Mind is Deceiving

Police siren wailing in distance, some people shouting, someone had grabbed you, you’re being called by some name…. Name…?

Suddenly you wake up.

Looking around, you realize you’re sitting in a cabin with a small window next to the entry door. There is a plain table in front of you, with just a glass & a jug full of water.

You have a headache.

You glance at your watch. The time reads – 01:30 AM.

And most importantly, you have no memory of how you came here & from where have you come.

As you look around, you see a mirror placed next to your chair. Looking at your face, you see there is a small bandage taped to you head, just below your blonde hair. You are wearing a black coat with a small pink ribbon at its collar.

Is this thing giving me a headache? But where did I fall down? You try to think.

Abruptly you hear multiple footsteps & the door opens. Two tall men enter inside.

“You feeling OK, ma’am?” one of them who looks little older asks you. You keep looking at him, not knowing what to say.

“I’m Inspector Jonathan, from the Police Department & he’s my assistant, Simon” he says. You look at his name tag on the right side of his jacket. Both of them were wearing clear shirts, with only their name tags.

Who am I & what I’m doing here?  you’re about to ask him.

“Don’t worry, you’ll be fine in some time.” The officer stops you in between & says, “You just collapsed a short while ago on the entrance steps to this Railway station.”

Well, that explains the headache. But….

“Your name please…” Simon asks you opening his writing pad.

Name? What’s my name? You try to remember hard.

Jonathan gives you an unusual look.

“You don’t remember your...” Suddenly his cell-phone rings.

“Officer Jonathan here.” He answers it, still trying to read your thoughts with his sharp, black eyes.

“Yes, she is…. ok…. ok…. Are you sure?” as he gets up, he gives you a frowned look & goes outside to speak.

You are still engrossed in your thoughts.

Suddenly the officer enters inside & whispers something in Simon’s ear. Then he sits down facing you.

“Where’s your husband, ma’am?”

Then it hits you.

“My husband… is coming in…in a short while….” Stammering, you answer back.

“Where are you going, lady?” Jonathan again asked, looking straight at you.

Where am I going? You couldn’t remember.

Jonathan then took your suitcase, which you had been carrying all along. He searched in the side pockets, & found a travel ticket.

“Mrs. Susan Daniels?” he said, displaying the ticket to you.

Is that my name? You are not sure.

“Yes… & my husband is Nat... mas…” you still can’t recollect your husband’s name.

“Trevor Daniels.” Jonathan replied looking at the ticket. “May I know why were you going to Riverdell City?”

You have no answer for it.

“Is Trevor really your husband?” Jonathan asks.

“Of…Of course…!” Saying this, you remove your cell-phone & with shaky hands, you try to unlock it. Somehow you remember that your cell-phone DP may prove it.

The DP flashes as soon as you turn it on, showing you & Trevor standing together.

As you show it to the Officer, he looks at it once.

He then opened a pic on his cell-phone.

“Is this your husband?”

You feel the earth is literally moving below your legs.

“No….!” you almost scream in terror.

“That’s right, ma’am. Your husband was found dead in the ‘Old Empire’ restaurant washrooms. I got to know about this fact when I had got a phone call some time ago. Also, our men there are explaining that the receptionist at the hotel had seen a woman with him. The CCTV footage in the hotel confirms it was you.”

You just don’t believe what has happened. Your husband is dead, you have no memory of the past events & you don’t know where are you going.

Jonathan’s cell phone pinged with an incoming message tune.

You strain hard to remember the past.

Why the hell do I don’t recollect anything?

Simon takes your cell-phone & goes outside the cabin.

“Our team has reached your husband’s office in the town. We’re also inspecting his call records.” Then looking at you suspiciously, Jonathan says, “When we enquired to all the people in your neighbourhood, most of them have complained that you both never had a happy relationship.”

Saying this, Jonathan opened his cell phone & shows it to you.

It’s a CCTV footage of a public place. You & someone that looked like Trevor were fighting over something & suddenly, Trevor slaps you hard.

And then you remember it.

“Yes…I... I…recollect this….” Stuttering you reply back.

But why had he slapped me?

“We have also gone through the data on your husband’s mobile.” Simon said as he entered the cabin & opened his cell phone.

“Can you please tell us whose Cassandra?” Simon asked, looking straight at you.

You again give the same confused look.

Simon & Jonathan looked at each other.

“We have gone through your husband’s call details & all his messages.” Jonathan then put his hands across the table & brought his face close to yours.

You smelled the familiar scent of a popular cigarette brand in his breath.

