The Diary

Daniel Marshall starts September trying to keep a promise to his dead mother. He writes about his wife Lucy, a walk on the beach, dinner at home, and a late trip to the library for something to read.

He brings back The Book of the Damned. Its checkout card shows the same strange pattern: one borrower each year, always in September. The book itself is about a library book that ruins the people who take it home.

After that, Daniel's diary changes fast. The nightmares stay with him after waking, a small voice begins to make suggestions, and the loving details of his life start to rot on the page.

A cursed object short story by Kristopher Mallory, first published on Stealth Fiction in 2006.