Chapter 1: The Backpack He Left Behind
My 16-year-old son d*ed in an accident while riding home from his best friend's house — a week later, I found his phone with a message that began, "I did everything you asked me to do."
Only a few days had passed since the funeral of my 16-year-old son, Jeremy.
The accident happened while he was riding home from his best friend Caleb's house.
He'd simply been riding his bike home.
Then I got a call from an officer:
"Ma'am, I'm so sorry.
There was a terrible accident.
Your son didn't make it."
I don't know how I'm supposed to keep living.
And I still replay that evening in my head over and over again.
Jeremy and Caleb had been friends for several years, ever since Caleb moved to the area and transferred to Jeremy's school.
They became close almost immediately.
Jeremy often spent time at Caleb's house, and Caleb came over to ours too.
Caleb lived a little farther away, but his neighborhood was still quiet and peaceful.
Cars rarely drove through there at high speeds.
I was still completely shattered and had spent those days just sitting at home, staring into space.
Then suddenly, Caleb called.
He said Jeremy had left some things at his house and offered to bring them over.
About an hour later, Caleb knocked on my door and handed me Jeremy's backpack.
He looked down and said:
"Ma'am, I'm sorry.
Jeremy must've accidentally left this at my house before he rode home that evening..."
I invited Caleb inside and offered him some tea.
But Caleb glanced at me nervously, declined, and left.
I placed Jeremy's backpack in his room.
But a few hours later, I started hearing a strange buzzing sound, like a phone vibrating.
I was the only person in the house, and I wasn't getting any notifications on my phone.
So I tried to figure out where the sound was coming from and eventually ended up in Jeremy's room.
God, I was in such a terrible state that it hadn't even occurred to me that Jeremy's phone might be inside the backpack he'd left at Caleb's house that day.
I opened the backpack and pulled out the phone.
It was connected to a power bank, which was probably why it still had some charge left.
I saw that there were several new messages.
That must've been what I'd been hearing.
Without thinking, I looked at the messages and froze.
The first one read:
"I did everything you asked me to do."
Then there was another message:
"Did our plan work?
I know it was hard, but it had to be done.
You know this is better than everyone finding out the truth.
If they ever find out what you did back then, no one will ever forgive you."
When I finished reading the messages, I nearly collapsed.
And it got even worse when I saw who had sent them.
That's when a horrifying thought h*t me: Jeremy hadn't left the backpack at Caleb's house by accident.
He'd wanted it to make its way back to me.
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Who sent those messages — and what did Jeremy know before he r*de home that night?
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