Cold sweat beaded Professor Delgado's forehead as his eyes frantically scanned the lines of the essay he was reading.
Each word was like a dagger stabbing into his being, unearthing the dark secrets he thought he had buried many years ago.
How was it possible that this student knew so many details of the incident?The dates, the places, the actions detailed with chilling precision, as if he had been there.
Delgado relived the sleepless nights, the over-the-shoulder stares, the constant paranoia that someone would discover his perfect crime.
He read on with trembling hands, panic gripping him. The essay recounted in great detail how he had seduced and harassed his intern years before.
How he had repeatedly blackmailed her to keep her silent about their forbidden affair. And finally, when she threatened to expose everything, how he had engineered an ‘accident’ to get rid of her permanently and thus eliminate the problem.
Delgado looked up at the new student, whose impassive gaze stared at him, as if guessing his unease. The young man seemed to sense his unspoken question as he moved closer to where he stood.
-I know all about you, professor. Every secret, every blemish on your conscience. I've been researching you for years.
The professor's jaw dropped - had such a young student devoted years of his life to exposing you?
-But how? Why?’
The boy smiled an enigmatic and somewhat macabre smile.
-Because you ruined my life. That intern, that poor woman you cheated and murdered... she was my mother.
The world seemed to stop for Delgado. All the pieces made excruciating sense. He had destroyed an entire family without even knowing it.
-I spent years gathering evidence, preparing myself. And now that I finally have access to you, you can be sure I will make you pay for what you did to my mother. An eye for an eye, Professor, there will be no mercy, just as you had none for her.
The student sat up with deadly calm and headed for the door. Delgado watched him leave, paralysed with horror.
In that moment, he knew that his death sentence had been passed, and that there was no escape from the shadows of his past.
