Project: Harrison

Chapter 1: Harry

“I’m hungry, I should eat something before I pass out. Maybe waiting to eat with friends would be a better idea. I don’t know. Somehow the ache in my belly jumped onto my throat. I feel like there is an acid in my mouth. I feel an urge to spit it out. Where was I? Right, I was hungry. I should eat something before I pass out. Maybe waiting to eat with frien…”

“The voice that you are hearing belongs to my friend, Harry. He has been locked to ummm… a nuthouse you say?”

“That’s right Ridley.”

“Right. To a nuthouse a while ago. He drinks his soup and waits.”

“Wait for what, Ridley?”

“For enlightenment. In the end, we all do.”

“I request an elaboration if it may not bother you in any way.”

“That’s ok, I will see him in a minute.”

Ridley was looking at a man that had a short mustache and well-cleaned shoes. He seems like a man who licks the assholes of his bosses and has bed problems with his wife.

‘Then who am I?’ I asked myself. ‘If I am not Ridley nor Harry, then who is the possessor of these thoughts?’ I thought. I must be someone, at least I must be something because I fulfill the need to exist, I think. That’s what I do.

Ridley and Harry should be my friends. How else can I recognize them? Especially in these white armless clothes. Then how can I become acquainted with them when I can't even identify myself. MYSELF!

I must find a mirror and remember my face. But somehow I can’t lift my arms. My whole body except my head feels... dull I presume. ‘Where am I?’ I’m surrounded by white pillows. My head hurts, I feel like my eyes will pop out of my head. I can see the reflection of someone from the soup plate. “Wait a second…”

At that moment, he recognized himself, my brothers. But he has a lot more to figure out. He needs to understand that we are in a looney bin for god’s sake how long. He needs to find out that there is no escape from this hell.

‘Who is smart enough to figure out all this spiel?’ you might ask. Oh you fools! It’s me, Harry for god’s sake! I am the one who repeats himself every single day. ‘Why?’ Because I’m done. I’m done with this place, I’m done with my life. I tried to kill myself but these white pillows are very dodgy bastards. I can’t break my neck nor suffocate with soup. The hardest thing in this god damn looney bin is to commit suicide.

So I decided to play the role a couple of weeks ago. I’m a looney! I’ll be crazy so that they can erase the pain in my brain. I heard a young lad at midnight right down the corridor where Ridley sleeps. He was gibbering with the nurse while looking at her lovely canisters. The word that came out of his mouth was ‘lobotomized’. If you are the biggest looney in this bin, you get lobotomized, they say.

Great news! If I am going to be free from the pain that has been stuck in my mind, I can finally rest. I can finally go to White Castle in heaven and order a whole bag of cheeseburgers. But to make this scheme real, I need to act real. I used to think that I was destined to go to hell. But no my brothers, this place is worse than the inferno. If this place is God’s way to test us, these tests need to come to an end. 

Let’s resume then. “I’m hungry, I should eat something before I pass…”

Chapter 2: Ridley

“Ridley! Are you there sir? You stopped talking suddenly.”

“I’m saying that I’m just a visitor. I wanted to see Harry and get out of this building but one of your guards stopped me from entering the corridor. Not only that, he gave me an injection. I woke up in this room hours later… probably. I would like personal items back and get out of this place as soon as possible.”

“Got it, Ridley. If you don’t mind, what is your relation with Harry exactly? “

“Officer…”

“Please call me Frank, Ridley. I would like to have an intimate relationship with my pati… I mean visitors.”

“Look Frank, I just want to get out and you seem like you can solve this issue.”

“I’ll deal with this immediately. I want you to stay here for just a couple of minutes more. Sorry again. Oh by the way, do you want something to eat or drink? I can bring you a very juicy cheeseburger.”

At the moment Frank said those words, Ridley kept his vomit in his mouth. He seemed angry,  but frankly, he’s calm as hell for a person who got imprisoned for no reason. 

Just before leaving, Frank asked one last question. A question that will change both of their lives. “‘Harry was waiting for enlightenment’ you said, right?”

“Yes, the only hunger for him is for enlightenment. After that, Harry can peacefully rest.“

“Tell me more. Tell me more! You don’t want to tell your correlation with Harry, right? At least you must’ve been friends with him. Otherwise, there is no explanation for your visits.” 

“Hold on there Frank. I’m not…”

“Regardless, you want him to heal. If he found his cure, I beg you to tell me his way to peacefully end his journey.”

“I don’t…” Ridley got flurried by Frank’s enthusiasm. 

“Look Frank, I’ve known Harry for so long, so long that maybe... the best way is to not heal him, you know.“

“Why don’t you want him to recover?”

“I don’t know, officer. Maybe it is best to keep him in his cell so I can check him safely.”

“Help me, Ridley. I would like to aid but you’re pushing me aside when I am trying to. Tell me, what is keeping you from helping your frien…”

“He is not my friend!”

