He watched the medium-heighted, shorthaired, thin Milan Martello step in.
‘Daniel, you rascal! If not for that fucking wound of yours, I would have stabbed you myself with a scalpel!’ he yelled, with his usual smile exposing his upper incisors.
After finally meeting someone he remembered, Daniel felt his spirits rising. He wondered if Martello had looked the same since his last memory of him four years ago during the trip, or it was the sense of recognition, which had shadowed his changes.
‘So, why did you leave the hospital without my consent?’
‘From what I have diagnosed, I must have been in coma since the past few days and I must have sustained a concussion, which led to my retrograde amnesia.’
Martello eyed him suspiciously for a second. ‘Is this supposed to be a fucking joke?’
Daniel shook his head, obvious that serious statements are most often mistaken for jokes between friends. ‘No, it isn’t a joke. I am serious. I do not remember the episodes of the past four years of my life. That is what led me to flee the hospital. You know what a stupid explorer I could be.’
Martello expressed pity for the first time since seeing Daniel. ‘Don’t worry man. You’ll be all right. Your reports made your concussion evident. But I did not suspect any amnesia. You have spared me the hectic task of going through questions about where you were for the past three years. And seeing you badly injured after three years was the worst of my experiences.
‘What about the bullet in your abdomen?’
Daniel hesitated before answering. He had already provided Martello too many things to worry about and telling him that his own girlfriend had shot him would precipitate his worries. ‘I don’t remember, buddy. As you know, the events before trauma are not usually transferred into permanent memory from temporary memory. So, they are usually lost.’
Martello nodded his head. ‘Then, what’s with these bruises?’
As Daniel wondered about what parts of the story he had to explain, Martello’s phone vibrated in his apron.
‘Hey Sam, what’s up? Is your shift completed?’ he asked. Sam was one of the common-friends of Daniel and Martello. He listened carefully before saying, ‘And, Daniel is here too. OK, I will be there with him within ten minutes.’
Daniel sat silently as Martello stitched his wound in silence, skipping his questions. Once it was done, he stood up and said, ‘Daniel, there is something I need to tell you. Vanessa is also here. She is unconscious. Come with me.’
The name seemed to struck a chord somewhere for Daniel. However, he was too tired to make a fruitless effort to recollect anything. When Martello stopped, Daniel found that they were in the same place where they had admitted Cynthia.
‘Here she is,’ Martello said, pointing her bed.
‘Vanessa?’ Daniel asked.
‘Stop kidding, Daniel. I will leave you with her and leave. Talk to you later, buddy.’
After Martello left, Daniel stood at the foot of her bed, wondering about the different name Martello had used. He had known her as Cynthia, but not as Vanessa and that too for more than a day. As he thought of the names, he sensed something fishy. He left her there and settled down in the chairs outside the ward.
He buried his face in his palms and recalled all the events that had unfolded after their meeting. The only thing that caught his attention was her interest in Operation Rochen Fort. But he had himself heard about it after he met her. He thought of the other reasons why she would have tried to hang out with him. As he dug deeper, a speck of a theory crossed his mind. He had met her in the parking lot, which he reached in Daniel Xavier’s car. Xavier was the one who had been investigating Operation Rochen Fort. Considering it, he came to a temporary conclusion that it was her misplacement of Daniel Shelby in Daniel Xavier’s place, which had made her accompany him.
He went through the details she had given about herself and wondered which parts of them were authentic. The idea of being played by a woman so easily annoyed Daniel and he questioned himself if he was too vulnerable. The nurse with the friendly face came to him and dropped a belongings-bag in his lap.
‘It has your belongings, doctor,’ she said and handed him a phone. ‘Dr. Martello told me to mention that he had downloaded some memes on your phone while you were in coma.’
Daniel smiled at her comment and took the phone. He examined it for a second wondering about its brand. It was a Samsung phone. It was unlike the last phone he remembered which had a keypad and a touch screen, while the one she gave him had no keypad and filled his palm. Examining it, Daniel realized that his new phone was as strange to him as he was to himself.
Manyap came and sat down beside him, laying his hand on Daniel’s shoulder.
