Superstar: Horn OK Please (8 page)

“How can you talk like that about the beautiful girl? You talk about her like she’s already dead!” barked Goose, irritated by the obvious sense of hopelessness in the room, “You are the experts, you tell us, is there a way to save her? What’s the Doppelganger’s weakness?” A streak of ire masked his face as he tried to maintain his cool and make his point. 

“Look, whoever you are, you’ve walked into Jenny’s life just yesterday. We know her for a long time. It is not the past I am worried about; it is the future that I’m concerned about. None of the Doppelgangers in the family’s history have been so powerful. Heaven help us all if the Doppelganger takes her place and we don’t come to know of the difference. It is a manifestation of pure evil. We don’t know how to stop her! I’ve been trying to read her mind for the past one hour. Since the creature is born out of her mind, only Jenny would know how to stop it. Only she can save her from herself. Do you understand?” yelled Lobsang.

Clearly, she had lost her cool as Goose’s words rammed straight into her mind. Her helplessness got the better of her.

A scie
nti
fic quest:

“OK, Chill!” relented Goose, “Isn’t there a scientific explanation to all this? I mean, we’re all educated people, well, at least a little bit. We don’t believe in this superstition. You’re a shrink, Cathy, don’t you have a medical answer to Jenny’s mental state?” hoping they might have left something unexplored.

It was evident from Cathy’s smile that she was happy. At least we were asking the right set of questions and not being insensitive to Jenny.

Taking a deep breath, Cathy leaned towards us and said, “I have tried and failed. I’ve got the best of medical experts to work on Jenny’s case ever since she turned nine. In fact, just last year, a team of specialists flew in here from Switzerland and they applied focal electrical stimulation to Jenny’s left temporal junction as she lay on the bed in the same room you saw in the morning. Jenny, still in her sub-conscious state reported the presence of her Doppelganger standing right beside her, in that room itself!”

“Did Jenny ever have any medical history doctor?  Did she tell more about her Doppelganger?” enquired Hound, hoping that Cathy might have overlooked something and go ‘Eureka! Jenny’s saved and everything’s alright’. This was reality but it was harsh.

“Look, Jenny is a completely fit and an athletic young girl with no medical history or complications. Later, under hypnosis, Jenny described the Doppelganger as a person of highly unpleasant nature who wanted to harm everybody. She called her evil. She said that the Doppelganger was an identical carbon copy of her physical self who could behave, talk and walk like her. Jenny said that she was worried that the Doppelganger was going to harm her for she knew everything about her and her mind” replied Cathy, leaning back, hoping that we wouldn’t be obnoxious and point out that there might be some kind of a bias in a family member’s treatment.

It was evident that the D’Silva family had tried their best from what was available anywhere in the world. Money surely was not a problem for them.

“So what’s your conclusion, Cathy? Why did you give up?” I asked, wondering how a perfectly normal woman like Jenny could be in the eye of such a dangerous situation. Or maybe she was.

Flashes of her standing on the bridge on that rainy night conjured in my mind. There was something clandestine about this entire thing which had to be unveiled. My mind had already started racing against time.

“What had really happened was when Jenny’s left temporal junction of the brain was disturbed by external electro-magnetic stimulus, her sensation of self-attribution was snapped and she could relate to her Doppelganger as another body, another self though she was yet inside her head. It is not paranoia, schizophrenia or any such disease. Her brain patterns have been perfectly normal and there is no failure of the left
temporoparietal junction of her brain. We could only conclude that this is where science stopped and we decided to pursue the spiritual. It’s not what I’d call giving up”, said Cathy, trying to defend herself, trying her best to come across a medical professional, not Jenny’s aunt.

A spiritual journey:

Getting up from the chair, Cathy leaned on the sofa on which Lobsang was sitting upon. Her posture accentuated her large breasts. Looking down at Lobsang, Cathy continued, “Since Jenny is known to Lobsang from childhood, ever since she met her at the Tibetan Children’s Village many years ago, I now count on her to help me control or delay the formation of the Doppelganger. She’s been helping us seek answers from the past. There is more to it than just science, you see….”

