+
Alfred scrutinizes the photographs of the scene of crime in his office. Two men were murdered so far, one at last week, the other at the week before last week. No clues of possible suspects has been found, except that the murderer left a sticky note at each scene of crime. He wrote the same words in white ink on the black background of the notes:
Rqfh riihqghg,
zloo eh sdlg edfn
+
Martin is shuddering in fear. He was shocked when he heard two of his friends had been murdered. He stared out of the window to assuage his grief but to his greater grief, he caught a man gazing down on him. Although he was not really looking straight at him, something made to feel so. Martin still recognized him albeit many years had passed and was aroused with ardent angst that he would be the next prey.
+
Alfred deciphers the strange note with little difficulty. It was in simple Caesar cipher. All he has to do is replacing the letters with three alphabets before them. Which means the deciphered code looks like this:
Once offended,
will be paid back
+
The man watches people walking on a street near the block in a bid to spot Martin if he is there. But what catches his eyes are 3 kindergarten children, one girl and two boys. The boys are pulling the girl's hair and pinching her. The pair is smiling but the girl is yelping and moaning in pain. They are just little kids messing around, yet it manages him to recall the trauma back in the days. Sympathy and anger rises in him. The boys are enjoying, but obviously do not know how she feels. He stands behind the boys and clashes their heads together. The stunned pair looks around and he pulls their ears close to him. They whines and hit him in resistance but the man feels nothing more than tapping. He hunkers down and whispers.''Don't treat people as you don't like to be treated''.
+
Alfred meditates on the names of the victim. Harold Drake and Eugene Stone. These names sound familiar to him. He eyes the code again. Realization hits him as he remembers they were his high school friends. Dexter Dion. Another name hits him. He must be him, Alfred concludes. Dexter adored codes. He commonly wrote in Caesar's cipher which was taught to the former by the him. They were in a gang of ten friends including themselves, Harold and Eugene. They had a peculiar way of entertaining themselves. They would play a game as simple as scissors-paper-stone or others like cards. There would be always a loser at the end of the game. Then, the winners could do whatever they wish on the loser. First, it started with light teasing, followed by calling nasty names , continued with beatings and compelling unpalatable forfeits until the loser quit the gang or school. Because of the unparalleled pain the loser had to suffer, the game was often called Game of death. They played this game for fun until they realized it was a serious bullying case when the fifth loser committed suicide. In Alfred's memory, Dexter was the fourth loser.
+
Dexter is surprised to hear a knock on his door. It has not been long since he had moved here and his house is in the basement of an apartment block where it is unobtrusive. He opens the door and sees the girl he had seen yesterday. She is holding a plate of cookies and is in all smiles.
''I made these cookies in kindergarten today and i want to share with you'', says the girl grinning.
''How did you find my house?''asked Dexter warily.
''I followed you behind yesterday and saw you going to the basement of my apartment block''
Looking at her sincere childish smile, he cannot bring himself to reject her. He lets her to sit at his dining table and watches her eat the cookies.
After munching the cookies for a while, the girl blurts out politely,''you may eat these, mister''.
''You can eat all of them'', Dexter replies brusquely.
''These are my token of thanks. My grandma says that we must show thanks to people who help us''.
Dexter nibbles the cookies reluctantly and stares at her scrupulously. She is always smiling, different from yesterday. She blabbers on what she does in kindergarten, how she now threatens the boys by lying that the mister is her father who will punish them and about her family. Watching the girl chatting happily in front of him, Dexter ponders when was the last time that he had someone to talk at him with such radiant smiles.
At afternoon of the next day, Dexter opens the door to find the girl carrying heaps of papers, bushes and paints. She introduces a new project to brighten his dull house in the basement of the villa by painting a giant sun on the wall. He almost snorts at her idea but listens to her as he likes her evangelical spirit. He had heard that she is living with her grandma in the villa the day before as her parents comes home late at midnight because of their work and asks her what is her father's job.
''Catching bad guys'', answers the girl.
