by Patra, CS
Patty didn’t seem phased by this. “It’s tragic. He was still just a child. I found out the news days after he had been buried. Somehow, I just couldn’t buy that Harrison would die in an accident. I wanted to go to the funeral but I couldn’t. I knew people would be watching me and I would have to explain myself. I wasn’t ready to do that.”
“Do you think it was a suicide?”
“Oh, it was definitely a suicide. Harrison wanted to die. However, it wasn’t a decision he made without some influence. I don’t know how much Ash told you but his brother was a very happy-go-lucky young man. He was incredibly smart, very friendly, and loved life. He had so many talents as well. His parents always thought Harrison would have grown up to make a difference in the world.”
“I guess that’s why Ash resented him so much,” Crystal muttered.
“Ash did have issues, yes, but I can tell he loved his brother. He looked up to him and I think Harrison’s death affected him the most. For the longest time, I wondered why Harrison would end his life. I knew right away that it was a suicide.”
“Well, it turns out that Ash had a video of his brother’s last moments. He doesn’t know where it came from, but it shows Harrison talking to some random woman off screen. He apparently knew her well enough to go to her. That’s when he heard him talking about wanting to disappear. He had bloody knuckles for some reason.”
“I see,” Patty whispered. “He must have gone to…”
She trailed off and Crystal tried to get her to speak. “Who did he go to? Do you know who that woman might have been?”
“I’ve got a million answers for that question. There were many people tied to Project 99. I’d have to see the video in order to know who it was.”
“I can’t recognize her voice and Ash has the video. I don’t think he really wants anyone else to see it. We only watched because Pam brought it up.”
“I feel terrible for Ash. He found out the hard way.” Patty closed her eyes. “I can tell you that you are not the only Project 99 experiments out there. You’re not the only ones who are trying to find the answers.”
“You don’t know much, do you?” Crystal asked.
“I only know what I’ve been told. I admit that it’s not very much,” Patty sighed. “I’ve reached that point in my life that I barely remember what I’ve done. I didn’t forget any of you though. For years, I’ve wanted to reach out to all of you. I wanted you to know that you were going to be all right. Just stay close to each other. You’re siblings. It may not seem that way but it’s true. When times get rough, you will need each other.”
Crystal nodded. This was what she expected to hear. These people, once strangers in her life, were now a part of her family. They were a part of her. Everything they were thinking was what she was thinking. What they went through now was what she would go through. Was this what people called soulmates? Were they friends? What did this mean?
“You’re connected to each other,” Patty said. “Bit by bit, everything will make sense. You will learn who you are and you will see just how powerful you can become. For now, stay together. Keep an eye on each other. Love each other. In the end, that may be all you have left.”
“I don’t understand…”
“I know you don’t,” Patty whispered, squeezing her hand. “It will make sense in time, Crystal. It will all make sense.”
She meant it but time was fleeting. Crystal just hoped she would understand what all this meant before they went too deep into anything.
Chapter 19 – Doug
Doug was having the hardest time grappling with this new information about his life. Once again, his children claimed that nothing was wrong with them. They didn’t notice anything strange with their bodies or minds. All three thought their father was imagining things. In a way, Doug wondered if he was losing it. The whole thing felt surreal. He had a perfect life already. At times, it felt too perfect. Something had to come around and shake things up.
It was hard not to tell anyone about this. When he went to the university, he would look at the students and wonder which ones had been created by the Bradley Institute. A lot of the Project 99 experiments had been young people who killed themselves. They were the same ages as his students. He wouldn’t be surprised if there was someone else in that class who was part of Project 99. He couldn’t figure out which one could be an ally.
When he wasn’t worrying about the Bradley Institute or Genexis, he was trying to read. He had picked up a collection of Ray Bradbury’s short stories at the used book store. They were on sale for only a dollar and he looked through them to make sure no funny messages or gifts were in them. These books looked completely clean so he was relieved. He didn’t want to decode or find anything new. The other codes were painful enough as it was.
Although he wasn’t as good with codes like Ren, Doug still tried to figure out the message. Ren didn’t have too much luck with it. He had come up with some ideas but nothing seemed to make sense. It didn’t look like a letter to anyone. It had not been set up that way.
“Sorry. I tried my best.” Ren handed the book back to him. “I kept your book in good condition though. I didn’t write over it much. There are a few things I’ve noticed but nothing is really connecting together.”
“It’s all right. I think I might read it again. Maybe the real clue to solving this is in between the pages,” Doug suggested. “Yeah, that might be it. Let me read once more and see if I can find some things within the story itself.”
“The story doesn’t really reflect our lives though,” Ren pointed out. “It’s a post-apocalyptic world novel. We don’t have people burning books on a regular basis here.”
“True, but don’t you remember that one moment in the book? There was a woman who didn’t want to leave her books behind. She didn’t want to see them burned. Instead, she decided to burn herself alive. She would rather lose her life than lose her books. Doesn’t that moment remind you of something?”