“Then who is he, Ridley?! Who is he?!”

“He is a murderer! He murdered our mother for a cheeseburger! The sauce… the freakin’ sauce was too spicy, so he wanted to give her a lesso…” Ridley starts to cry.

Frank was shocked. After all, he finally found something to work on. He tries to wipe his surprise from his face so that he can ask the question, the question that can close this case after all this time.

“Ridley, tell me about this ‘enlightenment’ so that I can save you from him.”

Chapter 3: Anne

Her friends knew Anne as a determined yet illogical person. Unlike her friends; she chose the field that no one else would, dealing with the biggest mystery of humanity.

Her irrationality comes from the rebellity that she has towards her bosses. As a caregiver nurse in a nuthouse, she sneaks into the facility’s libraries and tries to solve the cases that are archived. She found those cases more intriguing than cleaning the asses of some PTSD sufferers.

Her boss gripped her and pushed to the elevator. “The conference started, so enter quietly.” After rushing to the conference room and opening the door, Anne was shocked. From the governor to secretary of defense, there are people from all walks of life. Nobody noticed her entrance except some scientists sitting in the last row. 

Frank finally entered the room and took the stand.

“I would like to introduce to you the solution that we have got that can heal the subject Harrison”.

Anne’s eyes widened. After hearing the ‘Case Harrison’, she starts to listen like it’s the most important thing of her life.

“Harrison was a fifteen-year-old boy who killed his mother on the fifth of November. At the time, he was decided to go to juvenile prison. But my co-worker Dustin DeLarge heard Harrison saying ‘It was not me, I did it!’

After a while, we found out that Harrison has a mental sickness that is quite rare. His mind split into multiple personalities. He refused to talk with anybody and rejected the food we were giving him. To clarify; Harrison was never chained, drugged nor hypnotized.

We tried to reach him and analyzed his layered personalities. We discovered that he has two different personalities living inside his mastermind. The first one is unstable and suicidal Harry. The second one, Ridley thinks that he’s not a patient in this facility, he calls himself a visitor. Visitor of Harry.

At first, we believed that there could be a chance to isolate Harrison from Harry and Ridley. Unfortunately, records ratified that we have lost Harrison when he entered his cell three years ago. So the B-Plan we have right now is to isolate Ridley from Harry. Even though  Ridley is not Harrison, compared to Harry he's closer to him.”

“What about Soney, sir?” said Anne, without realizing how loud she was. She was shocked, like everyone. If she wanted to prove herself to Frank, that’s the right time. “Sir, we know that Harry takes control of the body at night and Ridley gets control back again in the morning. But somehow, Ridley can hear the things that Harry does, things he says all the time, or see the drawings that he has done. There is a possibility…’’

“Possibilities” he repeated. Frank was puzzled but continued his speech, Anne was embarrassed that he ignored her but she was also happy to get a chance to speak with him.

“After all that time, patient Ridley finally gave me a chance to save him. Under your supervision, we are planning to lobotomize subject Harrison.”

As Frank’s sentence ends, the minister of health bursts into laughs. “This is the solution that you got? Lobotomizing him will murder both personalities. We are financing you for twenty years and this is your remedy?!” She gets up and walks to the door with his team. Just walking out the door, Frank shouts “Remedy will be a placebo lobotomy.”

It was dead silent. She gave him one last chance. “Ridley told me that Harry was the one who killed his mother. The engrossing part of the situation is Harry admits that he was the thumper. He does not want to save Ridley, the only thing that he wants is to reach enlightenment.”

“Enlightenment?”

“Harry seeks some kind of redemption, sir. Harrison caged his dark side that day, the side where Harry was born. He knows that he has no place in this life and wants to die or ‘peacefully rest’.”

“Tell me about your placebo bullshit”, said the secretary while pointing Frank with his cane.

“As you know, Harry wants to die because he cannot find any meaning to kill his mother. On the other hand, Ridley wants to live. He even said that he’s planning to have kids in this decade a while ago.”

“Saving both of them in varied ways requires manipulation of Harry's belief system. We will take him to the parlor, give him electricity and an injection. But the electricity will not fry his cerebrum nor the injection is not going to comfort his death, it will only make him sleep.”

“Your plan is actually locking Harry in a black box in Harrison’s mind?” said the minister.

“Theoretically yes, we will see the practical conclusion tonight with your authorization.”, said Dustin the scientist.

While everybody was talking to each other and discussing the situation, Frank calmed the noise. “You can put your votes in the box next to me. I hope to see you in the parlor tonight.”

While people vote and leave the room, Frank calls Dustin. 

“Nurse-94?” asked Frank. “Her name is Anne, sir”, said Dustin. “Send her to my room.”

Frank was enjoying Chopin's Raindrop. He’s too zoned out that he barely heard the door knock. “Please come in.” Anne entered the room, shameful but excited.

