Fifteen-year-old Becca Robbins felt on top of the world.

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It was Wednesday evening. Maths class at school was on Monday and Wednesday, so it was goodbye to her most hated subject for the rest of the week. Plus, Mrs Loomin hadn’t given the class any Maths homework, so Becca could forget about the nightmare of differential equations. Wednesday was also takeout night and the pizza delivery was due in twenty minutes: Becca, her mum and her dad all agreed it was their favourite meal of the week. Come eight o’clock, Terry would call to take Becca to the cinema. She’d told all her friends she was just going to see the movie and wasn’t interested in Terry at all. That was a lie, for sure...

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Becca entered her room in the tenth storey apartment. It was spacious and comfortable, and oozed ‘Becca Robbins!’ in every detail – from the glaring vivid pink walls, to the rock band and movie posters, to her dressing table (laid out how she imagined top actresses would have theirs), to the corner filled with hug-worn teddies from her younger days. Even the bed was exactly as she liked it – part sleeping place, part trampoline.

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She hung her school jacket up on a hook on the back of the door. Her bulky school bag was tossed so it vanished under her bed. It would lie there all night, similar to a monster in a scary story.

From the pocket of her jacket, her cell phone bleated out a corny Disney tune. This meant a message from Sarah.

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Sarah and Becca had been best friends in school since kindergarten. Becca retrieved the phone and checked out the message.

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‘BIG NEWS Beccy!’

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This was normal – Sarah enjoyed sewing seeds in people’s imagination.

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‘Wazzup?’ Becca texted back. It was one of the few bits of slang they used in texts, neither of them even bothered sending emojis.

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Another jingle. The reply: ‘It’s gone VIRAL Beccy! You can’t miss this!’

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Again, the baiting.

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‘Wazzup? Wazzup?’ Becca shot back. She didn’t want to sound overexcited. And failed.

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‘Live online show tonight... Gonna expose 3 lying celebs.’

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This was awesome. Sarah and Becca adored celeb gossip. If there was one thing the pair loved it was when a celebrity was revealed to be up to something bad. Okay, maybe a celeb feud would have an edge over it, but not by much.

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‘Woo?’ Becca mistyped. She corrected and sent out: ‘Who? You gotta tell me!’

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‘No idea. But it’s gonna be HUGE. Starts 9 tonight. I’ve sent a link to your email.’

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Nine o’clock. That would be half an hour after she left with Terry. Could she really miss tall, tanned, gorgeous quarterback Terry for a celeb show? After a moment of consideration, the answer came to her mind. Damn right she could!

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Her fingers swarmed over the keypad of her phone.

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‘Terry! Bad news. I’m coming down with the mother of all headaches. Can we put the movie off until tomorrow?’

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The guy must have been as eager as she hoped. His answer came fast: ‘Sure, Becca. Hope you feel better soon!’

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Terry added a bunch of dancing emoji flowers and hearts, somewhat shredding his tough-guy image.

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Next, Becca threw a message back to Sarah. ‘I’ll be watching. Won’t miss a second!’

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‘Let’s chat after! Byeeeee!’

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While Becca got into her casual clothes, she turned on her laptop and checked out the email from her friend. The link she had been sent took her to a post on Twitter. Good God, it had over two million retweets! A little googling found similar messages on Facebook, Instagram and elsewhere. Every post had gone viral. Even though none of the messages hinted at the subjects of the exposé, the interest in the live show was insane. Blogs were stoking further interest. There was a Reddit page discussing what the show might be about... and some of the possibilities were so juicy to Becca.

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“This could be like Christmas and Halloween all rolled up in one!” she muttered to herself.

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“Becca!” her father’s voice called from the living room. “Pizza’s arrived!”

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Yeah, Becca Robbins felt on top of the world tonight.

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And the night was young.

 

*     *     *

 

Becca went to bed early and with a white lie.

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Gonna watch a movie before I go to sleep, she’d told her parents. It wasn’t far from the truth, from a certain point of view. After all, she did intend to be well-entertained.

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By 8:55 she was sitting in bed in her pyjamas, a plate of biscuits to her right, phone on her left, a glass of milk on the nightstand, her laptop on her knees, and earbuds in place so no one could hear the audio but her.

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The show was on VidsNow, a new competitor to youTube. When Becca loaded up the internet address, she found herself on a countdown screen. It was plain, giving away nothing at all.

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8:57.

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She sent a phone-text to Sarah: ‘Only 3 minutes now! Wonder who’s gonna get it!’

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‘Hope they have a vid of them denying everything. I love that so much!’

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‘Hope it’s a big movie star!’

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‘You always do.’

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The banter continued until the countdown reached thirty seconds to go. Then quick goodbyes were exchanged. And...

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A man in a dark outfit appeared on the screen. Charcoal grey suit, black shirt, black tie... and a golden mask hiding his face. The mask was in the design of a cherub’s face: long wavy hair, angelic childish features and a frozen smile. Becca leaned forward and squinted, trying to look at the eyes – but dark lenses prevented her from seeing anything.

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Cool.

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Behind the figure was a plain grey curtain. This looked pretty cheap for a big exposé. More like something a guy might do in his own bedroom.

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“Good evening.” A deep bass voice reached Becca through her earbuds. “Tonight we’re going to talk about justice. And how three people spat in the face of it. And we’re going to talk about what we should do about that.”

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Becca eyed the numbers at the bottom of the screen.

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‘2,331,125 Watching Live.’

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Holy shit! Over two million people already – and the number was racing up. Soon it reached two and a half million, then three million and beyond...

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Yeah, Becca thought to herself, this was gonna be big.

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A picture of a man swirled into place beside the masked speaker. The guy in the image was wearing a suit and a bow tie, like someone might to an awards ceremony. He was handsome, square-jawed... and Becca kinda recognised him. Who..?

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“Bob Vanut,” continued the deep voice. “The actor rose to fame in the seventies. He played in westerns, action movies and a string of horror films. Most young people won’t recognise this image... but you will recognise the next one...”

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The photo was exchanged for a picture of Vaunt many years later. Now grey-haired, beginning to go bald; his once-smooth skin creased by age; his clean-shaven appearance replaced by scraggy stubble. It was a publicity shot from Crinkle McLain – an afternoon TV show that had received massive ratings, until a year ago. Vaunt had played Crinkle, an old man who lived in a cabin on a beach and solved all the local murders, robberies and other crimes for the hapless cops in the series. Crinkle had been a perfect grandad-type personality, beloved by all who watched. The show had been a little lame, but had possessed a genuine warmth which most modern programmes lacked. Also, Becca had noticed, the baddie in each episode was always the most-well-known guest star.

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Of course, the show was dead now. So was Bob Vaunt. Both had come to a grim end.