CTRL

secrets from the past

🌒 CTRL 🌒

Chapter Seven....

Cassie Andrews had a rule

Don't owe anyone. Ever.

Favors were just disguised chains, and secrets? Those were currency.

The problem? CTRL didn't just trade secrets, they weaponized them.

It started with a note, folded and slipped into her locker between classes. She opened it without flinching.

"We know what you did. You're

not as clean as you pretend to be.

Help us...or we help everyone else."

-CTRL

Her fingers crushed the paper slowly. No one was around, but somehow......someone always was.

In Year 9, Cassie helped a senior cheat on their end of term exam by building a dummy grading account. He was caught. She wasn't.

He kept her name out of it. But CTRL? They found out anyway

And now they wanted to use her.

"Hey," Zahid said, catching up to Alia at the water fountain.

She smiled - cautious, but not cold. "Hey."

"You always this quiet?" He asked.

"Only when I don't trust people."

He smirked. "Smart girl. So tell me why you're still talking to me."

She shrugged. "Still deciding."

He stepped closer, voice low. "Then let me make your decision easier."

It wasn't flirtation. It was intentional. His eyes locked with hers. There was heat, yes. But beyond that - mystery.

And Tami saw all of it. From a distance. From behind her locker. Her face unreadable, lips tight.

CTRL Encrypted Group Chat - Extract #4

ctrl.command.exe.

@RedQueen: Zahid's pulling her in.

@MOTHER: Good. She's drifting and she needs a tether.

@Echo: Zayn's too quiet.

@RedQueen: I think he's suspecting something.

@GhosType: Let him watch. Let him doubt.

@MOTHER: Focus on Cassie. She's the crack we need.

@GhosType: Send the file.

That night, Cassie was alone in her room. Hoodie on, heavy metal music low, laptop open.

CTRL's message blinked on her screen.

"Remember this?"

Attached was a file.

A screenshot of her student record from July. A transcript of her old chat logs with an upperclassman who got suspended for cheating. The rumor that never made it out - because Cassie buried it.

"Keep helping Tami and we drop the file

to the entire staff portal. Or....feed

us everything she's planning. We

don't want you. Just her."

Her jaw tightened.

They weren't just threatening her. They were activating her.

Tami was calling. Cassie just stared at the screen. Her chest tightened. One choice could save her secret. The other? Might destroy the only real friendship she had ever been able to build. But then... Cassie Andrews didn't crack.

Not for anyone.

CTRL Encrypted Group Chat - Extract #5

ctrl.command.exe.

@GhosType: Cassie is in the corner. She won't last.

@Echo: What if she flips on us?

@MOTHER: She won't. Not if she wants her secret safe.

@RedQueen: You sure we're the monsters here?

@GhisType: We Don need to be monsters...or heroes. Just the last ones standing.

At school the next day, Clara was everywhere Tami was. Smiling. Handing her coffee. Sharing class notes....a perfect best friend.

And yet....

Cassie watched them from the shadows. Her instincts prickled. Something didn't add up.

And when Clara left her phone on the bench during gym..... Cassie couldn't help it.

She peeked.

A message thread..... encrypted. Hidden behind a dummy app.

The sender?

Someone with the username @Echo.

The last message read:

"She trusts me completely now.

We move next Friday."

Cassie's blood ran cold.

Meanwhile, Zayn was watching everything.

Zahid laughing with Alia. Tami trying to look unaffected. Clara pretending. Cassie twitchy.

It was all falling apart - and he could feel it.

He found himself on the court at lunch... expecting everyone to be alone. He was.

Until Tami showed up. Bo words at first. Just quiet.

Then Zayn spoke up.

"You ever get the feeling that you're not the one writing your story anymore?"

Tami exhaled, long and slow. "Yeah. Every damn day."

He looked at her. "I miss when thing were easy."

She looked at him. "They never were."

And for a moment, the silence felt safe again.

CTRL posted again, 9:00p.m.

"Loyalty is a lie.

Everyone break eventually."

Attached was a voice recording.

Just breathing. Faint music in the background.

Then....

"She think I'm her friend. But she's useful. Nothing more."

The voice was distorted.

But it sounded like Clara.

Tami listened to it in bed, jaws clenched, eyes wide.

She didn't know what to believe anymore.