i ████ the messenger
a haunting letter
𝟾 𝙰𝚞𝚐𝚞𝚜𝚝, 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟿
𝙳𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝚂𝚒𝚛 𝚘𝚛 𝙼𝚊𝚍𝚊𝚖:
𝙲𝚘𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚎𝚟𝚎n𝚝𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚜𝚙𝚒𝚛𝚎 𝚘𝚗 𝙼𝚘𝚗𝚍𝚊𝚢, 𝙰𝚞𝚐𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝟷𝟷𝚝𝚑, 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟿—𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚒𝚜 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚝 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚢.
𝚄𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚘𝚏𝚏𝚒𝚌𝚒𝚊𝚕 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚢, 𝚠𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚔𝚎𝚎𝚙 𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚒𝚗𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛 𝚠𝚛𝚊𝚙𝚜. 𝙷𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚕𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚜𝚎𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚒𝚖𝚙𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚒𝚝𝚜 𝚍𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢. 𝚆𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚖𝚊𝚍𝚎 𝚜𝚞𝚛𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝.
𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚎𝚎 𝚏𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚜 𝚠𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚜𝚑 𝚝o 𝚒𝚖𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝:
𝚆𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 r𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚟𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚗𝚊𝚖𝚎𝚜.
𝚆𝚎 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚕𝚒𝚎.
𝚆𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚒𝚗𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚙𝚞𝚋𝚕𝚒𝚌𝚕𝚢 𝚘𝚗 𝙰𝚞𝚐𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝟷𝟷𝚝𝚑, 𝚛𝚎𝚐𝚊𝚛𝚍𝚕e𝚜𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗.
𝙾𝚗 𝙼𝚘𝚗𝚍𝚊𝚢, 𝙰𝚞𝚐𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝟷𝟷𝚝𝚑, 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟿 𝚊𝚝 𝚖𝚒𝚍-𝚍𝚊𝚢, 𝚊 𝚖𝚊𝚗 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚎 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚝. 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚗𝚎𝚠𝚜𝚙𝚊𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚎 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚕𝚒𝚏𝚒𝚌 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚌𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚘𝚏 𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚊𝚜𝚜𝚊𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗. 𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚌𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚙𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚗 𝚊𝚗𝚢 𝚒𝚜𝚜𝚞𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚎𝚚𝚞𝚊𝚕 𝚘𝚛 𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚒𝚖𝚙𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎. T𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚜 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚜𝚔𝚎𝚙𝚝𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚕 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚘𝚏𝚏𝚒𝚌𝚒𝚊𝚕 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚢—𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚎 𝚑𝚘𝚕𝚎𝚜—𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚛𝚞𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚊 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚑𝚒𝚝 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚜𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚊d. 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚋𝚎 𝚜𝚑𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚍𝚎𝚍, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚛𝚞𝚝𝚑 𝚝𝚞𝚌𝚔𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚎𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚍.
𝚂𝚒𝚖𝚞𝚕𝚝a𝚗𝚎𝚘𝚞𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜, 𝚊𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚎 𝚞𝚗𝚏𝚘𝚕𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚜𝚒𝚐𝚗𝚒𝚏𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗 𝚊𝚗𝚢 𝚌𝚑𝚘𝚛𝚎𝚘𝚐𝚛𝚊𝚙𝚑𝚎𝚍 𝚊𝚜𝚜𝚊𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗, 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚋𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗 𝚑𝚒𝚍𝚍𝚎𝚗 𝚖𝚊𝚜𝚜 𝚙𝚜𝚢𝚌𝚑𝚘𝚕𝚘𝚐𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚕 𝚎𝚡𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗 𝚊 𝚐𝚕𝚘𝚋𝚊𝚕 𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚏𝚏𝚒𝚌𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚎𝚗𝚜𝚕𝚊𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚕𝚊𝚢 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚎. 𝚆𝚎 𝚊𝚜𝚜𝚞𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚕𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚜𝚎 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚑𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚜𝚒𝚖𝚙𝚕𝚢 𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚜 𝚑𝚢𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚋𝚘𝚕𝚎.
𝙳𝚎𝚜𝚙𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝚎𝚏𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚜 𝚖𝚊𝚍𝚎 ██ ███ ████ ███ ███████ ███ ████ 𝚠𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚌𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚛𝚞𝚝𝚑 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝙰𝚞𝚐𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝟷𝟷𝚝𝚑. 𝙷𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛, 𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚎𝚍𝚐𝚎𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚋𝚕𝚞𝚛𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚢 𝚙𝚞𝚋𝚕𝚒𝚌 𝚏𝚒𝚐𝚞𝚛𝚎𝚜, 𝚠𝚎 𝚌𝚊𝚗𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚊𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚕 𝚙𝚒𝚎c𝚎𝚜 𝚞𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚍𝚎𝚎𝚍 𝚒𝚜 𝚍𝚘𝚗𝚎.
𝙰𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚞𝚕𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚘𝚏 𝚊 𝚜𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗-𝚜t𝚎𝚙 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚌𝚎𝚜𝚜 ██ ███████ ███ █████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ███ █████ ███ ███ ███ ████ ████████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ██████ 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚒𝚜 𝚊 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚋𝚒𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚘𝚏 𝚍𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚜 𝚘𝚏 ███████████ ██████████ █████████ 𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚒𝚏𝚒𝚌𝚒𝚊𝚕 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚎𝚗𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚌𝚎𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚊𝚙𝚊𝚝𝚑𝚢, ███ ███ ████████ ██████ ██ █████████ ██ ████ █████ █████ █████ ██████████ ██████ ████ 𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚏i𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚐𝚎𝚛 𝚒𝚜 𝚙𝚞𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚍.
