Little Black Book

Remembering the day it happened, a late Sunday in the middle of February.

The rain was heavy, the sky dark, and then a strange knock on my door. Promptly making my way there as I was just watching TV in my living room, I opened the door to answer. No one there, nothing but a small gym bag left on my porch. It was strange, but I brought it inside regardless. What happened next, is what really changed things. Opening the bag there were numerous wads of cash, all $5 bills.

At first, I considered calling the police. But at the same time, bills had been piling up recently, my car had problems again. Additionally, the leak in the roof would cost a fortune to fix. Could I really afford not to use that money?

So.. grabbing the bag and rushing into my room, I closed the door behind me and made sure the windows were shut. I remember the feeling of my heart beating within my chest, as I sat there counting the money. It felt as if it would burst any second. $20,000 in cash, just, fell upon my doorstep. Not knowing what to do at first, I was so incredibly excited. I almost did not notice the bag had a side pocket, and honestly, I wish I never did.

I remember nearly passing out, shoving the money back into the bag and getting ready to hide it under my bed; until I realized it had that side pocket. Out of curiosity I decided to open it and see what was inside. A small black book, no bigger than my wallet. The cover was completely black, no writing on either side of the cover, no designs, just a blank black cover. The contents of the book were more worrying, it started harmless, about a hundred pages of blank white paper, up until the very last page which read in blood red ink 'Want more?' followed by an address, 152 Calver Avenue. At first I was confused, but upon inspecting it further, I realized that it looked like it wasn't simply blood red ink, but blood; ACTUAL blood.

I nearly tossed the entire book across the room. I was so incredibly scared, I should have called the police right then. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of choosing not to. A few hours passed, sitting in my room with the lights off, thinking, contemplating. That amount of money is not something I could ignore, with the way things had been going recently, there was a chance I might even lose the house, this amount could do me wonders, and what if I had more? I had no right to be greedy about it, but my whole life I had struggled with money. I just could not pass this up, right?

At first, I just used the money to pay my bills. Fix up the roof of the house and the car’s engine. I ignored the contents of the book and kept it stashed away. Days went by, which turned into weeks, and then months. Eventually, due to my previous poor management of my finances, I used up the entire $20,000 that happened to find its way onto my doorstep. The money did change my life, and my situation had changed thanks to it. I was no longer hurt for money in any way. I made enough at my job, and with everything fixed, I had no real additional major expenses. By every definition my situation was, at the very least, comfortable. This is when I made the mistake, this is when my greed sneaked up on me.

My car had problems again, as it was an old vehicle; but it was nothing that couldn’t be handled. All I needed to do was be frugal for a few months. Just downgrade to cheap no name brand butter and avoid buying useless junk. It would have been easy and that way I could have dealt with my car troubles without issue. But if I found another $20,000? I wouldn't have to downgrade my standard of living. I would have plenty for any other unforeseen issue that may arise. So caving in to my greed, I searched for the little black book hidden in my closet.

I knew something bad could happen, which is why I made sure to be prepared. It had been so long, I doubt it was a prank or something, as likely someone would have shown up and told me by now. I thought about all sorts of scenarios that could occur. What could this actually be? Was this some sort of mob or gang recruitment tactic? What if I walk in somewhere and they tell me they want me to kill someone? What if it is some sort of trap and I find myself getting killed and my organs sold on the black market? Despite all the scenarios I came up with in my head, I was resolved. Like an idiot, I still decided to go.

Grabbing the little black book and a small firearm, concealing it under my shirt, I headed out. Leaving during the day, as if this turned out to be something I could not handle or ended up being dangerous, it was likely my chances of getting away greatly increased with more people around. 

Looking up the address ahead of time, my destination was the south side of the city. I had not been there before, but the GPS in my car took the address and it wasn't too far away. A 15 minute drive was potentially all that stood between me and another $20,000.

