An interview with Michael Dallas (2)

‘Mr Dallas.’, my voice came down to a whisper. ‘The man you said..’

‘Yeah..?’

‘Is the K in the word knife, a mirror image and in a bright red?’, I asked with a shiver. Michael was stunned to hear what I was asked.


Part VI

‘How..’, he was searching for words with his eyes widely open.

‘How did you know?’, he asked with a stammer.

The colour drained off my face as I was frightened to the core. ‘I can see him outside the cafe’, I blurted out.

‘How would it be possible..?’, asked a pale Michael.

‘I don’t understand’, I said with the shiver clearly frightened.

‘Are you trying to play me?’, asked Michael.

‘What..! No..!’

‘Are you trying to scare me?! Is this some kind of game you are playing with me?!’, he asked.

‘No damn it..! Why should I?!! For the love of God..! I promise you, I can see this guy..!’, I pressed nervously but without raising my voice.

‘Whatever..! I am getting out of here you weirdo’, he strongly said and stood from his seat.

‘No..! No..! Wait a minute..! I am serious..!’, I pleaded but Michael was already moving.

As in unison, I could see the guy in the green dress check the silvery thing he had in his hand. Through the next window pane I could clearly see what it was. It was a gun.

He moved towards the café entrance and I felt weak at my knees. Something really bad was going to happen, my instincts told me.

Intuitively I ran towards Michael. The man moved into the café with his weapon directly aimed at Michael Dallas.

The next few seconds was the slowest of my entire life.

A schizophrenic with illusions..

The illusions becoming a reality..

A gunman dressed in green..

And a loaded gun clearly aimed..

All I had was the time to throw myself at Michael in dire straits to save him.

Then, there was a soft click. It was from the gun, certainly fitted with a silencer. And just a second later, there was a loud thud. This was the sound of us hitting the floor. The next couple of seconds were filled with a deafening silence.


Part VII

Had the bullet hit Michael..?

Was he dead..?

Where was the gun man..?

Was he going to shoot again..?

There were too many questions in that one second.

I was above Michael and he was not moving. I turned around to see the gunman who was moving towards us with the raised gun, surely with a lot of shots left. With an unknown force, to stay alive and to save Michael, I kicked the near by chair towards the gunman.

I kicked it with such a force that it slid so quickly and hit the gunman. He was taken by surprise with the sudden hit and he fell down with the gun flying in the opposite direction. Just then, I saw Michael move.

‘Are you alright?’, I asked.

Michael nodded, not able to find words. He was clearly in shock.

I got to my knees to see the gunman. He was recovering from the impact and was getting up. I helped Michael up on to his legs and could feel his shiver through his thick suit.

My first thought was that we could run out of the café before the gunman could get to his weapon. But, there came a surprise just as we took a step towards the door.

To the horror of both of us, someone came into the café wearing a red shirt and blue jean. Just as he set foot into the door, he swung his right hand from behind with another gun pointed at Michael.

Frightened to death, I stopped running and pulled Michael by his collar. We jumped on the table behind the pillar, where we were sitting a few minutes back.

‘Damn it..! Who the hell was that..?’, I shouted.

‘That’s the second guy..! From my illusions..!’, cried Michael.

I peeked around the pillar to see what was happening. Both the gunmen were taking calculated steps towards the pillar. They looked like professional killers. In the next few seconds, they were going to shoot.

My mind was filled with nothing but fear, the fear of death. My heart was pounding faster and harder that I feared it would come to an abrupt stop any second.

I took a deep breath to clear my mind. I had to save Michael from whoever these guys were. And I had to stay alive.

I looked up at the lights in the café. There was one soft yellow bulb glowing in the middle of the café, one bulb at the entrance. Just then, I decided on what I was going to do next.


Part VIII

There were just going to be three to four seconds before the gunmen reached the pillar from both sides.

I took the cup and saucer from which Michael was drinking his tea, took a deep breath and threw them at the bulb at the centre of the café. Though one of them missed, the next one hit the bull’s eye. The rear half of the café went dark.

I pushed Michael to the floor and I ducked really low.

‘Crawl low to the rear end of the café. We’ll try running out of the rear door’, I whispered to him.

Slowly, we moved without making much noise. We could still hear the footsteps of those gun men. And then, a shot was fired.

It was completely in the opposite direction as to where we were. They were just getting us to move, or were just firing at will.

Then there was another shot, this time it landed on the table just at my right. I gripped tight Michael so that both of us didn’t finch. We slowly continued to crawl.

As we were moving, I could hear one of the gunmen pouring something on a near by table. From the faint smell, I thought it should be alcohol. By then, we had crawled to the rear wall of the café.

