Book 1 - The Boy in the Yearbook: The Photograph - Chapter 6 - The Missing Page

11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlt0EsAUDss

The door upstairs creaked open again.

Nobody moved.

Clara looked at Elena.

Clara: "Your grandmother?"

Elena nodded slowly, but her eyes remained fixed on the photograph.

Elena: "Her name was Vivian Vale."

Maya stepped closer.

Maya: "And you're saying that's her?"

Elena: "I'm saying it looks exactly like her."

Adrian took the photograph from Clara.

He examined the scratched-out name beneath the girl.

Adrian: "V...E."

Elena: "Vivian Evelyn Vale."

Noah frowned.

Noah: "Evelyn?"

Elena nodded.

Elena: "That was her middle name."

Clara's stomach tightened.

Clara: "Professor Ashcroft's name is Evelyn."

Nobody spoke.

The connection suddenly felt too obvious.

Too strange.

Elena shook her head.

Elena: "No. That's not possible."

Maya: "What isn't?"

Elena: "My grandmother died before I was born. She never talked about Professor Ashcroft."

Clara looked at the photograph again.

Clara: "But she knew her."

Elena: "Apparently."

Adrian placed the photograph back inside the envelope.

Adrian: "We need to find the original."

Noah: "Original of what?"

Adrian: "This photograph."

He looked around the study.

Adrian: "My father didn't keep copies of anything."

Maya raised an eyebrow.

Maya: "You just said he had a box full of photographs."

Adrian: "Because he wanted to remember."

He paused.

Adrian: "But he also wanted certain things forgotten."

Clara looked toward the desk.

Clara: "There could be more."

She began opening drawers.

Noah joined her.

Maya searched the bookshelves.

Elena remained near the photograph.

Adrian walked toward a cabinet in the corner.

He tried the handle.

Locked.

Adrian: "This wasn't locked before."

Clara turned.

Clara: "Can you open it?"

Adrian: "No."

Maya walked over.

She examined the lock.

Maya: "It's old."

Noah: "That's helpful."

Maya: "I wasn't finished."

She crouched down.

Maya: "There are scratches around the keyhole."

Clara knelt beside her.

Clara: "Someone's been opening it."

Maya nodded.

Maya: "Recently."

Adrian's expression darkened.

Adrian: "My father."

Noah: "Or someone who has his key."

A sound came from upstairs.

This time, everyone heard it.

Footsteps.

Then another sound.

A drawer closing.

Adrian immediately turned toward the door.

Adrian: "Stay here."

Clara: "No."

Adrian: "Clara."

Clara: "We're all involved now."

Noah nodded.

Noah: "She's right."

Adrian looked irritated.

But he didn't argue.

They left the study together.

The upstairs hallway was empty.

Clara looked toward the end of the corridor.

Her father's bedroom door was closed.

Adrian's father's study was open.

No one was inside.

Maya: "Maybe it was the house settling."

Noah gave her a look.

Noah: "A house doesn't close drawers."

Maya sighed.

Maya: "I was trying to be optimistic."

They entered the study.

Everything looked untouched.

Until Clara noticed a photograph on the desk.

She picked it up.

It was another picture of Elliot.

This time, he was alone.

Standing in the east wing.

Clara's heart began beating faster.

Clara: "This is the photograph Professor Ashcroft warned us about."

Adrian looked over her shoulder.

Adrian: "Turn it around."

Clara remembered the warning.

Don't look behind him.

She hesitated.

Then turned the photograph over.

Nothing.

Only a date.

October 14, 1987.

No message.

No handwriting.

No explanation.

Noah: "That's it?"

Clara nodded.

Noah: "Then why did Ashcroft tell you not to look behind him?"

Clara turned the photograph around.

She studied the background.

Elliot was standing in a narrow corridor.

At the end was a door.

Above it was a small plaque.

ARCHIVE B.

Maya immediately pulled out her phone.

Maya: "There is no Archive B in the current school map."

Adrian looked at the photograph.

Adrian: "There used to be."

Clara turned toward him.

Clara: "Where?"

Adrian: "East wing."

Noah shook his head.

Noah: "The east wing has been sealed for years."

Adrian: "Exactly."

Clara stared at the photograph.

Clara: "Then that's where we're going."

Adrian shook his head.

Adrian: "No."

Clara: "Why?"

