The Love Encryption
As she handed me the bag you could see the subtle sense of doubt. As if she wondered not if the answer was worth the ten thousand dollars she held, but rather if she would end up hating herself for knowing. For having the key that could potentially be to a brilliant world away or to hell next door.
But it wasn’t my place to question the fate nor deprive myself of taking advantage of the encryption I held. It was purely my job to keep the wheel turning. To keep the herd returning to the water once more.
“So?” She said impatiently as she looked around paranoid.
“You’re a hasty one. But I suppose that doesn’t surprise me if you’re coming to me. Your desires seem to outrun your reasoning.”
“With all due respect sir, I don’t need your riddles. The cash, it’s all there. But now it is your turn. Tell me, how do I find it. How do I find love?”
I looked down at her not from a place atop my horse but from a place of hope. That maybe this time she wouldn’t squander it.
“Right. The encryption. The answer is almost so stupid you’d never believe me. Though promise me, that when I tell you, you'll not question it, but rather leave yourself to only the task of trusting it.”
“Yea. Yes. Whatever. I promise. You have my word.”
“The way you find love is by doing one simple thing. RUN!”
Her eyes widened.
“What? run?”
“Yes,” I said to her rather sinisterly. “Run.”
…
He swung his right hand down and out from under his long sleeve a blade large enough to take a bull. He tossed the bag of money in a bin to the rear of him and slowly started in my direction.
My neck seized up. I could barely breathe. I felt helpless and paralysed all the same. But my mind was far more petrified than my body at this towering man, and so I did what I did. I ran.
I took off stumbling over over a number of overflowing garbage bags and some rocks that littered the alleyway, but in the dark red heels I wore against my better judgment I found my way to a jog as I swiftly turned the left corner on to the main road.
I looked back hoping that he would instantly give up, but there he was. his dark black hood covering his pasty, sweat filled white face and the blade from now a block away still shined against the moonlight.
the air in my lungs grew thinner and for some reason I decided against screaming. many would have heard me, but something kept me from doing so as I started to whip by each of the passersby.
I turned another corner to my left, and sprinted across the street, but as I did it once more the curiosity tickled the hairs on my neck as I quickly whipped my head around once more only to lock eyes with the dark voids on his face. My body began to chill, and as my vision blurred a bit I began to run faster, now feeling like there was no escape. down cold barren side streets through the city, and some sidewalks littered with night owls.
my mind kept me from turning around again as he wasn’t just behind me. He was now in my head. He was haunting my every movement, but he was also sitting right behind my eyes. I didn’t have time to think. I didn’t have time to do. I felt for walls of buildings as I stumbled every which way. But now his voice started to find its way and I think I had reached the precipice of the end. My body began to float as I could no longer feel myself thinking. I sprinted down another long road and at the end I turned to my right committing one final sin.
My head motioned sharply behind me. And as I peeled my eyes once more I saw. I saw nothing. He was not there, so turned quickly back to what was in front of me and
OOOPHFF, POP!
My heel had snapped off as I lost my footing not to the ground, but to his chest. I quickly rolled over as he got up quickly.
“I’m sorry, i’m so sorry sir.” I said looking down at my broken shoe. “I didn’t it mean it. My heel. it’s fucked. this whole night.” I said as I slowly started to cry.
“What’s wrong madam?”
“This man. I was um. He was there. I was running and…”
“Come, come quickly” he said as he took my hand and helped me up.
He yanked me into the door he had seemingly just walked out of and now I could catch some air. I started to calm, but as I looked down, my chest continued to thump, harder and harder. I noticed in that moment that I felt safe, but still anxious. His soft hand was still comfortingly holding mine. He stood close to me. And as I looked up to finally get a good look at him, I felt something. His jaw was a bit crooked but it was sharp. His skin seemed to radiate warmth. His dark brown hair that flowed down to his shoulders seemed like it had been a cloak to his beauty for years and as I looked into his dark blue eyes, in the foyer of a random building downtown, I felt something. He looked back into mine, and with the final blow to my heart, he smiled. It was in that moment, that I truly floated away.
…
Months later I found myself sitting and smiling at him from across the room being forever suspicious of his existence, as it was difficult to accept the surrealistic nature of this high I thought i’d never have again. A place I only found by never looking. And it was then that I realised that there was technically no way of finding love, but that didn’t mean the answer didn’t exist.