From what I had noticed when I entered the café, the rear door was to the right of where we were now. I grazed the wall slowly to reach the door. I sensed the handle and tried to open the door, but the door did not budge.

And then, something totally unexpected happened.

First it looked and sounded like a flicker of a match stick and then the next moment, the spark lit the alcohol poured on the table and the whole café shone ablaze.

I was shocked and turned to Michael who was even more shocked. We could see the two of them and one of them threw a big smile and I could see what his lips said.

‘Gotcha..!’, he smiled.


Part IX


They were going to take a shot any of the next few seconds and out of an animal instinct, Michael threw himself at the door with immense force and as some sort of magic, the lock broke and the door opened and at the same time, they opened fire.

I ducked down to dodge the bullets and I crawled through the door to where Michael was. To our surprise, the door did not lead us out of the café but a dark passage and only God knew where it was going to take us.

But, that was the only possible way out. We could not see through the darkness and I flicked on my mobile on. Though not so efficient, at least we could see where we were placing our steps. And that was going to be one of the scariest of places I had ever been in my life. We moved into the darkness hopeful to find a way to escape from the killers.

We were careful with every step we took. The fear of what waited ahead and the fear of the killers behind us filled me to a level that I might choke any minute.

The darkness was so dense and it was impossible for us to move fast. I started frantically searching the wall to see any switch at the same time moving with Michael close behind me. After close to twenty steps into the darkness, I found what I searched for. In the middle of the dusty and creepy spider webs, I found a sole switch.

I switched it on without even giving it a second thought. A light came to life at the end of what seemed to be an endless corridor. At least now we had an idea of where we were heading. There was a door at the end.

Michael was the first to run down the corridor and I closely followed him watching over my shoulder for someone to burst in anytime. We reached the door at the end and with lots of hopes opened it expecting it to take us out.

But, to our bewilderment, the door led us to a stair case spiralling itself to the upper floors. The maze we had taken looked as if taking a new turn instead of taking us out. I had a very bad feeling about this. I didn’t know if we were supposed to take the stairs.

I looked at Michael who was looking at me with the same questions that I had in mind. He seemed, for some reason, to look at me for help and answers. But, I was equally helpless and was stranded with all that had happened in the last few minutes.

‘What do we do now?’, he asked taking endless number of short breaths.


Part X

‘I don’t know. For Christ’s sake, who are those guys?’, I shouted back.

‘I don’t know.. I.. I.. I don’t understand a thing’, he panted.

I could feel some movement at the far end of the corridor and before I could realise, a shot ripped right between us and hit the stair case with a loud thud. And without even hesitating for a second, we ran up the stairs ready to face anything up there.

The stair case spiralled up to three to four floors and all the time, we could hear someone running two floors below us. Thankfully, no one was shooting at us. We reached the top of the stairs which led us into a small room with a ladder up the wall.

We stood in the room breathing heavily after running all the way up the stairs. I had totally drained out all my energy and Michael was looked as if he would faint any minute.

But the thing that was really getting my nerves was that I didn’t understand any of the events here. There were only questions left in my mind and no answers what so ever. I needed answers and I needed them now. And, I decided what to do next.
‘Stay behind me’, I commanded Michael.

‘What are you gonna do?’, he shouted.

‘Do as I say! Stay behind me and breath slowly..!’

I leaned over the edge of the stairs I could see the gunman with the red shirt coming up. He was at the least one storey below up and had close to twenty stairs to cover. I held my breath.

His footsteps were slowly creeping up. He should be closer by ten stairs now, I calculated. We were hiding in the darkness hoping he would not hear us breathing hard.

The next few seconds were filled with silence and darkness, except for the footsteps coming up towards us. I could see a very faint shadow around the entrance. Certainly, it was the killer. Slowly, he came up to the last stair with his gun in position. He slowly stepped in and moved his gun to the right, exactly as I was hoping for.

I sprang out of the shadow with all the force and energy I could gather. I slammed my foot into his chest with all the might. And that was it.


Part XI

He was caught off guard and fell off balance to his back, over the small railings on the stairs. There was no turning back. He went flying all the way to the ground which was four stories below. It took a while for the soft moaning of pain to end but he was dead or unconscious faster than I expected.

The second set of footsteps had stopped. I was hoping to hear it fade away moving down to his partner. But, there was complete silence.

I turned to Michael. He was dumbstruck with what I had done.

‘You killed him’, he said in a muffled tone but I didn’t respond. I was stunned to hear something else.

The second gun man was moving up, in a much faster pace than previously. And then, I heard a noise behind me which made the hair on my neck raise again. It was loud click. It was the recoil of a gun.

To the shock of my life, it came from right behind me. I turned around very slowly.


Part XII


It was Michael Dallas, standing behind me. He had a gun in his hand and it was pointed right at me.

