The words I never said

Chapter three: The photograph

I couldn't move.

The notebook lay open on the floor, the photograph staring back at me.

I picked it up again.

My hands were still shaking.

Amara stood in the center of the photograph.

The mysterious boy stood beside her.

And behind them...

Him.

I knew that face.

I had seen it before.

Not recently.

Not in the hallway.

Not around school.

Years ago.

In a photograph hanging inside my house.

My older brother.

The brother everyone told me I had lost.

The brother whose name had slowly become something nobody in my family wanted to mention.

The brother who had disappeared without an explanation.

I turned the photograph over.

There was writing on the back.

A date.

Five years earlier.

My stomach tightened.

Five years ago.

That was the year he disappeared.

I looked at the photograph again.

Why was he standing beside Amara?

And why had she never told me?

A sound came from the hallway.

I quickly closed the notebook.

Someone was walking toward the classroom.

I pushed the photograph into my pocket and shoved the notebook inside my bag.

The footsteps stopped outside the door.

I waited.

Nothing.

Then they continued down the hallway.

I let out a breath.

For the rest of the school day, I couldn't concentrate.

Every lesson became background noise.

Every conversation sounded distant.

All I could think about was that photograph.

When the final bell rang, I didn't go home.

I went to the library.

There was one person who might know something.

The librarian had been working at the school for years.

If anyone remembered my brother, it was her.

I found her arranging books near the back shelves.

"Can I ask you something?"

She looked up.

"Of course."

I took the photograph from my pocket.

The moment she saw it, her expression changed.

She didn't touch it.

She simply stared.

"Where did you get that?"

"I found it."

She looked around the library.

Then she lowered her voice.

"You shouldn't have that."

"Why?"

She didn't answer.

"Do you know the people in this picture?"

Her eyes returned to the photograph.

"I know one of them."

"My brother?"

She went completely still.

I knew then.

She knew.

"What happened to him?"

She shook her head.

"Go home."

"Please."

"Go home."

"I deserve to know."

She looked at me for a long moment.

Then she whispered something that made my heart stop.

"Your brother didn't disappear."

I stared at her.

"What?"

She looked toward the library entrance.

"Someone made sure he couldn't come back."

Before I could ask another question, she walked away.

I stood there frozen.

Someone had made sure he couldn't come back.

Who?

Why?

And what did Amara have to do with it?

I left the library with more questions than answers.

Outside, the sky had darkened.

Rain began falling.

I walked toward the school gate, trying to make sense of everything.

Then I saw her.

Amara.

She was standing across the road.

She looked at me.

For a moment, neither of us moved.

Then she crossed toward me.

"You found it."

I stopped.

"The notebook?"

She nodded.

"How did you know?"

"I left it there."

"Why?"

She looked away.

"Because I knew you would find it."

I pulled the photograph from my pocket.

"Why is my brother in this?"

Her face went pale.

She didn't answer.

"Amara."

"I didn't know it would happen like this."

"What happened to him?"

She looked at me.

There were tears in her eyes.

"I can't tell you."

"Why?"

"Because if I do, you'll be in danger too."

I took a step closer.

"Who are you afraid of?"

She opened her mouth.

Before she could answer, a car slowed beside us.

Amara's expression changed instantly.

"Run."

"What?"

"Run!"

The car stopped.

The passenger door opened.

Amara grabbed my arm and pulled me into the narrow alley beside the school.

We ran.

Behind us, a door slammed.

Footsteps followed.

Someone was coming after us.

Amara pulled me around a corner and pressed a finger against her lips.

We stood silently in the darkness.

The footsteps came closer.

Then stopped.

A voice spoke from the other side of the wall.

"She shouldn't have brought him into this."

Amara closed her eyes.

I looked at her.

She already knew that voice.

And judging by the fear in her face...

So did I.