Lobsang put her hand on Cathy’s and spoke in a soft voice, “You see, the most important thing is to respect Jenny and not look upon her as a freak. I thank you for being nice to her. We don’t know till how long she will live, but let me tell you a few things beyond what Cathy just told you. It will help you for the Doppelganger will try to harm us all. I can feel the dangers lurking in this mansion. I’ve never felt such strong vibrations before in my life. The evil seems to be getting stronger day by day….”

“OK, point taken. But the apparition that I saw had black eyes, it was no way close to the real Jenny. How do you explain that, Lobsang?” I asked, shuddering when I remembered what I had seen last night in the bathroom mirror. Even the mere recollection of that evil being sent shivers down my spine as I spoke.

“Chief, The Doppelganger is pure evil. You’ve experienced a bit of it. She will go to any extent from stopping Jenny from leaving the mansion till she turns 23. After that, she will try to kill her. She cannot kill Jenny now, for she’s not yet fully formed. That’s why you would have seen an apparition in her true self; a flickering ghost with black eyes…” whispered Lobsang making sure that the conversation stays within the bounds of the room. The way she said it made everyone shift on their seats.

“You say that she’s not yet formed. What happens when she’s fully functional? I mean, what happens when the formation is complete and the Doppelganger seems human and walks the earth like Jenny?” said Derek, scratching his chin. He hadn’t really understood what it would mean to him. I wondered for a brief moment if he was worried about the pleasure he got from Jenny. He did disgust me then for a fleeting moment then.

“She can play with the elements and she walks as a shadow, she is a part of Jenny’s shadow, so be careful of that. Her powers are very strong at night, but that’ll change once Jenny turns 23. She’ll be strong in the daytime too. She possesses the power to play the five basic elements against you – fire, wind, earth, water and ether. This one especially can control fire. My guess is that the Doppelganger will not kill you for she will need you all the way Jenny needs you today. After all, once the Doppelganger kills Jenny, she will want everything that belonged to Jenny – that includes you!” said Lobsang, pointing her forefinger at Derek.

The undaunting confidence and assertion in her voice at that moment made me wonder if she knew about Jenny and Derek.

“OK, I get the drift. They are like identical twins, just that one is pure evil and not human. Can we tell Jenny and her Doppelganger apart?” said Derek, shifting uncomfortably in his chair. 

“No, since you cannot see the aura of a person, which is like a rainbow of colors around every human being, you will never be able to tell Jenny apart from her Doppelganger. I can tell a Doppelganger apart from a human being for I can see the positive vibes around you. A Doppelganger doesn’t have an aura, that’s how I can tell. That’s my specialty”, retorted Lobsang, smiling, seemingly pleased with herself, “Till she is ready to take Jenny’s place, she will always appear to you in a black dress for she has no aura. Maybe, that’s the only way you can tell Jenny apart from her Doppelganger till Jenny turns 23…that is, in a few days from now”.

“Well, that’s a piece of good news for some time at least. But it’s going to be real hard trying to fathom a creature of pure evil. But who will she kill?” said Goose, as he recollected the incident from last night when the Doppelganger had tried to kill him for no reason.

“Once she knows that Jenny is safely out of her way, she will kill you. If you pique her, she will surely harm you. She will kill anybody who knows that she’s not the real Jenny. She will always be bitter for she can never take control of Jenny’s heart or her free will. Only those who are close to Jenny will die, if you love Jenny, you will die. It’s that simple” said Lobsang as she turned her head and looked at Cathy. I wondered if they had prepared themselves for death.

“We have tried our best from letting Jenny know about her Doppelganger. She will know in due course of time. We are preparing her for the confrontation. It is said that the day you meet your Doppelganger, you will die. I’m trying to calm her mind and strengthen it so she can at least have a chance to fight, but the proof of the pudding is in the eating”, said Lobsang, as she leaned forward and explained to us in a way a teacher would talk to children, “She is my best friend, after all”.

