Lost Soul (part7)

Apologies for the delay in writing this part, I’m finally here and ready to shake up your previous stories a little.

Parts 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6

 

The three of us entered the compound, it looked almost like a bunker. In fact, it was fairly similar to the nuclear bunker that my parents showed me videos of that they had to spend few years there when they were young. Yet this one was old abandoned I can’t imagine it housing more than 20 people. Luna held my hand and with Roman gave me a tour of the place to which I paid no attention. All this time my mouth was ajar in surprise so long I haven’t noticed I am parched, my eyes watery and a kaleidoscope of emotions rushed through me at exhausting speed. I might have not seen Luna in 10 years yet she still could feel my emotions as if she was my twin. She told me to sit and offered water which I gulped down faster than desert sand. Flashbacks of the past made me dizzy, I wondered how we ended up separate, why we haven’t met sooner it was ten fucking years. Who is Amruth and if he can still read my mind from a distance? Although it was of least importance at the moment I still wondered If my best friend Luna is in a relationship with my childhood crush.

I regained my composure and started thinking clearly, clearer than ever which was a strange feeling for me Luna interrupted my thoughts “It’s a local plant we add to water, we don’t know what it is but it makes your mind a lot sharper, I’m sure you feel it by now” I just nodded. “Agnes, aren’t you going to say anything? Are you not happy to see us?” asked Roman entering the room again.

“I..I..I am happy, sorry, I’m still in shock, I thought I will never see you again, I was almost killed and then you came. Aliens…friends…code, you mentioned a code to help you return, It’s incomplete I have another page let’s try to combine them and get out of this horrible place. The thing is I just can’t read it” I replied accelerating with each word. “Incomplete? another page? how do you know that? never mind, Show me the page this is mine an let’s have a look” Roman said with excitement and reached for the code to lay out on the table. As he did that my stomach acted like a ball in the pinball machine, the code that Roman presented was completely different from the page I had.

Romans face expression saddened yet his eyes sparked up. “Ahh this brings back some memories although I don’t think it’s part of the code.” he sighed. “What are you talking about? what memories?” was my next question. “You really can’t read it? Don’t you remember when we were little? Your grandfather loved all kinds of encryptions and thought them to us. He always left such notes for us to decode with instructions how to find a hidden stash of sweets our parents don’t know about, how could you forget that?” explained Roman. “I think I start to remember, yes, notes and sweets, yet I don’t remember any encryptions, can you read it?” I asked eagerly “Give me few minutes”

While roman studied the note I caught up a little with Luna, she even brought materials left over in this place that turned out to be sheets of cloth. Without hesitation, I took one and wrapped it around me like a toga to eliminate the constant cold. “I will find you some better clothes later” Luna said. Roman came back to us now with 2 sheets of paper and a thin piece of charcoal he used to write with.

“Fitting outfit Agnes. I decoded the note, it is just like the ones from our childhood, look. The face under the text is the iconic Julius Caesar, we learned about him in school. There are also roman numerals on it, this indicates it is a Caesars cipher, To solve it you need to arrange the alphabet in a circle, that numeral is your key which is 7, now take every single letter and substitute it with a letter 7 positions further. Here is the translation.” explained Roman giving me another page.

i am human. i am here for thirteen years trying to make
contact with my family. i have shelter food
technology and knowledge. even found a typing machine.
if you are still sane i would like to meet and work
together. there is a way out. in two days i will leave a
trail of red stones to meet at down i mean no harm. ha la
lau are learning our language thus the code.

I have read it and almost fainted, that plant sure makes your mind sharper because I now found dots that could be connected I wish I have seen before. I started to backtrack the events to find odd things. Amruth, he could not read the note because it was a code and not English, he was nice to me since he hoped I will teach him. The next part scared me, his throat it was clearly visible and blue the man who grabbed me in front of my shelter and told me to be quiet had a long beard, that man spoke aloud, only now I realized that Amruth only used telepathy. Was the bearded man trying to hide us from Amruth? did he use his shaman skills to make me not notice the switch of the person who led me away? The codemaker is here for 13 years. Thirteen years ago I was told my grandfather died in an accident, then there are the last words of my mother before I woke up here, ‘Find your gra…’

Are all these things be connected? could my grandfather be here somewhere? or is it just apophenia?

 

 

 

 

Here is a quote I came across that struck home and think everyone should read, especially when you struggle to make time for the things you want the most:

“And despite this inexorable fight, promise me you will never lose faith in yourself, that you’ll never cease from walking, for there’s no need to run.” -A.R