[ WP ] : You , a historian , find something odd in your records . The same face , accompanied with variations of the same name , keeps emerging in paintings , drawings , woodcarvings and documents , from a span of several centuries . It looks suspiciously like your assistant .

I came back to my office, locked the door and opened the secret compartment of my desk. I grabbed the folder hidden in there, and let myself fall on the floor. I closed my eyes, and tried to breathe. Slowly, I opened the folder, and looked at the documents. 
 A reproduction of a sketch by Renoir from 1876, studies on the first Statue of David, by Donatello in 1408, a picture of an undated wood pendant found in Russia, a picture of my assistant that I found on Facebook and printed a few weeks ago… And about half a dozen other documents, all with the same face. Giorgio Alessandro Messia, 1357. Gustav Adamov, 1578. François Lemercier, 1875. Richard Smith, 1905. Nathan Boswell, 2016. 
 This was no coincidence. I had known it for a while, but I still needed some evidence. Something that would prove that I was not crazy. I just did not think of the cost. 
 “ Doctor Hatcher? ” 
 The noise gets me out of my torpor. Nathan is knocking on my door. 
 “ Not now, Nathan. ”, I reply with an unsteady voice. 
 “ Miss Hatcher, you are going to be late for the conference! ”, he continues. 
 The conference. The conference… 
 “ What conference? ”, I ask. 
 I am not the most organised person in the world, but I can not recall having any conference today. I get up and go to my desk. My laptop is on, and I have a reminder: 
 “ Conference. 10 minutes. ” 
 I am sure I did not have any conference planned today. 
 “ Nathan? Are you still here? ”, I ask. 
 No answer. 
 Something is wrong. 
 I take my handbag and open it. Earlier today, I had a meeting with a fellow historian, Professor Hughes, now retired. He was known for a research on the Count of Saint Germain, who was thought to be immortal. I had heard of Hughes for his eccentricity – most of my colleagues always thought he was crazy – but sanity is not really a prerequisite in our profession. It turns out that Professor Hughes had always been in his right mind. 
 “ I have never found evidence showing that the Count of Saint Germain and all these people were actually the same person but I have found a few statements describing some sort of miracles… let me have a look… ” He had prepared some documents for me, and was flicking through them. “ We had testimonies about a man who escaped after he got hanged in 1589, another who walked out of the Great Fire without a scar… ” 
 I took my phone, flicked through some pictures, and showed Professor Hughes a picture from Facebook. His face became suddenly red and he was gasping for air. 
 I called an ambulance straight away. He was having a heart attack. I had to give my statement to the police, sign papers… I was not able to concentrate on anything. The only reason why Professor Hughes would have a heart attack when he saw Nathan would be… Because Nathan is the Count of Saint Germain. 
 A loud noise brings me back to the present. 
 “ Doctor Hatcher! ” 
 Nathan appears in my office, a fire extinguisher in his hand. I look at the door. He destroyed it. He destroyed my office door! 
 “ Nathan, what the hell are you doing? ”, I say. 
 He walks towards me. I don ’ t try to hide the pictures scattered on the floor. The pictures of him. 
 “ And what are you doing? ”, he asks. 
 He drops the fire extinguisher, and comes to sit next to me, on the floor. 
 I look at him, intently. He is about 25, dark hair, dark eyes. And dark secrets, obviously. 
 “ Who the hell are you, Nathan? ”, I say. 
 “ You are going to be late for the conference! Miss Hatcher! ” 
 I wake up in a start. I look at my office door. It ’ s still there. 
 “ Doctor Hatcher! ”, my assistant is screaming with her high-pitched voice. I can not stand her voice. It is lucky she is leaving next month. 
 I look at the papers on my desk. Applications to become my new assistant. “ Nathan Boswell, MA in History, currently studying for a PhD. ”, says the CV. I look at my laptop. A Facebook page is showing, with pictures of Nathan Boswell, 25 y.o, dark hair, dark eyes. 
 “ Doctor Hatcher! ”, says the voice behind the door. 
 “ I ’ m coming, Liz. I ’ m coming. ” 
 “ Professor Hughes is waiting! You know how much he hates waiting! ”, Liz says. 
 Dear God. I wish I could go back to the world where I had a young handsome immortal man with a normal voice as an assistant. And a world where Hughes has retired. I take a breath, walk to the door and open it. 
 “ Would you mind calling this Nathan Boswell for an interview, please? ”, I tell Liz while handing in Nathan Boswell ’ s CV. 
 
 __________ 
 
 This is my first go ever at such an exercise, I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! 
 
 Edit: grammar mistake
