What if every human mind on Earth is afflicted with mental disorder? The history of psychology, neurology, and every other field of science related to the human mind is extensive by now and over the course of that history, new terms and definitions have popped up to describe the various personality and behavioral traits that present in human beings. Look into the future with me for a minute, and imagine that if humanity can sustain itself on Earth for another thousand years or so, what new terms and definitions we will have come up with by then. Maybe we will have a name for every personality quirk that exists, for every twitch, every thought. I say this to say that maybe mental disorder is the natural state of human diversity. No two minds are exactly alike, humans are not necessarily carbon copies of one another, so there can be no true normal can there? There is no ideal brain? I guess the ideal brain is the one that allows people to function normally in the world, but maybe the world has changed and maneuvered in such a way that it favors a certain type of mind. We are the children of natural selection and if mental disorder continues to exist, maybe it isn’t an anomaly. Maybe it is necessity.
I can’t begin to justify some of the mental afflictions that exist, but I am not an evolutionary biologist. I am the word nerd recounting the tale of a woman named Maria who saw a man speak and was drawn to him because she thought that he could give her peace of mind, and she looked for him tirelessly until she was captive in a underground laboratory while she waited for him to show up. I said it early on that no man is a true individual, that we all have doppelgangers somewhere because genes can only configure themselves into so many different combinations that there is bound to be overlap. I want to reinforce that. Maria’s story is not unique. It may be new to you, or maybe you have heard it before, only it wasn’t a woman named Maria, it was a girl with a different name, looking for a different man or something other than a man, but motivated to answer a question that had dogged her for years. Her story belongs to others who know it intimately and recounting it can do a lot for their sanity.
Maria’s story does not end here, but a very important chapter in her life does. And hopefully the readers who drew inspiration from her story will write their own so that if Maria comes across it one day in her future, she can use it to inspire herself to keep moving.
The mood in the basement is tense following the incident in Eakran’s office. Both Maria and Cousins watch as Moss calls Eakran to ask that he come to the IBF to speak with Cousins. Moss is surprised that he answers his cell phone.
“Doctor! I’ve been trying to reach you for months.”
“Well, I will see you soon enough. I am headed to the institute right now. Things went south on this assignment,” Eakran sighs with frustration, “never mind that. I will talk to you very soon. I won’t get in until very late, I assume that you and Cousins will have gone home by then.”
“No, we’ll be here. We have something to discuss with you. Very important.” She nods at Cousins. “Ok, we will see you tonight then.”
She ends the call then says to Cousins, “He’ll be here late. But listen to me, I am on your side. Don’t be confrontational with him please.”
“Why?” Cousins asks.
“Because, you’ll give him a reason not to trust you. Reassure him that you understand the mission of this facility and that you just want to know everything to be of real service to the aim.”
Cousins scoffs audibly. “Whatever, Moss. I’m not playing ego games. I just need to know if Eakran is a mad scientist or not. I just want to hear him tell me that he isn’t.”
“And that’s fair enough. But if you want that, I’m telling you how to get it. Trust me.”
“Trust the person who already knows the truth but won’t give it to me?” Cousins says.
“What choice do you have?” Maria asks. “What do we do until he comes?”
“We sit right here. I’m gonna go get us some food. Maria, keep Moss here.”
The three sit for hours, mostly in silence. When they try to talk, Moss eventually says something that sets off Cousins’s temper and he yells at everyone to be quiet.
And then they hear it, the door to the basement level being accessed from the outside. Maria’s heart jumps into her throat. This is everything that she had been waiting for. Meeting Eakran had consumed her life for a long time. When she sees him walk through the door, she can feel his presence and it is the same feeling she had at Columbia when she first heard him speak. She analyzes his smooth face, his shortly cropped hair, and the memory of her abduction, the aliens on the spaceship starts to creep in. Does he resemble the aliens or is she pasting his face over everyone in her memory?
The three stand to greet Eakran when he walks into his office. His attention goes first to Maria whom he has never met.
“Who are you?” He asks, extending a hand. “You are an extremely beautiful woman.”
Maria offers her hand to shake, but Eakran grabs it and kisses it.
“I saw you speak at my school.” Maria blurted out. “The school where I worked. I’m a fan, or whatever. I just wanted to talk to you. Do you believe in aliens?” She says it so fast that she barely knows what she has said.
Moss looks at Eakran wide eyed.
“Why yes, I do believe in aliens. Is that why you’re here?” Eakran asks with a smile. “You want to discuss aliens with me.”
“I want you to tell me that I’m not crazy. I was abducted by aliens. And I think they looked a lot like you. Alia told me that you’re an alien.” Maria says.
Moss and Cousins watch the conversation with their mouths open.
“This is the patient you were telling me about?” Eakran says to Moss and Cousins. “The mind controlling, possible Aliarum?”
Both Moss and Cousins nod.
“She’s not Aliarum.” Cousins says. “She has the same chemicals present in her brain that we found in the drug that is plaguing Nebuchad. If she was abducted by aliens, then that drug is alien. And if you’re an alien, then you’ve had me on a wild goose chase this whole time because you know what this drug is.”
Eakran makes his way to the seat behind his desk. “You’re wrong, Dr. Cousins. It was not a wild goose chase. You and Moss have given me such amazing insight into the effect this drug has on the human mind. It’s very valuable work.”
“You’re an alien? You abducted me?” Maria asks.
“Yes and no. I am an alien. I am Druinte. We won’t go into all that because what’s the point? None of you will be leaving this basement tonight anyway. I did not abduct you Maria, but we have a lot to discuss you and I.” Eakran pauses to eye the arrangement of his desk, then he looks at the wall behind it. “You.” He says pointing at Moss. “You betrayed my confidence didn’t you?”
“I swear, doctor, that I did not. Not on purpose. Maria is a mind controller and she made me access the panel. But I never told them what you are…” Moss stammers.
Eakran removes the prosthetic from his right hand and stretches his real fingers. Cousins recoils but is unable to look away. Maria is mesmerized. Eakran motions for Moss to come closer and when she is, Eakran slices her throat with the talon like nail of his thumb. Cousins yells and rushes to her side. Maria is speechless.
“And you,” Eakran says to Cousins. “You are my prisoner now. I’m sorry it has to be this way. We will still work together, for sure, but I can never let you leave.”
When Cousins tries to attack Eakran, Eakran grabs him. He is much stronger than Cousins and carries him to one of the rooms reserved for patients. He throws Cousins inside and locks the door, then returns to his office where Maria is staring at Moss’s corpse.
“Don’t mind that. I will clean it up. So, what to do with you?” Eakran asks himself. “You can be my new right hand, now that the old one is bleeding out on my carpet. But you see what happened to the old one who betrayed me. Will you accept? There is so much that we can do together. So much that we can share. If you say no, I have to warn you that I will need to remove your brain from your skull so that I can study these chemicals that Dr. Cousins has discovered.”
Maria swallows the spit that is collecting in her mouth. She had asked for this. She had manipulated people to be face to face with a murderer. And watching him kill Moss had not diminished her curiosity one bit.
“What can I do for you doctor?” She says.
PRL Serials 