The Little Black Book

The Little Black Book

By: Jessica Trussell

The rain was persistent that afternoon, which appropriately fit the mood of sorrow. The sky was weeping and so was she, a young woman mourning her grandmother whom she had been very close to. She wiped her pale cheek with her fingertips and sniffled, observing the deep cherry stained casket being lowered into the freshly turned soil below. The ivory rose she placed atop leisurely vanished from her line of sight as casket came to rest at the bottom of the hollow. Once the service came to a close, she received several more condolences from the attending spectators and sauntered to her car in silence. With the close of the car door the sound of downpour on her rooftop was almost maddening.

She waited and watched a succession of vehicles leave the parking lot adjacent to the burial grounds. After a sharp inhale and slow exhale she left the cemetery, driving relatively far before turning her car onto a lengthy cobblestone road leading to a decent sized traditional Japanese style home with some modern flares. The house itself looked like it sprung up from the ancient world and looked tremendously out of place amid the surrounding dwellings. Another sigh escaped her lips while rubbing her eyes. "Alright, Here we go." She whispered to herself. The key was recovered from the ignition with ease and subsequently flung into a handbag sprawled open on the otherwise empty passenger seat beside her.

Although she wanted to start taking care of the estate quickly, she was reluctant. All of this was once her grandmother's. She almost wanted feel too guilty to dispose of anything. Nevertheless she knew that her grandmother was not going to come strolling back into her home demanding her belongings back and keeping it was that same painful reminder that she was gone. The remainder of the afternoon rapidly transitioned into evening and darkness followed as well as the rain. Thunder rumbled faintly at first then much more profound, quivering the foundation beneath her feet with each jarring boom. Box after box sat stationary, meticulously packaged on the floor along the wall not far from the threshold.

The lights flickered, struggling to stay luminous before going out instantaneously with another roar of thunder. She gasped, sitting unaccompanied in the pitch black domain where light once filled the area. Her heart began to palpitate and she tried not to panic. A quick strobe of lightning snapped her back into reality. The light from her phone permitted her to see a path into the guest bedroom and over to a side table to grab a flashlight from the drawer. A loose, creaky floorboard caught her attention. Upon closer examination the plank was not attached at all, just resting unsecured over a cavity in the floor.

She jerked the flashlight out of the drawer. Her focus shifted back to the hole after carefully hoisting and withdrawing the timber. With the board out of the way, she flooded the recess with light. A little black book caught the light, making her squint and peer away. "What is this?" She inquired to herself quietly while lifting the book from its refuge. Briefly thumbing through the book made her scoff. "It's empty. Why would it be hidden away then?" She was annoyed. The notion of finding some accidental but incredible keepsake steadily turned anticlimactic. A firm close sent a dust cloud into the air causing her to wheeze and wave her hands to try and disperse it.

She grasped the little black book by the spine. After finding the rest of the cavity in the floor vacant, she carried the book back into the livingroom with her. It laid immobile after a subdued slap against the faux leather armrest of a couch settled near the center of the room. A fire was built in the sunken hearth for both heat and light. "Much better!" She exclaimed while returning to the boxes, boxing up the last of her grandmother's belongings with the exception of a few things she was keeping for herself and other members of the family. The large furniture would be taken away by truck in the days to follow so she didn't worry about it. The fire popped and crackled under the sounds of the storm just outside.

She was appreciative of the subsiding thunder with the expectation that the electricity would soon kick on. Either way, she had already arranged to stay the night. It was late afterall and she was intelligent enough to know that driving home in a storm accompanied by fatigue was not good idea even if she was apprehensive about being there alone. At least at home she had her friends close by. A rapping came from the backdoor, causing her to jump with alarm. She looked toward the door and cautiously approached it. With her phone in her trembling fist, she stepped toward it and quickly yanked both of the sliding doors open.

"Hello?" She called out once, then a second time much louder than the first. "Hello!?" Nothing but the sounds of the rain mercilessly pounding the roof. A ringing came from behind her after the doors were slid closed making her freeze. Her eyes opened wide and a look of fright shot across her face. A silhouette materialized in front of her. Her own contour cast by a ethereal luminescence behind her. Reasonably, she was too petrified to turn around in dread of what she might be face to face with. A light jingle rang out again. "You're not welcome here! Be gone, ghost!" She eventually worked up the courage to call out.

A wispy little creature draped himself around her shoulders and two sizeable eyes gazed at her from a small dragonesque face. He sniffed her with his tiny snout, small ornaments dangling from his branch like antlers making him jingle softly again. She recoiled, flailing her arms while trying to pitch him off of her. He calmly pulled away and hovered next to her letting his long body and tail trail behind him. Once she noticed he could not or perhaps would not hurt her, she mirrored his demeanor despite her heart pulsating in her ears. He moved over to the little black book and loitered around it in broad circles.

"Where is my Emiko?" He questioned, halting his circles to peer at her.