‘Are you OK?’ he asked.
Daniel smiled at him, not in the mood for a formal lie.
‘I understand that you are in a state of turmoil as of the events forced upon you today,’ he said, as if sensing Daniel’s inner chaos. ‘Since you don’t remember me, you may not remember Jeremy Miller. Right?’
Daniel nodded his head.
‘See, I have known you since the March of last year, when we both were posted as field agents in East Division of SAF. We served in that division until September before they posted us in separate divisions. We were close friends at that time. You even told me that you joined the army to try to find something about Operation Rochen Fort. This Jeremy Miller was one of the people we investigated for treason. However, he escaped and Mercupo Liberation Society captured him, whom he escaped later. And, now he claims that he has been murdering our mates for that. Capturing us was part of it.’
Daniel had received so many blows since waking up two days ago that the new revelation did not strike him as a shock or surprise. He had grown habituated to pocketing what was thrown his way. Yet, he was resolute to respond the proper way whatever it demanded. However, what surprised him was that Jeremy was chasing Daniel about some feud concerning a group, rather than the murder of his father. He believed that Jeremy did not know about it, for if it were so, he would have gone to the respected authorities with the info, unless he wanted his vengeance himself.
‘I am sorry about Margaret,’ Manyap asked.
Hearing her name from Manyap made him suspicious. ‘What about Margaret?’
Manyap threw him a stare, which said, “Are you serious?” ‘Daniel,’ Manyap said, ‘Are you serious? She was taken into RCAF custody for her anti-ESAF social-media activities.’
‘That I know. I was even intending to ask your help to free her. Is there no way of releasing her?’ Daniel asked enthusiastically.
‘Daniel, when I first heard about her arrest, you came into my mind. But…there is no way they are going to let her go without any charges. She is facing similar charges as you. Her charges are of a higher degree. The people at RCAF hate her group. She might be facing fifteen days of detention, at the least.’
Daniel buried his face in his palms and thought of weeping. But he felt at a loss of tears and just closed his eyes.
‘Do you love her?’ Manyap asked.
Daniel raised his head and gazed blankly at Manyap. He nodded, again lost at words.
‘What did you do about Vanessa?’ he asked.
Daniel sensed the alarming bells in his head. Martello had used the name for Cynthia. ‘Vanessa?’
‘Yeah, Vanessa. You told me you were unable to differentiate your feelings for the both of them.’
Differentiating feelings for the both of them?
As he started to ask for a clarification, his phone pinged. He dropped the question and switched it on. It showed a message from Martello on messenger.
‘Did you see any of my memes or just sit beside Vanessa singing love songs to her? Give it a break man. She’s going to be alright,’ he read it.
Daniel found himself at the crossroads and posted a “thinking” emoticon. As he surfed through the various notifications on his phone, trying to make sense of his knowing about the emoticons
, he found a few messages on an app called WhatsApp. Attributing his emoticon knowledge to his semantic memory, he opened the app from the notifications. He had several messages from several groups and friends, of whom he did not remember some people. As he scrolled down, he found a message from an unknown number, where the name “Vanessa” appeared in the message. When he opened the message, he found an audio message followed by a text that said- VANESSA FEELS THIS ABOUT YOU, YOU TREACHEROUS BITCH!
Overwhelmed by curiosity, Daniel stood up, walked down the corridor to a less crowded place, and played the audio.
‘Gina, Daniel has done as I suspected. He loves Margaret Aniston. I met him today. He is suffering from retrograde amnesia. He remembers Margaret, but not me. If he does not remember me, I believe he does not even love me anymore. I hate him!’ he heard her voice say.
