The Black Notebook: Tales of Horror and Mystery

by Anozira

The first in a series of tales inspired by a book of nonholmesian short stories by ACD. Holmes and Watson investigate the mysterious dissapearance of an aeronaut Doyle's name for a pilot. What truths will the Black Notebook reveal?

1. Chapter 1

Editor's Note

Several years ago, a plot was put in place to memorialize one of the most beloved characters of fiction with a museum dedicated to creating and preserving his home and mementos of his work. The product was, as most of my readers will know, the Sherlock Holmes museum.

Construction on the flats began after the plans had been verified and re-verified many times by many devotees of the stories. Finally came the great moment, the breaking of ground for the memorial to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson at the newly labeled "221 B Bakerstreet." Several days later, a construction worker was making repairs to one of the upstairs rooms, when his hammer went through a weak point in the wall. On the other side was concealed a large wooden box stained and warped with age. He did not open it, but took it to the newly appointed curator of the museum. The curator opened it in curiosity soon after the construction worker left to complete his mission. It contained many loose pages of foolscap, a pen, several common notebooks, one leather-bound notebook stained with a red substance, a pair of broken eyeglasses, and an odd funnel which appeared to be made of leather.

I am not, at this time, at liberty to explain how this box came to be in my possession, but after much contemplation and indecision, I have decided, for better or for worse, to lay its contents before the public. I ask only that you will read the author's disclaimer before continuing on to the strange and disturbing tales recounted on those yellowed pages of foolscap contained within.

E. G. Schildkret, Editor

Author's Note

The horrors I have described in the ensuing pages are too delicate even for that tin dispatch box in which I have stored the most sensitive of those mysteries which I have shared with my singular friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes. In truth, I should not have put them to paper at all, had it not been for an overwhelming desire I could not put to rest. Perhaps I thought to somehow verify their strange events in my brain by setting the facts as they stand in my memory down onto something so concrete and reliable as ink and paper. They will remain hidden forever in my own bedroom in a place I shall not reveal even to Holmes, at his request. It is my fervent wish that they should never come to light. If they do, it will be long after both Holmes and I are gone, mere fleeting memories upon the vast history of the world. Perhaps in that distant day, the world will be ready to read of the horrors I here describe. If it is not, I pity the fool who brings them to the light of day. May God have mercy on their souls.

John H. Watson, M.D.

A/N: This story requires a disclaimer as sections of the narrative are taken directly from a collection of stories called The Black Doctor and other Tales. It was written by our own Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and is a very interesting, short read. The first of the mysteries I reference is called "The Horror of the Heights." The sections that are taken from the book will be sited at the end of the chapter (if my footnotes work...)
-Anozira