Three Strange Men

Safely inside her apartment now, Pennie stared down at the small box on the counter in front of her. She didn’t touch it�"she only stared at it intently as if it could move. She’d been staring at it for hours, she was sure of it but she was too afraid to look up at the clock. She had the most irrational fear that the box would disappear and she’d never know how it connected to Theo. Her eyes felt heavy and her vision began to blur. She did her best to shake away the tired with a quick jerk of her head but it was of no use. Slowly, everything faded to black.

            Once again Pennie was awakened by a knock on her door. Pennie jerked herself awake�"the sun shining through the open windows stung her eyes. She squinted up at the clock�"8AM. She rubbed her eyes and looked down at the box still sitting in front of her. She sighed and ran her fingers through her tangled hair. The knocking continued and yelling ensued,

“Come on! We know you’re in there! We just saw you go in.” Pennie frowned. The voice sounded familiar but she couldn’t quite place it nor could she comprehend exactly what they were yelling. She slumped off of her stool and stumbled lazily over to the door. Not bothering to look through the peephole, she opened the door, mid yawn. In front of her were three men all about three inches taller than her and twice her size. She was suddenly wide awake and knew exactly why that voice sounded familiar. It was the same demanding voice she had heard down in Theo’s room. Then she realized that these were also the men she had seen at the police station, who she had assumed were friends of Theo’s. Now she wasn’t so sure they were friends of his. She gulped and looked up at them with wide eyes.

            “Can-Can I help you?” Her small voice shook and the smile that spread across her face trembled. The man at the front of the group wore a glare and stared down at her, arms folded.

            “You happened to be trespassing just a moment ago.” His voice trembled�"not in the way Pennie’s had but in an angry way. Pennie frowned and furrowed her brow. Trespassing? Did they know she was down in Theo’s apartment? The broken vase and the missing box. Of course. But if she admitted to being in his apartment then they could go to the police and they didn’t have any proof.

            “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She smiled, her voice no longer shaking.

            “Don’t give me that bullshit. We saw you slither your way in here.” She frowned again. Did they see her come back up last night? But the hall was clear and she would have heard someone go up the stairs�"especially three men.

            “I have been in my apartment all night.” The man scoffed and threw his hands in the air obviously distressed.

            “We saw you barely come in here. Just barely!” The man raised his voice and stepped towards Pennie. She stepped back and looked up at him with fear in her eyes. He must have seen it because he relaxed his shoulders a bit and stepped back.

            “I have been in this spot all night staring at this box and-“ Pennie turned and pointed to the empty counter top. “The box.” She mumbled and raced over to the counter, looking all around. “The box is gone!” She looked wide-eyed at the man.

            “Um…box?” A man to the right of the angry one stepped cautiously inside. “What box?” Pennie rubbed her eyes and took a deep breath.

            “The box I found in Theo’s room inside the stained glass vase filled with fake Daisies.” The other two men stepped inside after exchanging some strange looks with each other. The angry one closed the door.

            “You found a box in Theo’s room? Where is it?” Pennie felt like dying. What had she gotten herself into this time? These three men could easily beat her to a pulp and she could do nothing about it. Well, if she was going to die now she might as well be honest and earn some good karma.

            “I broke into Theo’s apartment…well, not so much broke into as just walked into his apartment…”

            “We’re calling the police.” The angry one pulled out his cell phone and Pennie panicked�"she snatched the phone from his hand and held it back out behind her.

            “You call the police and you’ll get in trouble too!” She frowns. “I heard you in his room! I know it was you!”

            “We’re his friends. We were there to pick up his stuff.” Pennie smirked.

            “It’s a crime scene and no one�"not even his parents�"can take his stuff because it would be interfering with an investigation. Which, might I add, can result in one year of jail and up to 2,000 dollars in fines!” The man tensed up and the one who had yet to say anything pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose and stepped forward.

            “If you know all this then why did you still break into his apartment?” The man folded his arms and stared at Pennie intently. Go ahead, Pen. Tell them that you heard knocking from his apartment and thought it was Theo knocking on his ceiling with a broomstick like he did every night before he disappeared. She took a deep breath�"her heart felt like it might fall right out of her chest with how heavy it had become. How could she convince them of anything? The box was gone, she was a stranger to them, and a stranger to Theo for that matter.

            “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” She held out the phone to the man with glasses�"doing her best to keep her hand from trembling, to no prevail. The man gently took the phone from her, a light smile spread across his face.

            “Try us.” Pennie nodded and began to spin her tale of how she met Theo and all about the tap code and how she had heard him knock so she went to investigate not sure what she’d find. How she hid under the bed from them and snuck out and how the box was right here when she went to answer the door then it was gone. By the time she was finished the look on the mens’ faces were a mixture of confusion and anger. She waited for one of them to say something�"anything, but no one did. She felt like an animal in a zoo�"everyone staring at her. Her frown turned into a scowl. “Well, that’s it. That’s what happened.”

