The Little Black Book

Nora was a typical 22 year old university student. Working 2 jobs to stay afloat, still living at home, has a beautiful white cat named “Poppy”, working tirelessly through her 3rd University degree, and had a university debt much larger than she thought would be possible to ever pay back. She had just gone through a very difficult break up, when she started to think that life just was not going her way. One day on her walk to work, Nora noticed what seemed to be a little black book in the pavement just ahead. Her curiosity got the better of her, because on closer inspection, this book looked very old, and the dirty leather cover was as creased as a crocodile’s back, so she picked it up to have a look. She went to flick through the pages of the book, to find that all but one page was ripped out. Her heart skipped a few beats when he read what was scribbled on the page:

“Nora, all your troubles will be gone if you call this number. Your debts, your struggles, and maybe can finally move you out of your parents’ home. H.H.”

Startled, Nora dropped the book. She thought to herself “Who is H.H.? How do they know all about me? And how did they know it would be me picking up the book?”. Now, a normal person might have just thought it was a prank and moved on, but Nora, as she was on his wits’ end, picked up the little black book once again, looked around to see if anyone was watching, and put it in her pocket for later. As she continued on her way to work, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being followed and was focusing on who the “H.H.” person could be. To the best of her knowledge, she did not even know anybody with those initials. This made her sick to the stomach, and at almost every step she took, Nora was searching around her, trying to find the invisible presence that made her skin crawl as if she had 100 spiders running up and down her body. After what felt like the longest walk to work she thought she had ever taken, she threw the book in the bin at her desk and went in for her standard 0900 meeting.

Today seemed like a strange day for Nora. After she found that book, everything seemed to go her way. Her normally angry boss was very friendly and amicable to her throughout the meeting, even going far as to praise the ideas that she worked hard on all night. Even the line to get her morning coffee was virtually non-existent when it was normally a 20 minute wait just to be served. Something just seemed off… It was like the little black book Nora found on the pavement was giving her good luck or something. Nora shook her head and laughed to herself, saying “Maybe Charlie was right. Maybe I am doing too much, and I am just becoming delirious. There is no such thing as luck or magic in the world, maybe I was just at the right place at the right time for my coffee, and maybe Mr. Tan just slept well last night and was in a good move”. That didn’t stop her from hoping that it was true. An instant wave of regret came over her for throwing the book out. Nora ran back to her office as fast as she could, but by the time she got back, the cleaner had been through the building and emptied all the bins. The book was gone she thought, as she saw empty bin after empty bin in this endless hallway leading her to her old, luckless life at her desk. When she finally got there, a yellow envelope was sitting on her desk. Nora wasn’t one to typically get mail, so she was excited to see what it was. She opened it, and what did she see…. A little black book, more damaged and even older than the last one. She gasped and wanted to shriek from excitement that she didn’t lose the book, but she noticed that in this book, there were two pages. Nora thought back to when she picked up the book that morning, wondering if the pages were stuck together, but there was definitely only one. The second page was now telling her to call the suspicious H.H., but the first page simply said:

“That was careless… best you don’t lose this one too Nora. H.H.”

If Nora got shivers down her spine. How could H.H. know she threw out the last one? There was no one in the office with those initials, and the cleaner couldn’t have been too far away, as her desk was still damp from the cleaning fluid. Nora thought that this had to have been a prank, but hurriedly called the number to tell H.H. to stop with the jokes. A muffled voice was on the other end of the phone line, and it was really difficult to hear. Nora, blurted out ”Who are you? What do you want with me? How do you know about my life”. The man on the other end of the line chuckled, and said in a mysterious, monotonous voice “Nora, I am H.H. that is all you need to know about me. I want to help you. Let’s just say I have a keen interest in helping you”. Taken aback, Nora didn’t know what to say. She thought maybe it was Charlie or his brother Quill playing cruel tricks on her. They knew about Nora’s situation… It was part of the reason Charlie and her broke up in the first place. The voice mumbled back to life “Now if we can continue… I have a large sum of money for you. 6.6 million dollars in fact, all yours, no questions asked, nor strings attached. However, you must do one thing for me. The task is a simple one but will not be revealed until you call me back with your answer. The question you need to answer Nora… how bad do you want this money” *click* the phone call had ended. Nora now had a conundrum. That money will make her life far better, but what task will she be asked to do. She knew she didn’t have much time, so she asked her best friend and co-worker Maya about what she should do. In Maya’s mind, it was worth it… “you don’t get offered that amount of money every day, but you had better give me a small cut of it for helping you out!”. Her mind was made up, Nora was gonna call H.H. when she got home and take on this task.

