Chapter 1
THE PILLS
Chapter 1 — The Bottle in My Locker
The first time I saw the bottle, I thought someone had made a mistake.
It was sitting inside my locker.
Right between my mathematics textbook and the old blue sweater I had forgotten to take home.
I stared at it for several seconds.
Then I looked around the hallway.
Nobody.
Students rushed past me toward their classrooms, laughing, shouting, and complaining about the Monday morning assembly. The familiar noise filled the corridor, but suddenly everything around me felt far away.
My locker was supposed to be locked.
Only I had the key.
Slowly, I reached inside.
The bottle was small and white.
There was no pharmacy name.
No doctor’s name.
No instructions.
Just one word written across the label in black letters.
TRUTH.
I frowned.
“What kind of joke is this?”
I picked it up.
Something rattled softly inside.
Pills.
Pink capsules.
My heart began beating faster.
I immediately dropped the bottle back into the locker.
“Nope.”
I slammed the locker shut.
Then I opened it again.
The bottle was still there.
Of course it was.
Why wouldn’t it be?
I looked down the hallway again.
“Okay,” I whispered. “This isn’t funny.”
My best friend, Zara, appeared beside me.
“Who are you talking to?”
I jumped.
“Zara!”
She laughed. “Why are you acting like you’ve seen a ghost?”
“I haven’t.”
“Then why do you look terrified?”
“I don’t.”
“You do.”
I quickly stepped in front of my locker.
Zara narrowed her eyes.
“What are you hiding?”
“Nothing.”
“Amara.”
“Nothing!”
That was the problem with having a best friend.
They knew when you were lying.
Zara crossed her arms.
“You’re terrible at keeping secrets.”
“And you’re terrible at minding your business.”
“True,” she said proudly. “Now move.”
“No.”
“Move.”
“No.”
She pushed me aside.
Before I could stop her, Zara opened my locker.
Her smile disappeared.
“What is that?”
I swallowed.
“I was hoping you would tell me.”
She picked up the bottle.
“TRUTH?”
“Don’t open it.”
“I wasn’t going to.”
She opened it.
“Zara!”
“What? I wanted to see!”
She poured one pink capsule into her palm.
We both stared at it.
There was nothing unusual about the pill.
No strange symbol.
No writing.
Nothing.
Just a smooth pink capsule.
Then Zara noticed something.
“There’s a note.”
My stomach dropped.
“A what?”
Behind the bottle was a folded piece of paper.
I slowly reached for it.
My fingers shook as I unfolded it.
There were only seven words.
Take one, and tell no one what happens.
Zara read it over my shoulder.
For once in her life, she had absolutely nothing to say.
Then she whispered, “We should throw this away.”
“Yes.”
“Immediately.”
“Yes.”
Neither of us moved.
The school bell rang.
Students began rushing toward their classrooms.
“Amara!” Zara said. “We have chemistry!”
I grabbed the bottle and the note.
“We’ll deal with it later.”
“No,” Zara said. “You will throw it away now.”
“I said later.”
“Amara—”
“Later!”
I shoved everything into my bag.
That was my first mistake.
Because by lunchtime, I had forgotten about the bottle.
And by the end of the day...
I had discovered that someone knew every secret I had ever tried to hide.
That evening, I found the second note.
It was inside my bedroom.
I knew that because I had locked the door before going downstairs for dinner.
Nobody should have been inside.
Nobody.
But when I returned, a piece of pink paper was lying on my pillow.
My room suddenly felt colder.
I slowly walked toward the bed.
On the paper were four words.
I know about your brother.
My breath stopped.
My brother.
The one secret nobody at school knew.
Not even Zara.
My hands began shaking.
Then I noticed something else.
The white bottle was sitting beside the note.
I had left it in my school bag.
I was absolutely sure.
I stared at the bottle.
Then at my locked bedroom door.
Then back at the bottle.
A sound came from outside my window.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
I froze.
Slowly...
I turned toward the window.
And in the darkness outside, someone was watching me.
End of chapter 1
