Mara froze with the hairbrush in her hand.
For a second, she could hear nothing except the bathroom fan humming above her. The brush had been white when she picked it up from the floor, but now a dark red smear stained several of its bristles. She stared at it, then at her daughter sitting on the closed toilet lid with one leg stretched painfully forward. Lena's wet hair clung to her cheeks. Her eyes were swollen from crying.
Behind Mara, the bathroom door opened another few inches.
Daniel stood in the hallway, one hand gripping the doorframe. He looked from his wife to their daughter, then down to the bloodied brush. His face changed so quickly that Mara noticed it even before he spoke.
"What happened?"
Lena immediately shook her head.
"Nothing."
The answer was too fast.
Mara crouched beside her. "Lena, look at me."
Her daughter kept her eyes lowered.
"Lena."
Slowly, Lena looked up. Her lower lip trembled. "I didn't do anything."
Mara's gaze moved to the thick bandage wrapped around Lena's right leg. The white gauze was already discolored in places. One corner had begun to loosen near the knee.
Daniel stepped into the bathroom.
"Did you fall?"
"No."
"Did somebody hurt you?"
Lena swallowed.
That silence was louder than an answer.
Mara placed the hairbrush on the sink and reached toward the bandage. Lena recoiled so sharply that her heel struck the plastic stool beneath her.
"Don't touch it!"
Mara stopped.
Daniel's eyebrows tightened. "Why not?"
"It hurts."
"I know it hurts," Mara said gently. "That's why we're asking."
Lena wiped her face with the heel of her hand. "I can handle it."
Mara almost smiled at the familiar stubbornness in her daughter's voice, but the expression never formed. Lena was seventeen. She had always hated being fussed over, hated doctors, hated admitting when something frightened her. But tonight was different. There was a guardedness in her eyes that Mara had never seen before.
Daniel noticed it too.
"How long has your leg been like that?"
"Since this afternoon."
"And you didn't tell us?"
"I thought it was just a cut."
Mara looked again at the dressing.
"A cut doesn't usually require all that."
Lena said nothing.
The bathroom smelled faintly of shampoo and antiseptic. A damp towel hung from the silver rail beside the shower. On the floor near Lena's bare foot lay a small plastic wrapper from a bandage. Mara picked it up without thinking.
Then she saw something else.
A tiny black thread was caught beneath the edge of the gauze.
She reached for it.
Lena's hand closed around her wrist.
"Mom."
The word came out almost as a plea.
Mara looked at her daughter's fingers around her wrist. "What is it?"
"Please don't."
Daniel stepped closer.
"Lena, what are you hiding?"
"I said nothing!"
Her voice cracked.
Mara softened immediately. "Sweetheart, nobody is angry with you."
"I know."
"Then tell us."
Lena looked toward the shower door.
Her eyes stayed there for several seconds.
Finally she whispered, "I didn't get hurt at home."
Daniel went still.
Mara felt something cold move through her stomach.
"Where did you get hurt?"
Lena shook her head.
"Where?"
"I can't tell you."
Daniel's voice became quieter. "Why?"
Lena's eyes filled again.
"Because if I tell you, Dad, you'll make it worse."
Daniel stared at her.
Mara turned toward him. She knew that expression on his face. It was the expression he wore when someone had accused him unfairly and he was trying desperately not to react.
"I would never hurt you," he said.
"I didn't say you would."
"You said I'd make it worse."
"I said I can't explain."
"Then explain enough."
Lena's breathing became uneven.
Mara sat on the edge of the bathtub. "Let's slow down. Nobody is going anywhere. Start with this afternoon."
Lena shook her head again.
"There was an accident."
"What kind?"
"At school."
Daniel immediately frowned. "The school would have called."
"They didn't know."
"How could they not know if you were injured?"
Lena looked down.
Mara noticed her fingernails. There was dirt underneath them, dark and stubborn.
"What accident?"
Lena whispered, "I fell behind the old gym."
Daniel's shoulders relaxed slightly.
"That's all?"
"No."
Mara waited.
