DECODE

CHAPTER 8.5; Holiday Special

ASHER 

I am walking towards our clubroom as I overhear some of the murmurings and whispers the other students make as I passed by them. They're all talking about the people who were seen by the guard last night on the abandoned building. It made a great fuss around the campus as they all thought they're the one who killed Annie Tibbers.

I finally made it to our clubroom and can't help myself but laugh upon closing the door. Zay and Silver were already there, having their snacks and wondering as to the reason why I am laughing.

"What happened to you?" Zay asked. I walk towards them while trying to stop my outburst of laugh.

"Why, those people really are commonplace people. They always jump into conlusions in which can make them be on the hook." I told her. I sat on my favorite spot.

"Why? What happened?" Silver asked.

"All of them thought that we are the killer of Annie. How I pity their minds. They can be fooled easily." I told them. Both of them laughed on what I told them.

"If only they knew what we saw, they wouldn't say and agree on that." Silver said.

"Yes, and we're going there after our lunch to find something. Remember the time I told you to get down, I saw something shiny approaching us that time. And we're going to find it later. I'm sure, it's connected to thr death of Annie."

"Does that mean there's no ghosts in that building? The building isn't haunted?" Silver asked.

"There's no such thing as that. For now, let's finish our lunch so that we can proceed to the abandoned building. We have so many mysteries to solve there." I told them and started eating my lunch.

I'm sure, there's someone behind this all. And my hunch tells me that the Spider is involved here.

We finished our luncheon and after some rest proceeded to the place where we encountered the said ghost last night. We went directly to the second floor.

"It was here, right? Here we saw the girl last night?" Silver asked. I nodded.

"She's on the other end of this corridor. I'm at that spot when I told you to duck down. And probably, the shiny object I saw last night went here." I told them. And as I speak, I brought out the magnet I took from the laboratory of our school.

"Why do you have magnet with you? What is that for?" Zay asked.

"It is for finding that shiny object last night. If you're wondering where it came from, I took it from the lab. Don't worry, I'll put it back after we used it." I told them. I heard Silver chuckled while Zay fumed.

I started walking down the corridor with the magnet on hand, trying to attract something from the floor. Zay and Silver just followed me. And after some time, there's no result.

"Are you sure we can have that thing through magnet?" Zay asked. I nodded.

"Of course. I expected a–oh look, here it is! The shiny object!" I told them as I put the magnet closer to us. Silver and Zay went near to see what I'm referring to.

"A needle." I told them. They both nodded in awe.

"I saw it approaching us last night. Thanks to the moonlight I'm able to see it. And don't touch it. I believe, there's something sinister in this needle. We need to turn over this one to the police for examination." I told them. They both inched away from it.

"That needle had poison on it?" Silver said.

That is what I think. No one would use this kind of thing but to kill someone with a poison." I said.

"Should I call for the police now?" Zay asked. I shook my head.

"No. Let's finish our investigation here first so that when they come, we can present more curious things for them. So, let's now proceed to the spot where we saw our lady last night. I'm sure, we can reveal the trick she pulled on us to escape." I told them and put the needle inside a clear plastic bag. Then we proceed towards the other end of the hall, where we saw the 'ghost' last night.

"She's standing here last night. And when she, let's say, shoot the needle to us, we dodged it. And when we continued to rally towards her, she disappeared. How do you think did she do that?" I asked them.

"Maybe, there's a hidden exit here. And through that hidden exit, she escaped." Silver said. I shook my head.

"We all saw that she went towards the stairs. Meaning, there's no more escape route other than those. But we did not saw her coming down nor climbing up. In fact, we saw no signs of her after that. What do you think?" I asked again. We all fell in deep thoughts. This is a big mystery to solve. How did she disappear?

"What if, it's just an illusion?" Zay asked. Silver and I turned our gaze towards her.

"I mean, what if it was just an illusion? Something like a visual trick." a visual trick?

"How in the world is that possible? We saw no objects that can make those image here last night? So, how?" Silver's question has a point. How, if ever it really was a visual trick, did someone pull that off?

"Well, I guess, we need to search this area for more. But I have a hunch, that everything we saw last night were just visual tricks, especially now that we saw a needle that has a very high probability that has poison on it." Zay said. I nodded at her.

"Let's check the third floor. Maybe, there's something there worth note-taking for." I told them. We ascended the third floor of the abandoned building.

"Okay, tell me if you saw something odd. Go." I said and we all scattered to start our investigation. I immediately went towards the stairs where we came from. I inspected it with my utmost interest.

I squinted my eyes in every steps of the stair, trying to find any trace of something that might walk past them. But after carefully inspecting every step, I found no trace of anything, footprints or whatnot. So meaning, there's no one who stepped on them last night. And beside, I didn't hear any footsteps going up here when I ran after the lady last night.

