Frazer Lee - Panic Button

“She… committed suicide. Online, on her webcam.”

“Lucy Turner, aged fifteen.” There was a waver in Alligator’s voice, a hint of emotion. “You were there, all of you. Online. Watching as it happened. You all saw fit to pass comment. Gwen, with her sermonising, only made it worse…”

Jo watched as more text appeared in the All2gethr chat window next to a thumbnail image of Gwen’s face — her avatar:

‘Not even God can forgive you if you do this. Where will you spend eternity? You’ll burn in Hell.’

“…Holier than thou, a hypocrite hiding behind her religion.”

Jo recalled the awful image of Gwen’s sister being burned alive. Alligator’s vengeance upon her had been absolute and without mercy. The main cabin shook and rattled. Jo grabbed hold of the seat’s armrests as Alligator’s voice continued over the increasing sound of the engines.

“Dave embittered the pill, goaded her onwards.”

Next to Dave’s avatar, more text appeared in the chat window:

‘Another sad attention-seeking trip to casualty and a stomach pump.

Do it right or not at all. Hang yerself and be sure love!’

“And, when Dave saw fit to post it on, his friend Rory just had to comment. That boy had a big mouth. He’s much quieter now…”

Jo remembered the look in Rory’s eyes, just seconds before the camera-killer had pulled the shotgun trigger. On-screen, she saw Rory’s cruel taunts being typed into the chat window:

‘Dumb bitch! If I were as ugly as you I’d probably do the same. LOL!’

The plane bucked like a bronco and Jo glanced out the window. Storm clouds swirled around the flashing lights of the plane, looking like smoke and hellfire.

“And then there was Max, posting it across dozens of sites. Tap, tap, tap. Such busy hands.”

Next to Mike’s avatar, the words, his death warrant:

‘OMG! Emo girl tops herself. Goodbye cruel world!’

Jo shook her head. Whatever anyone had done on this plane, or on the ground, Max was an exception.

“You didn’t kill ‘Max’ though did you? You killed the wrong guy you fucking freak!”

Silence crackled over the speakers. She was right and he knew it.

Then, Alligator spoke again, softly and clearly. “No Jo. You killed the wrong guy.”

Unable to help herself, she glanced over at Max’s body. His last tortured gasp echoed in her ears. What did you do to me? She could see his dying face mouthing the word. Murderer. She bowed her head under the weight of her anger, guilt — and her fear of what may come.

“Don’t worry, I’ll catch up with the real Max soon enough. He’ll suffer too.”

Alligator’s tone was becoming casual again, like he was merely making polite chitchat with her.

“Now, where were we? Oh yes, Alan thought it was all very funny…”

‘Cheer up retard! ROFL!’ appeared in the chat box next to Alan’s avatar.

Jo remembered the gloved assailant, beating Alan and pushing him to his death below the office-building stairwell. She remembered the gloved hand, spraying the letters ‘ROFL’ across Alan’s chest, as he lay there broken and bleeding. Murderer. Max’s death rattle voice echoed in her aching brain. Let the punishment fit the crime .

Jo watched, distressed, as young Lucy gulped back more handfuls of pills. That poor girl — what she’d had to endure. Tears flooded from the girl’s eyes. She was blinded by despair.

“They were all implicit. But you, Jo — do you remember what you did?”

Jo fell silent, recalling that night. She could almost smell the memory of the booze, the wine bottles standing open next to her computer monitor in her darkened bedroom. Sophie had been at Dawn’s, sleeping over so that Jo Scott — ‘World’s Best Mum’ according to the mug on her dressing table — could get shit-faced and chat with people on All2gethr until she passed out.

“You just watched. You like watching, don’t you Jo?”

She felt sick.

She’d watched little Lucy Turner committing suicide live via webcam with the same eyes that were shedding tears for her now. Unsympathetic, drunken eyes. The eyes of a murderer.

“I was drunk… I…”

“Your excuse for everything!” Alligator’s fury made the speakers tremble. “Your excuse for getting pregnant! Your sad pathetic excuse for a life! You’re a mother yourself but you still sat and watched my little girl die! You don’t deserve to have a daughter!”

His words cut deep. Tears streamed down Jo’s face as she remembered the dark months before rehab. She had been a lousy, inconstant excuse for a mother.

“Not one of you called the authorities. Not one of you reached out to push the panic button. All of you are guilty and your punishments both just and fitting.”

But he was wrong. Jo had gotten herself some help. Cleaned up her act. Dawn had been so proud of her. And Sophie loved her. She flinched at the memory of the video showing Sophie in that filthy cell. Her stomach flipped as she remembered tearing away the black plastic bag from Dawn’s dead face. Fresh anger ignited like a flame in Jo — whatever she had done, or not done, she had paid her dues.

“We’re all guilty? Screw you. You killed my mother! The pilot’s family! Pitched us all against each other for your own sick amusement! And what about all the innocent people at All2gethr?”

“Some people were an unfortunate necessity… But All2gethr?” Alligator spat, “They are as guilty as the rest of you. They swept my Lucy’s case under the carpet. We will destroy their servers, their archives and their people. They will become nothing. And the World will watch their bitter end. They’ll wish they had paid attention then.”

Jo cried out as the plane plummeted again, a pure fear reflex. Buffeted by the storm, the jet tilted, correcting its course. This was it; the end was coming for her. It had all been building up to this, the winner’s email, the champagne reception, the lies and the bloodshed — all because of one man’s insane desire for revenge.

“The world will watch?” she said, “No one will give a shit about your reasons, your ‘master plan’… Nobody is even going to know !”

“Wrong again Jo. I’m generating the ultimate viral video, of which you are the star.”

Suddenly, Jo was looking at herself on the touch screen monitor. She looked bedraggled and bloodstained as she peered at the screen. The beady little webcam eye, embedded into the monitor’s housing like a dark jewel, had been watching her all along.

“Of course, anything that implies my part in all this will be removed before the World enjoys watching you die over and over and over again.”

Alligator’s face reappeared on her screen, black slit eyes regarding her like she was a piece of meat on the end of a hook.

“An eye for an eye my dear.”

Jo fought back her tears. The jet engines droned on outside amidst the howling storm. She replayed everything that had led her up to this moment, fast-forwarded it in her mind’s eye like one of Alligator’s sick video recordings. She saw herself kissing Sophie through the window of the big black car, saw herself toasting the others with champagne, then poisoning poor Max, or whatever his real name was, she’d probably never know now, the man she’d killed. It had all led here, to this point in time. Her, alone in this cabin.

And only one thing mattered to her, only one thing in the whole wide world.

“Sophie… is she alive?”

The words felt like an open wound to her. She waited for Alligator’s reply, unable to breathe. He didn’t make her wait long.

“I’m afraid not. I took out her pretty eyes. That is your punishment. She cried out for you Jo, I never thought she’d stop…”