Inside A Room

Alan wakes up to a pungent smell of disinfectant. His vision is blurry so he rubs his eyes to clear his vision. After rubbing his eyes, he glances around and finds himself in an empty blue-colored room. There is only a bed and a clock in the room. The room is so silent that Alan can easily hear the clock ticking. His eyes focus on the clock which is showing the time 3:00 but he doesn’t know if it is day or night. He looks over to his wrists as a fluid moves into his veins from a bottle hanging on a hook. He asks himself, “Where am I? What am I doing here? How long have I been here? What is this liquid going inside me?”. He shuts his eyes, trying to remember what happened but fails to remember.

He removes the drip needle and gets out of bed. He wears slippers that are beside the bed and hobbles toward the door. He tries to turn the knob but the door is locked from the outside. Alan starts getting anxious and worried. He starts knocking on the door but there’s no response, only he can hear is a clock ticking and his breath. After some failed attempts, Alan starts banging on the door but again there’s no response. He screams, “Help! Let me out of here. Help! Help! Help!”, but again there’s no response. Alan sits on the floor while taking the support of the wall and tries to remember what could have happened. He keeps staring at the wall in front of him for some time after which he hears some footsteps approaching. He rises and gets furious. 

Someone from outside puts a key in the door and turns the knob opening the door of the room. Alan hides behind the bed. Someone softly pushes the door from outside. A man with white paint on his face enters the room and moves slowly towards Alan. Alan is scared of what is happening and starts shouting, “Who are you? Why am I locked in this room? What do you want?”

The man stops and says, “Don’t be afraid of me. I’m here to help you.”

“Why would I need your help?”, Alan says in a cracking voice.

“You’ve got no idea what happened, do you?”

“I don’t care what happened or not. I do know that you kidnapped me and have locked me in this room.”

The man starts walking slowly towards Alan, “No. I didn’t kidnap you. I am a good person. I saved your life. If I wouldn’t be there, you would have been dead. I spent all these days taking care of you. I brought you here to save you from the worst. I gave you glucose while you were unconscious and in this room regularly.”

Alan stands up and moves away from the man, “If you are such a good person, why am I locked in this room?”

“I have more work to do and don't want you wandering off. So, I had to lock you in this room. It is safe here.”

“You think I’m stupid enough to fall for this? I want out of here.”, Alan raises his voice.

The man also raises his voice, “You can’t leave. The entire countryside is blanketed with poisonous chemicals which were the result of the nuclear explosion which took place 30 days ago. If you go outside, you will die. This place has a filtration system which should protect us from whatever is floating in the air out there….”

Alan interrupts, “You’re out of your mind. You are lying.”

The man starts shouting, “If you think I am lying, go outside. Do you know what will happen to you? Nausea, diarrhea, headache, fever, dizziness, disorientation, weakness, hair loss, bloody vomiting, and skin burns. And yes, you will die in some minutes after exposure. Here, the whole world population is over due to this explosion and instead of thanking me you are shouting at me”

“Ok, ok let’s calm down because this is getting out of hand.”

“Keep this in mind. You can’t leave this room or you will die…”

Alan interrupts, “But you came from outside. How are you alive then?”

“I have a suit along with gloves and helmet which protects me from the radiation.”

“And what is this white paint on your face?”

“Oh, this? This is nothing. I used to work at a circus as a joker and was in the circus when this incident happened. When I came to know about this, I ran away from there in my car. When I was coming back home, I saw you walking on the road so I took you with me. First, you hesitated to come with me. The time was running so I hit you and you became unconscious. I put you in my car and brought you here.” Man smiles.

Alan rages out in anger, “You are fucking liar. Don’t try to fool me. You need a good mental asylum….

Man, interrupts Alan and shouts, “Shut up. You don’t tell me anything. I am saving you here. You should praise me. You should worship me. I am your saving guardian. Is this the way you talk to the person who saves you?”

“I talk in this way to those who lie, like you,” Alan starts running towards the door. Man grabs Alan by arm, pulls him, and throws him towards the bed.

“You will not go outside this room. Isn’t that understandable? Man kicks Alan in the stomach and Alan screams in pain. The man starts walking towards the door. Alan stands in pain and starts moving towards the door. 

