News Just news Nothing special Words Across Down 4 letters 2 letters One filled in spelling “me” One barely halfway done 4 across 2 down an ‘e’ filled in from the me A ‘p’ at the end from a word already formed A letter An E A letter And a P The hint seems simple enough “Something everybody needs” Reap? Peep? Beep? No. Those don’t make sense. What does everybody need? Love? Heart? Life? Food? Help? Help. We all need some help sometimes. I mean it fits. 4 across A letter An E A letter And a P A letter, H An E A letter, L And a P 4 across H E L P 2 down M E H E L P ME. Help who?

I’m going to call Kalle and see when she’ll drop off the newspaper, thought Aliza. She picked up the phone and was about to call her friend when the dorr bell rang. Aliza opened the door to find her friend Kalle standing there with the newspaper. “Here’s the newspaper Aliza.” Said Kalle. “Thanks Kalle I was just about to call you and ask when you can drop it off!” Exclaimed Aliza. “Oh funny! Well I gotta get going, see you later.” Aliza was looking at the word search clues and saw something strange. She thought about it all day. Then suddenly, it hit her! She figured out what seemed Strange about the newspaper. It was telling her a message. She rushed home to look at it again and she saw that it said the lottery number is 7825. What the heck, she thought. Well I Guess I’ll get number 7825 to see if it’s true. The next day Aliza turned on the tv to see what the numbers are. “ The lottery number today is… 7, 8,2,5! And the reward money is one million dollars! “YES YES YES I WON I WON!” Screamed Aliza at the top of her lungs. She was so happy! And that is the story of the girl with one million dollars.

The morning sun rays fell on my face waking me up for yet another day. I rubbed my eyes and got up from the bed. Time for coy, I thought. The fuel that wakes me up and makes me go through the day. As I poured some ground coffee in the filter, filled it with water and switched it on. I opened the front door and picked the morning newspaper from the mat. It was my daily routine. Drink coffee and solve the crossword puzzle for the day. It helps me to jog up my sleepy mind in the morning. I opened the crossword section, folded the newspaper, took out my hb pencil and went through the clues one by one. One of them caught my attention. Hmm I thought why does that look familiar. It said, “the street name behind the board walk”. That was an easy one. Every month we visit the board walk with my friends. The street behind the board walk was our usual go to place to park our car since we don’t have to pay and it was at a reasonable walking distance from the boardwalk. But why did

“Good morning Jo” I said, with a smile plastered across my face. “Good day Marry Joans.” The mail boy responded before peddling away. I closed the front door, before taking the newspaper to the sun room. I skimmed the paper but nothing peaked my interest. Missing dog, local school wins football match, Jannie Wo wins three times the holiday pie contest. Everything I had already heard from my gossipy neighbor Sarah Smith. I call her Silly Sarah, since she’s nuts. I once heard her say the government was spying on her, because she didn’t vaccinate her little rodents- I mean children. I skipped to the crossword, where Ryan’s name was at the corner. Its was his first job out of school, and i had never seem him this happy. I grabbed my glasses and pencil to begin solving it. I looked at the date, and a got hit with nostalgia like a truck. December 23, 1992. Had time gone by so quickly? Just ten years ago exactly I remembered the day I met Ryan. He was a short skinny 9 year old wearing his boy scouts uniform and walking back from school. It was a cold day, and his nose was as red as Mr. Dallys prize winning tomato’s. I offered to take him on my bike and he agreed. The next day, he gave me a stack full of crossword puzzles he made for me. He called it his ‘payment’. I didn’t like puzzles but was over the moon by his gesture. Time really does fly by. I looked for question one across, and found it, but to my surprise, it wasn’t what I expected. ‘A bike is better that two legs, a good heart is better than ____' My heart skipped a beat and if i had a mirror i would have definitely seem myself blushing. Its probably a coincidence I thought. Probably. I thought for a second until I remembered a quote Ryan told me. ‘A good heart is better than all the heads in the world’ I filled in the letters A L L T H E H E A D S Longest one out of the way. Ok next I need 2 across. ‘Now that I’ve got your attention, what is the oldest building in this town.’ I found myself stupidly grinning at newspaper. God I must have looked crazy. Once again I filled in the words. L I B R A R Y 3 across. ‘Meet me under the _____’ At this point I was blushing like a school girl. Meet me under the mistletoe. The song playing at our winter dance two years ago. M I S L E T O E I knew exactly what to do. I grabbed my bike, and began peddling. It never snows, so the worst I would get is frozen fingers. When I reached the library, I scanned around, until I saw the Christmas tree, surrounded by hanging mistletoes. And Ryan. I walked up to him, as he grinned like an idiot. Before I could say anything, he shushed me and said, “we’re under a mistletoe” And that was how I fell for my husband.

