Vertigo

I woke up in a cold sweat. In the dead quiet of the dark, my heart was throbbing wildly. It was the third day since I lost her. Third day since I slept. And it was now three days closer to her death. All I knew, all I saw and all I thought with every breath I took was that I had to save her.

***

‘If you want to see your sister alive, keep quiet and follow my orders. If you involve the police, I will kill her. If I don’t get the money, I will kill her. If you don’t do exactly as I say, I will kill her’. Click.

Rhea. No no no this cannot be happening. This must be a sick joke. I swear it’s the worst prank she ever pulled. Damn it, why isn’t she picking up?! Pick up, rhea. Ring……..ring…..DAMN IT PICK UP!!!

***

I replayed that voice in my head over and over again. That deep, unflinching voice… the ease with which he spoke and… the bells far in the background. Like a church. After that call came, I had refused to believe that it was true. I had kept calling and calling but she didn’t pick up. I had barged into her apartment. I could feel the panic rising in, a knot started forming in my stomach. Her things had been thrown around, her living room was a mess. My voice had echoed all around but she never came. She was gone. I could feel the tears flowing on my cheek as I looked at her picture. I had to be brave for her. I wiped away the tears and recollected everything. Every detail of that day.

***

Ring…ring..  

’Hello rhea?! Rhea is that you?! I have been trying your phone since forever! Rhea?? Pl..please tell m..me you are o..okay. Please please..’. I couldn’t go on. My sobs choked my words up, I couldn’t stop crying.

‘Tch tch. Are you hoping this is a prank? Snap back to reality. You know, she is too hard to resist. I could hear him chuckling. I am really trying not to kill her. Tick tock tick tock.’ It was a game to him.

‘DON’T YOU DARE TOUCH HER. DON’T YOU FU**ING TOUCH HER!’. My body had gone cold and rage was tearing through it. I was trembling. Everything had come to a standstill.

‘Don’t growl bi**h. I am not very good at controlling myself. I want one crore, in cash. Make it in bundles of 500. You have three days. I’ll call you again with the location. And remember, if you do anything stupid, I will enjoy killing her’. Click.

***

The bells. I had heard them again, echoing in a distance. The church must be next to some tall building. He had to be around it somewhere. I had made a list of churches which were around tall buildings and relatively isolated. Places people would not bother to look at. I had to go check them out. I had to save her. Where did I keep my gun? My head felt heavy for some reason. I swung my legs over the bed and pulled the curtains.

Fear gripped me as I looked around. A hospital. What am I doing here?! I looked around wildly, trying to figure out how I ended up here. That’s when I noticed the bandage on my arm. They had sedated me. Are they working with him? Suddenly I was very alert. I tried to remember what had happened. My memory was foggy. I had gone..somewhere. The list! Yes, I had gone to check the list! I had gone to the last church on my list. There was a.. rope and instruments. My gun….what did I do? I had… Oh my god! No no no! It was all crystal clear now.

I had found the place where he kept her! I had fired my gun at him. He had been trying to strangle her with the rope. Then.. Then he shot at me. That’s how I ended up here! Someone must have heard the shots and called an ambulance on finding me. I had to go find him. How long was I here?! He could kill her any time. I WON’T LET IT HAPPEN. I will kill him. WHERE IS MY GUN?! I ran across the hall to get out of there but my legs gave under me. They had sedated me. A shadow of dread engulfed me. It was like life had drained out of me and I started crying uncontrollably. No I can’t stop, I have to go on. I crawled on. Three nurses came and held me back.

‘LET ME GO! You don’t understand, please, you don’t understand!’, I cried.

But they didn’t listen to me and instead looked at me in pity. I fought back as hard as I could. I injured one of the nurses.

‘LET ME GO! MY SISTER IS IN DANGER. GET THE HELL OFF ME. Please..please. I have to save my sister. Someone kidnapped her. Please PLEASE!’, I yelled.

But they kept looking at me in the same strange manner and injected me with something. My vision was getting clouded. I was falling into a deep dark abyss.

***

‘Call Dr. Sharma’.

Dr. Sharma to the psych ward. Dr. Sharma please come to the psych ward.

***

‘We gave her a sedative. She tried to break out of here again.’, Nina sighed. In her 12 years of experience as a nurse, she had never seen a case like that.

‘What was it this time?’, Dr. Sharma asked.

‘Kidnapping. Doctor, do you think she will ever be able to recover?’, Nina replied.

‘We can’t say for sure. Ever since she found her sister’s body hung from the ceiling three years ago, she became obsessed with finding out what happened. Her mind wouldn’t accept suicide as an option. And that obsession consumed her. Soon after, as a coping mechanism, her mind started fabricating situations of her sister’s death.’ Dr. Sharma said.

‘It is really sad. Every day I see her trying to save her sister from a killer, a kidnapper, from cancer even.’

‘That is what she wants to do desperately, to save her sister. Her life stopped three years ago and the guilt of not being able to save her ate her up inside. We are trying our best with therapy and medicines but it’s almost like she doesn’t want to recover. Anyway, make sure someone is in this ward at all times and page me when she wakes up.’, Dr Sharma started to leave.

As he went to check on his other patients, he couldn’t shake this case off his head. Every time she woke up, little pieces of her shattered psyche filled him with profound sadness. Her eyes wide with fear, grit and determination battled with the growing sense of finality and dread within her every time. And those eyes would haunt him for a long time to come.

__END__