Writers 
Chapter 4: The Message
Amara couldn't stop thinking about the boy.
She had never seen him before, but the way he looked at her made her uncomfortable.
When school ended, she waited until most of the students had left before packing her books.
Zara was nowhere to be seen.
Amara decided to leave.
As she walked through the school gate, she looked behind her.
The boy was gone.
She sighed and continued walking.
On her way home, her phone suddenly vibrated.
Amara stopped.
She checked the screen.
It was another message from the unknown number.
“You saw him.”
Amara's eyes widened.
She quickly looked around.
There were people walking along the road, but nobody seemed to be paying attention to her.
She typed:
“Who are you?”
A few seconds later, the reply came.
“Someone who knows what happened.”
Amara's hands became cold.
She typed again.
“What happened?”
This time, there was no reply.
She waited.
Nothing.
Amara put her phone in her pocket and continued walking.
When she reached home, her mother was sitting in the living room.
“You're back,” her mother said.
“Yes.”
“How was school?”
Amara hesitated.
“It was fine.”
Her mother smiled.
“Go and change. Dinner will be ready soon.”
Amara nodded and went upstairs.
She closed her bedroom door and sat on her bed.
She took out her phone again.
Still nothing.
Then she remembered the old photograph she had found.
She opened her gallery and looked at it again.
The girl standing in the background was still bothering her.
Who was she?
And why did she look so familiar?
Amara zoomed in on the picture.
Then she noticed something she hadn't seen before.
The girl was wearing a school badge.
Amara recognized the badge immediately.
It belonged to her old school.
She stared at the picture.
Suddenly, a memory came back.
A classroom.
A loud argument.
Someone crying.
Then everything became unclear.
Amara quickly closed the picture.
“No…”
She didn't want to remember.
She had spent so much time trying to forget what happened that night.
But now it was coming back.
Her phone vibrated again.
Another message.
This time, it was only four words:
“Ask your mother first.”
Amara stared at the screen.
Her mother?
What did her mother have to do with all of this?
Amara stood up and walked toward her bedroom door.
She wanted answers.
She went downstairs and found her mother in the kitchen.
“Mum?”
Her mother turned around.
“Yes?”
Amara took a deep breath.
“Did you know someone from my old school?”
Her mother's expression changed immediately.
“What made you ask that?”
Amara noticed the fear in her mother's eyes.
And suddenly, she knew.
Her mother was hiding something.
Before Amara could ask another question, someone knocked loudly on the front door.
Both of them looked toward the living room.
Her mother became silent.
“Who is it?” Amara asked.
Her mother didn't answer.
The knocking came again.
This time, harder.
Amara looked at her mother.
“Who is at the door?”
Her mother slowly walked out of the kitchen.
“Stay here, Amara.”
But Amara followed her.
Because whatever was happening...
She knew it had something to do with her past.