i did a thing

a highly illegal, dangerous, and stupid thing.

i answering andrew's comment on the last post when i realized something. i hadn't had a very good look at the sweater, but i did have a good look at the notes. they had the same handwriting. which meant that there was a chance the proxy might know the code.

so i...sort of broke into his house.

alora told me about him already, so i knew where he lived. sneaking out of her house wasn't that hard (her family was watching a movie). the proxy was already sitting across the street, watching her window. i got past him okay. it was dark. it was easy to convince his mind that i wasn't there. at first i thought this was going to be a breeze, especially when i realized that his parents left the back windows open a bit. just pop off the screen and i'm in. i thought they were either trusting or stupid.

turns out it was neither, and they just have a really, really big dog.

good news: my mind powers work on dogs like they do on people, and he didn't alert the neighborhood.

bad news: i have slobber all over my mask.

anyway, i managed to find the proxy's room; it was the only one that was locked. but they left the key/pick thing on the door ledge, so it was pretty easy to get in. the room was surprisingly neat. i wasn't sure what i suspected. disorder, maybe. but that doesn't matter. what matters is that i was right. there was a clue in his room. five different cryptography books. the first four were just normal old code breaking books, but the fifth...

it was...full of ramblings and jumbles of code and operator symbols. and one page with the word veritas written in every blank space.

veritas. the same word as on the package.

i'd found the code.

it's a kind of replacement code. the first letters of the alphabet correspond to the key word (so if the word was "home", a=h, b=o, c=m, d=e). Then the rest of the letters respond to the remaining letters of the alphabet. when you decode the message, you run the letters together, then split them back up into words. Some letters are left over. those are just to make five-letter groupings. i tried using "veritas" as a key word and...well, it worked.

i decoded the message.

...here it is:

hello daniel (hklo).

nice to see you're still alive (f).

have you told her you're a monster (opl)?

oh wait that's right (klnm). you don't remember.

but you will.

this will give you a hand.

left pocket.

try not to have another freak out (tyu). it's not very dignified (a).

your friend redlight (bn).




...


i have three things to say to this.

one. redlight is no friend of mine.

two. i'm not a monster. i'm not i'm not i'm not. i am not a monster. he's lying.

three. there is something in the sweater's left pocket. a packet, like the kind you hold photos in.

i haven't opened it.




alora doesn't know. i haven't told her yet. she actually fell asleep before midnight. her brother had to carry her up. she's been so tired lately.

i'm scared.

i don't know...i don't know what to do.

i think...

i'm going to open the packet.









daniel.

daniel smith.

daniel j. smith.

26 years old.

daniel smith daniel smith daniel j. smith age 26 mother father daniel smith police officer homicide brother dead had a brother murdered as a child that's why police officer alice alice alice she's real she's real loved her daniel j. smith loved her i loved her daniel j. smith is my name i was in love i am in love alice alice alice alice alice

mom

dad

daddy, mommy, my head my head my head make it stop make it stop no more can't take more stop stop stop stop STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP WHAT DID YOU DO WHAT HAVE YOU DONE THOSE PEOPLE WHY WHY DID YOU KILL THEM THEY DIDN'T DO ANYTHING SHE WAS SIX YEARS OLD SHE WAS SIX YEARS OLD NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!!!!!














momma

poppa

i'm sorry

i'm so sorry

i want to go home