Ren nodded. “Yeah, I was thinking about that too. The guy who burned himself in front of everyone really freaked me out. However, it couldn’t be for the same reason. I don’t think that he had a bunch of books that he wanted to save.”
“No, that’s not the reason. Maybe he wanted save something else,” Doug suggested. “He wanted to keep that alive and decided to risk his life instead.”
“You’re suggesting that this suicide isn’t as random as you thought?”
“I doubt any of these suicides could be considered random. If we could only get the name of this man, we could figure out what he was trying to save. Too bad that no one is going to release it.”
“Then in these cases, we look for that person,” Ren said. “Remember that website Patty told us about? We can try putting in different serial numbers and seeing if his face comes up.”
“That sounds like it will be time consuming. We don’t even know how many serial numbers there are.”
“I know. I guess we should come up with another plan then.”
They didn’t have time to come up with another plan. Doug was trying to grade papers that evening, but his mind went back to his life. How did things get out of his control? How did they come to this point? Susan was desperate for answers too but he didn’t have any for her. She tried to convince him that he was normal. It didn’t matter to her if he wasn’t born like other people.
“You are the best man that you can be.” She told him. “Why don’t you give up this search?”
“I can’t do that.” He appreciated her concern but shook his head. “It’s going to haunt me for the rest of my life. If I never know the truth, I will die completely lost. I just want to know what I am. I doubt it’s going to affect our lives or our children. The only person it will affect is me.”
“Oh, Doug...” Susan sighed. “This sounds dangerous to me.”
“I’m just a man who wants to know who he is. That’s all, Susan. Give me some time to figure it out. All of this that I’ve worked for, it’s g
oing to mean nothing if I don’t know what I am.” He pointed out. “Try to trust me.”
“You keep saying that.”
“That’s all I can say to you. We’ve been together for many years now and you think you know me well. The truth is that neither of us knows who I am. Once I figure it out, I will tell you.” He kissed her hand. “I’m sorry, honey, but I can’t do as you say this time.”
Susan frowned. “What do you mean ‘this time’? You never did anything I said!”
It was so hard to keep his wife in the dark like this. She knew that he had meetings on a regular basis but he always told her that they were for work. She knew he was consulting websites and books and other people about this. She felt helpless. He could tell that she wanted to get involved but didn’t know where to start. All she could do right now was stand in the sidelines and wait for Doug to give her some information.
Doug flipped through the pages of his book and tried to read bits and pieces of it. He already knew the story from front to back. He got the part where the woman set herself ablaze. It was almost painful to read. The poor woman didn’t want to live without her books. That part made him a little uneasy and he had to put the book down.
That was when he saw a tiny piece of paper sticking out from between the first couple of pages. He frowned. How come I didn’t notice this earlier?
He plucked the paper out and saw something that didn’t make sense. It was another message written in that same strange code. This was a smaller message but it looked like it was a quote. There were quotation marks around it.
“What on earth?” He whispered, flipping to the back of the book and finding the other message. “Someone’s trying to say something.”
“What is that, Doug?” Susan asked from the kitchen.
“I’m trying to solve this code here. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Really?” Susan came over and saw what he was looking at. “Strange. I’ve seen that before.”
“You have?”
“Yes, I saw this type of code when I was in college. I was friends with this German girl and she used to give me coded messages like this all the time. We made it up and used to communicate with each other through it,” she explained. “God, I wonder how you came across it.”
“Then you must know what this means!” Doug exclaimed. “Come on, Susan! If you break this code, this will take me one step closer to the truth!”
“It’s been years, Doug. I haven’t deciphered a code for a long time. I don’t think I have my notes on it anymore. Let me see...” She looked at them. “Okay, I know for a fact that numbers are vowels.”
“That’s what we came up with as well!”
“Yes, I remember the different numbers for the different vowels. I also remember that some consonants have certain symbols with them. My friend and I had so much fun doing this. I wish I knew where she was now. She went back to Germany years ago and I haven’t heard from her since. Let me see...” She murmured. “She told me about some things in Germany that were strange. She was one of those people who believed in the paranormal. She was certain there were ghosts that walked among us. I took everything she said lightly.”
“Would she know anything about what I’m going through?”
“I don’t know. She was a sweet but strange girl. We were great friends and we thought we’d stay together forever. It just didn’t happen. Hang on, I think I got something...give me a pen!”
Doug handed one to her along with a sheet of paper. “What do you see?”
“Okay, I can get these letters...this is an R. Here we’ve got an H...” She kept writing it down. Slowly but surely, it made sense. However, it was not what she was expecting. “What?! Why would someone put this in here?”
Doug looked down at what she had written. He was surprised to see what she had deciphered and read it a few times to himself.
Vienna, Austria
The fields are golden
The children are growing
The end is near.
