First step:35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwmowdwTINP
Tim started by modifying Finn’s backpack.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8RErHgxhtZ
He’d been thinking about this for a long time,35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwEPGKX2H9f
and finally chose the most cautious and harmless method—35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOjVec4g8fP
installing a surveillance camera and a listening device.
It wasn’t because he suspected Finn.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJeyk6cF3dC
It was because he wanted to make sure everything was safe—35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTDZrEWGbSc
and to hear what Miss Nora might say.
Tim carefully disassembled components on his home workbench.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjlwpnKCTmo
Tiny lenses, a recording mic, a stable signal transmitter—35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbx4ppLVLKr
all equipment he’d used countless times before:35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSLKKM1nGA2
hidden in light fixtures, corners of walls, even vigilante masks.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0fM9UqZhz8
This time, though, was his first time hiding them...35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIkKrxinvd7
inside a dinosaur.
Yes, a dinosaur.
35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Iizt5gXVa
Tim had gone out of his way to buy Finn’s favorite kind—35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcxElsCDmjh
a red ceratopsian with a wide-open mouth and a bit of a smile.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl1qYgyQBCG
He gently undid the stitching, inserted the devices,35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlTtsMrUFHV
then sewed it back up, stitch by careful stitch.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYrLrftyMnJ
It looked good as new.
He turned it into a charm,35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHqlRW3yTOS
just the right size to hang from the zipper loop on Finn’s backpack.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDwARD6LjYU
It didn’t look suspicious at all—if anything, it was kind of cute.
The next morning, Finn’s eyes lit up the moment he saw the dinosaur.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhO6I6mBTva
"Is it mine? Is this for me? Can I bring it to school?"35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzIrWV3s4nD
"Of course," Tim smiled, attaching the dinosaur to the zipper.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhnwlDHIN5l
"I picked it just for you. You’re our family’s best little dinosaur, aren’t you?"
Finn jumped for joy, spinning around the kitchen with his backpack on.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXkpmz037Qd
He had no idea that the adorable dinosaur held35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHW9RX3qkMz
some of the adult world’s most sophisticated lies inside its belly.
Tim stood to the side, watching Finn run off to Alfred for breakfast.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGGUXSO3Alg
His expression was calm—like a chess player calculating his next move.
This is just the beginning, he thought.
35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrTkCZdMcRK
Luckily, Finn’s cubby was at the perfect angle.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXBjONoEhlF
The camera avoided the kids’ faces,35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRkCMF8ASg2
but managed to capture most of the classroom.
Tim sat in his darkroom,35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3OF5bS2BTt
facing a whole wall of surveillance monitors.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpc4DpnNDOf
The main screen showed Nora’s classroom—35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4nrkGqAfby
a space full of whimsy and childlike charm.
Colorful paper flowers, stickers, and collages filled the room.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ62AqBuuafP
Drawings of family hung on the wall,35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3xQTk3xSUN
sketches crooked and chaotic in color—35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEpGjCB3EpM
but there was a joy to them, hard to describe.
To Tim, the classroom was the polar opposite of the Batcave.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNDOK4qrjGQ
The Batcave was cold, quiet, logical, precise.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsvuZIQxxLX
This place was warm, soft, chaotic—35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAPA0XxvNIE
and yet, it had its own strange rhythm.
Children’s laughter and screams echoed nonstop.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzGRguBTjvB
He didn’t dare turn up the volume,35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3WZHtjrxgZ
afraid his ears might get blown out.
Still, he didn’t change the channel.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGEixkRrcnp
Instead, he turned the video resolution up a notch.
Now Tim finally understood35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5EnjJikJJo
why Finn had said he wanted to “marry Miss Nora” when he grew up.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeNo3lnMZNJ
This wasn’t just a kid’s crush.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhC9fYorl58
This was the kind of feeling where trusting someone made you brave.
During art class,35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqhVTkDHyDT
one child got so upset he tore his painting and yelled,35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB7O7dd7emx
"My drawing is ugly!!"
