> "Sometimes the dead whisper louder than the living."
— Damian Okoye
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🕯 Memorial Day
The first bell didn't ring that morning.
Instead, candles lined the walkway to the main hall — one for every name in the sealed file. The list that had been hidden in the Headmistress's office for nearly four years.
Some of the names were known.
Most weren't.
Sharon Okoye stood at the center of the hall, wearing her uniform like armor. Hair braided in simple lines. Face calm — but her fists were clenched behind her back.
Beside her was Reina, holding a folded list. Her voice trembled as she read:
> "Eliora Danjuma.
David Ikenna.
Kamsi Oluebube.
Niran Lawal.
Stephanie Adedeji.
…and twelve others."
Every name echoed like a drumbeat. With each one, another student lit a candle.
By the end, the hall glowed — not with sorrow, but with resolve.
This wasn't just remembrance.
It was a vow.
---
🧥 The Return of Kachi
Sharon wasn't expecting him.
Not with everything happening. Not after three years of silence.
But there he was — standing at the school gates in an old Bellbourne sweater, hood pulled up, jaw set.
Kachi.
Her older brother. The one who used to walk her to class, joke with the teachers, make mixtapes he never finished. The one who vanished after Eliora's disappearance.
"I came because I saw her name on the list," he said, voice hoarse. "I thought I imagined her."
Sharon stared at him for a long moment before stepping forward and pulling him into a hug.
The kind that didn't ask for explanations.
The kind that simply said: I'm glad you're not gone.
---
📩 Jayden's Message
He found the note in his locker.
No signature. No handwriting. Just block letters on torn notebook paper:
> YOU THINK THIS ENDS HERE?
CHECK THE BASEMENT AGAIN.
He stood frozen, heart pounding.
They had already cleared the basement. Found the surveillance room. Exposed the fake files.
So who was this?
And why now?
Reina spotted the paper in his hand. "What's that?"
Jayden hesitated, then folded it into his pocket.
"Nothing," he lied. "Just someone trying to hold on."
But that night — after lights-out — he slipped on a black hoodie, grabbed his flashlight, and headed underground.
---
🔦 What He Saw
The basement was darker than before. Dustier. Quieter.
The doors they had kicked open now hung on broken hinges. Old tech buzzed faintly, as if trying to breathe after years of silence.
Jayden stepped over wires. Passed the data boards.
And then he saw it.
A door they hadn't opened.
New lock.
No dust on the handle.
He reached out.
Before his fingers touched it, a voice whispered behind him:
> "You shouldn't be here."
He spun around.
Nothing.
But the air felt colder.
Like the kind of cold that had nothing to do with weather — and everything to do with secrets.
---
🔚 End of Chapter Thirty
> The names have been spoken.
The ghosts honored.
But ghosts don't always rest easy.
And this school still has stories buried in its bones.
---
🔜 Coming Up in Chapter Thirty-One: Code Name Halo
– Jayden discovers something that changes the origin of the school itself.
– Kachi warns Sharon: "I left for a reason — and it wasn't just grief."
– The mysterious student from JSS3 receives a private file titled HALO-07.