Hana Aoki

As he opened the email, Tom's heart pounded so much that he felt like he was trying to breathe underwater. He could hardly believe it; to receive an email from another person experiencing the same mysteries as he was would validate everything once and for all—even more than meeting Silver Head or being attacked by the gnomes.

  Forcing his eyes to slow down and take in each word, Tom read the email.

Dear Thomas Noland,

I will write to you in English, since I know you must be a typical American who can only speak Americanese, and my English is, well, brilliant. My name is Hana Aoki, and I live in Shinjuku, in the country of Japan. Do you know where Japan is? Probably not. You're too busy studying, probably space science and the spider man, and not world geography. Maybe you can learn from Hana and be smart. I'm just teasing you, so please don't cry.

       I just saw your post on penpal website and almost swallowed my tongue. No, I didn't try to commit suicide, it just sounds like something a funny American boy would say.

Tom paused, trying to hold in a laugh since he'd already embarrassed himself enough in front of the store customers. However, this Japanese girl...Was she for real? He continued reading.

I got a letter from a person named M.S. in April. You too? At first I laughed and thought it was my friend Sato, but the letter came from Alsace, so I don't know. Then more came. I met a toy robot called Silver Head. It was really talking. Did you see it? It was like a walking savings box, but I liked him.

So what do you think? Is this for real? What will happen on that day? Did you figure everything out? Can you locate anyone else? Write me back.

     Your new friend,

Hana 

P.S. You have a nerdy name, btw.

     Tom hated when the email ended, he'd wished she had written him pages and pages telling him what she thought and felt and if she'd figured out the magic words or anything else. He clicked the REPLY TO SENDER button. 

                 Dear Hana, 

He paused, wondering what in the world he should write to her. The chilling thought hit him that maybe he shouldn't trust her. Maybe she was on the side of whoever or whatever had sent the Death Sleep and Evil Gnomes. Maybe she was a spy, ready to feed him with information, leading him away from the solution, not towards it.

   "That's just a chance I'll take," he thought. Shrugging his worry away, he began typing his message.

                 I know I've a nerdy name. Everyone calls me Tom or Tommy, so you can, too.

It sounds like we're in the same boat. I've received three clues now, one of them on a flash drive. How about you? I met Silver Head, too. He gave me the second clue. Maybe we can help each other?

He almost started telling her the things he'd figured out and which ones had him stumped, but decided to wait and see if she would write him back. One more email from her ought to help him know for sure if she was okay. After thinking for a minute, he finished his letter.

             I wonder how many of us are out there. I hope someone else write to me. Let me know if anyone writes to you, ok?

         Have you seen anything like a bulky eye made out a cloud that turns circle continuously? What about Gnomes shooting lasers with black Americans accent? That thing put me to hospital, but I'm ok now. How old are you? I'm fifteen, and I live in California, though you already know that because I guessed you saw my Penpal account. 

You're from Japan, right? That's way awesome. I wish we could meet and talk face-to-face about this stuff. I'm keeping all my notes in a book called Diary of Mysterious Clues. Pretty cool, huh?

          Talk to you later,

Tom

    He clicked send, knowing Hana wouldn't read the email until tomorrow because it's already past bedtime in Japan. His initial excitement tempered by the thought that he wouldn't hear from Hana for at least a day, he logged off the computer and grabbed his backpack. 

On his way out, he met his sci-fi friend, Nate. But it seems that Nate was kind of in a hurry. Tom smiled immediately he was closer.

"Hello, kid," Nate said, tugging at his tee shirt like it was an undersized.

   "I see you struggling with this buddy," Tom laughed. "About last time...." 

Nate shushed him. "At the very least, you kept your word. I'm sorry I can't talk for long now. I'd be going okay. Take care."

   With that being said, he strode down the store hurriedly. At that moment, Tom felt guilty. "Only if he knew I just came to use the computer." He shook his head, he would never would've thought he'd break a promise. 

His hands tucked safely in his pockets, Tom exited the store and headed home.

      Halfway there, he figured out the answer to third clue. 

                                           ~

It came to him when he tripped over a big stick in the middle of the sidewalk. As he rubbed his knee while sitting on the cold ground, he looked at the soles of his shoes, which were clogged up with black sludge. He wondered where they had gotten so dirty, and he just had the thought that it must've been from the mud caused by the dirt laying around. When both of the important phrases from the third clue seemed to solve themselves simultaneously, several words flashed across his mind's eye in a rush of understanding.

 The opposite of wrong but not correct.

opposite of wrong but not the word correct.

The word right!

Soul is stronger than mine.

Sole is stronger than mine.

His shoe's sole.

His right shoe's sole.