Episode 5: Fragments of Ridgeway

The folder is thicker this time.

My hands feel cold as I reach forward, fingertips barely grazing the cover before I flip it open.

A single word stares back at me in bold: TRANSFER REPORT.

I blink. My breath slows.

“Elijah wasn’t always at St. Vincent’s, was he?” Monroe says casually, watching me.

I force myself to swallow. This isn’t a school record. This is a file from somewhere else. Somewhere before.

“Elijah transferred in the middle of the year,” Monroe continues. “Not unusual, except there’s no application on record. No parent interview. No academic review.”

I look at him sharply. “What does that mean?”

He leans back slightly, tapping the table with a finger. “Someone bypassed the usual process.”

I skim through the document frantically, scanning names and dates. Then I see it. Reason for Transfer: Incident at Previous Institution.

My breath catches.

“Do you remember the rumors?” Monroe asks, his gaze narrowing with quiet curiosity. “What they said about him?”

“He’s a freak—fresh off the loony bin.”
“He was in a psych ward.”
“He got kicked out of his last school.”

I swallow hard. “They said a lot of things.”

“They did.” Monroe’s eyes darken. “But not all of it was lies.”

Flashback: First Look

The first time I saw Elijah Lane, he was standing at the front of the classroom, clutching the straps of his backpack like they were the only things keeping him anchored. His uniform was too crisp, his tie knotted perfectly—too perfectly. New kid energy.

Mr. Reynolds, our teacher, gestured toward the only open seat. “Take a seat, Elijah.”

Elijah nodded, moving quickly but deliberately. His posture, the nervous twitch of his left leg, and the fervor in his eyes—he stood out right away.

When lunch came, I saw him walking alone, tray in hand, scanning the cafeteria like he was searching for something. Or someone.

He paused near a table full of people who devoured boys like Elijah for lunch—Darren Wells, Adrian, and Jake. Darren, the self-proclaimed alpha, with slicked-back dark hair and eyes glinting with smug, predatory confidence. He had a way of making you feel small, as though he was the one who decided whether you mattered or not.

Darren smirked, leaning back in his seat. “Hey, new kid. Looking for something?”

A pause. Then, Elijah gave a small, almost uncertain nod.
Darren kicked a chair out. An invitation. A test.
Elijah hesitated, then stepped forward.
Darren’s grin widened. A sharp kick and the chair went flying toward Elijah's foot.
Laughter. Sharp as a knife.
“Poor kid,” I thought to myself.
Elijah stopped mid-motion. For a fraction of a second, I saw it—the flicker of something behind his calm expression. Like this was something he was all too familiar with.
Then, he turned and walked away.

They say a faster way to enrage a bully isn’t through resistance but silence.
And in that silence, something settled. A decision was made. He was a target now.

Flashback: A Stranger Among Us

Elijah stuck out like a sore thumb ever since he arrived at St. Vincent’s.
He didn’t try to blend in. He wasn’t loud, but he wasn’t invisible either. He answered questions quickly in class, his words crisp and eloquent. He completed tasks faster than anyone else. Curious. Intelligent. Too smart for his own good.

In the first few weeks, I noticed small things. He read at lunch instead of eating. He never spoke unless spoken to. He flinched at sudden noises.
And yet, he wasn’t afraid to speak up when it came to things he cared about.
I saw him challenge a teacher once—polite, yet with a quiet confidence that made the whole room fall silent. He knew things. The quiet kids sought him out for answers, and he was patient with them. He wasn’t afraid to be different from the rest of us.

But that only made it worse.
People began to notice him, but not because they were curious. They resented the way he carried himself.

Then came the whispers. The Ridgeway rumor.
I heard it first in the locker room.
“I heard he lost it.”
“Threw a chair.”
“Someone got hurt.”
But the details never lined up. No one knew exactly what happened. And that made it worse. Because when there are no facts, people make their own.

Elijah never acknowledged the whispers. He went about his days like they didn’t exist. Like we didn’t exist.
But the silence only fed the fire.
The more he ignored it, the worse it got. He wasn’t one of them, and they made sure he felt it.

Flashback: Words Unspoken - The First Encounter

It started subtly at first.
A ‘mistaken’ shove in the hallway. Water spilled onto his books, leaving him drenched.
Then it escalated.

It was after gym class when it happened.
Elijah was changing, tying his shoes, when Darren strolled up beside him, casual as ever.

“Hey, Ridgeway.”

Elijah didn’t react. Darren grinned wider, his lips curling into a cruel sneer.

“You don’t talk much, do you?”
No response.
Darren nudged Elijah’s bag with his foot, sending it sliding across the floor

with a hard thud.

“Hey, guys. Think Ridgeway’s got a weapon in there?”

Laughter. A chorus of mocking chuckles.

Adrian leaned in, “Probably hiding his last school’s incident report.”
Someone added, “I bet he got kicked out for real. Couldn’t keep his shit together.”

Elijah sat still. His fingers dug into the bench beneath him, his knuckles going white.
Darren crouched down, getting right in Elijah’s face. “What’s the matter, Ridgeway? You gonna snap again? Lose it like last time?” He shoved Elijah’s shoulder, knocking him off balance.

Elijah’s eyes met his for the first time. But this wasn’t the Elijah we used to see. It wasn’t fear or rage in those eyes. No, this was something colder. Something tired. Something dead inside.
Darren’s smirk faltered for just a second. He wasn’t expecting Elijah to just stare back at him like this wasn’t worth his time.
Then, with an almost eerie calm, Elijah stood up. The room went dead silent.
But Darren wasn’t done. “What, no words? You’re just gonna walk away like some pussy?”
Elijah didn’t flinch.
The rest of them looked on, waiting for a reaction. But Elijah didn’t give them the satisfaction.

He turned slowly and walked out without a word.