‘What are you doing..?’, I asked in a muffled tone.

‘Who are you?’, he asked me.

‘What..?! Who the hell are you..?! And how in the world do you have a gun with you?!’, I scrambled for words in fear.

‘What the hell have me brought me into?!’, shouted Michael.

‘I don’t understand a thing that is happening here..!’, I shot back. ‘This seems to be a nightmare and I feel like being right in the middle of it..!’

‘The men in my illusions have suddenly come alive..! But, how in the world is it possible?!’, he asked.

‘You tell me that..! You said you have been having schizophrenic illusions for eight years but now you tell me those men are true.?!’, I demanded from a safe distance from his gun.

‘You come in to my life out of nowhere and now the terrible world of my dreams is right in front of me..! Who are you with..?! What are you trying to do with me?!’, he cried.

This was going nowhere, I understood. Neither of us knew what was happening and how. But one thing was for sure, there were two men with guns. One was obviously a killer and the other a schizophrenic with illusions that turned real. Who was going up dead, it was left to God.

Before I could wait for Dallas to finish or begin to argue, I realised we had forgotten something else. The footsteps of the killer had gone completely silent.

My mind was racing with the possible options. Either he had gone away or he had reached the top of the stairs and was right behind us. I left Michael continue his blabbering questions and turned around. The timing was really bad.


Part XIII

I was looking at the tip of a gun and the edge of the finger that was about to pull the trigger. And then, there was a silent shot.

Whether the bullet moved very slowly or I was not able to comprehend what was happening, I did not know. But everything was moving slow exactly like the slo-mo used in lot of the recent movies.

Whether I was imagining this or it was absolutely real, I did not know but I could see the bullet right through every inch of its movement from the gun till it reached the forehead of Michael Dallas.

I watched it till the end. How softly it pierced the man’s skull and how softly he fell dead. It was like watching a petal falling down from the tip of a flower. The man was dead.

Watching someone die sometimes makes people faint, some scream in fear and some freeze. I fell into the third category. I froze with overwhelming fear. My brain was unable to process the horror. Michael Dallas, whoever he was and whatever was happening here, was dead. He was shot in the head. He was murdered.

I heard something fall with a crash behind me which brought me back to reality. I turned around to see what it was. It was the sound of the empty clip that the killer dropped from the gun and I could see he had reloaded the next a fresh new clip.

This time, the gun was pointed at me.


Part XVI

A shot was fired at my chest and I stood still waiting for the bullet to hit me. I was waiting and waiting and waiting. But nothing happened for the whole of the next minute. Things remained absolutely still.

And just as the bullet reached my chest, the room went absolutely bright. The lights were so bright that it sent a shock through my eyes. I had to throw myself down to cover my eyes.

I slowly moved my arm out of my face and opened my eyes. I had to do it very slowly to adapt to the sudden brightness. The room was bizarrely white with the walls and doors matching the brightness.

The stair case through which I had reached this place was gone and so was the ladder that was leading to the top of the building.

I turned down to see the body of Michael Dallas who had fallen dead just a few seconds back. He was nowhere to be seen in the white room. I turned to the other direction to see the killer.


Part XV

There was a man standing exactly where the killer had stood when he shot me. He looked nothing like a killer. He was tiny man with silvery grey hair and a neatly trimmed beard. He was dressed in white.

I tried to move towards him but I, for some reason, could not move. I bent down to see what was stopping me.

I was sitting on a soft custom moulded white chair with my legs strapped floor. The man was standing a few feet away from watching me intensely with a very blank face.

‘Where am I?’, I asked with my voice really faint. The man did not reply.

‘Who are you? And what kind of a place is this?’, I questioned but the man did not answer me.

‘Just as expected’, he smiled and walked slowly to me. A card pinned to his chest read, ‘Psychiatrist – Schizophrenic Ward’

‘What were you expecting?’, I asked. ‘What the hell is happening here’. And what he replied was something I would never be able to comprehend.

‘You, Mr Dallas, have just come out of an intense Schizophrenic episode and my treatment is working as expected’, he said in a monotonous tone and walked out of the room.

What he said might be take ages for me to comprehend. Certainly, ages for me to comprehend.

If what he said was for real, I.. was.. Michael Dallas.. and this was one of my Schizophrenic episodes.


____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________




NB: Dedicated to the millions of Schizophrenics around the world. The story’s ending is inspired by ‘Identity’ starring John Cusack and Ray Liotta, a gripping psychological thriller which kept me engaged till the very end.

An interview with Michael Dallas (1)

Part I

I slowly opened my eyes but it seemed to be a herculean task. My head was pounding and I was unsure of how long I had passed out. I scrambled for my wrist watch at the bedside and flicked the fluorescence on.

