chapter 19 " The chapel files "

The chapel at Brentford had been closed for years.

Once used for assemblies and ceremonies, it now stood in silence — a forgotten monument near the west edge of the school grounds, where weeds crept over stone paths and ivy clawed up the walls.

At 11:57 p.m., Helena slipped out of the detention wing’s side window, hoodie pulled low, shoes quiet on the gravel. Her heart thundered in her chest as she darted between shadows, every crack of a twig a bullet to her nerves.

The chapel loomed ahead — tall, black-roofed, and silent as a tomb.

She pushed open the old wooden doors, which creaked on rusted hinges. Dust swirled in the moonlight that poured through the broken stained glass. The altar was cracked. The pews sagged.

But it was the floorboard near the front that caught her eye.

Slightly warped.

Recently moved.

Helena stepped forward and crouched, fingers trembling as she pried it loose. Beneath was a hollow space — and inside it, wrapped in faded red cloth, was a tin lockbox.

She opened it.

Photos. Papers. Letters.

And one voice recorder.

Her breath caught.

She pressed play.

“If you’re hearing this… I didn’t make it out. My name is Sophia Makinde. And I loved someone I shouldn’t have. I saw something I shouldn’t have. And now they’re trying to make me disappear.”

Helena’s hand flew to her mouth. Tears welled in her eyes.

“It started with Greg. But it didn’t end there. The school’s board, the funding, the charity scholarship program — it’s all part of something bigger. A cover-up. If anything happens to me, find the chapel. Find the files. Tell my story.”

A noise behind her.

She spun around.

A figure stood at the doorway, cloaked in shadow.

“Looking for ghosts?” the voice asked. Cold. Female.

Bianca.

Cliffhanger Ending – Chapter Nineteen

Bianca stepped into the light, eyes narrowed, lips curved into a cruel smile.

“You really thought you could outsmart all of us, Helena?”

Helena stood slowly, the recorder still in her hand. “You knew. All along.”

Bianca shrugged. “I didn’t care about Sophia. But you… you made it personal.”

“Why?” Helena whispered.

“Because he was supposed to break you.” Bianca’s smile faded. “Not fall for you.”

Bianca reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a small lighter.

“Too bad these secrets were never meant to survive.”

She flicked it.

The flame caught on the old altar cloth as Helena screamed—

And the chapel began to burn.

Smoke curled toward the rafters.

The old altar cloth blazed, flames licking the rotten wood as Bianca stared Helena down like a queen watching her pawn collapse.

“You’re insane,” Helena gasped, backing away from the growing fire.

“No,” Bianca said calmly. “I’m strategic. That recorder? The papers? You weren’t supposed to find them.”

Helena clutched the recorder to her chest and grabbed as many files as she could, stuffing them into her hoodie pocket, the heat biting at her skin.

“You won’t get away with this,” she coughed, smoke already thick in the air.

Bianca’s eyes narrowed. “Watch me.”

She turned to leave, firelight flickering behind her. But as she reached the doorway, Greg stepped into the entrance, blocking her exit.

Bianca stopped cold.

His eyes weren’t angry. They were betrayed.

“You?” he whispered, voice cracking. “You did this to her?”

Bianca blinked. “Greg—”

“You sent the video. You leaked her file. You knew about Sophia all along.”

Bianca lifted her chin. “She was replacing her. And you were letting her.”

Greg moved toward her, fury in every step. “You almost got her killed.”

Just then — the roof cracked.

“Greg!” Helena screamed from inside, coughing hard now. “Help!”

Greg turned from Bianca without another word and ran straight into the flames.

The chapel groaned. A wooden beam collapsed behind him as he found Helena hunched behind a pew, struggling to breathe.

“I’ve got you,” he said, wrapping his arm around her.

Together, they ran — dodging fire and splinters — and burst out through the side door just as the roof caved in behind them.

They collapsed on the cold grass.

Helena clutched the recorder in her hand. Burnt. Smudged. But intact.

Greg stared at her, stunned. “You could’ve died.”

She looked back at the wreck of the chapel — the place where Sophia had left her truth behind.

“So could she,” Helena said, “and no one cared.”

Cliffhanger Ending – Chapter Nineteen (Final Scene)

As fire trucks roared onto the campus, a staff member grabbed a water hose. Greg pulled off his jacket and wrapped it around Helena’s shoulders.

In the chaos, Bianca had vanished.

But as Helena sat on the curb, shaking, she pulled out one charred photo from the folder she had saved.

It was Sophia.

Smiling, standing at the Brentford gates.

Next to her—

The Headmaster.

Still in power.

Still hiding something.

The night air was cold against Helena’s face as she sat wrapped in Greg’s jacket, her hands trembling around the half-burnt photo of Sophia and the Headmaster.

Fire trucks sprayed water on what was left of the chapel. Thick smoke lingered like a warning.

Tessy burst through the crowd of students and staff, her eyes wild. “Helena!”

Helena looked up.

Tessy dropped to her knees beside her, pulling her into a tight hug. “I thought—I thought you were gone.”

“I almost was,” Helena whispered.

Tessy pulled back and looked at the scorched photo. “Is that…?”

“Yeah,” Helena said. “Sophia. And the Headmaster. And a folder full of documents that Bianca tried to destroy.”

Greg was standing a few feet away, silent, staring at the flames.

“He saved me,” Helena added. “Ran into the fire when Bianca left me to die.”

Tessy’s eyes darted between them, her jaw tightening. “We need to tell someone. Go to the authorities.”

“No,” Helena said sharply. “Not yet. If the Headmaster is involved, then this school isn’t just corrupt — it’s dangerous. We have to be smart.”

Tessy nodded slowly. “Then what do we do?”

Helena stared at the burning wreck of the chapel. Her voice came out calm, cold, and sure:

“We burn them back. Not with fire—with truth.”

Meanwhile, Behind the Chapel Grounds

A sleek black car sat parked in the shadows.

Inside, Bianca’s hands gripped the steering wheel, her reflection warped in the rearview mirror. Her phone buzzed beside her with an encrypted message.

Unknown Sender: You were sloppy. Finish it before she finds the rest.

She threw the phone across the passenger seat and slammed her fist into the steering wheel, rage flashing across her perfect features.

This wasn’t over.

Not even close.

End of Chapter Nineteen

Cliffhanger into Chapter Twenty: Fire and Ash

Helena lies awake that night at Tessy’s house. In her hand is the scorched voice recorder. She presses play.

Sophia’s voice crackles through the static:

"If you're hearing this… it means I didn’t make it out. Trust no one at Brentford. Especially not the one who pretends to protect you."

Helena’s eyes widen.

The voice cuts out.

There’s a second message — timestamped two days before Sophia vanished.

It begins to play…