Criminal logo

The clues in the little black book

The code is real! Can you decipher it?

By B. J. C.Published 3 years ago 10 min read
362

One day Paul was contemplating why he bought such an old house that needed so much work. Paul went into the attic to see if there was any usable space up there. He noticed some unusual wood work that to his eye, seemed to be pointing to a certain spot under the insulation. He decided to pull up the insulation to look and was surprised to find a little box there. He open the box and inside was a little black book. Even more interesting was the content of the book. The first line said, “successfully follow these clues and there will be a reward at the end of every journey.”

After that it said “These are your first three clues.”

First, Follow the old Japanese way.

Second, A new day is beginning. Burnt orange hues Color the distant skies. Dew drops, a glistening symphony Echo their sad goodbyes. Flora bow reverently Giving glory to the light, Holding onto faith In the darkness of the night. Joyful birds a choir Keeping heaven in their heart. Light shatters darkness Marking this momentous start. New life springs forth, Opening a well of hope. Possibilities abound, Quilting a beautiful kaleidoscope, Remembering the past, Staying true to what will come. Trees sing praise with wind-kissed branches Uplifted towards the sun. Victory is for the taking. Wishes will come true. Xanadu in blossoms. Yellow beams shine through. Zealous souls rejoice.

Third, 12, 55, 62, 46, 89, 27, 49, 24, 19, 61, 56, 33, 87, 55, 18, 89, 107,

45, 71, 2, 44, 18, 36, 64, 18, 30, 4, 67, 107, 44, 18, 88, 18, 18,

3, 33, 46, 18, 41, 70, 7, 18, 18, 10, 96, 18, 18, 36, 97, 104, 51,

18. 38, 18, 78, 29, 18, 19, 2, 16, 8, 18, 81, 32, 38, 59, 63, 62,

Paul spent the next three months trying to decipher the meaning of the clues. When he figured it out he was so excited, because there was an actual description of a location to look, hidden within those clues. Paul followed the instructions to the hidden place where he found two items. The first was $20,000 in old US bills. His first thought was that the bills were so old, that the bills themselves might be worth more then $20,000. The second item was another little black book. To his excitement and amazement it contained more clues. Paul took a couple pictures of himself with his new found treasure and decided to get some photo copies of the pages in the book, because some of the writing was so small and a enlarged copy would be useful.

The book was in his backpack that he sat on the ground while he was getting change for the copy machine. While he was doing this, he didn't notice someone picked up his backpack and run out of the store. He tried to chase the person down but they disappeared before Paul could figure out which way they went. Paul still had the $20,000. He could just enjoy what he found without worrying about a book with clues, that whoever took would never figure out? Or he could put effort into trying to get the book back, never knowing if the clues lead to anything?

Paul thought about it and decided he was sure if the first clues lead to $20,000 then the second set of clues would lead to much more. So he searched himself, he filed a police report, checked with the lost and found in all of the stores but to no avail. So he decided to use what he had to get what he needed. He offered up the money he had as a reward, $20,000 for the return of the book.

Three days after Paul had gone public with his reward, there was a knock on the door. It was a young girl who said she was asked to deliver a message. “Please meet a man at the local park by the trees behind the swing sets at 11:30 PM tonight.” Paul wasn't sure because the lights turn off at the park at 10 PM and it's pretty dark and vacant after that. However, perhaps this was the person who had stolen the book and this was their attempt to return it. So he told the little girl that he would be there.

So the time came and Paul went to the park. Shortly after arriving he hears a voice whisper out from behind the trees, “Yo, over here.” “I'm sorry for the strange meeting and don't worry, you have nothing to fear from me.” The man goes on to explain that he does not have Paul's book but he used to have a book of his own that also contained clues. He continued to tell Paul that there were very powerful people looking for a set of books. 12 books in total and these people will do anything to get the books. He advised Paul that what he would find is not worth the trouble that will follow. Especially now that it's in the open that he had one of the books. Then he abruptly says, “I have to go, but forget about the book and be careful and if you do try to get the book or someone returns it, watch your back.” then he runs through the trees and disappears into the night.

Paul thinks to him self, “well that's not gonna help me sleep tonight.” Then Paul wonders, “is this guy just crazy, or is there something true to what he said?” A few weeks go by and there's no new information and nobody returns the book. Paul was thinking it might be time to give up on ever seeing the book again and instead focus his attention on looking closely at the pictures he took to see if he maybe already has all the information he needed.

