Revisit
It was the shrill siren that woke me up. I woke up wondering how the loud sound of footsteps had allowed me to sleep that long. My head felt really weird. The only time it felt that way before was post my surgery. I reached my hand to the right and found nobody there.
“Susan, come back here. Where are you?”
I heard no reply. Puzzled, I got myself up to find the room sparkling clean. It wasn’t just clean, it looked brand new. The paint, the furniture... Everything seemed new. . I was wondering what the hell had happened in one night?
“Schlange stehen, Sie Schwein!!”
That certainly didn’t sound friendly. Heck, that wasn’t even Polish. It sounded more like German. I moved towards the curtains and peered out the window. It was then that I knew that something was amiss. There was a line of polish people being ordered around by what looked unmistakably like a bunch of Nazi SS soldiers.
All I could remember at that time about the previous night was that I was in a Warsaw hotel with Susan to attend the conference … in 2009. What was I doing in the middle of World war II? My mind fought the thought that I had been dreading. It couldn’t have been that. She loves me. She can’t have done it. Why would she? were the thoughts that were agonizing me at that point. The noise outside suddenly recaptured my attention.
“Du! Schritt nach rechts”, screamed the Nazi captain.
He then went to the terrified old pole, who obviously didn’t understand a word of German. The captain dragged the man outside the line. Within a second he shot two bullets into the old man’s head. I ducked down to hide. I felt like screaming. I had to bite my hand to stop myself. My stomach couldn’t take what I just saw. The image was too harrowing. I tried hard holding it in but couldn’t keep it up for too long. I knelt down slowly and in a minute I was down on my knees staring at a pool of my vomit. I wondered what would happen to me. My mind brought back pictures from The Pianist. I knew I was as good as dead.
After a while, I summoned the courage to go back to the window and look out again. From as far as fifty feet away, I could see the cold and pale eyes of the captain. My legs were shivering as I noticed that they were staring right at me. They froze completely when I heard the blood curdling yell.
“Dort oben im Fenster!”
“Tötet ihn!”
I didn’t wait to see what happened next. I heard the march of soldiers as they made their way to my building. I looked at my wrist and I couldn’t find my watch. I needed to find my watch. If I made my back to the 1940’s, I couldn’t have come unaided. The watch had to have come with me too. She must have loosened the strap so that it would get separated from me due to the impact force of arrival. The footsteps got louder. I looked under the bed. I found nothing.. NOTHING!! It couldn’t have gotten out of the room. That left only the laundry and the cabinet base to be searched now. I dived down to look underneath the cabinet and didn’t find it there.
KNOCK KNOCK
“ Aufmachen!”
I looked in the laundry, scavenging through the clothes. My breathing became heavier by the second. I couldn’t find the damn thing.
THUD. . THUD
“ Jüdischen Hund!!”
I stayed there helplessly facing the door, staring at it blankly. Suddenly it struck me. I lunged towards the bed and unfurled the sheet. I saw the watch in all its sheen flying in the air making its way to the other side of the bed. I jumped over to reach it.
CRACK
Mid air, I saw the door flying in while I frantically caught hold of the watch. I saw the Nazi walk in after I’d landed on the ground.
“Tod den Juden”
He pulled the trigger… I pressed the button on my watch… It was too late. The pain was excruciating. It started from my stomach. I’d been hit. I guess that was it. My dream life of a Nobel Laureate was not meant to be. The irony of the whole situation struck me then. I had feared all along about how my invention could have been misused when it had actually been used against me, to kill me. I looked down at my stomach to take a look at the damage. To my shock, I found nothing. Then the pain suddenly surged. It felt like my whole body was being ripped apart. The room started to disappear around me. All I saw after that was a bright flash.
……
……
……
When I came to, I found myself in a forest. Where the hell was I? Then, the comfort of not having a Nazi Submachine gun fire shots at me started to sink in. So I calmed down. The place seemed safe. I saw the watch just a few feet away. Losing it meant being lost forever in an unknown time. So the first thing I did was to pick up the watch and tie it around my wrist.
