Chapter 28
I wasn’t sure how to feel today.”
On one hand, I was grateful my boss gave me the day off after a grueling week covering news at River Slope Pack.”
On the other hand, I felt a growing unease, torn between the desire for revenge–knowing I could ruin the carefully crafted lives and fame of certain people–and the weight of what that would mean.”
And then came the fury. Every past social media post from Tina and Ralph felt like a slap in the face. They’d been meeting in secret, right under my nose, and I hadn’t seen it.”
Piecing things together wasn’t the hardest part. As I dove deeper into Tina’s endless posts and Ralph’s more subtle updates, their hidden trail became painfully clear, marked by secret codes they’d pinned for each other.”
Oh, dear Goddess. How had I never bothered to actually log into my own account and check their posts instead of assuming they were just having harmless fun? If I’d paid attention sooner, I would’ve seen the signs. It had been Tina all along–Tina, my so–called best friend.
She would symbolize Ralph with a blue heart emoji, while he’d symbolize her with little sparkling stars in his captions. Like I said, their coded language hiding in plain sight.”
[@Tina.Starlight:”
“Some moments are meant to be kept between us. Here’s to secret adventures and memories that last a lifetime :wink: :sunlight_over_mountains: :blue_heart:]
[@Ralph.Wolfheimer wrote: Nice day with the noisy @Nickle. Nick and the breathtaking nature sunlight_over_mountains: :sparkle:]}
Underneath that post, Ralph had shared a sunrise picture, captioning it innocently enough. I remembered that day- Ralph had packed for a colder destination, and Nickle had picked him up from our house. I hadn’t thought much of it at the time, assuming it was just a boys‘ hangout. Or maybe another one of Nickle’s wild schemes.
But wait… if Nickle had picked Ralph up that day, that meant he knew. He knew about Ralph and Tina and said nothing to
me.&
I was utterly crushed. Nickle had always been the cool guy in our group–the one who lit up every party, the one who introduced me to high society. He had never shown a hint of resentment or mockery.”
So, he’d been an accomplice? Playing along this whole time?
I clenched my fists in rage and slammed the table next to my laptop.
“You’re a fucking idiot, Lyka…” I muttered, furious at myself for letting them toy with my emotions for so long.”
Years ago, I thought I had finally found my true circle–those who accepted me for who I was, without judgment or scorn because of my appearance. I believed our laughter and shared stories were real, that they came from a place of genuine
connection.
Not for some… some ulterior motive that I couldn’t even begin to understand.
My throat tightened as tears streamed down my face.
If everything had been fake from the start, why did they bother? Why stand up for me when no one else would? Why go to such lengths to make me trust them? I had nothing to offer them. So why?
Questions swirled endlessly in my mind, but the more I cried and searched for answers, the more they remained elusive-
unknowable.[
As if on cue, my phone buzzed with a brief ring. A text notification appeared.”
Ralph: [You’re not home?]
I stifled a sob, grabbing another tissue to wipe my face. Not long after, more texts followed–one from Nickle and another from Tina. They were all asking where I was.
How thoughtful of them. How caring.
I knew I should respond, to keep up appearances, to avoid suspicion. But the bitterness rising in my chest and the fresh tears welling up in my eyes made it impossible to control my emotions. I left the messages unanswered, deciding I’d come up with an excuse tomorrow. For now, I needed to pull myself together.”
One thing was clear: Nickle, Ralph, Tina–they were all in on it.”
I didn’t know why they had chosen to befriend me, but it didn’t matter
emotions, all three of them.
W
They’d deceived me, played with my
I had to stop falling for their honeyed lies.”
I wiped away the last of my tears and tossed the crumpled tissues into the trash. My fingers hovered over the keyboard as I resumed my search.”
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9:09 AM
I wouldn’t stay silent anymore. I wouldn’t accept their betrayal. I refused to be a victim again.”
I opened a new tab and clicked on the FourCloves link, quickly typing my alter ego’s name and password into the login page before hitting enter in one fluid motion.”
[Welcome back, SigmaLeaks!]
And just like that, another target was added to my list: Nickle.”
