CTRL

who is CTRL

🌒 CTRL 🌒

Chapter Eight....

Thursday mornings were meant to be slow

But nothing about Eden Heights High was slow anymore.

The secrets were multiplying, CTRL was heating you, and beneath the perfect clothes and polished shoes, students were fraying at the seams.

Especially Alia.

And that's exactly when Tami found her.

Behind the science lab during free period, Alia leaned against the wall, eyes closed earbuds in, pretending not to exist. The hallway was quiet, the kind of quiet that hurt.

Until a shadow fell cross her sneakers and she looked up.

Tami.

Alia's face hardened . "What do you want?'

Tami didn't answer immediately.

She stepped forward - slowly, carefully.l - like she was walking into a memory.

*I need to talk you," she said.

Alia scoffed. "Why? You want to warn me about another guy you secretly liked?"

Tami flinched, but didn't back way. "No. Not about the past. About now."

Alia folded her arms.

Tami's voice lowered

Alia blinked, then smirked. "So we're doing this again?"

"I'm serious, Alia. I don't know what his deal is, but...I've been watching. Checking things. His transfer - something's off. He showed up in the middle of a digital war. He's charming. He's smart...too smart. And people like that? CTRL loves them."

"So what? Now you're stalking my love life too? So you're saying Zahid is CTRL?"

"Alia -"

"No! You don't get to come back into my life and start telling me who's good for me. Not after everything you said." She paused. "Not after that leak."

"You think I'd like to you?"

"You think I can trust you?"

Tami's voice cracked - just a little. "He's not safe, Alia."

"You know what's not safe? You, Tami. You twist everything. You ruin people's peace and then you cry victim."

A pause.

Alia shook her head slowly. "You always do this."

"What?"

"Try to protect me by deciding for me. Maybe I don't need you to fill things anymore."

Tami swallowed. "Maybe not. But I still care. I'll always care."

Alia didn't answer. She didn't walk away either.

Tami finally did.

Zahid found Alia again in the art room - always where no one else looked. She sat on a stool, headphones on, making light strokes on her sketchpad.

"You know, for someone so quiet, you make a lot of noise in people's heads."

She took her headphones off and smiled without looking up. "Was that a compliment or a diagnosis?"

"Maybe a little of both."

He sat beside her, his cologne clean and expensive, his voice low and slow.

"You've been dodging me."

"I've been thinking."

"About?"

She raised her head. "You. This place. Whether you came to Eden Heights for a reason."

Zahid's smile didn't flicker.

"I came here to leave fake people behind."

"And why if Eden Heights is full of them?"

He leaned in. "Then I'll just stay near the real ones."

A pause.

Then - a kiss.

Soft. Short. Right on the cheek.

And dangerous.

Her cheeks burned.

Not because he didn't like it....but because she did.

Alia received a new message that evening.

No name. Private number. No profile pic.

Just plain black text

"You were never the target.

You were the perfect distraction."

Her blood ran cold.

She typed:

"Who is this?"

No reply.

She switched apps. Opened Zahid's chat.

"Why did you really come to Eden Heights?"

He replied in less than thirty seconds.

"Fresh start. I wanted peace. I didn't

expect to meet someone like you though. That's the truth."

She stared at it for a long time.

CTRL Encrypted Group Chat - Extract #5

@RedQueen: She'd doubting.

@Echo: The message hit.

@MOTHER: Tami's interference may delay things.

@GhosType: Let her question everything.

@Echo: We leak the file tomorrow.

@MOTHER: Eden Heights has no idea what's coming.

Exactly 9:00p.m. again, CTRL posted.

A photo.

A school record...zoomed in - faint, but clear if you knew what to look for.

Zahid Van Astor - Former Student

School: Wellington Academy

Status: Withdrawn

Reason: Conduct Unspecified

The caption read;

"You don't outrun your past .

You just change campuses."

Alia didn't sleep that night.