Forgotten

Dr. Hermann Stewart straightened his coat up a bit. It had been snowing from dawn outside in the streets of London. Christmas was around the corner – just twelve days were left for Advent to end. Dr. Stewart’s pockets had also begun to fill up at the same time. Of all the thirteen patients – only one patient per day – had come, most of them had paid him a large sum, according to the – in Stewart’s words – ‘mind disease’ which affected them.

Just as the clock struck ten, Dr. Stewart heard a knock on his front door. His servant and secretary, Alfred opened up the door, and ushered in the visitor to the doctor’s chamber.

‘Good morning. I had made an appointment with you yesterday night. The name's Langdon.’ said the visitor. He was a young man in his thirties, and his grey eyes gave off a soft – yet radiant – gleam. His hair was a bit ruffled. No one could tell or assume what ‘mind disease’ he had.

Dr. Stewart didn’t know why, but he suddenly felt his stomach lurch up a bit. Shoving off, he replied, ‘Yes I do remember. Please sit down, Mr. Langdon, and tell me what your problem is.’

‘Actually,’ replied Gary - his first name - after sitting down, ‘I have not come to you with any problem. In fact, I have one, but I have grown used to it. I wanted help from you.’

The doctor was puzzled. ‘Pardon, but if you could please elaborate on how I could ‘help’ you.’ said the doctor.

Gary – coughing a little – replied:

‘You see doctor; I’m a sufferer of a very rare disease. You might know it – the Savant Syndrome. You also then must know what it feels like to be one of those rather unfortunate souls. One of the major features of this disease is that people become ‘human calendars’ – they can remember what event had occurred at a certain time on that certain date, a few years back. 

I have begun writing an autobiography, where I want to note down all the events I had seen in my 36-year old life. I can remember everything, yet there is one memory I couldn’t recall. You see, I had lost my family when I was sixteen years old. They died in a car crash. But what exactly happened, I couldn’t recall…’

Gary stopped for a while. Dr. Stewart had been listening to Gary all this while with great interest. However, he didn’t know why he was having the feeling that he had seen Gary a long time ago…

‘Dr. Stewart,’ Gary continued, ‘I have heard that you are exceptionally good at the art of hypnotism. You are not only able to make people say – by hypnotizing them – what they had forgotten, but also you can make people visualize that scene which would make them remember what they had forgotten. Can you do that in my case? Listen, I don’t care what fees I have to give you. I’ve got an enormous fortune…’

‘Oh no no.’ interrupted Dr. Stewart. ‘I have no problem with the fees. But I must tell you Mr. Langdon. You are indeed an interesting case. Being a ‘savant’ is not so easy in these challenging times. But let me warn you, the method of hypnotism which I am now going to perform will have some after-effects. You must have an extreme level of concentration and think about that specific event intently. So, are you ready?’

‘I am, doctor. Do it.’ replied Gary, flashing a confident smile. 

Dr. Stewart got up, and closed all the windows and told Alfred not to disturb him. Then he sat down on his chair, and closed his eyes. After five minutes, he said: ‘Now close your eyes Mr. Langdon, and tell me the date the event occurred.’

‘The 14th of December, 1970. I want to start remembering from the 13th.’ replied Gary.

The doctor then began to mutter some words which he only knew. Ten minutes passed. There was a pin-drop silence in the chamber. The cold had started to increase.

Then, both of them began to see where Gary was on the 13th of December, 1970….

There was a road – in the faded images which had come to his mind – which was surrounded by small houses. The sides were rugged, with yellow soil being scattered by small pebbles. A car was passing by this quiet village. Dr. Stuart Langdon was at the driver’s seat, along with his wife, Janet, and his two children, Lily – aged 12 – and Gary – aged 16. Dr. Langdon was going on his daily round to see if anyone was there who needed immediate medical attention.

The image got even brighter….

The car stopped at a small motel, where they will stay for the night. ‘You two go and play over there in the field. Daddy’s got some important work to do.’ said a cheerful Stuart to his kids. They ran off towards the field to play – brother and sister – while the doctor went off doing his job. They played all afternoon, with the Sun and the breeze playing their cadences. They returned to the motel at about five…

More images floated by….