“I don’t want to hurt you but you don’t understand. You are stubborn and I have medicine for people like you”, Man grabs Alan by the neck and bangs his head on the wall two times, and thrashes him on the floor. While Alan is lying on the floor screaming in pain, the man closes the door and locks it again from outside. Alan crawls in pain towards the door, grabs its knob, and tries to turn it. He starts banging on the door but there’s no response, he can only hear a clock ticking and his breath. He screams, “Help! Let me out of here. Open the door. Open! Help! Help! Help!”. Alan keeps banging on the door and his vision starts getting blurry. He falls unconscious on the floor due to the injury he got.

Alan wakes up in a small hospital room with a nurse sitting beside him. Alan speaks softly, “Where am I?”.

“Don’t worry. You are in the hospital.”

“Last I remember. I was in a room. How did I get here?”, Alan starts panicking.

Then only a policeman enters the room, “Don’t worry son, you are safe now. You had suffered some injuries and were unconscious so we brought you here. Don’t worry you will be discharged soon.”

“What is happening, sir? Earlier I was in a room, now I am in the hospital.

“Don’t worry. You were locked inside a room. We got the information from the neighbor that they heard someone screaming and banging on the door. We reached there as we got the information and found you”, Policeman sits beside Alan. “Tell me what happened in that room”, Policeman looks toward Alan.

Alan tells all the stories of how he woke up in the room without any information, how someone came into the room with some story and how he got injured and got locked again. The policeman notes the points in his notepad.

“Alan! Listen carefully. Whatever story he told you was all made-up. Nothing much happened. You were kidnapped and were missing for the last 10 days. The person who kidnapped you is a psychic criminal named Tom Hoyden. He is a mental patient and a criminal. You are not his first victim. Your parents filed a missing report complaint after you didn’t return home after 2 days. We started the search but were unable to find you. When we got information from Tom’s neighbor, I got the intuition that it might be you and it was you……

Alan interrupts, “Now, I am recollecting what happened. The last time I remember I was coming back from school but after that, I woke up in that room.”

The policeman continues, “Good to know that you are remembering. Your parents are waiting for you outside. They will be happy to see you again. And yes, after getting discharged you need to come to the police station to help us in providing all the important information which will help us in catching this criminal.”

“Catching this criminal? You didn’t catch him?”, Alan asks in amazement.

“Well, no. When we reached there, he wasn’t present there. But we found a police communication system. We think he came to know about us using that system. Now, how he got his hands on this system is also a question which we are investigating.”, Policeman stands.

“Thank you, sir. For some time, I thought I was kidnapped. For some time I thought that the world had ended. That person tried to make me mad. I don’t know what he wanted from me but you saved my life and brought me back to my parents. I will help you in finding him. I will help you in making his face sketch and also provide all the information needed.” Alan shakes hands with the policeman.

“Alan, it was nice meeting you. Wishing you a bright future. You will be discharged by evening. Take rest till then and yes, your parents will be meeting you now,” Policeman leaves the room.

Alan’s parents enter the room and hug him. Alan’s mother starts crying, “Thank God, you are safe my son.”

“Yes mom, I am safe now. Don’t cry. Everything is fine now”, Alan smiles and hugs them.

While somewhere else

A man is following a boy who is coming back from school and walking alone towards his home. The man following him grabs a stone, runs, and strikes the boy from behind. The boy falls unconscious. The man puts him in his car and takes him to a building. He pulls the boy out of the car and drags him into the building. Inside the building, he drags the boy inside a room, puts a drip needle, and locks the boy from outside………………….

Jim wakes up in a white-colored room. His vision is blurry so he rubs his eyes to clear his vision. After rubbing his eyes, he glances around and finds a person sitting in front of him on a chair. The man is bare chest and wearing shorts with gloves. There is only him and that person in the room. He asks, “Where am I? What am I doing here and who are you?”

“So, Jim tell me, do you watch ultimate fighting?” The man asks in a deep voice.

“Who are you and how do you know my name?” Jim shivers.

“I saw your identity card. But that’s not the response I wanted. I will repeat, ``Do you watch ultimate fighting?”

“Sometimes but I am not a big fan,” Jim moves out of bed.

“Don’t you dare! Sit on the bed,” The man shouts. “I already lost one of the boys, I won’t lose you,” The man screams.

