Duskwood: Love's Beginning

5 - Jayna

Chatting with the nameless stranger went better than I thought it would. I actually caught myself smiling a few times. I was really curious about what he looked like, and what his voice sounded like. What was wrong with me? This person could be lying to all of us and could actually be the kidnapper. Spying on us could be part of some sick game and I was just feeding into it by giving him attention.

Nonetheless, I thought it would probably be better if I continued to go along with it. As I unlocked information from Hannah's cloud, it was not just him seeing it; I saw it first. So I could take those clues to try to find Hannah as well.

That was the one part of this scenario that didn't fit. If he was really the kidnapper, then why would he need to hack her cloud? He had her and her phone, so couldn't he just get into her cloud from there? Sure, there could be some sinister motive I wasn't thinking of.

But somehow, my instincts told me that this mystery person actually wanted to help. These same instincts had been screaming at me for months about my ex-boyfriend, and I had ignored them to my detriment. Perhaps I needed to let them guide me this time.

As I mulled this over and watched the current file decrypt, I received a text from Thomas. He asked if he was interrupting. Yes, he sort of was, but I didn't want to make him feel bad. He wanted me to look at pictures of Hannah to see if I recognized her. I was sure that I didn't know Hannah at all, but I agreed anyway. The poor guy sounded so lost and sad over his girlfriend. At his suggestion, I looked at his profile and decided he was one of those sensitive, emotional types who was really hurting.

And while Hannah was beautiful and he clearly loved her, there was no doubt that I'd never met her before. I told Thomas as much, and he didn't react to it well. I felt bad, but I also didn't want to lie to him. The question still remained why my number was texted to Thomas, and also if it was her who answered the call. Or was it the kidnapper? Did the kidnapper know me somehow? Scary thought. It could also be that Hannah was trying to text somebody else's number and accidentally sent mine. Hopefully, we would get the chance to ask her someday.

While the current decryption was running, I decided to hop in the shower quickly. I plugged in my phone so the battery wouldn't die from this crazy program the hacker guy had me using. I would hurry, so he wouldn't scold me for not working fast enough.

As I rushed through washing up, my mind kept going back to the conversation with the hacker. I wish I had a name for him; I was tired of thinking of him as just a hacker when he seemed to be so much more.