The Locker That Shouldn’t Be Opened
623 Words
The hallway between second and third period was the usual chaos — students yelling, lockers slamming, someone arguing loudly about stolen fries. But Liora barely heard any of it.
She kept replaying Nova’s decoded message in her head.
Find the evidence before they find you.
Wonderful. Just what she needed — a scavenger hunt with life-or-death consequences.
Arin nudged her. “You okay? You look like someone told you exams were moved to today.”
“Worse,” Liora muttered. “Someone told me a secret crime group is obsessed with me.”
“Fair.”
Xaden walked ahead of them, silent and focused, scanning every corner like he expected an attack. Honestly… Liora wasn’t sure if that made her feel safer or more terrified.
“Your locker is the closest,” he said without turning around. “We start there.”
Jace yawned. “Cool. If anything jumps out, I’ll scream at a pitch only dogs can hear.”
When they reached Liora’s locker, Nova stopped short.
“Wait. Don’t touch it.”
Liora frowned. “It’s my locker.”
“Exactly, and your locker has become a magnet for danger,” Nova said, pushing her glasses up. “Let me check for tripwires, motion sensors, nanotech—”
Jace blinked. “Why would anyone put nanotech in a school locker?”
Nova stared flatly at him. “At this school? Why wouldn’t they?”
Arin nodded. “She’s not wrong.”
Nova ran a small device across the metal surface. It beeped twice.
“Okay… weird.”
“Weird good?” Liora asked.
“Weird ‘I’m concerned for your well-being’,” Nova replied.
Everyone leaned in as Nova slowly swung the locker open.
Inside, instead of textbooks or homework or the three half-eaten snacks Liora usually forgot about, there was only:
A small black notebook.
Perfectly placed.
Perfectly centered.
As if someone had arranged it that way intentionally.
Jace whispered, “Nope. No. Absolutely not. Burn it.”
Arin smacked his shoulder.
Xaden stepped forward. “Don’t touch it yet.”
Liora rolled her eyes. “Can I ever touch anything?”
“Not if you want to stay alive,” Xaden said, dead serious.
Nova scanned it again, then gave a shaky breath. “It’s safe. Just… old.”
Liora reached in and lifted the notebook.
The air around them felt colder.
She flipped it open—
And gasped.
The pages were filled with drawings.
Maps of the tunnels under Crescent High.
Sketches of strange symbols.
Arrows pointing to hidden doors.
And on the very last page was a drawing of a girl.
Liora froze.
It was her.
Labeled simply:
“The Witness.”
Her heart thudded painfully. “Why would the missing student draw me? I didn’t even know him.”
Nova flipped through the pages. “These notes… these look like Emil Dane’s handwriting. He was documenting everything.”
Arin scratched his head. “But how did it get into your locker?”
Xaden didn’t answer.
He stepped aside, scanning the hallway again, jaw tight.
“Because,” he finally said, “someone wanted her to find it.”
Nova looked nervous. “Or someone wanted everyone to know she’s involved.”
Suddenly—
THUD!
A locker down the hall slammed open on its own.
Then another.
Then another.
One by one, metal doors banged loudly like a chain reaction — echoing, rattling, sending everyone into silence.
All the lockers opened.
Except for Liora’s.
The notebook in her hands grew heavier.
Xaden whispered, “They’re watching us.”
And then, for just a split second, Liora saw it.
A shadowy figure at the end of the hall — standing perfectly still, staring at her.
Then it vanished.
- Writer
