by Mir Quadri
Few hour later, in the garage…
Harry came closer to Ron and said “okay, I want cameras installed at all entry and exit points. This is a pretty big building, so have snipers ready at across all the major elevated building around this hospital. I want the traffic to be blocked from the south of this street, but keep the traffic on from the north and the north east exits of the street. We need to have some flow of traffic so that he does not notice any unusual changes”
“You got it, sir” replied Ron.
“I want this building completely sealed. I want cops dressed as doctors and civilians flowing in and out of the hospital to make it look normal. No regular patients go either in or out of the hospital. No emergency cases…nothing. Direct all these to other hospitals. I want all hospital phone lines tapped. Again, no one gets in or leaves this hospital until all this is over”
“Sure sir”.
“And listen, take all these ambulance vehicles out of this garage and park them temporarily somewhere else. He said he was going to use the ambulance as a decoy to break-in. When he enters this garage, he will have the shock of his life when he sees no other vehicle here but his, making it even more easier for us to identify his vehicle”
“Got it!”
Will kept watching this conversation from inside the ambulance. Soon enough, a driver came in and drove the ambulance out of the hospital and into another long-term storage facility. Will got out of the vehicle and looked for the marked vehicle. He found the marked vehicle parked towards the extreme end of the storage facility. He quickly checked in on Ms White, who was still unconscious, but alive. He hopped onto to the driver’s seat and drove off the ambulance out of the storage facility.
“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE, MOTHER!”
Present day
“Are you sure?” asked Evelyn.
“Of course, I am sure. I have seen her myself” said Harry.
“Did you actually see her?” asked Evelyn.
“Yeah, she was lying in her bed and had an oxygen mask on her….” it suddenly occurred to him that he actually did not see her face. He just saw a masked lady on the bed.
“Damn it!” he said as he immediately took his cell phone out and called Ron, who was in the garage at the hospital.
“Ron, please go and check on Ms White. See if she is still there” said Harry. On getting the call from Harry, Ron ran upstairs to the second floor where the two guards were standing inside the room and the room was exactly the same way as Harry saw it the last time.
“She is still here, sir” confirmed Ron.
“Can you take out her mask off and see if that’s really her?” asked Harry.
Ron slowly removed the mask and realized that this was not Ms White, but her nurse, who was lying unconscious all this while on the bed.
“Shit! This isn’t her. He’s got her, sir” screamed Ron on the phone.
12 hour ago
‘Life has it’s way. A few days ago, I was working with the police, helping them catch killers. Today, I am acting like one. I know I did not kill anyone, but there have been a series of events that have started in my life that is taking me closer and closer to becoming a killer. I just want to find the truth. Truth about why I saw myself killing Mr Zhu, but more importantly, who killed my family. I need to get answers. And yeah, she is going to help me get them’ thought Will as he turned around and looked at Ms White, who was lying unconscious at the back of this bumpy ambulance vehicle as Will drove in full speed. It had started drizzling a little, but for Will, he started feeling cold a long time ago. He still could not believe that he actually broke into the hospital to get Ms White out. ‘What an irony! You have to become a criminal to prove your innocence’ thought Will. He never believed that he had it in him. He realized that you can have anyone do anything with the right motivation — for him, it was about finding the truth.
He pulled over into a big yard of an abandoned house, somewhere in the outskirts of the city. He stopped right in front of the garage shutter door, which had holes in it with distinct exhibition of art sprayed all over it, with every word starting with the letter ‘F’ and most of the words ending with just four letters. Clearly, this was one of the ghetto places of the town. Will stepped out of the van and looked around in the hopes to not see any homeless people on the street. He then pulled the shutter door up with his hands. This door was such a mess that it didn’t take him too much trouble to roll it up. He then drove inside the garage.
This was a dark garage with very little light. The walls were mostly sprayed on by paint. Some old rubber distinctly torn into pieces and scattered around the floor. There were a couple of iron skeleton remains of what was probably a car at some point in time.
Will parked the van in one corner. He got down and pulled the shutter door down from inside so no one could see him. It was pitch dark! With just his hands feeling the van, he managed to find the door knob, at the back of the van and opened it. He went inside the van and took out his mobile phone and turned it’s light on. With the help of just this one beam of light, he started looking for the light switch inside the vehicle. He finally found it in the extreme right corner over the top in the ambulance and turned it on.
He then lay Ms White gently on the ambulance bed. Ms White was still asleep, still under the influence of the tranquilizer injected into her. Will started scanning through all the first aid medicines that were nicely arranged in a rack in the ambulance and picked up a packet with label ‘Intravenous Sugar Solution’. He hung the packet to the intravenous pole and injected it into the Ms White’s right hand.
‘That should ensure she has enough energy to bear the Hunting Session’ he thought.
