Little Black Book

Angie Fischer was a twenty-two-year-old medical assistant that battled day-to-day protocols of dealing with the coronavirus. Today was her first day off in about a month and she was going to go out on her own and enjoy a quiet night in the town, away from all the dying patients and mood swings of the egotistical doctors that she worked for. Living in the Bay Area is very expensive but the one thing you can do is walk around the beautiful sights and clear your mind. The BART station wasn’t far from where she lived, so her thoughts were to throw on some headphones and walk around the shopping outlets and escape the hospital for as long as she could. Angie left from work a little late, around five-thirty in the afternoon, but after a brief period at home, she was determined to make it out. She felt she deserved a day all to herself.

When she got home, relief splashed over her when she saw her roommate wasn’t there to ask one-thousand questions about her day at work. Angie saved herself forty-five minutes of questioning and changed into her clothes sooner than expected. Angie on her way; outset the alarm, grabbed her inner ear headphones, snatched her on the go charger, and was on her way to the night’s desired location. The BART station to Angie was an escape from the situations of the emergency room that she endured on the daily. The pandemic flipped her work life upside down. Any way to find some sort of escape was what Angie longed for. She had hoped that her small trip to the outlets would keep her sanity.

There was only one minor hiccup up for Angie it was that her ride was delayed for about forty-five minutes. The fifteen-minute walk to the Bart station was smooth but she had missed her ride by a minute or two. No big deal though Angie, because Angie was accustomed to missing her ride. She figured she could vibe out to some music and just sit on a bench and wait, she was in no hurry to be anywhere.

Angie walked up the stairs to the platform and looked for an empty bench to sit at. A rather large man was getting up from a bench. The man had a bright red hoodie on with the numbers across the chest and a black hat with the hood over the top of it so you couldn’t make out his face. She really couldn’t make out the numbers on his shirt. The man walked towards the escalators to go down into the main lobby of the station, Angie sat down and immediately noticed the man had left something behind. It was a little black notebook with a stamp “Moleskine” written on the front, which she thought was more than likely the brand of the notebook.

Angie turned quickly to yell out to the man before he got too far so she could return his notebook to him but to her surprise, he was no longer there. Angie left the bench quickly and ran down the escalator hoping to catch the man before he left the BART station but he was nowhere to be seen. Angie then returned to her bench back on the platform still had about a thirty-minute wait she decided to open the notebook for some clues to who the man was.

Upon opening the book Angie noticed the little black book had no scribbles in it or any kind of indication that someone owned it. Angie flipped through the notebook rather quickly only to find a note at the very back of the book. The note had been folded and placed in the back of the notebook, why was there a note at all? Angie thought to herself the notebook is empty. Angie did the only logical thing a person would do and unfolded the note and read the passage that was on it.

“Hello, reader,

Listen to this proposition I have for you; this notebook is like nothing you have ever seen before it holds magic. I know you are already thinking there is no such thing as magic and will probably tear this up or maybe, just maybe you will continue to be amazed. If you are continuing to read this letter then let me tell you my proposition.

This notebook will give you instructions on where to be, what time to be, and what to do. If you follow through with these instructions you will be handsomely rewarded with twenty thousand dollars in your account, no catch, no-strings-attached just money for a job well done. If you are up for the task take any pen and write “Ready” on the first page of the notebook. Good luck and hope you take us up on the offer.

このノートブックに署名して、私とあなたの魂への献身を誓います

Sincerely,

Jaakuna Akuma

Angie was flabbergasted and didn’t know what to do with the information she had just obtained. The letter was very vague and the name on the note was in a language she didn’t understand plus the weird characters on the page, was the letter from a different country? Was this even real? Angie had so many questions but the idea of an extra twenty-thousand sounded enticing. With twenty minutes still to go before her BART was ready, Angie looked at the black book and entertained the thought of this being real. She figured some kid left it there on accident and that their imagination was getting the better of them. She had some time to kill. She figured maybe she could do some entertaining of her own.

She reached into her purse for a pen and opened the little black book to the first page. Smiling, she followed the instructions of the note and scribbled it down onto the page. Angie laughed out loud forgetting there were other people on the platform. The onlookers glanced at Angie. Angie turned to beat red under her mask and then looked down at the notebook. Angie looked at the first page of the book and was getting ready to shut it when to her utter amazement the ink from where she wrote “Ready” started to move around on the page. The ink became smaller and twisted and turned to form their letters from her original written word.

