SUSPENSE STORY

                                           "LULLED INTO MURDER"

Alex was ecstatic. After many years of fighting with himself, Alex had managed to reconcile with his mind. Alas, Doctor Murdock too could bask in reflected glory. Dr Murdock felt satisfied with his work. Having lived such a troubled life, Alex too could breathe easy. Alex’s parents had parted ways when he was 11 years old. He was raised by his somewhat loving aunty. Aunty Jane was very sweet at times and at other times she was paranoid. What made her paranoid was something of a mystery as she refused to describe it. By the age of 25; Alex had managed to secure his honors degree in Language. It was then, that his guardian, Aunty Jane, had overworked herself to death.

As Painful as it was for Alex to lose his aunt, there was nothing he could do. Having moved on and secured a job as a columnist at a newspaper, Alex found himself struggling at his job. He was unable to concentrate and always felt anxious and angry. He just could not concentrate on his work at all. Having managed another rough day, he felt extremely tired and just wanted to shut his eyes, and doze off. Alex manages to haul himself to his Late Aunt’s house and immediately crashed into the bed in an attempt to get some sleep. 1 AM rolls by; Alex is lying in his bed trying to get some sleep.

It was the same old story every night. 7 AM rolls by; Alex gets out of the bed having caught small scraps of sleep. He freshens up and starts to dress himself up for another day at the News Press. It was then that Alex started intensely wishing. He wished for something that could just help him. He wished for someone would listen to him; understand the depths of his mental scars. From then on, it was only a matter of time. On his way to the press, he saw a small house with a sign that said”Dr Murdock, MBBS, Psychiatrist, Hypnotherapist” written on top of the sign board. Then Alex remembered what his Aunt used to say: “If only my therapist had not passed away, I would still have someone to talk to”.

Alex decided to give it a try. He took note of the number and setup an appointment with Dr Murdock on Tuesday. Tuesday rolls by and Alex finally meets Dr Murdock. He walks into the clinic. Dr Murdock converses with Alex and finds Alex to be very anxious but sane. Without wasting any further time, Dr Murdock started hypnotizing Alex in an attempt to pull him out of his misery. And now, after many months of slavish hypnosis, Alex has been cured of all his miseries. He gave his final thanks to the doctor and walked off into the sunset. Alex could finally catch some much needed sleep.

It has now been a week, and Alex is relieved to be now free of the shackles of the mind. His life has been more than effortless. It was as if the struggle he had faced with his life had turned him into a much tougher person than what a mere mortal would be. He could finally concentrate, his thoughts were flowing freely, and he now felt unchained. But for how long can the same conditions persist? How much longer will one breathe? It all has to stop or change one day or the other. And for Alex, that one day, was just a mere week away.

Alex had just woken up from a good eight hour sleep. He got dressed and was well on his way to the news press. Suddenly, Alex’s phone starts buzzing. He looks at his phone; it was Doctor Murdock. Alex excitedly picks up the phone. He describes how his life has changed and went on to say… “I have been keeping fine doctor“Then Dr Murdock interrupted by saying; “See, Alex, You—you have very little time left”. “What? Why?” Alex exclaimed.

“See, Alex; the thing is—I always had this—nagging suspicion that things will not change for the better for long. Things will revert back someday” At this point, Alex is confused and asks the Doctor what is wrong with him. “See… Alex—someday the hypnosis will wear out on its own. And you will be back to the same old Alex that came to me many months ago.” Dr Murdock exclaimed. “So what can I do about this doctor?” Alex asked. The doctor replied, “It will take time, you will have to start revisiting me on a daily basis” Alex at once said “See you at five; doctor” and cuts the call. 5PM rolls by and Alex is standing right outside the doctor’s door. Just as he was about to ring the bell, Dr Murdock opens the door. He sees Alex, and exclaims;

Dr Murdock: ALEX! Come in, come in. We need to start the hypnosis right away.

Alex: Yes… But doctor, how can the hypnosis wear out?

Dr Murdock: It does. Apparently, day to day happenings can lead to your hypnosis wearing out.

