CRIMES AND MYSTERIES 3: AKO SAPATOS

XIX. THE CODES

XIX. THE CODES

I’m burning… I’m dying… it hurts… argh! Pero hindi kasing sakit ng iniwang sugat ni Erno sa akin.  See how much I love you, freak?  Hindi ko kayang bitawan ang picture mo kahit nasunog na… kahit masunog pa ako.  Now, I’ll get to see you again, be with you again in our own wonderland… But… what happened?  Why did the pain subside?  Patay na ba ako?

Dumilat si Fille.  Gulat na gulat siya nang makitang wala na siya sa kwartong pinagtaguan niya kanina, at hindi na nasusunog ang kamay niya.  Nasa isang ospital siya.  What happened?  Am I having memory lapses again?

She noticed a laptop blinking beside her.  Kanino ang laptop na yun at bakit bukas ito?  Someone must have left it there.  There was a message on the chatbox.

                   Unknown: ako sapatos, ako sapatos, ako sapatos, ako sapatos, ako sapatos

The curse, she thought.  The online curse is still there.

                   Unknown: ako sapatos sobra posporo V

Chill ran down her spine.  What if those words were codes of death?  How could she escape?

                   Unknown: what is the sense of sight in the universal language; what do you do when you don’t tell the truth; what is the letter between P and R?

Fille was nonplussed.  Alam na alam niya ang sagot sa tatlong katanungang ‘yon, dahil ito ang ginamit na code ni Erno noon para aminin ang tunay nitong nararamdaman para sa kanya.  The answers are I, lie, Q.  These were Erno’s code for “I like you”!

                   Fillesaint: Erno???

                Unknown: ako sapatos

How could this chatter not be Erno?  Si Erno lang ang mahilig sa mga ganong code games.  Code games?  Wait.  Maybe ako sapatos is also a code.  Fille thought hard.  Ako-I. I… sapatos-shoes… I shoes?  Issues?  No!  It doesn’t make sense.  But it’s a code, I’m sure it’s a code.  Maybe it’s a code that could bring him back!

                Unknown: sixth note scenery

“Cainglet, gising ka na pala.  At naka-online pa agad.”  It was Lou.

*Help me guess the code, Fille told Lou in his mind because she couldn’t speak for a moment.

“What code?” asked Lou.  Then he understood.  Napatingin siya sa laptop screen.

“What the hell is a sixth note scenery?” he asked.  “Teka, Fille, ano ka ba naman?  Hindi ka pa nga nakakapagpahinga ng husto nagcocode guess ka na agad?”

Lumapit na rin ang iba pa nilang mga kasama.

“Buti gising ka na, labs,” si Anjo yun.  “Ihahatid na kita pauwi.”

*I won’t get out of this place without guessing the code.

#You are a childish and demanding damsel in distress!

“Hey guys.  Any idea what is a sixth note scenery?” tanong ni Lou.

*There are more codes.  Scroll it up.

Nang walang sumagot sa mga kasama, chineck ni Lou sa laptop kung ano pa ang mga codes na tinutukoy ni Fille.

Ako sapatos, sobra posporo? What is our sense of sight in the universal language? Naisip ni Lou habang binabasa ang mga ito.