The emotion, followed by scar: Part 2

PART 2:

It was a slightly cloudy Sunday, so was their house. Anand knocked the door twice but Tanisha didn’t bother to open it. This panicked Anand. He couldn’t bear to lose his only daughter. He raised his voice a little and asked Tanisha to open the door. It was then that he realized Tanisha wasn't going to be normal anymore!

“Dad! I can’t. I am sorry for telling you all that yesterday. But I just can’t bear!”

“Tani… just open the door. I am here not to scold you. Just open the door Tani..”

“Dad, the floor’s filled with slimy creatures. They will not leave me alone if I tread through them. If I open the door, ugly creatures will escape out of it. Dad, they will harm me, dad! You could have cleaned my drawer yesterday, it is too loud. The creatures are pathetic! They wouldn't bother to keep silent! Please do something!”

Anand tried hard to understand what was going inside that head of his daughter’s. He knew persuading her wasn’t a good idea. So he began to push the door hard so that it would open, breaking its lock. And finally he called out, after getting in:

“Tani..”

Tanisha was lying on the bed with her knees held towards her chin. Her eyes grew darker and it lost all its charm. Counter to being a bubbly, yet matured girl, she was now acting like a newborn baby, afraid of everything around her.

“Kill them, daddy. Do it please. You see what these creatures have done to me. The room’s distorted. They ruined everything. I will have to escape, daddy! i am forced to”

“Tani.. tell me where they are, I will kill them. Wait.. let me take a knife.”

He went to the kitchen to fetch one. He tried to act like he saw everything that she experienced.

“Where is it?”

“Behind the door”

He went behind the door, she screamed. He swayed his knife twice to show he killed them. He then closed the door.

“Where next?”

“On the floor, it is all over! There in the leftmost corner.”

One-by-one she began pointing at each and every corner of the room. It even included the fan and the never opened overhead shelves. Finally when he thought it was all over she said,

“It’s on your head, dad! What happened to your face?”

“Tani..” tears filled the fifty year old man’s eyes. He couldn’t bear to act more.

“Daddy, you don’t understand, right? Nothing makes sense, I know. I checked on the net about what’s going on in me and it said I suffered from a mental disorder that’s semi- schizophrenia and “Alice in wonderland” syndrome. But I am sure it’s wrong. I can see them, daddy. I can feel them! Everything’s loud and clear. Every pain that i feel inside is sharp. Hell’s not there in the sky, it’s inside me! The monsters are controlling me!” then like a little girl she fell into her dad’s arms and started shivering.

A quiver ran down Anand’s spine. He knew he had to appoint a doctor as soon as possible. His friend, Mr. James was a psychiatrist who gained a PhD from MIT. he wasn’t going to keep his daughter’s life at stake. He knew he always gave his daughter the best. And this will not be an exception. Unfortunately, Mr. James isn't available for the next two days. Since it was a two day holiday, he had planned earlier to go to Ahmadabad to meet his nephew. He will be due only on Tuesday. Giving Anand some tips to pacify Tanisha, James hung up the call. Anand, without wasting a second, went and sat beside her the whole day. She didn’t want to have anything, even after much persuasion, so neither did he. He hugged her, as if protecting her from all the deadly monsters. But then, Anand realized that Tanisha still sees him as a distorted figure and that she couldn’t adapt to it.

The situation went worse by night. Anand couldn’t leave her side and he feared what would happen to her if he did.

“Tani… why don’t you come and sleep with me in the other room? So that I can ensure you are safe?”

“No daddy… i wanna sleep alone.”

“Then at least we can switch rooms? You know my room is devoid of all that.”

“But I cannot walk and come over there.”

Hence Anand carried her all the way to the other room. First time in his life he wished her mother could be there. Only a woman can understand a woman. He doubted whether she wished the same. After biding her good night and making sure that she was under the blankets, he went back to the other room to sleep. It was hard for him to realise that his daughter was suffering from a mental disorder. He wished he was a biology professor so as to understand things better. To make everything the room was actually devoid of any monsters, before consulting a psychiatrist, he checked each and every corner of the room, including the almirahs and the overhead shelves. Anand came to the realisation that along with his daughter’s his mental health too was deteriorating. He wanted to have a good night’s sleep. But the fact that the following day could be more wrecking was more than terrifying enough.

Since he had not slept for two long days, Anand slept devoid of any dreams. It was almost twelve by the time he woke up the next day. It was not that he wanted to wake up but the mere thought of his daughter suffering made him slip out of his sleep. Putting on his slippers, with half-opened eyes, realising that he slept for over 12 hours straight, he walked towards the bedroom Tanisha had slept the previous night.

Without noticing that he was knocking on a half opened door, he waited for another few minutes for her to open it, only to perceive later that he was in great trouble! He pushed the door further to gulp the truth.

TO BE CONTINUED...