The message was, of course, unreadable to anyone who could not immediately decode it. It was also, quite unfortunately for me, scrawled in fresh blood across the wall of my apartment.
From an early age I had been able to pick up on things that other people could not, and the curse (for that is undoubtedly what I considered it) had only worsened with time.
There was a red smudge on my window sill, not quite the color of blood, and obviously left by whomever had climbed in through my window to leave a ciphered message on my wall.
Red dirt then, I concluded, likely from a construction site.
There was also an imprint in my carpet, no doubt from the intruder's shoe, but not quite imprinted enough for me to deduce the intruder's shoe size.
Sherlock Holmes could have done it. My gaze shifted to an overturned stack of books near my desk, which was on the side of the room opposite to the cipher on the wall.
Intruder was looking for something, cipher could be a diversion.
Despite the sudden churning of my stomach at the sight, I set down my school books and took out my cell phone. I snapped a picture of the wall.
Dead Man Walking
Obviously a cipher, and its key.
My eyes moved back to my desk, nothing missing, but obviously it's been searched.
The sound of police sirens alerted me of just how little time I had. It made sense that someone would have called the police. The most likely candidates would have been the housekeeper or the intruder himself.
Door was locked. Window was open. most likely intruder.
Without hesitation I grabbed a couple of books from my bookcase, crossed the room to pick up the backpack that had been sitting, empty, on my futon for a week, and crammed the books into it.
I slung it over my shoulders and quickly typed and sent a text.
1241 North Knead St. Twenty minutes. Vitally important. -SH
I moved to the window, and climbed out to the fire escape, just as I heard shouting downstairs. I climbed upwards instead of downwards, and quickly found my feet on the roof. With a running leap I landed on the next roof over. Without much time to hesitate I leaped to the next roof, and the next, until I felt I was far enough away that I could drop down into one of the alleys below.
It was relatively easy to guess where I was. Two blocks from destination. Fastest route, move to Crowley street, hitch tram car to Stanley Street, walk to destination.
I followed the alley to its end, and found myself on Crowley Street just in time to stick my hand out and grab a hand hold on a passing street tram. I leaped casually up onto the tram and let it take me to Stanley where I hopped off and slipped into the crowd of the bustling business district.
I quietly slipped out of the crowd after a moment, and briskly walked through a narrow alleyway until I came to 1241 North Knead. There I slipped into the shadows and awaited my companion.
