Chapter 4: Wizard's Last Message
Nobody slept that night.
We moved Emma and the bicycles into our old clubhouse, a place that had always been filled with laughter, arguments, and the smell of motorcycle oil.
Now it felt like a fortress.
Tom sat at the wooden table where Wizard used to play cards.
The handwritten note was in front of him.
The photograph was beside it.
Neither made sense.
Wizard was dead.
Except everything we learned said he wasn't.
I stood near the window watching the road.
"Tom.""
He looked up.
"Yeah?""
"Do you think Wizard knew this would happen?""
Tom stared at the empty chair.
"Knowing Wizard?""
He sighed.
"Probably.""
Emma was sitting on the couch wrapped in a blanket.
She looked tiny inside our giant clubhouse.
Jake brought her hot chocolate.
She looked at the cup.
"Wizard used to make it too.""
Jake smiled sadly.
"He did?""
She nodded.
"He said bikers needed sugar because they were too serious.""
A few of us laughed.
It was the first laugh anyone had made since the cemetery.
Then Emma reached into her pocket.
"I have something else.""
Tom walked over.
"What is it?""
She pulled out a small metal key.
Old.
Rusty.
With one word engraved on it.
"HOME.""
Tom frowned.
"Where did you get that?""
"Wizard gave it to me.""
"When?""
"Before he left.""
Tom exchanged a glance with me.
"Why didn't you show us earlier?""
Emma looked embarrassed.
"Because he said only show it to the people who loved him.""
That hurt.
Because every person in that room loved Wizard.
Tom held the key carefully.
"Did he tell you what it opens?""
Emma shook her head.
"He said you would know.""
Nobody knew.
Until Victor spoke.
He had been sitting quietly in the corner since we brought him inside.
Everyone looked at him.
"You know something," Tom said.
Victor looked at the key.
His face changed.
"Where did she get that?""
Tom stepped closer.
"Answer.""
Victor swallowed.
"That key belonged to Wizard's father.""
The room went silent.
I had known Wizard for fifteen years.
I knew about his mother.
His childhood.
His first motorcycle.
But I had never heard him talk about his father.
Tom noticed.
"Why?""
Victor looked uncomfortable.
"Because Wizard spent his entire life trying to find out what happened to him.""
Emma whispered:
"He told me his dad was a hero.""
Victor looked at the floor.
"His father wasn't a hero.""
Tom grabbed his jacket.
"Careful.""
Victor continued.
"He was a whistleblower.""
The word hung in the air.
A whistleblower.
Someone who exposes secrets.
Someone powerful people want silenced.
Victor looked at us.
"Wizard found evidence years ago. Evidence that could destroy powerful people.""
"And you?"" Tom asked.
Victor shook his head.
"I tried to protect him.""
Nobody believed him.
Not after everything.
A loud knock interrupted us.
Three slow knocks.
Everyone turned.
Nobody should have been able to find the clubhouse.
The location was secret.
Tom looked at the security monitor.
The screen showed only darkness.
Then the camera flickered.
A face appeared.
An old man.
Gray hair.
Tired eyes.
Tom stepped closer.
Because he knew that face.
I knew it too.
Every person in the room did.
It was impossible.
It couldn't be.
Tom whispered:
"No.""
The man outside lifted his hand and pressed it against the camera.
Then he mouthed three words.
"I'm sorry, son.""
Emma gasped.
Because she recognized him.
She ran toward the screen.
"Dad?""
Nobody moved.
Nobody could.
Because the man standing outside wasn't a stranger.
May you like
It was the man we had buried five days earlier.
It was Wizard.
