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Chapter 3 - Shadow in The Back Hallway

Morning – Bellmont Library

It was Rossie's third day at school. She came early on purpose, looking for a space that didn't feel as sharp and suffocating as the cafeteria or the main corridors. She stepped into the main library—the oldest building on the Bellmont campus. Towering wooden shelves lined the walls, and the scent of old pages and aged timber greeted her like a time capsule.

Rossie wandered toward the back section of the library—quiet, dim, and mostly deserted. There, she found a large, worn-out book titled:

"The History of Bellmont: From Colonial Academy to National Excellence."

As she flipped through the pages, a torn sheet of paper slipped out and fluttered to the ground. On it, written in shaky handwriting:

"Not all history is written in ink. Some is written in blood."

Rossie bit her lip. The paper smelled musty, and one edge looked slightly burned. On the back was a rough sketch was it… a map of an underground passage?

In Class – The Mystery Grows

During class, Rossie couldn't concentrate. She kept doodling parts of the map she had seen, piecing it together from memory. Sitting beside her, Nichole leaned over.

"You've been zoning out all morning. Don't tell me you've got a crush on your creepy roommate."

Rossie glanced at Liam, who—as usual—sat alone at the far end of the class, detached from the rest of the world.

"No," Rossie replied quickly.

But her eyes remained on him.

At that exact moment, Liam looked up. Their gazes met—and for just a second, Rossie could swear… he saw the map she was sketching on her paper.

Afternoon – Bellmont's Back Hallway

Rossie summoned her courage and followed the layout of the map, walking through the back hallway of the main building—an area rarely used by students. Clutching the torn paper, she compared it to the real architecture. At the very end of the hallway stood a rusted iron door. Locked. But someone had once pried it open—from the inside.

She reached for the handle, and…..

"You shouldn't mess with places you don't understand."

Rossie jumped.

Liam was standing behind her, his hoodie shadowing half his face.

"You followed me?" Rossie asked.

Liam didn't answer right away. He stared at the door for a long moment, then spoke quietly.

"Someone once burned behind that door. But you won't find it in any article. Bellmont made sure of that."

Rossie held her breath. She wanted to ask more—but Liam was already walking away, leaving her in silence.

Night – Sparks of the Truth

Back in her room, Rossie opened the old leather-bound book she had kept hidden. She now realized that the fire sketches and diagrams inside… matched the hallway she had just visited.

She wrote a sentence in her small journal:

"Bellmont is hiding something. And Liam knows more than he lets on."

As she lay in bed staring at the ceiling, for the first time—Rossie felt like she was one step closer to the truth.

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