Dad's unfinished novel had blown my mind. Could what I'd just read actually have happened?
What if those yellowed pages he'd based his novel on had really existed? And those thirteen men...?
I couldn't think straight anymore my mind was in overdrive.
I loved my dad and I wanted to believe him; yet did I want to believe that Braden was overrun by aliens? And our house where my dad grew up ... a place of unspeakable horror?
I had to get inside those gates to the ancient city and confirm what dad had written. Yet how? The tours that went there had been cancelled ever since we'd arrived in Braden. However if those catacombs really existed beneath William Braden's mansion then there could be an entry from its basement.
Lost in thought I jumped as Puska landed in my lap meowing insistently. Annoyed I pushed her away and she leapt off the bed onto dad's metal box.
She sat there meowing her head off until frustrated I bent to pick her up. My heart skipped a beat. Dad's box had a secret compartment!
The false bottom had been dislodged when it had fallen to the floor. Eagerly I picked it up and prized it open further. I gasped... there were the missing pages of dad's diary.
With shaking hands I matched their torn edges to dad's diary. Dismayed I discovered there were many still missing.
I brushed my disappointment aside and eagerly began to read.
16-11
Tuesday 10am
I find that I cannot ignore what William Braden wrote about the Wormhole that exists somewhere over the ruins of the ancient city.
However I'm finding it hard to comprehend those mathematical equations in his journal about space and matter. I'm not a scientist and cannot understand the complexity of these minute strings in the Universe he writes about. Do they unite Einstein's theory of relativity with the modern day Quantum theory? I'm not sure, however I do know Einstein had searched until his death for the missing link to his equation that would prove that our universe came from a singularity.
The intricacies of these mathematical equations escape me. Yet I have to remind myself of Einstein's argument of the existence of these 'Strings' uniting all matter to form Wormholes caused by the compression of space and matter. Space travel, Einstein had argued, was possible within seconds through these Wormholes to other dimensions where other Universes existed.
What I can surmise from William Braden's writings is that the laws of gravity compressed time and energy, allowing beings body mass to change accordingly; and in this minute state, aging ceased and space travel ensued instantaneously.
However I find all of this incredulous! How could William Braden, a doctor of medicine, know the intricacies of space and matter? Did he have contact with the leader of the fourteen immortal 'Ancients' Sissnaska, the greatest sorcerer of the known universe? Or had this race of super humans he calls the 'Greybeards' living in the underworld of our Earth teach him this incredible knowledge?
It's blowing my mind to think that 13 dimensions exist, wherein the Universes are layered like sandwiches within their own membrane. Astonishing to think that these Parallel Universes could be as close as my own hand or as far away as infinity
And what is more frightening is that he writes that during the reign of the first monarch of the Aseekiens, King Abdula, it was discovered that our Universe was threatened, not only by dark matter but dark energy. This dark energy was believed to be expanding our Universe into nothingness.
I need to verify this information with a scientific body, but how? They will think that I am crazy if I tell them that my source of information was from an ancient journal written centuries ago! And what if this journal proves to be a gigantic hoax concocted by Trina? She could be a crackpot...after all I don't know her that well.
I cannot loose my objectivity! To think that I had started out just writing a novel!!!
Regardless, I'll keep the photos and my transcripts in a safe place. I must find some proof soon or I'll go crazy!
I must return to the city tonight...I need some headspace. This is all insane! Why am I listening to these people? I must be loosing my mind. How have I got sucked into believing all of this!
23-11
Saturday morning
Back at Braden! It's been a couple of months since I've been here. The time away has been good; getting back to journalism again has been good for my psyche. Working back at the newspaper with Stacey made me realize that I was getting far too caught up in everything.
Saturday afternoon
Just received a phone call from a man called Asa! Strange name...
Anyway he's claiming to know my relatives! He must be some sort of crank...the only relatives I knew of were my parents, and they're dead!
However I agreed to meet him tomorrow.
24-11
Sunday morning
Met with this man called Asa here at the house! Weird looking person...very old with long white hair and beard; looked like a Wizard straight out of a storybook!
He told me that he was preparing me for the information that I would be receiving from my father's lawyers. He said he had known my parents and knew who had murdered them.
He wouldn't elaborate but said that I was here to participate in the mandate of the 'Power of Three'. Before I could ask him what he was talking about he did some sort of weird spell over me, talking all the while in some sort of gibberish language.
I'm afraid I lost it and kicked him out! This is all getting too bizarre!
Asa had said that there is much more I need to know. I'm finding this infuriating! Why tell me so much, and yet so little?
Asa left an envelope behind...I suspect on purpose, although I cannot fathom why. Inside were two photographs. One of a young teenager that unbelievably looked just like Jade, Trina's daughter; the other, an old sepia photo of a young girl of the same age bearing a striking resemblance. The inscription written on the back I found intriguing. Is this why he gave them to me?
