Chapter 8: The Boy Who Was Buried Twice
Maya refused to sit down.
She stood in the middle of the office staring at the screen.
At a face she believed she would never see again.
At a name she had mourned for five years.
“This is a mistake,” she whispered.
Nobody argued.
Because nobody knew what else to say.
Aaron opened another database.
“Sometimes facial recognition systems make errors.””
Maya nodded quickly.
“Yes.””
She sounded like she needed that answer.
“He’s not alive.””
But Aaron didn’t look convinced.
He searched again.
Then his expression changed.
“Interesting.””
“What?”” Officer Reyes asked.
“The system didn’t match him from a school database.””
Mr. Harris frowned.
“Then what did it match?””
Aaron turned the laptop.
“It matched a district employee file.””
My stomach tightened.
“Employee?””
Aaron nodded.
“The system believes Ethan Parker is currently employed by the district.””
Maya laughed once.
A broken, nervous sound.
“That’s impossible.””
Aaron looked at her.
“Unless someone changed the records.””
The room became silent again.
I was starting to understand something.
The truth wasn’t hidden because nobody knew.
The truth was hidden because someone worked very hard to erase it.
Maya slowly sat down.
“My brother was sixteen.””
She stared at the floor.
“He was always asking questions.””
“What kind of questions?”” I asked.
She looked at me.
“The kind adults don’t like.””
Aaron pulled up Ethan’s old records.
Most of them were empty.
Too empty.
“There’s something strange here.””
“What?””
“His student records were deleted.””
Mr. Harris looked shocked.
“Deleted?””
“Yes.””
“By who?””
Aaron searched.
Then stopped.
“The person who authorized the deletion.””
Everyone waited.
He turned the screen.
A name appeared.
*Gregory Wells.*
My chest tightened.
Again.
Always Gregory.
Maya closed her eyes.
“My brother was trying to expose him.””
Aaron nodded.
“And someone made sure nobody believed him.””
A notification appeared on the laptop.
Everyone looked.
A new file had uploaded.
Nobody touched anything.
Aaron opened it carefully.
It was a scanned document.
An old report.
The title read:
*INCIDENT REVIEW — ETHAN PARKER.*
Maya moved closer.
The first page showed a signature.
But the signature wasn’t from Gregory Wells.
It was from someone else.
Someone we hadn’t expected.
Someone inside the school.
Mr. Harris.
The principal stepped back.
“No.””
Maya looked at him.
“You signed this?””
Mr. Harris looked horrified.
“I don’t remember.””
“You signed that my brother’s death was an accident.””
He shook his head.
“I was told the investigation was complete.””
“By who?””
He didn’t answer.
Aaron looked at the document.
“The report was modified.””
“How do you know?””
“There are missing pages.””
He scrolled down.
“The original file had eight pages.””
A pause.
“This one has five.””
Then a sound came from the hallway.
A door closing.
Officer Reyes immediately moved.
“I’ll check.””
He left the room.
Seconds later, we heard his voice.
“Someone’s here!””
Everyone rushed out.
At the end of the hallway stood a person.
A teenage boy.
Dark hoodie.
Same bracelet.
Same face.
Maya stopped breathing.
“Ethan?””
The boy looked at her.
For a moment, nobody moved.
Then Maya whispered the name again.
“Ethan…”
The boy’s eyes filled with tears.
“I’m sorry.””
Maya covered her mouth.
“You’re alive.””
He looked at her.
“Yes.””
Five years of pain.
Five years of questions.
Five years of believing she lost him.
All collapsed into one moment.
Then Ethan looked at me.
And my blood ran cold.
Because he wasn’t looking at me like a stranger.
He looked at me like he already knew me.
“Malik,” he said.
I stepped back.
“How do you know my name?””
Ethan looked at Aaron.
Then at my mother’s file.
And finally back at me.
“Because I was there when your mother found out what Gregory Wells was doing.””
My heart stopped.
“What was he doing?””
Ethan’s expression turned serious.
“The same thing he’s trying to do now.””
He looked around.
“Erase the evidence.””
Then he said something that made everyone freeze.
“Your mother didn’t just file a complaint.””
May you like
A pause.
“She found the original records.””