“We have found out that you & your husband kept fighting every time. You never seemed happy with him…is that true?”

I don’t remember this.

“Don’t you remember anything? All those fights, all the arguments, cursing each other every time?” he then grabbed my hand. You glance at his watch, a nice, intricately detailed gold watch with a matt platinum lining across its round circumference.

Pulling your right sleeve up, he showed you a scar on your upper wrist. “Don’t you recall this?” Jonathan said, looking closely & fiercely at me. “You had called the cops at your place when he had hit you…! This was a deep wound when we had nursed it…!”

“I…I…don’t know what…” you again try to recollect, but your mind is clearly blank.

“You know everything…!” this time, Jonathan almost screamed. “You had clearly said that you are looking for a chance to kill your husband…! Cassandra was his girlfriend...! You knew about his affair…! You tried stopping him many times, but every time he hit you back…! You were fed up of this relationship…! You wanted to finish him, end this once and for all…! He had grabbed your properties, your money, your assets, everything…!” Jonathan now banged his hand hard on the table & said, “You have a clear motive to kill him…! You had tried to kill him twice before but had failed…!”

Calming down, he says, “Accept that you have killed your husband. We have just got a call from the forensic department. They have said that the food consumed by Trevor is poisoned. Whom did you appoint to poison his food...?”

You still don’t know what to say, but slowly, you start to believe what was happening.

Standing up & straightening his jacket, Jonathan says, “Accept that you have killed your husband in anger. That will help you in the court…!”

“Have this, it will help you. It’s an anti-depressant.” Simon hands over a tablet to you with a glass of water from the jug kept on the table.

Again, Jonathan got a phone call.

Talking on his cell phone, Jonathan went outside. He signals Simon to follow him.

You’re in deep trouble now. You killed your husband. You are a mental patient. You don’t know whose Cassandra. You don’t know anything.

Why can’t I still remember anything?

You are still thinking.

You drink the glass of water, gulping down huge quantities of water with every sip.

The door opens & both the inspectors come in. Jonathan puts a paper in front of you & says, “This is the Railway Police Station’s cabin. We need to take you to the City Police Station for further enquiries. We’ll be back in some time.” Saying this, both men left the cabin. While going, they locked the door from outside.

Trapped in the interiors, you keep staring at the paper. Simon had searched your bag, & all the belongings are scattered. You see your purse & expecting that something may come in your mind, get up to open it. You then read what is written on the wallet.

Mind is Deceiving.

As you search with shaking hands, you find a visiting card.

And then it hits you like a stone.

Blinking rapidly, you start remembering things.

At first, you don’t believe it. But eventually, slowly the entire reality comes in front of your eyes.

The familiar scent of the smoked cigarette.

The uniform without any badges, any stars.

The intricately detailed gold wrist watch with a platinum lining across its circumference.

You clearly know to whom these things belong to.

The Murderer.

You then search for your tablets, the smaller capsules in silver covering inside your bag. Desperately you pop up one of them into your throat & gulp it down with rapid movements of your gullet. Wiping your mouth with your right wrist & panting hard, slowly everything starts filling up your brain.

Before they come, you immediately dial the crisis helpline number.

“This is the Emergency; how may I assist you?” the lady on the other side asked.

“I’m calling from the City railway station. A murder has been committed inside the ‘Old Empire’ restaurant. A middle-aged man named Trevor Daniels is murdered inside. He was my chauffer. He was murdered because he was trying to sincerely save his mistress from the hands of a murderer. He knew everything of this murderer’s plans. This murderer guy has used my mental illness for his benefit & has cleverly trapped me inside the crime. I’m being blamed for Trevor’s homicide.”

“We’ll send an officer there right away, ma’am.” The operator said.

“No…! Listen, record my statement right now. Please note that I am a patient of Transient global amnesia, a type of short-term memory loss problem. Before I forget anything, please listen to me…!” fearing the both men may come back, you plead her hurriedly & further continue, “My husband was always in bad terms with me. I made money for both of us, but he always criticized me. Everyday problems & fights got me into depression. This is the reason I fell ill with mental disease. Now, please listen, send a team immediately to the restaurant. My husband has lot of contacts. He must have disposed off the body right now. Please search for that body & it’s belongings. Also taking advantage of my illness, my husband has told me to sign on many illegal documents & has taken away all my assets & accounts. I may not need all of those again, but please arrest him before he does anything else. Today, I wanted to leave him forever. That’s the reason I had come to the station so that I can escape away from him, but he knew everything about my planning in advance. As per the information given to me by Trevor, the guy who is murdered, my husband’s plan was to trap me in this murder case & then escape out easily away.”

