Emerald gets pulled into Duskwood's mystery: Where is Hannah? Having left Duskwood ten years prior, she promised herself she wouldn't go back. But her childhood friend goes missing, and she decides to stay and help. With her skills as a Data Scienti...
Duskwood was my hometown. However, when I turned eighteen, I moved the hell away from there. Don't get me wrong, the place has its own thing, and the forest is beautiful; but I had to get out of there if I were to make anything out of myself. I sure wouldn't had been able to do it there.
I hadn't thought of Duskwood in years, until my phone starting blowing up unexpectedly. Late at night, no less. Someone named Thomas added me--who? I stared at the messages with my eyes halfway closed in my dimmed bedroom.
"Who are you? What have you done with Hannah?!" stuck out to me the most. The only thing I can think of, is these people think I did something to their Hannah. Confusion washed over me in waves--I'm too tired for this. I replied and told them I was confused.
Thomas, Cleo, Richy, Dan, and Jessy. I didn't know any of this people. And a weird hacker guy. I tossed my phone in the floor and decided to reply in the morning.
The sun came up too soon, and I was not ready for the bomb to set off the day. I had to get ready for work, get my coffee, and go buy a new video card for my computer. I got up and stretched, and stared dreadingly at my phone. The green light at the top blinking furiously. I groaned and went to pick it up.
Cleo had sent a picture of the unknown girl. I decided to look at it. An unbeknownst shiver ran down my spine. I did not recognize her, but something about the picture caused a nostalgic chill in the air. I also had separate messages from Jessy, Cleo, and Thomas; and one between Jessy and Dan. I hesitantly clicked on that message.
In the contents of it, Jessy was telling Dan to not act so suspicious; I also had a Spy mode text between Richy and Cleo. What am I getting myself into? I rubbed the sleepiness away on my face, whilst holding my phone, and proceeded to go into my small kitchen to make some coffee. My apartment was minimalistic; which I love; decorated in gray and indigo.
I sat my phone on the counter and rummaged through my coffee rack. I ended up choosing just regular French vanilla--can't go wrong with that. My phone vibrated and beeped. I was starting to get annoyed; I never get this many messages, nor do I contact this many people. I'm not really a people person, and people tend to stay away from me.
I gathered my phone, coffee, and grabbed my fleece blanket and sat in the corner of my couch. With a slight sigh, and immediate regret, I opened my phone back up. This time, I had a message from '???'. 'V for Vendetta' style profile pic; anonymous. This just keeps getting weirder.
"Well...how did you like it?" was all they said. Proceeded to tell me that they made it possible for me to read the private messages. "It was somehow exciting." I caught myself replying back.
"Let's cut this short."
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"Do you realize how suspicious you are?" I asked him. At least now I know it's just one person, not a whole group of anonymous. That makes it a lot less terrifying; one person is easier to deal with than multiple.
"I need you to trust me." he said. "You can't trust anyone in this group. Not a single one."
I thought to myself for a moment before replying. No, I cannot trust these people. I don't even know them. Hell, I don't even know this hacker guy, yet he's asking me to trust him? I haven't trusted anyone in a long time; since my mother died and everyone else just left me.
I should just leave this alone. Let the police handle it. I don't even live in Duskwood anymore, and I promised myself a long time ago that I would not go back--physically or emotionally. I ran my hands through my hair and I noticed the clock. "Shit!"
I was late for work. I contemplated. Work or be an amateur detective for a town that I don't even correlate to no longer. Suddenly my clock was the loudest thing in the room, each tick causing a migraine. I enjoy my life away from Duskwood, it's quiet and there's hardly any stress; not to mention there's no egotistical exes here to make me feel all wrapped up again.
I paced for a good five minutes. I decided to call into work, not because I fully decided, but because I was late. Usually, I'm never late into work; I love my job, so maybe my boss will cut me some slack today. I downed the rest of my coffee and messaged the anonymous guy back. He wanted me to decrypt Hannah's files.
Easy, I thought to myself. This shouldn't take forever.
He sent me her cloud and went offline. All that stress made me hungry, but I couldn't get myself to eat. I got up and showered instead. My boss had texted by the time I was done and said everybody could manage one day without me and I felt some relief.
I poured myself some water, put on some Lindsey Stirling and opened up my Acer Aspire. "Here goes nothing."
