The Man, The Stalker and The Car
4935 Words
The next day, both Ash and Tron shared everything with Izumi and were waiting for his reply. They didn't bother about being judged anymore. Izumi remained silent for a while and said, " If you would have told this to anyone other than me, then they'd probably look at you like a crazy person. But I won't call you crazy until I get full information on the current situation. If you were a stranger, I might have doubts, but since I know you guys well, I think there is something that is causing this trouble. Let's look into it."
Tron and Ash followed Izumi to his office. Izumi closed the blindfolds and canceled all his appointments of that day. Izumi's office has a cabin that was always locked. Neither Tron nor Ash had ever been inside. They just thought it to be a storeroom. Izumi unlocked the door and asked his friends to enter. It was absolutely dark and they couldn't see anything. Izumi switched on the light and then they could see everything clearly. Ash and Tron were awestruck. The room had ample space and the walls were covered with pictures that contained various symbols, creatures, scriptures, and many more. There was a projector, and a table at the center, on which resided laptop and books of various kinds. Though there were a plethora of pictures, videotapes, recorders inside the room, it was well organized and it didn't look messy. Before Tron and Ash could process what they had just witnessed, Izumi started to speak.
' A problem could not be interpreted by an ordinary citizen, only if it falls in one of the three categories. It must be either psychological, scientific, or mystical. I know everyone might have some idea on the first two, but most of the proportions do not believe in the last one. You both fall in that category too. So let's begin with the first possibility. I had spent a lot of time with you guys and from my personal expertise, you both are mentally strong and durable. Let me provide some basic reasons for this conclusion. Tron, you experience unpleasant dreams every night, and yet that doesn't affect your day. You carry out your responsibilities and manage your social life better than most people that I know. And Ash, despite being under the control of your parents for so long, you managed to become successful in your career and maintain friendships. Most importantly, you had not left your parents despite the trauma they caused you unknowingly. There are lot many reasons why I consider you both mentally strong, but these were just to make you believe that you are strong indeed. Coming to the second choice, the problem can be related to science. There is a high probability that your problem will reside in this area. Only a minute percentage of the cases fall in the supernatural or mystical category. If it is scientific then I am going to find out the source of the issue. '
Izumi proposed an entire body scan to detect any anomalies residing in them. Izumi went to a corner in the room and pressed a button.
Doors opened on the ground and a machine raised through it. That place was wondrous and Ash and Tron were surprised once again. There were two slots on the single machine.
' This machine is going to scan your entire body and then I am going to check if there are any deviations from a healthy human body. '
Izumi asked Ash and Tron to step inside and once they were in, the doors closed with a hissing sound. They felt as if they were being experimented on. They closed their eyes waiting for the process to complete. Five minutes passed by and after a beep sound, the doors of the compartments opened and they stepped out as soon as they can.
Ash: Woah, that was faster than an MRI machine.
Izumi: Yes, it is. It can even do many things that an MRI or CT scan doesn't. It is one of the most advanced machinery which is not yet released in the market. To be frank, they didn't even fix a name for it. It is just a prototype. And don't ask me how did I get my hands on this.
Tron: Sounds amazing, but how can you be so sure that the results of a prototype would be precise?
Izumi: This beauty is developed by adopting the Incremental Model, which means it is not built at once. Specific features are developed in every cycle and that product can be deployed at that very moment. So, all the functionalities that are required for your scanning are completely tested. So, the results would be correct with 99.99999% accuracy.
Ash: I wish you were our professor back then. Software Engineering would have been way more interesting. Anyways, how much time does it take for the results?
Izumi: It would take approximately fifteen minutes and that is one of the reasons why this product would be quickly accepted into the market on its release. I want you guys to understand that if the reports are normal, then you should be willing to accept the last possibility. If it comes to that, then I will have to do a lot of research to find references about it in history.
Tron: I hope it doesn't come to that. Whatever this is, I wish it is treatable so we can live happily without any worries.
Ash: You stole words right out of my mouth, man.
Izumi: You can explore my research while I wait for the reports.
Tron: Until everything turns out normal, I don't think I will be able to put my focus elsewhere.
Ash: I wish the transition occurs now. I'll have people to watch exactly what happens.