Alex: But—

Dr Murdock: Hush Child! We must work to hypnotize you now!
Alex: Bu—

Dr Murdock: Trust me on this, Alex

Dr Murdock escorts Alex inside and puts Alex to sleep and proceeds to hypnotize him. This time, Dr Murdock has now programmed Alex to listen to a command and execute the command when he hears a tune. For the next Three weeks, Alex stays with Dr Murdock on the pre text of 24×7 monitoring. Throughout those three weeks, Dr Murdock wanted to “Awaken” a hidden talent of Alex. Then one day, he puts Alex to sleep and takes Alex’s sleeping body to a place nearby. Here, he tries to test his “Awakened” talent.

Dr Murdock issues Alex a few commands, plays the tune and plays the tune. These commands were to test Alex’s “Awakened” Talent. The test fails. He puts Alex to sleep, and start cross checking all his hypotheses. With Alex still asleep on one side, Dr Murdock was conducting in-depth research into the matter when suddenly, he receives a phone call. Knowing very well who it could be and that he really wanted to not speak to the caller, he picks up the call. At this point, Dr Murdock had no clue what the caller wanted.

“What do you want now?” exclaimed Dr Murdock. “You know very well what I want” said the caller “If you keep calling me, you won’t get the desired results” said Dr Murdock “I’m not too sure if you can afford to screw this up or not doctor. But one thing is for sure, Olaf and I won’t screw up when we are trying to screw with Megan and Cindy Murdock… see you Doctor” ”Wait!” exclaimed Dr Murdock “Give me a location along with a time and a date; and I will do the needful” “Very well doctor, the location is Alloy station on 12th December at 2AM. Kahn will be waiting for you at gate number 3 of the station.” “Alright, you will get the promised result”

The caller hangs up. “—12th December huh? That’s not here for another hour” It was 11 PM, Dr Murdock decides to call it a day. About 2 ½ hours later, he wakes up and drives Alex to Alloy station. Alloy station was a 30 minute drive away. At this point, Alex is still sleeping. Having covered more than half way, Dr Murdock then issues a command, “Alex— when I snap my fingers, you will wake up, I will show you a picture of a person, ten seconds after seeing the picture, you will get out of the car, and you have to shoot him in his kidney. Remember to shoot from hip level” Dr Murdock stops the car.

Dr snaps his fingers, Alex wakes up, and the doctor shows him a picture of a man. Alex steps out of the car and proceeds to Alloy station. The target was just standing there looking around as if he was searching for something. Alex is now 5 meters away from the target. He now pulls his gun out at hip level… and just stands there… for 20 seconds. Then suddenly, the target notices something in the corner of his eye near gate number 3, he walks through gate number 3 right back into Alloy station.

Alex does not move, and stays still. A whole 30 seconds go by and nothing has happened. The man is now gone. Doctor Murdock, having realized that he has failed, walks back up to Alex in an attempt to investigate what went wrong. Just as he approached Alex, Dr Murdock is greeted with a surprise. Alex turns to Dr Murdock. It took a moment, but the doctor realized what went wrong and said “Sigh… now wasn’t that imminent?” Alex raises his hand, and hits Dr Murdock in his head knocking him unconscious.

Having knocked the doctor out cold, Alex decides to flee the spot. He takes the unconscious doctor to a familiar place. Indeed, this place was all too familiar for Dr Murdock. And it was the scent of that familiar room that woke up Dr Murdock. “Megan!” yelled Dr Murdock. He was now awake. Dr Murdock realized it was somewhere he had not been for the past one month. Dr Murdock felt this kind of calm sensation rushing through his body.

It was as if, he had just landed somewhere that just alleviated the stress. But then he snaps out of this alleviating Nirvana and realizes that his mission had failed. Giving off a big sigh of disappointment, he gets out of the bed. Starts walking out of his room and walks down the stairs; right into the Living Room. The wind was blowing around. When Dr Murdock reaches the ground floor, He sees a black silhouette of a man standing in front of the window. He walks up to that silhouette and he hears the words; “Had a good rest Doctor?”

It was then, that Dr Murdock realized that it was Alex standing in front of a window. Alex was no longer under Hypnosis. Doctor responds by saying, “Indeed” Alex then shuts the window, turns to his left and walks up to a light switch. He flicks the switch on; looks at the doctor and says, “Well what are you standing for? Have a seat doctor!” They both sit down.

Dr Murdock was filled with guilt of misusing his PHD. He just felt waves of discomfort flowing through his body. It was unbearable. He just wanted to die. He was unable to muster up the courage to look at Alex. “They’re quite lovely people—” said Alex. “—Are they the reason why you did it?” Dr Murdock replied by saying “I had no choice; they have been held captive for the past one month. He said that if I wanted to get them back, I would have to do them a little favor” “But you do realize that there was no going back, once you have started on that path?”Alex Explained.

