A Diary For The Soul

Susan was happy. Her small mundane life in a small mundane town of Syndervale, it was a logging town and pretty much in the middle of nowhere but she liked that, she enjoyed the isolation where she would live with her two cats John and Yoko, annoying little creatures she’d always say, getting in the way of her creativity and breaking up the band, she always loved that joke even if it is quite on the nose. She worked as a journalist for the local paper so I doubt you could call it journalism, usually the same old “tree has fallen and blocks road” or “man finds a tree stump that looks like Elton John”, it was dull but she did enjoy it. Yes, Susan was happy. 

Susan arrived at work at 8:50 am and sat down at her desk. The other people in the office were talking and laughing, practically ignoring Susan who was a little bit of an outcast in her office, she never knew why but she didn’t care. The other women in the office were older and had been in the job for years, none as journalists except for one, she was her coworker called Anna who Susan despised that much she didn’t bother to learn her second name, Susan had been in the job six months longer than Anna but Anna always seemed to get the serious stories, the kind that can elevate someone's career. It hit 9:00 AM and Stephen the boss came in to make an announcement

“Hi all, so I just have a quick announcement to make this morning before we get on with the day, I am promoting Anna to be my Assistant Editor-In-Chief” 

Everyone in the room clapped and were all congratulating her but Susan was beyond enraged, she had to bite her tongue and get on with her day.

The week after Susan was at work it was about 11:30 am and she was just overlooking a story she had finished about a car crash in town which was the most interesting story of the month. Anna came over to Susan's desk and was standing over her shoulder eyeing up her story.

“Can I help you?” Susan said with a slight tone

“Now that's no way to talk to your boss is it?” said Anna with condescension in her voice

“No, it isn’t but can I help you? Boss” Snarkaly replied Susan

“Yes actually you can help me for once in your time here, I am taking over your story I don’t think you’re the right fit for something so high profile” demanded Anna

“You’re taking my story?” asked Susan almost dumbfounded 

“Yes I have to as it goes, Steve said it's mine so send that over as soon as, thanks”

Susan was heartbroken, it was only a silly car crash story but it was the most interesting story she'd got the chance to write in months, she hated Anna with everything in her. The week after Anna never bothered to show up to work so Susan mustered up some courage and spoke to her boss about the promotion.

A gentle knock on his glass door “Steve, do you have a minute” asked Susan politely

“Yes of course, how can I help,” said Stephen in a friendly tone

“I just wanted to talk about Anna,” said Susan who was cut off short

“I know it's awful I haven't been able to get ahold of her either it's really worrying, we all hope she is okay, I have contacted the police” Interrupted Stephen

“No no this isn’t about her not coming into work this is about her getting the promotion over me” stated Susan

Stephen was taken back by Susan’s statement, he sighed and said “Look Susan, you’re a great journalist and I am sorry I didn’t give you the promotion, if she wasn’t around you would have got the job but she and I have a certain spark in the workplace that you just can’t buy, does that make any sense”

“That makes perfect sense, she sleeps with you” replied Susan quite frustrated 

“I won’t have that talk in my office you’re forgetting I am your boss and you don’t talk that way in the workplace, please leave my office and get back to work” Stephen was annoyed by the truth that had been thrown in his face.

Tuesday - 26th June 2022.

It was 12:15 pm and Susan had just gotten her favourite sandwich from a deli near her work, she walked to the nearby park to have a seat and enjoy the nice weather for the 45 minutes she had left before going back to the office, her big story today was an old man who found 14 slices of ham in his 12 pack of ham, mind-blowing stuff. Susan sat down on her usual bench and enjoyed her sandwich looking at the birds, the trees and the little fountain nearby she couldn’t help but let the words her boss said to her the week prior roll around her head “If she wasn’t here you’d have the job” that really annoyed her. Anna had been absent from work for two weeks now, Susan didn’t care, she thought she’d probably just run off with some rich feller she met online. It had been half an hour and she was going to be late if she didn’t go now so she put her rubbish in the bin and turned back to walk past the bench but suddenly there was a book right where she was sitting not 10 seconds before and no one was around. Susan walked over and picked it up, the book was leather bound and red with a small strap you could clip and unclip to simulate locking the book, it said ‘Diary For The Soul’ on the front, Susan wasn’t sure if this was a book or literally someone’s diary for their soul to spill their thoughts into, she debated leaving it there but she was in a rush to get back to work so she didn’t overthink the situation and took it, this was very unlike Susan. On her way up the stairs to her office she opened it to the first page and saw if there was any information on the owner, luckily the first page reads “if found please return to Jamie” with a number underneath in very rough handwriting, that was no help really just one name, so she assumed it was a child’s diary. As soon as Susan logged back on at work and sighed at the ridiculous column she was tasked with writing she forgot all about the red diary in her bag. 