Izumi: You both are so caught up in your own mess. You should have approached me earlier. But I want to ask, what if there is nothing wrong with your body or mind, what do you guys intend to do?
Ash: Ah, we haven't given it a thought. Even you said that probability is too low for the problem to be mystical. Let's hope it ends here.
Izumi: I wish the same, but things never go in the direction we want them to go. We should be considering every possibility.
Tron: Come on, Izumi. Give us a break. I don't want to assume anything until the reports come. Let's just wait for the reports, alright?
Izumi: Fine, fine. Let's wait.
That fifteen minutes seemed like a very long time. Ash and Tron were checking their watches every thirty seconds, and on the other hand, Izumi was patiently looking at his research. He is known for maintaining his composure even in dire situations. That is one of the traits of Izumi which others wanted to possess. After a while, Izumi closed his files and came back to the machine to check if the results came out.
' It's here, ' said Izumi which induced a sense of fear in Tron and Ash.
Ash: What is it? Did you find it?
Izumi: Give me a second here.
Ash and Tron's impatience grew with every passing second. They couldn't control the anxiety. Their chest became heavy because of anticipation. They knew that yelling would not make Izumi read the report any faster, instead, they tried to read his facial expressions. Their frustration rose when they couldn't find out anything from the poker face of Izumi.
After a long sigh, ' This is bad, ' stated Izumi.
' What is bad? Say it clearly, man. ' Questioned Ash.
' There is nothing peculiar in the report. Everything appears to be better than a normal healthy human being. Surprisingly, your internal organs and their functioning are impressive. There is not a chance in the hell that something is wrong with you guys, physically. '
' But what about the brain? Is it okay too? ' Asked Tron.
' Yes, indeed. Ash's brain activity is normal, but Tron's brain activity is high. It's not bad, though. Maybe that is the reason for your constant dreaming. I'll take a scan of your brain again when you are asleep. Let's see the result then. Apart from these, there is no anomaly or defect in your body. This can only mean one thing, but let's wait for another test before we conclude anything. You guys can leave now. Come here at night, and I want you to rest here itself for tonight. Ash, I know it is difficult for you to convince your parents, but it is important and cannot be ignored. '
' Hmm. I guess I don't have a choice. I will make it happen. '
----*----
Tron goes to his office and on the way, he meets Mina. As soon as she saw him, she could understand that something was going on in Tron's mind.
' What are you thinking, Tron? Why the long face? '
' Nah, nothing. I was just, you know, thinking about general stuff. '
' Oh really? You are never late to work, and what is the reason for that? '
' A friend of mine had an issue so we had to stay with him for a while. It's all done now, I'll catch up with my work right away. '
' Speaking of friends. When are you going to introduce me to them? '
' Introduce you to them? Why? '
' I mean, I want to get to know them too. Your friends are my friends, aren't they? '
' I would be glad if you would like to know them, but now is not a good time. Maybe someday, when things are all good. We'll plan it, alright? '
' Sure, Tron. It would be my pleasure. '
----*----
Meanwhile, Ash was thinking of ways to convince his parents. Even though his father had told him that he would talk to his mother, but a whole night is too much to ask in such short time. In addition, after knowing the truth about his birth, he can no more argue the way he did the previous day. He opened his phone, searched his father's contact, but was unable to press the call button. He closed the phone and this repeated for a while. Finally, he gathered enough courage to call his mother directly. Every ring intensified his heartbeat and when she finally picked up, he remained speechless. Nothing occurred on his mind. ' Hello, son, ' said a sweet voice. He imagined his mother to be upset after the incident, but she was sweet as sugar which made Ash feel more guilty. His heart couldn't possibly hurt her anymore by asking permission for the night out. ' I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything, ' he said instead and hung up the call. Such was the love of mother, who never be disappointed with her children despite their mischievous behavior.
Usually, her mother would call back if a call gets disconnected in the middle of a conversation or if the call ends abruptly. But this time, she did not call back and at that moment Ash felt the pain. He used to ignore the callbacks, but now he was missing it badly.
