CHAPTER 3: LUCAS’S LAST NOTEBOOK
By the end of the day, Vanessa Hale was suspended.
By the end of the week, she would be expelled.
But none of that mattered anymore.
Because the damage she tried to cause had already opened something much bigger.
Ethan sat alone in Lucas’s old room that night.
He hadn’t touched anything in years.
Not since the accident.
Not since the funeral.
But now, he needed answers.
He pulled open the drawer beneath Lucas’s desk.
Dust.
Old notebooks.
Faded pens.
And then—
A black journal he had never seen before.
The cover was worn.
Almost hidden.
Inside, Lucas’s handwriting filled the pages.
Ethan’s hands trembled as he read.
If anything happens to me, make sure Ethan finds this.
Ethan froze.
His heartbeat stopped for a second.
He turned the page.
There’s a girl named Maya. She thinks she’s forgotten, but she’s not. She thinks she’s broken, but she isn’t.
Ethan’s breath caught.
If Ethan ever meets her, don’t let him turn away.
The journal continued.
Page after page.
Lucas writing about Maya.
About rehabilitation.
About late-night conversations.
About laughter during pain.
About a girl who refused to give up even when her body did.
And then the final entry.
Ethan’s hands shook as he read it.
I didn’t survive my last months alone. Maya made sure of that. If Ethan ever reads this, tell him I wasn’t just his brother… I was someone she helped save.
Silence filled the room.
Ethan lowered the notebook slowly.
His vision blurred.
For two years, he had believed Lucas died alone.
Now he understood the truth.
Lucas hadn’t been alone.
And Maya hadn’t been random.
She had been the reason Lucas died with peace instead of fear.
A knock at the door pulled him back.
He opened it.
Maya stood there.
Quiet.
Careful.
Still holding her injured arm.
“I didn’t want you to find out like this,” she said softly.
Ethan looked at her for a long moment.
Then he finally spoke.
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
Maya hesitated.
“Because people don’t like stories they didn’t choose to believe.”
A pause.
Then she added:
“And I didn’t want you to hate me for knowing him better than you got the chance to.”
Ethan closed his eyes for a second.
When he opened them again, something had shifted.
Not anger.
Not confusion.
Something heavier.
Grief that finally had a place to land.
“I don’t hate you,” he said quietly.
A beat.
“I think I’m just… late.”
Maya didn’t answer.
She didn’t need to.
Because for the first time since Lucas’s death—
the truth wasn’t being buried anymore.
May you like
It was finally being heard.
THE END