Once it was over, Daniel replayed it and tried to make sense out of her words. He did not believe that he had loved Vanessa, who called herself Cynthia, and Margaret. As far as he remembered, he had been in love with Margaret. However, except him, everyone knew about Vanessa, and Martello spoke as if she was a common friend, which made Daniel believe that she was a classmate. However, Daniel recollected no memory of seeing her, which he momentarily attributed to his weak communication with the women of his class. When he recalled her words the previous day, it made little sense. She had told him about her boyfriend cheating her with another girl. He believed that she must have referred to him, and the sense of familiarity he experienced about her supported the new revelations. Yet, he did not get a complete hold of the situation. He recollected the recollection he had in the prison. When he first recollected it, he attributed it to his unsound memory, but as new revelations came into light, the memory seemed authentic. He had first loved Margaret, and then somehow moved onto Vanessa, whom he had left for two years, before Margaret reemerged to kill him. All the twists had taken place during his blank era. And he still wondered how he ended up loving a woman, whose existence in his class he had remained oblivious to. He wondered why she had acted a stranger, while they had a history together. The coincidence of their interest in Operation Rochen Fort made him doubt it as a coincidence, and perceive it just as a part of what she intended to implement.
He dialed the number and waited while it rang.
‘Hello Daniel, surprisingly late, but shockingly calling,’ the voice said.
‘Who’s this?’ Daniel asked patiently, not bothering to solve the man’s puzzles.
‘You can call me your well-wisher or whatever you please. But I must remind you that you are a careless idiot. When you had a precious gift like Vanessa, you cheated her with another girl. Not your lucky day, huh?’
‘Hey, what’s your problem? Where did you get that audio? Is it authentic?’
‘Well, if you are interested, I could welcome you to my place where I have got a lot of stuff that concerns your life. Why spoil the fun when it can be witnessed in live?’
Daniel gave it a thought before replying a “yes”. He ended the call and thought of the various tasks which sought his attention. After prioritizing meeting the person over the other issues, Daniel went in search of Martello.
Daniel observed his phone and took a right at the roundabout at the junction, according to the Google maps. It had been one heck of a job for him to borrow a pair of clean clothes and a pair of boots, in place of the ones he borrowed from Xavier’s, the keys for the Chevrolet from Martello, while at the same time evading his questions. He had promised to come back safely with the answers for his questions and his car if he allowed him to leave. Martello had let him leave only after stuffing several pills into Daniel’s hands and making him drown them for his pain. He had to inform the friendly nurse to take care of Vanessa till he got back and left Manyap to himself, who was busy making several calls to his-or their-higher officials.
The man he contacted had sent him the address through maps and Daniel followed it to reach there. He had heard of Orego District, but had never gone there. Old Kraminko looked the complete opposite of the newer city, which was flooded with modernity, while the old city was packed with ancient buildings, most of which seemed like they would collapse any minute. The Kraminko Municipal Corporation had dared not touch that part of the city, despite the critical condition of the buildings, because of the activities that part of the city served. The drugs cartel had unfolded in that part in 1980s and had since then continued by bribing the cops and the officials.
When he finally reached the destination, which was an old apartment block, he parked the car in front of the building and connected a call to the anonymous person.
‘Come to 3rd floor, flat no. 309,’ he said.
Daniel ascended the flight of stairs to the third floor, which looked nearly abandoned. When he finally stood in front of the mentioned flat, his curiosity rose and he exhaled hard. He knocked on the door, which opened a little and he got in before receiving a response. The inside of the small flat looked even more horrifying than the exterior and there was no chance of walking on the floor without stepping on something. Daniel wondered if the floor had intact marble. Despite the final rays of the Sun outside, the house was complete darkness. As he walked around, a streak of light came into view from his right, which Daniel followed. The light led him to a small cubicle room, which was crammed with computers and related stuff, and a fat person in front of a laptop. He rose up and extended his hand towards Daniel. For a moment, Daniel wondered if they were well acquainted before.
Daniel shook his hand suspiciously and said, ‘You must be…’
‘Tim Bronson,’ he said.
Daniel withdrew his hand and nodded his head. ‘So, what do we do now? Will you tell me what this is all about?’
Bronson sat down in his chair, unable to balance his heavy frame in standing posture, and drank beer from a can. A half-eaten sandwich lay on the table beside the keyboard. ‘Maybe, you can tell me. Daniel, this is not a one-sided conversation. I want some answers from you, which fascinate me. You may begin.’
Daniel lost his cool. He had anticipated uncovering something important. But Bronson’s remark pissed him off. ‘Tim, I came here to find out what Vanessa must have meant by her words, not to explain my goddamn theory.’
