Little Black Book

It was 1946, not long after the war we were women inspired to be more, me and my sisters I mean. There was Priscilla, Melissa and myself Juliet, with Priscilla being the oldest and me in the middle. Our parents were hero’s of the war, my father being a war veteran and my mother as a medical nurse and our trust goes beyond words, which is why me and my 2 sisters have decided to travel the world together without our parents supervision of course. It was the perfect time for liberation, independence, ambition, interaction, being a female with all the courage in the world, we were going to change the world. My interest in journalism had got me through the war and all I wanted was a great story to tell as I would progressively be the first female journalist to travel and exceed limitations, opportunities were up for grabs and nothing at this point was going to get in the way. However things didn’t turn out the way I imagined, in a matter of fact it could have been a journey worth writing.

It all started as we arrived in Portsmouth from central London, it was that time of year when the sun is out and everything looked amazing. Being a cancer born in July, it wasn’t long untill my birthday and the paper was a great way to pass time whilst waiting to board a ship, so I had to check my horoscope to be sure what I was getting myself into. It had said word for word “If you go with how you feel, you may desire more. If you think before you act, you may discover more. Either way, you have the right of way”. In these times, things are more of a riddle than stating the obvious, but it is clear whichever direction I choose to go will bring an outcome. It was time and I was ready, but my sisters were not, Priscilla was too busy talking to one of the sailors of the ship, it shows she has no class at all and Mellisa was too busy doing her makeup on the bench. I had queued to board the ship without them as I was eggar to get my day started and explore the ship, 20minutes of patiently waiting and I was on and off to my suite. We had gone working class and for the price it was much more exquisite, there were so many people passing, families, couples, kids and friends, it seemed like a place of comfort and joy. There was a bar and a massage pallor, which is just where my sisters would be if I needed to find them, however I had my own plans. I had got to my room where I would unload my suitcase and start to write about my journey, this was going to be my greatest story yet I could feel it. Hours had gone by and I had writen almost nothing relevant, the only interesting part was when we ran from a creep following us in the train station back in London. I knew it was time to pack it in and gain more Inspiration by wondering on the ship. Mellisa had got into her bed to rest, and Priscilla dropped her bags and went straight to the bar. I always feel like it’s my responsibility to look after the two, so if they were safe, I would be conscious and free of any worries. I had walked through the hall ways down to the emergency exit where the stairs were, I suppose exercise is far better than taking a lift. I had gotten lost in thought on the way down and had reached the bottom. Instead of going a few floors back up to reach the ground floor, I was curious to see where this part of the ship would lead. I had pushed the door through into a dark room, you can literally hear the ocean floor below, and the most scariest thing imaginable would be not being able to see anything at all. I had felt the sides of the wall to see if I could switch any lights on and a had found a switchboard with all the lights. Cheekily I had switched them on, the lights had started to turn on one by one from the back of the room down to the front. The sound it made was like stage lights being switched on at a theatre, the heavy sound of metal and then the sight of huge tanks and high ceilings. I knew this wasn’t a place for me to be at all nor a place of any interest but still I would curious to wonder, it looked almost like a maze and there was so much history to record. I pulled out my black notebook and had walked around to take notes, I wanted to find faults or something that would make a story interesting but there was nothing. Nothing until I found a box, a wooden chest the kind that your grandpa uses to keep gardening tools. I went to the box to open it and it had looked like it was placed there not so neatly, and out of sight under one of the giant tanks. I had struggled to pull it out from underneath but had got there eventually. When I opened the chest I froze, with my jaw dropping and eyes so wide that you could wave your hand in-front of me and I would not flinch. My hands ran through the soft paper and all stacked and what looked like around twenty thousand British pounds. I was right, my super ego however knew the right thing todo was to hand this in, my moral compass however was also debating to put it back where it was found and pretend like I never saw it. However I had so many questions, like did someone hide this? Is this the captains? Is this where the money is stored? My curiosity got the better of me so I had made my way to speak to the captain of the ship. He was polite and the sailors were friendly, he had asked if everything was okay and if I had any concerns. I had told him openly about the money at the bottom of the ship, I had apologised for stumbling in there also. He didn’t seem cross at all, he said people have gone missing going down there and jokes saying it was just a silly tail. When I told him about ethe money his facial expression had changed, almost like he was concerned, he pulled me to a corner and had told me that there is nothing like that on the ship. The owner of the ship keeps his money in a safe, he took me down through the lift and marched his way through with the lights still being on, he asked me where and I had pointed. He walked over to find the chest and opened it, realising that something was going on under his nose. Up to eight crew members had come down and were ordered to take the chest up to the cabin, the captain had thanked me for my honestly and had offered the presidential suite for me and my siblings. My day could not have gone any better, not only did I have a story to write about, but we were upgraded for our entire stay on the ship. Two hours had passed and we were moved to first class, we had access to and indoor pool, a ball room, VIP bar & restaurant and much more. The captain had also escorted me and my sisters for dinner and put me in great hands of a waiter named Ricky, I wasn’t dressed for the occasion and all eyes were on me, my sisters were above and beyond which meant they fit right in. An hour into hour the meal we laugh with strangers on a round table of eight people, however something kept catching the corner of my eye. A man, just gazing with no care in the world and a smirk that wouldn’t go away. He approached after the first time noticing, delicately takes my hand and kisses it in-front of everyone in the restaurant. Nervously I had got up, smacked him across the face and made him aware of his misogyny and inappropriate act and had walked straight out. This man had followed to stop me, and he succeeded, he actually apologised and thought I was different from anybody else that had walked on this side of the ship and that different was beautiful. Of course I flattered but I didn’t let him know about it. I walked off leaving him to think about his actions, who knows maybe il get more than a presidential sweet, maybe some flowers from the gift store and a some Belgium dark chocolates might do the trick. I did get the last smirk, whilst he watched me walk away, and when I got to my room I got straight into bed. It was evening and I had already done so much in one day. Within an hour of being back in my room my sisters walk in with the same man I had left hanging at the restaurant, I had expressed myself in anger and told them to get him out my room. They insisted that he meant no harm and that he was a regular on the ship, and he did in-fact pull out red roses from behind whilst Priscilla had been eating the box of chocolates beside him. Melissa was already in the shower at this point, so it couldn’t hurt to know this guy just a little.



