The Dream

Chapter 20

I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Even Jessica too was his ally?
"What is the meaning of this Jessica? You helped him hatch all these evil plans? So you put your mom's life in danger shamelessly just for his sake....?"
"No no no.... Not for his sake. But for the sake of my experiment. The success of this experiment would have made me huge within the CIA. People getting killed and my mom getting hurt was just a step along the way... Not a big deal...It's not as if she is dead is it?"

I couldn't believe such insensitive behaviour towards Alice. She is such a sweet person, who absolutely trusts her daughter, who is a complete asshole.

"Mark wanted to end his misery of running from the police. So he set up the murder pattern from long ago... just so one day he could stage his own murder by killing his brother... Also, he could get revenge for his ruined childhood from his siblings....
As for me... The experiment was an amazing opportunity....
It was a win-win..."

"You keep on telling about Mark's troubled childhood... What is this ruined childhood you are talking about... What could they even do as children?"
"Well, I was a troubled kid. Having issues with my temper and behaviour. Whereas Joe and Sarah were always the ideal children. I was always compared to them, anything I did always turned into a 'be like them session...'
The first violent act, my first murder was because of them too...
We had an uncle who didn't like my behaviour and was lecturing about how I should be more like them...
Well I was completely pissed and I don't know what came onto me, but I took a scissor and stabbed him in the eye... then I slit his throat and ran away from there.
It was a very small thing that triggered me... but I liked that feeling of strength. Feeling of being superior to Joe and Sarah. That was the day I ran from my house never to look back.
But this did ruin my childhood. I practically never had a childhood. I was 10 when this happened and I have been my own ever since. I absolutely envied those two for it and the revenge felt sweet... HAHAHA..."

With every passing moment, my depression was growing manifold. Last two weeks of my life were seeming a lie now. I was starting to hope that all this was a dream now.
Everyone around me was lying to me. From Sarah to Jessica every single person I trusted has turned on me. My life was crashing in front of me!
"How could you do this too Jessica? Supporting such a gruesome motto? You knew everything and still, you deceived me? And why did you both kill Sarah? Wasn't she helping you?"

"The thing is she had turned on us... She had started to think... Putting Robert in your dream was not our plan and neither was what happened that night at the lab. I am almost sure she had planted those destructive instructions to kill me and end this. But unfortunately, she is not the expert and messed up....
Consequences...? She is dead now... HAHAHA!!...
And well yeah, just brought her death a little closer. I mean Mark would have killed her anyway. Her death was inevitable..."

Jessica said all this with the coldest of expressions. I was seeing a completely different Jessica now. She completely knew that if I went to the news, Sarah will have to come to me; to either kill me or tell the truth. She banked on that and Mark to kill Sarah. It was a completely ruthless plan to both kill her and put me to abyss. All this for what? Her stupid experiment? I was nothing but a lab rat to her? All this was staged?

I had decided now, that was it. This had to get over here and now. I was ready to kill them both if I had to and go to prison, if that was the need. I couldn't take their shit anymore. I charged towards Jessica and grabbed her neck. I began choking her... but I was shocked that neither Mark nor Jessica were phased by that. Then suddenly Jessica snapped her fingers and I started going numb.
I couldn't understand anything!!
"I love how well this works on him!! HAHAHA!!!"
This had to be another of her experiments, and sadly it was working...

Both of them started laughing and were ready to execute me. They had completely visualised their plans and they were overconfident that it had worked.

But they didn't know one thing. They were keeping a watch on me, but one thing I had learnt from them were the diversion tactics.
I knew that it may come to anything when I was facing a mastermind like Mark and I had come prepared. I had left my own cryptic note to Robert about the location.
I had also implanted a bionic microchip in my arm, an idea I had received from Jessica herself. The only difference was that it had a live GPS tracking just to be safe and Robert knew exactly where we were.

Not only that, it was recording our conversations too.
We had enough of evidence to free everyone from prison, and get them both life imprisonment.

They pushed me to the wall and pulled out their pistols. Just as Jessica was about to pull the trigger, I could hear the gunshots and a very familiar voice on the megaphone.
"Freeze... You have been surrounded by the police...You have nowhere to go"
It was Robert. He had saved my neck in nick of the time.

"Son of a bitch!! How did you do this?" I could hear irritation in Jessica's voice.
"You see Jessica, I am a slow-learner, but I do learn eventually. You gave me some ideas and brought doom to yourself! Now we have all the needed evidence to arrest you and get you convicted for all the cases... It's over!!"

I could see a very irritated Mark stomping towards me. But before he could do anything, a shot was fired at his leg and he went down with blood spurting out of his leg.
I could see Jessica with eyes wide open in fear and hands up in submission....
It was finally over....

The turmoil that lasted two weeks, had finally ended in a very terrifying encounter for me. It had made me realise, that I need to pick people I could trust very carefully.

I was leaving that place, still stumbling on objects. Whatever Jessica had done, was still having an effect on me. I was swaying in exhaustion and was about to fall, just then I saw two people rushing towards me...
They caught me before I would fall.
"Hey buddy, tough time ehh.... Don't worry it's all gonna be fine"
I could see that wide smile on Jack and Robert's face. They were the only people left standing by me in the end, and obviously Alice too.

"Don't die on us Richie... We are really proud of you for all you did. Let's get you to a hospital nearby and have them check you thoroughly. We don't want any other fucking Jessica control you. You are too precious for that my friend."

That's the last thing I remembered. Receiving those words from Robert was enough for me.

The next thing I remembered was in a hospital. I was being examined by a psychotherapist, who was trying to make sure that any traces of triggers were erased completely from my mind. This sort of an incident was definitely not welcome the second time.

I then realised that it was the same hospital where Alice was admitted. I went to check on her and told her everything that happened. I could see the disgust she had on her face.
"I am sorry Richie you had to go through this... It was my fault for sending you to Jessica"
"Don't be sorry Alice... It was all their plan and we fell right into that hole. If not for you, they would have found another way to get me to them... I am just glad that everything is over now and no one else is hurt. Except for Sarah...."
I couldn't control anymore. Now after I am finally relieved, I realised that I don't have her by my side. I didn't even have the time to mourn for her.Now that I know the truth, I feel very very depressed that I could not see her suffering when she was beside me, and now I am suffering without her around

This whole incident has changed me a lot. It has knocked some sense into me.
I hope I take all the experiences from here and never fall into a pit like this again.

All the convicts were released in a span of few days. Jessica's lab was shut down and all her reports and studies were confiscated. Her assistant Max was arrested too, for helping in felony. Mark and Jessica earned life sentences and were thrown into prison, the place where they belonged. Robert went back to NYPD and I was back to being the forensic analyst in CSI.

After 2 weeks, life had finally gone back to normal.
After all, All's well that ends well.