Harry's Code.

Yura groans and says, “Ugh, we’ll never get to the bottom of this code.” In his hand is the code Harry’s younger sister had given them. They were all in Augustus’s tree house, one that he’d built with his father years ago when he and his father were younger. Although now he’s a teenager, Augustus still enjoys hanging out in the nostalgic tree house.

“I agree with Yura,” Nicole supports as she lies lazily in a hammock, letting the wind sway it side to side. “It’s been a week, guys. We’ve tried numbers that might relate to the letters, objects that might relate to each letter but no, nothing seemed to make sense!”

“Relax,” Syimmi says as she walks over to Yura and sits next to him. “We’re bound to figure it out.”

“What else haven’t we tried?” Syimmi asks, and the others seem to put some thought into it.

“Harry always loved this, remember?” Augustus exclaimed abruptly, as if he was talking to himself. The others looked at him. “Remember how he’d always do this to the freshmen and some of them would’ve gone insane?”

“How did he give the freshmen these codes?” Yura asked. Augustus turns back to him and looks at him in surprise, as if he expected Yura to know this. Yura shrugs and tells him, “I’d like to know.”

“How those bullies would give you threats,” Augustus begins to explain. “Harry would spray paint them on their lockers, write it on a piece of paper and stuff it into their lockers… Sometimes he’d legit go to their windows in the middle of the night and write it on their windows with lipstick.”

“How do you know this?” Nicole asked, getting up from the hammock.

“My brother used to be his victim,” Augustus says flatly, referring to his brother Will.

“But of course, with my help, Harry stopped disturbing him,” Augustus tells them. “All the weird codes he sent my brother. Ugh, what a creep I tell y’all.”

That’s when it happens. Augustus gets up from the window sill he was sitting on and snaps his fingers. His eyes lit up and the others stare at him as if he’d gone mad.

“Yura, let me see that code,” Augustus lets out his hand and Yura passes it to him without any questioning. Augustus grabs a pen from the study table that was built at the end of the tree house and begins writing on the note. The others look over his shoulder, wondering what he was up to.

“What’re you writing?” Syimmi asks. Augustus holds up the note a few seconds later and shows it to the rest.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z A

The others are clueless as to what Augustus is trying to tell them. Augustus groans and says, “Look! The code! I remember now. Harry used to send codes like this! Instead of starting the alphabet at ‘A’ he’d start at ‘B’ and the alphabet line would end with ‘A’ instead of ‘Z’.”

“Oh wow,” was all Nicole managed to say as the others stayed quiet, trying to take this all in.

“So, if I’m correct, the code says…” Augustus scribbles back on the note before holding it up again.

MY BENCH

“My bench?” Nicole asks, obviously baffled by this. “Is this another code for something?”

“Wait,” Syimmi says, putting a finger on her chin. “Harry was a part-time carpenter, right? I remember someone telling me that Harry made a bench for the town’s park. That must be the bench he’s talking about.” The others look at each other and back to Syimmi.

“Well?” Yura asks, running to the entrance/exit of the tree house. “What’re we waiting for? Let’s go!”

…

The four of them split up and look around the park, in search of Harry’s bench. According to Syimmi, it’s a garden bench that has Harry’s initials on them, to show that it was made by him. Regardless of the setting sun, the four teens were determined to find the bench.

Can’t believe we’re going on a wild goose chase for a bench. Nicole texts into the group’s WhatsApp.

This looks like a peace-offering from Harry, Syimmi texts. Maybe this is how he wants to forgive us.

Guys, I found the bench. Augustus texts, breaking up the conversation between the two girls. Yura asks for his location and Augustus instantly shares it in the group.

The others rush to where Augustus was and found him standing near the bench. “You could’ve just sat on the bench while waiting for us, you know,” Nicole says. Augustus stares at her and says, “God knows what Harry has put on this bench before he died.”

“Don’t be silly, Aug,” Yura says, folding his arms. “It’s been a week. Pretty sure millions of people have sat on this bench up to this day since then.”

“Yeah, probably death himself has sat here and killed himself,” Augustus deadpans. “This bench is literally isolated from humanity!” Yura rolls his eyes at Augustus’s dramatic statement.

“Guys, there’s something under the bench,” Syimmi interrupts. The others turn to her to see that she’s crouched down and her hand in underneath the bench. Syimmi digs her hand into the lines of the bench until what she’d been gripping onto falls into her palm.

A golden key and a folded piece of paper.

Yura takes the paper from her hand and reads aloud, “Usual place of crime.” He looks up from the paper to look at his friends.

“Well guys, looks like he left us another note,” Yura points out the obvious. “And this time, with a key.”

To be continued in: The Golden Key.