A Thread Unraveled

"The closer you get to the truth, the louder the silence becomes."

The morning after the anonymous email leaked wasn't like any other morning.

Whispers echoed louder than lectures in the corridors of Ardhana University. Students clutched their phones tightly, eyes glued to the screenshots spreading like wildfire — midterm answers, stolen exam sheets, professor passwords. The campus was no longer just a place of knowledge; it had become a ticking time bomb.

And somewhere in the chaos, Aska sat motionless in the library, heart pounding behind a perfectly calm face.

He didn't need to read the messages.

He recognized the file name.

Because he had seen it… on Said's laptop.

"Hey," Ara's voice pierced the silence as she slid into the seat across from him, slightly out of breath. Her hair was tied in a messy bun, eyes sharp, scanning his face like a detective rather than a classmate. "We need to talk. Now."

Aska sighed, pushing the unread email notifications aside. "Let me guess. You saw it too?"

"Everyone saw it," Ara hissed, lowering her voice. "But only four of us know the truth behind it."

She glanced over her shoulder, as if someone might be eavesdropping. In a campus this on edge, paranoia was becoming second nature.

---

Meanwhile, Aluna stood in front of the announcement board. Her fingers trembled as she read the emergency notice from the academic department. "All exams postponed. Investigation underway."

A single sentence, but it felt like a thousand hammers pounding against her skull.

She turned sharply when she heard someone approaching — Said.

He wasn't wearing his usual hoodie. He looked… different. Paler. Eyes bloodshot. Hands clenched into fists.

"Aluna," he said in a voice so low it barely reached her ears. "We need to talk."

Aluna narrowed her eyes. "Now you want to talk? After all this explodes in our faces?"

"I didn't send it," he blurted out. "I swear. I kept it hidden. I encrypted it. I don't know how—"

"You're the only one who had it," Aluna snapped. "No one else touched your laptop. You said it was safe."

Said's lips parted, but no words came out. His defense shattered before it even formed. Because she was right.

But if not him… who?

And why?

---

At that very moment, hidden behind the staircase near the north wing, Ara pulled Aska aside.

"I've been watching," she confessed, biting her lip. "We all thought it would be Said. But what if someone else had access?"

"You think one of us—?" Aska didn't finish the sentence.

She didn't have to.

The thought was already poison in his mind.

Ara took out her phone. She opened a video. Aska leaned in. It was blurry, shaky, taken at night. But unmistakable.

A figure, face obscured by a hoodie, sneaking into the IT lab.

Timestamp: Two nights ago.

"Where did you get this?" Aska asked.

Ara's voice was tight. "Security footage. I... might've bribed someone."

Aska gave a short, humorless laugh. "You hacked security footage? You're becoming more like Said than you think."

"Desperation makes people do strange things," Ara muttered. "But it's not Said in this video. Look at the build. The way they walk."

And just like that, Aska's smirk disappeared.

Because it wasn't Said.

And deep down, a horrifying possibility started to root itself.

Could it be... one of them?

Could it be Aluna?

---

Aluna stormed out of the building. Said didn't follow her.

She walked blindly, each step heavy with guilt and confusion. Everything was spiraling too fast.

She thought she had locked the secret deep enough. That the lie they shared was too buried to be unearthed.

But someone had dug it up.

And now, they were all falling with it.

---

Back in the library, Aska sat alone again. Ara had left to cross-check more footage. He was staring at the ceiling, trying to remember.

Trying to think.

Then, suddenly—he remembered something.

A sound.

The soft click of a USB being pulled from his backpack last week. He thought it was just his imagination.

But what if it wasn't?

He jumped up and ran.

There was no more time for doubt.

If someone had betrayed them, they needed to know now.

Because the next time this mystery struck, it wouldn't just be grades or scholarships at stake.

It would be their futures.

And maybe even… their freedom.

"Secrets don't just hide in silence — they scream in the spaces between trust."

---