Hallucination - III

Alok and Irfan reached Varun’s office by 10 in the morning. Varun kept all his other appointments after 12 O’ Clock.

“Hey,” Varun greeted both of them and gestured them to sit.

“What would you like to have? Tea coffee?” Varun offered.

“Tea would be fine.” Said Irfan

“And you Alok?” Varun said looking into Alok’s eye.

“I will have tea too.” Varun replied.

Irfan did not see his invisible girlfriend that day because he came for some work. During work she was invisible to him too.

“So Varun you are a psychiatrist?” asked Irfan.

“Yes, did not get to tell you in our last visit. So I need you to write some content for advertising my work. How should we start?” Varun said.

“Well, if I get to see your work then it will be easy for me to write.”

“Great, then let’s start after having the tea.”

The compounder came in with three cup of tea in a tray and some snacks to eat.

Varun was worrying to make Irfan agree for hypnotizing. But Irfan himself wanted to see his work, so it made his work easier.

After having tea Varun asked Irfan to sit in the hypnotizing chair which was in the same room few steps behind.

“Come sit here. I will practically show how things are actually done here.”

Irfan lean back in the chair which some what looked like a single bed cum relax chair seen near the beach. Varun took out a pendulum kind of thing which had a crystal ball at the end of the string.

“Look in to the pendant.” Varun started to swing the pendulum, “Relax, relax, relax…”

Varun continued to swing the pendulum. Alok was sitting in his chair and was observing everything. He silently prayed that Irfan is cured in the first session and there is no need for any next hypnosis sessions.

“Your eyes are getting heavier, you are feeling sleepy, go to sleep, sleep, sleep…” Varun decreased his voice frequency.

“When I count till 10 you will be sent to the time where you first met your girlfriend. 1…2…3…4…5…6…7…8…9..10”, Varun snapped and Irfan was already in sleeping position.

“Follow my instructions and respond.” Varun took a chair near Irfan, “Tell me in brief about your girlfriend.”

Irfan narrated his story.

It was our first day in college. A girl came late in the first class. Huffing and puffing. Hair falling on her face. One hand trying to manage her hair and other trying to grab her bag. That was the first time when I saw her. Chavvi. That’s what her name was. She was my class mate. After few days we were assigned group assignments. Seeing her active in class, she was made our group captain. I was happy to be part of that group.  Because of the assignments we had to visit places. And we came close. From friend to best friend then couple. Time flew and we completed 1^st year in college. By then we were deep in our relationship. Frequently going on date, late night talks, small fights, again patch up after few tears. We were happy within ourselves. We were in such a position that we could not leave each other. Day and night every second we need each other. It was impossible for us to stay way for a minute. Only sleep or personal works separated us, but for some minutes or hour. We missed each other during those hours. So after finishing our work immediately we would contact each other. She loved painting and wanted to start her own school. That’s what when problem started. Her parents did not want her to work. After completing her study they want her to get married. We were upset, because during our relationship we never thought about getting married seriously. My family belongs to a typical religious family. They would never accept a girl of different religion. So we never discussed our relationship with our parents. We never thought of getting into this situation just in two years. Her father started searching for boys to get her married, after her final exam were over. After exam she tried to postpone her marriage plan to few more years. But her father denied and also threatened her that he would stop her from going out of house. When result was declared she was already engaged to a doctor. I tried to meet her. But she avoided me. She said she was doing this all for her parents’ sake. She still loved me but not more than her parents. I cried, kept Calling her all the time. One day it said it was switched off. I tried calling other friends but no one knew about her. She changed her number. She even blocked me on all social media. I was broken. I kept browsing her pictures; I re-read all our old conversation. Since first day of texting her I did not delete a single message. I didn't sleep for many nights. But she left me. Days passed and and….

Irfan started breathing heavily. Alok came running near him.

“Varun what is happening to him?” Alok panicked.

“Irfan, Irfan,” Varun called his name, “do you hear me?”

But he kept breathing heavily.

After few minutes Irfan was taken to hospital. Where doctor said he had a trauma attack.

“What happened to him Varun? He will be fine right?” Alok asked Varun.

Varun sighed. He removed his spectacle and sat on a bench outside Irfan’s room. Nurse was busy observing Irfan’s condition. Irfans parents were not informed about his condition yet.

“I guess it did not work with him.” Varun said without looking at Alok.

“What do you mean Varun? He was fine and he responded so well at your questions.”

“I already told you, in few cases the patient does not recover. And sometime it gets worse. I hope…”

Alok cut in between, “What hope doctor. He cannot go to mental asylum. He needs to look after his parents’” Alok almost shouted. A nurse passing by signaled him to keep his voice low.

“Please Varun, there must be some way to cure him. You are an experienced doctor. Please do something.” Alok broke down into his knee and wept.

“Get up” Varun lifted Alok and made him sir near him, “Be strong. If you become like this then how will we look after Irfan?”

“I can’t see him like this Varun. Already I have seen him in pain. And now… No, no. I can’t let this happen.” Alok stood up, “You tell me Varun what I should do to bring back my friend to normal life.”

Varun got up from the bench slowly and gave a deep thought.

“I think I know a solution that might work.”

Alok looked at Varun with hope, “Tell me. Whatever needs to be done I will do.”

Varun gave a pause and looked at Alok, “Chavvi.”

“Chavvi what?” Alok asked

“She can cure him. Where is she now?” Varun asked.

“After her marriage no one knows about her.”

“Hmm.” Varun thought for few second, “Can I see her photo?”

“I deleted all her photos that we took in our college, but maybe I can find few in his phone.” Alok searched Irfan’s phone in his pocket. After struggling for few minutes he got a folder name Chavvi. It contained every single photo of her. Even he saved her WhatsApp DP. There were around thousands of photo of Chavvi. Irfan owns the phone but Chavvi owns his gallery.

“Here” Alok handed the phone to Varun.

Varun was blank for few minutes. He slowly sat on the bench while browsing through the photos. “Are you sure this is Chavvi?” Varun glued his eye to phone and kept scrolling all the photos. He saw photos where Irfan and Chavvi looked happy. Photos during their College week, picnic, selfie at restaurants, candid pictures which most were probably taken by Irfan, Profile pictures, few chat screen shots, everything were saved by Irfan.

“Yes” answered Alok, “Why?”

“Nothing, I know where she is.” Varun said. He handed the phone to Alok.

“I will be back.”  Said Varun and left the hospital.

part 4