Adrian: "Because if my father was involved, there's a reason that wing was sealed."

Clara stepped closer.

Clara: "You said you wanted answers."

Adrian: "I do."

Clara: "Then help me find them."

Their eyes met.

For a moment, the room disappeared around them.

Adrian looked away first.

Adrian: "Tomorrow."

Clara: "Tonight."

Adrian: "Absolutely not."

Clara: "Scared?"

Adrian looked back at her.

Adrian: "Yes."

The honesty surprised her.

Adrian: "And you should be too."

The next morning, Clara returned to school before classes.

Noah was waiting near the library.

Maya arrived five minutes later.

Elena was already there.

Adrian showed up last.

He looked like he hadn't slept.

Noah: "Ready?"

Adrian shook his head.

Adrian: "No."

Maya smiled.

Maya: "Excellent."

They made their way toward the east wing.

The hallway was blocked by a metal gate.

A sign hung across it.

AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.

Clara looked at the lock.

Clara: "How do we get through?"

Adrian pulled out a key.

Noah stared at him.

Noah: "Where did you get that?"

Adrian: "My father."

The lock clicked.

The gate opened.

The air on the other side was noticeably colder.

Dust covered the floor.

The lights didn't work.

They used their phone flashlights as they moved deeper into the abandoned hallway.

Old classroom doors lined the walls.

Some had numbers.

Others had no signs at all.

Finally, they reached the end.

A wooden door stood there.

Above it was a rusted plaque.

ARCHIVE B.

Clara's heart raced.

She reached for the handle.

Locked.

Adrian looked at the key.

It didn't fit.

Maya examined the door.

Maya: "There's something written here."

She brushed dust away.

A sentence had been carved into the wood.

SOME STORIES SHOULD STAY BURIED.

Noah looked at Clara.

Noah: "Maybe we should listen."

Clara reached into her pocket.

She pulled out the photograph of Elliot.

She held it against the door.

For a second, nothing happened.

Then—

A click.

Everyone froze.

The door unlocked itself.

Adrian stepped back.

Adrian: "I didn't do that."

Clara slowly opened the door.

Inside was a small archive room.

Boxes covered the floor.

Old yearbooks lined the shelves.

Maya walked in first.

Maya: "This place hasn't been opened in years."

Noah pointed toward a shelf.

Noah: "Look."

There was a row of yearbooks.

Clara pulled out the 1987 edition.

She opened it.

The class photograph was there.

But something was different.

The page looked damaged.

A rectangular section had been cut out.

Clara stared.

Clara: "Elliot's picture."

Maya nodded.

Maya: "Someone removed it."

Adrian turned the page.

The entire next section had been torn out.

Adrian: "There's more."

They looked through the book.

Pages were missing from the same section.

Names.

Photographs.

Events.

Everything connected to October 1987 had been removed.

Noah picked up a loose page from the floor.

His face changed.

Noah: "Guys."

Clara took it.

It was a class photograph.

Elliot stood in the center.

Beside him were Clara's father and Adrian's father.

And behind them stood Professor Ashcroft.

But there was another person.

A girl.

Vivian Vale.

Elena covered her mouth.

Elena: "My grandmother."

Clara looked closer.

Someone had written something across the photograph.

WE WERE SIX.

Noah frowned.

Noah: "Six?"

They counted.

Elliot.

Clara's father.

Adrian's father.

Evelyn Ashcroft.

Vivian Vale.

That made five.

Clara looked toward the empty space beside Elliot.

There was a sixth person whose photograph had been removed.

Only the outline remained.

Maya whispered:

Maya: "Who was the sixth?"

Before anyone could answer, the archive door slammed shut.

The lights flickered on.

For one second, the room was completely illuminated.

Then they saw it.

On the wall opposite them was a massive photograph.

Six teenagers standing together.

And in the center—

Elliot.

Written underneath the photograph were six names.

Five were familiar.

The sixth had been scratched away.

Clara stepped closer.

Her fingers touched the damaged name.

A single letter remained.

Behind them, someone whispered:

"You shouldn't have come here."

They spun around.

The room was empty.

Then Clara heard the lock turn.

From the outside.

11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI2ClKfrOXK
11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk4MOd24d7a

ns216.73.216.103da2

Reading Theme:

Font Size:

Line Spacing:

Paragraph Spacing:

Load the next issue automatically