Dr Murdock was just sitting there, feeling helpless. He just could not bear it anymore. “Before you commit Hara-Kiri, tell me, why did you enlist my help only? Why not anybody else? And who is responsible for this?” Dr Murdock had just one word to say… “Desmond” Alex’s eyes widened in shock. “Des— Desmond? You mean that black market gunman who now runs a criminal racket?” “Yes” said Dr Murdock. “He was once upon a time a one man show, then he met a man called Olaf, they both started working towards making a criminal racket. He and Olaf had made it”

“But then one day, Dmitri Kahn, Olaf’s trusted black market doctor exited the organization. Kahn declared that he will turn himself to the police.” Alex interrupted by saying “So, the man I was trying to kill at Alloy Station was—” “Yes, it was Dmitri Kahn. It was then, that Desmond tried to hire me. I don’t know how he found me, but he tried to indulge me with all the money that comes from Black Market. But I refused him. It was then that he kidnapped my daughter Cindy and My Wife Megan. He told me that the only way time he will free them will be when I join his organization after kill Dmitri. It was then that I decided to reprogram you and conduct the assassination. He had said he wanted to try something out. So he said that make a temporary assassin out of someone. ”

“But now that the assassination has failed… I guess that leaves me with no wife and children and no clinic to tend to… since I… went against the ethics of a hypnotherapist and tried to make an assassin out of you” Alex was speechless at what he had just heard. A man as dangerous as Desmond had indirectly laid hands on him and he could do nothing about it. Though there was one burning question still in Alex’s mind.

He spoke his mind and said “But why me? You could have chosen anyone, why me only? And why only brainwash someone into assassination?” “Well, I was unsuccessful at curing anyone with my hypnosis and my psychotherapy, but… I was able to cure you” Alex stands up; he was feeling a little awkward and so wanted to go out. But it was then that the doctor asked him: “But how were you able to free yourself from the hypnosis?” to which Alex replied “I was able to break free because I was not something that I could just do… It went against my rules. So I just broke free of your spell… Now if you’ll excuse me… I have to go get some fresh air” having said that, Alex walks out of the room to get some “Fresh Air”.

At this point, Alex is now beginning to wonder; what is it that he was able to accomplish in all these years. He remembered Aunty Jane’s face. A lady who was troubled by things she refused to describe. He was really fond of his aunt and his parents. But he was just helpless when it came to helping them. Alex could do nothing but just stand there and look at how bad the friction between his parents grew. How they both refused to stay under the same roof and how they both parted ways and refused the responsibility that was Alex. Aunty Jane found Alex sitting outside of his former House.

She was troubled by the sight. It was as if a war had just ended and Alex was the last one on the field. Aunty Jane took him in without the consent of either of the parents, since they could care less. Aunt Jane was paranoid at times, this showed in her nature towards Alex. Aunty Jane would let her paranoia get the better part of her and she would sometimes grossly mistreat Alex. One day Aunty Jane woke up to what she was doing to Alex. From then on, she decided to pay for her evil deeds.

She supported Alex financially throughout the 5 years of his graduation. Alas, she ended up overworking herself which resulted in her death by the time Alex’s final year exams were finished. Alex managed to scrape through his masters. All this had happened, and Alex was looking back on how helpless he was. He could do nothing more than enduring through it all, and not ever put up any fight all this while. But not anymore, after all, for how long will the sun be out, for how long can a man breathe? It all ends someday.

It will change sooner or later, whether it happens at the hands of time or whether one become the catalyst of change. And so, Alex decides to be the catalyst of change and takes matters in his own hands. It was then that Alex has an idea. He returns to Dr Murdock and asks him: “Can you hypnotize yourself without any external support?” Murdock was surprised and asks why. Alex replies that if he could hypnotize himself, he could accomplish a lot more than what he ever could. Dr Murdock responds by saying yes. He asks Alex what is it that he wishes to accomplish. Alex responds by saying that he wants to bring the best out of him through hypnosis and use his own jurisdiction at the same time.