I went back up the third floor, where Zay and Silver are also investigating. I roam my eyes around the area again, trying hard to see something odd on it. But then, we found none.

"Discovered anything?" I asked Zay and Silver after we're all satisfied in our inspection. They both shook their heads.

"I didn't saw anything." Zay answered.

"Same here. Nothing." Silver added.

"Maybe our man, acted so swiftly and cleaned his tracks for us not to find any trace of him. Let's go. We have nothing to do here anymore." I told them. We all went back to the first floor of the abandoned building. We're going back to our clubroom when we saw the guard from last night, carrying a big rock.

"Mister, what is this for? Do you need help? Let me help you." Silver said and went towards the guard. Zay and I walked towards him also. I noticed he's not walking right.

"What happened to your feet mister?" I asked. He looked at me.

"Ah, this? I tripped last night when I'm chasing three students I saw last night. But, I am fine. Thank you for your help. Might as well, you all go back to your classes." he answered. The three of us looked at each other as we all nod towards the guard and immediately left him there.

"He is injured because of us." Zay said while we're walking away from the guard. I glance back again.

"I'm not sorry tho. We're just doing our job while he's just doing his." I said as I watch how the guard roll some rope upon his hand. And we reached the next building.

We're now inside our clubroom, and Inspector Marcus is here, too. We just turned over the potential evidence we found.

"Inspector, we found this on our expedition today at the abandoned building. We're so convinced that it is connected to the case of Annie Tibbers. Mind if you will investigate this needle. I'm sure it will light something for us." I told the inspector. He took the clear plastic bag containing the needle.

"Sure. We'll inspect this thing very well. We really need something to go on the case of Annie. And so far, we got nothing."

"She really did saw a ghost. But that is not a ghost. As I have said so many times, there is no such thing as ghost. We just saw it last night." I told him. Look of evident surprise plastered upon his face.

"Don't tell me, you're the people who were seen by the guard last night?" the inspector blurted out. The three of us chuckled.

"That's us. And that time, I saw that needle being shot towards us. That's why we look for that today." I told him. He nodded.

"If that is so, it's no use for us to follow or trace the people the guard saw last night since it was your club. The only lead we have now is this needle you just gave me." the inspector said with a saddened face. I can relate to him. For he thought there's already a big break, but in the end, it's just a worthless end.

"By the way, how's your investigation about that Spider that you're telling me?" the inspector asked.

"Still nothing. No lead. Just this phone." I answered as I showed him the phone we've got from the Spider itself.

"Oh, he gave you that thing. For what?" he asked curiously.

"He communicate with us through that phone." Silver answere him. I saw glint of surprise upon him hearing what Silver said.

"If that is so, then you have contact with him. And from that, you can easily trace him and his real identity."

"Not really. He is using different phone numbers. And all of those were saved in this phone named to Him. Once he used one, he will never use it again." Zay said. The inspector nodded.

"So, it means, this can't be a reliable thing to use as a lead. Another useless thing." the inspector said.

"It seems that way, but sometimes, it is useful for it's the only way we can have some glimpse of their next action. Like this recent text he sent me." I told them. They all look at me.

"He sent you a message again?" Zay asked. I nodded.

"Yes, and it seems to be a challenge for us. But, I already knew the answer. I still don't give him the answer for I want to show it all to you first. So, here's the message." I told them and showed the message to them. They all lean forward to see the text message of our beloved Spider.

Dear playmates,

Many times, you made me so happy this year. Everytime we play, I'm so thrilled. Run here, run there, you're really into it. Risking even your lives just to stop me, such an honor-worthy playmates you are. You really caught my attention.

Could you believe it? Here I am, praising you for you really made my whole year exciting and thrilling. Remember the time I first talked with you, such a memorable day. In the end, you see, I am still the winner. Saying it again, you're such a great playmate, such a pleasure playing with you in this boring place.

Though I'm pretty sure we'll have more of it next year, I just want to tell you that right now, you already have my respect. Many games will follow, expect them everytime you're here in this campus. And in my web, I will play with you, until I have the full control on you. Soon, I'll be in your head until you get mad.

Playing with you is fun. Life is too short for us in this game. And we'll have more collateral damage to come. You can't stop those things to come until I win this game.

Mates, those things, even though I really want to do it now, can wait. And we will wait for next year to continue our game. This time, I want you to answer my message to you. Ever noticed anything? Surely, I said something, and I want you to answer that through a reply, that would be sweet.

-Spider

Ps

My favorite number is 47.

After reading, they all fell silent.

"Have the answer yet? I got the answer within three minutes, bet you can do better than that." I told them as I smirked. They just groaned and started thinking for an answer.