Sudoku 1: Night
Terrors
by Michael S.
Collins
Night. A
television set played the highlights of an
earlier football game, but the sound was muted.
Mimsy and her friend, Tommy, sat on the floor,
pondering the possibility of actually opening up
their textbooks, as opposed to watching the game.
Drinks and snacks lay on the floor. A discarded
newspaper lay by the television, crumpled.
The girls were
in mid conversation.
“They say
some kid spent the night with his parents in
Torquay.” Said Mimsy. “The kid
couldn’t miss the latest puzzle in the
newspaper, so he bought the local. However, the
newspapers are different in Torquay. So this kid,
he gets back home with the newspaper, but when he
does, all of a sudden he sees the cartoon next to
the Sudoku. In it, a woman says “You will
die, one week from now. Unless you can solve the
Sudoku. Answers in next week’s issue.”
Mimsy stopped
for dramatic effect.
“The kid
thought that was a bit mad, and binned the
newspaper. Just then, the phone rang, and when he
picked it up a voice said…”
“You read
it?” said Tommy.
“No,
course not.” Said Mimsy. “It’s a
cold call from Avarice Bonds. But it comes right
after the Sudoku puzzle. Coincidence, I think not.”
“That
bit’s not scary.”
“Course
it is. You ever had a cold call. Pretty scary, if
you ask me. Anyhow, one week later, exact same
time, the kid dies.”
“He died?”
“He died.”
“Of
fright?”
“No”,
said Mimsy, “Not of fright, of smallpox.”
“What?”
“Just
kidding, it was fright. The kid died of fright.”
She laughed.
Tommy, however, looked slightly concerned.
“What’s
up?” said Mimsy.
“Where’d
you hear that story?” asked Tommy.
“Everyone
knows it. It’s going around.”
“So
it’s an urban legend?”
“I guess
so.”
Tommy breathed
a sigh of relief.
“Thank
God!” she exclaimed, “Because I got a
local magazine recently and saw the same cartoon
strip!”
“What
cartoon strip?”
“A weird
one, difficult to explain, it pointed to the
Sudoku puzzle. And after I finished reading the
clues, my mobile rang. It was a cold call. Well,
I thought the best thing was to ignore it.”
“Is that
it over there?” Mimsy pointed towards the
discarded paper. Tommy nodded. Mimsy leant
forward and grabbed in both hands, before gasping
at the date and throwing it away.
“Tommy”,
she cried, “You bought that paper one week
ago today!”
They both
stared at the clock. It read 10.40.
“What
time did you buy this newspaper?” asked
Mimsy.
“About 10.40!”
“Really?
Where’d you buy a newspaper that late?”
“Twenty-four
hour convenience store.”
The phone rang.
Mimsy started for it, but was distracted by
Tommy’s screams.
“Don’t
leave me? It’s the cold call!” cried
Tommy.
“I’m
just going to answer the phone. You’ll be
perfectly safe in the company of the television.”
Mimsy left the
room. Tommy heard her bound down the stairs, and
answer the cold call. Tommy turned to the
television. She must have sat on the remote, for
it had gone all grainy and static. She switched
it off. It behaved itself. But then, she noticed
the newspaper. Nobody had put it on the couch!
Tommy leant forward to move the paper away,
caught a good glimpse of it, and at that point
she screamed.
But by then,
it was 10.41.
...continued in 'Sudoku 2: The
Interview'
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