Gran's box

My father was not a famous man, but he should've been. He was the first person to break ground on that archaeology dig in Egypt you didn't hear about. I go to see him once a week now. I tell him how things at home are, and he just sits there and rocks back and forth in his beige sleeveless jacket. He hasn't said anything since the first day he was here, before the doctors began pumping the drugs into him that make him drool on himself. I'll not soon forget what he said. He looked at me, straining against the straight jacket that he'd willingly stepped in to. He winced as they tightened it. He looked dead in to my eyes, and I returned the gaze. I didn't know yet. I thought he'd acted the way he did unprovoked. I didn't know why he'd practically destroyed our house in a sudden fit of rage, screaming 'Where are you?!' at the top of his lungs. I didn't know why he thrown my mother down a flight of stairs and paralyzed her from the neck down. But I now sat next to a broken mess of a man. Dried tears dotted my cheeks, and I looked at the man I thought was a monster and asked him, 'Why?' He glanced up to me with those sad, brown eyes and smiled. It took all I had not to punch him his already swollen face. He simply said 'Top drawer, right side.' before he looked back to the floor and closed his eyes. That was the last time he spoke to me. I immediately rushed home. I parked the car and ran in, up the stairs and down the hall to my father's study. I tried the knob and, as usual, it was locked. I was so angry, before I knew it I had broken the door down in three kicks. I strode to his desk and opened the drawer he had identified. It was empty save for a large, manila folder. I ripped it open and poured the contents on the desk, which consisted of a folder full of ruffled pages and a small post-it note. I plucked up the post-it and read it aloud. '45-34-21.' I set it aside and picked up the folder. I immediately recognized my fathers handwriting. I opened the folder and laid the pages out on the table. They were wrinkled, smudged, and horribly frayed, but I sat down and began reading. From the best I could tell, he had began writing these the day after he got home from the dig. He began: 'Just got home today. I decided to start this journal after a recommendation from a friend. Not really sure how to go about this. I brought back a birthday present for my 16 year-old son. It's a small copper plate about 3 inches square. Found it just outside the dig site. Has a small hole punched at the top. Maybe he could put it on a necklace. Lots of strange carvings on it. They don't seem to be a language. Small picture of a human figure etched in as well. It seems to be wearing a mask or helmet. I hope he likes it.' That was all that was on the first page. I almost smiled at my dad's writing style. Choppy, brief, and informal, just like dad. But I paused for a moment. My birthday was still a few days away, and I had heard nothing about this 'gift'. I skipped to the next entry, which was dated to be the following day. 'Long night. Couldn't seem to get to sleep. I swear I heard a voice last night. Couldn't make out what it said. Just a whispering from down the hall. Maybe Josh was up late. I'll ask today' That piqued my attention. I remember him asking me if I had been up late, but I know I had been asleep. Odd. I read on to the next day. 'I had to write this down. No one will believe me if I don't. The whispering came back last night. This time I heard what it said. Give it back. That's all it said. Over and over. I looked out the door to the hallway and I'd swear I saw someone there. A short figure, hunched over. Heard a raspy breathing. Kept saying give it back give it back.' I couldn't believe what I was reading. Had my father gone crazy over night? I remember him behaving oddly the next morning, but I was in such a hurry for school, I thought nothing of it. I flipped to the next page, and immediately noticed a difference. The handwriting was smudged, scratchy, and uneven, almost like it had been written in a hurry. It said: 'Had my friend B