So he loaded the photos onto his laptop and was examining them in detail and was surprised at how many interesting things he found. While in the middle of looking up-close at one of those photos, there's a knock at the door.

This time it was an older gentleman dressed in really nice clothes and he says to Paul, “my employer would like to speak to you. I have a limousine here and if it pleases you sir, I would like to take you to him now.” Paul replies to the well-dressed man, “I'm sorry but I would need a lot more information than that, so please tell your employer if he would like to speak to me he can come to my house, instead of you.” The man pulls out a large envelope that is filled with something and says, “my employer recognizes that your time is valuable sir, so I've been instructed to give you this $10,000 cash now if you'd be willing to spend a couple hours of your time to discuss with my employer something that is very important to him.”

“Well, that does change the dynamics of the situation,” Paul replies. Paul then inquires, “where exactly would we be going?” The man answers, “the Magic Mountain Estates. Here is a card with the address.” Paul takes the money and the card and says, “just wait here while I tell others where I'm going.” Moments later Paul is in the limousine heading to the Magic Mountains Estates.

As far as the Estate goes, you needed more than just a pretty penny to live there. Paul was escorted into a small library. That is where he met another man who introduced himself as Mr. M. Mr. M says to Paul, “come take a look at these photos.” Paul walks over to the table where there were several photos spread out, each one of them a picture of a book. “These look familiar to you?” Mr. M asks. “Well, they all look similar to me,” Paul response. “You just hit on a very important point. They're similar but not the same.” Mr. M moves two of the photos close together and says, “look at these markings in the corners. Each one of the books has a different marking.” “They look like only part of a symbol” Paul says. “Exactly!” Mr. M yells out with excitement.

“I had a good feeling about you. The group of people I work with took years to realized what you just spotted.” “I guess I'm just lucky,” Paul says. “No no no,” Mr. M says while shaking his index finger. “You're not just lucky, you've got an eye for this sort of thing.” He then starts to line up the pictures of the books to make the symbols match up and says, “the symbols tell you how to line up the books and the back of each of the books contains information and when you line up the books correctly, they start to reveal another coded message, or a map if you will.”

Paul looks at the pictures and moves a few of them around a little and then shakes his head, “it doesn't work! You're missing pieces to this puzzle.” “Correct again my new friend.” Mr. M goes on to explain that there are 12 books, “As you can see, we only have nine of the 12 books.” He then walks up close to Paul, “equally important is that each one of these books comes in a pair. There's always 2, 6 pairs of books.” Paul gets a puzzled look on his face when he asks, “so why the odd number?” “The answer is simple,” Mr. M explains. “you have to solve the clues in the first book in order to find the location of its companion book, and one of the books we have, no one has been able to decode and figure out the location of its companion book.”

“Do you have the actual books?” Paul inquires. “Why do you ask?” is the response Paul gets. “Because some of these markings go right up to the edge of the binding of the book. I'm wondering if there's any marks on the side of the book or not?” Paul says while pointing to an example in a photo.

Mr. M then walks over to the desk in the room, pulls out a drawer and puts a code into a keypad. Then the bookshelf opens up to reveal seven books. Paul walks up to the books and says, “look right here and here and here,” as he's pointing to a variety of spots on the binding of the books. “I think this gives proper instructions on how to line up the books.”

Mr. M starts to pace back-and-forth and says, “so photos of the other two books is not good enough, I need to see the actual books. So we're missing five books not three.” he then angrily swiped his hand across the desk, throwing a very expensive vase off the desk onto the floor where it shatters.

The butler runs into the room with a gun in his hand and two more men follow behind him with their guns drown. “I'm sorry boys, I just got upset, everything's fine. You can go,” Mr. M explains. Paul starts to maneuver away from the books and towards the exit and says, “I think that's my cue to be leaving. I need to get back home anyways.” “Yes, yes of course. I'll have my driver take you home,” Mr. M calmly replies. “Your insight was invaluable. We'll talk more later,” then instructs his driver to take Paul home.

After arriving home, Paul start to think about the man he met in the park, late that night and was thinking, “he must not be crazy, there really are powerful people looking for these books.” “It might be time for me to walk away from this,” Paul says to him self.

Is this the end of Paul's journey? Or just the beginning?

fiction
362

About the Creator

B. J. C.

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.