‘Friday, 13.11.2009 09:12 am’, said my watch.

The last thing I remembered was having had endless number of drinks at the Carpenter’s late night bar. When or how I had reached home, I had no idea. I had passed out for longer than I thought.

‘Bloody Hell’, I cursed myself. I cursed myself for having drunk that much. That was a personal record for the number of rounds of alcohol.

Slowly, I sat up on my bed and swallowed a couple of aspirins from the bed side table, a desperate attempt to get rid of the banging inside my head. And those tablets took a few minutes to show any signs of success.

After a hot shower I went on a wild rampage in search of my mobile and after a struggle I found it in the kitchen.

’21 Missed Calls’, the phone showed. That, definitely, wasn’t a good sign.

A few calls were from my landlord, obviously for the list of overdue housing bills. A couple of calls were from my fellow script writers in the studio and strangely around fifteen calls were from an unlisted 'Private number'. There was roughly one call every one hour starting from noon the previous day.

‘Who could that be?’, I thought, my curiosity aroused.

Just as I placed my kettle on the stove to make a cup of tea, the mobile rang again. The number showed as ‘Private Number’. This should be the same person I thought and answered the phone.

‘When can you meet me?’, asked someone on the phone.

‘Excuse me?’, I was taken aback.

‘I am calling about the ad banner on the website. When can we meet?’, said the person, clearly nervous.

‘Who is this? Calm down for a second, will you?’

‘I am calling about your ad. ‘Search for a Schizophrenic’ on the website’, the person said without taking time to calm down.

It took me a few seconds to understand what the call was about. And my curiosity and interest grew to a much elevated level.

‘Oh wow..! that’s great..! finally, some one has called..!’, I said.

‘Cut the crap..! I don’t want to know what you feel like. When do you want to meet me?’

‘Eh.. Well.. Any time.. Any time you ask me to..!’, I replied immediately.

‘Quarter to eleven today, Red Sea café in the dodgy end of Wandsworth’

‘Dodgy end, you mean near the queen’s head?’, I asked.

‘Yeah, be there on time. I’ll leave at 10:46 if you are not there’ and the line went dead.

I was both bewildered as well as happy. Finally, after waiting for more than a month, someone has come up to speak. This was my chance, a real chance of getting a Schizophrenic’s real life account.


Part II

For over a decade, movies had been my life. I had started as a part timer in the Studio’s office and slowly had moved up to a member of scripting syndicate. The syndicate was the group of people who analysed scripts for movies and made the necessary changes after a series of discussions, or well, arguments.

For the love of my writing skills, I wanted to write a script for a movie, something absolutely original. A movie whose title credits would have the words, ‘Written by’ and my name below it.

I had a series of prolonged discussions with one of the Studio bosses and after a lot of difficulties had got his nod of approval. I was thriving to make a script which would make a difference. That was when the idea of Schizophrenia absorbed me like quicksand.

Though things were smooth initially, I hit a very serious writer’s block somewhere in the after the start. That’s where my search for a schizophrenic began. I needed someone's real life schizophrenic accounts which will help me progress my story.

I had tried very hard to get the audience of a few but none of them had been successful. And I was pushed to post an advertisement on a few free websites and had been waiting with high hopes that someone will get in touch. It was over a month and the idea was a complete let down.

Time was running out and my frustrations were building up. And when I was facing the real difficulties of accepting my failure, I had drunk really silly a few days back.

Finally, it was going happen today. Someone had got in touch and I was hoping it would help me in moving on with my script. I smiled to myself. At last, a real lucky break and a real chance to score.

When I stepped out of my house near the Charing Cross hospital, it started drizzling. I ran across the street and found shelter under the small bus stop. It was over-crowded than usual and someone was complaining that it was more than thirty minutes since the last 220 bus to Wandsworth.

‘To hell with this’, I cursed to myself about the unpredictable weather and the even more unpredictable bus delays.

Throughout the forty minute travel in the unusually crowded bus to Wandsworth, I felt a unfamiliar rush in my veins. I was just running the things I needed to focus while talking to this stranger I was going to meet.

‘Will his experiences turn my script in the right track?’

‘Will there be really something in this person’s experiences that will be very different?’

There were a series of questions running over and over in my mind. My bleak career as a script writer might end just as bleak or glow brighter that ever before. All of which depended on what I learn from the meeting today.

‘What’s taking this long..?’, I became furious when the bus was not moving for over five minutes. I looked out of the window to see that it was a bloody long line of vehicles on both lanes. I looked at my watch and it was 10:29 already, no way was I going to make it before 10:45.

‘To hell with it…’, I cursed again and pressed the ‘Open button’ on the bus’s door and hopped out before the car on the other lane and jumped onto the pavement. I started jogging in the rain cursing louder this time.

