“My sister didn't put them there.”
The words came out so quickly that the woman on the phone stopped speaking.
“What did you say?”
“Those pills aren't Valeria's.”
“Your mother needs to discuss this with the administration.”
“But I know who put them there.”
Silence.
I suddenly realized how ridiculous I must have sounded.
A thirteen-year-old calling from home, insisting she knew the truth about drugs found inside someone else's backpack.
“Please,” I said. “Don't call the police on my sister.”
The woman became more careful.
“I can't discuss disciplinary procedures with you. Have your mother contact us immediately.”
She hung up.
I stood in the kitchen with the receiver still against my ear.
For a few seconds, the apartment seemed impossibly quiet.
Then I grabbed my cell phone.
Mom answered on my second call.
“Sophia?”
She sounded breathless.
“Mom, where are you?”
“I'm leaving work. The school called me. What's happening?”
“Don't go there alone.”
“What?”
“Ralph put the pills in Vale's backpack.”
Mom didn't answer.
I spoke faster.
“He came home this morning. He thought I was at school. I hid under my bed and recorded him.”
“Sophia.”
“I sent you the video.”
“What video?”
“Check your email.”
I heard traffic behind her and the squeal of brakes.
“Tell me exactly what you saw.”
“He had gloves. He had a bottle. He put it in her bag and called somebody. He said they should tell the principal where to find it.”
Mom's breathing changed.
“And he said the pills came from your pharmacy.”
Nothing.
“Mom?”
When she finally spoke, her voice was barely audible.
“Stay inside.”
“I am.”
“Lock the door.”
“It is locked.”
“Do not let Ralph in.”
My eyes moved toward the front entrance.
“Mom, he has keys.”
There was another silence.
“Go into your bedroom,” she said. “Lock that door too.”
“Why?”
“Just do it.”
Something in her voice made me move immediately.
I ran upstairs.
Mom was still speaking.
“I need you to send me that video again.”
“I already did.”
“Send it again.”
I forwarded it.
While it uploaded, Mom said something I didn't expect.
“I knew medication was disappearing.”
I stopped.
“What?”
“At work. Small quantities. Different things. Nothing large enough at first to trigger a major investigation.”
“Why didn't you tell us?”
“Because I didn't know what it meant.”
The upload finished.
Mom continued.
“Ralph asked me questions about our inventory system a few weeks ago. I thought he was making conversation.”
I remembered seeing him waiting outside the pharmacy several times.
“He stole them?”
“I don't know yet.”
But her voice told me she was thinking the same thing.
A knock sounded downstairs.
Three measured knocks.
I stopped moving.
“Mom.”
“What?”
“Someone's here.”
“Don't answer.”
I crept toward the landing and looked down.
Another knock.
Then Ralph's voice.
“Sophy?”
My skin went cold.
He wasn't supposed to know I was home.
“Sophy, open up, sweetie.”
I looked through the peephole.
Ralph stood outside wearing the same jacket he'd worn that morning.
He was smiling.
“We have to go get your sister.”
I backed away.
“It's Ralph,” I whispered.
Mom's voice sharpened.
“Do not open that door.”
Ralph knocked again.
“Sophia?”
Then his key entered the lock.
I ran.
My bedroom door slammed behind me. I turned the lock and dropped to the floor.
Downstairs, the front door opened.
Ralph stepped inside.
“Sophia?”
His voice traveled through the apartment.
“I know you're here.”
I stared at my phone.
Mom was still connected.
“He's inside.”
“Stay where you are.”
“Where are you?”
“Almost at the school.”
“Mom, call the police.”
“I am.”
Footsteps reached the stairs.
Slow.
Unhurried.
That frightened me more than if Ralph had been running.
He wasn't searching anymore.
He knew exactly where I was.
My phone vibrated.
A message from Valeria appeared.
Ralph is in the principal's office. He says you stole the pills.
I read it twice.
That made no sense.
Ralph was climbing the stairs outside my room.
Unless Valeria meant he'd already been at the school.
Unless he had arrived there first, told them his version, and then come home for me.
I typed with shaking fingers.
HE IS HERE.
Three dots appeared beneath Valeria's name.
Then disappeared.
Ralph stopped outside my door.
The doorknob moved.
“Sophia.”
I didn't answer.
“You've caused a serious problem.”
His voice had changed.
No sweetness now.
No pretending.
“I haven't done anything.”
“You've been lying.”
“So have you.”
Silence.
I regretted saying it immediately.
The knob stopped moving.
“What did you see?”
I pressed my back against the bed.
“Nothing.”
Ralph laughed once.
“You were supposed to be at school.”
My phone vibrated again.
This time the message was from Mom.
I saw the video.
A second message followed.
Police are coming.
I stared at those four words.
Outside, Ralph struck the door with the heel of his hand.
Once.
The frame shook.
Then again.
“Sophia, open this door.”
“No.”
He hit it harder.
“You stupid girl.”
I held the phone against my chest.
“You have no idea what you just ruined.”
Maybe he was right.
But for the first time that day, I understood something else.
Neither did he.
Click here to continue reading: PART 4: Ralph Came Upstairs to Silence Me, but the Video Had Already Reached People He Could No Longer Threaten or Control
The Fever I Invented Kept Me Home Long Enough to Hear the One Conversation Ralph Never Expected Anyone Else to Hear
Part 3 of 26
