The Moleskine Notebook

The Moleskine Notebook

By: Latasha Brown

CHAPTER ONE

What a pulchritudinous morning of Fall it was. I laid stretched out under the soft, blood red sheets in my canopied lair reflecting upon my life. Lord, Covid-19 crippled my life; especially financially. I gazed beyond the partly cracked curtains of my room window into the soft glow of the rising sun. I looked at all the colorful leaves that littered my yard from the trees in my yard. It was my 40th birthday! I long decided that I wasn’t going to spend this birthday alone. No-nonoooo, buddy. But I wanted to do something exciting; something soul invigorating, something dangerous. Oh, my freaking God! I just burst into a conniption of laughter. It was no way that scary old me was feeling so, so – ah, what’s the word – precarious? Whatever the case, I decided that whatever it was that I was going to do, I was going to manipulate a few family members to tag along with my boyfriend and I and I knew exactly who would be down. I climbed out of bed and ambled towards the bathroom to knock out hygienics and right in the middle of me storing my cosmetics back in their respective locations my phone rung…. It was my sister Candice calling to wish me a happy birthday, completely oblivious to the fact that she was one of the individuals I incorporated in my birthday machinations.

A ghost tour! That’s what I was going to do. Although my sister was freaked out of her mind when I mentioned it – an ex-fat kid – all I did was promise her half of the custom red velvet cake my boyfriend had made for me and she totally forgot about the heart wrenching fear she possessed of anything associated with horror. Her only reply after the offer of cake was, she could bring along her new boyfriend Kevin, who she referred to as a “plus-one”. A plus-one? What the heck does that refer to, bringing an extra person? My gosh, the slang of this generation is terrible. That really tickled me. What a way to begin my big day already! But she and Kevin were inseparable! My boyfriend James was a straight up bad to the bone so it didn't matter if I wanted to go on a lets snatch Debbie cakes spree, more than likely he’d be an accomplice. He was so love-drunk I had him wrapped around my fingers; I was wrapped around his fingers as well and was probably even more love-drunk than he so definitely no pun intended. We’re awesome together and inseparable as well.

The very next thing I did was phone my daughter Shakia, and my son Marquete, in which the both of them wanted to bring along a “plus-one”. My son brought his girlfriend April and my daughter invited her friend Michael. I had already started calling Michael my son-in-law. He was what every mother would want in one. However, he recently came out of the closet and revealed that he was gay. I’m not judgmental. Hell, actually, I was proud of him for having the courage to be the person he wanted to be under so much societal pressures.

The Edison House was rated one of the most horrifying haunted houses in Augusta. The Edison House was Built in the 18th century, visitors got the opportunity to observe what life was like during the Federal period. But what made the grounds so alluring were the legends that surrounded it. Legend has it that the place was haunted by a soldier’s spirit that was hung from the stairwell during the revolutionary war, along with a woman that was brutally murdered. The ambiguity in the cause of her death was also strange. I researched the headlines from that epoch and the only explanation given by local officials was that the body appeared as if it was struck by lightning during a thunderstorm. Many people have testified that when they saw the soldier’s apparition it felt as if a rope were tightening around their neck…. And these were testimonies of reliable, pillars of this very community!

The tour commenced at sunset. The tour guide would be leading us into the abyss with a carriage being pulled by a black stallion. Our tour guide will intercept us from where we were rendezvous comes pick you up from secret destination spot, take you on a scenic route through a haunted cemetery, a wooded area that was haunted by slaves, and take a long ride down a dirty road that led to the Edison house. As for the grand finale, we get the opportunity to conduct the investigation. To determine if the place is truly haunted.

I scheduled our tour for Friday. Two days from today. I called my birthday gang and gave them the details because we had to be on time; I wanted to be an hour ahead of schedule for safety measures and, I loathe being late. The tour demanded at least 15 participants. Marquete offered up his vehicle claiming it was the largest of all our cars which was true, but I’d bet my bottom dollar that he just wanted to show off his new truck. He had been saving up money for months. His dream car was a 2020 GMC Yukon. The truck was awesome but it befuddled me that he would purchase such vehicle and couldn’t afford to keep gas in it. So, I guess you know what that meant…. Yep, we’d each have to give him $15 to fill his empty guess tank. Appalling!