10: 40 it was when I reached the Queen’s head. I quickly grabbed an old lady to ask where the Red Sea Café was. The lady gave me a bizarre look before speaking a word.

‘Go straight ahead, you will find a worn down building at the end of the street. Walk into it and reach the far end. You will find what you are searching for.’, she said.

‘Thank you’, I said and started running.

‘Watch you head’, said the old lady before walking away but I didn’t wait to listen.

The building looked older and weaker than any I had imagined. It looked so weak that it would fall anytime. Even worse was the path through the building to the far end. The ceiling was so low and there were lots of support beams put in place to keep the ceiling from falling.

I realised the words of the lady to watch my head. I wasn’t sure whether my head would hit the low ceiling or the ceiling would fall right on my head.

‘This is one hell of a place..!’, I said to myself as I carefully moved to find the café. All the other shops seemed to have been pulled down even before decades and at the far end he could see a slightly lit board that said ‘RED SEA CAFÉ’.


Part III

I felt better to have reached on time as well as a bit eerie to be in a building like this. I carefully walked to the café’s windows and tried to look in. The windows were so dusty that I was able to see just shadows of things inside. I reached the door and stepped in.

The café hall was a very dull lit and looked very rusty. There were around fifteen tables arranged in the widely spaced café. A few people were sitting in the far right corner, a couple of shabbily dressed people were in the other far corner. Other than that, the place looked creepy and deserted.

For a few seconds I just stood there his eyes searching for the person who had made the call and just then my phone rang.

‘Walk straight in and I am at the table behind the pillar’, I was told and I obliged to see the mystery man I had been talking to. I was really surprised with what I saw.

In a broken down building, in a dirty restaurant and amidst dusty tables and chairs, I saw a smartly dressed, handsome, middle aged man sitting with a steaming cup of black tea in front.

Hesitant at the first instant, I said a soft ‘Hello’ but the man did not finch. I said a slightly louder ‘Hello’ to get the attention of the man sitting in front of me.

‘I know you are here’, he said without taking his eyes off the coffee, ‘Skip the formalities, take your seat’

I was taken aback with the slight hostility but I took a deep breath and sat in the chair opposite. A brief moment of silence followed and I felt a sudden nervousness to where and how to begin.

But before I began, the man asked, ‘So, you want to make a movie about me..?’.

‘Well, not exactly about you. I’m trying to write a script based on Schizophrenia’

‘You can’t make a better movie than ‘A beautiful mind’. I think you are wasting time here’, the man said.

‘Well, I appreciate that it’s one of the best movies, but I am just trying to..’

Before he could finish, the man burst, ‘Whatever..! I am not sure if I can be of much help, but ask what you want to’

‘Eh.. Ok’, I said opening the dossier he usually carried with him. ‘Can I have your name?’, I said as beginning to write.

‘My name is Michael Dallas’, the man said and I could notice a slight pride in the way he said.

‘Ok’, I said and wrote ‘Interview with Michael Dallas’ at the beginning of my notes and continued asking, ‘So, Mike I want to thank you for responding to my..’

And before he could finish ‘You can’t call me ‘Mike’, I don’t even know you. Address me as ‘Mr Dallas’. And if my name comes on any of you future records, I am going to sue you for sure.’ said Michael.

‘Holy crap..! I am going to have a very tough time here’, I told myself.

‘Alright Mr Dallas, let me get to the point. If you can give me a brief of your Schizophrenic experiences, it would be great’

‘Do you have all day long..? Even if you do, I can’t waste that much of a time. Be precise on your questions, will you?’

‘I can’t even get this guy to talk’, I thought and asked ‘When did you start to have..?’

‘I realised that I have schizophrenic illusions eight years before’, he answered before I finished my question.

‘If you say you realised, well, how did you realise?’

‘A psychiatrist, a good friend of mine and my confidante helped me’, replied Michael.

‘What kind of illusions do you think you have, Mr Dallas’, I asked.

‘I am being followed by two people for a very long time now’, replied Michael.

‘Followed by whom..?’

‘How the hell would I know..?! I am being followed by two people who are visible to only me and they don’t even talk to me, alright?! I don’t know them..!’

I bit my teeth with the thought of just standing up and leaving the place instead of talking to the man who was showing no respect whatsoever. But, I decided to be patient for just a few more minutes.

After a moment of awkward silence Michael began, ‘Sorry, this always gets me on my nerves. Every bloody time I start talking about this, I feel I’m sick. It makes me feel really sick’

‘Take your time Mr Dallas, it’s not a compulsion to tell me this if you really don’t feel like’, I remained neutral.

