Decoding Escape

Decipher the code to escape...

I was once an NSA cryptographer; but one of them had gotten me thrown out. Those who were sacked weren't ever heard of again. I'd always wondered what'd happened to them. Their existence being wiped out by the agency had been a subtle possibility. But, I had confronted a series of predicaments right after I'd been sacked. And then, one day, I found myself in ties that bound me by chains. Literally. Who had done it or why had it been done I still did not know. But there was one thing I was certain of. The code I had yet to decipher.

I awoke with a start, blinking rapidly since I felt my back sore and my wrists bound - my legs too weak on my knees. Encompassed in a mundane vicinity, my brain worked to register what was happening. The hall I'd founded myself in was like a half-circle - suffice to imagine the alphabet D. Instantly, I regarded the massive picture before me.

Painful though it was to move, I fought through the agony to see the monstrosity on the flat side of the wall whereas I was tied up on the curved side.

What the hell is up with the picture?

Then I took in the area, seeing scattered skeletal bones, skulls. The stench that wafted in the place was horrendous.

What were these...?

It was then that I remembered how I'd ended up here. I was abducted by NSA minions to be gotten rid of. The bones were the remnants of the humans who decayed. This is what they did to the former employees?!

"Tche," I scoffed at their pathetic ways. "Never have anything better to do."

"Roy Furleaves," a woman's voice boomed in the darned almost-dark hall ricochetting off the walls. But it was the voice that astounded me. This woman... "It's nice to see you again. But you see," she professed, "this is how every former employee met his end. On the contrary, I have some fruitful information for you." There had been a pause which I assumed was for me to utter anything, but I'd refused to speak. I'd heard her clearing her throat before continuing, "The picture in front of you is a code. Should you decipher it, you needn't worry about joining NSA again. You can either join us again or live your life as you wish. But, this is once in a lifetime opportunity, Furleaves. You have two hours at max."

"Or what, you'll burn me after two hours?" I spat rather spitefully.

"No, not me. The acid above you will if you don't hurry. Good day." Good day? The nerve of these people!

I craned my neck to look above me. A glassed cube contained hazy liquid. Cursing profanities, I seethed before wincing at my bruised wrists - they were purple.
In the end, I had no other option; I had to decode the picture. The fact that the former employees turned into bones for this code sent shivers down my spine. I was certain the glass cube above me would shatter after exactly two hours. The NSA were true to their words.

Sighing, I looked at the picture flaunting its beguiling enticement in all its glory. I'd noticed intriguing objects connected to a golden bangle-like accessory on a man-made wrist"the hand before it wearing golden coating that seemed decrepit.

I desultorily gaped from the hand in the picture to my bound ones. I could suddenly see much clearly in the crepuscular vicinity; the brass chain assuaging my wrists wrung in a particular way.

I noticed the same dragonfly objects hanging from the chain I was tied with. I gazed at the picture for a while.

There were three polished embedded clock-work cogs with crimson beads pinning them to the diaphanous garment and an antique clock tied to the chain.
As I flinched, I realized that from an angle, the binds looked like a cog. Shifting my eyes to the incandescent chrysalis, I frowned at the facade. The red beads pinned the cogs so if I'd taken my hand as the beads...

How the hell could I pull off my hand from the fatal bind!?

It was then that I noticed, on thinly wired hoops hung dragonfly accessories. In the picture, I saw a key embellished at the side of the fabric. The ornated dragonflies reminded me of the times I'd enjoyed with Cherish. Our first date began with a stroll in a sunflower field, there were not only dragonflies, but butterflies as well; she had only commented on the dragonflies that they looked pretty.

Although it had turned out to be an absolute catastrophe when I'd been sacked because of her, I felt as though she was still the same. I still loved her like a fool. And now, she was the one putting me through this insipid situation of life and death.
I groaned in sheer annoyance. But that wouldn't help. I had to get out of this place.

"Focus!"

Other than the key, I knew there was the webbed material intricately endeavoured on. But a cryptographer isn't an art-history professor!

I inhaled deeply and concentrated. "The beads…the cogs…the clock…the dragonfly accessories…the key…and the fabric. Or does the color have something to do with this?" I closely inspected the colours of the beads on the chrysalis.

The pale pink ones must pertain to something light and the red ones something deep, I mused.

No sooner had I glanced at my purple wrists, than something dawned on me. The color of the beads had nothing to do with this. I eagerly checked the clock on the picture, the numericals were Roman.

Of course! How could I have missed it!

The time on the clock in the picture said it was 09:27. A smile ghosted on my lips as I noted the clock-hands moving away from five and nine to six and ten respectively. The number sixteen would be the result had they been added - alluding to the sixteenth alphabet P. Why P?

I instantaneously saw the key and smirked. If I'd held the key upside down, the end seemed like a P. I didn't know how this made sense, but now I had to find the object to unlock...what? I still had yet to find the lock.

I'd wryly smiled to myself as I'd realized the reality related to the picture ever so obviously.
Coming out of the reverie, I searched for anything like a small thin stick but to no avail. My frustration set to the max, I'd jerked my hands only to tighten the chain around my wrists.

No, I am not going to die like this.

Was Cherish playing with me? I stared at the picture for any other clue; to make it more bizarre than it already was, small pallid beads were embroidered on the rim of the sewn piece"of which was a chain pinched in hooks. The clock needed gears and battery to run. I needed the code to escape.

So, if the key was missing, there must've been something like the key itself.

The dragonfly objects.

I saw them hanging from the brass chains around my wrists. As I struggled to take the tail of the dragonfly between my teeth, I felt like my other arm was going to rip off.

Perspiration gliding down the sides of my face, I felt like I was trying in vain. The glass-cube containing the acid above me jerked a bit before I was riveted to the spot. I was static as the cube chilled.

My hopes fell as though they were thrown from the zenith of a mountain. I dismissively spat on the ground. Lassitude clung onto my legs. But I had to try till I died.

The tail of the dragonfly was the body of the key while...the wings. The wings were the key. I grunted to catch the tail between my teeth and I did. Then I saw the lock. It was concealed underneath the brass chains on my purple wrist; forcefully pushing the wings of one side of the dragonfly into the hole of the metal, I gritted my teeth around the tail harder - with the kind of anticipation as of a climax and maneuvered.

It had come off. Rhapsodic emotions rushed through me as my wrist felt the taste of freedom. I did the same with the other hand and untied myself. Laughing in euphoria, I fell onto the grubby cold floor - breathing harshly. The caprice to get out of the vicinity was inviting but my body had given up. The thought that Cherish would give me another opportunity was a consequence of this serendipity.

"Congratulations, Roy Furleaves," the soft inflection of Cherish's voice filled the void air. I knew I was conscious, but I'd lost my strength to move.

I mentally snorted. I was going to die either way.

In my somnolent state, the last thing I saw was the incandescent picture part in half - scintilla of light peeking in.

Author's Note

Is the format of paragraph alright? I'm kinda puzzled...