            “You expect us to believe you were friends with Theo for almost two years without knowing each other’s names and you two used a tap code to talk to each other through knocking? Also that you heard knocking from his empty apartment and went down to investigate instead of calling the police like any sane person would do? And while down there you heard knocking from his room only to find a vase with fake flowers in the center of his room on the floor? And then the vase broke without you touching it and there was a box strategically placed in the vase? Then you took the box, further disturbing the crime scene, and you hid from us under his small twin sized bed and snuck out when we weren’t looking? Then you came up here and stared at the box all night until it disappeared conveniently when we knocked on the door? That’s a great story except we didn’t see any vase or anything in his room and we just saw you come in here.” Tears filled Pennie’s eyes. Of course they didn’t believe her. She couldn’t convince them of anything. She glared up at them, tears streaming down her face.

            “I just want Theo back.” The glares spread across the men’s faces shifted into looks of surprise. “I don’t expect you to understand but I don’t have any friends here. Theo was the only person who’d pay any attention to me at all.” She took a deep breath and shrugged her shoulders. “So, what now? I was in Theo’s apartment. I took the box which is gone now and you can’t find any evidence of there ever being a box, so what? You can’t call the police. You’ll get in trouble too. Are you going to threaten me to keep quiet? Go ahead. But I promise you there’s no one for me to tell. No one who would believe me and no one who would bother to listen.” Pennie shoved her hands in her pockets and glared at her feet, awaiting a knock to the head or the sound of gun shot. Instead, one of the men placed his hand on her shoulder. She looked up in surprise. The man who stood before her had a kind smile on his face and kind eyes to match. His golden blonde hair shined in the sunshine but despite his warm dispassion he was cold just like Theo.

            “We miss Theo too.” His voiced cracked and his hands shook as he pulled Pennie into a hug�"squeezing her tight. Her eyes opened wide and she froze, but slowly she relaxed and hugged him back�"burring her face in his shoulder. “I’m Oliver. But you can call me Ollie. This is Lyric…” Ollie turned and motioned to the man with glasses. He was dressed up nicely in a checkered sweater over a button up, long sleeve shirt. His dark brown hair was nicely combed and his gorgeous Chartreuse eyes hid behind a large, bulky pair of glasses. He nodded at Pennie and pushed his glasses up before folding his arms across his chest. “And this is Deacon.” Ollie motioned to the angry man. He wore the same glare he had when Pennie had opened the door but his cognac brown eyes were kind and his butterscotch blonde hair messily framed his face making him seem less intimidating and more lazy.

            “I’m Penelope. But you can call me Pennie.” Pennie smiled at them and waved. Deacon’s glare disappeared. He scratched his head and looked at Lyric.

            “Penelope Elkins?” Lyric peered down at Pennie over the top of his glasses. Pennie nodded suddenly terrified. How did he know her last name? “The girl at the front desk, Katie, told us about you. We were asking people in the lobby if they knew anything about Theo’s disappearance and no one seemed to know who he was. We were about to give up and leave when she told us to talk you.” Pennie relaxed a bit.

            “Oh, yeah, like I said I knew Theo a bit. We used to walk down to the front doors together and we would communicate through tap code at night.”

            “The police said you were the last one to see him alive.” Deacon’s same old glare had returned. “Wouldn’t that make you a suspect?” Pennie frowned and put her fists on her hips.

            “I am 5’5 and like ninety pounds! Do you really think I could do something like what happened to Theo?” He scoffed and smirked at her.

            “If you had a knife or gun you wouldn’t need much strength.”

            “I think we both know Theo could over power me if I had a knife. And the splatter marks aren’t consistent with a gun shot. And there was no bullets found or even any gun residue.” Deacon stepped up to Pennie�"only inches away from her now.

            “And how would you know that?”

            “I’m a Criminal Justice major. It’s my job to analyze crime scenes like this one.” She glared up at Deacon with a fierceness she didn’t know she held within her. She could see Deacon’s jaw tighten and hear the grinding of his teeth.

            “Okay, come on guys. Let’s just take a deep breath and think for a minute here.” Ollie stepped towards them but Deacon held a hand up to him. He folded his arms across his chest and relaxed his shoulders�"a small smile spreading across his face.

            “Tell us what you know about Theo.” Pennie took a deep breath and rubbed the back of her neck.

            “Well, he wouldn’t take the elevator. Once I asked him if he would like to ride with me up to his room and he became pretty defensive. Insisted on taking the stairs.” She shrugged, “I guess he liked being independent cause he didn’t like when I asked him if he needed help. Once he had cut his hand and I asked him if he needed help. He told me to-“    

            “Mind your own god damn business.” Deacon chuckled and smirked at Lyric and Ollie. “That was Theo.” Pennie nodded and continued.

            “He wouldn’t talk to me for a while after that so I stopped asking if he needed help. I should have asked him though. He could still be here.”

