NICA
“Once I appear to you, you will fall under my control. What? Are you willing to become my slave and let me become your god? I’m about to show myself.” He teased. I heard his slow footsteps again, as if it made the anxiety in my chest even worse.
“You’re insane.” I closed my eyes. I heard the cocking of a gun near my head. It felt like memories I had been desperately trying to forget were surrounding me again.
My tears threatened to fall. My knees felt weak even though I was sitting. My hands were trembling in fear, but I couldn’t open my eyes. I was scared. I didn’t want to see the gun pointed at me. I didn’t want the moment I opened my eyes to be the moment I died. I didn’t want to die like this…
“Why don’t you open your eyes? Don’t you want to see your own death? Isn’t this exactly what happened before?”
I shook my head, trying to show that I no longer remember what happened—that I’ve been forcing myself to forget.
“This is how your mother died, isn’t it? Don’t you want to end up like her?”
“I won’t die like this. I believe my friend will save me. We will find you and make you pay for your crimes.”
“Trust? Just earlier, you almost blamed her for Paul’s death.” So he was there earlier too. He really knows everything we do.
I heard him laugh, then footsteps again. I opened my eyes thinking he was gone, but he was right in front of me, smiling sinisterly.
Now I could see his entire face. I never expected such an angelic face. How could someone like that commit such crimes?
“Are you still hoping he will come?” I couldn’t answer because I was just staring at him. I still couldn’t believe someone like him could be this evil. “Even if he solves that code, he still won’t reach the correct place.”
So it really is a code on the paper he mentioned earlier. And if I’m not mistaken, it contains a location—and that place is not where I am right now.
I turned into a statue when he lifted my chin. I had no choice but to look into his eyes. His dark brown eyes made my heart melt and beat twice as fast as usual. “From now on, I am your god and you will be my slave. Welcome to the Apple Fraternity.”
I don’t know what was happening to me. It felt like I was hypnotized by his words. All I could do was look into his eyes and obey.
“Hey Nica, wake up.”
“Hmmm…” I slowly opened my eyes when I heard his husky voice.
“How are you feeling? Does your wound still hurt?”
“I’m okay…”
“Wait, slowly…” He helped me sit up on the bed. Then he sat in front of me.
“What am I doing in the hospital?” I held my right shoulder when it suddenly hurt. That must be why. But how did I get this?
“Don’t you remember what happened?”
I held my head and tried to recall everything.
“I followed a man… I think he was the one who shot Marco, but when I left the gym…”
He just looked at me, waiting for me to continue. “Then? Did you see him? Did you catch him?”
I closed my eyes. “N-no… I can’t remember, Aedrian.”
“Then we still can’t catch the culprit behind Marco’s death—”
“W-wait, Marco? What—?”
He took a deep breath. “He’s gone.” I felt crushed by what I heard. How many have died already? How many more will lose their lives?
My wound hurt again. “Then you also don’t know who did this to you.” He pointed at my shoulder. I shook my head. I had no idea.
“To be honest, I didn’t know what to do when I saw you unconscious in that warehouse with a gunshot wound. I thought I wouldn’t see you again. I thought I’d lose my chance to apologize to you.”
I smiled at his tone. I saw a new side of him again. He can actually be thoughtful too. I thought he was purely cold and arrogant.
“You don’t need to apologize. I’m the one who should say sorry for suspecting you. I was just mad at you because you didn’t let me join you and Paul that day. I felt like you didn’t need me. Sorry for blaming you.”
“Let’s forget what happened. What matters is you’re safe. You’re here. We’re in this case together, right?” I don’t know what got into Aedrian, but he’s unusually kind today. Maybe because I’m in the hospital. I guess once we’re back at school and I’m okay, he’ll go back to normal.
“Wait, Aedrian, how did you find me? Do you know how to crack a code?” I asked.
“No, but I exist to find answers. I may not know how to crack a code, but I can find answers because doubt is the beginning of knowledge.” There he goes again with his favorite line. Sigh, he still didn’t answer me.
“So how did you find me then?” I insisted.
And here… it looks like he’s back to his usual self.
“It must have been intuition. The code was really difficult, but I was lucky there were clues. The cipher I used was the Polybius Square, and it led me to the locker room. I thought you were there, but instead I found something… Then I thought maybe you were in a place students don’t usually go. And that was the storage warehouse at the back of the school filled with broken equipment.”
“Wait, you found something?” I asked, and he nodded.
“Yeah, I found a tape. I saw it in Marco’s locker. Maybe it can help us figure out what’s behind all of this—or maybe it contains a statement about how he died and who killed him.”
“You haven’t listened to it yet?”
“Not yet, maybe later. I’m helping my dad with the investigation right now.”
“I see. So where is the tape? If you want, I can listen to it and just tell you what I find out.”