The Tranquility I Hold On To Despises Me

By Harshraj Nitin Asmar

Once upon a time, in a land far away, there lived a brilliant doctor in the quiet, isolated town of Qiumena. The only orthopedic doctor in the entire town was James, who had built a hospital in the heart of the town. During the initial days, the hospital was mostly empty as people generally traveled to the city for any major surgeries. As time passed, a day arrived when the hospital became crowded and the attendance of patients reached its peak during the ‘Night Phantom Tragedy’. The newspapers were flooded with incidents covering random attacks on people. The people of the town were being attacked by a random stranger at night. The attacker was given the name of ‘The Night Phantom’. The mysterious attacker injured several people, leaving them with a broken bone or two. These people were then rushed to James’s hospital. The town had a low crime rate, which made these cases exceptionally rare. The town had a peaceful atmosphere, and never in its history had such a tragedy befallen it. The police were yet to catch the perpetrator due to lack of evidence. The victim’s testimony mentioned that they were hit by someone from behind and then they collapsed on the ground. This situation made the hospital crowded. James managed to treat all the patients that came to him. Earlier, the people incurred significant expenses for both travelling to the city and for the surgery as well. The townspeople were impressed by his work and considered him capable of performing major surgeries and he was often referred to as ‘Shaman of Qiumena’. 

Meanwhile, in the waiting area of the hospital, the people were discussing daily affairs, night phantom, politics and some were glued to magazines or newspapers. Suddenly, they noticed a patient being rushed into the hospital, he had a head injury, although he wasn’t looking critically injured and was conscious as well. The person who brought him there responded that he was hit by a speeding motorcycle. He was immediately taken to the operation theater while his friend remained seated in the ward. People of Qiumena were quite talkative, a man named John broke the ice and asked Tim, the injured man’s friend, about the incident. Tim responded that they were together when the incident occurred. He mentioned that they were on their way to a local store when a motorcyclist, travelling at high speed, lost control and collided with his friend. The people kept discussing their lives with each other for a while. An hour later, a nurse came out and asked Tim to meet the doctor. When Tim entered the doctor’s chamber, he was met with the doctor’s silent gaze. James told Tim with regret in his eyes, “Alas! We tried our best, but we couldn’t save him. He was in critical condition when you brought him, and unfortunately, we drew the short end of the stick.” Tim stood there frozen. He couldn’t move a muscle; he felt betrayed, angry, sad and helpless - all these feelings hit him at once. As soon as James started to talk after a long pause, Tim lashed at him, claiming that he is a fraud. He said angrily, “You are a fraud, aren’t you? As I can see with my own eyes, you can only treat the victims of the night phantom.”

 James didn’t utter a single word. “I knew it! I knew it! you are a con artist!” Tim yelled in agony.  Hearing all the commotion, people began to gather outside the operation theatre and doctor’s cabin. Tim continued relentlessly, shouting accusations of fraud at James. People, who were discussing the night phantom incidents a while ago, started connecting the dots in the story. They realized that the motorcycle victim had died even though he was in such good condition. The mob mentality quickly took over, and the crowd started screaming and hurling abuses at the doctor. The crowd felt betrayed. Tim shoved the doctor aside and emerged from the cabin, and said in a high-pitched voice to everyone, “Everything is clear now! Everything is crystal clear! We were all taken as fools! A man who was perfectly fine - in better condition than the others - has died! If a doctor can’t save someone like him, how can he possibly treat the victims of the night phantom?”

He continued by saying, “There’s always a pattern to everything, this doctor was rusting away in this isolated town because no one needed him. But as soon as the night phantom appeared, he got a chance to fill his pockets. How convenient, isn’t it?” 

The crowd nodded in complete agreement. 

Most of the people, being educationally backward, agreed to whatever was said to them in the heat of the situation. Then, Tim, consumed by anger, declared in an instant, “Death to the scammer! Death to the collaborator of the night phantom! Death to the fraud doctor!

 The crowd echoed his voice throughout the hospital halls. The hospital staff panicked and instinctively closed the doors of the doctor’s cabin to keep the mob from breaking in. James, surrounded by frightened hospital staff, started laughing in the midst of the chaos. The staff watched in disbelief as James was laughing non-stop like some complete lunatic. However, he suddenly stopped and extended a helping hand to a nurse who had tripped in shock due to his sudden laughter. In a calm voice, he said to her, “Deduction is the art of seeing what others ignore or in simple terms, an ability to foresee details that have been overlooked because of their incompleteness in a situation that has already occurred. The details are generally dismissed for their vague or irrelevant description, but when a link connects those details and completes the puzzle, our neurons transmit a feeling of accomplishment”. The hospital staff stared at the doctor believing he had gone mad due to the situation at hand. The doctor continued by saying, “I am telling you this, because I want you to understand the psychology behind the mob that is currently behind that door. They do not speak the language of evidence. They feel that they’ve reached a higher level of perception and have agreed upon a common way of thinking. They will not stop until their own generic notion of justice has been achieved.”

Meanwhile, a member of the hospital staff promptly contacted the authorities and alerted them regarding their situation. On the other hand, the doctor went on with what seemed like nonsense, saying, “When a collective conclusion is achieved among people, they become like mindless zombies, destroying everything in their path and infecting others with the same delusion. It’s like a distant prophecy born out of a diseased mind.”

The nurse unable to contain herself yelled at James, “Tell me sir! Please tell me - are you associated with the night phantom or not?”

James replied with a peaceful smile on his face, “No matter which path you take - good or evil - you are always met with uncertainty which leads you to insanity or perhaps I should say, lack of belief.”

“That doesn’t answer my question, sir!” replied the nurse.

“Answering your question is irrelevant”, James said calmly, “feel free to do the deducing part on your own. Some things are better left unsaid.” 

James continued in a sorrowful tone, “I’m no longer able to see the quiet, peaceful life I had always desired. Maybe it’s true indeed - The tranquility I hold on to despises me. I am heading out now; they are after me, right! I am no longer interested in this life anyways, but I want you all to live longer lives and understand what I meant, when I spouted that so-called nonsense a while ago.” 

The hospital staff watched how a guy with minimal attachment to life, marched towards an angry crowd. After the doctor exited, the staff immediately closed the door. They could only hear the sounds of fighting and shouting, but they kept their heads down and prayed that the noises stop quickly. After some time, when the noises stopped and the uproar died down, the police asked them to open the doors, as the crowd had been controlled and the hospital was now silent. The police then questioned the hospital staff regarding the doctor, how they perceived him and whether they knew what had caused all the ruckus. They explained to the police how a patient died during surgery, and how the crowd had collectively tied the doctor to the night phantom and deduced that he was the criminal who injured people in order to bring them to his hospital. During the interrogation, they informed the police about the doctor’s strange behavior - that he had left his cabin in order to confront the crowd instead of staying inside. It was as if innocence found its way in the will of a decaying parasite. Although, the hospital staff couldn’t differentiate between right interpretation and misinterpretation as their moral compass had been shaken. It was also possible that the patient who died had truly been in critical condition and had only appeared fine due to a surge of adrenaline. On the contrary, the doctor might indeed have been guilty and the patient may have died due to the incompetency of the doctor, as he could only handle mild cases and was building his fortune through unethical means, possibly by collaborating with the night phantom. After everything was done, the authorities left, and the hospital was shut down.

By Harshraj Nitin Asmar