Chapter Three: The World Outside
Prague, Czech Republic
“Will that be all, Bridgett? For tonight?” Dr Dominic Vains was drained to the peak when another mundane workday ultimately came to an end. As he summoned the question, his entire body launched itself into a lengthy stretch, almost like reawakening from a paralyzed state. Long hours of counselling and therapy were taking a toll on him. Although he was yet to enter his fifties, a middle-aged crisis swayed the locally renowned psychologist in ways he could not comprehend- He was a doctor who could not cure his illness. Dominic did believe that psychic disarrays were not an illness but a phase of life. But he was convinced that there was something that he did wrong in his past, though he never unearthed its roots.
However, his thoughts dissolved into a sudden ripple with a late retort from his depressed assistant, “Yes, sir. That will be all.” The sight of her sluggish features emerging through a nearly sealed door late at night made Dominic discern that his entire life revolved around strange individuals. Although he hid the shock in his features, he could not help but recollect her comprehensive case sheet. When Bridgett first came to him four years before, she was in her late thirties- divorced, brutally abused, shattered, the lady was a mess. All his words seemed ineffective, and none of his usual procedures worked. And the burden of lengthy travels and a lack of earnings eventually landed her as his unrequired assistant.
As he turned the lamps off, the golden night lights of Prague developed patterns in his cabin following the blinds. The darkness was comforting for him- In a routine of life attempting to rescue patients from their menacing darkness, he never understood why they found the absence of light so terrifying. For him, it was an escape. He discovered solace in the quiet, gloomy blackness. It seemed like sinking into a void with no end: quieter and calmer as he descends.
But a couple of hasty footsteps towards his chamber pulled him up from his meditative free fall. His brain commenced assessing all the plausible scenarios that could follow him this late night- after he had concluded the day’s work. But when the doors opened and revealed a familiar face from the past, he was yet to predict what the upcoming crisis would be. The person, though he knew, was arduous to spot from his pile of unsettled memories. A young lady in her mid-twenties, wearing a jacket above her office wear, stood concerned in the doorway. Clutching her lower ribs, she was struggling to retrieve her breath, trying to convey a piece of possibly unwelcome news to the exhausted physician.
“May I help you?” Dominic inquired, still not sure who his late visitor was. The girl’s struggle was apparent, striving to compose a convincing speech in front of him, enough to make him stay back. But no words made it out through her parted lips until Dominic went on to reassure her safety. Finally, the lady replied, “It’s Eloise. She is missing.” Although her words failed to produce the alarming effect that she desired, it proved enough to let him recognize the guest.
Eloise. The name had grown very familiar to him in the past few months. She was a very peculiar young lady. Out of all the patients and their stories that tested Dominic’s patience to the utmost, her tales were enchanting. She was different, very much so. All her accounts were missing some parts. Like plotholes in a movie, where the protagonists might not realize what the others are up to-- She was a character in the novel of life, where she should have been the author.
“There is something else that I think you should know,” Laura, the late guest, quivered as she spoke. The heavy rain in the late evening had soaked her coffee-brown jacket, but it was not the coldness that made her voice shiver. “She told me something a few days ago. She says stuff like that all the time, so I didn’t quite care about it. But I think that there might be something wrong this time.” Laura’s voice cracked off so many times in her little speech- as if she hid something or regretted it.
“What did she say?” Dominic kept his questions to the shortest, seeking to leave maximum space for her answers. Laura, who now occupied the comfy couch reserved for the patients, found it extremely difficult to speak that night. She was concerned for her neighbour, but even more so, she was afraid whether the fault was hers. Why didn’t I listen to her? The question tortured her on the insides, not knowing what to do. And when she spoke, in the end, her actions seemed justified up to a point, “Eloise told me that she is going in back to kill them all; the others in her dreams, so that she would be free. But,” Laura hesitated for a moment, “Can she do that? Is it possible?”
As her broken words floated around the dim chamber, Dominic felt the world around him inflating, surrounding him like a frantic mob. Somewhere inside his mind, he experienced the same guilt that choked Laura from the moment she entered. Dominic knew that Eloise was vulnerable. He knew that one day soon, if uncontrolled, Eloise would do something that would lie beyond any of them. And yet, his life, tedious and indifferent, prevented him from doing so. Was inaction not a greater sin than the wrong deed?
Dominic bounced off from the table, fearful of what the consequences could be. Laura followed him quick, unable to comprehend what triggered the psychologist into an aimless rush so soon. As she caught up with him near the shoe rack, Laura noticed how pale the doctor had become, “Dr Vains, what’s wrong? What will happen to Eloise?” But as much as he loved to answer, Dominic also had no definite idea about the consequences. Anything could happen.
As he pulled on his jacket to protect himself from the late-night drizzle, he obtained an adequate reply to let Laura understand the gravity of the situation, “How can you kill someone, Laura, if they have never lived?” The puzzle that emerged not from his intellect, but a distant part of his concealed psyche, conveyed the hazards of the circumstances Eloise was about to dash into in no time. What she might have considered the final solution was precisely the key to unlocking the gates of anarchy, and she was unaware. They had to stop her, and they had no time. And now, she was nowhere to be found. “She is in danger, Laura,” Dominic paused for a moment, ”From herself.”
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Prologue: https://theprose.com/post/420725/prologue
Chapter 1: https://theprose.com/post/421017/chapter-one-eloise-s-perspective
Chapter 2: https://theprose.com/post/427386/nia-s-perspective
I am sorry. I know that I am a day later than the schedule. I am really sorry about that. I just couldn’t finish it yesterday. I needed this chapter to be good, or at least, good enough. And for my misfortune, I am a very, very slow writer (: Anyway, I hope you guys like this chapter. I hope you find something to dig deeper. Let’s do this, together.
And that reminds me of a suggestion. When you put out the next chapters, please add a #ProjectVerity at the end. It will help us to find chapters soon, just in case. Alright, I think I should stop. See you soon ^-^