ALL IN THE HEAD 1

DEAD MAN'S JOURNAL

Hubert Granise, pacing the length of his pleasant lamp-lit library, paused to compare his watch with the clock on the chimneypiece. They were both in perfect sync just as they were when last he compared them only two minutes earlier.

'Damn', he thought, 'where is that boy?'

The boy Hubert was referring to is Aengus Brennan, a young man with an internship with the city newspaper whose future career in reporting depended on what he could take from being assigned to accompany Hubert during Hubert's latest project. Hubert is extremely eccentric but always seems to make headlines, so much so that an intern usually gets assigned to document his work and findings.

Aengus had been introduced to Hubert the day before with the arrangements for a suitable time for both men to meet on this day and Aengus was already running late, not a good start. Everything went to routine for Hubert; anything he'd do would have an allotted time in which he'd expect to have it accomplished. Not working to schedule really gets his goat.

When Aengus finally arrived, apologizing for being late, it was time to get right down to it and plan for what may lay ahead. Hubert had come across something, whereby on his initial viewing he believed to be an obvious fake, but the more he indulged himself, the more intrigued he became, further yet he began to be convinced of its authenticity due to certain situations which occurred. His main objective at this point is to somehow prove or disprove without a shadow of a doubt the authenticity of what it is he had found.

***

Jason Duggan was deep in thought as he stared out the window from his seat within the coffee shop with which he regularly would frequent. His large latte, already cold, had yet to be touched. So deep in thought was Jason that a murder could have taken place right in front of him and he still would have not taken any notice, for he was in more of a trance like state rather than being in a moment of daydream.

Something, however, was about to take him somewhere where his thoughts never could. His mind had been wandering quite a lot of late, so from May 12th, 2009 Jason decided to begin keeping a detailed journal of his daily events and activities in an attempt to decipher his moments of daydream wandering.

The strange thing now is that this journal that Jason Duggan is keeping would end up in the hands of a certain Hubert Granise though why should that be such a strange thing? Because the present-day moment in time was or is for Hubert is that of May 12th, 1890, exactly one hundred and nineteen years to the day earlier than that of the day of the first journal entry. There was no name or address on this journal, just the time, date and the entries themselves.

Hubert had read some of this journal and decided not to go too far into it. He began to investigate it day by day matching day for day with his investigation, reading and making necessary adjustments for each entry on the same day as the days go by as he felt this to be of importance. So, May 12th, 2009's entry would be looked into on May 12th, 1890, while having Aengus document this journey. Such is why timing is so important to Hubert.

'I have been daydreaming uncontrollably as of late, no matter what I am doing I just drift off. It can happen at the most inappropriate of times. I am afraid to do anything of consequence as for when I drift off, I could easily cause harm to either myself or those around me. This ... drifting ... is consuming my life. Whatever this is, this thing that is happening to me, I want it to end.

These daydreams, it's as if I go somewhere, and witness a moment, a moment in another place and perhaps another time too. Just moments ago, as I looked out the window from where I am sitting, it seemed like as if I were looking into a room, a library like living room of a very old-style house, lit with oil-lamps.