Dr Murdock responds by saying that if he can fight the mind control and partially wins over it, then maybe, he can do it, first issue a command to self and then trigger the hypnosis but try and fight it. Having chalked out his Modus Operandi, he decides to practice with Dr Murdock. It takes the duo about 5 hours, but they manage to accomplish the goal. Alex could now imagine the tune and trigger the hypnosis. It was now 11PM in the night. They both decide to call it a day and go off to sleep. It was 1AM in the night, Alex wakes up to a noise. It was footsteps. He finds the doctor missing. Looks out of the window of the first floor and sees that 2 men are carrying Dr Murdock who was trying to resist.

One thug smacks the doctor onto the ground; Alex immediately grabs the gun, issues a command stating that he has to become a sharp shooter and that his will must not waver. Alex jumps from the window and safely lands, stands up, imagines the tune, gets hypnotized. Opens his eyes and sees one of the thugs running towards him. He immediately shoots him in the head. The other thug starts running but ends up getting shot in the head. Having just shot two men, Alex walks up to Dr Murdock, he only has one thing to say, and he says it. “Docks, the thugs said that Desmond’s waiting at the docks”

Alex picks up the doctor, puts him in his bed and decides to settle it now. He walks out of the house and finds a cab. The driver had just finished a long day. Alex requested the driver to take him to the docks; the cab man could not refuse such a sharp expression and drove Alex to the docks. At the docks, Alex commands the driver to wait for him. Alex walks over to the gates of the dock. On his way he deploys the hypnosis. He issues the command that he has to become a sharp shooter and that his will must not waver.

The hypnosis sets in partially and he smacks the front gate open and slides into cover. A gunner comes to investigate, Alex shoots him dead. It was then that he realized that this man has a Sniper rifle. He picks up the rifle and walks up to a high place. Alex closes one of his eyes and looks down the scope. He sees men charging towards the front gate. Alex just fires bullets after bullets and manages to kill all of the men. Then Alex starts getting down the platform having just emptied the sniper magazine. Pulls his gun out, it was then that he realized that his gun only had 3 bullets. And that he had used up all the bullets.

Now Alex is in grave danger. However, he sees a man standing with a pistol. This man was not oblivious of what has happened. It was apparently just a corpse leaning against the wall. He sees the pistol, picks it up and walks into a small building in the dock’s premises. This is where he finds a wireless communicator. He hears what was being said and realizes that Megan and Cindy are being held in the sailor’s quarters. Alex makes his way to the sailor’s quarters, where he is greeted by more thugs. Alex makes quick work of them and ends up meeting Olaf, Desmond’s right hand man.

Without uttering a word, Alex engages Olaf. He tries to fire his gun but ends up dropping his gun in hesitation. At this point, Olaf is unarmed and engages Alex in a fist fight. Alex manages to dodge most of the punches, but ends up getting hit eventually. At this point, Olaf is catching his breath and Alex is lying on the ground recovering from the impact of the punch. Alex issues a command “Let’s deal with this guy, I will not be tired and I will fight till he dies. I will have the strength of a hundred men” Just as Olaf starts walking up to Alex, he had managed to hypnotize himself. Alex gets up, dodges Olaf’s punches and kicks Olaf n the knee which topples Olaf. Alex kicks Olaf in the face and then Olaf hits the ground. Alex grabs Olaf by the neck and snaps it thereby killing Olaf.

Now finally Alex reaches the room where Cindy and Megan were held. But they were not there. He realizes that only Desmond was there. Desmond was unarmed, and so was Alex. They both start fighting. Eventually, Desmond tires out even though he landed all of the hits. Alex just stood back up. Desmond charges towards him. But Alex grabs him by the neck eventually. Alex smacks Desmond into the wall, knocking him unconscious. Alex then grabs Desmond and drags him to the sixth floor of the building only to throw Desmond out of the window, onto the hard concrete.

He then, on his way down smells a very sweet fragrance. He locates the source and finds it coming from a room. He enters the room and sees that it was Megan and Cindy. They were both unconscious. He carries the two out of the docks, into the streets. He takes them to the cab which was waiting outside for Alex. The driver wakes up and says “Where to?” Alex says take these two to 5th street.

Drop them at house number 11. The cab driver asks Alex, why they are unconscious. To which Alex responds, that they partied too hard. The cab drives off. Alex just stood there and watched the cab leave. He looks in his pocket and sees that he has a pistol. He takes the pistol in his hand and walks into a dark alley across the street. Once Alex disappeared into the dark alley; a gunshot is heard. And then… silence ensued.

