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It felt like the hallway closed in around me, as if the walls had leaned in just to hear every shaky breath I took. The fluorescent lights above buzzed louder than usual, that familiar low hum that always creeped me out on tough days. And honestly, right now, everything felt like one of those days. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Outside, snow continued to fall in thick flakes, casting a pale, watery light into the hallway and stretching our shadows long and thin, almost as if they wanted to escape the conversation before it even began.

I stood there, frozen, the weight of what I had just told him pressing down on my chest like the snow itself had settled on my ribs. Adrien’s eyes were locked onto mine...raw, conflicted, with that tiny crack of doubt he’d been trying so hard to hide now spiderwebbing across his face.

I’m sorry, Adrien.

After school, Adrien and I met Ethan standing next to his car, waiting for me, with his backpack slung over one shoulder, cheeks flushed from the cold air. He glanced between us, sensing the tension like someone who knew us both too well, like he’d walked right into a storm he had been expecting all along.

"You told him," Ethan said, his voice low and steady, but I could hear that edge of resignation, as if he already knew the answer. It wasn’t really a question.

I nodded once, my throat tight enough that swallowing felt like forcing down gravel. "Yeah. I... I had to."

Adrien’s jaw tightened, and he didn’t even look at Ethan. His eyes remained fixed on me, sharp and unblinking. "He heard my father say the motel was ’handled.’ That Logan forced his hand. And you two have been keeping this from me all along?"

Ethan stood firm, though I caught the way his shoulders tensed under his coat. "We were waiting for proof, something solid, not just overheard words in a hallway that could mean anything."

Adrien let out a bitter laugh that bounced off the lockers and made my stomach twist. "Proof. Sure, because my father is apparently a fucking murderer now, and you two have been playing detective behind my back like I’m some fragile kid who can’t handle the truth."

The word murderer hit me like a slap, and I felt it sting deep inside. I stepped between them as if I could physically push the tension apart with my hands.

"Stop," I said quietly, my voice cracking slightly. "Both of you. Please. This isn’t helping."

Ethan exhaled slowly, rubbing the back of his neck, the way he always did when he was trying to stay calm.

"I’ve been thinking about this nonstop since you told me what you heard." He looked at me, his eyes soft but determined. "We should go. Tonight. Before anyone else gets there or cleans the place out. See if there’s anything they missed. Anything at all."

My stomach twisted into a tight knot, but I nodded anyway, because what else could I do? "Yeah. Let’s go."

Adrien’s head snapped up so fast I thought he might hurt himself. "You’re not going without me."

Ethan’s gaze hardened, that protective edge creeping into his voice. "This isn’t your fight—"

"It’s my father," Adrien interrupted, his tone low and dangerous enough to raise the hairs on my neck. "If anyone’s going to see what he did with their own eyes, it’s going to be me. End of discussion."

The two of them stared each other down right there in the hallway, and suddenly, the space felt way too small for all of us and the heavy history we were carrying. That familiar knot in my chest tightened even more, Ethan’s steady, protective energy clashing hard against Adrien’s raw intensity, like two storm fronts colliding right above me.

I tried to soothe both of them on our way to the parking lot, with soft words and gentle touches on their arms, but it felt like trying to calm two alley cats who already thought the other one had stolen their favorite toy.

Ethan wanted to drive his car because it was "less noticeable, less likely to get spotted." Adrien insisted on taking his SUV instead, arguing it had better traction in the snow and he wasn’t letting us get stuck out there again like last time.

Ethan muttered something about Adrien always needing control, and Adrien shot back that Ethan was just playing the hero because he couldn’t stand being kept out of the loop. I kept jumping in with "Guys, come on" and "It doesn’t freaking matter whose car," but the tension just thickened, turning every little detail into a battlefield while snow fell heavier around us.

When we finally reached the motel hours later...an abandoned-looking two-story building with peeling paint and a flickering neon sign that read "ROUTE 9 MOTEL" in half-broken letters, the snow had thickened into silent flakes that absorbed sound, making the whole place feel like it was floating in a frozen dream.

We parked behind the building, out of sight of the road, and the three of us slipped through a side door that Ethan got open with a credit card and some surprising determination. Inside, the hallway smelled like mildew and old carpet, the kind of damp, forgotten scent that made you want to hold your breath.

Room 17, the one the manager had told the police Logan was staying in was at the end, the door slightly ajar as if it had been waiting for us.

Inside, the room was dim and dusty, with the bed stripped bare and the bathroom mirror cracked in a pattern resembling a spiderweb that caught what little light there was from the hallway.

Keith had definitely used this room more than once; a half-empty bottle of his favorite scotch sat on the nightstand like a signature, and the air still bore a faint trace of that expensive cologne he always wore.

Ethan and Adrien immediately started bickering again and I sighed...over who should check the closet, who should look under the bed, even whose flashlight app was brighter on their phones. My hands shook as I tried to keep them focused, my heart pounding so loudly I was pretty sure they could hear it over their arguing.

"Guys," I said, my voice cracking like thin ice under too much weight. "Please. Just... stop."

They didn’t listen. Adrien snapped that Ethan was moving too slow, like he was afraid to find anything. Ethan shot back that Adrien was only there because he couldn’t stand being left in the dark about his own family’s mess. The words flew back and forth, bouncing off the dusty walls, until something inside me snapped, like a rubber band pulled too tight.

"Enough!" The word burst out of me, louder and rawer than I’d ever heard myself sound. Both of them froze mid-motion, eyes wide in surprise.