Two days later, the sanatorium authorities called me and Fred to witness the interrogation of Larry. Fred gave me a lift and both of us reached the Dredfield Asylum at 9 a.m. in the morning.
In front of us stood an old, but a building strong enough to incapacitate three thousand brain-sick, disturbing psychopaths at the same time. It had huge, tall walls which had fencing all over the asylum's length.
'Let's go', I said to Fred and we both proceeded into the asylum after some strict identification processes.
The atmosphere of that place was completely different to that outside. The weather outside was calm and quite with a sweet, cool breeze flowing as an icing on the cake. The ambience was quite cheerful. But when we got inside, we were welcomed by screams and howls. For a second it felt as if there is a chaos over there. But these things are usual. As we were making our way to the interrogation room, I saw varieties of people doing varieties of things. Some men were dancing to some imaginary tunes in their mind, associating each other, some were playing some imaginary games, one man was fantasizing about flying a plane, two had engaged themselves in a scuffle and many more such things were happening all around.
Then we faced a real chaos. Numerous inhabitants had gathered around the television hall to watch the live baseball match. We tried to make our way through them. Then suddenly there was a home-run. A man jumped with delight and accidentally pushed Fred which made him fall down. I laughed cheerfully witnessing that, before helping Fred to get up.
'You better watch out, old man', Fred said scornfully. But that man was in no mood of listening.
'Come on, let's go', I said to Fred.
We proceeded further towards the interrogation room. Finally, we entered the corridor which was leading up to our final destination, which was at the farthest end.
(ignore the exit sign on the picture)
Throughout the corridor the walls had been painted blue. They had been worn out. Looking at those walls gave me a dubious, repulsive feel.
How do the patients live here? This place is so claustrophobic!
On reaching the door, we were summoned by an official who checked our visiting cards and let us in. There were only a handful of police officers along with some asylum officials and doctors. Larry had still not been brought there.
'Bring in the convict... Umm... Mr. Larry Hughes', instructed Inspector Parnell who was handling the case wherein Larry was charged with manhandling and attempted murder. Then some guards went ahead to grab Larry from his cell.
They were now there after some 15-odd minutes. Larry was shackled down at his feet and was handcuffed at the same time. He seemed completely calm and silent. There was no sign of repulsion or abhorrence. The only thing which I could notice on his face was desolation. The guards present there sat him down on the chair present in the cell adjacent to ours. Both the cells had been separated by a wall bearing a glass panel. Inspector Parnell went into his cell.
'How are you feeling Mr. Larry?'
'The same which you would feel when you would be tied up and left alone in a small cell with not even a single window', rebuked Larry.
'So why did you try to kill your friend? Did he do something wrong to you? Did he try to harm you? Tell me. You are free to speak'
'The only thing which I remember is that I love my friends and cannot even think of hitting them'. Larry's gaze was constantly fixed upon the floor. He was flabbergasted at what had happened. He was shaken from within.
'So you are saying you didn't harm Frederick'
'No'
'Then who the fuck almost thrashed him to death!', screamed Inspector Parnell, banging the table between him and Larry. 'Don't you try to act smart with me, mister. Just look at the face of Frederick. Look at the scars. Who do you think did those?... Huh?... There was no one in the apartment except you and Frederick and the guards also caught you while you were going to stab him the second time' Only this time did Larry look up, though only for a couple of moments, to have a glance at Fred's face. Then he again hung his head down and started wailing fretfully.
'I didn't..... I didn't.... He did..... I begged him not to but he...', he went on sobbing.
'He?... He who?!'
'I don't know who he is. I am not even sure if he exists or not-'
'Stop making stories, Larry'
'I am not making stories!', yelled Larry looking straight into the eyes of Inspector Parnell with tears rolling down his cheeks.
Inspector Parnell scoffed.
'Ok ok... Calm down guys', said Mark, entering our cell and passing into the interrogation cell.
'These are some case files regarding my client', he said, throwing a bunch of files on the table. 'I suspect Mr. Larry is suffering from IED- Intermittent explosive disorder'
'And on which theory your calculations are based?'
'Observing his behavior lately, I suspect it is the case here, being his doctor. You are gonna find more details in the papers.... So, until any hypothesis is proved, your authorities cannot take any legal action against my client until some...you better know'
Inspector Parnell did a detailed study of the files for some time. Then he affirmed on what Mark said.
'Okay, you may take him now. But... whenever he is called, he must approach immediately'
After some legal procedures, Larry got discharged from the asylum. While coming out of the building I asked Mark, 'What is an IED and when did you prepare that report?'
'Um.... IED is a psychological disorder in which the patient exhibits spells of sudden, severe anger outbursts, in case of Larry, I guess it's gone hyperactive...... Last night I had visited him officially to have a chat with him. I closely observed his actions. He was absolutely calm yesterday night like the way he was today. And we all had seen how violent he was that day. I even tried to somehow provoke his anger but he was quite passive the whole time. Therefore, looking at the situation I concluded that he must be suffering from IED and prepared a report overnight. My request to you both will be not to evoke some kind of insecurity upon him. Try to act normal'
'But he doesn't remember a thing!'
'For that, I still don't have any explanation. Perhaps he was actually trying to deceive Parnell'
Then he whispered into my ears, 'See I know all of these happened too fast but this was the only way I could save him from custody'
'So how much it's gonna affect him and us... at the same time?', I asked.
'Well, it's difficult to say at the present moment. In some cases, the irritation gets subsided in the mind of the beholder. The more he is exposed to repulsive conditions, the more chances are there that he gets into it. See, I have already told that it's just a theory and still it is required to capitalize on it. As I have said....' Then he muttered, 'I did it to save Larry. But the files were genuine enough to conclude that he is a patient of IED'
It was when Larry came out of the building, holding his stuff. Shaking hands with Mark, I bade him good-bye and then joined Fred and Larry. We got into the car and started our journey back home.