Book 1 - The Boy in the Yearbook: The Photograph - Chapter 11 - The Photograph

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Clara ran.

She didn't know where she was going.

She only knew that someone—or something—had whispered run beside her ear, and every instinct in her body told her to listen.

Noah: "Clara!"

She heard Noah behind her.

Maya.

Elena.

Adrian.

Footsteps echoed through the darkness as all five of them rushed through Archive C.

Then the lights suddenly came back on.

Clara stopped.

The room was empty.

Professor Ashcroft was gone.

So was Elliot's journal.

Maya: "Where did she go?"

Noah looked toward the door.

Noah: "There was nowhere for her to go."

Adrian walked toward the steel entrance.

He examined the lock.

Adrian: "It was never opened."

Clara stared at him.

Clara: "Then how did she leave?"

Adrian didn't answer.

Elena slowly turned around.

Her flashlight moved across the shelves.

Elena: "Maybe she didn't."

Everyone looked at her.

Noah: "What does that mean?"

Elena pointed toward the back of the archive.

Elena: "Look."

A narrow doorway had appeared between two shelves.

Clara's heart sank.

Clara: "That wasn't there before."

Adrian approached it.

He touched the frame.

Adrian: "It's an old passage."

Maya frowned.

Maya: "Where does it go?"

Adrian looked into the darkness.

Adrian: "I don't know."

Clara stepped forward.

Noah: "You're not going in there."

She looked at him.

Clara: "We need to find the journal."

Noah: "And Professor Ashcroft."

Clara: "Exactly."

Noah sighed.

Noah: "Fine."

They entered.

The passage was narrow.

The walls were made of old stone.

Water dripped somewhere in the darkness.

Clara kept one hand against the wall as she walked.

After several minutes, the passage opened into a small room.

There was almost nothing inside.

One chair.

One desk.

One filing cabinet.

And a single photograph pinned to the wall.

Clara stopped.

The photograph was black and white.

Old.

Faded.

But she recognized him immediately.

Elliot.

The mysterious boy from the yearbook.

Except this photograph was different.

He wasn't standing outside the school.

He wasn't standing with the others.

He was sitting in a room.

Looking directly at the camera.

And behind him was a wall covered in photographs.

Clara stepped closer.

Clara: "That's Elliot."

Adrian nodded.

Adrian: "Definitely."

Maya pointed at the photograph.

Maya: "Look at the date."

In the lower corner:

October 14, 1987 — 11:52 P.M.

Elena's face went pale.

Elena: "That's the night he disappeared."

Clara stared at Elliot.

He looked frightened.

Not angry.

Not mysterious.

Terrified.

She noticed something else.

A silver pendant hung around his neck.

The same pendant Professor Ashcroft wore.

Clara: "Why does he have her pendant?"

Noah moved closer.

Noah: "Maybe she gave it to him."

Maya shook her head.

Maya: "There's more."

She pointed behind Elliot.

The photographs on the wall.

Clara zoomed in with her phone.

There were dozens.

Students.

Teachers.

Blackwood families.

People Clara recognized.

Then she saw one that made her stomach drop.

A photograph of herself.

Older.

Standing in front of the school.

Clara stepped backward.

Clara: "That's me."

Noah stared.

Noah: "No."

Clara: "It is."

She looked at the date.

October 14, 2026.

Her blood turned cold.

Today's date.

Maya: "That's impossible."

Elena: "How can a photograph taken today be in a picture from 1987?"

Nobody had an answer.

Clara moved closer to the wall.

There were photographs of Noah.

Maya.

Elena.

Adrian.

All dated October 14, 2026.

All apparently taken inside Blackwood Academy.

Adrian: "Someone is watching us."

Noah looked around.

Noah: "Right now?"

Adrian nodded.

Adrian: "Maybe."

Clara stared at the photographs.

Then she noticed something.

Every photograph showed them standing alone.

Except one.

Adrian's photograph showed him standing beside Elliot.

Clara looked at Adrian.

Clara: "Why are you with him?"

Adrian didn't answer.

He stared at the photograph.

Adrian: "I don't know."

Clara: "You don't remember?"

Adrian: "I've never met him."

Maya pointed to the date.

Maya: "This one is from today too."

Adrian took a step backward.

Adrian: "That's impossible."

Clara studied the photograph.

Elliot looked exactly the same age.

Exactly seventeen.

As though thirty-nine years had never passed.

Then Clara noticed something written underneath it.

HE NEVER AGED.

She whispered:

Clara: "What?"

The words seemed to echo.

Noah moved beside her.

Noah: "Read that again."

Clara: "He never aged."

Elena shook her head.

Elena: "That's not possible."

A soft clicking sound came from the desk.

Everyone turned.

A small cassette recorder had switched itself on.

Static filled the room.

Then a boy's voice.

Young.

Calm.

Familiar.

Elliot: "If you're hearing this, then you've found the second photograph."

Clara's breath caught.

Noah looked at her.

The recording continued.

Elliot: "They will tell you I'm dead."

Static.

Elliot: "They're lying."

Clara stepped toward the recorder.

Elliot: "They will tell you I'm dangerous."

Another pause.

Elliot: "They're lying about that too."

Clara's hands trembled.

Elliot: "The only thing they will never tell you..."

The recording crackled.

Elliot: "...is why Clara Blackwood was chosen."

Clara froze.

Clara: "Chosen for what?"

The tape continued.

Elliot: "If Clara finds this, tell her one thing."

Static.

Then his voice became softer.

Elliot: "Don't trust the person who says they remember me."

The tape stopped.

Nobody moved.

Then Elena whispered:

Elena: "Professor Ashcroft."

Clara shook her head.

Clara: "Maybe."

Adrian looked toward the doorway.

Adrian: "We need to leave."

A loud bang came from the passage.

Everyone jumped.

Noah grabbed Clara's hand.

Noah: "Now."

They rushed toward the passage.

But Clara stopped.

Something on the desk had caught her attention.

Another photograph.

It had been hidden beneath the cassette recorder.

She picked it up.

Her heart stopped.

It showed Elliot standing beside a young girl.

The girl had long dark hair.

A familiar face.

Clara.

But she wasn't six years old this time.

She looked exactly as she did now.

Same face.

Same age.

Same eyes.

Clara turned the photograph over.

Three words were written on the back.

WE REMEMBERED TOGETHER.

She stared at it.

Clara: "That's me."

Adrian looked over her shoulder.

His expression changed.

Adrian: "Clara..."

She looked at him.

Clara: "What?"

He pointed to the bottom corner.

There was a date.

Not 1987.

Not 1997.

Not even 2026.

It read:

OCTOBER 14, 2031.

Clara's heart stopped.

Maya: "That's five years from now."

Noah: "How could Clara be in a photograph from five years in the future?"

No one answered.

Then the photograph changed.

The ink began spreading across the back.

New words appeared.

HE'S WAITING FOR YOU.

Then another sentence.

BUT HE'S NOT THE BOY YOU THINK HE IS.

Clara dropped the photograph.

The lights went out.

A voice whispered from the darkness.

Not through a recording.

Not through a phone.

Not from a hallway.

It was right beside her.

Elliot: "Clara."

She froze.

Elliot: "You finally came back."

Then the emergency lights flickered on.

Everyone was staring at Clara.

She was standing alone.

But on the wall behind her—

a new photograph had appeared.

It showed Clara and Elliot standing together.

And this time, someone had written beneath them:

THE SIXTH HAS BEEN FOUND.

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