Alex was ecstatic. After many years of fighting with himself, Alex had managed to reconcile with his mind. Alas, Doctor Murdock too could bask in reflected glory. Dr Murdock felt satisfied with his work. Having lived such a troubled life, Alex too could breathe easy. Alex’s parents had parted ways when he was 11 years old. He was raised by his somewhat loving aunty. Aunty Jane was very sweet at times and at other times she was paranoid. What made her paranoid was something of a mystery as she refused to describe it. By the age of 25; Alex had managed to secure his honors degree in Language. It was then, that his guardian, Aunty Jane, had overworked herself to death.

As Painful as it was for Alex to lose his aunt, there was nothing he could do. Having moved on and secured a job as a columnist at a newspaper, Alex found himself struggling at his job. He was unable to concentrate and always felt anxious and angry. He just could not concentrate on his work at all. Having managed another rough day, he felt extremely tired and just wanted to shut his eyes, and doze off. Alex manages to haul himself to his Late Aunt’s house and immediately crashed into the bed in an attempt to get some sleep. 1 AM rolls by; Alex is lying in his bed trying to get some sleep.

It was the same old story every night. 7 AM rolls by; Alex gets out of the bed having caught small scraps of sleep. He freshens up and starts to dress himself up for another day at the News Press. It was then that Alex started intensely wishing. He wished for something that could just help him. He wished for someone would listen to him; understand the depths of his mental scars. From then on, it was only a matter of time. On his way to the press, he saw a small house with a sign that said”Dr Murdock, MBBS, Psychiatrist, Hypnotherapist” written on top of the sign board. Then Alex remembered what his Aunt used to say: “If only my therapist had not passed away, I would still have someone to talk to”.

Alex decided to give it a try. He took note of the number and setup an appointment with Dr Murdock on Tuesday. Tuesday rolls by and Alex finally meets Dr Murdock. He walks into the clinic. Dr Murdock converses with Alex and finds Alex to be very anxious but sane. Without wasting any further time, Dr Murdock started hypnotizing Alex in an attempt to pull him out of his misery. And now, after many months of slavish hypnosis, Alex has been cured of all his miseries. He gave his final thanks to the doctor and walked off into the sunset. Alex could finally catch some much needed sleep.

It has now been a week, and Alex is relieved to be now free of the shackles of the mind. His life has been more than effortless. It was as if the struggle he had faced with his life had turned him into a much tougher person than what a mere mortal would be. He could finally concentrate, his thoughts were flowing freely, and he now felt unchained. But for how long can the same conditions persist? How much longer will one breathe? It all has to stop or change one day or the other. And for Alex, that one day, was just a mere week away.

Alex had just woken up from a good eight hour sleep. He got dressed and was well on his way to the news press. Suddenly, Alex’s phone starts buzzing. He looks at his phone; it was Doctor Murdock. Alex excitedly picks up the phone. He describes how his life has changed and went on to say… “I have been keeping fine doctor“Then Dr Murdock interrupted by saying; “See, Alex, You—you have very little time left”. “What? Why?” Alex exclaimed.

“See, Alex; the thing is—I always had this—nagging suspicion that things will not change for the better for long. Things will revert back someday” At this point, Alex is confused and asks the Doctor what is wrong with him. “See… Alex—someday the hypnosis will wear out on its own. And you will be back to the same old Alex that came to me many months ago.” Dr Murdock exclaimed. “So what can I do about this doctor?” Alex asked. The doctor replied, “It will take time, you will have to start revisiting me on a daily basis” Alex at once said “See you at five; doctor” and cuts the call. 5PM rolls by and Alex is standing right outside the doctor’s door. Just as he was about to ring the bell, Dr Murdock opens the door. He sees Alex, and exclaims;

Dr Murdock: ALEX! Come in, come in. We need to start the hypnosis right away.

Alex: Yes… But doctor, how can the hypnosis wear out?

Dr Murdock: It does. Apparently, day to day happenings can lead to your hypnosis wearing out.

Alex: But—

Dr Murdock: Hush Child! We must work to hypnotize you now!
Alex: Bu—

Dr Murdock: Trust me on this, Alex

Dr Murdock escorts Alex inside and puts Alex to sleep and proceeds to hypnotize him. This time, Dr Murdock has now programmed Alex to listen to a command and execute the command when he hears a tune. For the next Three weeks, Alex stays with Dr Murdock on the pre text of 24×7 monitoring. Throughout those three weeks, Dr Murdock wanted to “Awaken” a hidden talent of Alex. Then one day, he puts Alex to sleep and takes Alex’s sleeping body to a place nearby. Here, he tries to test his “Awakened” talent.

