> "There's no such thing as silence. Even stillness holds echoes."
— From Eliora's final unsent letter
---
📚 The Sit-In
It started with six students.
Jayden, Zuri, Reina, Ugo, Bianca — and the new girl from JSS3 who had been quietly collecting names all term.
They sat on the assembly hall floor before morning announcements, backs straight, eyes forward. Arms crossed, but not in defiance — in unity.
By the time the first bell rang, they were seventy-two.
By lunch? Two hundred and twelve.
By lights out?
Over half the school.
Prefects sat beside juniors. Seniors who never spoke to anyone linked arms with scholarship students. Uniforms rumpled. Eyes tired. But no one moved.
Because they remembered.
Because silence was no longer an option.
---
📝 Eliora's Final Letter
Reina didn't find it. It found her.
Folded into the spine of Eliora's old journal, buried in the fiction section of the library — under a false author's name.
The letter was short. But it changed everything.
> To whoever finds this…
Don't try to save me. It's too late for that.
Instead, save the story. The truth. Let it live.
Because if even one person remembers, then I was never truly gone.
Let the light in. Even if it burns.
Reina read it out loud that night during the sit-in.
Some cried.
Jayden just stared at the floor, jaw clenched.
But Bianca? She stood.
Walked to the front of the crowd.
And said, "We vote. Tomorrow. We decide what happens next."
---
⚖ The Vote
Morning broke with cold mist and louder whispers.
Everyone was given a choice:
Shut down Bellbourne.
Or take it back.
One by one, students lined up to cast their vote. No pressure. No watching eyes. Just a slip of paper and a single box to tick.
Jayden voted last.
He stared at the blank slip for a long time before scribbling three words at the bottom:
> We remember Eliora.
Then he ticked the second box.
---
🔐 The Secret Door Opens
At 4:00 p.m., the headmistress stepped onto the front steps. Flanked by faculty. Surrounded by silence.
She cleared her throat.
"The board has seen your broadcast. The donors have withdrawn. The files have been leaked. The world is watching."
No one cheered.
No one flinched.
Then she said the words they didn't expect:
> "We will not shut Bellbourne down."
"We will rebuild it. Under your terms."
The hall doors opened behind her.
And from within?
A hidden corridor. The one no student had ever walked through before. Clean. Lit. Ready.
A sign hung above it now.
> THE TRUTH DOESN'T HIDE HERE ANYMORE.
---
💥 End of Chapter Twenty-Nine
> A school reclaims its soul.
But the people who vanished…
They left shadows behind.
And some shadows don't fade.
---
🔜 Coming Up in Chapter Thirty: The Ones Who Didn't Come Back
– The first memorial day for the disappeared.
– Sharon's brother arrives unexpectedly.
– Jayden gets an anonymous message: "You think this ends here?"