At about six, Dr. Langdon returned, and the family saw two serials that were airing on the TV. He had a very busy day – there were thirty patients that day. They had a happy hour, watching their favorite tele-serials. At seven…

Yes, yes, it was coming….

At seven, when the family was about to go down for dinner, they heard a knock on the door. A voice came out, ‘Dr. Langdon, a man has come to visit you. He had some business to do.’

‘Let him in.’ replied the doctor.

The visitor was a man in his forties, and he was wearing…

There was a mist, and then it cleared up….

He was wearing a black overcoat, and his eyes were deep blue. Dr. Langdon welcomed him inside, and then told Janet, ‘You take the kids down with you.’

‘But, what if..’

‘C’mon Janet. He will not…’

Suddenly Gary felt the image was disappearing. He opened his eyes slowly, and saw Dr. Stewart intensely sweating. 

‘Oh no doctor, you look terrible…’

‘Oh not to panic. It happens sometimes. Close your eyes again and we will resume.’

Dr. Stewart knew why he had been sweating. No, not because of the concentration, but those images which just looked so familiar…as if…

There was silence once more, and the images started to float back….

Janet looked at the clock. It was eight o’clock in the night. She was wondering what to do – whether to call her husband or not – when suddenly she heard the loud thumping of someone coming down the stairs. It was the visitor; he struck her a vicious look, and went out into the night.

At dinner that night, Dr. Langdon told what he and the visitor were talking about: ‘I warned him yet again not to do that. Already we doctors are facing difficulties because of the recent trend in the medicines…he only thinks of money. I scolded him, and even threatened him that I’ll…’

Janet’s face turned white. ‘Don’t do that with him! You don’t know how…’

Suddenly the images stopped. The two men opened their eyes. 

‘That was all I could get from the 13th of December.’ said Dr. Stewart. His face has suddenly turned a little pale. Possibly from the concentration…

‘Alright doctor. Now I want to remember the events starting from the midnight of 14th December, 1970.’ Saying this, he closed his eyes again. The doctor again began chanting. He had the feeling of uneasiness growing now. Those images…

The images came back again….

A ringing sound suddenly made Dr. Langdon jolt up from his sleep (he was a light sleeper) and saw that the telephone was ringing. He picked it up.

‘Hello?’

‘Hello! Is this Dr. Langdon? I…need…’ the voice was full of static.

‘Yes, yes this is me. Who is it?’

‘Doctor, I am a poor man. I live in this village only. My mother had got up to draw up water from the well ten minutes ago. When….s…she did not return, I went up to the well and saw my mother was coughing all of a sudden, very violently. Doctor, please…come….I…..’

‘Alright. Listen, where do you live?’ asked Dr. Langdon. He didn’t care what time it was or where the patient was.

‘There is an aspen tree garden on the west side. Over there is my house.’

‘Okay. Don’t panic. I’m coming.’

Dr. Langdon put down the receiver. While dressing up, he wondered what could be the emergency that someone was calling him up at this point of time. But that did not matter now. The life of the patient was important.

As he was going down for the car, he was surprised to see his wife and her two children also coming. ‘Listen, I’m going with you whether you like it or not. That man – what if he’s up to something? I can’t let you go there alone. Besides, it might be the local ruffians.’

The car rushed down the road. The headlights casted shadows of unknown objects. After some time, they reached the garden of…

Again it disappeared. Again it comes:

The garden of the aspen trees was located on a kind of a hillside. Dr. Langdon parked the car just beside the ‘hillside’, and then began to search for the house. However, after a few moments, he realized that Janet was right: it was a prank call. No house was there in the radius, let alone a person!

‘Well, a prank call presumably. Come on, everyone.’ Dr. Langdon called out.

Janet and Lily got back into the car. But where was Gary?

