Author's POV
Morning had settled over the base.
The common area was finally awake.
Aries sat on one of the sofas with his shoulder still carefully bandaged.
Percy and Denila were arguing quietly about something completely unnecessary.
Luna was going through the morning updates.
Alex stood near the table with his phone in his hand.
Angelo sat silently near the window.
Cora was curled comfortably into one of the armchairs, still recovering.
And Keifer—
he was there too.
Nobody was really talking about last night anymore.
Not openly.
They were giving Jay space.
After everything she had remembered, nobody wanted to push her.
A few minutes later, Jay quietly entered the common area.
Everyone noticed.
Nobody stared.
Nobody asked how she was feeling.
She simply walked toward the kitchen.
She looked tired.
Not physically.
Something deeper.
Keifer watched her disappear through the doorway.
He waited for a moment.
Then followed.
The Kitchen
Jay stood at the counter filling a large glass with water.
Her hands were steady this morning.
Mostly.
She lifted it and took a slow sip.
Then another.
Keifer stopped near the entrance.
"Morning."
Jay glanced at him.
"Morning."
It was the first word she had spoken that morning.
Keifer smiled faintly.
"You okay?"
Jay gave the smallest shrug.
"Just thirsty."
He nodded.
He didn't question her further.
For a moment, they simply stood there.
Then Keifer said quietly:
"Alex found something last night."
Jay looked at him.
"What?"
Keifer hesitated.
"The footage."
Her expression changed immediately.
She kept holding the glass.
"What footage?"
"The old CCTV."
Jay stared at him.
Keifer slowly stepped closer.
"From the neighboring house."
Silence.
"The camera caught your house that day."
Jay's fingers tightened around the large glass.
Keifer continued.
"You were five."
She swallowed.
"And you were holding a big keychain."
Something flickered across her expression.
Not a full memory.
Just recognition.
Keifer's voice remained gentle.
"Your mom was folding clothes."
Jay looked down.
"And then your father came in."
Her breathing changed slightly.
"Kyle came in after him."
Jay closed her eyes.
She remembered the fragments.
But this time—
Keifer wasn't telling her what Kyle had claimed.
He was telling her what the camera had actually shown.
"There was an argument."
Jay's eyes opened.
"And then?"
Keifer looked at her.
"Kyle was the one who attacked your father."
The glass slipped from Jay's hand.
It struck the floor with a sharp crash.
The large glass shattered beside her foot.
One of the broken pieces cut across the side of her foot, just below her toes.
Jay gasped and stumbled backward.
A thin line of blood appeared first.
Then it began to run down the side of her foot, gathering near her heel.
Keifer's expression changed instantly.
"Jay, don't move."
She looked down.
The sight of the blood made her face go pale.
For one second, she only stared at it.
Then her eyes lifted toward Keifer.
"Come away from there," he said firmly. "Slowly. Come to me."
Jay tried to step forward, but the cut stung sharply.
She flinched.
Keifer immediately crossed the remaining distance and caught her by the arms, guiding her away from the broken glass.
"Don't put your foot down again."
The sound of the glass breaking had already reached the common area.
Everyone rushed toward the kitchen.
"Jay!" Alex called.
Keifer pulled Jay against him before she could look back at the floor again.
She clutched his shirt with both hands.
Then she began to cry.
Not quietly.
Not carefully.
She cried like a frightened little girl who had finally been told that the nightmare she had lived with was not her fault.
Her shoulders shook violently.
Her fingers twisted into Keifer's shirt.
"I didn't—" she sobbed. "I didn't do it."
"No," Keifer said immediately. "You didn't."
"I thought I did."
"I know."
"I thought I hurt them."
"You were five, Jay."
Her crying became harder.
The pain in her foot, the blood, the shattered glass, and the truth about that day all collided at once.
Keifer held her tightly but carefully, keeping her injured foot away from the broken pieces.
Alex reached them first.
"Jay, let me see your foot."
Jay shook her head, still crying against Keifer.
Keifer looked down at her.
"Let Alex check it."
She clung to him harder.
"I don't want to look."
"You don't have to," Keifer promised. "Look at me instead."
He gently lifted one hand to her face and turned her toward him.
"Keep your eyes on me."
Jay's wet eyes met his.
"Don't look down," he said softly. "Not at the floor. Not at your foot. Just me."
