CHAPTER 5 — The Hidden Door
200 Words
A week later, Ava followed him.
She didn’t plan to.
It just happened.
She saw him leave the school early.
No staff meeting.
No explanation.
And something about it felt wrong.
So she waited.
Watched.
Followed at a distance.
He didn’t go home.
He went somewhere else.
A private building.
No signage.
No visible staff.
Just a coded entry system at the back.
Ava hid behind a wall, heart steady but alert.
Damien entered.
The door closed behind him.
And for the first time—
She saw something she was never meant to see.
Two men approached him inside through a cracked security camera view she could barely angle.
They bowed their heads.
Not respectfully.
Fearfully.
Damien spoke.
Ava couldn’t hear the words.
But she saw the reaction.
Instant obedience.
Cold submission.
Then one of the men handed him a folder.
Damien opened it.
And for the first time since she met him—
His expression changed.
---- ----- --
Not anger.
Not surprise.
Calculation.
Danger.
Ava stepped back slowly.
Because whatever she had just seen…
Was not a school principal.
And as she turned away—
She didn’t notice the shadow behind her that had already noticed her first.
- Writer