''Oh, policeman?Detective?'' Dexter raises his eyebrows.
''You don't have to worry mister, he won't catch you because you are a good guy''The girl laughs.
Good guy. The phrase suffuses his mind. For some reasons, it keeps him in trance.
''Mister, what is your name?''Her question wakes him from the trance.
''Dex...Dexter. How about yours?''
''Flora. Flora Clifford''
Dexter furrows his forehead hearing her name, ''What is your father's name?''
''Alfred Clifford''
Dexter is in a daze. Alfred was his offender, a bully. He can revenge himself on him by offending her daughter. When he makes up his obscene mind to profit from her, her beatific laughter rings his heart, softening and diminishing his malevolent mind. He imagines how would her young heart take when she is betrayed by her good guy. She is just a ingenuous kid. How would he be different from those who had ruined him when he hurts this little girl? If he does that to her, it is also like losing a friend and be alone for years again.
From that day, they become good companions and friends. Flora visits Dexter or invites him to her house. Sometimes, they clean her house together for her frail Grandma. He accompanies her wait for her kindergarten bus and fetch her to home on her return.
+
One afternoon, Martin spots Dexter walking with a girl in a kindergarten uniform. It's either he or me dead, he thought. He stalks them from behind stealthily. He memorizes the way to the designated house for the next use.
+
Alfred is in despair. He had sent his team to Dexter's addressed house but found out he had already moved out. When he is suffering from the headache, he hears a knock on his office door and one of his colleagues enters the room with a report. The latter explains that the alleged killer was captured in a CCTV of a street. On the paper, he sees a photograph of a familiar street. He reads the address below: 12 Kingston Street. Consternation enshrouds him. His mind races wildly with thoughts of Dexter doing something bad on his daughter for revenge.
+
Dexter and Flora are on the way home from a zoo. There are unusually many policemen and police cars on the street but they seem not to care about that. Balloons in their hands, they enter the block humming all the way .
They reach their doorstep and open the door. He hears a deafening bang and realizes his balloon has burst. Then, he sees Martin in the room holding a gun. He curses himself for forgetting about Martin. He hoists up Flora and runs away deftly . He buries her head on his chest and encases her with his arms. Dexter hears more fires and one of them hits on his rib of back.
Bearing the searing pain, Dexter runs out of the block but finds himself surrounded by cops, all pointing guns at him. ''Freeze!''they shouts but he has no time to freeze and dashes through the barrier of the policemen.
+
A policeman speaks through a walkie-talkie,''I think he is holding someone!''
''We don't have time to think about that! Just aim and shoot down him!''shouts Alfred impetuously as he sees the alleged killer breaks through the policemen.
+
Dexter is racing down the street, summoning his last bits of energy. Two more bullets are stuck in him by the cops, one in his left shoulder, the other in his right thigh. He can feel energy draining from him and knows he will not last long. Opposite him, he sees another man, pointing a gun towards him. He feels greatly relieved and happy that he finally did something meaningful in his dull life, saving a friend. He recognizes him as he had seen his photograph at Flora's home.
+
Alfred discerns Dexter running towards him from far opposite. He raises his revolver to get ready to shoot at him when he comes nearer. Soon, the view of the runner gets larger and closer that he can hear his panting. His finger reaches out and touches the trigger with tension. However, Dexter just collapses and slumps onto the ground in front of him.
To his surprise, he finds her daughter delivered to him safely, unscathed, by his suspected criminal.
C R A S H
A flower pot shatters onto Dexter's head, as soon as Alfred pulls his daughter out of his body. Instead of looking up, his eyes are caught with something among the reddening soil. A black sticky note. With the white words in the same handwriting. With trembling hands, he picks it up and reads:
Rqfh riihqghg,
zloo eh sdlg edfn
Brx duh pb qhaw wdujhw
With his intellectual brain, he translates it at the moment:
Once offended,
will be paid back
You are my next target
Fear pervades him invasively.
