Free Like Father by Nick Gifford Page A

the screen to the dim interior of the HoST office.
    It was Little Rick.
    “I...”
    His hand felt locked in position, but he managed to shift it, move the mouse, click.
    Guest03 leaves at 18.53BST
    The screen paused for a few seconds with his farewell message, and then jumped back to the list of Talk Board options.
    Little Rick had come to stand just behind Danny.
    “So you’re a secret chatroom addict, are you?
    Danny shook his head. “First time,” he said. His mind was racing, struggling to grasp what had just happened. He looked at Rick, but could make out little in the gloom. He wondered how much he had been able to read before the screen changed.
    “Occult stuff,” said Rick now, looking at the web page. “I didn’t know you were into all that crap.”
    “I’m not.”
    “Okay, okay. Whatever. Just don’t let it get out of hand, okay? You need to be careful when you’re doing this stuff.”
    Rick left.
    Danny shut down the computer. He sat in the darkness. He wanted to go and turn the light on. More than almost anything, he wanted that light on.
    But he didn’t dare move.

11 Opening up
    He was stirred into action by a buzzing against his leg.
    The phone’s LCD screen glowed in the murky room. Cassie’s number.
    “What are you playing at, Danny? What’s going on? What was that all about?”
    “I...”
    “It’s not funny. You freaked me out for a minute there. I don’t know how–”
    “Cassie.”
    She stopped. She seemed to sense something in the tone of his voice. She waited for him to continue.
    “Cassie, I don’t know what happened in there. I’m not playing at anything.”
    “Danny, he said your dad’s locked up. Is that true? You’re not just getting your own back because I made up stories about my own family?”
    He hesitated. He had lost track of how much of the exchange with Headkin and FirstLady had been public and how much one-to-one.
    “Can we talk?” he said.
    He couldn’t let this get out: the past, his father. It would break Val if they had to go through all that again.
    “We’re talking right now.”
    “Can you come out? It’s not that late.”
    “I might.”
    “Top of Swiss Lane? Five minutes?”
    She hung up.
    ~
    She was late, but she came.
    “I can’t be long,” she said. “I told them I was going to Jo’s.” She looked back towards her house. “Come on. I don’t want to stop here.”
    They headed back along the road into the older part of the village. At the bridge, they left the road and cut down the bank to a small cleared area in the undergrowth by the brook. This was one of the places where village kids came to smoke and make out.
    Danny leaned back against the base of the bridge.
    Cassie stood with her hands on her hips, peering at him in the twilight.
    “So?” she said.
    “I thought you might have some idea what happened. You’ve been to that chatroom before. I haven’t. I don’t do that stuff.”
    “It’s never been like that,” she said. “It’s just a place to chat, and those weird spirit hosts spouting words of wisdom every so often. It’s usually funny. It’s usually a gas. But this time ... it really freaked me out, Danny. What was it?”
    He’d never heard her like this. Uncertain, hesitant. Scared.
    “They knew my name,” he told her. “The one called Headkin: he sent a message to me directly and called me ‘Danny’. Then FirstLady did it, too.”
    “I saw that one. Her message was open to everyone.” There was a silence and then Cassie continued, “Okay. Be logical. When you signed in... I can’t remember what you have to tell them when you sign in as a guest. Did you give your name or your e-mail or anything?”
    He shook his head. “Nothing. It just gave me that ‘Guest03’ name and let me in. Nobody knew I was there, apart from you.”
    “I wasn’t doing anything,” she said sharply. “I–”
    “I know.”
    “Maybe there was someone you know there. Maybe they worked out who you were somehow. I don’t know.