𝙾𝚞𝚛 𝚜𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚌𝚎𝚜, 𝚒𝚏 𝚠𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖, 𝚔𝚎𝚎𝚙 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚖𝚒𝚎𝚜 𝚌𝚕𝚘𝚜𝚎. 𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚍𝚘 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚢 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚙𝚛o𝚖𝚒𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚜𝚜𝚘𝚌𝚒𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜, 𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚒𝚗𝚟𝚒𝚜𝚒𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚎𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚘𝚗. 𝚆𝚎 𝚝𝚛𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚒𝚗𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚠𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎. 𝙰𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚊𝚖𝚎 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎, 𝚠𝚎 𝚊𝚕𝚜𝚘 𝚊𝚌𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠𝚕𝚎𝚍𝚐𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚌𝚢 𝚘𝚏 𝚜𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝚊 𝚐𝚕𝚘𝚋𝚊𝚕, 𝚌𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜-𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚊𝚍𝚖𝚒𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚎𝚏𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚜 𝚖𝚊𝚢 𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚞𝚕𝚝 𝚒𝚗 𝚊𝚒𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚒𝚏𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚞𝚕𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚐𝚘𝚊𝚕: 𝚃𝚘 𝚜𝚎𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚘𝚙𝚞𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚜𝚑𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚔 ██ ████ ███████████ ████████ ██ ███████ ██████ █████ 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚛𝚊𝚒𝚗 𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚎, ████████ ██████ ███ ██████.
███ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ██ ██████████ ██████ ████ ████████ ███ █████ █████ ██ ████ ██████ ███ ██ ██████ ████████ █████ ███████ █████
𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚌𝚑𝚘𝚘𝚜𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚘 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚕𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚒𝚜 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚋𝚞𝚜𝚒n𝚎𝚜𝚜. 𝚆𝚎 𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚎 𝚠𝚎 𝚌𝚑𝚘𝚜𝚎 𝚠𝚎𝚕𝚕. 𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚕𝚞𝚖𝚗𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝 𝚑𝚊𝚕𝚕. 𝚆𝚎 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝚙𝚒𝚐𝚎𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚐𝚘𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚗 𝚒𝚗.
𝙱𝚎𝚜𝚝,
𝙸𝚌𝚑𝚝𝚑𝚢𝚜 𝙸𝚗𝚌.
A/N: There is a hidden message in the text. On October 23rd, I altered the way it's formatted to hopefully make it easier for everyone to figure it out. Granted, it's still very hard to see. But that was kind of the point within the letter's narrative.
I wrote this for Rick Henry Christopher's unofficial challenge. See below!
About the Creator
Mackenzie Davis
“When you are describing a shape, or sound, or tint, don’t state the matter plainly, but put it in a hint. And learn to look at all things with a sort of mental squint.” Lewis Carroll
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Copyright Mackenzie Davis.
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Fear River. Honorable Mention in Everything Looks Better From Far Away Challenge.
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By Mackenzie Davis5 months ago in Fiction
The steps to losing a child
Step One: Lose a child. Not what anyone wants to happen and nothing you can do to change it, but you can go through steps to becoming happy again. You can go through steps to loving again. You can go through steps to become a new you because after losing a child you will never be the same person you once were.
By Tabitha Hinkley3 days ago in Fiction
Comments (9)
Thank you for your entry, Mackenzie.
So glad you joined in!!!
This is fantastic, Mackenzie. I love everything about this story. Hidden message- you bet I will figure it out, or at least try.❤
This is so creative and very unique !!! I am not good at finding hidden messages.
Haha, that was quite an exercise, sort of a 'hunting for letters' game :D I first tried to squint these letters out, then gave up and tried asking 𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚒𝚏𝚒𝚌𝚒𝚊𝚕 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎 to scribble a Python code for me to fish them out; but it didn't work well at first, so I returned to squinting... and got them all. But then still returned to the Python script and, by guiding the 𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚒𝚏𝚒𝚌𝚒𝚊𝚕 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎 in the direction of being more intelligent and helpful, got the script to work as well. Now I can decode all your hidden messages, haha :D Also, I was hoping to find a more mysterious and menacing sort of message ☻☻
Love your entry on this. Even with the hints and Dar Sheena‘s investigative, I’m still not fully seeing the message. I liked the use of redaction, though.
I meant to ask … how did you manage to use a different font? I didn’t know we could do this. And, how did you do the black blocks? I’ve wanted to publish blackout poetry on here before but didn’t see a way to do the blackouts. Xx
Ooh very clever Mackenzie! I’m intrigued. I’ve no idea what the message is though. Any clues? 😂 This was such a fun challenge to work on 😊
Some letters are a different font from the others. So far, the different letters I found are N O R E A C I O N. I tried finding for a T but couldn't, because I thought maybe it could be "No Reaction". But looks like I'm wrong, lol