. A large part of it was Chet's, and that Caine Soren kid definitely deserved a whole lot of the blame. Still, some of the fault was mine. I wished that I had never touched a damn beer in my life. Then I might've stopped Chet from taking those stupid pictures of the girls. If I would've been able to stop him, then our family would still be together. Chet would've never gotten sent to prison, and the girls wouldn't have been sent to live with Steve and Connie. If Chet would've never gone to jail, he wouldn't have killed himself. If the girls wouldn't have been sent away, Penny probably never would've put Drano in little Rose's cereal. Then she wouldn't have been sent to Coates Academy or gotten trapped in the FAYZ. My dependency and Chet's "hobby" had destroyed our family.
Are you okay? Because I have things to do back in town, and I should probably get going soon.
I'm not okay, but that's not your fault. I just feel bad because I feel responsible for the fact that her life turned out the way that it did.
Are you kidding? I was the one who really screwed her up.
What did you do?
I killed her.
A/N: So, what did you think? Did I surprise you, or did you know it was Caine? If so, when? I tried to make it seem like Janice was talking to Bug up until the end, but I did drop a couple of hints. I'm thinking about keeping this a one-shot, but if you want more I could probably write at least one more chapter. Write a review if you have any questions or comments. If you liked this story please check out my others, and review them too! If you can't tell, I love getting reviews! Thank you for reading!