The Bleeding Ruby, Page 2
Mark McAnaney
register any hint of understanding in her mind. I did not know her any more. The rage in her eyes left me with a frozen chill that consumed every fibre of my being. The blood curling hatred for me onset so easily that she must have been possessed by the foulest daemon in all the darkest pits of Hell itself, her eyes black with the pale stare of the Angel of Death itself. It was my blood she lusted for now, no longer my love.
The searing, burning pain of the knife she clasped into her hand was meant for my heart, but stuck into my left arm as I defended myself. The pain inside my soul was far more unbearable than that in my arm. I did not hit her, only wrestled her to the floor with as little pain to her as possible. I would never hurt her!
She then broke down into a hard burst of tears and she came to and recollected who she really was, and who I was. The moistness of her tears seemed to burn me with the sorrow she felt as she embraced me apologetically. I know within my soul that I must forgive her, and I do. For this is not her, and these actions were that of the illness she'd developed and not of her own accord.
I told her I would contact you at once, and she will suffer never another day in her existence! That would be the last trace I would see of her true self. It was shortly after that she locked herself in her bedroom for three days, as I write this, and probably far longer by the time you receive this letter. I can not reach her in any way, shape, or form.
Please come to me urgently!,
Jacob Riley
Letter from Jacob Riley to Dr. Edwin Walters; dated 1st April, 1894:
Dear Dr. Walters,
This will probably be my last letter, not only to you but to anyone alive today or ever in history. Angel has disappeared! I do not believe that she left me for another, as I have no reason to, but she is nonetheless absent. The strangest thing about this is that there does not exist a single trace of her existence! Her clothes are gone, any portrait we had of her has faded into nothingness as if they never were, her possessions are no longer here and oddly, my memories of her are starting to fade way dramatically. I must write you this letter urgently before all of my memories disappear into oblivion. Is it possible that all of this is in my mind and perhaps she never existed? Perhaps this is my own illness worsening.
As if I do not have enough worries, the ring appeared suddenly in place of her beautiful sleeping body in our bed next to me as I awoke. Do you think the ring drove her to madness as it almost did me, and this happened totally undetected by me?
As I write this paragraph, several hours and maybe even days have passed since I wrote the last. My mind has drawn an elongated blank and time seems to exist nevermore. Please come here soon! I need your services again for myself!
Help!,
Jacob Riley
DICTATION: DR EDWIN WALTERS: 2nd APRIL, 1894
PATIENT NAME: JACOB RILEY
PATIENT NUMBER: 546B
Dr. Edwin Walters reporting on a recently distraught patient in my care, Jacob Riley. Jacob has been a patient of mine for almost one year, suffering from severe bouts of depression. I believe the patient is having severe difficulty dealing with his family issues. Several weeks ago, I visited Jacob on an emergent house call to aid him in dealing with his depression and suicidal ideation. He was also every bit as obsessed with a family heirloom ring of his given to him by his paternal grandmother, who had herself spent most of her life in Rockview Lunatic Asylum for the brutal murder of her husband. It is my belief that Jacob has inherited his family's illness, and I have reason to believe that in his recent fit of extreme disturbance, of which is evidenced by the letter I have received from him, that he may have murdered his fiancé, Angel McIntyre.
Patient claims that his fiancé was also obsessed with the same ring that disturbs him, and that any evidence of her existence suddenly disappeared. I believe these to be serious delusions of a man that finally broke down entirely and believe that a Petition for Involuntary Commitment must be issued. I will be signing that today.
I will follow up with the patient upon his arrival at Rockview Lunatic Asylum.
This report filed 2nd April, 1894.
I remain,
Dr. Edwin Walters
Police Report 87647:
RESPONDING OFFICER: Cpl. Don Patterson.
DATE OF INCIDENT: 2nd April, 1894.
ARRESTEE: Jacob Riley.
LOCATION OF INCIDENT: London, UK.
