Epilogue
Suddenly, icy fingers grabbed my arm as I inched through the darkness. It threatened to pull me away from the light, my limbs could feel the cold of the fingers around me and the burn of my limbs as they contorted. This was no normal patient.
My Job
I worked as a therapist and I was pretty proficient at it. All my colleagues applauded me on my skill and ability to empathise with people. My methods seemed pretty unorthodox and sat considerably away from the book methods that we were taught. But it didn’t matter in the long run. My reviews went up and more and more high-class patients visited me.
Everybody would ask, “Oh, how do you do it?” or “How did you know that?”
I would often give a little shrug and move on. Why did I have to tell them? I was making good progress and that was all that mattered. But, being a therapist was no easy job and it took quite the mental strain on me, more than one would be able to tell.
The Patient
With a good night’s rest and a bountiful breakfast, I made my way to the hospital to begin my day’s work. Today however I would be given my most difficult task yet.
I was given a convicted killer who was going through rehabilitation. Given my stellar reputation, the hospital promised the police that I would be able to get the job done. I wasn’t intimidated. Sure, it was some dangerous killer who had killed who knows how many people but he had gone through a jail sentence and was given the time to mull over his actions.
When I got there, it was clear that I wouldn’t be given any preparation time. An apprentice informed me that the patient was ready for treatment and was waiting in my room. Show time!
I entered and saw the man who looked as if he was in his mid-30s. At the given time, he didn’t look like much of a threat. I sat down and he proceeded to give me the most deadpan stare, his eyes bore into mine and I felt a chill run down my spine. I shrugged it off. Getting back on track I composed myself and took a close look at his file. The notes on the files described how he had gotten away from law enforcement time and time again. He had been finally caught when a report was made that he was standing dead still in the middle of one of his killings, his victim merely centimeters away from death.
I looked back up to see him still looking at me with the deadpan stare. I tried to ask him several questions but to no avail. His face would not change with any question I asked.
The Ace in the Hole
With no other trick left to play I resorted to my ace in the hole. It was my ability to see people’s memories and emotions. It was an ability I had found out when I was merely ten.
One day my best friend was too emotional to speak her mind, so I sat her down. As I hugged her, I fell into an abyss. The seas started swelling with sadness and I turned around to see my friend being humiliated and slapped by her elder sister. I quickly snapped out when I saw my friend looking at me worried and asking me if I was okay. I hugged her tighter and comforted her saying that her sister wouldn’t get away with it.
Ever since that incident I have been doing the same like I did with my friend, whenever I reach a deadlock.
Eventually, I was able to learn how to fall into that abyss and see other people’s memories. It took me a while. I needed physical contact to gain access to a person’s memories. It was hard and awkward to do on certain occasions. Often I was only able to do this when I was consoling people by hugging them and even then it was dangerous because I lost control of my body whenever I used this ability. It was only when I lost my friend in a kidnapping that I was able to fully utilise that power.
The Missing Person Case
When I was 16, one day, me and my group, after having spent a full day of fun and activities, boarded our respective trains to get back. In the train, I fell asleep. In my sleep, however, there were screams and shrieks of pure terror, voices shouting and someone urging someone else to “let go”. I woke up. Cold sweat covered me and people were looking at me weirdly. I ignored the stares of the people and got off at my station. Everything seemed ok but I couldn’t shake off the feeling I had on the train and it continued to haunt me. It was only a day later that we came to know that one of our friends had gone missing. The fog of doubt began to clear as I began to recognize the voice of the person who had said, “let go”.
The next time I went to sleep I wasn’t afraid. I couldn’t be afraid. With a firm resolve, I plunged myself into the pool of darkness. Sensing the fear and pain that had washed over me during my ride home, I actively sought it out and I felt a tingling in the back of my head. Turning around I saw my friend who had been tied down and was feeling pretty helpless, I could only watch as he suffered. Then, I saw his memories. Diving even deeper I saw the face of his kidnappers, I could sense them nearby and when my friend saw them, I jumped ship and jumped into their head.
I was in a new head-space, sharp rocks were everywhere and blood dripped to the floor. It was rough and overwhelming but I pushed on. Viewing his memories I was able to make out a path towards the location of where they were keeping him. I was finished, I pulled myself back with the metaphorical fishing line attached to me. I reeled myself back from the depths of his memories. Within two days we had found our friend and the kidnappers.