- [ ] His name was Romero, he was Britanico, A British male with Spanish parents. He was a very wealthy man with charm and looks, we spent our time chatting over drinks at the bar, and he made quite and impression eventually. He had offered to escort me back to my room and he did just that. I was laughing historically at one of his jokes on the way to my room when I hear a strong whaling scream that had come from one of the rooms down the hallway. We ran to see what was wrong and there they was a man gutted from his chest to his neck. I knew I had to quickly check his pulse, hoping their could be a small chance he could be alive but he was dead for over an hour. The detective of the ship had taken over and had taken statements, me and Romero had our alibis, and that poor woman had to deal with her husbands death. Romero had known the man, said he was a friend of his fathers and that his father was also on the ship. After a long night I finally got to my room door, when I had noticed my little black notebook was missing. It had all my notes and all my previous stories. I had gone to the captains cabin to see if anything was handed in, when I see someone’s legs being dragging into the room. I hid behind the wall before approaching when I see Ricky the waiter from the restaurant looking out before closing the door. That’s when a hand with a cloth had grabbed my mouth from behind and put me to sleep. I woke up in a room tied up next to the chest I had found earlier and with my notebook placed on top. The captain was tied up and unconscious, thats when I heard the door handle go down, my heart was pounding, I didn’t have enough time to look around the room and find a way to escape, slowly but surely the door had opened, and there stood Romero with a pistol and a cold deadly stare.

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