DESCRIPTION OF INCIDENT:
Incident was peculiar and extremely disturbing. I, Cpl. Don Patterson, arrived on the scene unaccompanied at quarter past eleven at night. The house was completely dark and as I knocked upon the old wooden door, no one answered. The door creaked open on its own from the small force of my knocking, and I proceeded to enter the humble abode. The living room was overpowered by a strange incense, the flavour of which is unknown to me. Small burnt paper fragments and ashes lie absolutely everywhere, covering nearly every speck of furniture within the eerie room with a thin skin-like film of ash and torn pages from unknown books.
The next room left me shocked and appalled! I climbed the tight winding staircase up to the humble library atop. This man's strange and perverse taste in literature left the very depths of my soul beckoning to be bathed in holy water blessed by the Christ child himself! No other relic will ever have the power to cleanse the filth off of my soul that I have picked up from this room! He possesses many tomes of demonology and witchcraft that would repel even the devil himself, for the pages within contain an evil far greater than even he! I could see a torn out page thrown carelessly on the floor, and at a quick glance, I could see it had to do with magic blood gems of some sort. I cared not to read more to learn any details of this sick man's fancy!
I made my way to the bedroom next to that disgusting library, and came upon a disturbed man streaming blood from both wrists as though a waterfall had been opened up in his veins! The man madly rocked back and forth as do only the most disturbed of the lunatics in Rockview, to the incandescent candlelight used undoubtedly for witchery purposes! The sight before me was among the vilest in all my years as a patrol man. As I placed cuffs on the man, he uttered some nonsense about a “Forsaken Brother.” I could not make out much more of the daemon tongues he spoke on that unholiest of days!
Shortly after, I have completed this report and have placed him into the care of Rockview Lunatic Asylum immediately!
Signed,
2nd April, 1894
CPL. DON PATTERSON
DICTATION: DR EDWIN WALTERS: 3rd APRIL, 1894
PATIENT NAME: JACOB RILEY
PATIENT NUMBER: 546B
Dr. Edwin Walters reporting on the intake of Jacob Riley. Referring to the copy of the police report submitted by Cpl. Don Patterson, the arresting officer, this patient must be placed under my highest priority level care. Patient must not have access to any potentially sharp object due to suicidal ideation and attempts.
Upon my intake interview with the patient, he was very dishevelled and unkempt in appearance. His hair and beard wildly flew in all directions and must have been unwashed for at least a week. His arms were caked with the dried blood and scars both of several months of self abuse, and of last night's attempt at his own life. He has expressed interest in suicide at least twice to me through letters, and due to this, I am placing him on one to one staff supervision twenty four hours a day until patient improves.
The interview was very unsettling. First, the relationship we have between ourselves already enabled us to begin with a small chat, and he seemed somewhat normal despite coming from nightmarish origins. When we got down to business, I first asked about the ring. He had it on his person, in his jacket pocket, and he clasped it with a bizarre blend of happiness and totally unbridled hatred. This piece of jewellery was clearly driving him madly into a mixture of uncontrollable emotions. He has confirmed that it was given to him by his grandmother, and that it was a gift to his bloodline from the Forsaken Brother. “It shows you your darkest moment in life, and I believe it may draw you to it as wel
l!,” he claimed.
I must now refer to a report from my colleague, Dr. David Wilkinson, who had his grandmother as a long time patient years ago at this same facility. Wilkinson has since retired at least fifteen years ago, but I would like to consult him, if he be willing, in the morn.
Wilkinson's report reads of a Nancy Riley, aged fifty-two at time of intake, who bears a strange scar upon her chest as her only unique identifying mark, admitted for severe schizophrenia. The apprehending officer that responded to her home on the night of her intake into Rockview found her home in a state of disarray, clearly showing signs of a quarrel ending in a bloody, gruesome sacrifice to some daemon or other evil spirit. She was found kneeling creepily above the body of her husband, one Reinhardt Riley, holding the ring of topic in her clutches. As the officer hauled her away in shackles, she obsessively screamed about a necessary sacrifice to the Forsaken Brother, a cry which was ignored as a fool's shriek to the devil by the sceptic policeman.
This be the tale of one definite murder at the mercy of the unforgiving gem, and as an investigative measure against a second committed just a single moon past, I must address Dr. Wilkinson for any and all relevant information that will either aid, or condemn, my patient. I shall speak with him by dawn!