“What are you talking about? I am unable to get it,” Jim starts shivering out of terror.

“Don’t be terrorized. No problem if I lost that boy. Now, you are with me. We will play together, you and me,” The Man smiles.

“Please, let me go. I want to go back to my home,” Jim requests.

“What will you do by going home? You don’t love my company? Oh, you will love my company once we start playing games.”

“What game are you talking about? Please let me free,” Jim starts crying.

“Enough cry baby. Stop crying or you will see the worst,” The man rises and starts walking toward Jim. Man grabs Jim and throws him on the floor, “Stand! Stand!” Man shouts.

“Please, don’t hurt me,” Jim begs.

“We should start the game without wasting any time.”

“What game? Please let me go. I don’t want to play. I want to go home,” Jim continues begging.

“Listen! We will play ultimate fighting like children play WWE at home. There will be unlimited rounds until one of us gets knocked out. And yes, there are no restrictions. You can hit anywhere and yes; every round will be of five minutes. I have set the alarm which will ring after five minutes declaring the end of every round.”

Jim grabs the man's leg, “Please let me go. Why do you want to play ultimate fighting? It’s brutal.”

“I was a passionate ultimate fighter and played a lot of matches and won also. You know, I was a great player but the federation didn’t renew my contract. How could they not renew the contract? I was their best player. The past has gone but now I want to train other players for ultimate fighting and you will be happy to know that you are my first student. Now, let’s start the match,” The man getting ready.

“But… please. don’t,” Jim tries to run towards the door but a man grabs him and throws him to the floor, “The match has started, let’s fight.” The man starts punching Jim in his face and on his second punch, Jim’s mouth starts bleeding. The man is continuously punching him in his face due to which his face starts bleeding due to cuts. Jim can feel that his teeth are getting loose and on the next punch his teeth fly out of his mouth with blood. Before the man goes for the next heavy punch, the alarm rings.

“Why are you not fighting back? The first thing a player should know is that he should fight back. Fight! Fight! Fight!” Man shouts.

Jim’s face is starting to get wet due to the blood that is spreading on his face, “Please, don’t kill me,” Jim says in a low voice.

“Okay, the next round has started. Stand up!” The man grabs Jim and starts punching him in the stomach. Jim starts screaming out of pain. Man jumps and hits Jim on his face due to which Jim falls to the floor. With every hit, Jim is spilling blood and the floor’s color is turning red.

The man shouts, “You idiot. Stand up! You are not made for this training. Stand up you useless piece of shit. I said stand,” Man swings his leg and kicks Jim in his face due to which Jim spits blood from his mouth. Jim whispers, “Please, don’t…. and faints away.

Jim wakes up after some time and finds himself on the bed with bandages on various parts of his body and a drip needle attached to his hand. He’s in the same white room which is now cleaned and doesn’t have blood shattered anywhere. He feels a little itch on his face and notices that there are stitches on various parts of his face.

“Oh, you are awake. Good to know,” The same man enters the room.

“You are the one who tried to kill me,” Jim speaks softly.

“I tried to kill you? But why would I try to kill you? I am a doctor and a doctor's job is to save people and not kill them,” Man smiles.

“You are a doctor? Earlier you said you are a fighter by profession. Are you crazy? Jim raises his voice.

“Fighter? I think you are dreaming. I am a doctor. My name is Dr. Tom and I did all this dressing. I am here to help you, my friend.”

“Are you serious? Who are you for real? Fighter? Doctor? Are you trying to fool me?” Jim tries to lift himself but is unable to due to weakness.

“Why are acting weird? I am a doctor, can’t you see it? Somebody beat you to death and I saved your life and you are questioning me?”

“That somebody was you who beat me to death.”

The man raises his voice, “I did that? How is that possible? Doctors don’t do such things.”

Jim shouts, “You did it!”

Only then the police slam opens the door and asks the man to raise his arms. The man takes out a gun from his back pocket and points toward the policeman, “Don’t you try to step forward.”

The man continues speaking, “Don’t worry boy. I will save you from these militants. It is my duty as a policeman to save you.”

“Policeman? But you were saying that you are a doctor,” Jim asks in amazement.

"Doctor? Who said I am a doctor? I am an army man. Can't you see I have a gun? An army man always has a gun with him," The man says.

