Chapter 7: The Discovery
The last bus had coughed its way down the street outside, leaving the school grounds silent under the long amber light. Cay Bennett sat at her desk with a stack of lab reports before her, her red pen moving in a steady rhythm across paper that smelled faintly of pine and dust. The classroom had emptied an hour ago. She had stayed for the quiet, for the chance to exist in a space that made sense: desks in neat rows, glass beakers lined along the windowsill, the periodic table yellowed at the edges.
Her phone buzzed against the polished wood.
She glanced at the screen, expecting a notification from the school's grading portal. Lewis's name pulsed there instead. The date of their last encounter flashed through her mind unbidden, the golden light, the torn shirt, the sound of his voice cracking as he begged.