The Flawed Consciousness

The Gothic house with elongated arches was dark today with no lights on. On its uppermost level, in the attic, the man in Purple Rob was sitting on the Wood platform, chanting something in a strange language. A young couple was sitting in front of the man.

A lady wrapped in white cloths lay by his side, her face and body entirely covered in white cloth. The man then showered Yellow flowers on the body.

“You are sacrificed for the right purpose…to the Great Lord of Treasure…!” he said as he raised his hands towards the sky.

Two days later, the police registered a missing complaint of a girl, the third one since the last 15 days. All of them had suddenly disappeared, with no trace at all. The police searched the entire town for all evidences, but they never discovered anything. Finally, after months of searching, with no evidence at all, the police had to close the case.

Fifty Years later

Robin, a 10 year old kid, lived in the Gothic house with his family. His childhood was quite troubled. His first mom, Elizabeth, always disliked him. Being the only son, instead of caring, she never behaved like a mother to him. The sole reason for this was she considered him to be unlucky for her, for she lost everything that she had made up; money, job, her status in the society, everything which she considered hard earned for her. His father, Ivor, tried a lot to stop her, but the situation kept getting worse. Elizabeth even tried to kill Robin when he was 7 years old.

Finally, Ivor divorced her and married another lady, Tracy.

Robin was seated in the window dressed in the school uniform, looking at the courtyard below. Built almost 120 years ago, this house in stone was still intact, with old fashioned windows, stained glasses & Gargoyles.

His Grandpa, Sir Williams, was sipping his soup on the breakfast table.

“What are you looking at, son…?”, Robin’s mom, Tracy asked the kid.

“A small girl in Red clothes is seated on a chair… and she’s having an old Pastry…” Robin said, without taking his eyes off the courtyard.

As Tracy approached and looked out of the window, she was stunned.

There was no girl seating in the courtyard.

Tracy then looked at Sir Williams, who knew her concern.

“Let’s go to school, kid…” Sir Williams got up, taking his walking stick. Robin glanced at the courtyard once again, and then followed his Grandpa to the staircase.

As he exited, his mom waved to him from the window. Robin waved back looking up, but he never looked at his mom, instead he was looking at the small Girl in Red clothes on the roof.

“Robin…? Who’s there?” His teacher in school asked when she saw him looking out of the window.

“The small Girl wants water.. You see? She’s standing below the tree...” Robin said without taking his eyes off the window.

The teacher was surprised and shocked, as there was no one below the tree.

“I think you better treat your grandson…” the teacher complained to Sir Williams that day, “He is behaving weird since the last some months. He keeps seeing certain people which no one else sees. His schoolmates were complaining that yesterday they saw him speaking to someone in the toilet corridor…

”

“We know that Teacher…” Sir Williams answered back, “He does the same things at home too. We will soon get him treated.”

“Is everything right in your family? Do you people behave rightly with him..?”

“Everything’s right at our home, teacher. I still do not know what’s wrong with him. We’ll surely take medical advice.” Sir Williams assured the teacher as he left feeling tensed about his kid.

As they both were returning back, Sir Williams was asking Robin about his day at school. Robin was happily chitchatting with him. They both then went to a nearby garden for taking a stroll. Every day after school, both of them spent time in the garden before going home. Sitting in the garden was always quite enjoyable, as the entire garden was full of happy kids & joyful people.

As they were strolling around the garden having candies, Robin was ignoring the funny jokes his grandpa was telling him. He was so engrossed in looking towards the pond in the garden that he couldn’t hear his grandpa calling him.

“What’s the matter with you, son…?” Sir Williams was now totally concerned about Robin.

Ignoring his question, Robin answered back, “That girl in yellow dress near the pond is smiling back at me…” he said as he pointed towards the pond.

Robin had his own room on the upper level. He liked to study in the attic, on the uppermost level of the house. It was quite spacious & airy, with right amount of light entering in from the roof skylights.

That night, after Robin slept, Tracy, Ivor and Sir Williams were sitting in the Hall, discussing about Robin.

“I think it’s the Shining...” Tracy said, ”It’s like you see certain people who are dead. You can see them, talk to them, understand them…..”

Ivor stopped her & continued, “That day, he told me to stop the car saying that a small girl wants to cross the road. I never saw any girl that way. Last week, when I entered his room, I saw him talking. He said he was speaking to another girl in some red dress. Unfortunately there was no one in the room.”

“Yesterday his teacher explained to me that he was talking about some girls in different dresses. He keeps going in trance, lost in his thoughts.” Sir Williams said,” The maintenance staff of the school complained to the teacher about Robin. They saw him giggling happily alone inside one of the corridors. He appeared to be speaking with someone…”

Few days later, Robin was sleeping in his room. In the middle of the night, he woke up, feeling thirsty. Realising his water bottle was empty; he then went downstairs to drink water. As he neared the kitchen, in the passage, he saw a small Girl in white dress, with yellow flowers sprinkled upon her, standing right in the corridor. She was staring straight back at him.