Nora knelt down—not to scold him—35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9CTb9UHcMV
but to pick up half the torn page from the floor.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBV1udPZplD
She gently said, "Then I’ll draw the second page for you, okay?"35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIxEQ6yTFAv
"You draw the ugliest star, and I’ll draw the worst sun.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeBgVXiVugc
Let’s see whose is more creatively awful."
The child bit his lip, then burst out laughing.
During dance class,35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCdmEby0FWi
she twirled with the children, her skirt spinning along,35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3geB19aDLS
and for a moment, she looked like a fairytale character35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8SFtkqxRtE
walking straight out of a movie scene.
Tim instinctively hit the record button.
Then came... something he couldn’t quite name.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkylVqSAa2t
A kid-version obstacle course, maybe—35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNHOcQYMIRV
balance beams, soft mats, platforms with traps,35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4b8X91TV9n
and even a “lava pit” made of rainbow paper.
Nora always held the hand of the most timid child,35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRya5HZ9aRi
guiding them step by step with a soft voice,35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMGj5hC01AQ
"It’s okay. You’re not alone. Come on, let’s go together, slowly."
And then—35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeUmQhjFFt4
Finn burst onto the scene.
He sprinted through the obstacles like a cheetah,35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm0JYXAdxN9
darting past every hurdle without hesitation,35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJNvnSdfdqQ
and ended with a flying somersault onto the mat—35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7vNkVZNzJ5
a perfect landing.
The whole room erupted in cheers.
Finn threw his arms wide, grinning ear to ear.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFKEkWRE1TN
"Miss Nora! I’m first! I won!!"
Nora stood and opened her arms dramatically.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVgYK2U3FOr
"Oh my goodness!! We have a champion!!"
Finn leapt into her arms, clinging to her35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6FB9m4dOX5
like he was receiving a hug on the winner’s podium.
Tim sat quietly, watching the screen.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBpX0KNCZSd
He didn’t speak.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbujxLcpeym
He didn’t take notes.
He just smiled—a small one,35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVIZVEyYT08
the kind that slips out by accident.
A moment like this… you’d never find in the Batcave.
35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtch4UEDfbp
This couldn’t go on.
That was the thought circling Tim’s mind as he stared at the screen. Five hours a day, five days a week—for two full weeks now.
And in these two weeks, Tim had confirmed several things for certain:
Nora Verell was a very good teacher.
This wasn’t a hypothesis based on data. It wasn’t an illusion created by surface-level behavior.
He saw it in how she could distinguish each child’s crying just by sound, how she silently picked up and set down a kid who had tripped, how she responded sincerely to every tiny emotional cue.
She genuinely liked children—and was doing everything she could to teach them well.
Set aside the survivalist supplies, the brutal combat kick straight to his face, and those utterly brain-melting Batman fanfics—
This woman was, without question, a trustworthy early childhood educator.
That conclusion should’ve been comforting. But instead, it irritated him.
Because none of this explained what he saw that night.
Why did she know how to fight like that? What exactly were those supplies for?
Was she hiding a past?
Who was she?
By now, Tim’s computer was filled with over a hundred screenshots from the surveillance footage—many featuring interactions between Finn and Nora.
He had fine-tuned the lighting, resolution, and angles on the images. In fact, he’d even layered multiple photos of Finn jumping into Nora’s arms, both of them smiling.
They looked good enough for a magazine cover—if it weren’t for the fact that this was illegal surveillance.
But this wasn’t a sign of mission accomplished.
35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqmO9BINo4c
It wasn’t some cute “capturing Finn’s childhood memories” photo project.
This was intel gathering. An investigation. One that wasn’t finished yet.
I need the next step.
Leaning back in his chair, Tim tapped his fingers slowly on the desk.
He knew he couldn’t just keep watching from the shadows.
It was time to act.
But not by breaking down doors or hacking into systems.
No—this time, he needed to step into the light.
He needed her to see him.
He needed to confront this woman in person. Read her voice, her reactions, her body language—her eyes.
That’s where the real story would be.
Tim’s eyes darkened.
“It’s time,” he murmured.
“…to play the part of a normal parent.”
35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtnBsxJzsQ3
and then Add to home screen.