The Deciphered Codes | Teen Ink

The Deciphered Codes

May 14, 2021
By maddss16, Williamsport, Pennsylvania
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maddss16, Williamsport, Pennsylvania
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Author's note:

I was inspired to write this after boredom in math class. I had an idea for a short story about this world that is going to end, ironically on March 13, 2020. The story is sort of inspired by a Disney Channel show that I have watched, about a family of spies, and I think this story is a good representation of how the world would potentially end. Well, everything has to end, right?

Hi. I am Paige O'Conner, and I go to Seaside Middle School. I am 13 years old, and I have one younger brother that gets on my nerves. A LOT. My best friend is named Monica Smith, and we have been friends since preschool. We have all classes together, and even sit on the same seat on the bus every day. When I come home from school every day, I turn on the tv to find instructional videos on how to do my math homework, but lately, the news is always the first thing I see. I usually don’t care, but it’s been talking about these people who are making these secret codes, and rumor has it; THE WORLD IS ENDING! Or so I’m told. The people who are making the codes are bad and they don’t want us to know that the world is ending.  
  There is a girl at my school and her name is Audra, and she is a real brat. She is a locker next to me this year and she is awful! 
It’s like in the books and movies where there is a nerdy girl or boy and then there is that one boy or girl that has like 2 best friends and they just pick on the kid. But in this case, I am not nerdy; I am smart, not nerdy. Also, I am quite popular cause my dad is the principal of our school. I feel Audra gets weirdly jealous of me sometimes cause she feels like she is not popular ENOUGH.  
    Over the course of weeks, I have been seeing a change from Audra. Right after every period, she runs to the bathroom immediately and checked her phone. And after the day is over, she quickly just rushes out of class and goes home. I think she is working for this organization of people who are making these codes. She acts weird whenever I mention it to her; not to mention that she doesn’t even listen to what I say anyway. “Hey Paige, you should stop slouching or your daddy isn’t gonna fix every problem you have anymore,” said Audra to me today. “Oh really? Your life is full of problems as of right now so go away,” I have had mental health issues for a while now and surprise, surprise! The cause is Audra. 
 
 
The reason these people are bad is because they are trying to get people on their side and do the codes with them. This may sound crazy, but they are also planning to send things into space and make the world end. I've dreamed about this, and there is nowhere to go except for heaven, or the other place. The doomsday for us on earth is March 13th, 2020, and a lot of people still don’t know. The bombs they are sending to space are VERY DANGEROUS and we don’t know how big or how slight damage they can do to our planet.  
 
  I came home and did some research. I looked it up on google, and it said, “No results found.”  So, I turned on the tv again and started to watch the news. “We have some news about this secret organization-” and then it stopped. I called for my family. “Mom! Dad! John! Get in here, there is big news so get your cameras out,” I yelled. My family came in, and this guy that was reporting on the news was brain washed! I really couldn’t believe what I was seeing. After that, I started throwing up uncontrollably. 
 
  A few days later, my family reported our videos to the police, and they couldn’t do anything about it. “Sorry,  O’conners, but we can’t help,” said one of the officers.  I was so bummed because then I could say something to Audra and see if she would brain wash me too.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
After all the chaos the other day, I went back to school and tried my best to pay attention and not picture the earth blowing up and everyone floating in space! At one point in ELA class Mr. Jones said to me, “Paige, are you okay? You look tired. Like a LOT tired!” and I replied, “Oh yeah, I'm completely fine.”  But on the bright side I got to take a walk and gather my thoughts.  
 