That day, the need for physical touch vanished and I could fathom the memories of people without a tangible contact.
Let the Investigation Begin
In the hospital room, I, once again bore into my patient’s eyes one last time and then closed my own. I allowed myself to slip away into darkness and with my patient right in front of me, it wasn’t hard to find my target. Focussing on him I searched for anything I could find that would begin my investigation. I was searching to no avail until I felt a small dot of anguish lying deep beneath the sea of thought.
Looking around I realised that there was nothing happening.
Usually, the sea of thought is where I am able to find out what was on my patient’s mind and see what the problem was. In this case it was quite literally nothing. With nothing else in his mind, I held my breath and dove deep beneath the tranquil waters. The source of anguish in his head was depicted as a small white dot. Of all things I wouldn’t have expected to see anguish in this form. I dove deeper and deeper, with my curiosity ever growing. I saw that dot approaching and I touched it. The sea around me instantly transformed and the white dot grew, with myself being sucked inside it. Then memories began to show.
Visions of the Past
The memories showed a young boy who had once been nothing more than carefree and jovial, with his childhood being the epitome of a happy child. Then the memories darkened.
One night the reaper of death became human and entered his house. He awoke to the sound of gunshots, his mother was there holding him in her arms and she whispered in his ear to stay quiet in a little cupboard. Then she closed it and ran towards the noise. The boy held his hands to his ears in a desperate attempt to block out the noise that was raging outside. Eventually, silence fell upon the house. However, he stayed quiet and heard the sound of footsteps approaching the cupboard. His heart began to pound as he saw his life flash before his eyes. The person who opened the cupboard had a gun in his hand and he was aiming at him. He tried to shoot it but the gun fired blank, there were no more bullets left.
Just then the lights turned on. The neighbours as well as law enforcement had arrived after multiple reports of gunshots were reported to the police. But before the police could catch the intruder, whoever it was, he had gotten away.
There were people everywhere, but the boy felt alone, he saw the bodies of his family wrapped and covered, taken away from him.
He felt so helpless and desperation swallowed him. Then, rage and anger consumed him and the boy lashed out and began to scream. Everyone came to the boy and told him that whoever had killed his family was long gone. He calmed down knowing that lashing out wouldn’t help.
I soon saw the landscape twist into something daunting yet beautiful. The once fragrant meadow of his childhood withered away and it grew into something else. The landscape became a mountain, cold yet unwavering, like someone who sought revenge.
His memories shifted him into a state of chaos, desperately trying to find the man who had killed his entire family long ago. However, with each attempt he only recognized that he hadn’t gotten the man and he would hear the sirens approaching, knowing that if he was caught he wouldn’t be able to avenge his family. Every time, he escaped to take revenge another day.
Thereafter, the memories all became a blur, kill after kill, mistake after mistake. Then one memory became crystal clear. Cleaving through all the sorrow and regret that was surrounding me I reached for that memory. The memory showed how he had committed another murder and out of the corner of his eyes, he had seen a small child who had seen the murder of his family. Just as he was preparing to drive a knife through the boy, a sudden flash of memories pierced his mind.
He saw himself in the young child. His limbs went limp with sadness and empathy and then something began to happen. The child stood up and held his hand out. Suddenly his vision became smaller and smaller, it felt as if he was falling in. His vision further diminished until total darkness was left. I tried to skip to further parts of the memory, I kept going and going until I realized that it was all complete darkness. Surely something was wrong. Had my patient fallen into an abyss of complete darkness within his own mind?
Soon the swirl of memories grew bright white and the edges expanded, filling the infinite void and replacing it with a lush field, full of white lilies. I wandered around, this mindscape was unlike anything I had expected to see.
Among the Lilies of Regret
I wandered further, the path in the field seemed to only have one direction. As I kept walking, I noticed, the field had a perpetual day with flowers blooming all around. Then I tripped on something- vines. I gazed at the vines and I followed their trail. The more I walked, the thicker the vines got until I laid eyes upon something so beautiful yet horrifying.
Nestled among the thickest vines was my patient, solemn, sad and remorseful, full of emotions that hadn’t been seen when I had first approached him. I walked closer and closer, without warning. His eyes suddenly opened and his face tilted towards me.
