Chapter Seven - Comparison

Corbin’s ride home was equally nerve-racking as the trip to the historical society. He had more questions than before and now his subject was apparently faceless, a regular John Doe. It’s possible that an old image could fade over time. Issues like the ink running dry and the exposure to the elements deteriorating its fullness, but the old newspaper articles all had legible font except for the image of Harrison. Could the person who tampered with the images of Harrison at the historical society done the same thing at the View? A cold shiver ran down his spine. But I looked at the articles right away, so that would mean that whoever did it must have known that I was researching Harrison or must have done it long ago to prevent someone from finding out who he was, but why? Corbin had the taxi driver drop him off at the Charlestown View. The sun was still shining, but started to descend between the high, forested hills that surrounded the small New Hampshire town. Corbin stood on the sidewalk right outside the news building and checked his watch, after he had fixed it during his ride in the taxi.

’5:30’

The building looked abandoned. In the small-town news building most people were usually gone by five or six. Corbin walked in to stop by his desk to drop off his camera and supplies. He walked into the newsroom and heard a few voices echo across the metallic walls. As he advanced closer, he saw that some people were still around, talking by William’s desk. Corbin was nearly at his own desk when he heard his old friend call him over.

“Hey Corbin, we were just talking about you,” exclaimed William.

“Oh, Yeah…”

“Uh yeah…come over Sherlock Holmes. I haven’t seen you in a while. Tell us about your new case. Mr. Richter didn’t put your name up on the job roster,” joked William.

Corbin’s heart stopped. That’s right, Richter put our names up next to our jobs. How did I forget that?!

The group shared a laugh as Corbin shook his head, trying not to endorse William’s odd humor.

He placed his camera bag into his drawer and then joined the others in their discussion. Corbin wasn’t really someone to chit-chat, but the day’s events have already worn down his brain too much for him to care about writing more to his story. He needed something a bit light-hearted.

Corbin noticed a few individuals from the staff meetings, but for the most part in his few months there he only knew a handful of people.
Donna Griswold, the sarcastic receptionist who was famous for being able to tell off Mr. Richter with no consequence; Jeff Cromwell, the quirky intern; Mary Hofstadt, a recent divorcee who seemed to stay at the Charlestown View long after hours, rumors floated around saying she actual lived there. It was an odd crowd to be hanging out around William’s desk, but Corbin enjoyed the company. They talked about their assignments, but Corbin continued to stay quiet about his own, changing the subject to the long winter they had been experiencing or how nice it would be to go on a trip to Europe.

After a short while everyone left except for Corbin and William. Corbin was glad for he wanted to consult in his friend in private.

“Hey Will,... what do you know about the word oculus?” asked Corbin.

For a moment Will’s eyes froze on a picture frame on his desk, an old black and white daguerreotype of a young woman and a boy. His research must have stressed him out as much as Corbin, the color quickly drained from his face as his body went uncomfortably rigid. After a few moments, he shook himself out of his catatonic-like daze. “Well,... yeah,” murmured Will, “Oculus... oculus is an .. uh .. architectural term, I think. Like the shape of a window or something like that. I remember talking to you about that a few weeks ago. Remember?”

Corbin nodded. A vague memory returned to him of a conversation of windows, but faded from his mind like a cloud breaking to let in the sunlight. He received another slight headache.

Corbin diverted the discussion to the odd events that occurred, including the senile man and the doctor’s visit.

“Hey, it seems like you had an exciting day, why don’t you go home and let all of this process,” said Will.

“Yeah... maybe you’re right.”
“I’m always right,” jested Will.

Corbin chortled and started his walk home. Corbin didn’t seem to trust anyone anymore, making his conversations with William awkward and brief. It wouldn’t be too long until William would notice something wrong and try to pry it out of him. Corbin hoped it would take at least a few more weeks before that would happen. I need to get some sleep. Let all this craziness process. William’s explanation for oculus was odd to him.

Windows?... Why would Harrison, an inventor, be interested in windows? What was he trying to make? Corbin was oblivious to the street lights that lit his way or the patches of black ice that he unknowingly avoided with each lucky step toward 68 Main Street.

Corbin arrived at his apartment exhausted and anxious. He used his antique key to unlock his door and then went into his bedroom. He took off his jacket and plopped it on his bed, hearing a heavy thud when it landed on the soft mattress. He sighed and pulled the camera out of his jacket pocket. Huh? That’s odd I thought I left you at the office. “Well, I guess if you’re here. Let’s see what you have to share with us.”

He placed the camera on his desk and then pulled out the four old sheets of paper found in the Harrison home – concealed within his desk drawer. The camera pinged to life after he tapped on the small, circular power button on the top edge. The dials and touchscreen were difficult for him to administer, taking him nearly ten minutes to open the photo gallery. After a few moments of prodding, the thumbnail sized photos were displayed on the small LCD screen on the back of the camera. He placed it on his desk, screen facing him, and then laid out the four papers individually. Let’s see if you are truly the missing pages.

One of the four pages was dated, ’Dec. 23, 1896’. He checked his camera and indeed it was in the same straight perpendicular strokes as the inventor. The other three sheets weren’t dated, but the distinct reddish stain edged along the outside margin of the paper matched the light speckles of red on the entry titled, “Presque fini” that illuminated on the screen. Hmm, French. He now recognized that the other long end of each page were loose fibers sticking out, creating a fluffy, soft edge compared to the straight, stained end on the opposite side. This is where it was ripped out, but why take out these pages? He studied their contents, now highly sensitive to any overlooked information and as if now they would magically appear. The same word ‘oculus’ was found on each page, surrounded by scientific equations and sketches. The mysterious word swam through the focus of Corbin’s thoughts. What is oculus?

After almost a half an hour of studying the notes and trying to make sense of the missing pages, he still didn’t come to any conclusion. He frequently returned to a sketch, found on the note dated ’Dec. 23, 1896’. The sketch presented a man that stood outside a square. Within the square that he was facing, housed another man, looking back at him like two people staring at each other through a window. A window! It seemed odd that such complicated formulas surrounded a very simple illustration as if there was something hidden in the soft pencil strokes and fine lines. On the next page, titled ‘Christmas Eve’ there was another illustration of the exact same scenario, but there was only one man staring at the square. After he gave up trying to decipher the drawings, Corbin turned his focus onto the formulas, complex and yet familiar, as if he may have learned them and forget their application over the years. Well now I understand why my math teacher kept telling us. ‘Remember Math is everywhere’. If this oculus thing is a window, then why are there so many mathematics involved? ... Windows have been around for thousands of years.... Is it supposed to look like a window, but be something else?

On the first undated page, the illustrations started to take more shape and detail as if the inventor was bringing his invention into fruition. Complex gear mechanics and theories of light travel and film lined the edges of the paper, each labeled and simply defined so that even an engineering student would be able to build its infrastructure and for an amateur scientist be able to understand its functioning.

Is it supposed to make people look invisible? But what type of application can that have? He took a few moments to try to answer his own questions. His eyes glazed over the small LCD screen, facing him from his desk, a true testament of how advanced humanity had become in just a hundred years. Film. Was this supposed to be used in like vampire movies? Or is just a window with crazy scientific formulas connected to it? He decided to write down any thoughts that came to his mind on what was the mysterious and alluding, ’oculus’.

Next Chapter: 8 - Unexpected