The Cryptic Hacker

Not Your Usual 'Techie'

"Whoa, whoa. There's no need for violence." I laughed nervously. Reaching for my gun right now would only be foolish. "Name's Kyelana, you?"

"Oh, the hacker." The boy put his gun back in his hidden pocket. "I was named Tiago, but you probably know me as Thorn." The boy got up from his seat to bow in front of me.

Before I could open my mouth, a handkerchief covered it. I saw pitch black right before I fell asleep.

—

When I woke up, I was at my place, lying down on my dark green couch. Thorn sat across from me with my computer in his lap.

"Oh, Agent Kye is awake." He looked up from my computer with a smile on his face. His face looked blurry at first but suddenly I realized what had just happened.

"Did you seriously drug me?!" I yelled, "And are you seriously hacking my computer?!" In my hand was a cookie decorated with icing to make a computer. "Wow." I brought the cookie to my nose so I could sniff it.

"It's not drugged, don't worry." Thorn shook his head.

"That's rich, coming from you." I retorted. But then why would he want to drug me again, since I just woke up, and he even seemed a bit excited now that I was awake? I hesitantly nibbled on the cookie, and my taste buds were immediately amazed.

"This tastes so good!" I gobbled it all up before realizing there was a plateful of the cookies on my coffee table.

"Thank you for the compliment." Tiago began to say, but he stopped himself. "Oh right, you're probably wondering why you're here."

"DUH." I rolled my eyes. My offensive remarks didn't stop me from reaching for one of the many cookies on the platter.

" Well I was wondering why you showed up at my casino." The boy responded, and made a gesture with his hand for me to speak.

"I went to the 'arcade' so I could find you." I sighed.

"But why?" Tiago asked. "If you answer, I'll give you more cookies." He joked.

"I came here to report and bring you to justice," I replied swiftly. Thorn raised one eyebrow at me, and I huffed. "AAAAaaaaannnndddd to discover how you were the first hacker to elude me." I spoke in a tone that implied that it was obvious.

"Oh. You wanted to find my secrets, how cute." Thorn dismissed me with a gesture.

"Don't use that word. My actions aren't, nor am I, cute." I got angry.

"But that's what you are." Thorn feigned a whiny voice as my cheeks turned red. The boy got up out of my armchair and headed towards my sink. I realized that the sink was full of all kinds of baking supplies. The boy proceeded to wash them. For a criminal, he wasn't that bad.

"Hey," I sounded calmer now, "Why are you doing this? Being so nice to me?"

"Simple. To find out why you are the first agent to get through my first 50 defenses." He told me as I watched him let the faucet run. "All the agents have never gotten through the first 10."

"Huh. It seems we aren't that different," I took a cup of hot chocolate that was on the coffee table, "One more question: Why do you take government secrets?"

"So I can find the names that are not mentioned. A close friend of mine was killed by a criminal but since the situation was not meant to be public, the criminal wasn't arrested. I don't want someone to be wrongfully killed and never mentioned. The government keeps us safe, but there are so many people who get away with everything, I need to find those people." Thomas stopped washing a plate, "Huh, you were right about us not being different."

Suddenly we heard a large knock, Thomas dropped my plate.

"Sorry!" He mouthed.

"Agent Kye!" My boss, Katie, yelled through the door. "Janice told me about your recent expedition. I came to ask you how it went, may I come in?" I looked at Thomas and he made a face, he was scared. "Agent Kye?" My boss repeated.

"I'm sorry Ms. Cofae, but now's not a good time..." I yelled back.

"Are you having your usual 2 o'clock lunch?" My boss asked. It wasn't actually her asking about my meal, it was a code. She was asking if I was in any type of danger. I looked at Thorn again and made an exasperated face.

Thorn didn't seem surprised or confused by the way Katie and I were speaking. Thorn had probably figured out we were speaking in code by now, he had looked through my computer. I scowled at the thought.

"What the heck is happening..." I muttered. "No, Katie! I had my eggs and bacon an hour ago!" Code for: I was safe.

"Okay, I expect a report about your recent excursion by tomorrow." I heard my boss's loud steps as she went down the stairs. I lived on the 5th floor.

"Hey," Thomas gained my attention by giving me a ziploc bag full of cookies. "Thanks for that."

"No biggie," I took the bag hastily, "I just lied to my boss..." I took another sip of my hot coco nervously. "I could get suspended, or worse: fired." I noticed that my hand was shaking. I needed a distraction from all this stress. So I came up with a crazy idea.

"Hey Thomas," I Iooked up at him as he just stood there awkwardly.

"Yeah?" He looked hopeful, like an excited puppy.

"Want to go to a cafe?" I squinted, questioning why I was even doing this. "We can talk about our hacking secrets there."

"I-" He looked speechless for a bit, "Sure, let's go!" He got up fast and practically ran to my door. "After you," He held the door open for me. I smiled at him.

"Thank you," I stepped outside to the winter cold, and rubbed my hands together. Once I was  outside, Thomas shut the door behind me.

You know the saying: "When one door closes, another will open" ? I'm glad that Thomas opened that door for me.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Whaddup, Droplets! 

For some context purposes, I will tell you that I originally wrote this story as a tease for my friends (the names in the story aren't their real names). There were 4 people in our friend group (including me), and I collaborated with another friend of mine, who was also in the friendgroup. I wrote two stories, and the other friend wrote two. We wrote these 'romantic' short stories to tease each other about our ships and crushes at school. This story was a tease that focused on the other person who was writing the stories (She's called Kyelana in this story). But yeah, I wanted you guys to know the reason why there's a lot of ships here. The first part was all I had in my Google docs, but I might expand it later on. But for now, the category is still 'short story'.

Thanks for understanding. Stay safe out there!

Q: What's your favorite device?

A: My computer because it makes it easier to type stories.