Near The Truth

Chapter 9- A Growing Suspicion

While Jack was now wandering in the second floor and Greg was sleeping, Brian was trying to control his brain, as dozens of different thoughts were floating in his mind.

"What is going on? Am I dreaming?"

He left the "Operation Room" and sat in one of the big sofas in the living room of the first floor.

"Ok. Now I am calm. What should I do? Should I tell the doc about this?"

He needed to sleep. However he decided not to.

"No. This will only make the matters worse. Jack is confused too. I should take the situation under control."

Brian started to scratch his black beard.

"Greg is sleeping, maybe I can search his house now."

He stood up and firstly analyzed the living room with his eyes. There were 4 big sofas in the living room, all placed in the center of the room. They formed a kind of a rectangle and in the center, there were 4 HD TV-s. Brian didn't opened a TV because he thought the noise could wake Greg up. The walls were full of expensive old paintings, most of them from gothic era. Brian didn't pay too much attention to the paintings. The room included also two big bookshelves. Brian wanted to take a look on the books, even though he was not interested in them. He couldn't check all of the books, so he decided to start from the bottom of the shelf on the right.

"Shakespeare, Shakespeare, Shakespeare . . . Edmund Spenser."

He took that book and read the description.

"What is this? "The Ruins of time"

He put the book back in the shelf and continued with his search for anything suspicious.

"Nothing . . . Charles Dickens, Dickens, Charlotte Bronte, Anne Bronte, Emily Bronte, George Eliot . . . Oh, Oscar Wild of course. "A Woman of no Importance"."

He put the book back in the shelf and sighed.

"I think I shouldn't search more here. Nothing suspicious."

Brian went to the other bookshelf on the left.

"I think there is nothing suspicious here too. But, just in case . . . "Don Quixote", "The Black Sheep",

"The Count of Monte Cristo", "The Plague". . . He may not be so boring after all."

He continued to check.

"Emma", "Madame Bovary", "Little Woman", "Anna Karenina" . . . This books. He may have great interest in women too . . . Wait, what are those?"

Brian detected a small part of the shelf on the bottom right was painted in black, while the whole shelf was brown. He felt like he would discover something important. He was a bit shocked.

"The Exorcist". Stephen King. "Revival", "Doctor Sleep", "The Mist"

His interest began to grow as he was checking some of the horror books. Then, he stopped. He saw a book in that part. It had no author.

"What is this . . . "Near the Truth" . . . What are you hiding doc?"

He opened the book, which looked new and covered in black color. The title of the book was in white color.

"A no named boy was walking in the surface of Planet 33 for the first time." . . . No named? Huh, useless writer . . . "He was not used to walk in that strange environment, different from every planet he had been before. He could not see his friends there. He wanted to play . . . "

Brian closed the book and put it back in the shelf.

"Stupid book for children. Anyway, I will check it again soon."

He thought he should go home and sleep with his family. It was 3:00 AM. He decided to take Jack with him.

"My eyes are hurting. I must sleep. Jack is not feeling good too, I think."

Brian went to the second floor.

"The doc is pretty interesting. It seems he also likes mystery and horror."

Brian noticed Jack was in one of the bedrooms. He had opened the window and was smoking.

"Hey Jack, I need to go. Come with me."

Jack seemed relaxed. He turned back. His eyes were very tired.

"Yes. I am coming. It was too much for me today . . . How is your leg?"

Brian realized, he had forgotten his injury since long time ago.

"Ah, it's nothing. I guess it is already healed."

Jack finished his cigarette and went back to the first floor together with Brian. Jack asked with a calm voice.

"Should we tell Greg that we are leaving?"

"No, let him sleep . . . You need to go to your house."

They left Greg's big house. It was cold outside and none was in the streets.

"Yes, it is near here. I can go by foot. What about you? Your house is far from here."

"Don't worry about me. I will be ok if you let me use your phone. I will call a friend of mine. He works as a late taxi driver."

"What, you have no money still?"

Brian looked strange.

"Ah, yes . . . Sorry, I forgot to check it this time."

Jack gave the phone to Brian. He opened his mobile phone to see his friend's number.

"Are you done yet? What is taking so long?"

"I have a big list of contacts . . . I found it. Now I will call him".

Jack waited a few minutes, while Brian told his friend to come there.

"Okay, I'm done. Here you go. Thanks."

"No problem. I should go now. It was a hard day wasn't it?"

"Yes, but don't worry. It will be fine."

"Bye, see you tomorrow."

"Bye."

Jack left fast, while Brian was waiting for his taxi. 10 Minutes later, the taxi came. Brian rushed inside the car.

"Hello my friend! Partying again so late?"

"No. I just had to work late today."

"Nice house."

"Yes, a friend of mine."

"Where to? Home?"

"No, wait. We are going elsewhere. I have to call someone."

^AchingThoughts^.^