All Chapters of The Torn Answer Sheet: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

The conversation outside stopped at once.A moment later, someone knocked twice on the door."This is Henrietta Darby, site director for today's exam. What is happening in there? Open the door, please."Stiazky's face went pale. He shot me a look sharp enough to cut, but he had no choice. He opened the door and immediately stepped in front of me, trying to hide me from view."Director Darby," he said quickly, "this candidate displayed serious irregular behavior in the testing room. I suspect he had advance knowledge of the questions, so I brought him here for verification."I raised my voice before he could bury me under his version of events."That's not true. I didn't cheat."Several officials looked past him toward me."Five minutes into the exam, Mr. Stiazky accused me because I started with the proof section. He dragged me to the boys' restroom and searched my whole body. He found nothing. Then he accused me again because I answered too quickly. He has no evidence. He's ju

The clock on the wall showed that a full hour had passed since the exam began.Under normal conditions, two hours would have been enough for me to finish the paper and review my answers. Now half of that time had been stolen before I had even properly started.I inhaled slowly and forced my anger down.The paper was still in front of me. My future was still in front of me. I could not let him take both.I began working.But after only a few problems, the memory of being searched in the restroom flashed through my mind. My clothes pulled aside. My pockets turned out. My body treated like evidence. Shame hit me so hard that my pen slipped.I shook my head, trying to clear it.Then Stiazky began making noise.He stood up and paced. He clicked his tongue. He dragged his chair closer. He leaned in until his shadow fell across the page."Mr. Stiazky," I said at last, unable to stand it, "please stay quiet. You're affecting my work.""I'm observing a suspicious candidate," he said.

The moment the principal saw the torn papers on the floor and the scratches on my arm, his face darkened."What happened here?"Mr. Lewis placed the collected fragments on the desk."Principal Anderson, Director Darby, Mr. Stiazky accused Darius of cheating, removed him from the main room, delayed him, moved him to the backup room, and after the exam ended, tore up his answer booklet."Director Darby crouched to look at the fragments. Her expression hardened."Mr. Stiazky, you are an exam proctor. How could you destroy a candidate's paper? That is a serious breach of exam procedure."Stiazky's neck stiffened."I did it to protect fairness. This student was abnormal from the start. His paper could not be allowed into scoring."Principal Anderson looked at me.I could not hold it in anymore."Sir, I didn't cheat. He started targeting me ten minutes into the exam. He said I was suspicious because I started with the long-answer section. He took me to the restroom and made me subm

When the news reached Riverside High, Principal Anderson did not fall into the trap of frantically defending himself online.He called me first."Darius, don't read the comments," he said. "We know what happened. The truth has evidence."Then he reported the matter directly to the state education department and formally requested a full investigation.That afternoon, a special investigation team from the Department of Education entered the exam site.They were experienced and efficient. The moment they arrived, they secured all relevant footage, statements, exam records, and communication logs.The surveillance recordings reconstructed the entire incident.My academic file and early-admission evaluation records were complete, detailed, and clean. There was no irregularity in my admission, no hidden privilege, and no cheating history.Then the investigators pulled Walter Stiazky's employment file and teaching records.That was when the first real thread appeared.Stiazky was t

In September, I arrived on Northbridge University's campus with a duffel bag over my shoulder.The front gates were wider and taller than I had imagined. Students moved past me in every direction, laughing, carrying coffee, pulling suitcases, wearing hoodies with names of clubs I had never heard of.Sunlight fell across the stone buildings, warm and clear.Standing there, I knew a new chapter of my life had begun.The exam incident had not broken me. If anything, it had taught me how heavy justice could be, and how much effort it sometimes took to make it land.I heard about Walter Stiazky only by accident.A classmate from home texted me one afternoon. Stiazky had been sentenced to four years in prison on multiple charges. By the time he got out, the reputation he had spent his life building was gone.He tried contacting several schools afterward, hoping someone would quietly hire him. Every one of them rejected him. No school wanted a man who had betrayed professional ethics a