Chapter 4 - Shadows Behind the Stage
The backstage corridor smelled of floor polish, nervous sweat, and damp bouquets. Rows of teenagers adjusted caps in wall mirrors, their bright laughter filtering through the drafty hallway. Maya walked blindly past them, Robert following three paces behind, while Eleanor lingered in the shadow of the exit doors, refusing to be dismissed.
Dean Miller stood beside the registry table, holding a printed manifest. His brows furrowed with evident distress as Robert approached.
""Robert,"" Dean Miller said quietly, gesturing toward a small storage room off the main hall to ensure privacy. ""Step in here for a moment. Both of you.""
Robert pulled the door shut behind them, isolating the three of them from the noise of the assembling class. Eleanor tried to slip inside, but Robert firmly caught the door handle and held it firmly closed from within.
""What is going on, Arthur?"" Robert demanded. ""Did you fix the roster?""
""I did,"" Dean Miller answered, his voice guarded. ""Maya will walk, and her name will be announced in full as Maya Lin Walker. But Robert... that isn't the only file that was submitted from your home network this week.""
Maya wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her gown. ""What do you mean?""
Dean Miller adjusted his reading glasses and picked up a manila folder from the desk. ""Three days ago, an official withdrawal request was filed regarding Maya’s academic scholarship. It cited familial hardship and requested the scholarship committee reassign the funds to the secondary candidate.""
Maya’s jaw dropped. ""What? I never submitted that! I deferred my enrollment, but I never gave up my scholarship!""
Robert looked at Dean Miller, the blood draining from his face. ""Who was the secondary candidate?""
Dean Miller hesitated, glancing through the glass panel of the door toward the hallway where Eleanor stood waiting.
""The scholarship runner-up was Julian Vance,"" Dean Miller said softly. ""Eleanor’s nephew.""
The silence inside the small room was suffocating.
Maya looked at her father, watching the exact moment the pillars of his world cracked open. The puzzle pieces violently snapped together: the missing documents, the manufactured distrust, the wedge driven between father and daughter over the past six months.
May you like
""She didn't just try to separate us,"" Maya whispered, realization horrifying her. ""She was stealing my future.""
A heavy knock rattled the storage door. Eleanor’s voice filtered through the wood, tense and commanding: ""Robert, unlock this door right now. The ceremony is starting.""
