All They Didn't Know

Chapter 5

I make the mistake of taking the diary to school the next day. I haven't dared to read on after the note in different handwriting, but I told myself I would tonight. Anyway, for fear of my father finding the diary and realising it's connection with Uncle Joseph, I decided it would be safer with me at school.

I'm just packing up after History when Dr Parsons, our teacher, notices the fine leather diary rolling out of my bag onto the floor, as I stuff my books inside. Interested, he picks it up and opens it onto the first page, the one reading,

JAYDEN DARCY

14 YEARS OLD

THE BRITISH ISLES

And something I hadn't noticed before, in the right-hand corner, reading also in capitals,

THE PROUD WAR

But Dr Parsons sees it straight away. And his face goes white at the sight of it. He looks like he's about to throw up, his eyes bulging out of his skull, stuttering, speechless, literally grasping the desk with white knuckles so as to keep from falling over.

'Where.... Did - you get this?" He managed, eyes fixed on mine, making me uncomfortable.

"Uh - I -" I hesitate, not really wanting to tell him, thinking of Joseph.

Thankfully, Dr Parsons doesn't wait for an answer. "You will dispose of this," he says, voice very tight, with a strained authority I haven heard in him before, one that doesn't seem natural. "Immediately. It's bad for you, Callie Auburns. It will rot your mind. Things like this - are not to be trusted. Do you understand? They are -" and now he stops, fingers digging into the desk till there are dents in the wood where they were - "they are EVIL." he finally manages, eyes narrowing, blazing. "You will DISPOSE OF IT!" He yells across the classroom, causing the remaining pupils to stare.

I nod, staring up at him in shock. "Yes, sir." I whisper. I grab Jayden's diary and hurry from the classroom, my grip tightening around it.

I cannot dispose of it. That much I know, I can't possibly dispose of it.

But even so....

Dr Parsons scared me just now. Why was that so MUCH of a shock to him, why was he so horrified to the point of almost falling unconscious? Sure, he's a history teacher and this war, this point in history doesn't fit anywhere on the timeline, doesn't make any sense, but still.... Isn't that a bit of an overreaction? He isn't really that eccentric a person, quite reasonable, in fact, from what I know of him. It doesn't make any sense. And I know what I'm going to do to work it out.

As soon as I've read the next entries, I'm going to look for Uncle Joseph.

And I'm going to find out just what the hell is going on.