Chapter 10: The Second Secret
Maya went back to the library the next day with a clearer goal.
She wasn’t just looking for medical records anymore. She was looking for the police report from the day of the fire.
It took her almost three hours, but she finally found it buried in an old digital archive of local news and public records. The report was brief, but one section stood out like a flashing warning sign.
According to the initial statement taken from a neighbor who had been outside at the time:
“I heard one of the little girls screaming that it was an accident, over and over. The other one was crying but not saying anything. The parents arrived and took them away before the firefighters could ask many questions.”
Maya read the line three times.
One of the little girls screaming that it was an accident.
She had always assumed that had been her. But now, thinking back to the chaos of that day, she wasn’t so sure. She remembered being in too much pain to speak clearly. She remembered her father carrying her. She didn’t remember screaming anything about it being an accident.
What if it hadn’t been her?
What if it had been Chloe?
Maya closed the laptop and sat back in her chair, her heart pounding.
If Chloe had been the one screaming “it was an accident,” that could mean two very different things. Either she had been genuinely terrified and trying to explain what happened… or she had been trying to convince everyone — including herself — that it was an accident.
Maya thought about how defensive Chloe had been at the party. How quickly she had tried to turn the situation around and blame Maya. How angry she had become when the truth started coming out.
She thought about the way their parents had protected Chloe so fiercely for twelve years.
And for the first time, a terrible thought entered Maya’s mind.
What if the fire hadn’t been an accident at all?
What if six-year-old Chloe had done something far more deliberate than anyone had ever admitted?
Maya felt sick.
She gathered her things and left the library, walking home in a daze. When she reached her house, she didn’t go inside right away. Instead, she sat on the front steps and stared at the street, trying to process what she was beginning to suspect.
If Chloe had intentionally started that fire…
May you like
Then the biggest secret their family had been hiding wasn’t just about the scars.
It was about who had actually been the monster that day.
