Chapter 8: THE PHOTO

CHAPTER EIGHT | THE PHOTO

ASPEN

“Hey Daddy,” Rachel greeted her father at the door, giving us enough time to rush into the closet to take cover.

Ronan and I hid in the bathroom, holding our breaths as we watched the scene unfold outside through a small hole. My heart pounded in my chest as I watched silently, holding my breath in fear.

I shook violently, flinching with every movement Rachel made, knowing she might rat us out at any point.

“What are you doing here?” Principal Jones asked his daughter, taking her hands and walking her into the office.

I covered my mouth so I wouldn’t make a sound.

“I just came to get some money,” she lied, fidgeting and sweating.

She was acting so suspicious that even I, who had just met her, would have known she was hiding something.

I kept looking through the peephole, holding my breath and sweating buckets.

For whatever reason, Ronan was oddly calm. He didn’t even look bothered by anything. He simply watched everything with his lips pulled back in a straight line.

I almost let out a scream at the sudden arrival of Ryker. Principal Jones was scary, yes, but he couldn’t come close to how intimidating Ryker was. He looked like the typical bad guy in every horror movie, with skull tattoos and piercings in the worst possible places. I’d rather be stuck in a room with fifty Mr. Joneses than one Ryker.

Which made me wonder…could he be the one who murdered Adrian? He looked like a hitman. He might have attacked him and left before Ronan showed up in the room.

“Why didn’t you tell me you needed some money? I would have brought it to your room.”

“I didn’t want to bother you, Father.” She pouted. “Hi, Uncle Ryker.” She waved.

He grunted in response, his eyes set on the door as if he knew we were inside. I almost peed my pants when he looked directly into my eyes.

Ronan pulled me back, covering my mouth with his hand after a whimper escaped. He pressed me against his body, and I was oddly aware of every move he made, including the way his muscles tightened.

“Stop breathing so loudly. You’re going to get us caught,” he whispered, holding me still.

Unfortunately, it was already too late. Ryker had already guessed that something wasn’t right, and he was slowly approaching the bathroom. He probably saw me when our eyes met a few seconds ago.

The world blurred around me as his hand touched the bathroom door, ready to pull it open. A million thoughts ran through my head at once, cooking up different excuses to explain why we were hiding in the office. I could come up with nothing.

His hand gripped the handle, and he was about to yank it open when Rachel suddenly yelled, “I think I’m pregnant!”

Her declaration caught me off guard so much that I would have screamed if not for the fact that Ronan’s hand was pressed firmly over my mouth.

Ryker froze, then turned around like someone possessed and left the office, leaving father and daughter alone.

It was only after he left that I let out a shaky breath of relief.

I couldn’t hear what her father said to her, but he held her hand and dragged her out, hissing something about going to the doctor’s office.

When they left, we stayed silent for a while, making sure they were truly gone and that no one else would walk back into the office, before we slowly and cautiously stepped out of the bathroom.

I wanted to leave immediately, still shaken by the encounter, but Ronan had other plans.

“Where do you think you’re going?” he hissed when I opened the door, ready to bolt.

“Leaving, obviously,” I deadpanned.

“You don’t want to find evidence anymore? We have to find the real image we came here for in the first place.”

It completely slipped my mind that we came here for something and not just to prove Rachel’s loyalty.

As much as I wanted to find it and get to the bottom of the situation, I was still horribly terrified. What if they came back while we were still searching?

“I think it’s best we leave. They might come back at any time.”

But he wasn’t listening. He was already searching the office, trying to find the photo.

I was irritated, but at the same time, I knew it had to be done. So I looked at the hallway one last time to make sure the coast was clear and rushed over to join him.

It was very hard to find the original, or at least a clearer version of the image. There were cartons of photocopies all over the office, and we almost gave up.

But at the last minute, when I wanted to force him to leave because we’d spent so much time and I was sure they’d be back soon, Ronan tugged on one of Mr. Jones’s drawers only to find it locked.

“We have to go. They’ll be back any time now,” I begged him, but he was searching for something to pick the lock with.

He found a bobby pin in his pocket and easily picked the lock of the drawer.

Not only did we find the original image, we also found guns inside the drawer. Not one, not two, not even five. At least twelve loaded guns were hidden there.

My eyes widened as I looked at them, swallowing hard. It was clear now that Mr. Jones wasn’t just a principal. He had some dirt up his sleeves.

We had no time to check the other contents of the drawer. Once we took the photo, we left the room without turning back. It was only when we walked into our dorm that we allowed ourselves to relax.

“That was crazy!” I exclaimed, the image of the weapons still stuck in my head.

“What do you think he needs all those guns for?” I asked Ronan.

His attention was deeply focused on the image, trying to tell if I was photoshopped into it.

I walked over to him, taking a peek at the picture too. I knew for sure that it wasn’t me. I wasn’t even anywhere close to the Dragon Pack when it happened.

Ronan’s brows furrowed, and he stared at me like I was a puzzle piece he was trying to figure out. “Do you think you have an identical twin sister?”

I shook my head. “No, why?”

“Because this picture isn’t photoshopped. It isn’t AI either. It’s real.”