Friend. Brother. Confidant. Mentor.

“Goddamn, who cooked fish in the microwave?” Det. C.J. Hamilton shouted as he walked into the station’s break room. Looking over the crossword page of her newspaper, his partner Ramona Shay shot a glance to the fridge. Desk sergeant Beck was bent over looking for something in the back of the freezer. Beck turned to face Hamilton’s glare. Beck was holding a plastic plate of river trout, couscous, and spinach in one hand and a frozen Snickers in the other. “What you don’t want me to be heart healthy?” Beck said. “Well screw you.” “You selfish son of—“ “Ladies, please show some decorum my baby ears are delicate,” senior Det. Antonia Curry said from the doorway. She tossed her yogurt container in the trash and began to wash out her water bottle. Hamilton sat down at the table and opened his brown paper bag. He grimaced and pushed it away. “Now Ceej you’re angry about those muggings over on the west sides. I get it, we all get. This sicko is targeting seniors. Nobody wants this case to go cold but biting everyone’s head off solves nothing. And Sarge only a troglodyte cooks fish in a shared microwave,” Antonia said. Beck looked offended but offered Hamilton his frozen candy bar before sitting down. Chuckling, Det. Shay returned from her crossword. “Now does anyone know a six letter word for ‘friend of Huck Finn’?” “Sawyer,” Antonia said from the sink, “Good, good then this has to be Sullivan. How about Emerald blank blank blank borer?” Shay chewed on her pen. “Why do you bother with those crappy puzzles. My weirdo neighbor creates those and he’s not the sharpest tool in the shed,” Hamilton said. “Ash!” Beck shouted. “Who you calling an ass,” Shay snapped. “No no Ramona. Ash like the tree.” Drying her hands, the senior detective snorted. “Okay, that means 11 down has to be Maverick. You’re right Ceej these crosswords are terrible but I feel like there is more below the surface. Something niggling in the back of my head. Wait Maverick, Ash, Sullivan, and Sawyer weren’t they the street the muggings took place?” Shay froze with her pen in her mouth. Hamilton inhaled his frozen chocolate bar. “Nah but we never released the location of the Maverick Road mugging to the press. Poor Mrs. Chlebak was too afraid to press charges if her street name was made public. That perp broke her arm. And—“ The three detectives rushed from the break room. Sniffing at the air, Beck ate his lunch in peace.

