The Little Black Book

The sounds swirled into muffled nothing. Traci liked putting her earbuds in. No music. No podcast. Just audio waves crashing into the plastic barrier to make stifled voice notes. Her hair hanging over the high tech ear plugs was a technique her sister was not entertaining today as Traci felt Keisha's frustration with a heavy-handed swat to the left temple. Her earbud shifted out and the sound came rushing in like a massive tide.

"I said are you dumb? You must be." Keisha vented like a broken record. It wasn't the first time she had to pick up Traci from a holding cell for petty theft. Traci would interject with a smart retort but the earbud fell into the crevice of the car and with Keisha flying off the handle, this finding was immediate.

"You could be in one of those STEM programs or running laps around a track getting a scholarship but instead you want to be a thug. Like you're numb to the consequences of your actions. Are you on drugs? Traci!"

"No." Traci said in discontent. She was over this exchange and it hadn't gone into full swing yet.

"Drugs or not, you're gonna wish I left you sitting there once I drop you off at the sanitation department for your community service.

"Nah," Traci scoffed in a defiant tone. "I'm not doing that."

The car came to a screeching halt on the street. A decision, at any other time but the late morning, would have resulted in a wreck.

"You can do that or you can do what criminals do and that's run these streets." Keisha said. "I mean it Traci."

With her left hand grasping the fallen earbud, Traci used her right to open the door and walk off. Before the car door slammed closed, Traci had the earpiece repositioned in her canal. She marched halfway down the block before she turned to look behind her to see her sister's car was gone. She paused to watch vehicles go by. A few passed but none were her sister's. Ten minutes later, still no sight.

This is new.

Traci didn't have long to navigate her next move when she saw a cop car. Eighteen or not, Traci's lean physique and curly but untamed hair resembled an average middle school student and she wanted no parts of education or law enforcement for the rest of the day. She made haste and ducked into a nearby alley.

Though the weather was cloudy she could still feel the warmth of the spring day. Traci closed her eyes, tilted her face up, and waited for the sun to peak through. After a few steps she opened them just in time to see a man fall from above to the sidewalk. She couldn't process the visual in time to look away before he hit the ground.

There was no sound, only blood that leaked from his head as he laid disjointed a few feet away. Traci could feel her heartbeat slowly as her feet felt anchored to the cement. A black square protruded from under his tan, suit jacket just enough for Traci to squint at the writing on the masking tape still on it. She tilted her head and leaned in from her torso to get a better view.

If I Die.

As she read those words on repeat, the sound slowly began to fade in like a fog wafting in her ears. She looked around and only a few distant pedestrians unknowingly walked past her line of sight. She looked back at the words, somehow unseeing the dead body hovering over it. The haunting of the cryptic message was too much as she reached in for it.

I'll hold onto this, notebook? I thought this was a wallet. Whatever.

Standing upright, she could feel a shadow overhead. A man hung out of a window from the sixth floor. It looked like he had a phone in his hand. While watching him look down at her the noise returned and suddenly it dawned on Traci, lingering around a dead body did not look good, even for the innocent.

She began her trek further into the alley. Before she could emerge from the other side she could see two long shadows shake larger from under her feet. She turned around to see two men in all black suits coming at her full speed. Traci turned the corner almost knocking over a jogger as she segued from the body bump into a full sprint.

Don't look back.

She hadn't used her muscles in a while but her legs remembered the long, gazelle stride and cheetah pace she was once praised for as a runner in high school. Traci ran hard with her eyes forward, occasionally turning a few blocks.

Keep running.

It would be many streets, hurdled objects, and maneuvering before she noticed she was on a side of the city she wasn't familiar with. She let her legs motor to a slow halt like a car approaching a stop sign and pivoted her gaze all around her for the black suits. It was just her and the sun up high. And pain. Excruciating pain. It had been a year since she was kicked off the track team, longer since her last race, and her body was in shock at the unsolicited marathon.

Her legs wobbled as she leaned against the brick and mortars for support. Finally approaching a coffee shop, she decided to rest. She squeezed through the door and fake smiled at the customer greeting.

"Hi! Welcome to Coffee & Cuddle."

She slid into a nearby booth and stretched her legs. When her breath slowed, she sat up to find she held onto the little black book the whole time. She tossed it onto the table, swiped off the band holding the binding closed, and opened it up to the first page. Nothing. But on the next page was a note: Whoever you are, you have found a good thing. Follow the instructions carefully, and the reward will be tenfold.

Traci scrunched up her face in confusion. She kept turning the pages looking for clarity but kept coming up blank until she stumbled on a $100 bill taped to that page. On it was another note: Give it away.

Ha! Yea right.

She snatched the bill from its place, went to the counter with the notebook in tow, and ordered a $5 smoothie to quench the thirst she acquired. She watched the cashier hold the bill to the light before finishing the transaction. Traci rolled her eyes, grabbed her drink and went back to her booth, continuing to flip through the pages. She found another one with a $100 bill with the exact same note.

"You've got to be kidding me," she said. There was no way Traci was going to keep reading this. She flipped through all the pages, counting all the bills. There was a total of $20,000 including the $100 she spent already. She went back through the pages once more but there were no other instructions. She figured having $19,895 wouldn't be the end of the world. She got up and placed one of the hundreds in the tip jar at the counter where the cashier could see. Traci smirked and walked out of the shop.

As she exited, she realized having this amount of cash on her and no plan was not good. She needed somewhere discreet to go, and fast. She opened the notebook to briefly look at the greenbacks.

This is so much money. Wait a minute.

There was a new note on a page with no bill: And so it begins. Traci just stared at it trying to figure out what it meant. "What is beginning?" Looking down just in time, Traci saw the note disappear. She blinked in confusion, touching the page as if rubbing it would reveal the words again. "What is happening?" She turned to find the next bill with instructions: Donate $10,000 to Promise Pups.

Hell nah.

Traci slapped the book closed and paced back and forth in front of the coffee house.

"Do you know what I can do with ten grand? What is Promise Pups? Why am I debating this? Why am I ranting to myself?" Traci looked up to see the cashier and another employee staring at her from inside the coffee shop. She forced the same smile she entered with and turned around to see the black suits coming down the street.

This is gonna be a long day.