‘That’s alright. That.. That’s alright’, Michael stammered for a couple of seconds and the awkward silence returned.

‘Mr Dallas, do you have any idea why they are following you?’, I broke the silence with a question.

‘I guess, they are planning to murder me’, he said.


Part IV

I thought I had heard it wrong.

Michael took a couple of deep breaths and sighed, ‘I guess, they are planning to murder me’

‘Murder you? Well, how do you say that?’, I was curious.

‘They carry weapons when I see them. Silver coloured guns and I am quite sure I have seen them aiming their guns at me many a number of times’

A schizophrenic who had illusions of people planning to murder him, that was one hell of a plot.

‘And before I understood that these people were my schizophrenic illusions, I was under the assumption that someone was really trying to murder me and I kind of stuck on to it’, said Michael without taking in even a slightest breath.

All I could do was nod to whatever he was saying. The interview was slowly getting interesting, just as I had expected it to.

‘I was for a long time wondering how none of my colleagues, my family or my corporate security noticed them’, continued Dallas, ‘and it took a long time for me to realise that the problem was with me and these people were only visible to me’

‘Did you find that by yourself?’

‘No, when a lot of my efforts to make people understand of my fears failed, I was convinced to meet a psychiatrist’

‘Did you meet one?’

‘Yes, after a long thought. One of my close friends was there to help. She had just then reached the league of outstanding psychiatrists.’

‘How did you react to this?’, I asked.

‘I was so happy to hear the news, I arranged for a huge party and celebrated it..!’, he said and I was a little shocked.

‘Excuse me..?’, I asked with a blank face.

‘What kind of a question was that..?! How would you feel if you found out that you have a weak heart and are going to die of a heart attack soon?’, he asked me with a serious face.

‘Well..’, I didn’t know what to say, ‘I would feel bad, probably break down and..’

Before I could finish, he signalled me to stop. ‘Exactly..! I broke down..!', he said and went silent.

'I had a real tough time..!', he began after the pause. 'It took over a year to become normal and learn to live with this. The most painful days of my whole life'

I, for the first time, felt really bad for Michael. I didn’t know if it was a morality issue of using someone’s weakness as a building block or if it was just feeling of pity. I didn’t really know.

Michael Dallas was visibly upset revisiting those terrible days when he was dealing with this disorder. And then an intense silence fell in place again and I didn’t want to push him too much. I was ready to wait till he could hold himself back.

After a few minutes of silence, I slowly began with a question ‘Do you still have schizophrenic episodes?’

‘I see them, yes.’

‘Interesting’, I said, ‘When do you see them?’

‘Well I have booked a meeting with them everyday between 09:15 to 11:15’, he smiled.

‘Are you serious?’, I asked.


Part V


‘Ah no, I was just kidding’, he smiled for the first time.

‘They cross me a lot of times a day. They remain the same all time. Neither do they grow nor do they wear different dresses. They are the same, as when I noticed them for the first time eight years back’, he said.

After a bit of thought and out of a sudden curiosity I asked, ‘Do you see them at the moment?’

‘You mean, here in this café?’

‘Yes’

‘No, not inside the café, but..’, he said and leaned sideways across the pillar trying to see outside.

I was waiting curiously.

‘Ah, there is one of them just outside the café, wearing a funny green t-shirt with the words ‘Darko’s knife’’

I moved my sight around the pillar to look at where Michael had looked. The windows were a bit clean compared to how dirty they were when I came in. I could see someone outside.

‘That’s a really funny green t-shirt’, I smiled to myself. And then, something struck me. And my smile vanished immediately.

I slowly tilted my head to my side to see across the pillar in the same place again. A guy wearing funny green t-shirt with the words ‘Darko’s knife’ was standing there. And I could certainly see something silvery in his hand.

I understood something was wrong. I could feel the hair on the back of my neck raise up. I could feel a shiver run down my spine. There was definitely something very wrong.

‘Mr Dallas.’, my voice came down to a whisper. ‘The man you said..’

‘Yeah..?’

‘Is the K in the word knife, a mirror image and in a bright red?’, I asked with a shiver. Michael was stunned to hear what I was asking.

(To be continued..)

…around midnight on her birthday…

…around midnight on her birthday…

She was busy reading her novel. Though she wasn’t too interested in novels, she wanted to complete this one. Not just because he had presented it to her, she found it interesting as well. The silence and calm surrounding with the mild sound of the waves hitting the shores of Elliot’s beach was really soothing. Occasionally she glanced at her mobile and the clock, as if curious and waiting for the mobile to ring.