Emilie gazed out of the window at the dull landscape. Thunder rolled in the distance, and the sky was a depressing gray. People walked cautiously through the cobblestoned street, and German Soldiers patrolled every street corner. She pulled the curtain back over the window with a swift motion, and strode back to the kitchen with a sigh. "What's wrong, mama?" Emilie jumped slightly as she turned to see her six-year-old daughter Mary. Her face held a half-curious, half-concerned expression. Her soft brown hair was messy from playing, and her teddy bear was tucked beneath her arm. Emilie smiled, "Nothing, Mary." Then her tone changed to scolding, "What are you doing out of bed? I told you to take a nap." Mary grinned sheepishly. "I did, mama!" "For five minutes?" "Mhm! Mr. Teddy snuggled with me." Emilie shook her head with a grin, "Well, then, make yourself useful and help me make knead the dough." Mary grinned with delight as her mother scooped her into her arms and set her upon the countertop. Emilie dipped her pointer finger into the flour, and gently tapped her daughter's nose as she was kneading the bread dough. Mary squealed in delight. Emilie smiled. The sound of the front door opening was followed my thudding footsteps. Hurried footsteps. Emilie turned around to see her husband, hurrying towards her. Something was wrong. Emilie took Mary off of the counter. "Marcus? What is it?" He held up a piece of paper. The newspaper? "The crossword. There's something in the crossword." He whispered. The sound of a baby's soft cries could be heard. Emilie turned to her daughter, "Mary, go get your baby brother for me, would you?" She nodded eagerly and tottered off. Emilie's eyes turned to her husband, sharp and cold, "I told you, no war talk around the children!" "It's not war... look here, at the crossword!" Emilie surveyed the crossword. Something was most definitely different about it. "Edward gave it to me," Marcus said, "he told me it was important." "Well, let's solve it then." •••• "Marcus, surely this can't mean-" "It does." The sentence struck a mix of horror and fear into Emilie's heart. 'Hitler has come at last. Run.' Marcus flexed his jaw, "Get the children. We leave now.

It was a dark and stormy night and I was sitting at home working on a crossword puzzle that my friend had created for the local newspaper. My friend had always been into puzzles and had recently landed a job creating clues for the papers crossword section. As I was working through the puzzle I noticed something strange. The clues seemed to be pointing to a specific location in town - and abandoned warehouse in the outskirts of the city. At first I thought it was just a coincidence but as I continued to work through the puzzle the clues became more and more specific. I called my friend to ask if he had been trying to send me a message through the crossword but he brushed it off as a coincidence. However I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. The next day I decided to investigate the warehouse. As I approached the building I could feel my heart racing with fear. The rain had stopped but the clouds still hung low in the sky casting an eerie glow over the abandoned building. I cautiously made my way inside and what I found was beyond terrifying. The walls were covered in strange symbols and marking and there were eerie whispers coming from the darkness. It was then I realized that my friend had been trying to warn me about this place - a place where unspeakable horrors had taken place. I quickly led true building but the experience left me shaken to my core. I later learned that the warehouse had been used as a site for occult rituals and sacrifices and that my friend had stumbled upon this horrifying truth while working on the crossword puzzle. From that day on I couldn’t help but wonder other dark secrets lay behind the seemingly innocent clues of the crossword. And I couldn’t shake the feeling that there were forces at work in our town that were far beyond human comprehension.

My friend and I have been having a great conversation about God and faith. Lately every two week she will hand me a newspaper. I honestly thought nothing about it. Every time she will hand me a newspaper I will barely read the headlines and just toss them to the side in a neat pile. One day she looked with anticipation. She quickly asked me about the newspaper and I will just shrug her off. Until one specific day I was simultaneously expectant of the newspaper but the newspaper was not given to me. I was going to ask but pride shut me down. We just continued going deeper into our conversation. Still highly expectant of the newspaper during the conversation but the message was not received. We have parted ways and my mind kept on racing asking million and one questions. What happened the newspaper? What message is in the newspaper or is even a message? I could ask but I decided to do something that I always do depend on my strength. I rushed home and went to every one of the newspapers. I looked through the newspapers and finally came upon the crosswords in every newspaper. Still sitting there looking over the crosswords a thousand times like they are going to jump out and solve themselves. “ I give up!” I tossed each one of them aside and planned on giving up but a clear, audible voice came in, “Don’t give up. Call on me and I will help you.” I just sat and cried. God only knows how long I cried,He probably even had a stopwatch. Man I even gotten tired of myself. I just screamed Jesus on the top of my lungs. “Jesus!!” The whole city block heard me. Suddenly a sound of from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind filled the place where I was sitting and I felt His presence and his guidance. When I was done with every one of the crosswords I was astonished. “Glory to be God! Only you, O Lord! Only you, O Lord!” The rest of the day I engaged in praised and worship, and giving thanks to God. The next day my friend and I met again and now there was a expression of hope. “You completed them didn’t you.” “ Yes. Thank you.” Hands up in surrender, “ Not me,God.” Simultaneously together, “But God.”