The reality was, it took a little longer than 15 minutes to find the place. It was strange, but that side of town was a lot harder to navigate than I remember. The route kept recalculating, I kept finding myself driving in the opposite direction as the address. The GPS kept me going in circles, it was as if the device was broken, despite working perfectly the day before. Eventually I got as close as possible, before inevitably the GPS would yet again tell me to turn around. In reality it was probably a sign that I had chosen to ignore. Finding a place to park, I continued on foot.

It was a short walk from where I parked, but eventually, and regrettably, I came upon the place. 152 Calver Avenue, it was tucked into an alleyway. Nestled between an old run down bakery, and a pizza joint that despite being open looked like it maybe got three customers on a good day, given the state it was in. I know not what went through my head

at the time, as I convinced myself to not turn back and to continue down this dark alley. At this point how I convinced myself to proceed is lost to me, but it was a very unwise decision.

Shortly within the alleyway, I came across a man, sitting cross legged behind a dumpster. The individual was in tattered clothes, his hair was greasy, and he had a smell to him that couldn’t be ignored. This individual was clearly destitute. What garnered my attention however, was a gym bag, identical to one I found, was on the ground next to him. The bag was open, and the contents easily visible. A large quantity of canned food, of which the individual was in the process of opening.

I shrugged it off as a coincidence and moved on to ignore it, when the man spoke out towards me. “Don’t go.” He said

“Excuse me?” I replied.

When he did not answer I spoke up to inquire further. “What do you mean?... What will happen?” The man did not respond, instead burying his face into his knees and avoiding eye contact. I had not picked up on what he meant. I assumed it was just the ramblings of a homeless man, and completely ignored his warning.

Continuing down the alley, there I found an old rusty door, with the numbers 152 in red painted onto the door. After knocking a few times and waiting, a minute passed with no answer. I knocked again, but this time, the door opened. Creaking as it remained ajar a few inches. This caused me to jump back a bit, startled, but strangely the door did not open more than that. I called out towards the door. “Hello, is anyone there?” A minute passed without an answer. Eventually reaching my hand towards my pistol that was concealed under my shirt, I continued forward, opening the door and peering inside.

Within there was a room, with a table at the center, lit up by a light that was faintly flickering through the door at the opposite side of the room. On the table there was a gym bag, identical to the one I found just months before! So I continued forward, carefully, with my hand on the firearm, ready to act if anything unsuspecting occurred. I made my way to the table, looking ahead, in and around the room as I entered. It was a relatively poorly lit room considering its size, no more than 15x15ft, with no windows. Mirroring concrete walls in every direction, and the singular door on the opposite end of the room providing the light.

As I approached the table, I reached out to grab the money, lowering my firearm to do so, but as I did something startled me. The door from which I entered was slammed behind me. I turned around, rushing to redraw my gun to, what was the most terrifying thing, I had ever seen. A large figure, standing so tall it crouched, as it leaned up against the ceiling. Hair hung from its head, all the way down to the floor. It had long slender bony arms which had massive fingers three times as long as they should have been. Its hands reached out towards me, as this thing, this creature, was now directly between me and the outside door.

I pointed my gun at it and immediately pulled the trigger, panicking and afraid. The gun however did not fire, it was jammed. I remember trying to scream, but no voice left my lungs. Stumbling backwards to find anything else to use to put distance between me and the creature I struggled, but could not find anything, just those cold concrete walls. I watched as the slender bony hands plucked the gun out of my hand with ease as I was frantically pulling the trigger. I remember reaching towards the next room, falling to the floor, attempting to scurry away from whatever this was. The floor was cold hard concrete, just like the walls.

The last thing I remember is it looking down on me, its massive dark spherical eyes staring at me with an intensity never felt before. The creature's mouth opened revealing its black hole of a maw. It’s mouth unhinged, gaping open from its face above me stretching from the ceiling all the way to the floor. There was a voice coming from the creature yet its mouth did not move in sync with it. It was as if the creature itself was projecting words directly into my mind.

“Ah, another came. I was still hungry, I wanted more.”