Chapter 73: The black screen

Aveline’s POV

I stormed right out of the hockey locker room. I did not look back at Kieran even once. I left him standing there all by himself and walked back toward the field bonfire. Then I ran straight into someone.

I stumbled back a step, almost losing my balance on the grass. Looking up quickly, my eyes wide with surprise. It was Theo.

Theo stood right in my path, blocking the walkway completely. He had his hands shoved deep into his pockets. He looked down at me, his eyes scanning my face. He looked deeply confused and incredibly angry.

Before he could open his mouth to ask me a question, his eyes moved past my shoulder. I turned slightly to see what he was looking at. Kieran was walking out of the locker room doors right behind me.

Theo was standing right there.

Theo’s face twisted into an ugly expression of pure anger. He looked back at me, then he looked at Kieran. He thought he knew exactly what we had been doing in the dark building.

He did not say a single word to me. He just turned around quickly and walked straight into the crowd of students, disappearing from my sight.

Kieran’s desperate words kept echoing in my ears.

“I did not cut his school funds, Aveline! It was my father’s money.” Was he telling the truth, or was it just another clever lie to make me drop my guard? I did not know what to believe anymore, but the small flash drive sitting inside my jeans pocket was the only thing that mattered now.

Late that night, I was finally back inside the house. I had unlocked the front door. My mother, Evelyn, was fast asleep in her usual chair. She had passed out after drinking far too much alcohol that night, a desperate habit she had formed to forget her own grief and the crushing pain of losing her son.

I walked up the stairs to my bedroom, shut the door behind me, then walked over to my desk and pulled my laptop toward me.

My hands were shaking a little from the intense adrenaline. This was the moment of truth. This was what I had been risking everything for.

I reached into my jeans pocket and pulled out the small black USB flash drive. I pushed it directly into the side port of my laptop.

The laptop screen flashed bright blue for a short second as the system began reading the device. A small loading circle spun around and around on the desktop screen. I held my breath.

Then a new folder window popped up in the middle of the screen. The screen displayed a single hidden folder. It was labelled and looked terrifying:

CRESTWOOD HOCKEY - BLACKMAIL.

I opened the folder.

It opened instantly, revealing a list of secret documents and audio recordings. My eyes scanned the files quickly, looking for anything that stood out. The very first file was a video recording from a hidden camera.

I double-clicked it to play, expecting to see everything clearly. I expected to see the faces of the boys who hurt my brother. I expected to see the truth laid out right in front of me.

But as the video opened on my screen, I was disappointed.

The screen remained completely dark.

I leaned closer, but I could not see anything at all. There were no faces, no lights, and no figures. It was just a completely black screen with faint muffled background noise. The video was totally blind, leaving me trapped in the dark and making no progress.