Chapter 25 #3
Ralston’s mic cuts out mid-sentence. The giant screen behind the stage glitches, then shifts, changes. Ralston’s face is replaced with something else. A white screen. Then a black screen.
The livestream has been hacked.
Then, all at once, images from the website flood the screen. Story upon story, truth upon truth. Emails. Papers. The side-by-side drafts I carefully prepared.
Tears flood my eyes as I read them again, my mind spinning. This time, no one can look away. They can’t pretend it’s not happening.
Then…the recording. My recording.
Ralston’s voice fills the speakers as the photos continue to appear, then fade off, quickly replaced by another.
“I simply understand that there are ways to get places in this world, and those ways aren’t always pretty…
This has always been your problem. You paint everything in black and white.
You accuse me of stealing, of lying, but you choose to exclude the nuance.
When two people are working so closely together, as you and I were, you have to know the synergy, the brain matter will start to collide.
That we would—and did—reach a point where neither of us knows which idea came from where or who spoke aloud the synchronized thought we shared.
You speak of my corruption as if I’m this mythical dragon, leaving a trail of ash in my wake.
But you must acknowledge the complexity of our situation.
Our relationship. When you spend your days in an intellectual capacity, having conversation after conversation with brilliant minds—it often becomes difficult to discern original thoughts…
I can still help you, you know. Whatever you want.
How about your book? What was it—fantasy, right? No, dystopian.”
Then, my voice. “How do you know about that?”
“You still want to publish it, don’t you? A single phone call, and we can reverse that agent’s decision.”
“It was you. You stopped her from signing me.”
“I had lunch with a friend. Your name might’ve come up. She might’ve asked my opinion on you—knowing you’d attended Havenport—and I’m sorry to say I couldn’t give a glowing review.”
“You’re the reason she changed her mind.”
“And I can be the reason she changes it again.”
The room holds its breath collectively as I stare in disbelief. It’s as if I’ve fallen and hit my head. None of this feels real or possible.
Bell had the evidence, but…how? How could she have pulled this off so quickly?
Suddenly, the air changes. Half the crowd boos, though I don’t know if they’re booing her or me. The evidence is still coming. New stories appear with the proof that matches them.
Around me, half the crowd sits eerily still, stunned into silence.
Ralston stops trying to get her mic to work and hurries off the stage. People rise, some attempting to follow her, others looking around for guidance. Explanation.
Someone taps me on the shoulder.
This is it.
I brace myself for whatever part of the angry mob is still looking for me. When my eyes find the faces waiting for me, my heart shatters.
Hayden.
Jade.
Naya.
Professor Bell.
Standing shoulder to shoulder, they smile at me. I rush down my mostly empty row in an effort to get closer to them, and they meet me back away from the crowd.
“You?” I whisper, piecing it together. “How did you do this?”
“I told you. I’m into computers,” Hayden says, before giving Jade a pointed look.
Jade rolls her eyes, looking away, then licks her lips. “I guess I should tell you that when Ralston offered me the job, it was on two conditions. I had to agree to be interviewed for her little documentary, and I also had to install some weird program on your laptop. Spyware.”
An electric jolt passes through my stomach.
“She convinced me it was just so she could get proof you were trying to embarrass her this week. She said she was going to ask the dean to kick you off campus but needed a reason. I knew it wasn’t harmless, but…
I also thought you were going to get yourself in trouble.
And, well, you know how she is. She made me believe the story she was selling, and I do need the job, but it’s no excuse. ”
Heat blooms in my cheeks. My skin crawls with the feeling of eyes on me—watching my every move for days now. She’s had access to everything, all my documents, all the typos and thoughts I changed as I sliced open my chest and bled my truth onto the website. The anger is deep and sour, dizzying.
“I’m so sorry, Lila. I didn’t… I still don’t know why I did it.
I felt awful about it—feel awful about it.
When I saw the website and found out you were gone, I reached out to Hayden.
I remembered you’d said her name to me that day we argued.
You mentioned she was good with computers, and I wanted to see if there was a way to remove the program from your laptop. ”
I close my eyes. My mind flashes back to every time my laptop acted up recently—the glitches, how slowly it was running.
I should’ve seen it. I should’ve suspected something.
My rage has had me too blinded to look. I should be angry at Jade now, for helping this happen rather than telling me the truth that day, but there’s no time. I need every ally I can get on this battlefield.
“There is, by the way,” Hayden says. “A way to remove the program. And I’ll help you do it.
Anyway, around the time Jade reached out, Professor Bell sent me the evidence you’d collected from the website.
We’ve stayed in touch since I left Havenport, and she told me she trusts you. That I could trust you.”
I cast a glance at Professor Bell, who just gives a small smile. “Hayden put it all together.”
“The file, yes. But you’d already done all the work of finding the similarities,” Hayden says, pinning me with a look.
“While I was putting it together, Professor Bell convinced the dean to let her run the sound system and media for Ralston’s award ceremony.
Which gave me access to set all of this up. ”
My eyes dance between them in disbelief before falling on Naya. “And you? What made you change your mind?”
“I didn’t.” She huffs a breath. “Well, I mean, seeing all the stories made me feel…something, I guess.” She sticks out her tongue, pretending to gag.
“But mostly you needed me because I have a large following on my socials. Hayden convinced me to livestream the event. Once she told me what she was doing, I couldn’t deny the fact that it would go viral.
If it brings Ralston down in the process—and that’s a big if—it’s just the cherry on top. ”
“You all worked together to do this in one afternoon? Why didn’t you tell me? I could’ve helped.” It’s as if I’m standing on thin glass, every step fragile, every breath shaky as I try to cling onto this reality, praying it won’t slip out of my grasp.
“You already did.” Bell’s eyes gleam proudly. “Without you, we wouldn’t have had all of the proof. We wanted to do this for you. To thank you. And we wanted to keep you safe while we did.”
“We also didn’t know if we could trust you not to blast it all over the website,” Naya adds, looking away. “We had to wait for the right moment, and well, you don’t have the best track record for that.”
Hayden and Jade exchange a glance.
The heat in my cheeks surges again. She’s not wrong. “But…why would you want to… I mean, I’m grateful, but…you weren’t… I thought you didn’t—”
“Because you reminded us why we fought back initially,” Jade says. “You reminded us that sometimes truth can be messy, but that doesn’t make it less worth telling.”
“Your site is shit, by the way, but we’re going to fix it,” Hayden says. “And then we’re going to blow it all up.”
“If you’re with us,” Bell says.
I nod, trying not to cry. “Of course I—”
ScreeEEEEeeeeEEEEee.