" When things are around, people take them for granted. When they are
out of your reach, only then their value is realized. "
A few minutes later, a text pops up, which was from his mother which read, ' I know we had been hard on you, son. We never let you fly because we were afraid that you might fall down and get hurt. We never let you do anything which involved minimal risk. When I think about everything now, I am really surprised that you obeyed us for so long. Any other kid would've left us a long time ago. I will change, son. We will change. Not that we would love you any less than before, but would definitely try to give you the freedom and the flexibility of making your own decisions. And this starts from now. We love you, son. Just remember this. I just want a promise from you that wherever you go and whatever you do, please come back to us safe and sound.'
Ash felt so emotional after seeing the text. After a while, he replied saying, " I promise you one thing, mom. I would never go away from you both. I cannot even imagine such a situation and I will always come back to you, no matter what. " A few minutes later he sent an message that he would be spending the night at Izumi's and he also texted their phone numbers, just in case he couldn't lift the phone. In turn, he got a message from his mother regarding her acceptance.
Finally, on one hand, things were starting to get better in Ash's life, and on the other hand, he was about to uncover something, which might change his life in a way, he never might have imagined.
----*----
Izumi was now almost sure that the problem was mystical and he also knew that they would never accept it unless his assertion could be supported by any solid proof. Even after knowing, he was not able to understand from where he should start doing his research. He was still not sure, what was causing this problem. If he would succeed in pinpointing the root cause or if he could find any reference pointing to some ancient history or something, then that would narrow his area of research.
After the work hours were finally completed, Tron and Ash immediately went to Izumi's place as they were anxious to know what was wrong with them. Their curiosity peaked when the results of the body scan turned out to be normal. Now, they were completely dependent on Izumi because they didn't have or know any alternative plan to proceed with. If Izumi fails to identify the cause, then they have no idea what to do next or whom to approach for help. Despite these thoughts, they felt like things would work out in the end.
" If things don't end well, then that's not an ending. "
Izumi was already working on something when they reached his lab. Their entry disrupted his concentration.
Izumi: So are you guys ready to spend the night here?
Ash: Yes, we are. We need to find know the reason as soon as possible. I don't want to be in the dark anymore.
Tron: So, your parents agreed to a night out?
Ash: Yes, indeed. I am as shocked as you are. But I feel like things will be better soon. My parents are making an attempt to change and give me more freedom. And this means that we can go on trips and adventurous sports and whatnot. I want to cover everything that I have missed so far.
Izumi: That's really a piece of great news, Ash. As soon as we clear out this mess, we'll plan something.
Ash: Yeah, man. I just wish all of this to be over.
Izumi: I hope we find something tonight, something that can help me to start with. So, let me tell you what I am going to do, now. Tonight, when you guys sleep, I am going to put some device on your heads that will monitor your heart rate, temperature, brain activity, and things like that. Based on the readings, I will be able to confirm for certain if there is anything wrong or not. The only reason why I am conducting another test is that sometimes it is possible that a few key points can be missed in the case of a one-time test, which can be detected by monitoring your body continuously for a period of time. That is what I am going to do tonight, monitor your vitals for the rest of the night.
Tron: So, you will stay up all night, huh? That sounds hectic.
Izumi: Sleep is very important, Tron, and I will not sacrifice it for anything. I have set some threshold values, and if the readings go beyond that, then a sound would be emitted, which only I could hear through the earpiece I would be wearing. Any more doubts?
Ash: No, I guess. I got to eat something first. I am starving.
Izumi had already arranged for some food since he was the one who proposed the plan. He ordered pizzas and everyone ate ferociously as if they had been starving for a while. After all the work stress and a belly full of pizza, everyone drifted into sleep mode very quickly. Hours passed by and everyone remained asleep. At 3'o clock, Izumi woke up abruptly as he could hear the sound made by the earpiece. He immediately checked the readings and was stunned as soon as he looked at them. Ash's readings were normal, analogous to a person who is sleeping, on the contrary, Tron's readings were off the charts. His temperature was 106 degrees, enhanced heartbeat and when Izumi looked at his brain activity, he was baffled. He couldn't understand anything, it was as if he had never seen anything like that before. These readings sustained for about 20 minutes and out of the blue moon, they dropped and within a matter of seconds, everything became normal. The transitions were so quick. Izumi, who spends most of his time educating himself and increasing his sphere of knowledge, couldn't comprehend what he had just seen. It felt as if he was dreaming. He wanted to wake them up and discuss about it right away, but they were in deep sleep that he couldn't wake them up. Instead, he decided to have the conversation the following day.
