Orbs

Chapter Two

Relia closed her report packet and stood there, staring at the blank eyes gazing back at her. Professor Gideon let out a cough that snapped everyone out of their daze. A hand shot up into the air.

"Lilac, do you have a question for Relia?" 

"Hell yeah I do. What the fuck?" Snorts of laughter echoed off the classroom's walls. Relia blew a strand of her red hair from her face in frustration.

"Hey! I don't take kindly to profanity in my room." Snapped the Professor. He patted Relia on the shoulder. "That was an interesting report, but I believe I said it had to be on a family member...?"

"It was. I did my report on my three timed over Great Aunt Aurelia. She went absolutely insane after her brother betrayed her and stole her eyes. I was named after her because my mom really loves the name, but I find it morbidly amusing." Relia explained. Professor Gideon scratched his greying beard, deep in thought. Another hand rose from the rows of young adults.

"How exactly do you know he took the eyes if it's such an old story?" 

Relia straightened her posture and stared directly at the twenty-some year old boy questioning her. She could see he was genuinely curious. Everyone else turned to face their fellow student as well. A smirk formed on Relia's lips.

"Because my family has one."

"WHAT?!"

Loud conversations quickly grew into full shouting fits. Professor Gideon slammed his hands on his metal desk, using it's loud echo to silence the student. He then crossed back over to where Relia remained, crossing his arms. The teen rolled her report into a cylinder shape, fidgeting under the older man's stare. He waved his hand, signaling he wanted his student to continue. Relia exhaled before reciting her last stament.

"My family has one of the golden eyes. It's on the fireplace mantle. Every time I go home, I'm greeted with the sun's ray hitting it just so perfectly that the gold shimmers. Its.....its an unreal experience."

Soft thuds traveled from an empty seat. Relia watched as the young man she answered stopped before her. He cocked his head sideways, determining if the answer he received was truthful enough to believe.

"Emeric.."

"Relax Sir. I just wanted to read her face. Only way to tell if she's being honest."

"Why would anyone lie about that...Emeric." Relia hissed. Clearly the thought of being labeled a liar didn't settle right. Emeric leaned closer, letting one of his long dreads hang mid air.

"You wouldn't be the first to try pulling such a thing. People will lie over anything." 

" So what does my face say?"

The two classmates stood eye level with each other. Relia refused to back down even under Emeric's scrutinizing gaze. Neither dared to move or even breathe. Finally, the twenty some year old male sighed and retreated a step.

"She's not faking. You really do have one of those orbs, don't you?"

" Yeah, like I said, Its in a case at home."

Professor Gideon closed his laptop with a loud clack.

" Well that's class for today. You all enjoy the rest of your afternoon."

Relia handed her paper to her Professor and made her way to her table. She gathered all of her belongings and swung her bag over her shoulders. The classroom was bare except for a figure waiting by the door. Relia raised an eyebrow as she approached.

'"Why are you still here?"

Emeric pushed himself off the door frame and met each step of the girl in from.

"I had another question."

"Are you going to believe what I say this time?"

"Oooh she's a feisty one." Emeric chuckled and raised a hand. "I promise I believe everything you say."

"Then shoot."

"Why do you only have one eye?"

Relia stopped. She had asked the same question years ago to her Nana. Sure, the golden eye itself was something ethereal to see, but it never made sense why there was only one. Relia remembered staring at it while in her mom's arms as she heard the second half of the story. The half that was worse.

"The one we have was passed down from Matthew Durrie. It's like a family heirloom. As for the other one, it was pawned off. All we know is Matthew pawned it and got a pretty good sum of money, which he used to pay his dues for college. He ended up becoming a successful lawyer and married Laurel. The family continued which is how we get to current day." Relia paused for a beat. Emeric watched her, curious. " But word passed down since his time states that Matthew deeply regretted what he did. That he never wanted to hurt his sister but college was expensive, even back then. I also guess that when your father spends so much money for your sister to have actual gold fake eyes, you get kind of jealous."

The two started walking again, matching each other's pace. A comfortable silence passed over them as they both exited the doors to the campus courtyard. Emeric pulled out his sunglasses. Relia headed over to a nearby bike rack.

"I got to say, your family is freaky. "

"That's nothing new. I figured that out myself." She unlocked her bike and swung her leg over. Before she could start peddling, Emeric was there, holding onto the handlebars.

" So why is your last name different? When did the Durrie surname split?"

" Why so curious?"

Emeric smirked, "You're a curious person. You peeked my interest."

" We've been in the same course for months and now you're interested in knowing my life?" Relia tied her hair into a messy bun. " Maybe you're the freaky one?"

"I've been called worse." Emeric shrugged. He released the bike and watched as Relia started rolling down the walkway. She quickly picked up speed. She was almost out of ear shot before yelling back.

" For the record, my family is the first non-Durries that came from a first born!"

Relia arrived home in no time. By bike, she only lived ten minutes away. With a huff, she jumped off her transportation and locked it against the gate. The heavy front door to the house was open, leaving only the storm door to block her way. She twisted the handle and stepped in.

"I'm home!"

" How was class?" Asked Nana. She was scrolling through newsfeed on her tablet. Relia sat down across from the older lady, shrugging off her book bag.

" Pretty good. I bet I got an A on my report. The class didn't know what to do with the information." Relia's gaze instinctively turned to the golden orb up on the fireplace. " One of my classmates had a lot of questions. He probably thinks i'm weird."

" Our family history is....peculiar."

"Sure, let's go with that." Relia stood back up and headed into the kitchen. She was happy that her hard work paid off. Most of the information she had found were here say, but luckily there had been some old family documents stored away. Most of it had to be salvaged due to wear and tear but it all worked out. She still kept one thing out of the storage container though. A folder full of reports written from the asylum Aurelia lived in.