I Told The Stars About You

34. Cryptography

Leah's point of view:

Alex sat on the kitchen counter. "You know, some days ago, I was thinking in my hospital bed," she started, grinning at me widely. "I couldn't die without kissing someone under the rain."

"Well, dreams do come true. Don't they?" I placed both of my hands around her waist, leaning in.

With her hands, she gently stroked my blonde hair, making me close my eyes and don't letting me open them until I felt she was kissing my cheek.

"Oh, they really do." She kissed my lips as she traced shapes with her fingers in the back of my neck.

But there was one thing that moment unique. She smiled into the kiss, which made it even more special.

My eyes were heavy, I started to open them. I felt something heavy in my arm, but when I moved my head to look, I could swear to god that it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever saw in ages.

Alex was cuddled next to me, wrapped in a blanket we had used to protect us from the cold, but eventually she pulled it for herself.

Starting to move to get up, I looked at the clock of Alex's living room and realised we had been sleeping for almost 3 hours.

Before I could reach one of my feet to the floor, a low voice could be heard. "Stay." Said the brunette, gripping her hand into my arm.

Before I could answer, we were interrupted by the doorbell ringing. Alex got up from the sofa rubbing her eyes. Sleepily, she staggered to the front door, and opened it slowly. It wasn't long until I heard the door close again, she made her way to the sofa and threw herself to the cushioned surface.

"Motherfuckers." She sighed, throwing an envelope to the little coffee table near the sofa.

"What's that?" I asked looking cautiously the envelope on the table.

The brunette, had her eyes fixated to the ceiling, but when she heard my words, she moved her head quickly so she could fixate her eyes on me.

"Probably, something extremely creepy." She said trying to make the context funny, which didn't work.

I rolled my eyes and grabbed the envelope, trying to find a stamp or an address. "No address, as usual. Don't bother looking for a stamp, because there isn't one." This made me frown, no address? Strange.

Opening the envelope, I let out a relieved gasp. There was a paper, mostly blank. In the corner of the paper, there was a series of numbers. Perhaps a telephone number? No, it was too long. I decided to hand Alex the paper.

She bit her lip, walking to the kitchen counter. She sat, and started searching something on her phone.

"What is it?" I asked, raising one eyebrow. She stayed in silence during a moment, before answering quietly. "Leah, you need to leave."

I stood confused, unable to understand the situation. "What? No! Are you crazy?!"

Alex's point of view:

"I'm not crazy, Leah." I say as I search for a pencil in the drawers of the living room. As I moved around, trying to find a post-it, I felt Leah was following me.

Quickly turning around, I sighed. "Leah, it's okay." I cupped her cheeks with my hands gently. I could see the confusion flickering in her eyes.

"Why do you want me leave?" She asked me, making my heart flinch. I really wanted to answer her question, but I knew I couldn't. That would end up messing everything up.

Snaking my hands around her neck, I answered. "Oh, I don't want you to leave, Lee. Never."

"Then, why are you asking me to?" I could see in her eyes that my petition had hurt her a little bit.

Giving her weak smile, I kissed her soft lips before talking. "It's late. Are you sure you want to stay here?" I asked , making her nod.

"Of course I am." The blonde said truthfully, making me smile widely.

After having dinner, I told Leah to grab a sweatshirt and some comfortable shorts to sleep in from my closet.

Watching a movie together on the cozy sofa, I felt Leah's chest rise and fall calmly. Absolutely mesmerised by the image in front of my eyes, the ringing of my phone interrupted the moment.

It was Georgia, so I excitedly picked up. "Al! What's up!" My fried asked with enthusiasm.

Laughing a little bit, I stretched out my arm to show her where I was and who I was with. "Awh, lovebirds." She said making me chuckle.

"How's it going then?"

After carrying Leah upstairs to my room, I placed her in my bed and covered her with the covers.

I observed the girl sleeping soundly in my bed. Placing a soft kiss on her temple, I left the room and adjusted the door a little bit.

For the first time in what felt weeks, I entered to my almost empty room. Sighing, I sat on a chair in front of the desk.

Taking the folded paper out of my pocket, I unfolded it, revealing the strange series of numbers.

9 14 20 5 18 3 15 14 20 9 14 5 14 20 1 12   12 15 14 4 15 14   16 1 18 11   12 1 14 5

I placed the paper flat on my desk, rubbing my temple, I began thinking. What did those numbers mean?

After endless minutes searching with my laptop for something that could help me, I remembered about my father.

I was only 13. My father gave me a thick and old book. "Read this, one day you'll thank me, really."

"Why would I read this? It looks boring." I answered looking at the book with rejection.

My father laughed a little bit before crouching to be at my same height. "If you read this book, kid, one day you'll be able to...see things that others don't."

"What do you mean?" I frowned, as my dad stood up again. "Just read it, you'll thank me someday, trust me." And with that, he left my room.

I read the title of the old book, written in gold, it said 'cryptography'.

"Fucking cryptography!" I said under my breath as I stood up. Sprinting downstairs, I approached the bookshelf on my living room.
Inspecting the spines of the books, I finally found the one I was looking for.

Eagerly picking it up, I took it back to the room. Sitting down at the desk again, I began to leaf through the book, trying to find a particular page.

"Here it is." I said to myself as I began reading the long text.

In the world of cryptography, the alphanumeric cipher employs a straightforward substitution technique. Assigning numerical values to each letter – A=1, B=2, and so on – decryption involves replacing numbers with their corresponding letters.

To decode a message one must traverse the coded sequence, aligning each number with its letter counterpart to unveil the hidden message. It's a meticulous journey guided by an understanding of alphabetical order and numerical assignments, revealing the concealed narrative within the cryptographic tapestry.

I took a piece of paper from my desk and a pencil and began decoding the strange series of numbers.

After aligning each number with its letter, I was able to read the message.

"Holy fuck."

Author's note:

Does anyone know what does the message say? If someone guesses the message, I'll release another chapter before Sunday!👀

I hope you liked this chapter, if so, leave your vote and comment!