Until then I remain,
Dr. Edwin Walters
Letter addressed to Dr. Walters from Dr. Wilkinson; dated 7th April 1894:
Dearest
The searing, burning pain of the knife she clasped into her hand was meant for my heart, but stuck into my left arm as I defended myself. The pain inside my soul was far more unbearable than that in my arm. I did not hit her, only wrestled her to the floor with as little pain to her as possible. I would never hurt her!
She then broke down into a hard burst of tears and she came to and recollected who she really was, and who I was. The moistness of her tears seemed to burn me with the sorrow she felt as she embraced me apologetically. I know within my soul that I must forgive her, and I do. For this is not her, and these actions were that of the illness she'd developed and not of her own accord.
I told her I would contact you at once, and she will suffer never another day in her existence! That would be the last trace I would see of her true self. It was shortly after that she locked herself in her bedroom for three days, as I write this, and probably far longer by the time you receive this letter. I can not reach her in any way, shape, or form.
Please come to me urgently!,
Jacob Riley
Letter from Jacob Riley to Dr. Edwin Walters; dated 1st April, 1894:
Dear Dr. Walters,
This will probably be my last letter, not only to you but to anyone alive today or ever in history. Angel has disappeared! I do not believe that she left me for another, as I have no reason to, but she is nonetheless absent. The strangest thing about this is that there does not exist a single trace of her existence! Her clothes are gone, any portrait we had of her has faded into nothingness as if they never were, her possessions are no longer here and oddly, my memories of her are starting to fade way dramatically. I must write you this letter urgently before all of my memories disappear into oblivion. Is it possible that all of this is in my mind and perhaps she never existed? Perhaps this is my own illness worsening.
As if I do not have enough worries, the ring appeared suddenly in place of her beautiful sleeping body in our bed next to me as I awoke. Do you think the ring drove her to madness as it almost did me, and this happened totally undetected by me?
As I write this paragraph, several hours and maybe even days have passed since I wrote the last. My mind has drawn an elongated blank and time seems to exist nevermore. Please come here soon! I need your services again for myself!
Help!,
Jacob Riley
DICTATION: DR EDWIN WALTERS: 2nd APRIL, 1894
PATIENT NAME: JACOB RILEY
PATIENT NUMBER: 546B
Dr. Edwin Walters reporting on a recently distraught patient in my care, Jacob Riley. Jacob has been a patient of mine for almost one year, suffering from severe bouts of depression. I believe the patient is having severe difficulty dealing with his family issues. Several weeks ago, I visited Jacob on an emergent house call to aid him in dealing with his depression and suicidal ideation. He was also every bit as obsessed with a family heirloom ring of his given to him by his paternal grandmother, who had herself spent most of her life in Rockview Lunatic Asylum for the brutal murder of her husband. It is my belief that Jacob has inherited his family's illness, and I have reason to believe that in his recent fit of extreme disturbance, of which is evidenced by the letter I have received from him, that he may have murdered his fiancé, Angel McIntyre.
Patient claims that his fiancé was also obsessed with the same ring that disturbs him, and that any evidence of her existence suddenly disappeared. I believe these to be serious delusions of a man that finally broke down entirely and believe that a Petition for Involuntary Commitment must be issued. I will be signing that today.
I will follow up with the patient upon his arrival at Rockview Lunatic Asylum.
This report filed 2nd April, 1894.
I remain,
Dr. Edwin Walters
Police Report 87647:
RESPONDING OFFICER: Cpl. Don Patterson.
DATE OF INCIDENT: 2nd April, 1894.
ARRESTEE: Jacob Riley.
LOCATION OF INCIDENT: London, UK.
DESCRIPTION OF INCIDENT:
Incident was peculiar and extremely disturbing. I, Cpl. Don Patterson, arrived on the scene unaccompanied at quarter past eleven at night. The house was completely dark and as I knocked upon the old wooden door, no one answered. The door creaked open on its own from the small force of my knocking, and I proceeded to enter the humble abode. The living room was overpowered by a strange incense, the flavour of which is unknown to me. Small burnt paper fragments and ashes lie absolutely everywhere, covering nearly every speck of furniture within the eerie room with a thin skin-like film of ash and torn pages from unknown books.
