Chapter 45: The Stage We Set on Fire

The campus auditorium hadn’t been this full since the beginning of the semester. Students squeezed into rows, some standing in the back or leaning along the walls. Phones were raised. The buzz of anticipation clung to the walls like static.

Ryan stood behind the curtain, hands shaking.

He wasn’t afraid of speaking.

He was afraid of who was listening.

Chris handed him a bottle of water. “You’re not alone. I’ll be right out there.”

Ryan gave a stiff nod. “Where’s Daniel?”

“On his way. Had to grab something from the counseling center.”

Ryan adjusted the collar of his shirt, heart pounding.

He knew Adrien would be here.

He could feel him already.

The panel began with a counselor, then a brief message from campus safety.

Then Chris stepped up.

He spoke not as a student, not even as Ryan’s roommate but as someone who had watched a friend become the center of a storm no one had prepared for.

“I watched someone brave enough to say no,” Chris said, voice calm and cutting. “And I watched the people around him fail to listen. But not today.”

When Ryan’s name was called, the lights dimmed.

He stepped out into the brightness.

A hush fell across the room.

His voice trembled at first, but then steadied.

“I was manipulated. Stalked. Threatened. Silenced,” Ryan said. “But I am not a victim. I am the ending to a story someone else tried to write for me.”

Gasps followed when he described Adrien’s harassment. A few students turned to each other, murmuring. One girl began to cry. Another took her hand.

Ryan’s voice dropped.

“I’m not just telling this for me. I’m telling it for anyone who thought no one would believe them.”

Applause erupted but somewhere in the back, a slow, mocking clap echoed.

Ryan froze.

His eyes scanned the crowd.

There.

Seated near the back in a pressed black shirt, legs crossed casually like he didn’t just haunt Ryan’s life

Adrien Wolfe.

His smile was subtle.

Unapologetic.

Predatory.

Ryan faltered for only a breath.

Then he looked away.

“I used to think I didn’t matter,” he said, louder now. “But I do. And the people who hurt you? They don’t get to stay in the light forever.”

The applause this time was thunderous.

Adrien didn’t clap.

But he stood.

And walked out.

Ryan saw the doors swing shut behind him.

Chris appeared beside him a moment later. “You okay?”

Ryan nodded slowly. “Better than I’ve ever been.”

Later, back in the dorm room, Daniel was waiting.

“You were incredible,” he said quietly, eyes shining.

“Were you there?” Ryan asked.

Daniel smiled faintly. “No. I stood outside. But I listened. And… I heard you.”

Chris stepped out to give them space.

The silence between Ryan and Daniel stretched like a wire tense, fragile.

Then Daniel crossed the room.

“I hated that he ever got close to you,” he said. “I hated how helpless I felt when I saw what he was doing. But what I hate most of all… is how long I stayed quiet about how I feel about you.”

Ryan’s breath caught.

“I’m tired of hiding,” Daniel said. “I’m tired of pretending we’re just friends.”

Ryan didn’t answer with words.

He leaned in.

And for the first time in a long time there were no ghosts between them. No threats. No shadows.

Just warmth.

And truth.

But far across campus, a figure stood beneath a streetlight, watching the auditorium doors from a distance.

Adrien lit a cigarette with shaking fingers.

A smile curled across his lips as he exhaled.

“Good performance, Ryan,” he muttered.

“But the curtain hasn’t closed yet.”