Later on that evening, it was about 8:30 pm Susan was sitting with the tv on low and was debating whether to have an early night after this episode or not, but It was always one more episode of whatever crime drama or five-part serial killer documentary the over 40s raved about at work. She remembered the diary in her bag and decided to call the number, as she pressed to call a split second thought occurred to her that she thought this was a child's diary and she was about to bother some parents at this time of night, but there was one ring and then answer as if someone had been waiting by the phone all day. There was an answer and a soft “hello”, the person on the other end of the line had a strange voice, quite androgynous. 

Hello, is these the parents of Jamie?” Susan said “If so I found their diary in Johnsdale park at about 10 to 1 this afternoon” 

“No sorry no parents here, but I am Jamie, I’m so glad you found my diary, I would like to retrieve it from you” replied Jamie in a hurried voice like a person reading from an unrehearsed script  

“Yes of course that is fine with me” replied Susan in a friendly tone. 

“Can I retrieve it at your apartment? Or house? I have a strange living situation and would rather you not see it, if you don’t mind could I retrieve it now?” said Jamie, this startled Susan a little as this person was a stranger and sounded unnatural down the phone but she digressed and thought best to get it out the way and said

 “Yes that would be fine”

“Excellent, could I please have your address?”

“Oh yes sorry of course… 20A Haddonfield Road, Apartment 3” 

“That is perfect, I can be there within the hour, may I ask your name?” 

“Susan” 

“Nice to meet you Susan, one last thing,” Jamie said abruptly 

“Yes?” Susan replied 

“Did you read my diary?” Jamie asked 

“No, that is your personal property I only read the first page with your name and information” Susan informed

Jamie lets out a subtle sigh of relief and says “Oh good I don’t know if you’d want to meet me after you read what I’ve written in there” said Jamie with a harmless chuckle, but a slight underlying dread-filled Susan in this laugh like a rollercoaster before the drop, exciting but you know If this goes wrong you are finished. 

Susan laughed back nervously “I will see you soon then goodbye”

“Yes, see you soon” finished Jamie.

Susan had a slight regret that she chose to give her address and meet at this time of night with some stranger on the phone but maybe she was paranoid, she has had trouble trusting people since she was a child and would dream of the most awful things that shouldn’t run through an adult's unconscious mind let alone a child’s. Obsessed with death and the mysteries of this earth.

20 minutes pass, and she starts to become curious and quite nervous glancing back and forth at the door. Susan couldn’t stop thinking about the joke Jamie said on the phone or she hoped it was a joke “I don't know if you'd want to meet me after what I've written in there”, what did that mean? curiosity got the best of her and she decided to just have a quick flick through the diary. At first glance there were only about seven or so entries in this so it must be new, with more blank pages than anything…

12th June

Tonight the night, the planning, the timing, and the waiting are all going to pay off. Tomorrow will be a good day.

13th June 

Last night was not the night, the planning, the timing, and the waiting were all wasted because she didn’t leave the house, I will need to reevaluate my plan. Talk tomorrow.

15th June

A new plan has been devised, I know she works for the newspaper…

Susan stopped reading and panicked, she jumps up and checks her door is locked, looks out of her window but just an empty car park for now. She thought about the whole day in question, the book mysteriously manifesting where she was sat with no one around, she was alone and debated calling the police but didn't want to be rash, she started to convince herself she was fine and that Jamie was taking so long because they are coming from a different town and talking about another town's newspaper, not the one I work for. She takes a deep breath, returns to her chair and continues reading. 

15th June 

A new plan has been devised. I know she works for the newspaper now, and that she has someone she hates at work. I can maybe use this to my advantage. Talk tomorrow.

