Scratching My Head

Finding The Graves

The entire room fills with silence once the corpses met their forever end. "Is it over?" Asked Paul. "I think so." Said Derek. Everyone unshields their eyes and see what's left of the Balcom sisters. "Do you think they'll find their final resting place?" Asked Odette. "They may have done bad things, but they probably will. Which reminds me, did you boys see where they're buried before they trapped you here?" Asked Amanda.

"No. Right after they revealed their dead selves to us, we fell down a few trapdoors." Derek said. "There's one thing I don't get. When we first met them, why didn't they decompose in the sun?" Paul asked. "Maybe it was because of those hats they were wearing to protect themselves. After all, they looked more human when we crossed paths." Said Derek. "Huh, point taken." Said Paul.

"I, for one, would like to see their tombstones." Amanda said. "Me too, I don't know about you, boys." Odette said. "I don't know, I have enough dealing with dead people for a lifetime." Paul said. "Think about it like this, Paul. They may have been insane when they reached adulthood, but as children, they probably had different desires before getting into the dissecting process." Derek said.

Paul shrugs his shoulders. "I guess you could say that." He said. "What do you mean?" Asked Derek. "Some children follow in their parents footsteps. What if Sybil and Zora's mother and father did brain dissecting before they came along?" Asked Paul. "That's a very good hunch. I met someone who wanted to pursue a career in music, but her parents were very adamant to make her follow in their footsteps and be a doctor." Said Amanda. "Unsupportive parents, ouch. Paul, didn't you go through something similar?" Asked Odette.

No words come out of Paul's mouth for a moment. "Yes, but just with my father." He said sadly. "What happened?" Derek asked. "Dad told me to either get a proper job or leave." Paul said. "That's awful!" Odette said. "I bet it was during our separation." Amanda said. Paul nods. "Anyway, I changed my mind. Let's go find those graves." He said.

Everyone exits the All Star Club and finds the cemetery five minutes away from it. They scan the tombstones until they come across a set of two together.

"Guys, I think I found them." Said Amanda. Her siblings and husband approach the tombstones she's looking at.

Zora Balcom
1890 - 1915

Sybil Balcom
1895 - 1915

"There's holes in the dirt as well. Something tells me they probably climbed out of the ground to do their unfinished business." Said Paul. "Now their graves are empty after the way we saw them meet their permanent end." Said Odette. "If you think that's something, wait until you see the gravestones I found." Said Derek.

The others follow the king to another set of tombstones, reading the names on them.

Carmen Balcom
1876 - 1912

Vito Balcom
1875 - 1910

"These must be their parents." Amanda said. "And their deaths took place a few years before Zora and Sybil died." Odette said. "How did they meet their ends?" Paul asked. "That's what I'd like to know. Girls, did you see anything about their parents in the paper?" Derek asked.

Amanda pulls out the paper to see if there's a section about the Balcom sisters' parents. "A-ha! Their mother took her own life, and their father passed from... oh my god, he was killed in a lab accident as well!" She said.

"Was it the same way as Zora and Sybil's accident?" Asked Paul. "It says here he slipped and fell while carrying a vial of dangerous liquid. Worse yet, the stuff spilled all over him, and like his daughters, he suffered third degree burns. So yeah, he died the same way as them." Said Amanda. "Whoa!" Said Derek. "If those are the worst kind, how bad are first and second degree burns?" Asked Odette.

"First degree burns are minor, but they still hurt. But second degree is worse than the first." Amanda said. "Obviously there's nothing more painful than the third degree." Paul said. "Glad we never got burned, but even if we did, we'll remember that." Odette said. "Yeah, thanks for the reminder." Derek said.

Moments later, it was time to leave the cemetery, but the girls stayed behind for a brief minute. "I don't know about you, sis, but maybe we should leave the locket and bracelet here." Said Amanda. "I agree. Even though the Balcom sisters did those bad things to our husbands, they need these more than we do." Said Odette.

Amanda places Zora's necklace in front of her tombstone, while Odette puts Sybil's bracelet near hers. Then they catch up with the boys afterwards.