The Silent Sister

Five

"Edie,

If you're reading this, I'm gone. For good this time.

I'm so, so sorry, Edie-Roo. I just couldn't live with like I was anymore-- for reasons that I'll maybe tell you one day. Who am I kidding? Of course I'll tell you. That's what you and I do, isn't it-- tell one another everything?

That's why I'm writing this, I suppose. So I can tell you everything without going back. I'm not going back, Edie. But you're smarter than anyone I know, so you'll figure this out.

Mom and Dad cannot find me; that is absolutely imperative. So I've made you a map. A map only you can read. In each file on this computer is eight other levels of files, and only you will have the clues to find which level is the right level. I guess you could call it a maze, of sorts. On each correct level will be the location to a USB containing your next clue.

Before I give you your first clue, here are some instructions: As soon as you figure out my first puzzle, put this on a USB and wipe the computer completely. I don't care what you do with it after you wipe it, but make absolutely sure that it's completely, untraceably blank. And put a password on your USB, something that no one will guess.

Now, here's your first clue (it's an easy one). You've always had a thing about middle names-- you've never liked them. And this name you despised more than most, first, middle, and last. This name was a big 'I-told-you-so' moment for you. This middle name was the first someone that broke my heart.

Love,

Cass"

I stared at the document, dumbfounded. Flabbergasted. Amazed. Stupefied. But also a little flattered. The amount of time and effort you must've put into this... I couldn't even imagine.

Sitting back in my chair, I studied your clue, brow furrowed in concentration. You have always been a trickster, so I knew for certain that it couldn't be as straightforward as it seemed. What was the catch? I went over every individual word in my mind, turning them over and over like shells at the beach.

Then it hit me.

You specifically said the first someone who broke your heart. Not person, not boy, not girl. Someone.

Silent laughter bubbled from my mouth and I scrolled through the electronic folders (all labeled with different names) until I found the one titled 'Enrique'.

Hamlet-Sebastian Enrique Zunich IV. The teddybear that broke your heart when you were five. And the secret to my success. You had vehemently insisted that Hamlet-Sebastian told you he loved this girl in your kindergarten class more than you. I, having never trusted the bear, thinking him to be scary-looking (he was), had always known a moment like that was coming, but I comforted you nonetheless. Then you got a hold of matches and we burned the bear in the back yard (much to our parents' behest). You cried for weeks afterwards. Since then, we've laughed about the incident on more than one occasion, but at the time it was most distressing.

Inside the folder is a map. On the map, a tiny, pulsing blue dot glows brightly. The location of the next USB.

Grinning, I rifled through your desk and find an empty data stick, then deftly plugged it in to the computer, transferring all of the little blue files.

I paused before I hit the button that would wipe the computer clear, my eyes lingering on the photo of the two of us. Would that be gone forever if I didn't save it? Some small, dark part of me worried that it might be the last time I would see you truly smile. The thought made my eyes prick with tears. I couldn't risk cutting that last tie. The final thing holding me back from the verge of collapse. Sniffling back the tears, I dragged the photo into the depths of the memory stick.

With a sickening sense of finality, I wiped the computer of its contents, making sure to leave no breadcrumbs behind for our parents to follow.