Bullied – Chapter 6: September 1

I stared at the door.
My mother was still standing outside.
“Lucas?”
I finally opened it.
She looked at me.
Her eyes were red.
Like she had been crying.
“What happened?” I asked.
She stepped inside and closed the door behind her.
For a few seconds, she just stood there.
Then she said:
“Your father didn’t die the way I told you.”
My stomach dropped.
I already knew.
But hearing it from her was different.
“What do you mean?”
She sat on the edge of my bed.
“Your father was working on a story.”
“What story?”
She looked at me.
“A story about corruption. Money. People who were supposed to be untouchable.”
I remembered Jason’s words.
Your father wasn’t investigating a story.
He was investigating people.
“Who were they?”
“I don’t know all of them.”
“You’re lying.”
She looked down.
“I knew your father was afraid.”
“Afraid of who?”
She didn’t answer.
I pulled out my phone.
I showed her the message.
Your father didn’t die alone.
Her face went completely pale.
Then I showed her the flash drive.
The moment she saw it, she stood up.
“Where did you get that?”
“Jason.”
She stepped backward.
“Jason Walker?”
I nodded.
She whispered:
“No…”
“What?”
She looked at me like she had just realized something terrible.
“Jason’s father.”
I froze.
“What about him?”
My mother sat down again.
“He worked with your father.”
Everything suddenly became connected.
Jason.
His father.
My father.
The secret.
The messages.
“Why didn’t you ever tell me?”
“Because I wanted you safe.”
“You kept me in the dark!”
“I lost your father, Lucas!”
Her voice broke.
“I wasn’t going to lose you too.”
Silence.
Then she said something that made my blood run cold.
“Your father didn’t die in the hospital.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
“He was alive when they found him.”
“Then how did he die?”
She looked directly into my eyes.
“Someone made sure he wouldn’t leave that hospital.”
I couldn’t speak.
Then my phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
I looked down.
One message.
“Your mother is telling you the truth.”
I looked at Mom.
She hadn’t seen the message.
Another arrived.
“But she hasn’t told you everything.”
I swallowed.
Then the third message appeared.
“Ask her about the third name.”
I slowly opened my notebook.
Jason.
Taylor.
Mason.
Three names.
I looked at my mother.
“Mom…”
She stared at me.
“Who is the third name?”
Her expression changed.
She knew exactly what I meant.
Then she whispered:
“Mason Carter.”
I felt a chill run through me.
“What does Mason have to do with my father?”
My mother didn’t answer.
Instead, she looked toward the window.
And whispered:
“His father was the last person to see yours alive.”
I couldn’t move.
Then suddenly—
CRASH.
Something hit the window.
My mother screamed.
I ran toward it.
On the ground outside was a small black envelope.
I opened the window.
Nobody was there.
I picked up the envelope.
Inside was a photograph.
My father.
Jason’s father.
And a third man.
I recognized him immediately.
I had seen him before.
At school.
I turned the photograph over.
Three words were written on the back:
“HE’S STILL HERE.”
I looked toward the road.
A car was parked across from our house.
Its headlights switched on.
Then it slowly drove away.
I looked at my mother.
She was crying.
And for the first time…
I realized something terrifying.
The person who destroyed my father’s life might still be watching mine.
End of Chapter 6.