Jackson

By Wednesday, Ridgeville High felt… wrong.

Not chaotic. Not loud. Just tense — like everyone was pretending things were normal while waiting for the next explosion. The hallway whispers followed me everywhere:

“Did you hear?”

“Daniel’s gone.”

“No, like—gone gone.”

I tried to ignore it. Tried to stay focused. But even Noah looked uneasy beside me, and that wasn’t a good sign.

I headed into the locker room and barely got three steps inside when ...