Roses Vs. Bullets {ON HOLD}

Chapter 3

Pools are blue, roses are red,
If you don't follow the rules,
She will be dead.

Follow the eagle and the direction it points,
To find your next clue, be careful don't break any joints.
The terrain will be rocky,
Don't talk to anyone, you'll find a walkie-talkie
And you must decode it.

Once you decode it, send the message to me,
And then wait, for you soon will see.

•••

I laid wide awake in my bedroom. Trying to decode the riddle, trying to solve the puzzle, in hopes of keeping Cass alive. It made no sense. I thought if everything, every place I could think of. Maybe I was over thinking it. Maybe I just needed to take a deep breath, and try again.

I sat up and rubbed my face. I turned to look at the clock. It read 4:00 a.m.

Only 10 hours until he kills Cass.

I hop off my bed and go to my desk. I turn on the light and sit. Taking a price of paper, I scribble down the puzzle. The words stared at me like I stared at them. With a blank face. No clue of what to do.

I decided to take it piece by piece like we did with poems in school.

The first part:

Pools are blue, roses are red,
If you don't follow the rules,
she will be dead.

This was obviously the threat. I couldn't tell anyone. And he basically said the internet was useless. But I tried it anyway.

A quick google search backed up his point, nothing. I sigh and look at the paper. The first line must mean something.

I think of all the pools in this small town. The town of St. Michael, Connecticut. It's best known for its beautiful ports.

There are only two public pools in the town.
The Dolphin Dive and the Rose-lawn pool.

Wait a second.
The Rose-Lawn pool.

That must be the place I have to go!!

I run over to my closet and grab a jacket, but the darkness from my window told me to wait. Mom would kill me if she knew I left early. I decided to wait for a few more hours, at least until the peaks of sunrise would arrive.

Before then I would try and figure out the rest of the puzzle.

Follow the eagle and the direction it points,
To find your next clue, be careful don't break any joints.
The terrain will be rocky,
Don't talk to anyone, you'll find a walkie-talkie
And you must decode it.

A quick google search showed there are woods behind the Rose-lawn Pool. And he said the internet wouldn't help at all.

So I must have to go to the Rose-lawn pool and go to the woods behind them, but whats with the eagle? And the direction it is pointing? I couldn't find any eagle landmark on the internet. Maybe the dude was right.

I laid back in my chair, and yet again the memories resurfaced.

She slammed her books down on the table, I jumped from looking on my phone for the loud sound frightened me.

"Hi, Jassy. How are you doing?" Cassidy smiled.

I smiled back. Her bright green eyes gleamed with excitement. Man, I had only met Cassidy two months ago, and I'm still not over her beautiful personality.