  When I got home, my mom and my dad were both sitting on the couch with a concerned look on their faces, talking to one another. I was surprised to see my dad there, considering he had a whole school to take care of. When they realized I walked in the room, it went dead silent.  
“Honey, I think we should tell her," My dad said. “Tell me what?” I asked in reply. My dad said to me, “Paige, sit down. So, you know how the world is ending, and as of right now there is no one to save it?” “Yes,” I said. “Well, that is a lie. Your mother and I work for a secret agency that is supposed to stop stuff like this from happening. It’s like K.C Undercover, but on real life.” I was in shock. Then my mom started. “Listen sweetie, your father and I want you to help us, by becoming an official member of the agency.”   
“Yes, of course.” I spoke. 
“Great!” My parents said in unison. 
My dad continued. "You can't tell anyone about this.” 
I replied, ”I know. I can't tell anyone or else it will put us and everyone in danger.” He said, “Awesome. Your first assignment is to get close to Audra and get a hint whether or not she is working for the enemy side of the organization,” he said. He went on and on about the other side, and I listened.  
So that day, I went to school knowing that Audra could be the one putting the entire world in danger, and I set up a plan. I would wait until the very end of school to get close to her and follower her home, or wherever she was going. I was concerned about this all day, and I kept thinking, where are these codes, how do we crack them, and who in the heck works to try and end the world? Later that day, my dad comes into my 6th period class, and he says, “Paige, can you come with me for a second?” I was a bit confused, because he is my dad and I wondered what he would want so late in the day. When he called me out, he said to me, “Listen, I got some information about the code makers.  
“Well, what is it?” 
“I found out that they are making the codes in Florida. They have placed them all over, and most of them are in Seaside. Where we live. So, since you need to get close to Audra, I want to show you a secret weapons chamber, hidden underneath the school.” My dad said this with a concerning look, but he sounded like he was confident about showing me this. I said, “Okay then, let's check it out.” So, my dad brings me to the boiler room, and he types in a 4-digit code. Then, before he could type in the last digit in the code, to door bursts open, only to see Audra at the door holding a blue-light flashlight in her hand. She yells and says, "Um, what are you two doing? Trying to go somewhere?" Immediately, my dad and I froze right there, and started bolting into the locked area. The door was closing fast, and when we both got into the reserved area, my dad started heavily breathing, and so did I. The last thing I heard from Audra was, " I am going to expose your secret to everyone including the code makers¨, I said to my dad, still breathing heavy, ¨Audra.... apart.... of.... code makers...¨ My dad replied with, ¨Wait really? You found out? I´m so proud of you! But how?¨ I said to him, ¨ Something Audra said to me made me realize that she is working for them, and that she is dangerous considering the fact she was holding a blue light. What does the blue-light mean?¨   
"It means that Audra was trying to hide the codes. When a blue light is shined along a wall with codes on it, they either disappear or temporarily go away. Thank God that we got to the codes before Audra. She could have put us in even more danger, " My dad said this with worry and concern on his face.  
"Like what kind of danger? ¨ I said. 
¨It would put us in danger because those codes lead us to where the main headquarters are for the code makers. If we follow them, and decipher them, they will lead us to their HQ, and we can shut down the device that will destroy the world. The code makers made them so that if they ever became lost, they could just look back at the codes they created and find their way back to HQ. ¨  
I was listening to what my dad said, and after he was done, all I could think about was the world ending, and what would happen to us. My dad was reassuring me about this, ¨You ok, kiddo? I know this is a lot to take in now, but this is my job, and now it is your job too. We are all in this together, and hopefully this world will get out of this unharmed. ¨I replied, " Yeah, I just want to be safe in this, and get it done soon because it is one day before the doomsday, and we haven´t gotten anything done yet. Also, I didn´t hear from mom all day...¨ We both turned to each other and started running for the car to get home. When we got home, we saw my mom laying on the couch looking terrible, like she got poisoned or something. I said to my mom, ¨ Mom! What happened to you? Who did this?¨ She responded very faintly with, " The last thing I remember was these people coming into the house and putting something in my water. Next thing I know, I'm lying on the couch, feeling dizzy and sick. It was the code makers. I don't think I can help you tonight Paige. I really wish I could, but I cannot. I feel way too under the weather."  
As I saw my mom suffering in pain on the couch, my dad and I had to leave because we had some codes to solve. We drove back to the school and went back to our devoted area my dad had shown me earlier. We got our white-light (it made the codes show up instead of making them disappear) and shown them all over the walls of the school. My dad already knew what all the symbols meant, but I did not, so he explained them all to me. "It says we need to go to the powerplant west of the school, and there is an invisible door that no one else can see unless they have a specific pair of glasses." 
I replied with, "Do we have these glasses? Because if we don't, we are toast."  
"Yes, we have them, and they will help us very much with the search."  
"Ok good," 
After we got to the powerplant it looked completely empty. Then I just remembered that we had those glasses. We both put them on, and sure enough, they lead us to the secret door. We walked inside and we saw people in there launching weird things into space, but it was odd, because you couldn't see them from outside. They were invisible. Those must have been the things that would explode and make the world end or something like that. Right then and there, I was stunned to the ground to see that my own brother was there, along with Audra. They were also putting things into space, and I was shocked. I had to keep quiet though. If they found out that both me and my dad were here, we would both be in trouble.  
I remembered that night I had a school dance, and they were planning to blow up the world exactly at the end of the dance when everyone was getting ready to go home. In their "Lair" they had a big sign on the wall that said, explode rockets at 8:00 p.m. March 13.  Me and my dad waited until it was late at night, and everyone went home. We went inside, and we tried to disable the rockets, but we could only disable 9 out of 10 of them. The last one was so big; it had its own button to explode it. But the button was in a locked chamber, so we couldn't get to it. I said to my dad, "Great. What now? We can get in. There is no way."
"Paige, when you work for a secret organization, there is ALWAYS a way," said my dad in response. I look over at him, holding a heat gun, and blowing it towards the lock. It miraculously started to melt! We both ran inside, only to find a security guard chasing us out with an explosive. It was terrifying, but then we lost him.  
My dad said, " Looks like we will have to come back tomorrow night." 
I nodded my head. We went home, got some rest, and I went to school the next day. Since I needed to be with my dad to night of the dance, I wasn't going. Well, not with anyone. Later that night when the dance started, I was hanging out with my friends, and then my dad calls me over because we needed to leave. I went to the bathroom to change out of my dress, and we headed for the car. Audra also went into a car, and we decided to follow her. She led us to the powerplant, and we all entered. Next thing I know my dad tells me to put on an invisible suit, and the chamber with the last explosive in it was open. Everyone was too busy wondering how the bombs got diffused.  So, me and my dad walk into the chamber and my dad says to me, "You ready to do this?" I respond with, "Absolutely." We both press the button at the same time, and the lair gets a notification saying, "All bombs have been diffused. " Over and over, repeatedly. All the people in there were screaming and yelling about how we cracked all the codes and how they got disabled. But my dad and I ran out of there towards the car and start driving to the school.  
When we get to the school, everyone is stunned as they watch the televisions in the gym. There was yelling, screaming, confusion, and more reactions. When we got home from school my mom was so happy and relieved that we came through and saved the world. But there was one thing we had to do; tell her about John.  "Mom, John was working for the code makers. We both saw him in there. What should we do?" I spoke. My mom replied with, "Oh my gosh! I had no idea. But from now on, he will have his phone taken away, and always have a tracking device on him, so if he goes anywhere, we will know. " As we watched our work being done again on the news, my dad and I sat on the couch proud as we watched all the bombs get diffused and for the code makers to be arrested, including John.  
As of today, I am still working for the organization, and still deciphering the codes, because one day this will all happen again. Who knows, people might set up a plan for creating a deadly virus that wipes out half the world. I don't know. It could happen! But I love my job and I will never stop working to save the world. 



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