CHAPTER 8: BEHIND 'LOCKER 27'🛅
548 Words
The next morning, Ethan, Sophie, and Jemimah arrived at Evercrest Academy earlier than usual. None of them had stopped thinking about the silver key.
"What if it really opens Locker 27?" Jemimah asked as they hurried through the classroom.
"Then we'll finally have a real clue," Ethan replied.
Sophie glanced around the corridor.
"Let's wait until after school. There'll be fewer people around."
The three agreed.
Throughout the day, Locker '27' lingered in their minds. During Mathematics, Sophie stared out the window. At break time, Vanessa whispered something to Alicia before the two girls burst into laughter and glanced in Ethan's direction.
"Ignore them," Jemimah muttered.
"I'll try to," Sophie replied.
After the final bell, the three friends met outside the library.
"You still have the key?" Jemimah asked.
Ethan reached into his pocket and held it up.
"It's been with me all day."
Together, they walked to the old locker corridor.
Everything was quiet.
Locker 27 stood exactly where they had left it.
Ethan inserted the key.
Click.
The locker door slowly creaked open.
Inside wasn't money or exam questions.
It was a small brown envelope.
Sophie carefully picked it up.
Written across the front were the words:
"For the ones who chose the truth."
Jemimah looked at Ethan.
"Open it."
Inside the envelope were three things:
A faded photograph.
A folded sheet of paper.
An old prefect's badge.
The photograph showed a group of students standing in front of Evercrest Academy many years earlier.
On the back, someone had written:
"The truth disappeared with us."
Sophie unfolded the paper.
It wasn't a letter.
It was part of an old school newspaper.
The headline read:
"Top Student Suspended After False Accusations."
The rest of the article had been torn away.
"Someone removed the most important part," Ethan said.
Jemimah held up the prefect's badge.
"It belongs to a former Head Prefect."
Before they could examine it further, footsteps echoed through the corridor.
Someone was coming.
"Hide!" Jemimah whispered.
The three quickly slipped into the empty classroom beside the lockers, leaving the locker door slightly open.
A tall figure wearing a hoodie stopped in front of Locker 27.
The person's face couldn't be seen.
They looked inside the locker, then suddenly froze.
The envelope was gone.
The hooded figure looked around the corridor for a few seconds before walking away without saying a word.
Only after the footsteps faded did the three friends come out.
"Did either of you recognise that person?" Sophie asked.
Ethan shook his head.
"They knew exactly where to come," Jemimah frowned.
"Which means they expected the envelope to still be there."
Sophie carefully placed everything back inside the envelope.
"We're keeping these safe."
As they walked toward the school gate, Jemimah suddenly stopped.
"My notebook..."
"What about it?" Ethan asked.
"I left it in class."
"I'll come with you," Sophie said.
"I'll wait here," Ethan replied.
The two girls hurried back to the classroom.
The room was empty.
Jemimah found her notebook on her desk.
But there was something tucked inside it.
She slowly pulled out a folded piece of paper.
Her smile disappeared.
"What is it?" Sophie asked.
Jemimah silently handed her the note.
In neat black ink, it read:
"Stop helping them... or you'll be the next victim."
- Writer