Jim in an angry voice, "Are you fucking serious? First, you were a fighter rather than a doctor, and now an army man? Are you trying to fool me?"

"Why are you saying again and again that I am a fighter or a doctor? I am an army man."

Policeman shouts, "Enough of your bullshit Tom. Keep your gun down. First, you kept that boy in the room, and now this one. Now you have nowhere to run. Enough of your madness."

"Don't worry, Jim. I will save you at any cost," The man fires two bullets toward the policeman but misses. In response, the policeman shoots the man in the leg due to which he falls to the ground.

The policeman's team runs towards the man to grab him and the policeman himself goes to rescue Jim, "You will be fine. Don't worry!".

The police team puts the man and Jim in a police van and takes them to the police station. On the way, the man tries to free himself and scuffle with the police team but fails to do anything. On reaching the police station, doctors are brought to take a look at Jim's injury and the man's gunshot wounds. After the check-up and dressing, the policeman locks the man in jail and asks Jim to wait for him in the main office room. Jim sits in a chair in the main office.

A policeman enters the room, "So, Jim. How are you feeling now?"

"Better sir but when will I be able to meet my parents?"

"We have called them. They will be arriving here soon. Till then, tell me what happened in that room?" policeman grabs a pen and notepad. Jim tells all the story of how he woke up in the room and how that man first told him that he was a fighter and beat him and then told him that he was a doctor and did all the bandaging and how he claimed to be an army man when the police came.

"This man treated you more badly than his previous victim. I along with my team busted his hideout last time but were unable to find him. We only found the boy but luckily this time, we caught him and were also able to rescue you. Thanks to various inputs, security camera footage, and the information provided by that boy we were able to track him," Policeman taps Jim's shoulder.

"Yes, he was talking about some boy. So, you were the one who saved that boy? Do you know why he is acting like this?" Jim asks while drinking water. Then only Alan along with his parents arrive at the police station.

"Hello, sir. How are you? You asked me to come here. What's the issue?" Alan sits on a chair.

"Alan, meet Jim and Jim this is Alan. Jim, for your information Alan was his previous victim whom I rescued, and Alan, this is Jim who is his latest victim."

Alan and Jim shake hands, "Sorry to hear that you were also his victim. And he did beat you badly. I can tell it by looking at your face only."

Jim closes his eyes and opens them, "I don't want to remember those hours in that room."

"But sir, why did you ask me to come here?" Alan asks the policeman.

"Alan, we caught the person who locked you and Jim inside the room. He's in lockup right now. Also, after rescuing Alan I did a lot of research on this man and got information about his background. I wanted to tell this story to you, that's why I asked you to come here."

"I enquired about him from various people and also got his files. So, here's the story of the man whose full name is Tom Wilson. His records show that he kidnapped a boy but when his location was found, that boy's dead body was found. So, you can say he did 1 killing. Now, if I include you two, we can say that he has done 2 kidnappings and 1 killing till now. I also consulted his doctors and got to know that severe physical and sexual abuse inflicted on Tom in childhood by his stepfather caused his personality to splinter into 4 separate personalities that had little knowledge of the other's actions. The four personalities he exhibits are a joker who survived a nuclear explosion, a fighter, a doctor, and an army man. He ran away from his home and that's when his real problems started. Due to his various personality, he was unable to get any job or any accommodation and after some time, he did his first kidnapping. His first Victim was a 10 years old boy who was kidnapped when he was coming back from school. As I told you, he was found dead. When he was with Alan, he was thinking that he is a joker who survived a nuclear explosion. When he was with Jim, he thought he was a fighter. And yes, his condition is also deteriorating due to which fluctuations in his identity are now uncontrollable. That's why his identity was frequently changing when he had Jim," Policeman picks up a glass of water and drinks it.

"So, you are saying he has multiple personality disorder?" Alan asks.

"Yes, he has multiple personality disorder which today is called dissociative identity disorder."

"Sir, you have done a good investigation," Jim says.

"I have to. This is my job. He's a killer whose real place is in jail. Policeman continues, "We have prepared a court case against him and now it all depends on the court, what punishment he will get. And I want you two as eyewitnesses in the court," Policeman points toward both Alan and Jim.

