Chapter 32: Message From A Creep

N A O M I

Turning on the tablet that has the number one stuck to it, a person wearing a mask greeted us. "Hello! I see that the Crumentus Daemones has received my gift! You wasted quite a long time looking for me, sorry for expecting too much. So, hi! I'm the mastermind behind the fire 'accident.' I'm sorry to have you caught in it, lady death, but I'm not really sorry," he said in a robotic voice, probably using a voice changer, then he laughed. Looking at the background, it was all black, only the person can be seen.

"What do you want?" I asked.

The person smiled, and said, "I want you dead. You took everything away from me. I once fell for you, but you turned me down, made me a laughing stock. I lost everything because I fell for you, stupid, right? Do you know what is crazy about it? I still love you. I can't forget you, lady Naomi."

His words made me stop. What the hell? I don't know if this is love, an illusion, or an obsession. This is too much. I'm also clueless about his identity, I mean, tons of admirers confessed, and no clue about this guy's identity.

"I'm sure you are curious about my identity. Well, here is a bunch of codes for you to cipher. Good luck, I hope to see you soon, my soon-to-be-bride!" He said with a creepy smile, then the tablet's screen turned to white.

After a few minutes, words start to flash. "Want to find me? Guess my wife's characteristics then!" After those words disappeared, symbols or characters flashed. (Check the paragraph comment for the pictures.)

"Pigpen cipher," Thea stated and took the tablet from me. She took out a paper and written some symbols on it. Comparing the symbols written in the paper and the ones flashed in the tablet, she deciphered it. The answer was "White Hair".

The next code that flashed is a set of one and zero numbers. Binary numbers, is he playing with us? Apollo took the tablet and another paper and starts grouping the numbers by eight.

Screen: 01110110011010010110111101101100011001010111010000100000 01100101011110010110010101110011

Grouped: (01110110)(01101001)(01101111)(01101100)(01100101)(01110100)(00100000) (01100101)(01111001)(01100101)(01110011)

Without making a chart, he managed to decipher it. This guy is really a nerd, I can't decipher that without making a chart first. He typed the answer on the box, the key was "Violet Eyes." The same white screen appeared, then a new batch of code to decipher.

"How did you guys even solved that?" Chase asked, it almost made me laugh, but I managed to stop myself. We all looked at him, some have disgust in their face, while the others are suppressing their laughs. "What?" He added, giving us a questioning look.

"You seriously don't know those codes? Are you sure?" Elijah mockingly asked him. Chase nodded slowly, and we ended up filling each corner of the room with our laughter. This is damn hilarious. When our laughter died down, Chase still has a confused look in his face.

"The first code can be solved using the pigpen cipher, the second is binary numbers. The pigpen cipher is a geometric simple substitution cipher, which exchanges letters for symbols which are fragments of a grid. While the binary codes are a group of ones and zeros, computer language, and are grouped into eight. It can be equivalent to numbers or letters," Kyousuke explained to him, and he nodded but a confused look in his face.

When we checked the tablet, there is a new set of codes, morse code. Alexa snatched the tablet and started decoding it. We all watched her decode it, I haven't memorized the chart, but Alexa knew it by heart.

Code: -... .-.. .- -.-. -.- / .-. --- ... . .

Answer: Black Roses

"Is he playing games with us or something? These codes are for kids, not for us!" Alexa complained, probably lacking thrill. I feel the same way, but there is something fishy about him.

The tablet flashed a new set, but there are no dots or dashes, numbers, or symbols. It was like narration or something, it's just a set of words if you ask me. The screen shows:

"My Phonetics

I watched Shakespeare's tragedy and immediately fell for Romeo.

My voice of cries echoed in my empty room.

Out of curiosity, I checked the Greek alphabet, and the fourth letter, Delta, caught my attention.

As my mind wanders, the word 'bravo' lingers as I recall my past performance.

Visiting Lima, the capital of Peru, I got the news that I won two Oscar awards.

When I checked which work of mine won, it was the Delta movie."

"What the hell is this?" Ares asked. Each one of us has a confused look, staring at the words flashed on the screen.

"We don't care about his trip or something!" Chase complained, looking intently at the tablet.

"What's the connection of Phonetics to the story, if it is a story?" Nike wondered out loud, giving me an idea. Taking out my phone, I opened google then typed, "phonetic alphabet."

"Gotcha," I said with a smirk when the results appeared. Giving them my phone and the tablet, I let them decipher it. By keeping Romeo, Echo, Delta, Bravo, Lima, Oscar, and Delta again, they managed to cipher it. The problem is, it's lacking one more letter.

Scanning the narration or whatever it is called, I noticed a clue, making me smirk again. Taking the tablet, I erased the last letter then substitute it with the letter "O" then I typed the last letter. The answer was "red blood." The screen turned black for a few seconds, but what we saw next was disgusting, and somehow cute to me.

It was a picture of a woman with white hair, she was hanged using a rope. Her eyes were gone, her lips are stitched, and her legs are skinned. There is blood everywhere, and it was a disgusting sight. There are also thorns all over her body, and I noticed her violet eyes, hanging by the thorns.

Julia and Nike erupted into screams, everyone else closed their eyes or look at it with full of disgust. Luckily, no one threw up. The picture finally disappeared and a robotic voice was heard. "Congratulations! Now open the next tablet then answer the question to get the map."

We did as said, and a question flashed. "How will my dear loved one, die?" With hesitation, Ares typed, "A Horrible Death." The question disappeared, showing a map to an abandoned mansion in the middle of the woods.

Gathering our strength, we got ready and went out. Taking a car by pair, like before, we drove off to the location shown on the map. My mind wanders to the different possibilities of what we will encounter on our arrival there. The map brought us to an abandoned mansion, in the middle of the forest. The towering trees covered it, as the wind sways its leaves sideways.

Approaching the mansion, we heard a creaking sound and the door opened right before us. Everything was dimly lit, and it gives off a creepy vibe. A monitor greeted us the moment we enter, the same time the door closed.

"Welcome to my mansion, and to your soon-to-be death place! I should welcome you formally, but since you are here, how about a thrilling game?"