“Where: Livermore Outlets

Time: Twenty-five minutes

What to do: After picking up your jaw from the floor from the shock that this is real, place a dollar bill under a brick in the crosswalk between the parking lot and the stores. Then leave the area to never return to it and your task is complete. 20,000 will be deposited into your account. A good deed for a good deed.”

Angie sat there and was in shock. Did she accidentally take something at work? She thought about if she had some wine before she left home. She thought maybe the stress at work was getting to her and she flipped her lid. Surely this was all in her imagination. She checked her phone and saw she did have some time to spare. If writing in the book did work then maybe following the instructions will make her 20,000 dollars richer. A good deed for a good deed she thought. Even though it didn’t make sense to her. What good deed is she even doing?

One thing was for sure this whole experience had done was take her mind off of work. Angie got up and looked for the perfect crosswalk to place a dollar and saw excess rubble from early construction. Angie walked over to the area grabbed a brick and placed it on the cement in the middle of the crosswalk to place a dollar underneath. She turned and looked around to see if she was being followed. She prepared herself to be ridiculed by a prankster, but there was nothing. Angie sighed to herself and walked back to the BART station.

Angie was finally on her train, staring at the little black book she was wondering what that little adventure was all about. Angie looked around the cart thinking maybe she will finally spot her pranksters, but to no avail, there was no one just other folks looking to get home after a rough day of their own. Angie felt a vibration coming from her lap. She looked at her phone and it had no new notifications. Horror flooded her thoughts when the realization came to her that the book was vibrating. She was opened to the first page and saw that the ink was manifesting itself again.

“Thanks for doing the task. Didn’t think you’d help out. Didn’t mean to scare you, but you are all glued to your phones. The money is yours. Sign the front page and the twenty thousand dollars will be deposited into your account. – Jaakuna Akuma”

Angie couldn’t believe this was happening to her, she really could use the money and wanted to keep it, so she opened the little black book and signed her name across the front page.

This time the little black book immediately had a reaction and the ink soaked into the pages disappearing in front of Angie’s eyes. She felt a presence next to her. She froze in fear. She was sitting alone this whole time and now a man was sitting next to her. She turned to him and saw that he was wearing the same clothes as the person who left the black book. He stretched his arms and yawned.

“Look, I’m bored too. Life for me has become mundane and tricking you mortals has lost its fun. I’ve succumbed to small pranks and just the laziest of reasons to trick people. It’s embarrassing. But unfortunately, all you idiots fall for it. I kind of pity you. This isn’t fun anymore. But Angie baby, you fell right for it.” Angie couldn’t comprehend what was going on. She felt fear and couldn’t move. What frightened her the most was how relaxed and at ease this stranger was while he talked to her.”

“Wha...wha...fell for what?” Angie anxiously asked.

“My little trick. I have a quota to make. 37 souls a day. Why 37? I don’t know, it’s a weird number for a quota, but I think the randomness makes it scarier. Don’t you think? Well, you don’t think since you’re in this situation now.”

“What situation am I in?” Angie asked back.

“Well Angie-rino, you signed your soul over to me. That weird language on the note is in Japanese. You agreed to put a dollar under a brick for 20,000 dollars. Check your account. The money is all there.” Angie grabbed her phone and saw that she did have 20,000 dollars freshly deposited into her account. “Congratulations, you can buy a new car with that money. But here is the catch, you’re going to be stuck here for an eternity waiting on this BART train. You’re 20,000 dollars richer, but you’ll never get to spend it. You’re eternally stuck in limbo. I own your soul now, but my punishments are lazy now too. So you’re stuck here. Forever. I’m sorry. Well, I’m sorry that this punishment is half-assed, but I’m not sorry for tricking you. I have to go now. I’m two souls from my quota.” The man got up and Angie saw his shirt and finally made out the numbers. 666.

“Like the shirt? It’s on my website, under the merchandise tab. Farewell Angie.”

Angie prepared herself to exit the train, she kept trying to convince herself this was all a trick. Something her imagination produced from the days of stress. She felt the train stop and saw the doors open for the exit. She looked down at the book in her hands, closed her eyes.