Zelia was still staring at the letter in her hand. That short sentence kept repeating in her head.
“Don’t trust anyone who says they want to help.”
Her hand slowly lowered the letter.
“Alena... who were you actually talking about?”
The room felt quieter than usual. There was no sound except the slow ticking of the wall clock.
Zelia looked toward the corner of the room, where Alena usually appeared.
But that night, no one was there.
She didn’t know whether she should feel relieved or even more worried.
From the beginning, all Zelia had wanted was to find out who the figure that kept following her was. She wanted an answer as to why Alena appeared.
But now everything was getting more complicated.
There was Arga, who claimed to know about Alena.
There was the letter warning her.
And there was a huge secret that seemed to be deliberately hidden by a lot of people.
The next day, Zelia arrived at school early. She wanted to meet Rani before class started.
As soon as she saw Rani enter through the gate, Zelia went straight over to her.
“Ran.”
Rani turned around.
“What’s wrong? You look really serious.”
Zelia pulled the letter out of her bag.
“I found this in the wooden box.”
Rani read the writing on the front of the letter.
“About Alena again?”
Zelia nodded.
“She warned me.”
Rani opened the letter and read its contents.
When she finished, she looked confused.
“Does it mean Arga?”
“That’s what I was thinking too.”
“But he helped us yesterday.”
“That’s what’s confusing me.”
Rani handed the letter back.
“Do you think he’s lying?”
“I don’t know.”
Zelia looked across the school grounds, which were beginning to fill up.
“But Alena has never been wrong when she’s shown me something.”
Rani was silent for a moment.
“We have to find out who Arga really is.”
The two of them agreed to look for more information.
During class, Zelia had a hard time concentrating. She kept thinking about what had happened the day before.
Finally, the teacher asked all the students to work on a group assignment.
Zelia was grouped with a student named Dika.
Dika was known as someone who liked digging into all kinds of things. He often read old news articles and collected stories about the school’s history.
When he saw Zelia and Rani discussing something, Dika grew curious too.
“What are you two looking for information about?”
Rani answered right away.
“The school’s history.”
Dika smiled.
“Seriously? I happen to have a lot of notes about that.”
Zelia immediately paid attention.
“Notes about the old building?”
Dika was startled.
“How did you know?”
Zelia and Rani exchanged a look.
“You have information about that place?”
Dika moved closer and sat down.
“I’ve looked into the old building before. There are a lot of strange stories about it.”
“What kind of stories?” Zelia asked.
Dika took a small notebook out of his bag.
“Before the building was closed, there was a student named Alena.”
Zelia’s heart immediately began beating faster.
“And then?”
“According to the notes I found, Alena was last seen with someone.”
“Who?”
Dika looked at his notes.
“His name was Arga.”
Zelia immediately fell silent.
Rani watched her reaction.
“You know him?”
Zelia nodded slowly.
“He was the one at the old building yesterday.”
Dika suddenly looked serious.
“You met Arga?”
“Yeah.”
Dika closed his notebook.
“That’s weird.”
“Why?”
“Because Arga hasn’t been seen at school in a long time.”
Zelia stared at Dika.
“What do you mean?”
“Arga used to be a student here too. After Alena disappeared, he suddenly stopped coming to school.”
“Stopped?”
“Yeah. No one knows why.”
Zelia became even more confused.
“Then how could he show up now?”
No one answered.
The question simply hung in the air.
After school, Zelia didn’t go straight home. She went with Rani and Dika to the library to look for old records.
Dika helped them open several stored documents.
“There’s something here,” Dika said.
They moved closer.
They found an old article.
Its headline was about the disappearance of a student named Alena.
Zelia read it slowly.
But one section made her stop.
“Last seen entering the old building with Arga.”
Rani looked at Zelia.
“So Arga really was the last person with her.”
“But that doesn’t mean he did anything,” Zelia said.
Dika nodded.
“Right. But there’s something strange.”
“What?”
“After Alena disappeared, all the records about what happened seem to have been deliberately erased.”
Zelia looked at the document.
“Who erased them?”
Dika shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
Suddenly, the library lights flickered.
For a moment, the room fell silent.
Zelia immediately felt uneasy.
She looked toward the farthest bookshelf.
Alena was standing there.
But this time, she wasn’t looking at Zelia.
She was looking at a book on the shelf.
Zelia followed her gaze.
“She’s pointing something out.”
“What?” Rani asked.
Zelia slowly walked toward the shelf.
An old book sat on the very bottom shelf.
She picked it up.
When she opened it, a photograph fell out.
The photo left all of them speechless.
It showed Alena.
Together with Arga.
But that wasn’t what shocked Zelia.
There was someone else behind them.
Someone whose face had been deliberately crossed out.
Dika picked up the photo.
“Who is this person?”
Zelia stared at the crossed-out figure.
She felt like she had seen that shape before.
Not in a photo.
But in the events that had haunted her all this time.
Alena slowly faded from view.
Before she disappeared completely, the figure whispered,
“He’s still here.”
Zelia froze.
Now she knew.
This problem wasn’t only about Alena and Arga.
There was someone else who had been behind all those secrets this whole time.