𝑫𝒐 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝑫𝒂𝒓𝒆?- Bakudeku

𝑩𝒂𝒌𝒖𝒈𝒐

December 17TH, 2020

It's the most detestable time of the year. The forced cheer, frenzied crowds. The carolers who've had so much eggnog they've forgotten the words. And, of course, the couples naive enough to mistake holiday spirit for being in love. I made that mistake once, too. Never again. "Hey!" I get bumped into by a boy holding tinsel. "Season's greetings!" The boy shouts as he picks up his tinsel that he dropped and leaves. "Come on, Tinsel?!" My phone beeps, it's a text message from my mum.

Dad: At the airport. Sure you're OK at Mum's?

Me: *thumbs up emoji*

The emoji industry has yet to create an icon to represent one's feeling about being cast aside by their divorced father so that he can spend Christmas in Hawaii. That'd be huge in New York.

(carolers) "He rules the world, With truth and grace..."

Well at least someone knows the words.

...

There is one refuge from the holiday hordes. Some bookstores think they need to host a cookie-making class in order to sell you some Proust. Not the Strand. I walk into this amazing book store called the Strand, it has books all over the place filled with stories, fairytales, biography's and so much more. This bookstore is my wonderland. I wonder down the fiction section to see what world I'll get sucked into today when I spot a biography book mis-shelved, I HATE it when people do that. I go to the information desk to tell them what has happened. "Hey, this was mis-shelved. Gabriel Garcia Marquez should be under G for Garcia, not M for Marquez. And, also, this is biography. It's not fiction. So..." I hand the lady at the desk the book. "Thanks." She did not look happy after I told her, I thought it was cause they made a mistake, it was not. "Hey, kid, if you ever want to work here... I'll remember this." She gives me a look signalling me to leave. I hesitate for a second but do as he actioned. As I wonder down an isle scanning for a book that might intrigue me. Then, I spot a red notebook, I stare at this notebook for a few seconds, then take it to the information desk (I know that might not have been the best idea since I did just piss that go off but I really didn't care at the time). "Hey, this was also in the wrong secton, so..." As the woman looked at me with a phone in there hand, I knew she didn't care so I thought I should leave it there on the table. When I when't to put it down, I saw something written on the cover of the notebook. 'Do You Dare?'

I was curious of what was written on the inside of this notebook, I open the notebook to see that the first few pages were blank. After the fourth page, I found something... 'I've left some clues for you. If you want them, turn the page. If you don't please but the book back on the shelf.' I look around seeing if anyone is watching me read this book. Then get right back to reading, and to see what clues this person has for me. 'So, you've chosen to play. A revealing choice. Shall we begin?' I turn to the next page and find a 8 drawn lines. I continue to read trying to figure out what it's for. 'A coded message.' THAT'S WHAT THEY'RE FOR!!!!!!! 'You can decipher it with the right books. But only if you can find them. Your first clue requires some heavy reading. Look for French pianism.' "What the hell is french pianism?" I grab out my phone to try and find out what the hell that is when I notice there's more. 'And if you need to use your phone, don't even bother playing.' I chuckle lightly of this person knowing what I was going to do. This person is smart. "French pianism." Surprise, surprise. I'm back at the information desk. "I'm not telling you anything." This lady really doesn't like me. "But this is the information desk. Are you not obligated to, like, give me some information?" I've pissed this lady off so much that she's not even talking to me anymore. "Look, if this is about earlier, I..." God,I hate saying this but it looks like I have to. "Apologize." I really hate saying that. "I know you would never mis-shelve a book." I apologized, I'm trying to be sincere and he STILL isn't helping. I mean I'm stubborn but this is just a bit excessive. "I don't understand, did I wrong you or something? Did I buy you a James Patterson book for Christmas, or are you taking pleasure from my suffering." She now looks up at me! "Could you just tell me the section-" "I'm not allowed." I was interrupted by that! Like, what kind of excuse is that?! "I promised him I wouldn't discuss anything related to that. But since you asked, there's a little pleasure." I was shocked! This woman told me the gender of this mystery person. It's a boy. I was surprised to hear that cause I never thought a boy could have such neat handwriting. "You said 'him'." "NO! I didn't." "Yes, you did. You said 'him'. He's a him, and he's testing my knowledge of the Strand." She gives me a calm look for a change and goes back to what he was working on before. "Thank you for your help." "I didn't help you!" She yells as I wonder off onto my mission. Figure out the coded message, and see what this mystery boy has instored for me.