Orbs

Chapter Four

It was Sunday afternoon when Relia and Emeric sat on the nineteen year old's floor. The old cardboard box sat under her desk, remarkably still holding itself together even after so many years. Still, Relia was planning on transferring all it's contents to a sturdier plastic container. 

"So here are all the reports I found in the folder." She slid the papers over to her guest, who flipped it open gingerly. He pulled out a yellowed paper labeled Report Two.

Report Two,: January 11th, 1911

Inmate 79 is still refusing to accept treatment. Any attempt to administer pills is met with a wild array of thrown fists and scraping nails. I doubt dealing with her will be an easy feet down the line.  She is consistent with the idea her own brother ripped her fake eyes from her. She is truly a delirious young woman. If she refuses her medication more, then the next step will be electro shock therapy. She must give into the treatment if she ever expects to take responsibility for her actions.

Signed, Doctor Demen.

Emeric slowly lifted his gaze. Relia stared back, lost for words. The ticking from the clock on the wall seemed almost deafening. The two sat there, processing the second report. Medication? For what? Electro shock therapy? Aurelia wasn't sick!

"...They didn't know Matthew actually did take her eyes. They thought she was crazy for attacking him and killing her father." Relia leaned her head against the frame of her bed. Emeric dropped the paper back with the others.

"Okay, but isn't that exactly what happened? She did go crazy and she did kill her dad."

" But it wasn't because of a sudden mental breakdown. She was drove to it by betrayal and almost being murdered. Hell, no one even thought to question what did happen to her eyes. They never cared to!" Relia tightened her fists. " All it would have taken was someone having enough sense to ask what happened. Matthew wrote in his journal how he always held onto the eyes until pawning the one off. Even after that, he kept the other close as well."

Emeric watched as Relia reached into the box. This time she pulled out a worn, leather bound journal. On the front right corner were the initials M.D. written in ink. She flipped the page open to the first entry written after Aurelia was committed.

December 29th, 1910

I've returned home with Mom and Laurel. Leaving Aurelia at the asylum was even more difficult than I could have imagined. Why did she have to survive? I wanted it to be easy! If she would have died...Her screams were horrible. They felt like they pierced by bones. I needed the gold. If my parents didn't have golden eyes made than I wouldn't be struggling to pay for my college. She would have been fine with basic fake eyes, so why gold?! But...she's still my sister and I have a piece of her. I can't give both up. That can never happen. Only one, I can do that much.

-  Matt

With the look on Emeric's face, Relia could already guess his opinion of it. The young man closed the journal, delicately placing it on the floor. He leaned back on his hands and tilted his head towards the ceiling. Relia couldn't help but feel somewhat validated.

"Heavy stuff, huh?"

"...It's disgusting how people can easily turn on each other, even siblings." Emeric angled his eyes to look down at his classmate. " I bet that if he had discussed the issue with his family, they would have figured out a solution. Hell, ten to one, Aurelia would had given up her eyes to help."

" I thought the same." Relia leaned back. Once again, the only noise was the wall clock. Emeric shifted and started to laugh. 

"What?"

" It all makes so much sense though, even with the sightings."

"...What sightings?" Relia scooted closer, interested in the comment. Eric leaned forward, coming face to face with the girl.

"Wait you didn't know about those either?"

"Obviously not! What are you talking about?"

Emeric pulled out his phone and immediatly clicked onto the internet. He typed out something before handing the device to the girl beside him. Relia looked at the screen.

"...Ghosts"

" So there has been a crap ton of reported ghost sightings at Pennhurst, which is nothing to be surprised of, but, there has been sightings of the same spirit haunting the streets of Erie." 

"That's...Wait so what are you suggesting?" Relia scrolled down, seeing more blurred pictures and different sites all speaking about the said traveling ghost, "That Aurelia's spirit is moving from the  asylum to her home town?"

" I would have except-" Emeric scrolled down to a specific site, showing several police reports stating the local host was now murdering the residents. Relia snorted at the idea. 

"You can't be serious..."

" The murders were all the same. Faces and body shredded and then their eyes were ripped out."

"Holy sh- that's identical to what Aurelia did. Maybe she escaped and really became a killer."

"Just one problem, the killings didn't start till 1949." Emeric slipped his phone back into his pocket.

"Aurelia would have already be dead by then."

"And to make things even crazier, the killings are still happening. It's less than before, and seems to be, no pun intended, dying out, but the most recent was...three months ago."

" Someone has been masquerading as Aurelia's ghost and killing people in Erie..." Relia got off the floor and headed over to her computer. " Why did I never now this?"

"Probably because it's in a different part of the state and after years of failing to catch the killer, the authorities are just trying to sweep it under the rug." 

Emeric rocked onto his feet before standing. He straightened out his jacket and headed over to the desk. Looking over Relia's shoulder, he saw her typing down the information she just learned.

"Emeric, this is even bigger than we thought. My family history connected to yours and a possible murderer?" She whipped her head around to look at him. " Who knows what else we can find."

"Anything is possible."

"If the stories and the killings actually are linked, we may be able to solve several cases."

"I'm not trying to make us vigilantes here." Emeric leaned his arms against the desk. He stared at Relia, questioning her priorities. She shook her head.

"I'm not saying let's be heroes, but if along the way we happen to figure it out, we might as well expose the truth. That's the right thing to do." 

"...I guess so. Okay. Where do we start?"

" I suppose..." Relia spun around in her chair, facing the all too familiar box. Her stomach seemed to turn in on itself. " We read more history, and whatever we find we can document here. Do you think you can find the newspaper with your ancestor again?"

"Shouldn't be too hard."

"There is another thing we have to do, but i definitely need you to help."

" Sure, what?"

"Get me into the Asylum."