Tracy woke up in her room. She heard someone giggling and laughing downstairs. She then went downstairs to check. As she came down, she saw Robin running around happily.

“Don’t disturb us mom…!” He said as he called out to her, “The white dress girl is about to catch me up…! I should hide….!” Saying this, he ran in the other room.

The next day, Sir Williams took his grandson Robin to the doctor. The doctor examined him thoroughly and then prescribed some medicines.

“He’s probably had some Bad past which is troubling him. Whenever a kid behaves this way, it is always something related to the past or maybe something related to the present. You see, kids always tend to pull up certain things either from their family or from the past. So I would suggest you better see a Psychologist.” The doctor said as he handed over the prescription.

“Doctor suggested we need to meet a psychologist…” Sir Williams told Tracy. Bu Tracy was not ready to listen.

“Please listen; he has a shining…He keeps seeing dead people around…! It’s the Shining..! We better go and meet some wizard…!”

That night, Sir Williams heard a sound of someone crying. He got up & went downstairs to check. As he went past Robin’s room, he saw that the door was half open. Terrified with the thoughts, he hurried towards the stairs, trying to balance himself with his walking stick.

Robin had fallen down the stairs, his forehead was bleeding, & there were bruise marks on his hands.

“I was playing hide and seek with those two girls….!”Robin cried as he pointed towards the living room. “While running, I fell down the stairs…!” he again pointed to the sofa on the living room, “See? Those girls are laughing at me…!”

The next day, against his mom’s wish, Sir Williams called upon a Psychologist. His name was Dr. Bernard, well known amongst all the doctors in the town. Dr. Bernard first decided to make a detailed report of the patient, which included detailed information from his teachers, parents & schoolmates. He fixed up a meeting with the Robin’s family a few days later.

“Son, why do you look at those people? Aren’t you afraid to do it..?” Sir Williams asked him the next day as Robin was looking outside the window. He was looking at another small girl in the garden, dressed in green. Sir Williams looked in that direction only to find that no one was seating there. He was now more concerned about his grandson’s health conditions.

The next day, Robin came home crying, saying that one of the girls in white dress had pushed him down on the road. Such incidents now started happening, with Robin complaining every other day that his friends, those girls have started troubling him, causing injuries.

Few days later, Dr. Bernard came to visit them back. He had collected all the detailed information about Robin and was now ready to diagnose him.

“How are you doing, friend?” Dr. Bernard asked Robin. They were at Robin’s home and the entire family was present.

“Are your friends present here?” The doctor asked him. Robin didn’t answer, but in turn looked towards the staircase. Dr. Bernard looked in that direction & saw no one.

“Are your friends present here?” The doctor repeated the question. Robin nodded & continued to stare at the staircase. Tracy, Ivor and Sir Williams started getting concerned about their son.

“Yess…..” Robin answered softly, “All the 5 girls are present here…” Robin abruptly stopped in between. His eyes got bigger & feeling terrified, he screamed, “No…NO…NOOO…!”

“What happened…what do you see?” Horrified, Dr. Bernard shouted. Tracy, Ivor were shocked. Sir Williams somehow walked to hold his grandson.

“The…the girl in..in white dress..ha..has a knife…in her hand…and..” he stopped still looking at the staircase.

“…she…she is coming near me….Oh..Grandpa…please save me…..!” saying this, he ran towards Sir Williams. His family couldn’t believe the horror they just saw. Tracy started reciting a verse from the bible. Ivor & Sir Williams hugged the boy, who was still shivering & stealing glances towards the staircase. He still could see the girls seating there.

Sir Williams then took Robin to his room.

“I want to see where Robin spends most of his time…” Dr. Bernard said. Tracy then took him upstairs in the attic which Robin used as his study room. The whole space was well maintained, with ample furniture and place to study. It was cooler above here as compared to downstairs. The doctor checked around for a while. After looking around, he saw a cupboard. It was placed way far off in one dark corner. Dr. Bernard felt suspicious looking at it. He approached and saw that it was locked with a strange lock, something very old. He then saw some wooden blocks connected one above other, arranged neatly next to the wooden cupboard. Sensing something, he searched on the cupboard top and found a key. It was the most blizzard key he had ever seen. As he opened the cupboard, he saw something totally shocking.

“I told you...he has a Shining..!” Tracy was now totally convinced .Ivor couldn’t bear the condition of his son. His eyes were full of tears. Sir Williams came down from his room. “He’s asleep now, at least silent for some time.”

“How many hours does he spend in his study?” Dr. Bernard asked as he came down.

“Most of the time….” Sir Williams replied. “He reads, writes, studies up there. He doesn’t like being disturbed.”

“Since when is he behaving this way?”