Everything seemed ready for the Hunting Session to begin. Though these were not the most ideal conditions to perform a Hunting Session, Will knew that desperate times call for desperate measures. It was time to know the truth of what exactly did he see and why did he see that he killed somebody when he didn’t in reality.
Will took both her hands into his and said “alright, time to put at end to all this. On the count of three, I will start the Hunting Session” he said and continued “one…two and three” and closed his eyes.
***
Will opened his eyes and saw that he was standing in the corridor, the same corridor that he was in before, with almost infinite string of doors on both sides and white light illuminating from both ends of the Memory Palace. ‘Alright, for the first time, I am happy to be back here’ he said to himself. He gazed at the first door, that was the brightest of all doors, which he had entered before.
“I hate this door” he said to himself and continued “time to explore myself” and turned around. This is the first time ever that he had deviated from his normal course of action, his normal path to his destination. He saw the opening of a small tunnel — a tunnel that had nothing but white light coming out of it. Will always thought this to be the source of the white light which comes from this point and showers it’s beam into the memory palace, brightening some doors more than others, based on how strong the memory is. He slowly moved towards the tunnel. As this was an unknown territory for him, he knew that he was a little hesitant, scared to say the least. But he realized that this was the only way for him to find out what exactly happened. Did he really kill anyone or what he saw was all a setup as he was suspecting. With holding on to some courage, he took the plunge - he jumped into the tunnel. The tunnel was so small that he had to crawl inside it. As he stepped inside the tunnel, he realized that the tunnel was very cold, to the extent that his hands were almost frozen as he moved into the tunnel like a scared cat loiters in the night through the jungle. After a while, from a distance, he spotted a string of light coming from the other end, the other opening of the tunnel. He crawled his way to the end and got out — what he saw, he could not believe. He was now standing at the intersection, the other side of the intersection, into his own memory palace. Just like the on the other side, he saw the same string of doors here,
with light illuminating off them — some more than others. There were millions of doors lined up just like the other side. Will realized that he was always wrong — there is no intersection point, there is actually an intersection tunnel that acts as a bridge between the two subconscious minds. As Will gazed through the palace, it was not hard for him to recognize the first door on the left, which had the brightest light of all the doors.
‘If I killed anyone, this is where I will see it’ he thought as he slowly walked to the door. He then slowly opened the door, walked in and closed the door behind him.
As Will turned around and looked, he realized that he was in a big house. He saw an old black-and-white television set, enclosed in a wooden cabinet, neatly arranged on a glass table in the corner. This was the TV where he used to watch most of his childhood cartoons. There was huge flower vase made of mud onto the left side of the room with bright yellow fresh lily flowers arranged in pairs and gently placed in it. Old rugged couches and plastic chairs arranged to the right.
“Oh god! I know this house” muttered Will as he slowly walked in. As he walked to the end of the living room, he saw an old, red colored toy bicycle, leaning to the wall.
“This was my bike. This was my home” he said when tears started flowing through his eyes.
“Why coming here is so painful. What happened here?” he said to himself when suddenly he heard the sound of vegetables being cut - chop, hit, slice on a wooden pane. He walked into the the door to the left of the living room and saw his mother, who was pretty young at the time, cutting some vegetables with a big knife. She seemed clearly upset as the sound of the knife hitting the wood intensified.
“Willie!” she screamed and continued “you’re going to be late for school. Get down here.” Suddenly, something hit Will as he heard his mother say those words.
“I know this… I am coming mama. I am just finishing up this maze” he said when he heard the voice of a kid coming from the floor above “I am coming mama. I am just finishing up this maze.”
Will turned around and ran upstairs and opened the door of the bedroom. There he saw a kid - lying on his bed, about 6 years old, playing with a maze of small plastic blocks, trying to arrange them on a plastic rail track. This kid was Will.
Will went close to him as his eyes started pouring. He was witnessing his childhood. As the kid started reciting a poem, Will started humming this with him
“Clickety clack, clickety clack,
What’s that comin’ down the track?
A freight train!
Freight train comin’ down the track.
Chugga chugga chugga.
Clickety clack, clickety clack,
What’s that comin’ down the track?
A steam engine!
Steam engine comin’ down the track.
Chugga chugga chugga”
“What’s up kiddo?” said a thick voice from behind. Will turned around and looked at this man — he was a tall, well built guy with a thick accent. He was Will’s dad.
“Daddy!” said the kid as he sprung jumped out of the bed to hug his old man.
“Are you going to drop me to school, daddy?” asked the kid.
“No kiddo. I gotta get something done today. Listen, I won’t be around for a while because of work. So, you be good to mama and do well at school” said his dad.
“Are you gonna be gone for all summer, daddy? You’re never around for my summer holidays” sighed the boy.
“I am sorry, kiddo. I wish things were different. Anyways, get ready before your mama gets all worked up!” said his dad as he tapped on his head and went out the door.
“Clickety clack, clickety clack” hummed the boy as he went hopping into the restroom. Will walked through the boy’s room and saw all the pictures of his super heroes, cartoons, pasted on the walls.
