Chapter 5: What Was Buried Still Breathes

Keisha

I didn’t sleep.

I tried to. I really did.

But every time I closed my eyes, I saw that message again.

“You saw him. Now it’s already started.”

It wasn’t just the words. It was the way my body reacted to them. Like my mind understood something my mouth wasn’t ready to say out loud.

I stayed up on my couch with the lights on, TV playing something I wasn’t watching. Just noise so I wouldn’t have to sit in silence with my thoughts.

Because silence was making everything worse.

Malik was outside.

That part still didn’t feel real.

I kept replaying his voice in my head. The way he said my name like it still belonged to him. Like nothing had changed.

But everything had changed.

Or at least it was supposed to.

My phone sat beside me like it was dangerous now. Like it had its own intentions.

I kept staring at it, waiting for it to do something again.

And it did.

A notification popped up.

Not a message.

A photo.

My building again.

But this time… it wasn’t just the outside.

It was my hallway.

Inside my building.

My stomach dropped so hard I actually stood up.

“No,” I whispered. “No, no, no…”

I backed away from the phone like it could reach me.

My hands started shaking.

Because I didn’t take that picture.

And nobody should’ve been inside my building taking it.

I grabbed my keys without thinking. Fear makes you move before you think. I went straight to the door, paused, then looked through the peephole.

Empty hallway.

Too empty.

I unlocked the door slowly anyway.

Just a crack.

Nothing.

Then I heard it.

Footsteps.

Not outside.

Inside the building.

Slow.

Measured.

Getting closer.

I froze.

My breath caught in my throat so hard it hurt.

“Hello?” I called out, but my voice came out weaker than I meant it to.

No answer.

The footsteps stopped.

Right in front of my door.

I backed up immediately, hand over my mouth to keep myself quiet.

Then—

Knock.

Three times.

Not aggressive.

Not loud.

Controlled.

Like whoever it was had all the time in the world.

I didn’t move.

Another knock.

Then a voice.

Soft.

Familiar enough to make my chest tighten.

“Keisha…”

My heart dropped.

Because I knew that voice.

I opened the door before I could stop myself.

And there he was.

Malik.

Standing in my hallway like the past had just walked straight back into my present.

But something about him wasn’t the same.

His face looked tired.

His eyes… alert.

Like he hadn’t blinked properly in hours.

“You shouldn’t be here,” I said immediately.

“I know,” he replied.

That made me pause.

Because Malik never used to agree with me that fast.

I crossed my arms. “Then why are you here?”

He looked past me into my apartment before answering.

“Because someone was in your building last night.”

My stomach twisted.

“I know,” I said quietly. “I saw the picture.”

That made his eyes sharpen.

“What picture?”

I hesitated.

Then grabbed my phone and showed him.

He looked at it for a long time.

Too long.

When he finally spoke, his voice dropped.

“Yeah,” he muttered. “They’re getting bold.”

“They?” I repeated. “Malik who is ‘they’?”

He looked at me then.

Really looked at me.

And I saw something I didn’t like in his face.

Guilt.

Like he was carrying something too heavy and pretending it wasn’t crushing him.

“Can I come in?” he asked.

I didn’t answer right away.

Every instinct I had said no.

But fear is a funny thing.

It makes you choose the danger you recognize over the danger you don’t.

So I stepped aside.

He walked in slowly like he was entering somewhere sacred… or somewhere dangerous.

Maybe both.

I closed the door behind him.

And suddenly my apartment didn’t feel like mine anymore.

He stood in the middle of my living room, looking around like he was checking for something.

Or someone.

“You’re not safe here,” he said.

I laughed, but it wasn’t funny. “I haven’t been safe since you showed up outside my job yesterday.”

That hit him.

I saw it.

But he didn’t argue.

He just nodded slowly.

“That’s fair,” he said.

I blinked. “What happened, Malik? Don’t come in here acting like I’m in a movie and you’re the only one who knows the plot. Talk.”

He ran a hand over his face.

“I tried to keep you out of this,” he said quietly.

“Out of what?”

He looked at me then.

And I swear the air in the room changed.

“Something I buried a long time ago,” he said. “Something somebody is now digging up… and they think you’re connected to it.”

My chest tightened.

“I don’t even know what you’re talking about.”

“I know,” he said immediately. “That’s the problem.”

I stepped closer, anger building now to cover the fear. “No, the problem is you keep showing up in my life talking in pieces. I need full sentences, Malik. Not riddles.”

He nodded like he understood.

But then he said something that made my stomach drop.

“Five years ago,” he started, “there was an incident. And I made choices after that to make sure you stayed away from it.”

My voice lowered. “What kind of incident?”

He hesitated.

That hesitation told me everything I needed to know.

“Malik…” I warned.

He finally looked away.

“A death,” he said.

The room went silent so fast I could hear my own heartbeat.

My legs felt weaker immediately.

“What?” I whispered.

He nodded once. Slow.

“And before you say anything,” he added quickly, “I didn’t kill anybody. But I was there. And what happened after… it got messy. People got blamed, records got moved, and I made sure your name never got tied to any of it.”

I couldn’t even process it fully.

I just stood there, staring at him like he had just become a stranger.

“And now?” I asked.

He exhaled.

“Now somebody is reopening it,” he said. “And they’re starting with anything connected to me.”

My throat tightened.

“And I’m connected to you how exactly, Malik?”

He paused.

And this was the moment everything shifted.

Because when he looked at me again…

It wasn’t just fear in his eyes anymore.

It was truth.

“You were there that night,” he said softly. “You just don’t remember all of it.”

My body went cold.

“That’s impossible,” I said immediately.

But even as I said it…

Something in the back of my mind twitched.

A feeling.

Not a memory.

Just a crack.

Something I never opened.

Something I never questioned.

Malik stepped closer.

“Keisha,” he said gently, “you’ve been living five years thinking you were outside of this.”

He shook his head.

“You weren’t.”

And suddenly…

Everything I thought I survived…

started feeling like something I was still inside of.