Chapter 13: The Memory Buried With The Machine
For twelve years, I thought I had lost a motorcycle.
A piece of metal.
A machine.
Something replaceable.
I never understood why that one bike haunted me.
Why every time I heard an engine roar in the distance, something inside me tightened.
Why I avoided talking about the night it happened.
Because deep down, my mind knew what my memory refused to admit.
The motorcycle wasn’t just a motorcycle.
It was where I buried the truth.
I looked at Daniel.
“You knew.””
He didn’t deny it.
“Yes.””
My anger returned.
“You knew where it was?””
“Yes.””
“And you never told me?””
Daniel looked away.
“Because if I told you before you were ready, you would have gone looking.””
I laughed once.
“You mean I would have found the truth.””
“No.””
His eyes met mine.
“You would have found a grave.””
The words hit hard.
I looked toward Caroline.
She was crying silently.
“Where is it?””
Nobody answered.
I stepped forward.
“Where is my bike?””
Samuel finally spoke.
“Near the old quarry.””
The place.
I knew it.
Everyone in town knew it.
A forgotten piece of land outside the city where people stopped going after sunset.
I stared at him.
“You left it there?””
Caroline shook her head.
“I hid it.””
“Why?””
“Because Victor was looking for it.””
Victor smiled.
“You all keep saying my name like I’m the villain.””
I turned toward him.
“You are.””
He shrugged.
“Maybe.””
The answer surprised me.
“But you still don’t know the whole story.””
I hated that sentence.
Everyone had been using it.
Everyone except me knew the ending.
I looked at my riders.
“Stay here.””
Marcus immediately shook his head.
“No.””
I looked at him.
“This isn’t your fight.””
He stepped closer.
“Bear, you spent years carrying everyone else.””
A pause.
“Let us carry you for once.””
The words almost broke something in me.
Because that was what family sounded like.
Not blood.
Not names.
Choice.
I nodded.
“Then we move together.””
Victor’s expression changed.
“You think you’re leaving?””
The strangers around him shifted.
The moment tightened.
Daniel stepped forward.
“You don’t have enough people.””
Victor smiled.
“I have enough.””
Then something unexpected happened.
Daniel turned toward us.
And stood beside me.
Nobody spoke.
Not even me.
Marcus looked shocked.
“You’re helping us?””
Daniel stared at Victor.
“I’m correcting what I started.””
The honesty was strange coming from him.
But I believed it.
Not completely.
Not yet.
But enough.
The ride to the quarry was tense.
The motorcycles moved together through the daylight.
The same formation we had used for years.
Except this time, we weren’t riding toward a destination.
We were riding toward the part of ourselves we had buried.
The old quarry appeared after twenty minutes.
Empty.
Quiet.
Forgotten.
At least, that’s what it looked like.
I stepped off my bike.
My chest felt heavy.
The memory was close.
I could feel it.
Caroline walked beside me.
“I’m sorry.””
I stopped.
“For what?””
“For letting you hate me.””
I looked at her.
“You let me think you abandoned me.””
Her eyes filled.
“I know.””
“Why?””
She looked toward the ground.
“Because the alternative was letting you know you almost died because of me.””
I froze.
“What?””
She swallowed.
“You came because of me.””
I waited.
“That night, I called you.””
The memory hit.
A phone ringing.
A voice.
Caroline.
I touched my forehead.
“I remember…”
She looked at me.
“You do?””
Pieces returned.
A road.
Rain.
A gunshot.
Caroline screaming.
I stepped back.
“No.””
Marcus grabbed my shoulder.
“Bear.””
I closed my eyes.
The memories came faster.
Victor.
Daniel.
The ledger.
The motorcycle.
Then the moment after.
The moment I hid something.
I walked toward the edge of the quarry.
“There.””
Everyone followed my eyes.
A rusted piece of metal was visible beneath dirt and weeds.
My old motorcycle.
Caroline covered her mouth.
Daniel looked down.
“I never thought we’d see it again.””
We dug.
Nobody spoke.
The dirt came away slowly.
Then the bike appeared.
Broken.
Damaged.
But still recognizable.
I touched the handlebars.
And suddenly everything returned.
Not memories.
A confession.
My younger self recording something.
A hidden compartment.
A message.
I opened the damaged side panel.
Inside was a small metal box.
Victor stepped forward.
“No.””
Everyone turned.
For the first time, he sounded afraid.
I lifted the box.
Daniel whispered:
“That’s it.””
The ledger.
The proof.
The truth.
I opened it.
Inside was not paper.
It was a small recording device.
I pressed the button.
My own voice played.
“If you’re hearing this…”
Everyone froze.
My younger voice continued.
“It means they succeeded.””
I looked at Victor.
The recording continued.
“Victor is not working alone.””
A pause.
“Daniel knows.””
Everyone looked at Daniel.
His face changed.
My younger voice continued:
“But the person I trusted most…”
The recording stopped.
Static.
Then one final sentence.
A name.
A name nobody expected.
“Caroline knows too.””
The silence afterward felt endless.
I looked at Caroline.
She looked devastated.
And before I could ask why…
The recording played again.
A second message appeared.
One I had never heard.
May you like
My own voice whispered:
“Don’t trust anyone.””
