PLAGUE

Chapter 4: To Rest

Roana leveled him with a serious expression. 

“This is the part where I question you.”

She wanted answers.  Something much deeper was going on and she longed to find out what.  The girl that had run up to her and spouted off her nonsensical jargon about a murderous doctor killing her brother and if she was telling the truth, then this man would know about it.  He knew all of the events of Conversion Town, so she had more than enough reason to believe he knew about this as well.

“Are you paranoid?” The question was so simple. He didn’t seem bothered by how unnerving the situation was.

“I’m curious. I have to wonder about the circumstances in which Josephine disappeared. I really want to investigate this supposed ‘spirit’.” After giving it some thought, now she wasn’t sure if it was a spirit that kidnapped her or if it was that mad doctor.  Could such a thing be more than just an old wives’ tale?

If that was true, it would be the first time that one of Redway’s silly theories actually birthed truth. She had to admit, a beaked doctor going crazy was far more plausible than any of the cryptids and fantastical theories that he held about the world.  Could she dare admit that Red could possibly be right?

The doctor showed no hint of emotion and mechanically turned his head towards the direction in which the blonde had run off to. Try as she might, Roana couldn’t read his emotions beneath the wax-covered shroud.

“Perhaps we should go to that girl’s home,” he suggested. “If she’s telling you the truth, then there should be a grave marker in front of her house.”

Proving her words was quite simple. If Roana sought out the truth, then it would come to her.

Roana looked concerned as her emotions conflicted and stirred together in a melting pot of anxiety.  There was something about her that she couldn’t get out of her mind. It may have been the fact that they just encountered each other in such a jarring way, but there was something about the girl’s condition that struck something within her.  The girl was very thin with a sickly shade of pale to her skin.  Her visage was sleep deprived and when she spoke, her emotions cut through her like a knife and left lingering residual concern.

“There are quite a few crazy people in Conversion Town,” Roana tried to reason with her gut feeling, even more so due to the state of the rate of illness, “so her story may be a fabrication. On the other hand, I can’t let it slip through my grasp. If that ghost really does have a grip on Josephine then I want to get her away from it before she’s driven mad.”

Perhaps the ghost had ties with that mad doctor.  It could have driven him mad and caused him to begin murdering people, and as a result his spree became sensationalized.  Could it affect more than one person? She wasn’t quite sure if her theories were panning out.  People went crazy for many different reasons; they were trapped in the town, they feared being hunted, or they feared the plague.  There was a lot to process about this situation and she still had no real leads.

Roana hoped that the mysterious, unsettling girl would provide her with answers.  There had to be a connection that she was missing…something she didn’t quite get.

“We’ll check out the apparition first. Do you know where that girl lives?” The doctor turned his gaze back to Roana.

“Conversion Town is small and there are a few abandoned houses,” Roana noted.  It chipped away at their locations to check. Other than that, she had no real idea of the whereabouts of the girl.

As Roana was speaking, the doctor’s gaze turned away from her and lay transfixed on the girl.  He caught a glimpse of her walking towards a house in the distance.  Red lenses reflected her form as she walked back out of her house. Her expression was still unnerving, but to a lesser degree than before.

Roana shifted and peered around him trying to catch sight of what he was so focused on. “What do you see?”

“A good sign,” the doctor firmly grasped his staff.

“What does that mean?” Roana arched an eyebrow, quizzical.

The tall, suited man pointed his staff wordlessly in the direction of the small house in the distance. “She lives in that house. You can see the tombstone, just as she claims.”

It was very faint, but he could make it out, between the roofs of other houses that were closer to them.  He was certain that they would find what they were seeking inside. That girl couldn’t just spout insanity and run off from them there.

Roana’s vision sharpened and she let her thoughts overtake her. “So…she’s not crazy.”

Perhaps there truly was more to that story she told than met the eye.  Roana had once heard people speak of her as crazy, but maybe she wasn’t.  She was really beginning to put everything into a different context now that the doctor had backed up the girl’s claims. Roana didn’t usually venture into that side of town and when she did, she never really went too far into it.  From what she understood, there weren’t a whole lot of people who lived in that section of town and most of the houses lay in disrepair.

Many of them belonged to plague victims, or those who began to fear the plague to such an extent that they murdered their families or killed themselves to escape from it.  The plague, to many people signified god’s wrath and people could not take god striking them down and deeming them so sinful they were worthy of death.

Religion ruled the town, with the bishop being more powerful than any mayor.   When the plague struck, people began to focus heavily on religion; praying more, practicing abstinence, dancing, whipping themselves in the name of a wrathful god and attending church more.  The bells that rang from the high steeple of the Victorian church were like a song of hope and relief washing over them and granting them mercy from their suffering.

Her thoughts were cut short with the voice of the doctor asking her if she should go to her house.  Blue eyes looked at him and she simply nodded in response as the two made their way to their destination.  The damp layer of topsoil clung to their boots as they walked.  The smell of illness and death permeated the air and the jingle of the doctor’s steps sounded like the beat of a song as they traversed the paths that led through town.

They neared the small house that looked a little shabby but it wasn’t nearly in the state that the others were around it.  White paint flaked from the aged wood. The roof was weathered and worn, and had indentations in a few places.  The overall coloration faded and deteriorated.  It was unremarkable, with wooden-framed, high windows that were very small. If one was inside of the house, they would get little sunlight.

Roana briefly thought about how gloomy such a dimly lit house would be. How could someone function without candles in such a place? As she pondered over the lighting aesthetics, her eyes fell upon a crudely made wooden sign that was driven into the ground a few feet from the door. The words were painted in black, entirely composed of capital letters.

