He opened his eyes to absolute darkness. For a moment or two he felt as if he had been struck by blindness and inadvertently a curse escaped his lips. Slowly, as his eyes grew accustomed to the night, dark silhouettes materialized in the clinically cold room. Orange light filtered in through the gaps in the venetian blinds and the shiny glass bottles full of colorful tablets glimmered and shimmered in it. The greenish glow of the bedside monitor and the steady sound of the intravenous drip coupled with the jewel-like tablets made the room resemble an eerie undersea cavern full of treasure.
He tried to get up, but a sharp pain in his body jerked him back into reality. He was here in the hospital because of the accident. So, he had survived. Details of the accident were blurry. All he could remember was driving on the highway….
Lost in thought, he suddenly sensed the presence of someone else in the room, someone horribly familiar.
“Who’s there?”, he asked, hoping against hope that no one would answer.
“It’s me.” , came the reply, barely a whisper. “ You know me, right?”
He could not think clearly. All the drugs in his system were obscuring rational thought. Why was he here again, jeering at him? Was there still something left to do?
As if reading his mind the voice said, ” You do know why I’m here, don’t you? And what you must do?”
“ No I don’t. ” He tried to scream, but no sound would come. He was shaking badly now. He dug his uncut nails into his thigh to get a grip on himself.
A shrill laughter filled the room, and the delicate instruments in the tray over the bedside table rattled due to the sound in the dead of the night. By now he was sweating profusely as fear engulfed him. The voice was steadily getting louder, as the effect of the sedative was diminishing.
“Next, you shall tell me, you don’t even know who I am.” He challenged. The laughter stopped as suddenly as it had started and deathly silence took its place. He got out of bed and started moving towards the bathroom. He could barely walk, but he wanted to get away from the voice.
He turned on the light and looked at his own haggard face in the bathroom mirror.
“ Look at you, coward.”, jeered the voice now sounding magically magnified and then there was the same cackling laughter again. “ You’re the biggest coward in the world.” More laughter.
Slowly he felt the fear starting to melt away. Anger was replacing that debilitating fear- anger and that awe-inspiring sense of power. He looked up and that face in the mirror broke into a smile. Everything was going to be fine now.
Still gazing into the mirror he heard himself saying, “ Yes. Yes, I know who you are. I know what I have to do.” He felt so strong now that heat was radiating from him.
They laughed in unison- the man and the voice. Today would be the day of triumph for both of them. Today they would finally achieve what they had been trying for this long. No one could stop them now.
Sense was overcoming the delirium induced by the drugs. He did not even stop to glance back at the man in the shadows. He knew that the voice would travel with him wherever he went. There was no hesitation in his step now as he opened the door of his room.
The lobby was empty and sterile like everything else in the hospital. An occasional moan or a distant scream broke the unending silence. Just as he started down the stairs, a clock chimed three. It was time.
The giant entrance before him seemed to encourage him to leave the cold confines and embrace the task so lovingly assigned to him; and even as he felt the jubilation of freedom a strange sadness engulfed him. But now he knew all was gone…..
Excerpts from the newspaper
Mon,17th June
Mr. Ankit Mehra, CEO of Log Services, died in the wee hours of today morning following an accident, in front of City Hospital where he was undergoing treatment for schizophrenia. According to sources he had attempted to take his life twice in the past two weeks.
He was taken to the Hospital following the accident but was pronounced dead on arrival…..