‘Coming father!’ said Gary, as he ran towards the car, and then something unexpected occurred:

Gary was just a few steps away from his father’s car, when suddenly – out of nowhere – a black car revved up and crashed into the red Fiat! Before he knew it, Gary was thrown back into the ground. Getting up, he saw:

The Fiat rolled down into the hillside, and fell with a loud thud! And then, Gary saw a man coming out of the other car. He recognized him immediately. He ran into the darkness…

***

Gary Langdon suddenly got up. He had got his answer.

Dr. Stewart was suddenly startled by the sound. ‘Woah, what happened? You wanted…’ his voice was trembling all of a sudden.

‘I have got my answer, Dr. Stewart. I now know what happened that night.’ replied Gary.

‘Well, t-t-then what happened?’

Gary now looked straight at the doctor, and replied back:

‘It has been ten years since I have witnessed that thing. It was an accident, everyone said. The driver of the other car was drunk, and he didn’t know where he was going. But I know the answer. My family was killed.’

‘Wait a minute. What are you saying Gary…’

The doctor stopped. He looked as if his eyes wanted to come out. A devilish smile came to Gary’s mouth, as he said, ‘I didn’t say my real name, Dr. Stewart. How did you know it? Besides, in your register, only the last name is written, and last night you asked me for my last name. Then how did you know that my first name was Gary?’

The doctor felt his heart-beat had increased. ‘But you were…you were…’

‘Dead, Dr. Stewart? Oh you see, there’s your flaw. You had searched every inch of London – using your spies – to finish me off. I think you remember the news that stated the body of an unknown man had floated up on the river Thames. That was just a beggar. I chloroformed him and put makeup on him to look just like me. So when..’

‘Lies! Everything is false! Who was Dr. Stuart Langdon? I don’t…’ his voice trailed off.

‘There, there Dr. Stewart, everything is coming together. You knew my family well. For ten years, I have searched you. You have risen up from a medical representative to a renowned psychiatrist it seems. Well, if I let out this ugly secret of what happened that night….but why? What did my father do to you? WHY DID YOU KILL HIM?’ 

Dr. Stewart felt his head was spinning….he dropped down to the ground, and on to the floor with a loud scream. He had fainted…

***

At around eleven o’clock, Dr. Hermann Stewart’s house was visited by the London Police. There had been recently a number of deaths occurring due to fake medicines, and the police were literally sweating their brains out to find the culprit.

‘Sir, over here these are some passports of the man. I think this is his fake name.’ said  a constable, as he handed over about six-seven passports in the hands of Inspector Jacob.

‘I had my suspicions about the man. A number of deaths had occurred over here only. But,’ the inspector turned to Gary, ‘how did you know that he could be one of these devils?’

Gary just smiled, ‘You see, only recently two persons have died due to the over dosage of LSD – you must be knowing it. Then I heard that the doctor can summon images out of his mind through hypnotism. Now think like this: The doctor gave some drink to the patient, and after that performed. It must have been a strong dose, or else how come that thing go on for so long! He made one mistake though, by not giving me the drink mixed with LSD. He thought of prescribing me another death-bringing medicine, for I am a Savant! By the way inspector, check out his basements, maybe there would be some more drugs in hiding!’ he laughed.

Inspector Jacob laughed about, and turned to inspect the doctor’s table. The morning newspaper was open on page number five. The inspector’s eyes suddenly froze at one piece of information. It ran:

‘Death of a Botanist’

Renowned botanist Dr. Gary Langdon died yesterday due to some fatal injuries. He was apparently returning from the market to his house, when he got struck by a motorbike at top speed, coming from the other side….’

‘But…but…then,’ said Inspector Jacob. ‘Mr. Langdon…’ his voice trailed off, as he turned around, and again got shocked.

There was no one. Only a note lay on the floor. Jacob picked it up. On it was written:

‘I had taken my revenge which had remained cold for ten years. Even after death, my soul couldn’t rest. I pretended to forget my parents’ death, which did not make the doctor doubt about it, despite me being a ‘human calendar’. Apologies for the sudden departure.’

Jacob looked up. The curtain placed before the front door danced up a little - maybe for the wind which had just now started to blow?

***

M.Macabre

27.07.2020

Dedicated to: Redi