Chapter 4: The Boy Who Already Knew
Chapter 4: The Boy Who Already Knew
Smoke filled the corridors.
Patients were rushed toward emergency exits.
Doctors shouted directions.
Security lost control of every hallway.
Perfect chaos.
The boy stood completely still.
As though he had expected every second of it.
The old man watched him.
"Who are you?"
The boy finally smiled.
A tiny smile.
"My mother told me something before she disappeared."
He reached into the pocket of his hoodie.
Everyone assumed he was pulling out another clue.
Instead...
He unfolded a child's drawing.
Crayon.
Stick figures.
One little boy.
One smiling woman.
One old man in a wheelchair.
And standing behind them...
A tall figure with no face.
Across the top, written in childish handwriting, were six words:
He watches before he takes people.
The old man's breathing stopped.
"I burned that drawing."
"You burned one."
The boy quietly folded the paper.
"She made two."
Before anyone could react...
A sharp voice echoed from the doorway.
"Nobody move."
Every head turned.
A man dressed as a hospital security guard aimed a pistol into the room.
His eyes weren't on the doctors.
Or the old man.
They were fixed on the little boy.
"Give me the document."
The boy slowly shook his head.
"You came too late."
The gunman frowned.
"What?"
The boy looked toward the male doctor.
"The paper isn't the evidence anymore."
Confusion swept across the room.
"What are you talking about?"
The boy pointed toward the shattered cast scattered across the marble floor.
"Everyone keeps looking at what was inside it..."
He paused.
"...but nobody asked why the cast was so heavy."
Every eye dropped to the broken plaster.
One officer carefully picked up a large fragment.
It cracked open in his hands.
Hidden inside the plaster itself...
Layer after layer...
Were dozens of tiny encrypted memory cards.
The gunman's face drained of color.
He whispered one sentence.
"We're too late."
Before anyone could stop him...
He lowered his weapon.
And fired a single shot...
Not at the boy.
Not at the old man.
May you like
At himself.
The End.
