chapter 25 " The return and the rattle

The school courtyard buzzed with its usual midday chatter as a familiar figure stepped out of the dark-blue school shuttle.

Her curls bounced gently in the breeze.

Her smile—faint, but real—sent a ripple through Helena’s chest.

Tessy was back.

“TESSY!” Helena screamed, abandoning her tray and sprinting across the courtyard. Students turned as she ran, arms open, the first true grin on her face in weeks.

Tessy laughed and dropped her bag just in time for Helena to crash into her, hugging her tightly.

“You’re really here,” Helena whispered.

Tessy clung to her. “I told you I would be.”

“You scared the hell out of me,” Helena said, pulling back, tears gathering in her eyes.

“Same,” Tessy whispered. “But I’m stronger now. And I’ve got a score to settle.”

Greg walked up, hands in his pockets, watching the reunion with quiet relief. “Good to see you on your feet again.”

Tessy gave him a faint smirk. “And you still looking like you never sleep. That’s comforting.”

Greg raised a brow. “We’ve had a lot going on.”

Helena gave him a look and nodded.

“We want to keep digging,” she said to Tessy. “You don’t have to—”

“Stop,” Tessy said, stepping forward. “I didn’t come back to play it safe. I’m in. Till the end.”

The three of them stood together for a moment—three students, tied by more than friendship now. Tied by secrets. By ghosts. By the burning need for answers.

Later That Day – Brentford Canteen

Helena and Tessy sat side-by-side at one of the far tables, sharing a plate of jollof rice and chicken. For the first time in weeks, Helena laughed—genuinely—when Tessy recounted a story about a new math teacher who looked like a walking scarecrow.

The peace didn’t last long.

Bianca strutted across the canteen like it was her runway. Her heels clacked sharply against the tiled floor as she made her way to their table, a fake smile plastered on her face.

“Well, well,” she said, eyes glinting. “If it isn’t the recovering detective and the scholarship pity project.”

Tessy straightened, unfazed. “You’re still walking around like your presence is wanted. That’s impressive.”

Bianca leaned on the table, her voice a venomous whisper. “I just wanted to say—welcome back, Tessy. Heard you had a rough time. Kidnapped, drugged… shame.”

Helena’s hand curled around her spoon.

“But hey,” Bianca continued, eyes now on Helena, “at least now you two have even more in common. The trauma twins.”

Tessy stood up, her chair scraping back. “Say another word and I swear—”

“Or what?” Bianca purred. “You’ll disappear again?”

Helena stood too, chest rising and falling with restrained fury. “You’re not going to break her, Bianca. Or me.”

Bianca gave a lazy shrug. “Too late for that, don’t you think?”

She turned and walked away, her laughter trailing behind her like perfume.

Tessy sat down slowly. “She’s worse than ever.”

Helena nodded, her smile gone. “And more scared than ever. That’s why she’s lashing out.”

Greg walked up seconds later, holding a folder. “We need to talk. I found something new—on the school’s archive server. It’s about Sophia’s last exam. The one she never turned in.”

Helena’s heartbeat kicked up.

Tessy leaned in. “Let’s get out of here.”

The three of them left the canteen, shoulders squared.

Together again.

Still haunted.

But no longer afraid to fight.

Cliffhanger Ending – Chapter Twenty-Five

That evening, Bianca received a message from an anonymous sender.

“They’re getting close. You know what to do.”

She stared at her screen.

And smiled.

Back in the school library, Greg spread the printouts across the study table. Helena and Tessy leaned in on either side, scanning the yellowed screenshots of Sophia’s last exam submission page.

“She never clicked submit,” Greg said, tapping the timestamp. “It was saved… but left incomplete.”

“Why?” Tessy asked. “She was the top of her class. That’s not like her.”

Helena’s eyes narrowed. “Because maybe what she wrote wasn’t an essay. Maybe it was a warning.”

Greg flipped through the pages, landing on the essay draft.

The title chilled them all: “How to Make Someone Disappear Without a Trace.”

Tessy blinked. “You think this was real?”

Helena ran her finger under a passage: “It starts with power. You erase them from memory, from reputation, from paper—and finally, from breath.”

Greg added, “There’s a redacted line right here. The admin system glitched when I tried to access it.”

Helena looked at him. “Can you recover it?”

He nodded. “It’s encrypted, but I’m close.”

Tessy exhaled slowly. “If we crack this—”

Helena interrupted, “Then we’ll finally know who she was afraid of.”

Later That Night — Brentford Girls Dormitory

Bianca stood by her window, arms crossed, staring into the darkness.

She wasn’t stupid. She knew they were getting too close.

The school was holding a charity dinner next week. She knew they’d snoop. Knew they’d poke around the old staff records. Knew they’d find her name written in corners it shouldn’t have been.

But she wasn’t going down alone.

She turned toward her vanity, where a red envelope sat waiting. Inside was a photograph—a grainy black-and-white shot of Sophia in the old music room.

There was someone behind her.

Someone no one had dared mention… until now.

Back in the Library – Brentford, Midnight

Greg tapped the last line of code into his laptop. The screen flickered.

And then it cleared.

The redacted portion of Sophia’s essay appeared.

Helena leaned in, heart racing.

It read:

“If I disappear after this, you’ll know it was because I saw the list. The one with our names on it. I won’t write the man’s name—but he runs this school. He owns it. He hides behind gold pens and fake smiles.”

The screen blinked again.

A second file appeared. Hidden in metadata.

Greg clicked it.

A grainy, distorted voice began to play—Sophia’s voice.

“If anyone hears this, tell my sister… tell her I tried.”

Helena’s throat tightened. “She had a sister?”

Greg and Tessy exchanged glances.

“Maybe someone still at this school,” Tessy whispered.

Helena’s hands shook.

“I have to find her,” she said.

Cliffhanger Ending – Chapter Twenty-Five (Final Beat)

Across campus, the power flickered.

A backup generator hummed to life.

But in the darkened security office… a new video uploaded automatically to the headmaster’s system.

In it:

A shadowy figure unlocking a staff office.

Sophia’s voice playing in the background.

And in the last frame?

Helena’s face.

Targeted. Centered.

Marked.