HAUNTED PARK

CHAPTER 9

MAURICE

I pick up my phone and scroll through the contacts looking for a psychiatrist. My head is exploding from all that I have gone through and if I don't get help I may go crazy.

There's one in a building not far from my office and I call to place an appointment. Interestingly he is not busy and he tells me to come over right away.

Something troubles me too and I feel that I have a responsibility of doing something.

The clients who came to my office earlier are surely walking into trouble in the park and they may lose their lives. They are in danger. I need advice on how to help them bearing in mind the warning I was given that I should stay away from the park.

I may bring up the issue with the doctor, he could be of help.

Dr Gupta Singh has always been a friend since the day I came to this country. We met when I guided a group of medical students to climb a mountain in the middle of the country, a mountain so tall that it has an icy cap in these hot climates.

We had climbed the mountain for three days and still we hadn't gotten to the middle. The doctor was in charge of the students, leading them and explaining a few issues to them.

He got sick and we had to abort mission, then I had to carry him on my shoulders all the way to the nearest camping site for help.

Since that day we have kept in touch and he always felt indebted to me. Now the chance for reciprocation had come.

I climb the stairs to his office, avoiding the escalator as I search for the right way to explain my tribulations. I find it difficult to believe what I have seen and I doubt if someone else will be able to believe me.

At the reception I am ushered into his office without delay.

The revolving door opens to reveal a beautiful office with thick carpets and an imported rug, probably from Turkey in the middle.

The doctor, seated in his desk at the furthest corner, rises to meet me.

His eyes are hidden behind thick rimmed glasses, making his head look like a compound insect ready to pounce on prey. He senses my discomfort and removes them as he extends his hands in greeting.

”Good evening Maurice. Welcome to my humble office. I'm glad to see you." He says in heavily accented English.

“Thanks doctor. I'm glad to see you too. It's such a shame that we are neighbours who stay for years without checking on each other." I reply.

“Yes. It's a shame. We should meet a little often." He says.

“Come, lay here." He adds, directing me to a bed by the wall. He takes a seat next to me and as I remove my shoes and lie on the bed.

“Something is troubling you," he says as he bursts into laughter. If I didn't know him I would have walked out of the session right away but.

He has this unnerving tendency of laughing at anything, even at situations that are not humorous. I got used to him long time ago though.

“Yes my friend. I am going crazy." I respond, my eyes closed.

“It's okay, you have come to the right place. Just relax and take in a deep breath." He laughs again, this time louder.

“Let your brain relax. Think about good things and let the brain roam." He tells me

“I think I don't have time for all this. All I need is therapy and I will be good.” I reply. My patience is already at the brink of exhaustion.

“Okay. Now, close your eyes and start talking." He says. This time he doesn't finish off with his ridiculous laughter.

I start by telling him about my job and what it entails and the challenges I face in my day to day activities and I notice from the corner of my eye that he is taking notes.

I continue to the point where Josh visited my office and the kind of offer he gave me and our expedition into the park.

The most difficult part is explaining our ordeal in the hands of the creatures, and I describe them in the most possible way to him, not sure whether he will believe me.

“Did the two of you see the creatures?” He interjects with a question.

“Yes. We both saw them. Half human and half animals. I have never seen anything like them before, and they were many, almost fifty." I respond and I see him making a note on his pad.

I narrate how the creatures tore up Josh as I watched from the top of a tree and how later a ghostly woman told me to run away from the forest and how the same woman helped me escape. The same woman later visited me at home with a similar warning, that I should stay away from the park for my own safety, I add.

I also broach on what is troubling me now. The issue of the young people who came for my help and I declined. Now they roam the dangerous park alone, and that troubles me, I tell the doctor.

I watch him as he writes something on his pad then he asks me, “ are you through?"

“ Yes. I think that's all.” I say with my eyes closed. A tear rolls down from my left eye and I wipe it with the back of my hand.

“What you have is known as post traumatic stress disorder. I'll try my best to get you through it. But you must follow my instructions to the letter." He tells me.

For the next thirty minutes I lie on the bed as he gives me his therapy and advice on how to cope with the situation and when I walk out of his office I feel better. He has advised me to visit him daily for a whole month for other sessions and I will try to comply.

I walk through the parking lot towards the gate and my eye catches something familiar. A small car parked near the entrance stirs something in my memory but since I'm in a hurry I give it less thought. But something happens that makes me give full attention.

The passenger door swings open as I pass by and I see the driver, the same lady who drove me from the forest. On the co-driver's seat is my client Josh, wearing his clothes, the same ones he wore that day. I remember the shirt clearly because it had the word “Josh" printed on top of the right pocket.

I wipe my eyes in order to comprehend the scene in front of me.

“Get in Maurice. We'll take you home." The man says. The back door opens and I get in hesitantly. The car weaves through thick traffic as it takes the general direction towards my neighborhood.

“Thanks Maurice. We are finally back together with Fiona." He says. I keep quiet because I have nothing to say.

“My name is Fiona by the way. I am sorry I didn't introduce myself last time." The lady tell me.

We cruise along in silence and I can see the couple exchanging glances. They are truly in love.

“Don't hurt the kids." I find myself saying.

“We can't promise you anything." Josh says.

Well, I have tried my part, I console myself.

Minutes later the car pulls up outside my house and I alight. The driver, Fiona, reverses and they wave at me as they speed off. I don't know whether or not to go back to the doctor's office and appraise him on the new developments. He may die of laughter if he hears this.

After much thought i decide to tell him about it in the next visit, right now my brain is on overdrive.

I get inside my house and slump on the couch and cry myself to sleep.