Alex crouched carefully beside her.
"Keifer, keep her still. I'm going to take a quick look."
Keifer kept one hand against Jay's cheek and the other around her upper back.
"You're safe," he murmured. "Stay with me."
Jay's breathing trembled, but she did not look away.
Alex first moved the larger pieces of glass away from them using a folded towel. He avoided touching the shard near Jay's foot with his bare hands. Once the area was clear, he looked over the wound without pressing on it.
The cut was along the outer side of her foot, close to the base of her toes. It did not look deep, but it was more than a simple scratch. Blood was still slowly seeping from it.
"Jay, I'm going to clean it," Alex explained. "It might sting, but I need to make sure there isn't any glass left."
Jay's fingers tightened around Keifer's wrists.
Keifer kept her face turned toward him.
"Breathe slowly."
Alex placed a clean towel beneath her foot and carefully raised it onto a small stool. He used sterile gauze to apply gentle pressure around the cut, slowing the bleeding before cleaning it.
Then he opened a small bottle of saline and rinsed the wound carefully.
Jay flinched at the first touch.
Her eyes filled again, but she kept looking at Keifer.
"It hurts," she whispered.
"I know," Keifer said. "You're doing well."
Alex continued cleaning the cut, checking the skin around it for any remaining fragments. He used sterile tweezers to look over the edges without digging into the wound.
"There's no visible glass left," he said. "I'm just checking it once more."
He stopped whenever Jay tensed.
After he was satisfied that nothing remained inside, he patted the area dry with sterile gauze.
The bleeding had already slowed considerably.
Alex applied a little antiseptic around the cut, then placed a clean dressing over it. He wrapped gauze around her foot—not too tightly—and secured it with medical tape, leaving her toes visible.
He looked at the bandage for a moment.
"Can you move your toes?"
Jay swallowed.
She tried.
Her toes moved slightly.
"Good," Alex said. "That's a good sign."
He looked up at Keifer.
"She should avoid putting weight on it for now. Keep the dressing clean and dry. I'll check it again later. If the bleeding starts again, the cut opens, or it becomes more painful or swollen, we'll get proper medical help."
Keifer nodded.
Jay still hadn't looked away from him.
Alex finished securing the bandage and carefully lowered her foot back onto the stool.
"That's it," he told her.
Jay's lips trembled.
"Done?"
"Done."
Only then did some of the tension leave her body.
She leaned forward and buried her face against Keifer's chest.
Her crying started again, deep and helpless.
Keifer wrapped both arms around her.
"I've got you."
"I wasn't a murderer," Jay sobbed.
"No," he said firmly. "You were a child."
She shook against him.
"I didn't hurt them."
"You didn't."
"I was holding the keychain."
"Yes."
"I was just there."
"Yes," Keifer whispered. "You were just a little girl who witnessed something terrible."
Jay cried so hard that her words became broken sounds.
Keifer kept one hand at the back of her head and the other against her cheek whenever she lifted her face.
He did not let her look at the blood.
He did not let her look at the broken glass.
He kept her attention on him until her breathing slowly began to settle.
"Look at me," he said gently.
Jay raised her face.
Her cheeks were soaked with tears.
"You're here," he told her.
She nodded weakly.
"You're safe."
Another small nod.
"And you didn't do it."
Jay closed her eyes for a moment.
When she opened them again, she was still crying, but she did not collapse a second time.
She stayed against him, breathing unevenly but steadily.
Alex stood and disposed of the used gauze and supplies.
"Keep her seated for a while," he said. "She shouldn't walk on that foot yet."
Keifer nodded.
"I will."
The others remained near the kitchen entrance, silent and shaken.
Nobody had expected the sound of the glass to be followed by Jay's sobs.
Nobody had expected to see her holding onto Keifer like a small child afraid of being left alone.
Angelo lowered his head.
Aries closed his eyes.
Percy looked toward the bandaged foot, then toward Jay.
Cora quietly wiped her eyes.
Even Denila had nothing to say.
For once—
nobody joked.
Nobody interrupted.
They simply let Jay stay in Keifer's arms.
Because after everything she had carried—
she finally knew the truth.
And for the first time since the night Kyle's lie had destroyed her peace—
Jay wasn't crying because she thought she was a murderer.
She was crying because she finally knew she wasn't.