The one you love
Never left you in the first place
Someone stole her from you
“This…doesn’t make an iota of sense,” Doug frowned. “I’ve never seen this poem before. What does Austria have to do with anything?”
“I’m trying to figure that out myself. I’m taking you don’t know of any golden fields in Vienna. It’s the strangest thing I’ve ever seen.”
“Why would someone put that in my book?” He asked. “Who’s the one that they’re talking about?” He flipped to the back cover and pointed to the bigger message. “Do you think you decipher this one as well?”
“I can try. I got that much out,” Susan said. “I don’t think it could be me though. No matter what happens, I would never leave you behind. I didn’t leave you back then and I can’t imagine life without you now.”
“I know you wouldn’t. We were meant to be from the moment I laid eyes on you,” Doug said. “I knew you were the one. We heard this song on our first date and I felt like it was written for us. Those lines in particular were the ones that stood out to me.”
“Me too. I always felt that way when I was far away from you,” Susan said, turning her attention to the bigger message. “Wow! Someone took their sweet time to write this out.”
“Take all the time you need, dear. For all we know, this may not be that important,” Doug said. “It could be the rest of this poem.”
“No, I don’t think that’s it.” She kept working with the code. “I see…it looks like an address. Yes, there’s an address here. Let me write it out…” She scribbled on the pad and frowned. “That’s odd. This address is not too far from here.”
“Let me take a look.” Doug stared at it. “Huh…S 15th St, Rose Hill. You’re right. It’s only an hour away from where we live. What’s the rest of this message?” He read it out loud. “The truth will set you free. Come and find your destiny.”
“Does that mean anything to you?” Susan asked.
“No. I’ve never heard anything like it before,” he murmured. “I have a feeling someone wants me to go here. All of this can’t just be a coincidence. This was meant for me. This was left for me to find.”
“Doug, we’re not going through this again.”
“Listen to me! You’ve been a great help! I would never have figured this out if you weren’t around.” He assured her. “I know I’ve kept too much from you. You’ve stood by me this entire time and I’m grateful for that. I just…I’m so confused. I’ve never felt this way before. You are everything to me and that’s why I’m keeping things a secret. It’s to protect you.”
“Protect me from what?”
He looked down at the book and took a deep breath. “I’ve got to protect you from what’s going to happen next. There’s a storm coming, Susan. I don’t know how to prepare. I just know I’ve got to keep you safe at all costs. Do you understand?”
Susan nodded but she truly didn’t understand. Doug had changed over the past few days and she wasn’t sure she liked it. Something was troubling him and she couldn’t figure it out. He was keeping so many secrets and it was hurting her. He knew something, but he was afraid to reveal it. She was going to have to be patient until he could tell her the truth.
She only hoped that whatever this was, it wouldn’t tear them apart in the end.
Chapter 20 – Nikhil
Nikhil received his invitation to the wine tasting party the next day. It was a very fancy invitation and it actually smelled like perfume. He took a sniff of it before opening it up. The Blackwells were cordially inviting him and a guest to come to this. He figured that Ash probably had some hand with this invitation. He remembered the way Vivienne Blackwell looked at him when they showed up at Ash’s house. It didn’t seem like she warmed up to anyone at all.
He was still excited to go to this. While he was not much of a wine drinker, he wanted to take Victor along to a party. It was high time the others met the man who was his world. N
ot to mention, Victor had never been to something like this. Nikhil had promised to take him to a fancy party for the longest time. The opportunity had never come until this moment. Feeling giddy, he called up his boyfriend to tell him the good news.
“A wine tasting party?” Victor chuckled. “Yeah, I’d like to go to that. I’m not working that night so I can accompany you. Are you sure the others will be okay?”
“They’ll get used to you,” Nikhil promised. “They know you exist. I’ve talked about you a few times and they’re perfectly fine with this.”
“Your friends might be, but what about a complete stranger? I assume there will be a lot of people at this party.”
“Hey, we can always disappear to somewhere private if you want. We can have our own party again. In fact, maybe I’ll sneak in a few beers.” Nikhil joked. “If you’re not into wine, there are other options to get drunk.”
“You’re getting sneakier with each passing day. I love it.” Victor joked. “All right, I’ll go with you. I’ll come pick you up around seven that night. Is that okay?”
“That’s perfect. Wear your best clothes.”
“In other words, wear something that doesn’t have dirt or holes in it. Got it.”
They chatted for a few more minutes before Victor had to go back to work. Nikhil felt complete bliss when he was with his boyfriend. It would be nice to go out like a couple now. He could understand Victor’s hesitation. It was going to be hard to introduce people to his boyfriend. They had to be very careful when it came to public displays of affection. Not everyone in the world would approve of this. It would be terrible if someone caught them in action and decided to put this out on social media.
Doug sent him a message shortly after he got off the phone.
[My wife solved the codes! It turns out that she knows all about this!]
He quickly sent a text back.
[How did she break the code?]
He waited for a second and then Doug replied.