Chapter 2

Intrigued, he picked it up and hurried out of her apartment. He thought he would enjoy his evening but it turned out to be a disaster. He didn't feel like going home. Louise isn't picking up his calls. Is it only his calls that she wasn't answering? That didn't seem likely. Moreover, her roommate didn't lock their apartment. He regretted not asking any details about her roommate. He kept checking if the pen-drive is still in his pocket. It greatly worried him. He didn't feel right to steal it. He wouldn't deny calling it a theft. But the letters on it compelled him. It had to belong to Louise, those letters only reminded him of the restaurant they decided to dine at. Then again it didn't seem likely that those letters would mean Ormer Mayfair. After all, it was just a restaurant they rarely go to. In the end, curiosity got the best of him. He returned to his apartment and started climbing the stairs in a hurry. A person wearing a black fedora and jacket suddenly jumped in front of him. The shoes seemed new and muddy. The face was covered by a metallic mask. It felt like a gust of wind hit his upper body and so Harvey tumbled down the stairs.

It took until Wednesday for the colleagues of the secret lovers to be concerned about their sudden absence. Both were unreachable and couldn't be found at their apartments. Gita told everyone about the phone call. They understood that the two were dating in secret but couldn't figure out what had happened since. The cops couldn't find them. Though Louise was chatty and Harvey had been working for the magazine for two years, nobody knew much about them. Some of them thought they would find their dead bodies floating in the Thames someday. Months went by. Soon the occasional talk in the cafeteria about the missing couple disappeared but no one completely forgot about them.

"When nothing is going well, people start wondering what choices led them to their position. How nice it would be if they had acted differently!" spoke an unfamiliar voice in a flat tone. Harvey opened his eyes. He could not feel anything under his neck. He couldn't freely move his head. All that he could see was the floor and on it the scattered tiny grains of sand. His head was like a football kept in the centre of the stadium and before him was the player ready to kick.

Squatting before him, "Don't worry, I'm not going to play with your head" said the man and continued, "You won't be able to feel your body until sometime after I pull you out of the solution underneath this floor"

Harvey thought it better to be silent. Not that he knew but he couldn't talk even if he wanted to. He didn't know how long it had been since that day. He couldn't guess how many hours it was or was it days? It was like waking up from a long slumber. His throat was dry and there was intense pain in his trachea.

"Now then, what was I saying? Damn it. It felt like I was saying something cool. Like a celebrity spouting nonsense which everyone would treat as wise words" said the man.

He kept on blabbering but Harvey didn't pay attention to any of it.

What happened to Louise? Why did it turn out this way? All he had was regret. He regretted not talking to her, not trying to find her. Why did he think everything would be alright? He always thought nothing extraordinary would happen in his life. People always complain about their life being monotonic. But they are not ready to embrace when it does change. He wondered if he would have these thoughts again once everything went back to normal.

"Hey I am still talking to this guy" yelled the man.

"Just shut up and report in the office" replied another man who just entered the room.

Walking out of the room, the man muttered "This is annoying. I just started talking to him"

There was a metallic sound behind him and he was lifted from the solution. A stretcher was quickly brought and he was transferred into another room where he was put on a bed. This room had a refrigerator, an AC. The bed was in a corner beside the bathroom. There was a table in the centre with a few papers on it. He couldn't move his legs nor was he able to speak. He laid there on the bed for a few hours, immersed in his thoughts. A young woman entered the room. She took a bottle out of the refrigerator and brought it to his lips so that he could drink. It tasted like orange juice.

"You look cute drinking it all in a hurry"

That voice, it was the same as that man. Having regained his senses back and seeing her closer, he realizes it was her who was talking with him earlier.

"I thought you were a man" he managed to let out a few words.

"You open your mouth after a long time and that is what you say to me, you idiot!" she shouted, "Maybe I should've grown my hair a little longer like Louise always used to say"

"How do you know her?" asked Harvey

"I wish I could tell you everything but I am leaving for Hong Kong tomorrow. Besides, you would be falling asleep soon. It would be a waste even if I told you anything when you won't be able to understand it"

She then set his bed and started brushing his hair with her hand.

"Who are you? What happened to her?" Harvey muttered in his sleepy voice.

"Don't worry, my roommate is fine. But right now, you should be more concerned about yourself" she replied.

He felt sleepy for a while and his eyes were about to close. He saw that the woman said something but before he could ask her anything, she left the room. His pain started to recede.

He leapt out of the bed and started running after her. When he opened the door, the woman was still there. He grasped her hand. The woman turned back. It was Louise. ­There was no mistaking it. Tears welled up in his eyes.

He hugged her tightly and said, "I won't lose you again!".

He stared into her cold blue eyes. Her body suddenly shrunk into that of a 5-year-old kid. Those weren't her eyes. That was not her face. But he was sure he did see her earlier. He stepped forward. He felt that he stumbled across something and closed his eyes in pain. When he opened his eyes, he was lying in the middle of the room beside the table, tears flowing down his cheeks. What is happening to him? Was that all a dream? He hoped he had been dreaming since the last time he saw her in his office. He punched the table beside him and started kicking the door. He hurt his ankle but the door didn't open, nor did anyone respond to him. He sank to the floor in despair. Two people came into the room and lifted him into the bed. He tried resisting with all his might, but that was futile. One of them took out an injection and forced its contents into Harvey's right arm.

"When will this dream end? ", shouted Harvey. He was not sure anymore what was dream and what was reality.