It was the first of March, a Saturday. The time was 23:55 hrs and she was alone at her PG. All her other room mates had gone home for the weekend. In another five minutes, the world was going to declare that she was older by one year. Yeah, it was her birthday on the second of March. ‘This is gonna be the quietest birthday since my school days, I suppose’, she was thinking with a smile across her lips. The digital clock by her side read 23:59, when the mobile sprang to life with the Back Street Boys singing ‘Quit playing games with my heart.. My heart.. My heart..’ and the smile on her lips got wider. It was a call from him. :-)

‘Hey dudette, what’s up?’ he asked. He had moved to the US on an assignment just a few days back. Though it was just a short term assignment for a few months, her friends teased her everyday about the way she cried during his send off at the airport. :-) Romance had been in the air for a couple of years now.

‘Nothing special, just reading the novel that you gave me before you left’ she said.

‘Oh yeah, the novel I gave. It was some, eh - some true story, right? I forgot the first word, what was it?’

‘It’s called Communion – A True Story. Hope it’s only the name of the book you forgot and not the person you gave it to.’ She said with a pinch of sarcasm.

He caught the slight change in tone and bounced back on the defense, ‘Come on yaar, wont forget you till my heart beats for the last time. ’ He meant it and she knew it. They let the silence fill the space and hearts for a few seconds. She knew that he was her One and so did he.

‘Here Goes..! Five.. Four.. Three.. Two.. One..! Hhhhh Aaaaa Ppppp Ppppp Yyyyy Bbbbb Iiiii Rrrrr Ttttt Hhhhh Ddddd Aaaaa Yyyyy..!!!’ He was at the peak of his energy when he wished. She felt that her digital clock held its breath at 00:00:00 for bit of a moment just for her to cherish. It was the quietest alright, but certainly the most romantic birthday she had had in life. :-)

‘Wow..! You don’t know how I feel now..! :-) THANK YOU..! THANK YOU SO MUCH..!’ she said.

She heard him say something but the line was flickering. She repeated ‘Hello’ but there was no response. She looked into the mobile; it flicked ‘BATTERY EMPTY’ a couple of times and went dead. The smile on her face vanished as well. She got restless and searched for the charger. She wasn’t able to find one. ‘Come on, I see it every now and then and when I need it, it’s missing’ she was getting frustrated. She found one and plugged it in. The mobile said ‘CHARGING’ and blipped to life. She kept it close to her waiting for his call.

She picked up her novel again, deciding to kill time. She was sure he would call her back. She had reached an important twist in the novel. The novel was about an alien invasion to earth where they kidnap human beings for research. It was absolutely a chilling experience and she felt as if some tiny creatures mentioned in the novel were moving in her room. She liked the feel of goose bumps while reading and in movies. As if the appointment was fixed, the power went off. The phone said ‘NOT CHARGING’ and went dead again.

The darkness took a bit of time to settle in. The fan in the room slowly, very slowly, came to a stop. The happiness had completely vanished from her face. ‘Not today’ she thought. She badly wanted to talk with him through the night. :-( She waited, waited and waited but no luck. She yawned repeatedly and was falling asleep.

But, something was not allowing her to sleep. She couldn’t grab clearly what it was. Some slight noise was disturbing her. CLINK… CLINK… CLINK... It was very slight in the beginning, but, was slowly gaining. CLINK… CLINK… CLINK…. The noise was striking her ears and not letting her sleep. She could hear it clearly now. CLINK… CLINK… CLINK…. She slowly opened her eyes. She had lost her sleep now. She sat up on her bed. Her eyes were adapting to the darkness. She sat there for a few seconds concentrating on the noise. It was the only noise she could hear. CLINK… CLINK… CLINK…

She got down from her bed and carefully moved out of her room. She knew that her PG rooms, as usual, were not clean. She had to look through the darkness and avoid placing her feet on the things that were scattered around. She took a second to locate where the noise was coming from. She felt as if she was playing the blindman’s buff. She was placing the trust on her ears to locate the noise. The noise was coming from the farther end of the kitchen. She was not used to being in the kitchen and was trying to guess where the noise was coming from. It should be the tap, she thought. She moved slowly and carefully into the kitchen and to the corner from where the noise was coming. Her guess was right. It was the water dripping from the tap striking the vessels. The maid had left the vessels there to be cleaned in the morning. She felt relieved for sometime after she closed the tap tight.

The silence was back as it was a few minutes before. She could hear the kitchen clock ticking second after second. She slowly moved out of the kitchen to the dining hall as carefully as before. She had a bad feeling about this. A very bad feeling, as if someone was behind her. As if someone was standing right behind her. She stood there for a couple of seconds and then slowly turned back. There was nothing behind her but the empty stretch of the kitchen. ‘It happens when you are alone’ she told herself and reassured that everything was fine.

