I was panicking.My heart thundered so hard I felt it in my ears. My breaths were sharp and broken, like I couldn’t get enough air. Raven was limp in my arms. Her body was so still, it scared me more than whatever was behind that locked door. And the door... it was still locked.What do I do? What do I do?My brain wasn’t working. It was like my thoughts had scattered into the air, lost in the echo of Raven’s scream. My chest tightened. My hands trembled.And then, my body did what my mind couldn’t.I screamed.A piercing, gut-wrenching sound ripped from my lungs, tearing through the silence of the school washroom. It was raw. Wild. I screamed again—louder—until I could hear my own voice bounce back at me from the tiled walls. My throat burned, but I didn’t stop. I kept screaming, hoping someone would hear. Someone had to.And then I heard it—footsteps. Voices.“Where’s it coming from?!”“The girls’ washroom!”The door burst open. A group of seniors and two teachers stumbled in, eyes
After Ellen ran out, the cafeteria erupted in noise. Some students laughed cruelly, others gasped, horrified. A few got up and left, muttering curses at Noah. But Noah? He sat there like a king on a throne, unfazed, chewing his food like nothing had happened. The clip didn’t just humiliate Ellen—it burned itself into the skin of the school’s reputation. And yet, he smiled.Raven and I shared a long, heavy look. My throat tightened. We picked up our things and walked out without a word. Just as we passed Noah, he glanced at Raven. His smile didn’t reach his eyes. It was hollow—mocking.The bell rang, dragging us back to class. But nothing felt the same. Not the desk. Not the air. Not even the familiar sound of the fan clacking overhead. Everything felt too loud and too quiet all at once. The day crawled by, suffocating.When the final bell rang, Raven turned to me, her voice barely above a whisper. "We have to check on her. This is my brother's fault."I nodded. "I'm coming with you."
Class started, but Raven sat stiff beside me, barely blinking. Her books were open, but her eyes weren’t reading. I could tell she was fighting it—trying to push Noah and the video and Ellen out of her mind. But she couldn’t. Neither could I.We thought the worst was behind us.That the filth we saw earlier was something we could bury. Something only we knew.But something was brewing. A storm that hadn’t even begun yet.And by the time it hit, nothing in this school would stay the same.Not reputations.Not friendships.Not even the truth.A while later, it was lunchtime.We made our way to the cafeteria—a wide, echoing hall with long metal tables stretching across its tiled floor. The walls were painted a soft beige, though time had faded most of the corners. The aroma of mash potatoes, fries, and overly sweet bread floated in the air, mixing with the hum of hundreds of voices. It was always loud. Always buzzing. But today, the noise felt distant.Raven sat across from me, her tray
Silence swept through our classroom as Raven and I sat rooted to our seats—the kind of silence that roared in your ears. My fingers trembled slightly over my notebook, but I didn’t move. Neither did she.Then, a tear slipped down her cheek.My gaze snapped to her, stunned.She didn’t even try to wipe it. It fell, then another, until they began to stream freely, soaking into the sleeves of her uniform. I shifted closer, my heartbeat thudding in my ears. What we had seen was enough to shake anyone—but Raven crying like this? That was something else. Something deeper.“Raven?” I whispered, careful not to startle her. “What’s wrong? Why are you crying?”She turned to me slowly, her lips trembling so badly it took her a second to form a word.“I... I told him not to do it. I told him not to carry on with the bet.”She crumbled.The sob that tore out of her wasn’t soft. It was guttural. Painful. The kind of cry that tore something loose inside the chest. I wrapped my arms around her and pul
I had grown up watching my parents hold hands after dinner, kiss each other goodbye every morning, laugh at private jokes. I wanted that kind of love. Quiet. Gentle. Real. And Noah didn’t fit into that picture.But still... his name came up more often than I wanted. His presence was hard to ignore.Until one day, something happened at school. Something that spread like wildfire. A rumor. A truth. We didn’t know which. But whatever it was, it nearly pushed one girl to the edge.And from that day on... I couldn’t look at him the same. The mystery was gone. Replaced by something darker. Something real.Noah was no longer just Raven’s brother.He became the reason my chest tightened whenever someone said his name.And yet, that Wednesday morning felt like any other.Raven and I had agreed the night before to arrive at school early so we could cross-check our assignments before submission. By 6:45 a.m., we were already seated in our classroom, books open, pens scratching lightly against pa
Mia burst into the building, heart pounding, her vision already swimming with tears. She didn’t know where she was running to—only that she had to keep moving. Her shoes slapped against the tiled floor, echoing through the empty corridors. Everything blurred: the walls, the doors, the signs. None of it registered. Her chest rose and fell with frantic breaths, her fingers clutching her laptop and bag tightly.She turned a corner and found herself in an unfamiliar section of the school. The hallway stretched long and narrow, with pale yellow walls and fluorescent lights that buzzed quietly overhead. Rows of closed doors lined both sides, and framed posters about school clubs hung crookedly on the walls. The air smelled faintly of cleaning products and old paper. Her footsteps echoed loudly now, bouncing off the walls.Still, she ran.But the farther she went, the longer the hallway seemed to grow. It felt endless, like something from a dream. Her legs began to slow. Her breath caught in