“Since he shifted in the attic…..” Sir Williams answered, looking totally perplexed. Ivor & Tracy were equally confused.

“How old is this …this house? Since when are you staying here?” Dr. Bernard asked, looking around in the house. “I’ve done a lot of research on this house, Sir.” The doctor then removed some papers from his bag. “This house has a bad past. Witchcraft…Black magic…Sacrifices…Am I right…Sir Williams..?”

Staggering while he sto

od, Sir Williams replied, “To be honest doctor…” Sir Williams glanced at Tracy. “Ivor is actually...actually…not my true son…” Ivor and Tracy both were in complete shock. Ivor couldn’t believe what he was hearing. How come I’m not his son?

Sir Williams came and sat down on the couch. “This had happened almost 50 years ago. I had purchased this Gothic house from a wizard, a person who was very well acquainted with black magic and spells. My wife couldn’t conceive even after 10 years of marriage. We both were quite troubled. After numerous failed attempts of praying sessions, we both finally decided to call the wizard.”

Wiping his eyes, Sir Williams said sorrowfully, “My wife wanted a son, someone she can call her own, someone who can be close to her…” With watery eyes, he looked at Ivor and further said, “I knew no prayers can help. Therefore I adopted black magic. It was the only option left…”

“So what did you do, Sir?” Dr. Bernard questioned, looking closely, waiting for an answer. Ivor & Tracy were equally shocked.

“The wizard told me to sacrifice 3 young girls to the god, after which I will be granted a son. That time, almost 50 years ago, our town was quite old. I had 3 girls working as maids in my house. All of them had a bad childhood, with torcher, abuse & hatred in their families. I had no option but to use them as a sacrifice to the wizard. The wizard sacrificed them, but I donno what he did to the bodies.” Sir Williams sat down & wiped away the sweat on his brows. “After 1 year, my wife conceived a son, Ivor, but…..she died due to complications during pregnancy. I got what I wanted, but I lost something in return….” He started sobbing before finishing the sentence. Ivor & Tracy were equally shocked & stunned on hearing the past.

“But how is it related to my son, Doctor?” Tracy asked Dr. Bernard.

“Before coming, I had enquired a lot about this house & specially, Robin.” Turning towards Tracy, he asked, “Did Robin see three girls in Red, Yellow and White dresses?” Tracy just nodded, looking at Ivor. “OK. Let’s go upstairs.” The three then went upstairs to the attic. Dr. Bernard took them straight to the cupboard at the end.

“The wizard was a bit clever. He had taken photos of the three girls during the sacrifice rituals. He had taken notes of all their activities in this book.” He then showed him a Black Book. Ivor opened it & saw the book was filled with the pictures of all the three girls, their descriptions exactly matching with the ones that Robin had described to him. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

“Your son, Robin, had a troubled past. His mom hated him, because she considered him unlucky for her. His mind was quite troubled since his early childhood. Ivor got married again, and Tracy did love Robin, but still the boy wanted to have peace in his mind. His troubled past, the torcture he received, everything affected his mind. He felt as if no one understood him. He wanted to stay alone, away from all the people, away from this world. He wanted to find solace in all of this. Therefore, he found this attic as his place of silence.”

“So that means……my son is …..mentally ill?” Ivor concerned about his son, addressed to the doctor.

“Robin found out this cupboard, one day. I personally spoke to him some time back. He found this book and saw that the three girls were related to him in terms of their past. He then slowly started relating himself to the girls and with a disturbed mind, he started seeing them around.” Turning to Tracy, he said, “Did you notice, that he only saw these three girls and no one other than that? He considered them to be a part of him, for they were actually like him. Robin started seeing them around, because his mind created an exact image of them. Since both had a similar past, Robin immediately developed a bond with them, and started speaking with them. For him they were real, but for us, they never existed. He started getting bullied because he described them and spoke to them in public places. Soon this became a habit. That night, when Robin fell down from the staircase, he asked for help, but those girls never came to help him, which, his mind then formulated that those girls are bad. Eventually, this started happening. Robin everyday bruised himself, but in turn felt that the girls are doing this to him. The same thing happened today. He felt one of the girls wanted to finish him, because his mind said those girls are bad. And that is what is happening now. Robin thinks those girls want to cause damage to him, which is what exactly he is seeing in front.”

Tracy and Ivor both started crying. “Will my son, ever…...” Ivor asked.

“I understand what you are asking. Robin can be treated, but it will take time. I suggest you spend more nd more time with him. That will help him forget his past. And most importantly……Change this house.” Dr. Bernard answered.

In the next few days, Ivor, Tracy, Robin and Sir Williams, shifted to a new house. A case was filed against Sir Williams in the police, but no evidence was found as no dead bodies or any other strong point was used as offence. After months of trial, Sir Williams was released by the court.

Robin slowly started his treatment with Dr. Bernard. He gradually showed improvements in his behaviour. His family kept there busy schedule and started spending more time with him.