I returned to my room with my head burning and my hands trembling.The yellow sheet had turned into a flame I couldn't put out."Remember."One word that now meant everything.
But I couldn't stay with just questions. I had to act. I had to know.
In the underground hideout, Kael, Lira, Sol, and I spent hours going through files, documents, and old videos someone had gone to great lengths to hide. Yellowed papers, glitch-filled recordings, dusty hard drives with broken seals.Each file was a fragment of a forbidden past.
"Before X…"That's how many of the documents began.
There were photos of streets full of people, laughter and chaos; demonstrations that seemed harsh, but alive; news reports about elected governments, protests, mistakes and triumphs. A city that was vibrant, breathing.
"Why would someone erase all this?" I asked, unable to take my eyes off an old television broadcast.
"Because the truth is dangerous," Kael said. "Because 'X' was born from that lie. And for the system to work, no one can know how it all began."
Meanwhile, on the surface, the city was showing signs of unease.Small cracks in the routine.
A rumor whispered among students.A brief blackout in Zone 2.A couple of patrols moving more frequently through Zone 4.The automated voice, which usually only repeated slogans, began to falter.
Something was breaking.
One night, while reviewing an audiovisual file, I heard a familiar voice beneath the static.A voice I recognized from school.
It was Teacher Darnell.
But the recording was old, and he wasn't the tired old man I knew. He was young, passionate, speaking about change, revealing secrets, fighting against the Silence.
The screen glitched and cut out, but the seed was already planted.
The next day in class, I looked at Darnell with new eyes.Maybe he wasn't just a weary system functionary.Maybe he was also someone who remembered.
And inside me, the yellow sheet was still alive.Remember.
But the city does not forget so easily.
A message appeared on my device.No sender. No signature:"You are being watched. Stop searching or you will disappear."
The threat was clear, but I wasn't afraid anymore.I had found others, I had seen the truth, and I was determined to continue.
Because in a silent city, the smallest voice can be the most dangerous.
End of Chapter 4