Am I to believe what it says?
This man Asa I am convinced is not what he seems!
1-1
Thursday
7pm
It's the first day of the new- year and I have just learnt that the Crines have infiltrated Braden's society! How many of the townspeople are now aliens? I must find out how they came to be and who the hierarchy is! Trina says she knows but is afraid to tell me and now will not give me the list of her ancestors.
Tonight I intend to show her those yellowed pages that I have from William Braden's Journal in the hope she will validate them...IT IS IMPERATIVE!
10-1
Saturday
9pm
I would never have believed it! Thanks to Trina, it is now confirmed that there are 2 journals, one from William Braden and one from his son James. Today I held both journals in my hands! They do exist after all!
I placed those yellowed pages where in both William and James Braden's journal I could see pages missing. They matched!
Trina was terrified that someone had followed me, however I assured her that I'd been careful. She made me promise before she showed the journals to me that I would protect her daughter, Jade, if anything ever happened to her. Her fears have really concerned me; there is so much she isn't telling me! I'm pretty sure that Jade's grandfather is one of the hierarchies in the Crines.
There wasn't time to read them from beginning to end, however when Trina left the room I photographed some of the pages. I know that I should not have done this as it may endanger Trina, but I couldn't help myself ...I have to know the answers to this mystery!
What I read in James Braden's journal confirmed that he had begun the' Secret Society of Crines'. It appears that he began the infiltration of humanoids into Braden's community.
11-1
Sunday
11am
Have just filed the photographs of those pages from the journals into my lap top! It'
s a bit risky but I wanted to delete them from my camera. I must print them out and delete the files from my laptop later today. I cannot risk leaving any trace of them, anywhere.
I must ask Trina if I can see James Braden's Journal again! I need to learn more about the Secret Society of the Crines.
I'm convinced that William Braden must have recorded the names of the cloned aliens and those first humanoids. If only I could find these records then I would know if the Crines have used these clones for breeding. What I suspect and fear is that they have allowed these clones to integrate and breed into the community of Braden.
12-1
Monday
12pm
This morning I finished transcribing those photographed pages. What is written on the last page of William Braden's Journal is extraordinary...It changes everything!
I am in a quandary! Nothing is as I believed!
(And if I'm to prove it then I must find the location of this 'Circle of Time')
I put the pages down, I could hardly breathe. Dad had really believed this stuff, but where is the proof? Space travel, wormholes to other parallel universes, aliens...and what is this 'Circle of Time'?
I sat there confused my mind filled with countless questions. The key I knew was finding this weird man who called himself Asa...but where do I start?
I flicked back to the page of dads diary where he described him. 'Very old with long white hair and beard looked like a Wizard straight out of a storybook.'
Why hadn't I realized it before? Dad had described the old man who'd tried to give me that strange charm!
Cripes the old man had also tried to give it to Liam.
Shaking I picked up dad's diary and turned to where he'd written the names of his friends and their kids.
My heart beat faster. Dad's friends Charlie and Sam surname's was 'Powers', their kids names, Liam and Katie.
My friends Liam and Katie's surname...Powers!
My eyes scanned further looking for the name of Katie's mother's friend and her daughter.
There it was ...Trina McTavish and her daughters name was Jade!
My friend Jade's surname, Mc Tavish!
So dad's friends are the parents of my friends!
Taken back I realized this was more than a coincidence... I was walking in dad's footsteps; this parody had come full circle.
However I couldn't understand why, if as dad believed Jade's mother was a descendant of James Braden who'd founded the Secret Society of Crines she had helped him. She would have had to be like Jade's grandfather, a hierarchy in the Secret Society of Crimes.
I had to find where mum had put dad's laptop maybe he hadn't deleted everything
Overwhelmed I didn't know what to do next, I really needed help. I couldn't talk to mum about my fears, every time I tried to discuss dad's diary with her she'd get hysterical.
I had to follow my gut and confide in Katie and Liam. But was it too soon...would they just think that I was nuts when I told them we were about to be empowered with supernatural abilities?
And Jade? Katie and Liam would surely tell her! I had to get them alone and make them promise not to say a word. However I knew that was nigh to impossible, the three of them were joined at the hip.
I had no choice I would have to trust Jade like dad had her mother.
I jumped as I heard the front door slam. I could hear footsteps and listened nervously.
Relieved I recognized mums hurried footsteps outside my bedroom.
"Jamie ...I'm home! What happened downstairs?"
"Somebody broke into the house mum, but I've checked it out. Nothings missing and whoever it was has long gone."
However mum wasn't listening, her face had gone deathly white.
"Jamie what's that you've got in your hands?"
I had totally forgotten that I was still holding the missing pages of dad's diary. I gulped and handed them to her.