THE HEAD OFFICE

U S A-NOAH

          Noah was living a normal life, he was 25-years-old. He had a good girlfriend, but, weird things have been happening. He feels like he is being watched, where ever he goes, there's a probability that he could die.

Another weird thing is, that he got a print on his neck, on the left side. His parents and everyone he knows, think it's a tattoo, but, Noah doesn't like tattoos. The print shows a bar code with three capital bold letters, T, H, AND O.

His girlfriend now calls him a jinx. Because twice, when Noah and she went on a date, they almost got ran over by a truck. He feels very insecure, so he stays at home, and never calls any of his friends over. It's like he is undergoing self-quarantine.

RING RING*

His phone rang, he picked it up, 

"Mom?" He asked,

"Noah, honey, you sure you want to do this?" She asked,

He burst into tears,

"Mom, please leave me alone, I don't want you to get pulled into this! My life is a mess!" He screamed,

"Noah, at least eat something!" Mom said,

"I can't trust anyone!" He screamed and cut the phone.

He threw the phone onto the table,

DING DONG*

The doorbell rang, Noah thought it was someone who wants to kill him, so he yelped loud and ran into the room.

DING DONG DING DONG*

The bell rang twice, 

"Noah, it's me, open up!" It was Noah's girlfriend,

Noah walked towards the door, his legs trembling. He finally opened the door,

"Noah!" She cried and jumped at him and hugged him.

"What do you want?" He asked,

"I brought food!" She handed him a bag, Noah looked into it and saw a Tiffin box,

"Thanks a lot, now if you will leave-" He said pushing her out of the house, 

"Noah! You can't do this!" She protested, 

"Why?!" he snapped,

"I'm worried about you!" She said,

"Well-well then worry about someone else!" He screamed and shut the door,

Noah sat next to the door and sobbed, he could hear her crying from outside as well. He felt guilty about what he did, he felt like apologizing. 

"I'll do it later," He muttered to himself and got up, he went to the kitchen and started eating. 

1 hour later, he felt like calling and apologizing, so, he called her.

"Hello?" He asked,

"What do you want?!" She said angrily,

"Julie, I'm- I'm sorry!" He said,

"If you are sorry, then come here and tell it to me," Julie said,

"But, you know that-" 

"If you are sorry, then come here and tell it to my face!" She said and cut the phone,

Noah was scared, he knew that there was a probability that he can die, Anything for Julie, He though and called his mother, 

"Noah-" 

"Mom, I love you!" He said and cut the phone

He put on his jacket, wore his shoes, and left. It was drizzling outside, Noah knew that this was his last day on Earth, but he didn't care, he continued walking. He reached in front of her building safely.

He went from the stairs because he was scared of the lift. He reached the 4th floor safely. He knocked on her door,

KNOCK KNOCK*

No answer*

"Julie?!" He asked hoping that she could hear him.

He opened the door, it was unlocked. He looked into the hall and didn't find her. He entered the bedroom and found a note,

I AM SORRY NOAH, I LOVE YOU.

WHY WERE YOU ANGRY WITH ME?!
ARE YOU LEAVING ME,
SO YOU NEVER LIKED ME AFTER ALL

FOR YOU, I DID THIS.
OR DON'T BE SORROW,
READ IT CAREFULLY,
CODE YOU MUST FIND.
ENDINGS ARE VERY SAD.
DON'T CRY.
.

Noah thought this was a joke and started laughing. He went to the next bedroom,

"Juli-" He stood there shocked as he saw her dead body hanging from the fan. Noah was shocked, he couldn't trust his limbs to move. He felt like sitting down, crying, pulling out his hair, and not let anyone meet him. 

He threw the table and chair, he tore the mattress, he couldn't help himself, he was angry. He sat next to the bed and stared at Julie's dead body for almost 1 hour,

"I don't have a reason to live anymore," He said as he stood up and shoved the note into his pocket. He got out of the house and slammed the door shut. He ran down the stairs. He got out of the building and waited at the traffic signal.

The light was green, he was impatient. He saw a truck coming,

"Thank you, god, for this chance!" He muttered and jumped in front of the truck. 

The truck hit his shoulder, sending him flying further down the road. His face was bleedy from scratching it against the road. A lot of people hurried over and covered the road. The truck driver drove away, scared. 

An ambulance came and took him away. 

2 hours later

Noah grunted as he woke up. 

"What happened?" He asked the nurse rubbing his head,

"Accident, a truck hit you, BOOM!" She replied,

Noah remembered everything and started to cry,

"God, Why do you hate me?! Let me die, pls take me! I can't handle this pain!" He screamed and jumped off the bed.

He ran outside the hospital and called a cab, and went home. He reached and closed the door and locked it. He sat on the bed and started to sob. READ IT CAREFULLY, CODE YOU MUST FIND, Julie's note came into his head. 

He dug into his pocket and took the note out. He kept telling himself that Julie would never do this, she never had any Depression, or if she did, she wouldn't go this far. He kept reading the note. 

He tried reading the first letter of every word, the last letter of every word, the first letter of every 2 words, so on. He still didn't find anything.

"Wait!" He told himself, he covered the whole paper except for the first letters of each line. 

I

W
A
S

F
O
R
C
E
D
.

After he read it out, the house started to burn as if on cue. He ran to the door, locked. He couldn't find the key. He couldn't jump down the window, it was 10 floors high. The kitchen exploded, Noah jumped back. 

He kept the note in a drawer, so if any police investigation is held, they get a lead on the case. He looked behind him as the fire swallowed him, 

"I'm coming Julie," He said as tears rolled down his eyes and got evaporated.

In no time, the fire swallowed him, whole, and only his bones were left.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------