When she was about to take a step forward, something fell from the dining table right next to her feet and rolled a couple of times. Her heart was pounding faster than the times she had ever known. Her breathing was heavy. The moon light was the only source of light in the room. She slowly bent down to see what had fallen near her feet. It was one of the knives from the cutlery set on the dining table. When the knife had fallen, it had laid a trail of some glittering liquid while it rolled. She moved her focus on the liquid. The moonlight was exactly in line with the trail. The glare showed it was surely red in color.

‘BLOOD..!’ that was what came to her mind immediately. How could it be..?! How could it be..?! How could there be BLOOD?! Her hands were shivering. She decided to touch it. She had a serious problem with blood. She was scared of blood and she perspired whenever she saw blood. But still, her hands moved on instincts and touched it. What was this? That was not blood. She moved her fingers to smell what it was. ‘Oh My God..! Cool..! Oh My God, its not blood. It’s the tomato sauce in the dining table bowl.’ She felt herself to be stupid about the whole thing. She just sat there for a second and almost laughed aloud about what had just happened.

Though she was alright for a few seconds, she felt there was a logic missing in the sequence. She thought hard to locate what it was. She seemed to have got it in a flash. How had the knife fallen from the dining table? It was a heavy knife and it could not have fallen down by itself, could it? How did the knife fall down then? She slowly gained stability on her feet. She moved towards the table. When she had taken a few steps, something sprang from below the table. Something..! A shadow..! It sprang and swiftly moved into her bed room. She was breathless. She was stunned. She was not able to move..!

‘Who is it..?’ she shouted. She grabbed the knife in her hand. There was no answer.

‘WHO IS IT..!’ she shouted again. There was still no answer. She decided to move in. She held her breath and composed herself. She decided to face it.

‘Who is it? Come out this second..!’ she said again as a warning. She moved into her room. Whatever it was, she was ready to face it with the knife in her hand.

‘Who the HELL is it?’ she shouted when she took the next step. She heard something move on her left. She moved into the room in flash when she heard it.

‘Meeaaoww..’ She froze there for a second. ‘Meeaaoww..’ a bit more frightened this time. The cat moved in from the darkness and jumped to the window. She could see it in the moon light. She could not believe what it was. She was too creative to confuse the sauce for blood and now the helpless cat for something horrible.

She sat down on her bed chewing her lips thinking about what had happened. She smiled to herself. ‘Avoid horror movies and novels for sometime’ she said loud. ‘I could easily be a writer for thrillers’ she smiled at her own thought. She laid her head on the pillow and felt relaxed. Her heartbeat had slowed down and the perspiration was disappearing. She started laughing at her stupidity. She had almost forgotten the whole thing. It was her birthday. :-) She could not believe that, around midnight on her birthday, she was acting as if she was in the middle of a horror movie. :-) She slowly dozed off.

It would not have been more than two minutes since she had dozed off, when there was a TAK… TAK… TAK…

She opened her eyes. It’s just a continuation of the day she thought. It was around midnight and no one was going to knock the door at this time. But she was sure she heard a knock on the door. Like the previous times, she was sure it was just her imagination and there was going to be nothing. She decided, anyway, to check it. She moved fast towards the door. She did not forget to take the knife with her. She was not worried about stamping on the things that were left on the floor. She reached the door and tried to see through the door’s magic eye. There was no power and it was around midnight. She was not even able to see within her room and no wonder she could see anything outside through the magic eye. She decided to open the door.

Slowly, she unhooked the lock and turned the knob once. She gave it a second. Did she really have to open the door? She thought about it. She turned the knob again and opened the door slowly, very slowly. Like a child playing hide and seek, she slowly and hesitantly moved her head out of the door to see if there was anyone. There was nobody out there in the dark. She felt relieved and confused at the same time. ‘I am not going to stay alone again. If everyone else is going home, I am going home too..!’ she decided and closed the door.

She hardly would have taken two steps when there was a stronger

TAK… TAK… TAK…

‘I am going insane’ she thought. ‘I just saw that there was nobody out there and again I hear someone knocking the door. I am going crazy’ she was saying when she heard a much stronger

TAK… TAK… TAK…

She moved fast and opened the door. She came out of her house with a bang. There was nothing. She was feeling irritated and she shouted with the knife in her hands, ‘Come out you cowards..!’ Something was going wrong with this. When her eyes were seriously searching, she heard it. She heard it right behind her. She heard the hard breathing. She felt the hot breath on her shoulders. Her heart was pounding. There was perspiration allover her body. She felt as if her knees had lost their strength. She was pale with fear. She turned around to see what it was.

Around midnight on her birthday, they had come for her.

Be Safe when you are alone. You never know what might be there in the dark. Be Safe..!

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Note: A sincere tribute to one of my favorite authors, Ray Bradbury