Dr Murdock issues Alex a few commands, plays the tune and plays the tune. These commands were to test Alex’s “Awakened” Talent. The test fails. He puts Alex to sleep, and start cross checking all his hypotheses. With Alex still asleep on one side, Dr Murdock was conducting in-depth research into the matter when suddenly, he receives a phone call. Knowing very well who it could be and that he really wanted to not speak to the caller, he picks up the call. At this point, Dr Murdock had no clue what the caller wanted.

“What do you want now?” exclaimed Dr Murdock. “You know very well what I want” said the caller “If you keep calling me, you won’t get the desired results” said Dr Murdock “I’m not too sure if you can afford to screw this up or not doctor. But one thing is for sure, Olaf and I won’t screw up when we are trying to screw with Megan and Cindy Murdock… see you Doctor” ”Wait!” exclaimed Dr Murdock “Give me a location along with a time and a date; and I will do the needful” “Very well doctor, the location is Alloy station on 12th December at 2AM. Kahn will be waiting for you at gate number 3 of the station.” “Alright, you will get the promised result”

The caller hangs up. “—12th December huh? That’s not here for another hour” It was 11 PM, Dr Murdock decides to call it a day. About 2 ½ hours later, he wakes up and drives Alex to Alloy station. Alloy station was a 30 minute drive away. At this point, Alex is still sleeping. Having covered more than half way, Dr Murdock then issues a command, “Alex— when I snap my fingers, you will wake up, I will show you a picture of a person, ten seconds after seeing the picture, you will get out of the car, and you have to shoot him in his kidney. Remember to shoot from hip level” Dr Murdock stops the car.

Dr snaps his fingers, Alex wakes up, and the doctor shows him a picture of a man. Alex steps out of the car and proceeds to Alloy station. The target was just standing there looking around as if he was searching for something. Alex is now 5 meters away from the target. He now pulls his gun out at hip level… and just stands there… for 20 seconds. Then suddenly, the target notices something in the corner of his eye near gate number 3, he walks through gate number 3 right back into Alloy station.

Alex does not move, and stays still. A whole 30 seconds go by and nothing has happened. The man is now gone. Doctor Murdock, having realized that he has failed, walks back up to Alex in an attempt to investigate what went wrong. Just as he approached Alex, Dr Murdock is greeted with a surprise. Alex turns to Dr Murdock. It took a moment, but the doctor realized what went wrong and said “Sigh… now wasn’t that imminent?” Alex raises his hand, and hits Dr Murdock in his head knocking him unconscious.

Having knocked the doctor out cold, Alex decides to flee the spot. He takes the unconscious doctor to a familiar place. Indeed, this place was all too familiar for Dr Murdock. And it was the scent of that familiar room that woke up Dr Murdock. “Megan!” yelled Dr Murdock. He was now awake. Dr Murdock realized it was somewhere he had not been for the past one month. Dr Murdock felt this kind of calm sensation rushing through his body.

It was as if, he had just landed somewhere that just alleviated the stress. But then he snaps out of this alleviating Nirvana and realizes that his mission had failed. Giving off a big sigh of disappointment, he gets out of the bed. Starts walking out of his room and walks down the stairs; right into the Living Room. The wind was blowing around. When Dr Murdock reaches the ground floor, He sees a black silhouette of a man standing in front of the window. He walks up to that silhouette and he hears the words; “Had a good rest Doctor?”

It was then, that Dr Murdock realized that it was Alex standing in front of a window. Alex was no longer under Hypnosis. Doctor responds by saying, “Indeed” Alex then shuts the window, turns to his left and walks up to a light switch. He flicks the switch on; looks at the doctor and says, “Well what are you standing for? Have a seat doctor!” They both sit down.

Dr Murdock was filled with guilt of misusing his PHD. He just felt waves of discomfort flowing through his body. It was unbearable. He just wanted to die. He was unable to muster up the courage to look at Alex. “They’re quite lovely people—” said Alex. “—Are they the reason why you did it?” Dr Murdock replied by saying “I had no choice; they have been held captive for the past one month. He said that if I wanted to get them back, I would have to do them a little favor” “But you do realize that there was no going back, once you have started on that path?”Alex Explained.