‘Look Daniel, you, being the boyfriend of Vanessa Romero, should explain the complexities of your dual relationship with two pretty ladies,’ Tim said, sipping the beer.
Daniel dug his fists into his pockets and exhaled. ‘Bronson, I am really not in the mood to take a fucking class. My relationship is none of your business. OK?’
Tim shook his head and adjusted his specs. ‘Daniel, you don’t understand my interests. I have been in love with Vanessa since a long time. I was her classmate in school, before I turned into a hacker and put on some weight. I was jealous of you when I saw the two of you together. I despise you, but when I came to know that you cheated her, I was convinced that being handsome like you is not everything. So I thought of meeting you here to ask an explanation for your behavior towards my sweet darling.’
Even though he did not remember anything about their love, Daniel experienced a gush of fury at Tim’s references of Vanessa. He tried to deal it with humiliation. ‘OK, let’s consider I cheated. But, she will move onto someone else, but not a stuffed swine like you.’
Tim looked like he felt insulted. However, he grinned, took a bite from his sandwich, as if he wanted to imply the inevitable, and said, ‘See, you just said that you cheated. That explains it. And coming to her loving me, she may or may not. But, you have got to admit that no one values her like I do,’ he said, swinging his hands in the air madly. He moved his chair to a side and said, ‘Come over here. See this.’
Daniel cautiously moved to the other side of the table and peered into the screen. Tim pointed a folder with his greasy hand, which said- VANESSA’S PERSONAL. ‘It contains various photos, videos, conversations of Vanessa. Lifting these things from her Cloud Storage was the favorite part of this job
I liked.’ He opened the folder, which revealed separate folders for videos, photos and conversations.
As Daniel stood there, silently appreciating Bronson for his effort, Tim stood up from his chair. For a moment, Daniel thought that he was going to assault him. He tugged past Daniel and stormed into what-was-a-bathroom, with Daniel following him behind. As Daniel’s adrenaline rush subsided, he went around the house examining the crammed place. When he reached Tim’s bedroom, he was awestruck. All the four walls were covered with large-size posters of Vanessa. The sight of the room made Daniel jealous and breathless. He receded back to the crammed room and sat down in front the laptop. He opened the photos folder and found thousands of photos. He found a pen-drive by the side of the laptop and he connected it to the laptop. He formatted it and copied the complete folder into the USB. For some unknown reason, he was unable to bear someone else’s love for her.
When he minimized the window, he found an opened Facebook account. As he scrolled upwards to know what name Tim used, he was shocked. It was his account named- DANIEL VAB SHELBY. When he shifted to “Home” tab, he found a recent activity, where a status was posted, which read-
WHEN I HEARD “ESAF” WAS GOING TO TAKE OVER FROM FREMIAN NATIONAL PARTY’S GOVERNMENT, I FELT PLEASURE. BUT WITHIN ONE WEEK INTO THEIR RULE, I QUESTIONED MYSELF “WHAT THE FUCK?” THESE GUYS ARE FAR WORSE, MAYBE THE WORST THE PEOPLE OF FREMIA DESERVE. WHENEVER GEN. LEVISOHN APPEARS IN FRONT OF THE MEDIA, RECITING HIS POLITICAL JOKES AND FAKE PROMISES TO UPHOLD FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE, I AM AMAZED AT HIS SENSE OF HUMOR. HE MUST BE HAVING HIS BRAINS WHERE HIS BALLS RESIDE TO BELIEVE THAT PEOPLE WOULD TAKE THIS BULLSHIT. HE IS BETTER OFF BEING A COMEDIAN, RATHER THAN THE CHAIRMAN OF ESAF. I HAVE ALREADY BEGUN WISHING FOR A SUPERHERO TO PUT US OUT OF THE HANDS OF THESE NUT HEADS OF ESAF.
As he stood there, cursing Bronson under his breath for his mischief, Tim’s phone pinged. Daniel stood up, startled and picked it up. Even the lock-screen displayed her photo. But what interested Daniel was a message from a contact called JEREMY MILLER. It read- Is he there still? We are outside.
The Memoir Page 14