What Happened in Hamburg
940 Words
Leon is still standing in front of me.
Watching me.
Like he can hear my thoughts.
Which would be extremely rude.
I look at Sofia.
She looks at Leon.
Then at me.
This is becoming a very uncomfortable triangle.
And not the romantic kind.
Definitely not.
“Did you?” Leon asks.
“Did I what?”
“Get a text.”
I pretend to think.
“Maybe.”
His expression doesn't change.
“Amara.”
“Fine. Yes.”
Sofia looks between us.
“How did you know?”
Leon ignores her.
“What did it say?”
“Why?”
“Because I need to know.”
I lean back.
“You're very demanding for someone who stole my seat on his first day.”
“That was weeks ago.”
“Emotionally, it was yesterday.”
Sofia snorts.
Leon almost smiles.
Almost.
Then he looks at me again.
“What did it say?”
I unlock my phone.
I show him.
Don't trust Leon.
I know what happened at his old school.
His eyes move across the screen.
He doesn't look surprised.
Not even slightly.
My stomach twists.
“You know what they're talking about.”
He hands my phone back.
“Don't listen to strangers.”
“That isn't an answer.”
“It is.”
“No, it's an instruction.”
He looks at me.
“Then don't listen to them.”
I stare.
“That's your solution?”
“Yes.”
“Brilliant. I'll write that down.”
He waits.
I cross my arms.
“Okay. Tell me what happened.”
“No.”
I blink.
“No?”
“No.”
“You're not even going to pretend?”
“I don't want to talk about it.”
“That's suspicious.”
“I know.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because you're suspicious.”
“Because you're suspicious!”
Sofia slowly picks up her drink.
“I feel like I should leave.”
“No,” I say.
“Yes,” Leon says.
We both look at her.
She points between us.
“You two are exhausting.”
Then she gets up.
Traitor.
I turn back to Leon.
“What happened in Hamburg?”
His expression changes.
Just a little.
But I see it.
His shoulders tense.
His jaw tightens.
Then it's gone.
“Nothing.”
I laugh.
“Nothing?”
“Yes.”
“People don't send mysterious warnings about nothing.”
“You don't know that.”
“You literally just admitted you know what they're talking about.”
“I know what happened.”
“Same thing.”
“No.”
I stare at him.
He looks away.
That is the first time I've seen Leon avoid eye contact.
And somehow, that scares me more than anything else.
“Was someone hurt?”
He doesn't answer.
My stomach drops.
“Leon.”
“No.”
The answer comes too quickly.
I study him.
“You're lying.”
“No.”
“You are.”
“You talk too much.”
“You avoid questions.”
“You ask too many.”
“That is because you answer none of them.”
He looks at me.
For one second, neither of us speaks.
Then he says quietly, “You shouldn't listen to strangers.”
I frown.
“Why?”
“Because you don't know what they want.”
“What do they want?”
“I don't know.”
“Then how do you know I shouldn't listen?”
“Because people don't warn you for free.”
I stare at him.
That sounds like something someone with experience would say.
I lower my voice.
“Should I trust you?”
He looks at me.
I expect him to say yes.
He doesn't.
“I don't know.”
My heart sinks.
“That's reassuring.”
“I'm not asking you to trust me.”
“Good.”
“I'm asking you to be careful.”
He picks up his bag.
Then pauses.
“If someone contacts you again, tell me.”
I raise an eyebrow.
“Why?”
“So I know what you're dealing with.”
“And what are you dealing with?”
He looks at me.
“Something I left behind.”
Then he walks away.
I sit there.
Completely still.
Something he left behind.
Great.
Very normal.
Very comforting.
I pull out my phone again.
The messages are still there.
Don't trust Leon.
I know what happened at his old school.
For the first time, I don't know which message scares me more.
The anonymous one.
Or Leon's.
I find Sofia after class.
She's sitting on a bench outside the library with her laptop open.
“You look like you've been investigating a murder.”
“Give me five minutes.”
She doesn't look up.
“What are you searching?”
“Leon.”
“That's creepy.”
“So is your face when you're suspicious.”
“Thank you.”
I sit beside her.
“What do you know?”
“Not much.”
“That's never stopped you before.”
She smiles.
“True.”
Her fingers move across the keyboard.
Then she suddenly stops.
“Oh.”
“What?”
She turns the laptop toward me.
There it is.
International School Hamburg.
I stare at the name.
My stomach twists.
“So that's where he went.”
Sofia nods.
I look at the screen again.
International School Hamburg.
A school.
A name.
A place where something happened that Leon refuses to explain.
And now I finally know where to start looking.
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