A fighting chance:

“The only way Jenny can live is by killing the Doppelganger. Only Jenny will know how. Every night; as her 23
rd
birthday gets nearer; when the Doppelganger eats into her soul, the poor child howls in pain. It will only get worse. Till the time the Doppelganger can manifest itself out of her mind and body, she will continue to hurt Jenny and the pain will soon become unbearable for Jenny and strange things will start happening around this mansion”, enunciated Cathy, as she walked around the room and sat in her chair.

“But why have you ignored the past? I mean, any fool would know that there is something in this stupid mansion that is causing all these weird things to happen. Don’t you feel responsible for your ignorance?” I said, unable to hide my vexation at the obvious oversight. It was either that or her thoughts were deceptive of the truth.

“Look, there is not much I know about the mansion. You need to ask Jeremy. Yes, a lot of it may be connected with Jenny and her Doppelganger. But we haven’t really gotten into that aspect for that doesn’t matter. We’d rather see Jenny have a painless death…” said Cathy, trying to avoid eye-contact with me as she struggled for words.

“Right, that’s it then. We shall meet again. I’m not fully convinced about your attempts at trying to save your niece’s life, doctor. I’m not accusing you or anything. But just because Jenny isn’t your real daughter doesn’t mean that you don’t try being a mom or an elder sister to her”, said Hound, evident that he’d taken on my cue and read my mind. He spoke to hurt. His words must have stung Cathy as tears welled up in her eyes again as she turned towards Lobsang for sympathy.

We got up. Already after going through the explanation for one more time, Hound’s curt reply was the straw that broke the camel’s back. We could hear Cathy sobbing as we left the room.

“Like hell! They can only help Jenny die. They’re not trying to make her live, let her cry”, said Derek angrily, “Time to tickle Jeremy’s balls and make him spit out the truth about this dump!” Hound and Derek’s thoughts were in unison. They cared for Jenny much more than Goose and I did, not that we didn’t, but there was love in their care.

One showed his emotions well, the other seemed to hide it well beneath the maquillage of self will. Both of them were fools in love. Goose and I had to remain cool if we were not to let foolish emotions spoil Jenny’s chances of survival.

“If we are to help Jenny, we have to help her find the answer. To help her explore the depths of her mind, you need to fuel her heart with love”, susurrated Hound as Derek nodded in agreement. We were on our way to the reception to find out if Jeremy was back. I hoped they’d fixed our rooms by now.

“Jenny needs a lot of love in her heart if she needs to find the answer in her mind. She needs love to live”, said Goose as I looked at him in amazement. The fat bird had an uncanny ability to tell you exactly the same thing that you told him a short while ago. Just that he would mirror your words differently and sound deep while saying so while you nod in agreement. That was his only specialty, I suppose.

We learnt that our rooms had been fixed. We watched bone-woman Nanny float across the lobby in ghastly pink as she came out from room number seven. She seemed quite pleased with herself. The evil witch, she knew we hated her ugly pink.

“Yo! Nanny, where’s Jenny?” shouted Goose, as Nanny turned around and gave him a shocked expression. I wondered if anybody had ever called out to her this way. She must have been born old and wrinkled, the witch.

“She’s fine, the poor child was exhausted. She’s changing, give her time”, cackled Nanny as she trudged back towards the kitchen in her pink apron.

“Changing? Into what? Is she changing into a werewolf now? Sweet God, I hope not!” I yelled back at the broomstick of a Nanny, hoping to piss her off. Goose and I waited for a reaction but there was none. Maybe she’ll respond after a few hundred years when she would cook up a wise-ass retort. Right now, she was just cooking up trouble for us with some tasteless soup for dinner.

An after-Scotch thought:

We made Jeremy part with his ancient Scotch that afternoon. It would have been a lot easier to make that dipsomaniac part with his kidney than part with a bottle of 30-year old Single Malt Scotch.

The argent bottle received a burgeoning welcome from the four of us as it continued to assuage our thirst. The Scotch seemed a lot smoother, easier and older than Jenny. It made us stop and think as we let our minds wander, flickering now and then between reality and the power of imagination trying to search a reason in the happenings of the past few days.