I sat down and collected my thoughts. It was clear that Susan had done me in. I had showed her my watch. I had showed her what years of my intelligence and efforts had achieved. I had even taken her to the medieval Scottish highlands and shown her those magnificent castles. After all I’d done for the two of us; she had to do this to me. Why?? I knew it could only be one reason. It had to have been him. She never could forget him. She always sympathized at his failure as a physicist. What happened to me became crystal clear then. She had drugged me. That’s why my head had hurt so much. Knowing we were in Warsaw, she sent me back to the world war, she sent me to my doom. She would then use the other prototype to help that bastard to the Nobel. I WAS A FOOL TO HAVE LOVED HER.
It was then that I heard a thud which had an eerie resemblance to the Nazi ram on the hotel door. I listened for a while. I heard it again. This time I noticed a ripple in the puddle nearby. I then realized the implication of the time shown on my watch. I was in the Jurassic age!! I saw the head of the monster. I realized that Spielberg had done no justice to the creature. The T-Rex that stood about 500 yards away from me had instantly immobilized me. It was only its shrill roar, if I could call that one, that told me I needed to run away... right then. I started running away. The monster had spotted me. In the time it took me to run to a cave, it was within biting distance of me. I looked up to see two rows of sharp teeth hurtling towards me from behind. To say I barely made it alive would have been an understatement. While I jumped into cave, it crashed its jaw against the rocks at the entrance. The monster was furiously trying to push its mouth in.
I turned my attention to my watch. I needed to get back to my time. I needed to get back to 2009. The foul breath from its mouth made me gasp for breath. The cave entrance finally gave way. As I finished setting my destination coordinates on the watch, I saw its jaw move towards me. I jumped and pressed the button on my watch. I could picture how I looked making a smooth and clean entrance into the mouth of the T-rex unharmed by those canines.
The pain returned and I so did the bright flash.
….
....
….
I woke up to find myself in an alley. I walked out to find the hotel where Susan and I had checked into the previous night. Seeing something familiar had brought back hope. There was only one thing on my mind then: - Revenge!! She would die. I was going to make sure of that. I walked into the hotel not caring that I looked like someone who had just escaped from the jaws of a dinosaur. Surprisingly, nobody seemed to notice me. I entered the elevator and pressed the button that read 17. As the lift moved up, all the thoughts returned to me- The time I had first set eyes on her, the time I had confessed my undying love for her, the trip to the highlands. My blood boiled with rage. I heard the bell that signaled the end of my lift journey. The doors opened to reveal the walkway.
I made my way slowly, composing myself after every step I took. I knew what I had to do. I reached for the key in my pocket. It was still there. I put the key in the lock and turned it making as little noise as possible. I took a deep breath and kicked the door open. There she was, standing right in the middle and as I suspected that bastard was with her too.
“Honey!! Where were you? I was worried sick”, she said.
She was crying. Her fake tears drove me insane. I was taken over by my rage. I ran towards her and all I wanted to do was wring her neck. Four men in white coats took me down before I could reach her. I kicked aimlessly as I tried to get myself out of that scrum. Then two more people joined in. Six against one was unfair. I struggled to get myself out. Suddenly, I saw a familiar face who said
“Hello David, Not doing well are we?”
“Fuck you!!” I said
And I kicked him in the groin.
“Ouwww… Restrain him... Now!!” he yelled
They tied me to a chair and pushed something into my mouth. The familiar guy connected something to my head. I struggled to get myself out. They were going to electrocute me.
“Charge it up” he said
I spat the thing out.
“So you planned everything to the last detail, didn’t you, you bitch!!”
He pushed the thing back into my mouth and said “Shock him!”
“AHHHHHHHHH….”
……………….
……………….
……………….
“Is he going to be okay Doc? “, said Susan weeping.
“Susan, it’s a relapse. I thought he was treated completely the last time. He hasn’t been regular with his medicine. So his condition has deteriorated. Look at this watch, he thinks a time machine. It’s the same as last time. We need to take him in. I can only ask you to be strong Susan. Be strong!!”
“SUSAN MUST DIE!!!!!”
She broke down.
“Charge it up even more and give him another round. He is used to this level of electricity.”
The end
PS: I dedicate this to my uncle Sameerka who is my eternal well wisher. I have this message to whoever read this. I do pray you never find it useful. Schizophrenia is a disorder and not a disease. More than anything, the patient requires the love and support of family and friends