Some days later, on the court trial day,

Policeman along with Tom [The Man] arrive at the court. Alan and Jim also arrive there as witnesses. Tom is provided with a public defender who starts arguing that Tom should not be given any punishment as he is mentally unstable and the case should be closed giving Tom a clean chit under the insanity case. The policeman's lawyer tells the court about the 2 kidnappings and 1 killing Tom has done and how his actions are harmful to society. Alan and Jim also give their testimonies. Court orders a medical check-up of Tom to verify if he's really insane or just bluffing.

After some days, the court date comes and everyone arrives to get further updates on the case. Tom's lawyer submits the report that is prepared by several psychiatrists. The psychiatric specialists verify that they have also diagnosed him with multiple personality disorder. The court after hearing deems Tom unfit to stand trial because of his mental state and orders him to be transferred to Hirden Mental Hospital for seven months. Police, Alan, and Jim are not satisfied with the judgment and submit various applications but all are rejected. At the hospital, they work on fusing Tom's fractured personality back together. After seven months, he appears back before the judge but the treatment he'd gone through at Hirden doesn't hold and the judge decides it isn't jail time Tom needs, but rather more psychiatric treatment. Tom is officially found not guilty due to the insanity plea and instead of jail, he gets sentenced to psychological rehab at Limla State Hospital for the Criminally Insane. Police, Alan, and Jim again demand jail punishment but their demand is rejected again. Tom is transferred to Day-cares Forensic Centre and then the Central Ohio Psychiatric Hospital. After some years of treatment, expert opinion that Tom is no longer a danger and his personalities are almost fused. He is released from the hospital and under all supervision.

After getting out of the hospital, Tom starts working as a truck driver in Timber Factory. One night, Tom is walking on the roadside after work when a person wearing a long jacket and hat starts following him. After finding that someone is following him, Tom starts running. The person chasing Tom grabs him, throws him on the floor, and places his leg on Tom's throat. The person takes out his gun and points it toward Tom. Tom begs, "Who are you and why do you want to kill me? I am an innocent doctor who saves the lives of others…

Person interrupts, "You are innocent? Who is saying this thing, a man who kidnapped my son and killed him? I believed in courts and laws but now I don't believe them. They are all bullshit. They save people like you who have done so much wrong and are dangerous to society. They think sending people like you to a mental asylum will make you a good person. That's a big joke! Once a mental will always be mental. You thought that you would run away like this? You should be…

Tom interrupts, "If you are in any problem, you can tell me. I am a doctor. I will try to solve your problem."

The person shouts, "You will help me? Would a mental bastard like you know how it feels when your child is kidnapped and killed? Do you know how it feels when you find your kidnapped child dead after searching for 3 days? If the law cannot give my son and other victims justice then I will provide them justice. I will become a ray of hope for them. I should have done this earlier," Person fires three times at Tom's head killing him on the spot. The person watches blood coming out of Tom's head for a few seconds and then runs away.

The next day after news of Tom's death is circulated everywhere, the Policeman calls Alan and Jim to his house. After some time Alan and Jim arrive at the policeman's house and sit in the drawing room.

"Sir, it is a pleasure to meet you after this many years," Alan shakes hands with the policeman.

"Same here, Alan and Jim. How are you nowadays? Everything is fine?"

"Yes, sir. Everything's fine now. Did you hear about Tom's murder? Someone killed him," Jim asks.

"Yes, I heard about it."

"Will there be any investigation on this murder?" Alan asks.

The policeman answers, "I can't say for now. At the crime scene also, we couldn't find any clues or evidence. Getting to the reason why I called you here. I just wanted to meet you two and I am happy to know that you two are now enjoying your life."

"Yes, sir. Now, everything is good but the trauma we suffered during that time still haunts us sometimes but we are getting used to it."

"I can understand that. As Tom is dead now, this chapter is finished and I hope you two will also try to forget it and fully live your life. Best of luck, boys."

"Thank you, sir. We will be grateful to you," Jim and Alan shake hands with the policeman and leave for their home.

As Jim and Alan leave, the policeman goes to his room, picks up his bag, and gets in the car. The policeman drives the car and slows down across the empty bridge and throws the gun into the river. The policeman keeps staring at the river as the gun goes underwater and sinks to the bottom. The policeman sits in the car and drives away from the bridge.