Chapter 2 - The Message in the DarkNo one moved. Even the pool water seemed to grow still, the blue surface trembling beneath the lights like it was afraid to make a sound.

“I was six years old,” I said, my voice carrying through the speakers. “There was a fire in the pool house behind my grandparents’ place. Everyone said it was an accident. Chloe was trapped inside. I went back in for her. I pushed her through a window before the ceiling came down. I was still inside when the fire reached me.”

The phones trembled. Somebody near the pool whispered, “Oh my God.”

Chloe shook her head sharply. “No! You don’t get to do this!”

I turned toward her. “I didn’t want to do this. You did.”

Noah spoke from the back fence, his voice rough and low. “Chloe... stop.”

My father stepped onto the patio beside me. “Maya is telling the truth,” he said firmly.

Chloe stared at him, betrayal blazing through her face. “Dad... you promised!”

My father flinched. “I promised to protect two little girls. I did not promise to let one of them destroy the other.”

I picked up my robe and folded it over my arm instead of putting it back on. Let them look. Let them remember. Let them know exactly what they had mocked.

I walked toward the glass doors, and the crowd parted for me. Noah moved as if to follow, but I stopped without turning around. “Don’t,” I said.

“Maya, please,” he choked out.

“You had a year to ask me for the truth, Noah. You chose the lie because it was easier.”

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I went inside and shut the door behind me. For the first time that night, the house was quiet. Then my phone buzzed in my palm. The message came from an unknown number. It contained only one sentence, but it made the room tilt beneath my feet:

Ask your father who locked the door.