Out of Tron and Ash, Tron was the first one to wake up and he saw that Izumi was already up. Tron kicked Ash and he also woke up. By the look on Izumi's face, Ash and Tron started to tense. They couldn't tell what exactly he was thinking, but they knew that it would surely not be pleasant to hear.
Tron: What is it, Izumi? Did you find anything?
Izumi: Yes, indeed. In fact, I found a few things for which I don't even have an explanation.
Ash: Well, what did you find? I hate this suspense.
Izumi: Firstly, Ash, your readings were all normal, nothing out of the ordinary.
Tron: What about me, then?
Izumi: Hold your horses, Tron. Your readings really puzzled me. The brain activity of every species is unique. There might be some close resemblance between different species, but they are unique to its kind. Similarly, all humans also have the same functioning. Although the rate at which the brain functions might be different between an intellectual person and a normal being, but the way they function is similar. Yesterday, when I saw your brain scan, I couldn't recognize it. I cross-checked it with various fauna to see if there is any resemblance, but none. So, I did a lot of research in an attempt to find out about it, but in vain. But suddenly, an idea popped up in my brain and I thought what if activities of two brains were overlapped on one another. How would it look then? So, I had taken your readings from when they appeared normal as a reference and removed them from the peak reading, and guess what, my assumption was right. I could then see the activity of the high-functioning human brain.
But scientifically, it is not possible. A single person cannot have multiple activities. It is possible if you have a personality disorder, but they happen once at a time, not together. Let's keep that aside and discuss the next factor. Your body temperature increased rapidly. I don't know the exact cause for it, but I believe it to be simple. From basic science, we know that in order to perform a task you require energy, right? So you need to consume your energy to do different stuff which generates some amount of heat. But whatever you did yesterday might have consumed a lot of energy which might be the reason for it. And the third is elevated heartbeat and adrenaline, now this is common. Even during a nightmare, people experience this. I could have asked for your opinions after telling you all this stuff, but I know you do not understand anything yourselves. I would be lying if I say that all this is normal and can be solved in a short span. To be frank, I don't clearly understand all of this. But I promise you guys one thing, I will definitely find out what this is and why is this happening. Till then, whatever happens, even minute details, you should share with me without any hesitation and fear of judgment.
That day, Ash decided to take a sick leave and spend his time at home as his parents might already be worried since he didn't go home last night. Tron, even though didn't feel like working that day continued to work since he had no other task to keep him occupied except for the job. Izumi, who always does research on various things now worked with double enthusiasm because he now had a purpose. Trying to uncover stuff made him feel whole. It satiated his hunger for uncovering mysteries. The other times, he was just chasing a mystery, but now he had a problem, only he could solve. Even with the new responsibilities on his plate, he managed both his vocation and extracurricular research. Days passed by, and Tron continued to have dreams and with every dream, he gained some amount of clarity over it. These dreams didn't seem irrelevant anymore. It felt as if it is all interconnected and he was too late to see the connection. He couldn't read between the lines all this time, but somehow he started to get a grasp on it, which was good because now Tron could contribute to the discussion which can help them understand the situation they are in. On the other end, Ash also experienced a few episodes, and each of them was longer than the previous one. Instead of being afraid of it, he began to attempt to understand it. The more times the transition occurred, the newer things he got to learn.
All this time, when they viewed this aspect as a problem, it appeared to be complex and horrific, but from the moment they started to view it as something that needs to be discovered and understood, the fear turned into anxiety, and gloom turned to enthusiasm. They weren't scared of it anymore, instead they wanted to uncover it. They were on a journey that they didn't know. They were on a path to glory that is yet to be realized.
It is human psychology to think that the unknown is bad and change is dangerous. Fear of the unknown is common and change of something that remained constant for too long is critical. 95% of the people avoid them, but only the remaining proportion of people accept and embrace them. They go through it because they believe that something great might be uncovered and something phenomenal would be waiting for them at the end of the tunnel. Tron and Ash were among those few proportions.