She moved a little closer to him. "I must be lucid dreaming... I'm sorry, but Emiko passed away. She was my grandmother. I'm Ray. Who are you?" Rachel asked, keeping some distance. "Emiko called me Aiko. Ray? Like, ray of sunshine?" Aiko jingled. "It's short for Rachel. What are you?" She retorted, gawking at the tiny wispy semi translucent dragon.

"I was her companion and she was mine. I cannot believe she's gone. All that resides is her book. Even this home looks unrecognizable to me."

Rachel passed Aiko and the book laying still beneath him. After shoving the top flap of a carboard box out of her way, she recovered a photo album from it and brought it over to the other side of him. She let it rest open on the back of the couch beside the book. It enticed the interest of Aiko and he drifted over for a closer inspection. "Who is that?" He inquired.

Rachel pointed to a photograph of her late grandmother Emiko, one of the last photos of her and Rachel that embellished the pages. Aiko's tranquil expression morphed into a look of puzzlement. "That is not my Emiko." He declared, letting a similar gaze of bewilderment settle on Rachel's face. She then began to cycle through the yellowing self adhesive pages. The thin plastic crinkling quietly with each grasp and turn. "There." Aiko interrupted, extending a trio of clawed digits to a solitary photograph comparatively more aged than the others near the back of the album.

"Oh! Wow, this is my great, great grandmother Emiko. How old are you anyways?" Rachel asked. "It's not important. Her book must have been handed down through the years." He responded, working his way back over to the little black book. "Why? It's just full of blank pages." She questioned. She still felt relatively unamused by its discovery and felt it caused her to squander her time with no real justification. Aiko advanced to the sunken hearth, gliding effortlessly through the air and to the flames within it.

"When the flames dwindle to embers lay the book open on what remains and be patient." He instructed. Rachel looked baffled, but did not question it. Witnessing the creature floating not far from her was affirmation that nothing in the near future should come as a shock and that she should be prepared for anything. She still pondered if this was all just a very elaborate dream sparked into existence by her own confined imagination which she found very arduous to convey. The only issue with this conjecture is that she did not recall winding down enough to fall asleep in the first place.

Rachel sat by the fire as Aiko seemed to dance around her fluidly but with a sense of depletion. He seemed unresolved and understandably dispirited with the news of Emiko's passing. "You must miss her. I mean, of course you would. My grandmother just passed away and even though my great, great grandmother has been deceased for quite a while it's fresh for you." Rachel said softly in a melancholy tone. Aiko did not reply, but his unhurried hover and morose expression filled the room with a soundless bellow. The silence in that moment was deafening and the wait alone brought a special kind of torment.

After an adequate amount of time Rachel unfolded the book and positioned it atop the mound of cinders, demolishing it into a more uniform facet. She predicted that the book would merely go up in a lively inferno once the heat seared through the hide covering that shielded the highly flammable paper within. She was elated when she realized just how mistaken she was. Handwritten words formed full sentences right before her eyes, filling page after page. "Aiko, what is this?" Rachel queried with exhilaration. "This is the story of the blood that runs through your veins. You would not have been able to summon me if you did not share the same gift that your great, great grandmother possessed. She could ban monsters and specters from an ancient world long forgotten. However her work was left incomplete and many of those beasts linger to this day in forms average humans cannot see."

Rachel listened to him closely. "I am just an average human being though. There is nothing special about me, Aiko."

"You are incorrect Ray. Wake up and summon me in the same manner. Only then can we begin our journey to make the world a safer place for those humans suffering from the beasts whom have attached themselves to them." Aiko stated. "Wake up?" Rachel raised an eyebrow as she glanced over at him. "Wake up!" Aiko howled. A clap of thunder jostled Rachel awake. She surveyed the room from the solace of the couch while sweeping a cold sweat from her brow. A brief period of time for catching her breath and mollifying her throbbing heart permitted her to recollect her bizarre dream. A prompt investigation of her grandmother's guest bedroom bought her back to the little black book under the floorboard. With an attentive mind and careful hand she commandeered the book.

Drawing it from the nook made an envelope escape from within its cover and drop to the floor in front of her, kicking up the same dust cloud. Her name was written on the envelope in graceful cursive letters. Inside read as followed.

"To my ray of sunshine:

By the time you read this, you will know that you are part of something far greater than yourself. I always knew you had the gift that no one else had shown signs of possessing. Your great, great grandmother was an incredible woman. She lives on through you. I have set up an account for you with $20,000. This will cover many expenses if you choose to follow in your great, great grandmother's footsteps. You have always made me proud and I know you will continue to make your family proud.

-Love Grandma Em."

A tear slid down Rachel's cheek, wetting the letter in her hands with a small nearly perfect circular drop. A jingling came from behind her before a soft luminescence enclosed her in sympathetic embrace. "I'm ready Aiko." She said with a sniffle, wiping another tear from her wet cheek. "You always were." He replied.