Little Black Book

We were inseparable, but what happened next was chimeric and regretful.

His name was Alfred. He was the duke’s godson, and I was merely a village girl. We met 12 months ago and had been inseparable ever since, playing hide and seek with each other's hearts as we lost ourselves in a deep and untamable kind of love. He made my heart flutter and broke it into a million tiny pieces all at once. He gave me strength somedays, and other's he stole my vigour.

I wasn’t sure if he was my type at first. His frame was tall and slender and to be honest, he was a terrible flirt. He spoke awfully too much and he certainly had his guard up but after all, I do love a challenge and I was determined to knock it down. He was unlike any other man I’d met before. He had a certain mysterious nature about him and l’ll never forget the little black book he had when we first met. It looked like something out of my great grandmother’s chest of drawers. “Where did he even find something like that?”, I thought. I wondered what was in it. It was a tiny, sleek little thing, with velvet draw-strings and a leather-embossed cover. A small golden emblem framed the top right corner and when flipped around, it had a distinct bronze flower. I thought it was quite bizarre.

We spent the summer of 1862 together, scurrying by the lake and sneaking out at night. He’d take me everywhere and I loved it. One night we went camping at Benadyne Village where we bathed under the stars and didn’t sleep all night. Our hearts were as full as the deepest ocean and we had never known a love like this. He grabbed my left hand, flipped it over and drew lines across my palm before staring deep into my eyes and whispering “I want to show you something”. He leaned back, stretching his lanky, feeble arms behind him as he grabbed his backpack. My heart began to race with uncertainty. He pulled out a small linen bag, covered in dust and residue. He asked me to unwrap it and with hesitation I slowly pulled on the drawstring, peaking through the opening of a worn-out, woven jute bag. To my surprise, I saw a little black book.

“What is this?” I asked. “Oh my love, this will change your life” he sighed, with a fiery passion. He smirked and threw my body gently to the ground. His lips were as cold as ice. They interlocked mine and I couldn’t help myself for a moment but I had to interrupt.“Alfred, what is this?” I demanded. His pupils grew wider and he shuffled in closer to me, as he whispered “Darling, this is our ticket to freedom.”

He spent two long hours explaining everything to me. Oh, how I demanded to know every single detail. He told me his great grandfather Apollo Devine had discovered a systematic equation for all lottery numbers occurring within the next decade. It was all contained within this book. He told me, this Thursday we would win $20,000 and that we’d be free. He could leave his family and I’d come with him. We could go anywhere and we could be anyone. We had always dreamt of leaving our worries behind, starting a family and running away, just the two of us.

But when he fell asleep I snuck away quickly into the night, with nothing but a small bronze torch and his noble backpack. I loved this man and maybe I still do but that night I escaped with nothing, in hopes of finding everything. I used the book to place bets under different names for the next 2 years. I won $20,000 and I helped my family and friends too. We escaped from Eastbrook and sailed west until we hit Taheko Lake. We had a fresh start and it was all because of him.