Stolen Youth:Kasi Secrets Don’t Stay Buried

📖 Chapter 17 – Whispers Behind the Mask

Boitumelo didn't sleep that night.

She sat at her window, watching the street, journal in her lap, pen ready — but the words wouldn't come.

How do you write about people who were never meant to be found?

How do you fight an enemy with no face — just shadows?

Her phone vibrated.

> 📩 Neo: They followed me. I saw the van again.

She replied:

> Keep moving. Don't go home. Crash at the taxi rank or hide near the old flats.

Then a second message popped up.

> 📩 Unknown Number: You're digging graves that aren't yours.

She didn't reply. She only blocked the number.

Her hands were shaking. But she wasn't scared — she was angry now.

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The next day at school, Kea slipped a note under her desk.

> "Meet me at the toilets. Now."

Boitumelo went. Kea was already there, pale and sweating.

> "Someone broke into my place. They didn't take anything. But they left this."

She handed her a crumpled photo — a printed screenshot from their tunnel visit.

Taken from inside the shaft.

They were being watched the entire time.

> "They knew we were coming. And they let us leave," Kea whispered.

> "Why?" Boitumelo asked.

> "Maybe they want us to tell the story. Maybe they want us scared."

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That night, Neo returned with something heavy in his backpack — a mask.

Plain. White. Plastic. With only a red dot between the eyes.

> "I found this near my gate. Just sitting there. Waiting."

Boitumelo took it from him, flipping it over.

Inside, a note taped to the inside:

> "You're invited. Come masked or don't come at all."

Below it, a location — a warehouse near the train tracks.

And a date. Two nights from now.

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> "It's a trap," Kea said.

> "It's a lead," Neo said.

> "It's both," Boitumelo said. "But we're going."

---

Two nights later, three teenagers stood outside the warehouse — masked, dressed in all black, with nothing but courage and phones set to record.

Inside: silence.

Then music.

Not loud. Not happy. It was like a heartbeat… slow and heavy.

They stepped in — and saw them.

Other masked figures. Silent. Standing still. As if waiting.

Then one voice rose from the back of the room:

> "Tell us what you know."

Boitumelo stepped forward.

> "Enough to know you're hiding our people."

Silence. Then the voice replied:

> "Then it's time you saw who's really missing…"

A curtain lifted at the back of the warehouse.

Boitumelo gasped.

> "No. No way."

It was a photo wall — missing kids, classified files, and worst of all…

Pictures of them.

All three.

Already marked as "Next."

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