Dr Murdock was just sitting there, feeling helpless. He just could not bear it anymore. “Before you commit Hara-Kiri, tell me, why did you enlist my help only? Why not anybody else? And who is responsible for this?” Dr Murdock had just one word to say… “Desmond” Alex’s eyes widened in shock. “Des— Desmond? You mean that black market gunman who now runs a criminal racket?” “Yes” said Dr Murdock. “He was once upon a time a one man show, then he met a man called Olaf, they both started working towards making a criminal racket. He and Olaf had made it”

“But then one day, Dmitri Kahn, Olaf’s trusted black market doctor exited the organization. Kahn declared that he will turn himself to the police.” Alex interrupted by saying “So, the man I was trying to kill at Alloy Station was—” “Yes, it was Dmitri Kahn. It was then, that Desmond tried to hire me. I don’t know how he found me, but he tried to indulge me with all the money that comes from Black Market. But I refused him. It was then that he kidnapped my daughter Cindy and My Wife Megan. He told me that the only way time he will free them will be when I join his organization after kill Dmitri. It was then that I decided to reprogram you and conduct the assassination. He had said he wanted to try something out. So he said that make a temporary assassin out of someone. ”

“But now that the assassination has failed… I guess that leaves me with no wife and children and no clinic to tend to… since I… went against the ethics of a hypnotherapist and tried to make an assassin out of you” Alex was speechless at what he had just heard. A man as dangerous as Desmond had indirectly laid hands on him and he could do nothing about it. Though there was one burning question still in Alex’s mind.

He spoke his mind and said “But why me? You could have chosen anyone, why me only? And why only brainwash someone into assassination?” “Well, I was unsuccessful at curing anyone with my hypnosis and my psychotherapy, but… I was able to cure you” Alex stands up; he was feeling a little awkward and so wanted to go out. But it was then that the doctor asked him: “But how were you able to free yourself from the hypnosis?” to which Alex replied “I was able to break free because I was not something that I could just do… It went against my rules. So I just broke free of your spell… Now if you’ll excuse me… I have to go get some fresh air” having said that, Alex walks out of the room to get some “Fresh Air”.

At this point, Alex is now beginning to wonder; what is it that he was able to accomplish in all these years. He remembered Aunty Jane’s face. A lady who was troubled by things she refused to describe. He was really fond of his aunt and his parents. But he was just helpless when it came to helping them. Alex could do nothing but just stand there and look at how bad the friction between his parents grew. How they both refused to stay under the same roof and how they both parted ways and refused the responsibility that was Alex. Aunty Jane found Alex sitting outside of his former House.

She was troubled by the sight. It was as if a war had just ended and Alex was the last one on the field. Aunty Jane took him in without the consent of either of the parents, since they could care less. Aunt Jane was paranoid at times, this showed in her nature towards Alex. Aunty Jane would let her paranoia get the better part of her and she would sometimes grossly mistreat Alex. One day Aunty Jane woke up to what she was doing to Alex. From then on, she decided to pay for her evil deeds.

She supported Alex financially throughout the 5 years of his graduation. Alas, she ended up overworking herself which resulted in her death by the time Alex’s final year exams were finished. Alex managed to scrape through his masters. All this had happened, and Alex was looking back on how helpless he was. He could do nothing more than enduring through it all, and not ever put up any fight all this while. But not anymore, after all, for how long will the sun be out, for how long can a man breathe? It all ends someday.

It will change sooner or later, whether it happens at the hands of time or whether one become the catalyst of change. And so, Alex decides to be the catalyst of change and takes matters in his own hands. It was then that Alex has an idea. He returns to Dr Murdock and asks him: “Can you hypnotize yourself without any external support?” Murdock was surprised and asks why. Alex replies that if he could hypnotize himself, he could accomplish a lot more than what he ever could. Dr Murdock responds by saying yes. He asks Alex what is it that he wishes to accomplish. Alex responds by saying that he wants to bring the best out of him through hypnosis and use his own jurisdiction at the same time.