Lena touched the edge of her bandage.
"There was somebody else there."
The bathroom seemed to shrink around them.
"Who?" Mara asked.
"I don't know."
Daniel looked toward the hallway. "You don't know who was there?"
"No."
"Was it another student?"
"I don't know."
"Did they hurt you?"
Lena's eyes lifted.
"I think they tried to."
Daniel moved forward, but Mara raised a hand.
"Let her talk."
Lena nodded gratefully.
"I was walking behind the gym because I was looking for my phone. I thought I dropped it after class. Then I heard someone moving near the storage building."
"What did you see?"
"Only a shadow."
"And then?"
"I heard my name."
Mara's stomach tightened.
"Who said it?"
"I don't know."
"Was it a man's voice?"
Lena hesitated.
"Yes."
Daniel exchanged a glance with Mara.
Lena continued. "I turned around, and somebody grabbed my arm. I pulled away. I ran, but there was something on the ground. I tripped over it."
"That's how you hurt your leg?"
"I think so."
"You think so?"
"It happened so fast."
Mara looked at the bandage again.
"Why didn't you call us?"
"My phone was gone."
"Did you call the police?"
Lena shook her head.
"Why?"
"Because I found my phone later."
Daniel frowned. "Then why didn't you call?"
Lena's voice dropped almost to nothing.
"Because there was a message on it."
"What message?"
Lena reached slowly into the pocket of her shorts.
Her fingers shook as she pulled out her phone.
She unlocked it and held the screen toward them.
Mara read the message.
Don't tell your parents what happened.
There was no name attached.
No number.
Just a blank contact.
Daniel's face hardened.
"When did you receive that?"
"After I got home."
"From who?"
"I don't know."
Mara took the phone.
Another message appeared.
This one was shorter.
I know where you live.
Lena began crying again.
Mara immediately pulled her daughter into her arms.
Daniel turned away and pressed both hands against the sides of his head.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then Mara noticed the hairbrush sitting on the sink.
The blood.
The black thread.
The dirt beneath Lena's fingernails.
And suddenly, the pieces did not fit together.
"Lena," she said carefully, "you told us you fell."
"I did."
"But you also said someone grabbed you."
"Yes."
"Then why is there blood on your hairbrush?"
Lena stared at it.
"I don't know."
Mara picked it up again.
The stain was not fresh. It had dried into the bristles.
She turned it over.
A few strands of Lena's hair were tangled around the handle.
Then something small slipped from between the bristles and landed in the sink.
A narrow strip of black fabric.
Daniel looked at it.
Mara looked at Lena.
Lena's face went completely pale.
"That's not mine," she whispered.
Daniel stepped closer.
"Then whose is it?"
Lena didn't answer.
She was staring at the fabric as though she had seen it before.
Finally, she whispered, "I saw that on him."
Daniel's expression changed.
"You're sure?"
Lena nodded.
"Then we need to go to the hospital," Mara said.
"No."
"Lena—"
"No hospital."
"Your leg needs to be examined."
"I said no!"
Her sudden panic startled both parents.
Mara knelt beside her again.
"Why are you afraid of the hospital?"
Lena's eyes moved toward the bathroom mirror.
"Because someone was watching me there."
Daniel went silent.
Mara felt her pulse pounding in her throat.
"Who?"
Lena shook her head.
"I don't know."
"Did you see him?"
"No."
"Then how do you know?"
Lena stared at her mother.
"Because when I was leaving school, someone whispered my name."
Daniel slowly looked toward the open bathroom door.
The hallway beyond it was empty.
But the house suddenly felt different.
As if the three of them had been talking too loudly.
As if somewhere outside, someone might already be listening.
Lena reached for Mara's hand.
"Mom," she whispered, "I think he followed me home."
Click Here to continue read next: PART2: The Story Lena Told Began Falling Apart When Her Mother Found One Ordinary Object That Should Never Have Been There
The Small Red Stain That Turned an Ordinary Evening Into a Question Nobody in the House Was Ready to Answer
Part 1 of 16
