A suspicion.
Her locker is small, tucked in a corner near the staff room.I don’t touch anything, don’t snoop, don’t cross that line.
I don’t need to.
Because sitting on the floor, half hidden where her bag must have bumped it, is a piece of crumpled paper.
White.
Folded.
Not discarded.
Dropped.
My pulse jumps.
I crouch down and pick it up.
It’s light.Thin.One sheet.
Not team stationery.
Not facility paper.
Just...a plain white page.
My chest tightens as I unfold it.
Four words stare back at me.
STAY AWAY FROM THEM.
The world narrows.
Then sharpens.
Then goes perfectly, unnervingly quiet.
Someone threatened her.
Someone came into our building, intomyterritory, and slid this under her locker like it was nothing.
She didn’t tell us.
She’s scared.
She’s alone with something she shouldn’t be alone with.
I fold the note slowly.Deliberately.Like I’m folding a contract in blood.
I slip it into my pocket.
I don’t think.
I don’t breathe.
I just move.