18th June 

Tonight is definitely the night, I can hardly wait, the planning, the timing, and the waiting all paying off tomorrow for sure. This needs to work, I feel my urge is growing pains, and I fear people can see what I want to be written on my skin.

19th June 

Oh, Annabell, you are mine. I have her, she is mine, all mine. Her beauty is like a steady river and I will keep her mine, I pray she doesn’t end up like the others.

Susan was stunned and didn’t know what to think but she was also furious about the way this person writes, why was it in such short bursts as if they are reading off a shopping list, she also hated how ambiguous the writing was, the page was screaming at her they’re a killer, they‘re a killer but she couldn’t make that judgement, but she could write this story. Susan’s face had a slight glee about it when she had that idea, she thought that she could write this story and turn this diary in to the police for an investigation. She could have a great story that she was at the forefront of but then she thought about her office and then she thought about Anna. She took a glance at her phone to check the time and it read 9:15 pm, she thought to herself that Jamie cannot be far now so she returned back to the diary for the last entry.

20th June

The shame that fills my heart, my living doll, my sweet Annabelle, why did you make me do it, why scream, why try to run, why try to hide. All I tried to give you was my love and in return, you scream in my face and call me sick. Annabelle, the reflection of your skin on my stainless steel will always be a sight to behold, I love you, Goodnight.

There was a knock at the door, Susan almost died of freight there and then, “Who is it?” Susan called out.

“It's Jamie, we spoke on the phone, I’m here for my diary”

“Oh yes of course one minute” Susan said while fumbling around the apartment Susan hesitated before opening the door, and Jamie knocked again

“I don’t mean to rush you but it's a bit of a walk back and I have some business to attend to” politely shouted Jamie through the door.

Susan didn’t want to imagine what “I have some business to attend to” meant, 

“Sorry I will be there now I am just putting something on” Awkwardly shouted Susan

“Oh my apologies take your time” replied Jamie, Susan hated how polite and somewhat charming they were. 

Susan opened the door and saw a man, Jamie was about five foot nine, had shaggy brown hair and slight facial hair around a slit in his face that you would call thin lips but there was hardly anything there, he wore black jeans, white shirt slight stained red near the collar but Susan didn't want to think what that was and a black leather jacket. He was much younger than she thought, he looked maybe twenty-one, twenty-two and was quite attractive.

“Hello, it's nice to put a face to the name,” said Susan, almost flirting with the person she’d feared for the last hour.

“Hello, is that my diary?” replied Jamie sounding uninterested

Susan was a little annoyed he didn’t flirt back but later she would look back on the conversation and think that was for the best.

“Yes it is, here you go,” said Susan politely 

“Oh thank you, I have already filled three of them up with my ramblings” continued Jamie in friendly conversation

“Oh wow, anything worth reading in there,” asked Susan cautiously

“Nothing too special just a man confessing his love” joked Jamie

That statement confused Susan when thinking of the contents so she said “That’s sweet, I won't keep you much longer, I know you need to get back”

“Oh yes thank you for reminding me I must get back to my sweet Annabelle, goodnight," said Jamie with a piercing smile.

“Goodnight, have a safe trip home” Finished Susan.

Susan shut the door and sat back down, “what the hell was that?” she said out loud with a deep sigh of relief, she thought about the exchange she just had and he said he had three books full of notes, how many women has he killed? These thoughts just seemed to pour through Susan's mind, he mentioned that woman Annabelle that she read about, was she still alive? or was he keeping her body? He did call her his living doll. She gave herself a minute and got a glass of water, she drank the whole thing and then ran the tap again to then drink another whole glass, she realised suddenly the last date he wrote was last Wednesday and that if he lost it today there had been no entries for a week, she didn't want to ponder what had happened in that week she also didn’t want to ponder the fact she had tried to flirt with a potential murder. 

An hour had passed and she decided to go to bed, she pressed the home button on her Tv remote taking her to a local news broadcast about a woman Annabelle Edwards who had gone missing, she never watched the local news so she didn’t know anyone had gone missing, they showed a picture with the name and it was Anna who she worked with, she had never put both names together Jamie’s sweet Annabelle and Anna who stole her job. It seemed Susan was the only one who knew the truth and could catch a murderer, but she forgot all of that and would let Jamie continue his terror because that will be the biggest story this town has ever seen.