The Diary of Nick Dolce *ON HOLD*

Entry 5: Secrets and Lies

Writing up the Certificate of Creation for Adrian Ocre — as Reynaldo and I mutually agreed would be his last name — consumed most of my day. By the time I finished signing my name at the bottom of the parchment, the moon had risen in the sky outside.

I exhaled a sigh, puffing my cheeks up as I ran a hand through my shoulder-length light blonde hair. My eyes were heavy and my hand was cramped, the muscles starting to relax as I rolled my wrist a few times to get the blood circulsting once again. My feather quill lay on the study table in front of me, the small jar almost vacant of black ink. After three and a half hours alternating between reading over notes and Adrian's birth certificate constantly, my body and mind were both to the point of exhaustion. I felt I would fall asleep at any moment. My shoulders swayed from side-to-side the longer I remained seated in the chair.

"Go to bed, Nicolas," Reynaldo's sultry voice sounded from behind me, bringing a sense of déjà vu, "I've put Adrian to rest. You should do the same, before you pass out on the floor. I doubt you would want to spend the morning sleeping on something that uncomfortable."

A yawn escaped my mouth as I stretched my arms up above me, rolling the crick from my neck during the time I spent hunched over the narrow table scribbling things down by candlelight. I could barely see a foot in front of me, but nodded at his request and rose to my feet with some difficulty.

"Get a good night's rest, buddy." He patted me on the shoulder, offering his most genuine warm-hearted smile. "I shall see you whenever you decide to wake up."

"Goodnight." I mumbled, waving a hand lousily through the air as my feet sluggishly dragged me towards the hallway.

Before settling in for the night, I needed to make a quick stop by the lab to retrieve my abandoned glass of water. Deciding to do just that, I grabbed the silver knob gently in my hand and twisted it, pushing the door open as silently as I could. Darkness greeted me happily, offering no source of light to illuminate the objects in the space. I mentally face palmed, quickly heading back into the dining area where the candle still flickered animatedly.

I picked it up by the metal base, gradually touring around the numerous metal countertops until a glint caught my eye from the darkest corner of the lab. Shrugging off the sudden and inexplicable urge to stand frozen to the spot, I followed the direction from which the glint had caught my attention. Two things were on the bench, only one of them belonging to me.

The first was my half-empty glass of water. The second was a silver bullet in the shape of a small round lead ball, engraved with the initials I.W.

I cautiously reached forward, scooping the cold object up into the palm of my hand and threading it through my fingers. There was something peculiar about this certain type of bullet, as if I had once known who it belonged to. But for the life of me, I could not remember their name or what they looked like. All I knew for certain was it most likely belonged to a person I met during my childhood.

A sudden deafening crash from the back of the room tore me away from my thoughts, startling me. I spun around on my feet, clutching the bullet tightly in my hand like my life depended on it. There was nothing around me that could be used as a potential weapon, leaving me at a severe disadvantage.

The only sound in the lab was the loud thrumming of my heart inside my chest, spreading up to and through my ears. My breathing was laboured and ragged, my palms sweaty and my knees trembling in fear. It was common for mice to sneak into the lab, but something as small as a mouse couldn't possibly have made such a disturbance, ruling out the chance of it being some sort of small mammal.