One day, Tron and Ash received a text from Izumi asking them to meet him in his lab that day. The fear and concern they were experiencing the first time they met Izumi in his lab were not present this time. It's not that the desire to find about the mystery diminished but they now started to understand more about the unusual behavior they were experiencing than before and this provided them a sense of relief.
Izumi: Good morning, Tron and Ash.
Ash: I feel like we had the discussion just the other day. I can't believe one month had passed by.
Izumi: I can believe this because I know the amount of time that I spent on the meticulous research. Not that I hated it. It was a wonderful experience and I would love to share what I had discovered so far, but before I do that, I want you guys to tell me if you had experienced any symptoms other than the ones you mentioned to me earlier or if you had learned something new. Your insights might help in connecting the bits and pieces.
Tron: Alright. I'll go first. Remember? I had been telling you that the person who was occurring in my dream was Ash? Now I can strongly say that it is true. The more times that I dream about it, the more I can match him with our Ash. I must have had that dream more than 30 times and he was alive only in one of the dreams. Let me tell you guys what happens in the dream in brief. There is a person who walks at the center of the road and someone keeps following him or it might just be his feeling. I don't exactly know what it is. So as he continues to walk, without bothering about the stalker, after a while, a car comes behind him at a very high speed and dashes him and kills him. Now, most of the time the same thing happens with minor modifications, but in one dream, the guy turns to see who was following him, and only in that dream, he moves out of the road in time and stays alive. Now, I believe there is some connection between the man, the stalker and the car.
Izumi: I noted down everything you had said so far and we will discuss it once after we all share what we have.
Ash: It's my turn then. Well, I'd like to start by saying the bad news that the camera plan did not work because the transition happened at random places and no one was around at that time. It's been five times now, and instead of recording what happened, I decided to record what happened at the time of transition. The reason I didn't record what I had seen was I am not able to interpret anything from the surroundings and felt it to be a waste of time. Coming to what I learned so far, the first thing that I felt, according to my recording was, during the transition time, I felt dizzy like I'm intoxicated by alcohol or I was stoned, and then my body temperature rose which was followed by the feeling of getting sucked into something or somewhere. You know, like getting sucked into an alien pod. I also found out that whatever I held with me during the transition came along with me. Most of the things didn't work there, like electronic devices. And each time, I spent more amount of time there, but not once had I seen any people or anything there except for various kinds of scenery and also the temperature was high over there compared to what we have here.
Izumi: Well, I guess the discussion we would be having now would be more valuable than what we had in the previous one. Now let me share what I had dug up so far. Based on what you both just said and with the support of my research, I think there is a connection between the two of you. I tried so hard for referencing the results of the tests that I obtained with miscellaneous results in the past, but alas I couldn't find any match. So, I put aside the scientific approach and completely adopted the mythological approach. When I scanned your entire body for the test, they also scanned your skin structure, moles, etc. The first interesting thing that I found was a mole on Ash's body which was in the shape of a bird. I'm not sure if it is a mole or something else, but let us call it mole for now. So, after surfing on the web for a while, I came to the conclusion that the mole on Ash's body is Phoenix. Similarly, there was also a mole on Tron's body which was shaped in the form of an arrow. Now I tried to find the relation between these two moles. Thanks to history, I learned that the arrow was called as " Demon Arrow" which is capable of killing a Phoenix. Then I thought, if that's the case then Tron and Ash should unknowingly be rivals and their actions should lead to the destruction of another. But that isn't the case here. Tron's ability was telling him that Ash might be in danger prior to the event is an act of goodwill. Let's keep that assumption aside for a while.
I began to search for the people who bore unique moles like yours and I could find many people, and they dated back a long time. There were many people before you who had the same moles as yours. Other similarity between them was, all the people who had a mole which was shaped like a Phoenix died at the age of 25 and the reason was unknown. The doctors weren't able to say what caused their death. They were marked as miscellaneous deaths. So if this is a pattern, then we must find what this is before Ash turns 25, otherwise, he might die in the same way.
- Writer
