Would You Read My Book?

"You can't leave yet!" Cora shouted over the music. "It's only 11!" "I gotta study!" shouted Noel, tipping back the last of her Jack and coke. "Lame!" Cora rolled her eyes and hugged her friend goodbye. "I'll see you tomorrow." said Noel. She slipped on her jacket and made her way towards the exit.

Noel stepped out into the dark and headed back towards her apartment watching her feet as she walked. Her mom would kill her if she knew she was walking home by herself this late at night. She was feeling a little light headed from the whiskey though, so the fresh air would do her some good. Besides, it wasn't like she was walking clear across the city. The apartment Cora and her rented was only two streets over.

She walked quickly keeping her head down and her eyes focused on her feet. The air felt good against her hot skin. Her buzz would fade in no time and she could study for at least an hour before going to bed. She wasn't too concerned about her test in the morning, but a little study time to refresh wouldn't hurt.

She was closing in on their apartment. "Ok.." she thought out loud, "Shower, study, sleep.. shower, study, sleep. Shower, study..." She had made her way up the stairs and was almost to the door when she noticed the brown cardboard box sitting on their welcome mat. She looked around. No one was outside. She bent down and picked up the box, turning it over carefully in her hands. No name. No address. Nothing. She shook it. Something tumbled around inside.

Noel unlocked the door and stepped into the apartment, locking the dead bolt behind her. "Hmm..." she shrugged and set it on the kitchen table. "Must be Cora's." She took her jacket off and tossed it over the couch to shower. After she was done, she quickly dressed and toweled off her hair as she headed back into the living room to grab her phone out of her jacket pocket.

She dialed Cora's number. "You good?" answered her friend's voice from the other end. "Yeah, just letting you know I made it." "Ok... have fun with your studying." Cora laughed, her words were a little slurred. She was clearly enjoying her night out. "Ok." Noel laughed. "Oh... hey.. I think you got a package." Cora was laughing at something or someone in the club with her. Noel walked to the table to look at the box again. Her jaw dropped. "I got What?" Cora was still laughing. "Never mind..." said Noel. "I'll see you in the morning." She hung up the phone and stared at the box, confused.

She picked it up again and looked around. Surely, someone was playing a prank. The box now had four letters carved onto the side. N-O-E-L. No one was in here. No one had keys except for Cora and her. Noel set the box back down and sat at the table staring. It was dark outside. Perhaps she just didn't see her name before. She pulled it closer to her and tugged on the clear tape that sealed it. The flaps popped open and she peeked inside.

"That's it?" she said, reaching inside and pulling out a small black book. She opened it and flipped thorough the pages. It was hand written. As she flipped, an envelope fell out and landed on the table. She set the book down and picked up the envelope. Her name was printed neatly on the front. It wasn't sealed. She opened it and pulled out another hand written page.

"Dear Noel,

If you have come across this box, it means you have been chosen. Times are hard. You have student loans. Rent. Bills. You struggle. Aren't you tired of that? Wouldn't it be nice to not have to worry about any of that? To have your credit cards paid off. To have your student loans disappear? You receiving this box means that I have already transferred one thousand dollars into your bank account."

Noel dropped the note and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, ok." she said. The lengths these companies went to get you to give them your banking information was getting ridiculous. Admittedly, she had never seen a scam like this one. But, people didn't just give you money for no reason, right? Noel picked up her phone and opened up her banking app just for a laugh. She felt pretty stupid. The app loaded and showed her balance. $1,042.81" "What the hell..?" she said out loud.

She picked up the page again and began reading where she left off.

"What would you say if that one thousand could turn into one million? What would you do for a million dollars, Noel? Would you read my book? That's all you have to do. You have until morning to finish."

Noel picked up the little black book again, turning it over in her hands. How would someone even know if she actually read it? What if she just skimmed? She flipped through the pages. It wasn't incredibly long and whoever wrote it had fairly big writing. She could do it, if she wanted. She did have a test in the morning, but she could re-take that if necessary. Getting a million dollars for reading a book? That was definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Her eyes began darting left to right across the page taking in every hand written word they came across. Noel gasped. She had only gotten through the first five pages. Those five pages described in great detail the morning she had. What she ate. What she wore. The phone call she made to her brother. Everything. She couldn't stop. She kept reading. Was this person stalking her? The book told of how she had gone to lunch with Cora. What she ordered. The conversation they had about how she was tired of her mom always getting into her business. It even documented the feelings she hadn't said out loud.

Noel sat at the table and read for about forty five minutes. It was closing in on 1 a.m. and she was already about half way done with the book. She had read everything she did today up until receiving the box. However, in the books version of "her story", Noel had gone back to the club to show the box to Cora. She never sat at the table reading this book. Never even stepped inside the apartment. In the book, Noel and Cora had opened up the box together to find a big stack of money.

