Smash

I'm sitting in a hospital right now. 

I can't stand how stupid I can be sometimes.


As you most likely guessed I finally figured out the message Aggy left me, and looking back it seems really obvious now.

The exact message said, "If you want to win the game you have to strategize," and then the numbers were (66 8 13) (27 3 14) (234  8  20/21.)

At first I thought they were combinations to locks, and I went back to her apartment to see if I could find a safe or anything. After I tore her apartment apart and didn't find anything, I tried a lot of math stuff with the numbers, and for a while I though they were talking about her blood type theory on proxies or that I was translating a code within a code. Each combination had a multiple of three a multiple of two and a prime number with the exception of the last combination, so I thought maybe I was working with a combination of 1's, 2's and 3's or possible A's, B's and C's . I ran it through a few other types of codes I found on the internet and none of them worked, and I was beginning to feel like Aggy had just been typing more messed up dates.

But then the other day I remembered something about how sometimes people use numbers that refer to words in books, and it didn't take me to long to figure out she had used Ender's Game, since she knew I had a copy and that I'd been reading it, (although I'd almost forgot about it until now,)

So the first number is the page number, the second being the paragraph number, and the third being the number of the word in the paragraph, the message translated to this;

Look By The Lake

There was only one lake I could think of that she would've visited long enough to hide anything. The last time she and I had a real conversation.

So that was it. We packed up and headed out.

We made it to Arizona about a week ago, and started looking. We checked a lot of the lake on the first day, (namely the parts that weren't in the woods) but didn't find anything.

Anne and I did a little brainstorming and decided that there was a good chance that if Aggy had hidden anything it would probably have been by the place where I woke up after she disappeared. That would involve going pretty deep into the forest, which wasn't very comforting at the time.

I was also getting a little paranoid I guess. Afraid that this little treasure hunt was going to end badly. 

Despite all the hemming and hawing from me, we wound up going in together so no one would be left by themselves. It took a while to find the place, just because we were going on my memory, but after a couple of hours of searching, we found a tree with a red operator symbol spray painted on it, and an arrow pointing down at the ground.

Anne and I (mostly Anne) started digging and poking around the tree trying to see if she had buried anything there, while Alice kept watch.

It took maybe ten minutes until we heard a little clunk, and then another forty five for the time it took for us to dig it up. We found a cooler.
Inside were lots of tapes and books and pieces of paper with Aggy's handwriting all over them.

And that was about as far as our good luck went. Because right then was when Luca started barking and growling.

"So you found it, then?"

He always sneaks up on me doesn't he? Even when I'm expecting him.

Elmer Fudd was leaning against a tree, watching us with that smug look of his. The stupid bastard was probably hiding there the whole time, waiting for us.

Needless to say we didn't stay very long for conversation. It was kind of funny, the three of us running with that bulky cooler, while the dog attacked that freak's leg.


It didn't take him long to kick the dog off and go after us, or maybe it just seemed like it went by really fast. Time was moving weird, and I'm not sure if that was natural or not. The tree's starting blending together, and we were moving like slugs.

And then we saw Him.

That makes three times Kittykins and I have met.

I don't remember a lot of what happened. I do remember the headache I was feeling. It was like someone was flashing a strobe light in my eyes while simultaneously trying to jack hammer their way into my skull.

Long story short, when I woke up I was in the car with Anne and the cooler.

Alice wasn't there.

I honestly thought we'd lost her for good. But Anne drove around the park and we found her. She was off a back road, lying out next to some old dirt road. I'm guessing she must have been there for an hour or so. She was barely awake, and there was a rip in her side. We got her in the car and tried to patch her up, but that didn't go so well.

After a very long argument with Anne we wound up taking her to the hospital. That's where we are now.

So long as she's okay I guess that's all that matters.

She's asleep and has been for about a day or two. The people at the hospital have been nice enough so far, and have not asked very many questions. I feel bad since I know that were mostly going to be sneaking out with so much as paying the tab. Maybe I'll write a very heartfelt thank you letter. Of course it would probably curse them all.

I feel like I'm leaving destruction in my wake, or maybe everyone and everything I know now is actually so fragile that it really does shatter every other moment or two.

That's a sad thought.

I tried reading some of the stuff in the cooler, but then stopped. I'm not ready to read what's in there.

I don't think I'm ever going to be. It can't be true! IT ISN'T IT ISN'T IT ISN'T!!!

This is all my fault.

I don't think I'm meant to hold things together, despite how much I'd like to. It's just that everywhere I turn I feel like I'm the wrecking ball that's shattering everything. 

Shattering things like mirrors.


At least I know I've got a long life ahead of me, what with all the years of bad luck I'm getting.

- Opal