CHAPTER TWO

We arrived at the secret destination by 7:45pm. My son parked in a parking spot 20 steps from the assigned area. We had to walk in a small gate that could easily be stepped over. But we all walked in an open space in the gated area. Inside were several benches that had seen better days. And a bunch of dead flowers and bushes around the benches and old water fountain that sat in the middle. Blue light reflected from inside the fountain and what appeared to be blood was flowing down in the base the fountain. I’m assuming all this was for the benefit of the tour. Ten minutes later eight additional people arrived. I was excited to see them to. Because I didn’t want the tour to be cancelled due to the lack of people. Everyone including my family and their friends took in the scene. It was 8:10p.m. and the carriage hadn’t should up. So, I decided to take a chance and sit on one of the benches that clearly seen better days once upon a time.

When I sat down, I notice to the left of me a Moleskine black notebook on the bench. I looked around to see if anyone would claim it to be theirs, but no one did. My guilty conscious was warning me to leave the book alone. But my desire for some excitement was more alluring. So, I decided to be nosey.

The Moleskine black notebook was beautifully crafted and designed. I notice it had a matching ribbon bookmark. Although the Moleskine notebook had a debossed imprint on the front of the notebook. I couldn’t make out the name or logo. I slowly open the notebook just in case I would have the same experience I encounter as a child when my father bought me a jake in the box. But there were no surprises. However, the desire to run my fingers over the blank page consume me. It was almost as if the notebook had a desire to be touched. As a use the tip of my fingers. I found myself rubbing the page in an erotic manner. I should have been frightened, but the need to continue was overwhelming. As I continued to rub, the page I began to smell cologne, it didn’t smell like the modern-day cologne men wore. But you can tell it was a manly fragrance. In the top right-hand corner of the paper was the initial Y.W. Could that be the initials of the owner?

I tried flipping through the pages to see if there was anything written inside. However, it only flipped to the second page. Written at the top of the page was. “FOLLOW THE RULES ARE SOMONE YOU KNOW WILL DIE”. Under the title was three written sentences.

1.Follow the rules written in this Moleskine notebook. Or someone you know will die.

2.Speak to someone about this Moleskine notebook and someone you know will die.

3.Get through this ghost tour by following the rules.

I jump when I heard and saw that our tour guide leading a horse attached to a carriage arrived. He was dressed in a long dark coat, a hat that covered most of his face, and he had a medium size urn hanging from a rope that was tied around his neck. He looked frightening as hell and his voice just made you tremble with fright. And let’s not talk about his scary ass looking horse. I’m not sure if I were just seeing things this early in the tour but I could swear the horse mane was fiercely being blown by what. I couldn’t tell you. There was no heavy winds in the forecast and I didn’t see any industrial movie production fans anywhere.

During our carriage ride I could hear different voices from inside the carriage. There were oooh, awwws and occasional screams coming from every direction as we took in the scenery. I kept my conversation at a minimum out of fear. I would mention the black Moleskine notebook that now weighed heavily in my lap.

Once the carriage reached the front of the house and my feet touched the ground. The weather changed from chilly to cold. As I stood their shivering and admiring the surroundings. I notice the house was surrounded by a dark forest. The longer I look out into the forest, I found myself being hypnotized by the trees as they swayed back and forth as if they were alive. The sound of our tour guide giving instructions and precautions. Awaken me from my trance.

We spent what felt like an eternity investigating the Edison House. There were several times it felt like something or someone was falling me. I felt like I was being touched. I even seen the apparition of the solider. He appeared to be smiling at me. When I was alone, I listen to the voice recorder to see if I could hear someone or something talking during my investigation. To my surprise I thought I heard someone or something saying you did it. Just to be sure I rewind back to the point I heard the voice. But this time I didn’t hear anything, which led me to rewind several times just to be sure and still nothing.

CHAPTER THREE

Later that night as I stood on my porch, I realize my handbag no longer weighed a ton. OMG, did I dropped it or did someone take it out of my handbag. But how and when my handbag was never out of my site. I had a death grip on my handbag the entire time. What’s going to happen to my love ones now that I lost the Moleskine notebook.

I noticed my front door was slightly ajar. Frightened I grabbed my pepper spray. As I step into the house. I noticed a small candle burning on my coffee table a long with a with a black leather bag. I crept up to the bag like an individual that’s trained to diffuse bombs. As I carefully open the bag. I notice a note in the bag and what appeared to be money. The note read thanks for following directions. Here’s your prize! $20, 000.00. I’m not sure if it was the Moleskin notebook or if the Edison House had anything to do with me getting 20,000. But what I do is that I want be struggling ever again.