Chapter 8 - THE STUDENT WHO LEFT
Maya finally agreed to talk.
Not to us first.
To her own lawyer.
Then Adrian.
Then, after two days, she agreed to a joint video call with the three of us listening.
She lived in Pittsburgh.
Worked in event production.
Did not return to college.
She looked healthy.
Angry.
Very tired of Bellamy.
“I don't want an apology circle.”
she said.
Nobody offered one.
Good.
Adrian asked about Pulse.
Maya remembered the messages.
The roommate accusation.
The confrontation.
The video.
She also remembered something the university report minimized.
“They kept texting after I withdrew from the study.”
Nora went still.
“What?”
Maya looked at her.
“I hit withdraw Thursday afternoon. I got two messages Friday.”
Nora opened her old logs.
“That shouldn't be possible.”
“It happened.”
“What did they say?”
Maya had screenshots.
One:
If you leave now, everyone will assume she was right.
Another:
Don't let one bad night define your first semester. Show up tonight.
The second sounded supportive.
The first did not.
Nora stared.
“Those aren't in my export.”
Adrian asked:
“Where were they sent from?”
Same Bellamy Pulse relay.
There.
Something happened after the official system believed Maya had withdrawn.
Someone continued using the channel.
Maybe manual override.
Maybe different system.
Maybe bad data.
Maya did not know.
Then she looked at Rachel.
“You were in the Jefferson fight.”
“Yes.”
“I saw the video.”
Not our current fight.
Freshman year.
“You two hated each other.”
Vanessa said:
“Apparently on schedule.”
Maya almost smiled.
Then:
“I thought you were all idiots.”
Fair.
“And then?”
“I realized I had gotten the same kind of messages.”
Maya tried to tell student affairs.
They asked for screenshots.
She sent them.
Then the ethics investigation began.
Did she receive the tuition remission because she signed silence?
“No.”
Important.
She signed a mutual confidentiality clause about internal personnel matters.
Could still talk about her own experience.
The tuition support allowed transfer.
She simply never transferred.
Why?
“I didn't want another campus.”
Good.
No neat comeback.
Then Maya said:
“I got a text last week.”
Nora stopped.
“When?”
“The day before the courtyard thing.”
She showed us.
Unknown sender.
THEY'RE REOPENING IT. DON'T LET THEM CALL IT A ROGUE STUDENT AGAIN.
Adrian leaned closer.
“Did you reply?”
“No.”
“Another message?”
“Yes.”
Time:
11:16 a.m. the day of our courtyard fight.
The exact minute after Brooke's.
WATCH EAST COURTYARD.
Maya stared into the camera.
“I was in Pittsburgh.”
Brooke whispered:
“So whoever sent ours sent hers.”
Nora looked at the timestamps.
Then shook her head.
“No.”
“What?”
“The relay sequence numbers.”
She enlarged the metadata.
Vanessa's:
Legacy Relay Job 88041.
Brooke's:
Maya's:
Admin Dispatch 1127.
Different path.
Adrian stared.
“Meaning?”
Nora answered:
“Vanessa and Brooke were sent through the old automated relay.”
Then pointed at Maya's.
“This one was sent by a live administrator.”
Nobody spoke.
Maya leaned toward the camera.
“Does that mean two people?”
Nora looked sick.
“At minimum, two different access methods.”
I thought about the man in the doorway.
Adrian had called only me.
Someone else had called Vanessa and Brooke.
And a third message told Maya to watch.
Maybe one person using multiple channels.
Maybe not.
Then Maya said:
“There was another thing in 2022.”
Adrian looked up.
“What?”
“After I left.”
She glanced at her lawyer.
He nodded.
“A man from the university called me.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
“Name?”
“He didn't give one.”
“What did he say?”
Maya looked directly at the screen.
“He asked whether I remembered a fourth girl.”
Every hair on my arms lifted.
Vanessa whispered:
“C-4.”
Maya nodded.
“I told him no.”
“Was that true?”
Long pause.
Then:
“Mostly.”
I stared.
“What does mostly mean?”
Maya looked away.
“It means I remember someone standing outside the lab once.”
“A student?”
“Yes.”
“Name?”
“I never knew it.”
“What did she look like?”
Maya closed her eyes.
Then opened them.
“She had a Bellamy staff badge.”
Brooke frowned.
“A student with a staff badge?”
Maya nodded.
“And she looked exactly like someone I saw on the board’s website last week.”
Before she could say who, the video call disconnected.
Not dramatically.
Internet.
Then Maya called back by phone.
Her lawyer said their building network had gone down.
Ordinary.
Still, everyone sat frozen.
Maya finished over audio.
“The woman I remember is now employed by Bellamy.”
Adrian asked:
“Who?”
Maya gave us the name.
Dean Allison Reed.
May you like
Current Dean of Students.
The person supervising Rachel and Vanessa’s conduct cases.
