Reading Journal Books Novels & Stories

A desk that looked untouched for years. I closed the door behind me. My fingers hovered over the spines of books, not really reading, just feeling. My chest tightened when I saw one with a cracked leather cover and initials burned into the corner: J.D.V. My mother’s best friend. Gianna De Vera. The one we’d just buried. I pulled the book down. It wasn’t a novel—it was a journal. Dates ran across the top of each page, shaky handwriting below. I flipped to the back.

The romance was being squeezed out. "The journal" Elara shouted, her bare knees hurt as she fell flat onto the asphalt to pick up the black leather book that was lying between them. The moment her fingers touched the leather, the blank white pages inside the journal did not just move they started bleeding. A lot of midnight-blue fluid came out of the journal mixed with the cold rain water and formed a swirling indigo circle around her ankles. The gold letters on the cover of the journal; THE MASTER LEDGER: VOLUME TWO ​flared with a white-hot, blinding radiation that scorched the skin of her palm, the unique, un-templated human syntax of her blood-infused veins screaming in protest against th

The morning sun filtered through the high, arched windows of the library, painting intricate patterns of light across the desk where Elena sat. She was no longer occupied with the crushing scale of blueprints for bridges or the high-stakes drafting of coalition-wide frameworks. Today, the polished surface of the desk held only a single, tactile, leather-bound journal—the *Chronicle of the Midnight Frost*. It was a history she had begun recording not for the Council or for the history books, but for the twins, a narrative record of the "why" that sat behind the "what."

"I'm not sure. But I am almost sure no one saw me, can you tell me what is going on right now? Is it some sort of 'no touch book'?" "Well, kinda. You see that book is not a scrapbook. It's a journal." "Okay, whose journal?" "Everyone you saw their pictures there." "Wait, hold on." "Holding on." "You're telling me that that book is a diary? Like not historical data or educative, I don't know, background checks. You are saying it's a diary?" "Well, practically we go by journal but sure diary works too." "If it is a diary, why the hell is it kept in the library? I have never heard of a diary being kept in a library before."

I’d almost forgotten about it. Everything that had happened over the past several days seemed to lead back to that worn leather book. Every time something in my life changed… So did the journal. I stared at it for a long moment without moving. It was strange how something so ordinary could make me hesitate. A worn leather journal shouldn’t have been intimidating. It shouldn’t have been able to change my life every time I opened it. Yet somehow… it always did.

He asked, taking a seat in front of my desk. “Yes. These journals were left by my parents to help me for the first three years after meeting my mate. Three books for the first three years.” I said and lifted the journal in my hand, “First year.” He looked at me holding the journal with interest. “So, this is their advice?” “I guess. I haven’t read it yet. I thought now might be a good time to start reading it, but I can do it later tonight.” I said putting it down. “Did you need something from me?”

It’s heavier than I expect. When I open it, my heart nearly stops. Inside are scraps of paper, folded notes, and a journal with a worn black cover. The sight of it alone brings tears to my eyes. Jaden’s handwriting covers the pages, messy, uneven, sometimes smudged as if from tears. I press my palm against the book, my throat tightening. I whisper into the stillness, “Oh, Jaden…” I sit on the edge of his bed and open the journal. The words hit me like waves. Some pages are filled with anger, sharp strokes of the pen carving out his frustration.

It felt like she was still here with me, in this room, and for a moment, I forgot about everything else. I heaved a heavy sigh and turned around, but something caught my attention on her bookshelf. There, nestled between the works of Jane Austen, was a small leather-bound journal that I had never seen before. I picked it up, feeling its soft cover under my fingertips and carefully flipping through the pages. As I read her delicate handwriting, my heart ached with both joy and sadness. This journal was a window into her thoughts, her feelings, her dreams. It was like a piece of her that I had never known before.

In the Meath library, Kaida closed the last journal and stared at it on the table. All week she'd been reading through the passages, and it had been harder than she'd anticipated. She'd attempted to look at them with a professional, objective eye, tried to distance herself from the human element and view them as research, but that was impossible.

But nothing prepared for the hybrid journals and what was done to their parents. The last entry of this journal was eighteen years ago. Strange. I flipped the book to the first page, and just as I was about to get vested in it, I heard a voice. “You're going to tell me why you are reading that.