Before Frank speaks, she dives into chatter. “I’m so sorry sir. I didn’t want to put you in a position like that.”

“But you did, young lady. I noticed that you have a fair sum of interest in the case Harrison, right?”

“Being in an unsolvable case that’s going on for four years attracts too much attention as you understand.”

“I thought that there could be a third personality that hides behind Ridley and Harry as well. But our theory can’t be proven in any way. Our best chance is Ridley, at least that’s what everybody thinks.”

“Did you get the positive votes?!” said while blushing. 

“%76 positive.”

“But sir, we still don’t know whether Harry or Ridley will survive from this test. We do not even know for sure that Harrison left the body.”

“In the beginning, I promised myself that every decision that I make on Harrison will be precise and certain. That promise got me nowhere. We finally found a... ‘possibility’ just like you said. I don’t want to fail to develop anymore.”

“I’m sorry again.”

“Actually I’m sorry 94, you’re fired. You see, when I was at your age, I had the same morals. As time went by, I realized the fact that rehabilitation of our patients has nothing to do with our success. What people strive for is progress whether it is right or wrong. I can’t continue this experiment if you work at this facility. You remind me of myself when the only thing I wanted was to save a fifteen-year-old boy from himself.

Tonight, the lobotomization will save Harrison, at least his remains… as well as mine.”

“I don’t know what to say, sir.”

“Say nothing. Take care, Anne.”

Chapter 4: Lobotomy

“Hi Harry, did you remember me? I’m Frank. We may help you reach your enlightenment.” 

I was graveled, this person knows my enlightenment? I should keep my emotions to myself. If you really want to help me, lobotomize me, you rats! So I continued my act. “I’m hungry, I should ea…”

“Harry. If you’re hearing me, please look at me.”

I didn’t look at him. I shouldn’t show this guy any clue about my real mental state. Wait a second, what’s happening?! I’m not in my room. I see a wiggly needle on my right wrist.

“Harry, we are here for farewell.”

“Farewell of who?” I asked suddenly. I broke my only rule, I asked like a rational man but somehow they didn’t give a damn.

“We’re lobotomizing you Harry. You can take off to the road that will lead you to your enlightenment. Good deal huh?”

“Very good deal sir! Very nice agreement.” I can finally be free, my brothers. My story ends here, I can’t take you with me. I already have one guest: The funky timid Rids.”

“Are you ready?”

“I’m ready as I ever could be, sir. I’m coming mother! I’m coming for my cheeseburgers!”

Chapter 5: Frank

Soon, his eyes opened a bit. I rushed to the room while everybody else kept their distance from the patient. Interesting word huh, ‘patient’. From now on, he might be our guest. 

I finally gathered my courage and asked him, “Hi Ridley, are you ok?”

He looked at me for a couple of seconds. Seemed like he was trying to give meaning to the things that happened. At last, silence is broken.

“I’m Ridley sir. Where am I though?”

Frank was relieved. After all that attention on Ridley, Frank took him to a room with a wheelchair so he could rest properly.

“You are Ridley! Look Ridley, look at the time!”

“It is 12.00 p.m. sir”

Ridley was not as shocked as Frank about the fact that his personality wasn't taken over by Harry at night. Frank’s happiness blinded him to see the reality.

After four years, he is finally free just like Ridley.

Final Chapter: Harrison

Ridley was kept in the facility for another two months. Frank got transferred to the schizophrenia department and he found out that his wife was cheating on him with Dustin DeLarge, so he divorced. Two months later, Ridley got out.

I couldn’t believe the sky could be this blue. They said “a young 19-year-old could do anything”, so they got me a job where I would clean toilets. It seems like dirty work but I’ll do my best. I was hungry, so I stopped at the nearby restaurant. I was wearing the same trousers when I entered the facility at fifteen. I saw a sign that said ‘White Castle’.

I sat on one of the bar chairs. While waiting, I heard a glass break. When I turned and saw what was happening, I saw a woman that froze. Her eyes were locked and she seemed to know me. Her boss came and yelled at her, but she didn’t care. Her attention gathered around me. She said, “That young gentleman’s order has not been taken yet.” to her boss while walking towards me. I had suspicions before but now, I was damn sure. She knows me.

“What can I get you? We have French Onion Soup and Cheeseburger as specials” she said. Her voice was calm and beautiful. I tried to flirt with her. I can barely see her name tag. “Bring me your favorite, Anne.” She was happy but sad, her sadness is probably because I didn’t know her.

Later on, she came with a salver. Opened the lid and looked at me, she seemed like she was waiting for me to eat. I took a big bite. While I was eating, she was watching me, shocked. I didn’t get uncomfortable. Just before taking the last bite, she asked “What’s your name?”

A question that simple sounded very meaningful at that moment. I was going to give her the answer that I gave everyone for two months but those eyes seek the truth, so I told her who I really am. What’s the worst that could happen, right?! “Hi Anne, my name is Soney.’’