Chapter 2
PART 2:
Lily had called him the night before.
Daniel replayed that call in his mind until every word hurt.
“Dad, are you awake?”
He had been half-asleep on the couch, work boots still on, the television murmuring in the background.
“For you? Always.”
She laughed softly.
That was Lily.
Even exhausted, even stressed, she could still laugh like the world had not touched her too hard yet.
She told him she had finished her lab report.
She told him she had eaten instant noodles for dinner, and he complained like he always did.
She told him campus felt different lately.
Daniel sat up.
“Different how?”
There was a pause.
“Just… weird.”
He heard wind in the background.
“You walking alone?”
“I’m almost at the dorm.”
“Lily.”
“I know, I know. I should’ve called campus escort. I’m fine.”
Daniel hated that word.
Fine.
People said it right before something wasn’t.
“Stay on the phone with me until you get inside.”
She groaned.
“Dad, I’m twenty-one.”
“And I’m still your father.”
She smiled through the phone.
He could hear it.
“Okay.”
For two more minutes, he listened to her footsteps.
Then she got quiet.
Not silent.
Quiet.
Like she had seen something.
“Lily?”
No answer.
Then he heard a male voice.
Muffled.
Too far from the phone.
Then Lily said, “Leave me alone.”
Daniel stood so fast the remote fell from his lap.
“Lily?”
The line crackled.
Footsteps.
A sharp breath.
Then the phone hit something hard.
Daniel shouted her name until his throat burned.
Nobody answered.
By the time he reached campus, police lights were already flashing near the east parking structure.
An officer stopped him at the tape.
“My daughter,” Daniel said. “Lily Hart. Blue hoodie. Brown hair. She called me.”
The officer’s expression changed.
That was how Daniel knew before anyone said it.
She was alive.
May you like
But barely.
👉 And when Daniel saw what they called “a fall,” he realized someone was already trying to bury the truth.
