FICTION — SERIES
Whispers in the Head
Chapter 6 - The Damage
Sneaky flicked through Julia’s diary.
I finally met him, but his eyes were already locked onto another woman’s eyes.
"Yeah, Julia, you did it, you found him staring at a girl. I just wanted to tell him to leave her. Not because I’m possessive, but because she’s a girl who cares about his money and looks and not 'him’."
I slowly approached him as she stylishly said goodbye. I’ll say it again, it’s not jealousy; it’s her behaviour.
The first time I met him was at our office, where we had been working together for the past three years. He was at the cafe on the first floor of our office, and the best thing I’ve ever seen that morning was ‘a boy with a journal.’ It may not be a surprising thing to see but I never saw one and as I’m a diary person, I kinda liked him (I admit it). He was sitting with his espresso and his brown leather-covered diary with a yellow broken heart in the middle. He was my height. I liked that because I’m not the girl who likes a bigger height difference.
"Should I start it? Is it a crush? No!! Maybe love at first sight? It doesn’t matter, go and talk! Go, Julia, go!! Go!!"
I felt so confused, so many tortuous voices going around my head. In fact, my hands were shaking.
I’m a perfect extrovert who can talk to anyone, anytime, and anywhere. But not even an inch of my body would move, and suddenly my brain left me all alone in the middle of a big, crowded cafeteria. Interesting scenario, right?
“Sneaky, where are you?” Roger shouted from outside.
Sneaky quickly closed the diary, took a case file, and pretended to peek through it.
Roger entered the room. “Shall we go?”
“Go where?” Sneaky asked.
“Seriously Sneaky? Mr Smith Johnson’s house, where else? Don’t you remember?”
"Ah! Denny Way Street house. Okay, let’s go, or else Hans will be there before us.” Sneaky rose up from his chair and took his jacket.
“Denny Way Street at the end of November is such a beautiful place to visit.” Roger turned to see Sneaky’s reaction.
“Are you okay, Sneaky? You seem off today, was it because of Han’s condition?” Roger asked.
“No, I’m good. What’s with this case?”
"You’ll see now," Roger said as he parked in Smith Johnson’s parking lot.
A large man in his fifties met them. "Welcome! Happy to have you here, but I’m curious. What brings you?"
"Thank you. You’ve helped me so many times, in the past, Mr. Smith."
“Can any of you tell me, what’s happening here?” Sneaky asked.
"Ah, yes! Let me introduce myself. I’m Smith Johnson, psychologist and businessman. I met Roger in the early phase of my career. He’s an inspiring person who could have been a psychologist, but he became a cop, and that’s a great thing too."
“Smith is my mentor. He’s the one who escalated my interest in psychology,” Roger added
“What have I missed?” Hans arrived in his dark red-striped shirt under a light jacket.
Roger glanced at the psychologist with a hint of nostalgia. "You know, Hans, Smith helped me crack one of my first cases. But this one... it’s different. We’re looking into illegal medications, tied to an anorexia treatment, and that’s why we’re here, to get some information about it.”
"I haven’t known much about this case. I understand that now. So, what’s with this new fancy name?" Sneaky asked.
“Before that, gentlemen, please take your seats,” Smith instructed. He leaned back in his chair, folding his hands. He spoke with a calm, measured tone, the kind of voice that conveyed years of experience.
"Anorexia Nervosa, Sneaky, is more than just a fancy name. It’s a serious psychological disorder, often misunderstood as simply refusing to eat. At its core, anorexia is about control, an individual’s attempt to gain control over their body when they feel powerless in other aspects of their life. The mind begins to perceive food as the enemy, the person believes they’re overweight."
Smith glanced at Roger. "This is a delicate case if it involves Anorexia because it isn’t just about food; it’s about a person’s sense of self-worth, and their current mental state."
"They can’t eat because they imagine they’ll gain weight, which is not true, and it leads to severe malnutrition, also, I don’t know why we are dealing with several psychological cases lately, but it’s very interesting to know that these types of cases exist.” Sneaky summarized
Roger nodded, his eyes narrowing as if deep in thought. "Psychology plays a huge part in most of these cases, Sneaky. The mind can be more dangerous than any physical weapon, twisting reality and creating fears that can destroy someone from the inside out. Sometimes we are our enemy.”
Sneaky shrugged. "Yeah, but it still sounds crazy to me. How can someone’s mind drive them to that point?"
Smith spoke up, his voice steady but tinged with concern. "It’s the fragility of the human psyche. Once a person loses control over their thoughts, everything begins to crumble. In anorexia, that loss of control over one’s body and then, their minimal survival is at risk."
Hans, distracted, sees Sarah passing before him, and he sees her as pregnant. He closed his eyes tightly. ‘She’s no more; it’s just an illusion; come on, Hans, please listen to me.’
“Mr. Hans, is everything okay?”
Smith’s voice brought Hans back to reality.
“ Yeah, I’m good. Let’s continue.” Hans responded.
“Sneaky found some medications in a hospital. I tested them, and it was found to be some illegal medications for Anorexia,” Roger started
“So what’s strange in that?” Smith asked
“Everything. How can these illegal medications be found in a hospital?” Sneaky asked.
“Maybe some patient might have used them?” Hans added.
"There are possibilities, but recently, we found out that a drug dealer was admitted to that hospital during Lily Watson’s case. So I suspect that he might be the reason, and that’s why we are here, Mr Smith and you are already familiar with him; it’s Aaron Derek.”
To be continued…
Thanks for reading
By
Reshma 😁!!
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