Separated ways

12.Absence

News of Chief Fire Officer Boyce's death spread throughout the surrounding towns in the blink of an eye. Within a day, every crew who knew Chief Fire Officer Boyce sent special applications to attend the funeral.

The preparations took two weeks. However, during those two weeks, no one in Pontypandy saw Penny. Only Sam and Station Officer Steele knew what might be hidden behind it, but Penny didn't even answer their calls. Sam went to Newtown to sign up the Pontypandy team as well, and for a moment he thought he almost came across Penny, but the person didn't answer and disappeared as quickly as she had appeared.

They only saw her on the day of the funeral ceremony. Sam, Elvis, Arnold and Ellie were standing to the side while Station Officer Steele was sitting in the front. As they stood still and silent, they saw Penny enter through the side entrance and slip through the shadow of the columns towards the front benches. Ellie looked at Sam questioningly, but he just cleared his throat, signaling to them that now wasn't the time to ask questions.

"My father..." Penny began as Station Officer Steele handed the microphone over to her. Her voice was shaking as she stood in front of everyone gathered, but she was still looking into space with the same proud gaze.

"Father?" Ellie let out a surprised question right next to Sam's ear.

"He was an example to all the firefighters who served in his ranks for many, many years," Penny tried to continue, even though it was becoming clear that having memorized the lines and the despair in her throat wasn't making her feel confident. "There were moments when I doubted his decisions, but then they always turned out to be good," she concluded her speech. Before she left the stage, she had the honor of pinning a badge with the symbol of an eagle in flight on the top of the coffin. A symbol of eternal service.

The family's speech ended the ceremony, and the only family of Chief Fire Officer Boyce had turned out to be Penny, and of course the firefighter family. As everyone started to come down to talk to Penny, Station Officer Steele rejoined Sam and the others.

"Penny will go out the side exit and we'll talk to her then," he told his subordinates. "Maybe the queue will be shorter," he added, trying to lighten the thick atmosphere a bit.

They had been waiting patiently for over an hour until they noticed a movement behind the window of side door. Before they could stand up from the bench they were sitting on, Penny stepped in the dim sunlight. 

"Penny" Elvis was immediately next to her as the first from her friends from Pontypandy. "I'm so sorry" he hugged her as they came closer to the rest. Arnold joined without the word, as Ellie warned him. 

"I'm sorry, but I didn't know. If you would tell..." Ellie didn't even have to end, because as soon as she turned on her teasing voice, it automatically made Penny laughed briefly. 

She smiled weakly when Ellie broke away from their hug, as it was Sam's turn to come. 

"You shouldn't be alone with this" Sam said quietly to her as she, embarrased, lowered her gaze to the hat in her hands. 

"I choose it that way, Sam".

Then the next few weeks also felt like a stone. Everyone was walking on their heels like nothing was possible to make it in peace. Only one person managed to stay entirely calm in this mess. Too calm if you would ask others, but it was definately better than let her sit alone in her house. 

"Why you put it in this shelf? It is not a place for inflatable rescue path" Ellie shouted after Arnold, who tried to find an escape by staying away from troubles by doing everyone's paperwork all the time. 

"I didn't. Ask around" he mutter annoyedly without taking his eyes away from the raport right in front of him. 

"Then who?" Ellie ran downstairs to interview Elvis and Sam about it, leaving her friend in peace. 

Ellie came a moment later and without a word, sat down on the chair as she sipped her cold tea. The whole team was sitting in silence when every single of their words had been understood in the opposite meaning. Ellie was just turning to Penny, for sure to ask her about how she was, when Station Officer Steele approached them. The death of his friend added him a few years as it did to Penny. They didn't lost that sparkle that made them them, but it still faded a little. 

"Penny" he nodded his head meaningfully. Usually it meant he just wanted to talk with her, but today that proad sparkle reappeared in his eyes. "You have a moment?"

"Of course, sir" Penny excused herself before she walked with Station Officer Steele downstairs. 

Nothing more important happened in the next few days. Only few fires to put out, but it seemed like Pontypandy became quieter as well. 

"I'm telling you, I saw how she packed all of her equipment and survenirs from her locker" Ellie replied for a thousandth time, as she picked up a selfie of her and Penny right before Sam's eyes. 

"Strange" Sam answered sceptically. "Maybe Penny just wanted to clean up". 

"As she wants to leave us" Ellie snapped back as she left Sam, Arnold and Elvis on their shift. 

Who could have thought at that moment that Ellie was partly right after all? 

After Sam and Elvis had filled the raports and with Arnold's help put it into correct book, they took notice of something unusual.

"Why is that Penny's name is erased from shift schedule?" Arnold asked out load, but the question was left unanswered. Because nobody knew why.

Hi! Side note first: the medal with flying eagle is made up by me. Except of this short side note, I hope you will have a good time watching how the real plot of this story is. Because it's starts from now on and I'm pretty curious what your thoughts are?