“Huh..I used to love these” he muttered. As Will continued to explore the room, he heard his mom scream downstairs like there was an argument between her and dad. The kid came out of the restroom, frightened. He slowly walked out of the room and down the stairs. Will followed the kid quietly behind him. The kid went to the first floor. His mom and dad were having an intense fight as the kid peeped through the small passage of the kitchen door that was not fully closed.
“You need to understand this” said his dad.
“I am sick of you. I am going to end this today” said his mom.
“What do you mean?” shouted his dad.
The mom held the knife, the same big knife she was using to cut the vegetables, against the dad.
“Take it easy, Emily” his dad screamed.
“Don’t do it mother. Please don’t do it” said Will as he kept watching. Just then his mom rammed the knife into his father’s chest as the kid started shivering. He had seen everything!
“What did you do, mother” cried Will as his father succumbed to his death, with a pile of blood on the kitchen floor. The mom did not stop stabbing him as he fell down on the floor. She stabbed him multiple times as her face splashed with his blood. Just as she realized that her husband was indeed dead, she turned around and looked at the door and saw the kid, Willie, peeping through the door. Just then the kid, scared, ran upstairs to his room as Will stood there, crying, having witnessed his mom killed his dad brutally. Distraught at the sight, he fell on the floor crying. He knew that his mind somehow blocked this memory to protect himself. This is what his mom did not want him to see, which is why she never told him about what lay behind the tunnel.
“What have you done, mother!” he said while crying loudly and continued “Snap out. I said, Snap out!”
Suddenly, there was a loud howling sound of an elk bellowing in a forest. A massive twister, appearing from nowhere, came furiously towards Will, shredding everything to pieces.
***
“NUMBER ONE SUSPECT”
Present day
“Are you sure?” asked Evelyn.
“Of course, I am sure. I have seen her myself” said Harry.
“Did you actually see her?” asked Evelyn.
“Yeah, she was lying in her bed and had an oxygen mask on her….” it suddenly occurred to him that he actually did not see her face. He just saw a masked lady on the bed.
“Damn it!” he said as he immediately took his cell phone out and called Ron, who was in the garage at the hospital.
“Ron, please go and check on Ms White. See if she is still there” said Harry. On getting the call from Harry, Ron ran upstairs to the second floor where the two guards were standing inside the room and the room was exactly the same way as Harry saw it the last time.
“She is still here, sir” confirmed Ron.
“Can you take out her mask off and see if that’s really her?” asked Harry.
Ron slowly removed the mask and realized that this was not Ms White, but her nurse, who was lying unconscious all this while on the bed.
“Shit! This isn’t her. He’s got her, sir” screamed Ron on the phone… when suddenly, the receptionist, Claire barged into the meeting room.
“Claire, you’re not suppose to be here. Get out” screamed Harry in anger, clearly taking out his frustration on her.
“I am sorry sir, but there is a call for you” she said.
“Take a message”
“I tried but he won’t give me, sir”
“For god-sake, can’t you see I am busy! now go” retorted Harry.
“I think you would want to take this, sir. It’s Will” said Claire.
The room suddenly got quiet when Claire uttered that name, Will. Will, was actually on the phone. Harry could not believe what his ears had just heard.
“What?” he asked.
“Yes, sir. It’s Will on line two. He said he wanted to talk to you” replied Claire, hastily.
Harry turned around and looked at Cas. Cas ran out to a bunch of techies who immediately started installing their equipment and connecting to the call, trying to locate the address where the call had originated fr
om. In a couple of minutes, Cas, wearing headsets, standing outside the room with the techies nodded with a thumbs up, signaling Harry to take the call. He slowly moved towards the phone on Evelyn’s desk. Dan and Kate just looked at each other, anxiously, contemplating what Will was going to say. Harry slowly took the wireless phone receiver by his right hand, pushed the button that had line two written on it and said “this is Captain Haimesh”
“Captain, I heard you’re looking for me?” asked Will on the phone.
“Is this Mr Ross?”
“Yes, it’s me Captain. Why are you guys looking for me?”
“We have an arrest warrant”
“Arrest warrant for me…why? What have I done?”
“Well, there’s a lot that you have done. Let’s start with the million dollar question — where is Ms White?”
“Haha..How would I know where she might be?”
“Will, I know you have taken her from the hospital. Listen, whatever you have done we can fix it. Just come home.”
“That’s the problem, Captain. I haven’t done anything. And that’s exactly what I am trying to prove.”
“Well, if you haven’t done anything, then there’s no reason for you to be out there, alone, by yourself. Tell me where you are. I can come and get you. I promise you that I will fix this.”
“I am afraid I can’t do that.”
Harry looked up at Cas, who was listening to the call from outside of the room. Cas signaled him to keep going as they needed Will to be on the phone for a few more minutes to get the address.