A Sip of Infinity

Testing the Poison

The trance ended the next morning as I pushed aside the blanket and got up quickly. My body ached from head to toe, and my right wrist possessed dried scarlet blood. I didn’t have a conspicuous recollection of the previous night’s events. The only scene that I could recall was dancing with that girl, after that everything else seemed to been just wiped out from my memory. What trickery was this? I pondered frantically while applying an antiseptic lotion on my injured wrist. I vaguely remembered delivering a punch to someone but could hardly visualise his face or any other face that I had encountered and fought off last night. I still retained the effects of hemlock as I realised that only twenty-four hours had passed. Nevertheless, to be on the safe side I decided to slug another dose of hemlock and just as I was about to gulp it down, I gawped at it thoughtfully. 

Was hemlock the reason for last night’s incident? Was its intake becoming excess that it’s rotting my mind? But I couldn’t avoid it at any cost, not just coz of my scepticism, but for the fact that the last time I had been out of hemlock, it had resulted in a tremendous brain attack. Moreover, another tragedy struck me ominously; the large bottle contained only a tiny quantity of the miraculous liquid. But what was this liquid? And what was it transforming me into? Why was its absence in my body for even less than an hour being so lethal to my health and brain? For the first time since the day I had gotten my hands onto it, I realized that I had never made any efforts to research it or check on its background information. The exhilaration of its powers had been so high that these questions had never bothered me in a year. And now when the time of its exhaustion was near, the matter became of excessive importance to me….or of life and death.

Nonetheless, before I could decide to halt the intake of the last bottle, I had to first consider the scenario of getting rid of its chemicals from my body. Thus, for the first time, I most reluctantly slugged down the last bottle. And then decide to research the drink’s background on all virtual and real platforms. I sat down with my mac and typed the words ‘hemlock’, but achieved futile results as it showed only historical information about a poison named hemlock which was drunk by a Greek philosopher by the name of Socrates and nothing more. I ransacked every search engine, web browser, and chatroom but found no success. Ultimately, I had to search for labs across the country to fathom the drink’s mystery and so I set out towards Abu Dhabi to ‘Emirates Labs’, which was the biggest research center in the country with over fifty thousand research scientists working there in their respective areas of study.

                     “Dr. Abdullah,” I greeted, shaking the spectacled scientist who sported a French beard and wore an intensely serious expression on his face. “I’m Jared Bane from Dubai, I’ve come here as I’m in requirement of your assistance. As the entire UAE knows that you’re an expert in researching new drugs and discovering their various applications, I must declare that I’m highly honoured to meet you,”

                    “Thank you, Mr. Bane, you’re too kind to honour me with those words of appreciation. How may I be of assistance to you?”

                     I removed the last quantity of hemlock which I had filled in my tiny bottle and handed it to him who looked at it fixedly.

                     “I’d be sincerely grateful if you can enlighten me about the contents of this bottle, and its effects and whether it is detrimental to one’s health if taken,” I requested him, who I wasn’t sure was even listening as he was so absorbed in staring at the bottle.

                      He then concluded his silence and stated, “As of now I cannot say anything, frankly speaking, I have never come across this type of liquid. I would require minimumten hours to run some tests on it and elucidate the answers to your questions Mr. Bane, I suggest you meet me tomorrow,”

                     “With due respect sir, it won’t be possible for me to see you tomorrow as I have business matters to deal with, therefore, I’d be returning to Dubai in an hour,”

                    “Well, in that case, I believe we can conduct a video call tomorrow if you don’t mind of course and I can explain to you and also provide a demonstration,” he proposed, handing me his card.

                     “Thank you, doctor,”   

                   The next evening, I impatiently waited for the doctor’s call, as I paced petulantly in my apartment, frantically hoping that nothing lethal was to be heard and that the situation could be undoubtedly controlled. However, my worst fears came true as the skype call finally arrived. I raced towards my laptop sitting on my study desk and attended the call. The doctor appeared standing in his laboratory, displaying the usual test tubes and other lab equipment.

                    “Good evening doctor, what’s the news?” I demanded, quite briskly but trying my best to sound courteous and normal.

                    “I would like to show you something Mr. Bane,” he announced serenely, causing me to become even more unnerved and anxious internally. He grasped a test tube containing a reddish liquid which I clearly recognized to be blood and then retrieved another test tube holding hemlock. He poured a few drops of hemlock into the test tube containing blood. The result was quite unnaturally stunning, as soon as the drops hit the blood, the mixture transformed into scarlet. I was pretty muddled at seeing that but he dissipated my entire confusion

                     “What we have here, is a liquid whose chemicals when combined with blood increase the size of the molecules of blood to an abnormal extent, leading to a lightning-paced blood supply to the brain and body, causing an incredibly aberrant enhancement in intellect, memory, and reflexes, etc. In simple terms, it advances your brainpower and all the human senses,” he explained, holding the test tube with the scarlet mixture in his hand. “Now coming to your next query, Mr. Bane we all know two crucial yet simple principles of life, the first one being that excess of anything is harmful, whether its consumption of anything or any particular habit. The other thing is that once you get accustomed or habituated or say attached to anything or anyone physically or emotionally, the thing or person’s absence can ultimately lead to pain whether it’s physical or mental. This liquid works on the basis of both those fundamental principles in a way. For instance, its intake more than thrice can cause the blood molecules to get addicted to them and hence, as a result, its absence for more than a few hours can lead to their destruction and, death as a finality,” he finished, filling my gut with intense fear and enormous anxiety which I managed to succumb in front of him.

                      “But doctor, there must be some way in which its side-affects can be counteracted or a person can be freed from it?” I enquired, frenziedly, my heart nearly skipping a beat.

                       “Well, I guessed it the moment I became aware of its effects that you had taken it, Mr. Jared. But, I’m sorry, there is no ready-made solution or specific medication for this….Perhaps I can study it further and manufacture some method or medication to completely wipe out its lethal effects from your body. But, it might take a prolonged time for me to research and formulate a solution for this, and you don’t have that kinda time,” he claimed, and my heart sank deeply.

                        “In the interim, I recommend you come to me as briskly as possible, I would like to run some tests on you too, which I'll probably help me in formulating a d**g to save you,”

                        “Thank you, Doctor Abdullah, I’ll reach Abu Dhabi by tomorrow morning,”