“It’s been so long since I last had visitors, come to think of it, you’re my second visitor after that little child sent me here.”
“What happened to you?” I asked, the curiosity burning brighter than ever.
“It’s a story you’ve seen, but not the whole story.” He then sat me down and explained how that child had stopped him from committing any further atrocities. The child had proposed that he could make him leave the world by leaving behind all the pain that had haunted him. He had accepted. When he had woken up, the child was gone and he’d spent the rest of that time there, in that field.
“Do you know what happened to you while you were here?” I questioned. He looked back with a confused expression on his face. I then proceeded to inform him that he had been taken to jail as a criminal. From there he had gone to rehabilitation and then he had been sent to me for therapy. He looked baffled. I took his hand, “None of this is real, it’s all fake”
The ground beneath us shook and cracks began to emanate from his cocoon. “What?” he reeled back in horror turning to stone.
I grabbed at him and tried to pull him free. It was no use as both he and the vines resisted against me. I pleaded to him, “I know you’ve been hurt, you’ve suffered. I know you wanted to get revenge, but please, let me show you a better path.” Mumbling a small prayer, I held my arm out, hoping he would take it.
Amidst all the rumbling, his icy fingers gripped me.
He had taken my arm.
The Grips of Despair
We both ran out of the field and everything began to crumble. The cracks continued to chase us. It was almost as if the ground itself was trying to swallow us whole. We continued to escape and suddenly vines began to wrap around us. Fearfully, we tried to escape but it was futile. We were being dragged back, into the abyss.
Then, I eased out fear and concentrated. With all my might I willed the vines to let us go. The vines started to loosen up and we managed to run until we saw the barrier of white which had been the way I had first gained entry to the field in the first place. “Jump!” I shouted. We both dove head-first through the barrier and were plunged into the void.
The end was in sight, the surface of the waters was our escape. We began to swim up, with every inch closer to the surface bringing us ever closer to freedom. Suddenly I saw numerous shadows lurking in the depths. Sketchy hands, cold as ice, grabbed us and dragged us down. With every passing second the surface began to seem more distant. I struggled and with the warmth of my emotion, I was able to shatter away the hands that held me hostage.
My patient however was still being dragged down. I reached out to him and pulled at him to break him free. “I hurt all those people,” he mumbled, “I caused all that pain and suffering, I don’t deserve freedom.” With every word he spoke, the icy hands grew in size and clutched him more vigorously. It was his guilt that kept him chained there and was now pulling back in. “I know that you have done some terrible things, but I also know that we can change for the better, believe me I know from the countless patients that have come to me. You are no different to them”.
He looked hopeful. He closed his eyes. Then, with every bit of strength, he yelled out. The hands and the guilt that were dragging him down were now gone, shattered away and banished back into the depths. The water around us grew brighter and with a single goal in mind the currents responded. The water propelled us up, towards the light.
Back again
I woke up and so did my patient, breathing heavily.
I looked at him and he looked back. He looked around and he asked me where we were. “Back in the real world,” I replied. He looked at my office and then at his clothes. “Guess I’m not used to the real world,” he grumbled. I could feel the sweat on my forehead as I took out the feedback form. “What’s your name?” I asked. He just looked down and replied “Kai”
The feedback form was filled up quickly and I went outside to stretch a little. I looked at the time. To my amazement, only forty-five minutes had passed! I went on to collect his report and with a great relief I wrote down the words, “Expected to make full recovery”
The police came half an hour later and to their complete shock, they saw him walking around freely with a mellow gait. Word spread around quickly that the man who looked as if he were a vegetable had been brought back to life. Every staff member wanted to know how I had managed to do the impossible. I replied contentedly, “They wouldn’t have given me the job if I couldn’t have done it”
Kai was back in cuffs. “Do you really think I can change?” he asked. “With a lot of determination and will, you can change anything,” I chided. The corners of his lips lifted to make a small curve. He smiled and with gratitude in his eyes, he walked away.
I went back into my office and sat down, “What a client!”
My thoughts, however, went to the child I had seen in Kai’s memories. Who was that child? Did that child have the same powers as me? Where was that child now?
These questions weren’t going to be easy to answer. It had been a tough day and I decided that it would be best to just go home and take a nice long nap.
Writer : Ethan
Grade : 11 (Year 2024)
Place : Sydney, Australia
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