The Little Black Book

“And that’s another grand in the bank for me.” A proud scoff echoed as a young woman put her phone back into her back pocket. One more investment returned, it started small but she had been on a roll for the past couple of weeks, researching the trends and making sure to put that tiny little bit she happened across in the right stock. Just a few dollars adds up quickly when you invest in the right things.

“Here you are ma’am.” The employee at the register smiled as she handed the bag across the counter, the store looked rather sparse, sleek white walls, neat seamless tiles for the floor, a few art pieces on the wall in between the mannequins standing in exquisite looking clothes, dressed to the nines with no where to go but the window of the store front; and the woman had just taken quite a large bag outside the store. Looking out at the stores of similar high standard around her with a smirk on her face.

She made her way towards a simple looking car, unfit for the street it was on, but that was something that could be fixed rather quickly, but she wasn’t in any rush. She smiled at the new addition to her wardrobe, it was nice to finally be able to afford the kind of look she was going for in her day to day; but her smile pulled and widened even further as she took a small little notebook out of her bag.

It was something she had kept with her since the day she found it, at first she didn’t think much of it, it was a cheap little book to keep notes in she had found in an antique store; she had figured it was just bought as an extra item for someone to grab, especially for how cheap it was. It was a sleek little moleskin book that fit nicely in her hand just a quarter of an inch taller than her fingertips when resting in the palm of her hand. Taking her time before heading back home she grabbed the little ribbon and opened the book to the only filled page. She traced her finger along the neatly written words across the aged parchment with a smile.

“Nicholas Laurence…” She mumbled the name under her breath with a soft giggle; the page under his name was filled with just a small bit of text, “Star of a national league team.” She let out a bitter huff of a laugh.

What had been a simple little smile looked a bit distorted as her eyebrows bunched up and her lips quirked up in a crooked manner, eyes wide and slightly manic as she started to laugh under her breath while feeling like her eyes were burning with tears; but she calmed herself down as her face dropped remembering the night that man had pulled her away from anyone that could hear her. The sick feeling in her gut remained even without him anywhere in sight of her, just the memory and the feeling of his hands made her want to boil herself alive to try and burn his touch away.

But while there wasn’t anything that could undo the past for her, she found herself grinning once more as she glanced to her bags in the back seat and another glance at her phone.

“What a shame you weren’t worth more.” She hummed as she glanced down at the number scribbled under his name and the title of what could have been, if only he had survived that horrible crash only five months ago.

When she first heard about it she didn’t know whether or not feeling relieved was cruel of her, the pain of what happened hadn't even been two days old when she heard the news, and unlike so many others the person responsible got his just deserts. Apparently had someone arrived on scene even a minute earlier he might have lived and from the whispers she heard it was apparently a slow death if he had managed to be conscious of it; though no one could be sure. He died all alone.

And all she had to do was write in her newest little book.

Of course it hadn’t been on purpose, how was she supposed to know, she had only written in it to try and get out all of the feelings that were crashing down on her, thinking that perhaps if she could write it down she could get it out of her head and never have to think about it again. She remembered the burning frustration as she scribbled harder and harder into the book after each iteration, but every word kept fading, every single letter would disappear after only seconds of being written on the page. At first she thought it was some sick joke when all of a sudden the name of the man who attacked her stuck to the page like glue, in bold dark ink; and in a fit of tired frustration she had toss the book to the side.

Who knew that on the next day evening news there would be a report of such a horrible accident occurring on a little side road that rarely anyone used, found what must have been two hours or so after the incident had occurred. A young college boy, a football prodigy in the making, with scouts already looking his way, crumbled up and dead with only a pool of his own blood and his broken car to keep him company as he drew his last breaths.

She didn’t even know what drew her to open the book again that night; the name that had scrawled itself on the paper, the only thing to stay in that book; had added to itself over night.

Nicholas Laurence

Age 23

Quarterback football star of multiple NFL teams over the course of a 10-year career.

Worth to the World: …

Well it’s amazing what a twenty thousand dollar start up can do for a young little college student who takes special interest in her stock trading courses.

“Guess the only one who thought you were worth a million bucks was you.” She laughed to herself as she puled out of her parking space and started on her way home, she had some more work to do to keep her own worth growing.