GET OUT NOW.

Roana’s eyebrows knitted into an expression of concern.

If a house had a sign like that, she would have heard about it before. There would be talk of such a foreboding house and at the very least, Red would have known about it.  Even the houses that belonged to the plagued simply had red crosses on the doors. It was nothing like this. She gazed into those black brush strokes, examining it as she became immersed in thought.

“What is this?” Roana was bewildered and unnerved and placed a finger to her thin lips. “That sign never said that before.”

She was certain that the words on it had been different, but she wasn’t certain what exactly it had said.  Roana only knew that the girl existed and that people spoke ill of her mental state.  Was the girl trying to warn her?  Was she trying to tell her and anyone else who came across her house to stay away so that the mad doctor didn’t get tempted to pursue them instead?

“Do you think the specter is at fault?” The doctor was curious as to what Roana’s theories on the matter were.  There were a few things to take into consideration here.

“It’s not about thinking,” Roana continued to stare down the words on the sign. “I know it is.”

Her irises shifted and caught sight of the defining attribute of the house: the tombstone in the front yard.  It was a weathered slab of granite that had been shaped into an obelisk.  On the tombstone, her brother’s name was engraved. The rock was aged and the bottom stained with mud from the times when it would rain.  It was just as she said it was.

Roana walked over to it to get a better look.  As she neared the burial plot, she couldn’t help but feel a cold presence overcome her.  The temperature where she was continued to drop with each step she took.  It reminded her of the dream where she laid in the snow.  It was the same biting chill.

“Hey, doctor?”

“Yes?”

“Do you really think that entity is still around here? That plague doctor she talked about, I mean,” Roana’s feet stopped in front of the monument and she glanced it up and down.  Her voice was apprehensive and the atmosphere was getting to her.  It crawled up her skin like an intrusive insect, stirring unease into her mind. She felt as if they could be ambushed at any moment.

“There are many plague doctors in Conversion Town. They are all different and unique to their profession. They each treat patients in a special way, each having a cure that they think is most effective. From what I know, there is a doctor who usually manages this area of town. I’m uncertain if they are around now, however. It’s been a while since they’ve made their rounds.” The doctor was contemplative.  When had the last time been since he’d seen the other doctor?  Not as if it mattered, he had little respect for that…man. Referring to him as such was something he did in order to keep questions about material he’d rather not discuss at bay.

“I wonder if they are even anywhere close by?” Roana wanted to talk to them and see if they could give her any information regarding the grave or even that strange girl. If that doctor worked in the area frequently, then they probably had more than one account with the blonde girl that raised many questions.

“That girl claims to have seen them in her house,” the doctor noted.  That was enough proof that she had some sort of information in his eyes.

“I don’t want to just walk into someone’s house like that,” Roana knew the consequences of trespassing.  There was a reason that the houses had small, high windows and that was to keep thieves from seeing the contents within and attempting to climb inside to steal it.  She wasn’t about to get shot or even worse.  Roana didn’t want to imagine the outcome.

“She isn’t home,” the doctor assured.  He could see that the windows of her house were dim, nearly black in coloration.  If someone had been home there would be light of some kind radiating from inside.  Not only that, he had seen her leave only moments before, and he knew that she lived alone.

She may have gone in and come right back out, only stopping by to grab something.

“Her parents may be,” Roana couldn’t believe that this man just wanted to walk in unannounced.  Did he have no common sense?

Paying her no mind, the doctor turned and walked towards the door.  Roana was incapacitated in shock as he opened the door as if it were his own home and walked inside.  The tall shadow of the plague suit disappeared into the darkness. It left Roana in apprehension, the anxiety she felt piqued as her heart beat increased and she glanced around in paranoia.  No one had seen him go inside, but that didn’t mean that she wanted to follow after him.

The feeling of being left vulnerable by him consumed her.  What if someone caught them and she was standing outside by herself with no one around?  Roana didn’t want to think of what could happen as a result.  She wasn’t sure if this girl still lived with her parents or if she was on her own, but that was of little worry.  The true sense of horror was being caught by anyone; even her.  Roana didn’t know the true nature of this girl and the fact that she was regarded as the town loon birthed questions of her possibly putting Roana in danger.  Who knew what someone like that girl was truly capable of when she had lost more than her mind?

“What are you waiting for?” The doctor’s deep voice cut through her fear and caused her muscles to jump and her sights darted to his form, standing in the doorway so casually.

“Seriously? We’ll be jailed,” Roana didn’t want to go inside.  Jail wasn’t the better option to death.  It was merely prolonging what would happen when she got there.

What in the hell was wrong with this man?

“I can say that I had mistaken this house for that of a victim,” the beaked man knew how to use his excuses well. It wasn’t going to stop him from going in and looking for any information that the bowels of the house could hold.

“This is an issue,” Roana’s dark brows furrowed as she tore her glance from him and battled her moral compass on the idea.

The doctor ignored her and retreated into the house.  The sound of his boots against the wooden floor eerily echoed in her mind much louder than they had before. He may have been a man of medicine, but his sense of privacy and lack of regard was rather crude.  What did he expect to gain from this? Was there really something in this crazy girl’s house that they needed to find?

Sure, her sanity was…questionable at best, but could Roana bring herself to enter her home without being invited in? The doctor had an air-tight excuse but she did not.  Roana stood there, allowing the silence to flood into her every pore before she screwed her eyes shut, and threw caution to the wind. She took a split-second risk and darted inside.  

Her heeled boots beat against wood with loud thumps, each one magnified in her head.  She could have sworn she sounded worse than an elephant trampling around.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this.”