MISTY R. ROSS NOTEBOOK

I was walking home from a long day at work when the rain started to gush like a bucket of water, hitting my head and drenching my long black hair, gluing it to my face. My once whole umbrella all twisted with broken parts smacked my face as I ran looking for anything that could provide a simple shelter.

Peering over the top of my wet foggy glasses I saw a hint of yellow ahead of me. My eyes began to slowly focus in on what I was looking at. It was a taxi that had stopped outside a hotel, with a sophisticated looking lady standing on the sidewalk next to it, holding an umbrella. There was a man who appeared to be the driver opening the trunk of the car. As I frantically began to run faster, hoping to get there before he drives off, I saw him roughly pulling out a black polycarbonate makrolon suitcase, slamming it down angrily onto the sidewalk. Before he was able to let go of the handle, the woman forcefully rips it from his grip and stormed off, going inside the hotel. Seeing this I stopped running and decided to pass on taking that taxi.

As I continued walking ahead replaying everything that I just saw in my head, I noticed something on the ground ahead of me, where the lady was previously standing. As I got closer to it, I realized it was a small black notebook with a logo of a skull wearing a straw hat. Seeing this I got super excited as I knew that logo was from one of my favorite anime “One Piece.” Wanting to now know more about the owner I opened the front cover, hoping to find anything that could point me in that direction. On the inside page was a picture of the “Thousand Sunny” sailing through blue waters and a blue logo of an M with 8 small squares in rows of three. Across the page from the ship a print was written that said “In Case Of Loss, Please Return To:” with “Misty R. Ross” written on the lines that followed. Below that was an area that said, “As A Reward: $” and written on the lines that followed was “Your eyes.” Seeing this I assumed a teenage girl must have accidently dropped it, so I decided to take it home with me until I could find the owner.

When I arrived home, I went straight away into the bathroom and ran myself a steaming bubble bath with some added lavender oil. It felt great to remove my wet clothes that had clamped onto my skin making me feel uncomfortable. After my bath and a quick dinner, I took out the notebook from my purse and put it safely into my desk drawer. Opening my laptop, I logged onto a social media site and went to a local lost and found page. I wrote “Notebook found, if yours, privately message me with your name and description of the notebook” and I posted it.

Days went by and I had not gotten any messages about the notebook, so I took it out from the drawer to look through it for any additional information. As I was picking it up a piece of paper slid out onto the ground, that looked like a letter. I picked it up and there at the top written in bold was “Moleskine, The History of A legend.” I continued to read what was written and realized it was about the company that sold the notebook. I tucked the paper at the back pages of the book and flipped through the rest of the pages reading some pages here and there.

The notebook pages were filled with poems, short stories, and song lyrics. I was unable to continue reading much of what was written as it was heartbreaking. Each page that I read referred to feelings of being neglected, unloved, betrayed, and lonely. I closed the book opened the social media page and edited my post to “Moleskine notebook found, if yours, private message me with your name and description of the notebook.” I reposted and waited.

The next day I arrived home to a private message. It said “Hello, I think you might have my daughter’s notebook. It is black with a white skull and the name written inside is Misty, if this is the book please give me a call asap, as it’s very important that it’s returned to me right away. My number is 875-345-0123 and my name is Rachel Ross.”

Right away I picked up the phone and called the number. A woman’s voice answered, sounding gloomy and lifeless. I mentioned who I was and that I was calling about the notebook. Before I could finish my sentence, the woman’s voice interrupted me. Speaking rapidly, she gives me an address for a hotel and urged me to meet her in half an hour. Before I could say anything, she hanged up. I stood there dumbfounded, regretting picking up the book. This woman did not even stop to ask if I had transportation and was demanding me to meet her in 30 mins at a hotel I never heard of. I began feeling stressed and anxious as I just got home and wanted to do nothing but relax in front of the TV. I had not even had a chance to eat dinner yet. Feeling frustrated I search the address of the hotel online hoping it was far away so I could have an excuse to cancel the meet up until the next day. An image of the hotel popped up and right away I recognised it. It was the same hotel where I had picked up the book. Seeing that it was only a five-minute drive away, I felt a sense of calmness surge through me. I picked up the phone and dial for a cab and was told the wait time would be fifteen minutes. While I waited, I quickly snacked on some watermelon cubes, hoping it would keep me going until I got back.

I arrived at the hotel five minutes early. Trying not to look suspicious I stood again a wall by the entrance door, took out my phone and began scanning though random social media pages, only slightly glancing up here and there as not to make eye contact with anyone walking in and out of the hotel. After what seemed like forever, I felt a shadow approaching me. I lifted my head to see the same lady from the taxi last week. Before I was able to say anything, she pulled me into a hug. Tears running down her face. Frozen in shock I stood trying to piece together what was happening. Before I could say anything, she exclaimed to me that the notebook belonged to her recently decease fifteen-year-old daughter. She admitted to spending more time with her work than with Misty and never realized her unhappiness until it was to late. Apparently, Misty had committed suicide a month before and this notebook was all that she had that help her put together why her daughter took her life. She is planning on becoming a public speaker to at risk teen and to share the stories her daughter wrote to help them know that they are not alone in they feelings.

Hoping to save one child at a time.

After sharing her story with me she gave me a sealed envelope stating that there is a reward inside for the return of the book and for coming out of my way to return it back to her. I started opening it when she gave me a teary-eyed smile and mention for me to open it at home. After thanking and giving her my sympathy, I started walking toward a nearby fast-food restaurant, where I ordered some dinner while I waited for the taxi to arrive.

As soon as I got home and kicked off my shoes, I headed to the couch with the envelope in hand. Opening it I found a letter, a smaller sealed envelope, and a picture of a teenage girl with sparkling blue eyes and long dirty blonde curly hair. I awed at how beautiful she looked. The letter was from Rachel, thanking me for returning the notebook, letting me know that the picture was of her daughter late daughter, Misty and that the sealed envelope contained a cheque. She said the money was going to be a gift given to Misty at her sweet sixteen birthday party, but the party never took place, as on the morning of her birthday, she took her life. The note continued, stating that she was very anxious when she could not find the book, as the last place she had it was in a taxi reading. The driver had questioner her about why she was crying and apparently, he offended her by stating that her daughter took her life because of her being a bad mother. She said she got into an argument with the driver and as soon as he stopped, she angrily got out of his cab and demanded him to get her suitcase. With all the commotion happening she did not realize she had misplaced the book until she was looking for it later that night. She was worried that she might have left it in the cab and the driver had thrown it away because of her filing a complaint against him. So, on that day when she finally decided to open her social media page to reply to her sympathy messages, she saw a local post about a Moleskin notebook and was overtaken with emotions as she prayed and hoped that it was that of her daughters. When I phoned her, she was at a support group but was so relieved and excited that she rushed out of there when she realized why I was calling.

After reading the letter and thinking about what she had told me about Misty, I became overwhelm with sadness. Tears began to run down my face. Wiping them away from my eyes onto my sleeves, I opened the small envelope to see a cheque of $20,000. My heart sank inside my chest and my tears flowed faster, like rain on a stormy day. I was so grateful, for the money; as I regretfully helped my friends and family, and never got anything back in return and was working seven days a week, struggling to pay off my debt.

Picking up the phone I gave Rachel a call, I started to thank her for her kindness and to tell her my story when my throat tightened; struggling to get the words out. Her reply are words I would never forget.

“A broken heart of gold can be fixed by a goldsmith.”