The next room left me shocked and appalled! I climbed the tight winding staircase up to the humble library atop. This man's strange and perverse taste in literature left the very depths of my soul beckoning to be bathed in holy water blessed by the Christ child himself! No other relic will ever have the power to cleanse the filth off of my soul that I have picked up from this room! He possesses many tomes of demonology and witchcraft that would repel even the devil himself, for the pages within contain an evil far greater than even he! I could see a torn out page thrown carelessly on the floor, and at a quick glance, I could see it had to do with magic blood gems of some sort. I cared not to read more to learn any details of this sick man's fancy!
I made my way to the bedroom next to that disgusting library, and came upon a disturbed man streaming blood from both wrists as though a waterfall had been opened up in his veins! The man madly rocked back and forth as do only the most disturbed of the lunatics in Rockview, to the incandescent candlelight used undoubtedly for witchery purposes! The sight before me was among the vilest in all my years as a patrol man. As I placed cuffs on the man, he uttered some nonsense about a “Forsaken Brother.” I could not make out much more of the daemon tongues he spoke on that unholiest of days!
Shortly after, I have completed this report and have placed him into the care of Rockview Lunatic Asylum immediately!
Signed,
2nd April, 1894
CPL. DON PATTERSON
DICTATION: DR EDWIN WALTERS: 3rd APRIL, 1894
PATIENT NAME: JACOB RILEY
PATIENT NUMBER: 546B
Dr. Edwin Walters reporting on the intake of Jacob Riley. Referring to the copy of the police report submitted by Cpl. Don Patterson, the arresting officer, this patient must be placed under my highest priority level care. Patient must not have access to any potentially sharp object due to suicidal ideation and attempts.
Upon my intake interview with the patient, he was very dishevelled and unkempt in appearance. His hair and beard wildly flew in all directions and must have been unwashed for at least a week. His arms were caked with the dried blood and scars both of several months of self abuse, and of last night's attempt at his own life. He has expressed interest in suicide at least twice to me through letters, and due to this, I am placing him on one to one staff supervision twenty four hours a day until patient improves.
The interview was very unsettling. First, the relationship we have between ourselves already enabled us to begin with a small chat, and he seemed somewhat normal despite coming from nightmarish origins. When we got down to business, I first asked about the ring. He had it on his person, in his jacket pocket, and he clasped it with a bizarre blend of happiness and totally unbridled hatred. This piece of jewellery was clearly driving him madly into a mixture of uncontrollable emotions. He has confirmed that it was given to him by his grandmother, and that it was a gift to his bloodline from the Forsaken Brother. “It shows you your darkest moment in life, and I believe it may draw you to it as wel
l!,” he claimed.
I must now refer to a report from my colleague, Dr. David Wilkinson, who had his grandmother as a long time patient years ago at this same facility. Wilkinson has since retired at least fifteen years ago, but I would like to consult him, if he be willing, in the morn.
Wilkinson's report reads of a Nancy Riley, aged fifty-two at time of intake, who bears a strange scar upon her chest as her only unique identifying mark, admitted for severe schizophrenia. The apprehending officer that responded to her home on the night of her intake into Rockview found her home in a state of disarray, clearly showing signs of a quarrel ending in a bloody, gruesome sacrifice to some daemon or other evil spirit. She was found kneeling creepily above the body of her husband, one Reinhardt Riley, holding the ring of topic in her clutches. As the officer hauled her away in shackles, she obsessively screamed about a necessary sacrifice to the Forsaken Brother, a cry which was ignored as a fool's shriek to the devil by the sceptic policeman.
This be the tale of one definite murder at the mercy of the unforgiving gem, and as an investigative measure against a second committed just a single moon past, I must address Dr. Wilkinson for any and all relevant information that will either aid, or condemn, my patient. I shall speak with him by dawn!
Until then I remain,
Dr. Edwin Walters
Letter addressed to Dr. Walters from Dr. Wilkinson; dated 7th April 1894:
Dearest
