Braden ' Power of 3' Page 5
THE DIARY
FRIDAY 5/3
12-1
Saturday
12.30pm
Dear Diary, I find myself in a place that I vowed I would never return to ...Braden. Sadly it is here in this very house where I had spent my childhood that I saw my parents for the last time... their mutilated bodies drained of life.
The last few days have been a painful journey of bittersweet memories, but one I'm now glad that I've made...it has enabled me to at last, confront the demons of my past.
I find it strange how fate seems to play a hand in your destiny when you least expect it. How could I have possibly known that by deciding to sell my parents home I would determine the path that I'm now taking.
It's quite ironic actually...I'd been agonizing over this decision for some time, and now it's been made for me. There is no possible way that I could sell now! Those yellowed pages of ancient text that I found hidden in a secret drawer of my fathers desk have changed everything! Their content I find extraordinary, and I feel compelled to unravel their mystery.
From the moment I held them in my hands I knew that is what my father would have wanted. It would have been too easy to dismiss them as writings of a madman and just go about the business of selling my childhood home. However I feel I owe it to the memories of my parents to explore the possibilities of their content, and pray that what is written there is purely the ramblings of a demented mind.
However I'm intrigued as to how my father came into their possession as they appear to be of great historical significance and surely should be in the hands of 'Braden's Historical Society'. I'm however reluctant to surrender them, even though it is obvious that these pages have been removed from the journal of the town's namesake William Braden.
I find their contents fascinating and I can now understand my father's obsession with those ancient ruins on Apogee Mountain.
Be it fact or fiction the content of those old pages is far too incredible to ignore. They have at long last given me the inspiration that I needed to begin writing the novel about my hometown. Only now I'm afraid I can no longer write the boring historical document that I had planned.
My only quandary now is whether I should inform my newspaper and seek a leave of absence. However my instincts tell me that the least people that know about my find the better! Sadly that goes for Stacey as well, she would never understand my need to research what is written there. Knowing my darling wife she would immediately dismiss the contents of those pages as poppycock!
1-3
Saturday
2pm
Well I'm back! I can't believe that a month has passed already and I can only say that it feels strange to finally be here...I hope I've made the right decision about not selling the old house!
It's so quiet here that I jump at every sound I make. I guess I'll have to get used to it...after all I'll be coming here for a lot more weekends yet.
I've just been up in the attic where I had found my parents mangled bodies lying in a pool of blood so many years ago. Finally I've made peace with that painful memory.
It sounds macabre but I've decided that in the attic is where I should write my novel. I've just filled up the old lantern I found with oil and have made a space under the window for my father's desk...it'll be a pleasant distraction looking out to the harbor while I write.
Have decided to title my novel 'Mysterious Braden'
NOTE....remember to connect electricity!
Saturday 11pm
I have been studying the handwriting on those pages of ancient text all afternoon and I am convinced that they have come from separate journals... those of William Braden and his son James that he mentions. The handwritings differ as do the size of the pages and it is obvious that the events chronicled after William Braden's disappearance had to have been written by his son.
Tomorrow I intend to prove my theory by checking the writing of those ancient pages of text against early documents of Braden held in the towns' library. There must be something there that William Braden as founder of the town had signed! I know it is a long shot, but maybe there is also something with his son's signature as well.
First though, I must establish the writing on those pages as authentic before I search out William Braden's descendants...otherwise they will dismiss me as nuts!
2-3
Sunday
6pm
I haven't as yet had time to visit Braden's Library...Have been trying to find a way through the walls that surround William Braden's deserted mansion near the ruins of the Ancient city for some clue...they say he built it not long after the town was settled. Makes it pretty old!