Dr Murdock responds by saying that if he can fight the mind control and partially wins over it, then maybe, he can do it, first issue a command to self and then trigger the hypnosis but try and fight it. Having chalked out his Modus Operandi, he decides to practice with Dr Murdock. It takes the duo about 5 hours, but they manage to accomplish the goal. Alex could now imagine the tune and trigger the hypnosis. It was now 11PM in the night. They both decide to call it a day and go off to sleep. It was 1AM in the night, Alex wakes up to a noise. It was footsteps. He finds the doctor missing. Looks out of the window of the first floor and sees that 2 men are carrying Dr Murdock who was trying to resist.

One thug smacks the doctor onto the ground; Alex immediately grabs the gun, issues a command stating that he has to become a sharp shooter and that his will must not waver. Alex jumps from the window and safely lands, stands up, imagines the tune, gets hypnotized. Opens his eyes and sees one of the thugs running towards him. He immediately shoots him in the head. The other thug starts running but ends up getting shot in the head. Having just shot two men, Alex walks up to Dr Murdock, he only has one thing to say, and he says it. “Docks, the thugs said that Desmond’s waiting at the docks”

Alex picks up the doctor, puts him in his bed and decides to settle it now. He walks out of the house and finds a cab. The driver had just finished a long day. Alex requested the driver to take him to the docks; the cab man could not refuse such a sharp expression and drove Alex to the docks. At the docks, Alex commands the driver to wait for him. Alex walks over to the gates of the dock. On his way he deploys the hypnosis. He issues the command that he has to become a sharp shooter and that his will must not waver.

The hypnosis sets in partially and he smacks the front gate open and slides into cover. A gunner comes to investigate, Alex shoots him dead. It was then that he realized that this man has a Sniper rifle. He picks up the rifle and walks up to a high place. Alex closes one of his eyes and looks down the scope. He sees men charging towards the front gate. Alex just fires bullets after bullets and manages to kill all of the men. Then Alex starts getting down the platform having just emptied the sniper magazine. Pulls his gun out, it was then that he realized that his gun only had 3 bullets. And that he had used up all the bullets.

Now Alex is in grave danger. However, he sees a man standing with a pistol. This man was not oblivious of what has happened. It was apparently just a corpse leaning against the wall. He sees the pistol, picks it up and walks into a small building in the dock’s premises. This is where he finds a wireless communicator. He hears what was being said and realizes that Megan and Cindy are being held in the sailor’s quarters. Alex makes his way to the sailor’s quarters, where he is greeted by more thugs. Alex makes quick work of them and ends up meeting Olaf, Desmond’s right hand man.

Without uttering a word, Alex engages Olaf. He tries to fire his gun but ends up dropping his gun in hesitation. At this point, Olaf is unarmed and engages Alex in a fist fight. Alex manages to dodge most of the punches, but ends up getting hit eventually. At this point, Olaf is catching his breath and Alex is lying on the ground recovering from the impact of the punch. Alex issues a command “Let’s deal with this guy, I will not be tired and I will fight till he dies. I will have the strength of a hundred men” Just as Olaf starts walking up to Alex, he had managed to hypnotize himself. Alex gets up, dodges Olaf’s punches and kicks Olaf n the knee which topples Olaf. Alex kicks Olaf in the face and then Olaf hits the ground. Alex grabs Olaf by the neck and snaps it thereby killing Olaf.

Now finally Alex reaches the room where Cindy and Megan were held. But they were not there. He realizes that only Desmond was there. Desmond was unarmed, and so was Alex. They both start fighting. Eventually, Desmond tires out even though he landed all of the hits. Alex just stood back up. Desmond charges towards him. But Alex grabs him by the neck eventually. Alex smacks Desmond into the wall, knocking him unconscious. Alex then grabs Desmond and drags him to the sixth floor of the building only to throw Desmond out of the window, onto the hard concrete.

He then, on his way down smells a very sweet fragrance. He locates the source and finds it coming from a room. He enters the room and sees that it was Megan and Cindy. They were both unconscious. He carries the two out of the docks, into the streets. He takes them to the cab which was waiting outside for Alex. The driver wakes up and says “Where to?” Alex says take these two to 5th street.

Drop them at house number 11. The cab driver asks Alex, why they are unconscious. To which Alex responds, that they partied too hard. The cab drives off. Alex just stood there and watched the cab leave. He looks in his pocket and sees that he has a pistol. He takes the pistol in his hand and walks into a dark alley across the street. Once Alex disappeared into the dark alley; a gunshot is heard. And then… silence ensued.

–END–

                                                                                                 SOURCE BY-AMBARCHAKZ

PUBLISHED BY-OURHELLO.COM