            “Don’t do that to yourself, Penelope. Just move on to the next thing you remember about him.” Lyric gave her a stern look and a nod�"she nodded in return and cleared her throat.

            “He was really excited when he found the knocking code.” She smiled big, “He taught it to me in the lobby and gave me a cheat sheet so I could understand him when he knocked. I had never seen him smile so much.” Pennie sniffled and walked over to her recliner. She gently grasped Theo’s baby blue beanie as if it was a newly born baby. “One day he was being pretty grouchy. I wanted to make him feel better but everything I tried wasn’t working. So, I became frustrated. I didn’t want to yell at him in the middle of the hall but we were almost to his room and he never let me go inside so I snatched his beanie off his head. I thought he was going to break my arm with how angry he looked. I’m pretty fast though so I ran to the elevator before he could react. As the doors were closing I told him he could have it back tomorrow when he was done being a jerk.” Pennie rubbed her eye with the back of her hand and stared down at the beanie in her shaking hands. “I got to my apartment and burst into tears. I was certain he’d never forgive me. I know it’s just a hat but he was so upset when I had just asked if he needed help. I waited for hours for him to knock on my floor but he never did. The next morning I took as long as I could to get to the elevator. I considered just taking the elevator straight down to the lobby but I had to give him his hat back. When the elevator doors opened on his floor he was nowhere to be seen. He was always waiting for me at his door. I assumed this meant he didn’t want to see me. I didn’t want someone to take his hat so I was just going to take it with me and give it back after class when he opened his door and stepped into the hall. He looked at me surprised like he wasn’t expecting to see me there.” She furrowed her brow and tightened her grip on the hat. “He just stared at me for the longest time then looked at his beanie in my hands. He said, ‘Can I have that back’. He was so calm and didn’t seem angry at all.” Pennie’s confused expression twisted into a smile. “Then he smiled and said, ‘I’m done being a jerk.’ Ever since that day I’ve taken his hat as a joke. The day he disappeared I took his hat and came up to my room just like every day before. We talked through tap code for hours until I had to go to bed. Nothing seemed wrong or out of place.” She swallowed hard and looked up at Deacon, Lyric, and Ollie. “People say when something bad is about to happen to someone you care about you can feel it. You get this awful feeling in the bottom of your stomach and you just know something is wrong. But I didn’t feel anything. I didn’t know a single thing was wrong until the next morning when I saw all the police on his floor and the yellow tape across his door.” The room fell silent�"moments passed without anyone uttering a word. Deacon sighed deeply and shrugged his shoulders.

            “So, what about this box. What did it look like?” Pennie’s arms fell to her sides�"hat still in hand.

            “It was like an old book. It was bare without any markings or symbols. And there was a keyhole that was shaped like nothing I’ve ever seen before on the side. It looked like this.” She tossed aside Theo’s beanie and grabbed a pen and paper. She proceeded to draw the keyhole she had seen on the box, as the three men hovered over her impatiently. She held up the paper to Deacon and he put his hand to his chin.

            “Lyric, doesn’t this look like an ankh symbol?” Lyric nodded and took the paper from Pennie. He pushed his glasses up onto the top of his head and held the paper close to his face.

“Yes, that would be the ankh symbol. It represents the concept of life, which is the general meaning of the symbol. The ankh appears in hand or in proximity of almost every deity in the Egyptian pantheon including Pharaohs.” Pennie listened closely�"Lyric was so intelligent and put together. He was a sharp contrast to Deacon and Ollie. They seemed to be falling apart and Lyric still kept his composure. Pennie wished she could be like him. She was still dressed in the same band t-shirt and over-sized cardigan from yesterday. She had on the same worn jeans and lucky tie-dye socks she’d been wearing since she was fifteen. Her hair was a ratty mess up in a sloppy pony-tail braid�"she had yet to take it out and brush it. She probably looked like a mess.

“Usually, there’s a loop for them to hold on to but this one seems to be filled in�"for the keyhole to actually work of course. Deacon, was this symbol significant to him?”

            “Yeah, it was the symbol we used for our very first ghost hunting business.” Deacon suddenly looked sad and tired, like he hadn’t slept in days. His head fell forward and his shoulders followed suit. Pennie stared at Deacon intensely. He had seemed so mean before�"almost uncaring and now he appeared as if he were a lost child trying to find his way home. “Theo drew it on flyers everywhere. We didn’t have anywhere to copy the papers so we drew all of them by hand. Then we taped them up all around the apartment building. People would invite us into their apartments to make sure they were ‘ghost free’.” Deacon let out a chuckle mixed with a sob. He rubbed his eye with the heel of his palm and smiled. Pennie watched, the lump in her throat threatening to choke her. Next thing she knew she had her arms wrapped tightly around Deacon’s waist. She could feel him stiffen and she loosened her grip ready to let go but before she could step away his arms wrapped tightly around her. He buried his face in her shoulder and she could feel him shake as he sobbed silently for moments on end.