Nora’s heart raced as she picked up the phone. Partly from the fact she ran all the way back home to escape the oncoming hailstorm, partly anxious about what this job would entail, but also excited to earn this money. After a long phone call, Nora was told to immediately go to the local park to pick up a briefcase that contained the task. She ran down there as quick as a flash, and inside the briefcase was an old handheld phone, with one phone number saved into it, with the contact name of “Call Me”. Nora briefly hesitated but decided that she had already come this far so she picked up the phone once again. All she heard on the other end was white noise, and the phone disconnected. She turned around, thinking it was all just a sick prank, when she saw a glint of light under a tree that definitely wasn’t there when she come down she thought… Or was it? She walked over to it and saw a duffle bag with a lock on it, with a sticker saying: “What is your date of birth Nora”. She input 1207, as she was born on the 12th of July, and the lock popped open with ease. She unzipped the bag and to her surprise, there were wads of cash sitting there, she estimated it to be around 20,000 dollars. She was so absorbed by the duffle bag that she couldn’t hear the rustling leaves behind her and didn’t notice the person behind her until it was too late. She felt something hit her head, and suddenly, blackness…

Nora woke up the next day to her alarm, lying in her bed, a little bit tired, but no sore head. She wondered to herself if it was all just a dream. After she finally brought herself to get out of bed, and when she stepped on the ground, she almost fell over because it was uneven. She looked at the ground, and there it was… the duffle bag from the night before. She opened it, and all the money was still there accompanied with a note.

“Sorry about the dramatics last night. I hope I got you home safely. Now for your final task… If you want to keep your money, you must leave your office job, and pursue a career in something you enjoy. This money will support you until you can find a new job. Your remaining $6.4 million will come to you in 2 years… Don’t let me down Nora. H.H.”

On the verge of tears, Nora just stood there, speechless. Straight away she started typing up her resignation letter for Mr. Tan. As she was writing it, she realised how much she hated working at that job. She joined this company to make money to afford to live, and they paid her the bare minimum wage. It seemed that even though her paycheck never went up, she was given more and more work, and this work got in the way of her life in every aspect. At the end of the letter, she was upset, ready to go and hand the letter to her boss and leave the job for good. Mr. Tan was very accepting of it and didn’t realise all the pressure that he was invertedly placing on Nora and was very apologetic for it. As Nora left the front doors, she felt free and that a huge burden had been taken off her shoulders…

Two Years Later ~ 12th July 2023

With her friends and family surrounding her, singing her ”Happy Birthday”, Nora reflected back on her 24 years of life. Her life has been so amazing since she left her job… She finished her Masters’ degree and got a job as one of the leading researchers into sports science and developments into women’s sport. She also met the boy of her dreams, Jura, who she affectionally called “Tails”, because he wore his hair in pigtails very early on in their relationship. Between the two of them, they could afford to rent a nice enough apartment in the middle of the city, close to work for both of them, but they were happy. Life was perfect for Nora. The one mystery in her life she has never solved is who the very generous H.H. was, but little did she know, today was the day she was going to find out who the man behind the little black book was, and receive the rest of the money he promised, so she can start her new life. But that is a story for another day…