“May I know your husband’s name please?” the operator asked.

You then pause for a while.

You remember how much you had loved this man, how nicely your marriage had taken place, but then his attitude, his ego, everything started coming in between your relationship. He had started beating you almost everywhere, even in public spaces. You still tried….

“Hello…” the operator repeated.

“Thomas Alters. He must have given his name in the railway station register as Inspector Jonathan. He has one more person with him. These both must be around the station now, planning their next move. He tricked me saying that I have fallen down on the entrance steps. I remember seeing him at the entrance & before I could react, he had hit me.”

Inspector Jonathan.

Aka Thomas Alters.

“May I know your name, ma’am?”

“Cassandra Alters.”

You now remembered the familiar scent of cigarette that he smokes. You also remembered his favourite wrist watch, similar to the one that you were wearing.

He had also altered with your cell phone, & had put the DP of you and Trevor taken somewhere on a hill station.

Suddenly you recalled that you should hurry up before they come.

Without hearing what the operator was saying, you disconnect the call.

You then remember you had taken another set of clothes, a makeup bag & another black coloured wig for hiding your blonde hair. Hastily, you wear it. You remove the black coat & clothes wearing inside. Black is your favourite colour. From your bag, you remove another set of clothes in different colour & wear them. You then check your reflection in the mirror next to your table. Quickly you pull out the bandage on your forehead. To hide your identity, you put on a scarf on your face.

Simon, or whatever his real name was, had scattered your belongings. You collect all of them & stuff all of it into your suitcase.

You then see the tablet that Simon had given you.

What capsule is it? What papers they must be?

Ignoring that, you then recollect that you have to take your tablets to keep your memory intact.

I’ll take them later on, you decide.

As you are about to leave, you glance behind to check.

And then you see your visiting card.

Cassandra Alters. Chartered Accountant.

Owner of Cassandra & Associates.

As you try & open the door, you realised it’s locked.

Hell.

You go to the window next to it & see some people outside standing on the Railway platform, but you can’t call for help. You can’t jump out directly, as many people may see you doing it & inform the police.

As you look for an alternative, suddenly you see a train approaching. As the train halts, there is a big hustle all around between people trying to get down & the ones boarding the train. Taking advantage of that, you push your suitcase outside with full force. Hearing the suitcase fall on the platform, you quickly jump out of the window.

It’s quite a hustle outside. You make sure that there are no CCTVs around to monitor your escape.

It’s a big terminus & lots of people had assembled for the departure. You quickly pace to the nearest escalator. You check the time on your intricately detailed gold wrist watch with a platinum lining across its circumference.

Its: 4:00 AM.

And then you remembered the train to Riverdell was on the last platform. You had deliberately booked it in another name.

You climb up the bridge & then see a group of uniformed cops running on the platform towards the cabin that you had just exited. You smile to yourself & proceed ahead to the last platform.

Taking the escalator to the lower level, you walk on the platform with the suitcase in your hand. Let me reach Riverdell, you think to yourself. I’ll manage all of my things from there.

You then sit down on a bench with a low roof.

Sitting down, you start planning your next move. By now, Thomas aka Jonathan must’ve been caught. He must have shown my photo in blonde hair to the cops. Maybe the cops are searching for me, all around the terminus.

Instantly you hear an announcement saying that the train to Riverdell is reaching shortly on the platform. You clutch your ticket in your hand & see a train approaching.

Hastily you get up…. but you forget the low-lying roof.

BANG…!

You hurt your head on one of the iron rods on the lower portion of the overhang.

Feeling dizzy, you sit down.

Police siren wailing in distance, some people shouting, someone had grabbed you, you’re being called by someone….

Suddenly you wake up.

“You hear me…. hello…?” you see a man standing in front of you, in a police uniform with a badge & his name tag.

“We are looking for this lady,” he shows you a pic of a blonde lady in black coat, “Have you seen her anywhere around here? She is required to give her testimony against one of the arrested person.”

You struggle hard, try to recollect about your past, but nothing comes to your mind.

“May I know your name ma’am?”

While you are still recollecting your thoughts, he glances at your ticket & then leaves.

Looking around, you realize you’re sitting on a platform. There is a train standing in front of you.

You have a headache.

You glance at your watch. The time reads – 04:30 AM.

And most importantly, you have no memory of how you came here & from where have you come.

THE END

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