One of my favorite pastimes is the crossword puzzle in the Sunday Times. On Sunday afternoons I love to cozy up on the sofa and work on the day’s puzzle. Besides it being a great mind stretching exercise, there’s another reason I love it so much. My best friend, Lizzy, happens to be the creator of every Sunday’s puzzle. Lizzy and I went to Central High School. We played volleyball together. We went to prom together. We even dated and eventually married another pair of best friends: Kevin, Lizzy’s husband, and Steve, mine. After college we all came back home and currently live right down the street from each other. We are both so happy, we have healthy children, and husbands who love us each so much. Life couldn’t be any better. I always beg Lizzy to give me some clues about each Sunday’s puzzle, but she never does. Instead, she sends me messages in the puzzles. I know that there is a hidden message when the answer to 1 ACROSS starts with an “L” and ends with an “S”, the initials of our first names, Lizzy and Sarah. Then it is up to me to not only solve the crossword puzzle but also to discover her message. Sometimes the messages are very easy to find like the four words across the top of the puzzle. Other times they coincide with certain numbers from our past, our locker numbers in high school, our cell phone numbers, or our dates of birth. The messages themselves can be anything, a funny joke from our past, or an invitation to tea on Wednesday. 1 ACROSS is always the first word in her messages. Last night the four of us went out, but dinner with the four of us wasn’t the usual exchange of stories with much laughter. Normally our evenings out together begin with general news about jobs and kids and then escalate, as we pop open a second bottle of wine, to old stories from high school. By the time we leave for home our throats are hoarse from all of the hilarity. Tonight was different, Lizzy was very subdued and no matter what Kevin said or did there was no snapping her out of whatever funk she was in. It got me wondering, she’s tired and a bit down and Kevin was all excited, maybe she’s pregnant again. Oh, that would be SO amazing! As we left the restaurant, Lizzy leaned into me and said, trying to put on a smile, “Good luck with the puzzle tomorrow.” “Oh boy!” I thought, “She’s gotta be pregnant!” And so today, while cuddling under a quilt with a hot cup of tea, I got even more excited when the answer to 1 ACROSS was, “LIES”. Considering what I found out last night, it was an unexpected start to her message but it still fit the bill, so I anxiously worked my way through the puzzle. After completing it, no special message jumped out to me. I began running through many of the number combinations that Lizzy had used in the past, but nothing seemed to work. I did notice one thing, however, that was very out of the ordinary for Lizzy and I was really surprised that her editors didn’t catch this mistake either. The clue for 14 ACROSS was the exact same as the clue for 1 ACROSS which meant the same answer, “LIES”, appeared twice. Something seemed very odd. I wracked my brain, and then remembered that we had a favorite sequence of numbers that we always used when we tried to strike it rich with the Lottery back in high school. That’s got to be it! She’s gonna hit the lottery, WITH A BABY! It was series of numbers made up of our birthdates and our favorite numbers written out in ascending order. I hadn’t thought of these numbers in years, 1-5-14-17-24-44. Lizzy’s messages usually alternate the “ACROSS” and “DOWN” words. She didn’t want it to be too difficult for me to figure out. I eagerly started figuring out the message from all of the numbered clues, but it turned out to be a COMPLETELY different message than I had hoped for: 1 ACROSS - LIES 5 DOWN - ALL 14 ACROSS - LIES 17 DOWN - KEVIN 24 ACROSS - HITS 44 DOWN - WIFE