In the book, Noel and Cora were buying rounds of drinks for everyone in the club. There was no note in the box. No book in the box. Just the money. Noel and Cora were having an amazing time. Drinking and dancing the night away. throwing handfuls of cash into the air and laughing.

As Noel sat at the table reading, the words began to come off of the page and float up towards her face. She blinked and tried to slap them away. She must be getting really tired. Either that, or she was more drunk than she had thought. She kept reading. The words wrapped around her head and seeped into her ears, her eyes, her mouth. Noel tried to scream as the ink slid down her throat. The whites of her eyes were swimming with the ink from the book, which now laid flat on the table. Blank. Noel put her jacket on over her sweats and t-shirt and headed out the front door.

She tried to speak, but she couldn't. She couldn't stop her feet from moving. She couldn't control her body at all. Inside her head, she was screaming, but her body was not obeying any command she gave it. "Stop!" she thought to her feet which were taking turns stepping in front of each other of their own accord.

She knew where she was going and she couldn't stop her body. Left, right, left, right. Her feet carried her back to the club. The music blared from the inside. She walked up to the door and smiled at the bouncer. "We having a pajama party?" He asked her. Noel laughed on the outside, inside her head she begged for help. She handed him the $10.00 cover charge and he lifted the rope for her to go inside. Left, right, left, right. Her feet carried her over to Cora who was dancing with a small group of people.

Noel tapped her on the shoulder. Cora turned around and smiled at her friend. "Noel!" she slurred, "I'm so glad you came back!" She threw her arms around her friend. They both toppled over onto the floor. Cora laughed. Noel screamed on the inside. One of the girls Cora had been dancing with reached her hand out to help the girls up.

"I think we should go home, Cora." said Noel. "It's getting late and I wanna make sure you get home safe." "You got it." said Cora. They both stumbled to the door under Cora's drunken weight and made their way to the house. Cora could barely hold her eyes open. They were glazed over with all the liquor she'd consumed. "Noel..." she began to giggle. "Remember that Britney Spears song we used to drive around to all through high school?" Noel nodded. "Play it on your phone!" "Let's get home first." laughed Noel. "I found a short cut." "Ok." agreed Cora with her eyes half closed.

Noel led Cora down a dark alley. Inside her head, she was trying to tell her to run but her mouth refused to let her get the words out. She tugged on Cora's hand while Cora belted out the lyrics to Baby One More Time. "Shh.." Noel told her pressing her up against a wall. She put her hand over her mouth to keep her quiet. Noel looked at her arm. She could see the black ink running through her veins. "No!" she screamed. She did it. She had taken control over her body, if only for a second.

Cora laughed, pushing Noel's hand away from her. "I think I heard something." said Noel, but it wasn't the real her anymore. She was stuck screaming in side of her own head again. "It's the boogey man." laughed Cora. The alley was littered with old fast food containers and broken bottles. Noel reached down and picked up one of the shards of the glass. She began pulling Cora along behind her again.

"Ugh... I don't feel so good, Noel. Are we almost home?" "Yeah. Don't worry." she said. "We're almost there." She pulled Cora along, stopping in front of a glass door that was leaning against the alley wall. "Look." Noel pointed. "Wow..." said Cora. "A broken door." She rolled her eyes. "Noel, I wanna go home. Quit being weird." Noel grabbed her and turned her to face their reflection in the door. Cora tried to pull away, but she couldn't. Noel was so strong! She was standing behind Cora holding her arms behind her so she couldn't move. She reached a hand in front of her throat and slid the shard of glass across it.

A waterfall of warm blood soaked her hand. Cora let out a few gurgling sounds gasping for air through her severed windpipe. Noel dropped her lifeless body to the ground and walked up to her reflection. "Don't worry, Noel." she could see her mouth forming the words that didn't really belong to her. "This is just a story, remember?" Her face smiled but it was twisted. "Noooo!" She screamed. She began to cough. Black ink sprayed her hands. She coughed more. She began to choke on the black ink that was flowing from her mouth. She held her throat as it sprayed everywhere. She passed out.

The sun was coming up and Noel woke up with her face in the little black book on the table. The pages were blank. She looked around. "Thank God." she whispered, closing her eyes. "Just a nightmare." Her phone pinged. "Oh no!" She was gonna miss her test." She jumped up and grabbed her phone to check the time as she ran towards the bathroom to get dressed. There was a tiny envelope on the screen. A text message. Probably Cora telling her she was staying with a friend for the night.

She clicked the tiny envelope open while flipping the bathroom light on. Noel screamed in horror as her reflection stared back at her from the mirror. She was covered with dried blood and black ink. The text message from her bank sat open on her phone notifying her of a new deposit. Her balance was now at $1,001,042.81.