Must Read: Paradox Of Abel - Season 1 - Episode 45

7 years ago

Must Read: Paradox Of Abel - Season 1 - Episode 45

Mrs. Hannah Malik was ushered into the investigation room with the assistance of Daniel Famous. She was dressed in flowing white gown – she wore nothing but white; white gown, white veil, white shoes, white wristwatch and white-rimmed spectacles. She only needed white wings to become an angel – an old angel. She looked amazing. As she stepped into the room through the door, the light from outside in the background made her seem to radiate halo, like a saint. But as she walked in, she appeared to be in a state of what seemed to be bleakest dejection.
Lot stood up from where he sat and drew out a chair for her. She thanked him warmly for his kind gesture before sitting down. Mrs. Malik looked majestic – like a queen. There was an aura of respectfulness about her; an honour that was pleasant to behold. The first thing Daniel noticed about the woman was her hands. They were the most elegant hands he had ever seen, slender and long-fingered, and as supple as those of a young girl. Her wrinkled face was somewhat squarish, no more as beautiful as it would have been in youth, but it was disturbing and vivid in the way that makes you think of old times even when you do not know what times.
“Do not mind my attire,” she told them, not smiling. “I’m a widow, and I prefer mourning my husband’s death in white, rather than the common black.”
“Isn’t that a bit inappropriate? Lot said, “Black is regarded the normal colour for mourning.”

“I don’t like wearing black, I only forced myself to wear it on the day of my husband’s burial. I’m not planning to wear it for the next one month or so, I’ll rather wear white – a colour of purity.”
Lot shrugged at this. It wasn’t his place to argue with the widow. It was her decision. Whatever colour she preferred to use in mourning her husband wasn’t any of his business. His business here was to find out who killed her husband.
“You look great in white.” Daniel complimented. He noticed again the grey hairs on her head which were quite visible now; and he supposed her deceased husband had put it there with his paint brush of misery. He felt sorry for her. She wore bitterness as though it were a crown.
“I look great in every colour, that’s what people say.” Hannah replied him grimly.
“I intend having a conversation with you, and this is as good a place as any to investigate your husband’s death,” Lot said, “I shall have to ask you a number of questions.”
“As you wish.”
“I’ll need to know if it’s okay by you.”
‘Of course, my husband’s death must be investigated. He cannot just die in vain, and I’m relying on you to bring the truth to light.”

“I’ll be asking you some questions, Mrs. Malik, I’ll need you to answer all the questions with utmost sincerity. Some of those questions may be personal, but I assure you that I won’t ask them if I don’t feel they are important in the investigation.”
“Okay, I’ll co-operate as much as I can. Just don’t ask me if I saw anything.”
Lot smiled, he was beginning to like the woman. She seemed both clever and intelligent.
“Mrs. Malik, for how long have you been married to your husband?”
“Over thirty-eight years. Please call me Hannah.”
“And what a lovely name is Hannah. Did you know it is derived from the Greek? It translates, ‘God has favoured me’.”
“I know. I was the only child of my mother.”
‘On the night of the unfortunate incident, did you hear anything?”

“I heard a very loud scream – the scream was a shriek, a very strange noise like a shriek.”

Lot looked at her sharply, then he nodded and asked, “What else did you hear?”
“After the scream, the next sound I heard was a couple of shuffling feet across my window. I stayed in my room with my door tightly bolted. I needn’t go out to check the source of the scream because there wouldn’t be much to see. Of course, considering my sightlessness.”
“I’m very sorry about that.”
“My blindness isn’t your fault.”
“If I may ask, madam,” Lot asked, “What led to your sightlessness – or were you born blind?”
Hannah smiled ruefully, “No, I wasn’t born blind. My blindness stemmed from a terrible motor accident on Highway 99.”
“Highway 99?”
“You know the express-road, don’t you?”
“The one that connects with the Third Mainland Bridge?”
“Exactly. I was driving home that evening at around seven when the vehicle suddenly appeared at the curve. I lost my nerve and crashed head-on with the oncoming vehicle.

The next thing I knew was that I was thrown through the windshield, then my head hit something hard and then blackout.” She smiled, “Well, it has been blackout since then.

I regained consciousness in the hospital but I didn’t regain my sight. The doctor said I hit my skull against a steel and the impact affected my optic nerves. In the explosion minute fragments hit both my eyes, perforating my cornea.

According to him, the corner is a thick membrane that covers the eye. Each eye is filled with a substance that appears somewhat like egg albumen that keeps it inflated like air in a tyre. My eyes were mildly penetrated, the fluid leaked and the eyeballs collapsed. I suffered a rather severe concussion from the impact which put my normal vision out of focus. The doctor assured me that my blindness was temporary and within a few months, or a year at most, my sight would return. But it has been almost a decade now and I’m still as blind as a bat. I’m still full of hopes though. I’m certain that when I regain my sight I’ll not only see people but also possess the ability to see through their souls and read their thoughts.”
Daniel smiled and said, “I admire your optimism, but that is quite far-fetched.”
Hannah replied him, in her voice was a finesse of seriousness, “It’s close-fetched. Before I became blind, I used to read a lot. I read about a man named Homer who, as a six-year-old child, suffered a mysterious neurological disorder that left him unable to smell anything for the next thirty years. One day, when he was thirty-six, as he picked a rose to savour the sight of it and the texture of its petals, his sense of smell returned to him full-power, so overwhelming him that he fell to the ground in shock. In the years thereafter, while he enjoyed every bewitching scent of a world, rich in them, he was so sensitive to the fragrance of a rose that he could smell a bush of blooms two streets away and knew before he opened the door of a flower shop if it had a generous supply of roses or was temporarily out of stock.”

“That’s quite some story, Mrs. Malik.” Lot commented.
“You don’t know what I can risk to regain my eyesight. Again, call me Hannah.”
“If you don’t mind, Hannah – can you remove the pair of glasses? I’ll like to see the eyes.”
“I don’t mind,” said Hannah. She slowly released the spectacles covering her eyes. Her eyelids were shut.”
“Can you open the lids?”
She obeyed slowly, and Lot saw one of the most beautiful pair of eyes he had ever seen. Even though sightless, her eyes were as bright as emerald, wide and searching. They seemed to be looking at Lot. The detective leaned forward and waved his palm across the face. But the eyes maintained their positions, the eye lids did not even blink.
“ What are you doing?” Hannah asked, “Waving your hand across my face.”
“How did you know that?”
I felt it; I felt the little breeze your palm blew across my eyes. A lot of people have done that to me many times just to confirm if I’m truly blind.”

“Did your eyes hurt when you woke up in the hospital?”
“Are you serious?”
“Quite serious. Did it hurt?”
“I screamed for mercy to every god I knew and all the gods I didn’t know. The doctor said it was because my vision was trying to adjust to the blindness.”
“I pray you regain your sight soon.”
“Me too, thanks.”
“Now, let’s come back to the next part of the case, I believe you heard about the second corpse we found last week.”
She nodded.
“What can you tell us about the man?”
She replaced the glasses on her face gently before replying, “I don’t know anything about the man.”
“Do you know that the man called himself Abel Malik?”
“So I heard.”
“Do you know any Abel Malik?”
She paused for some time before replying, “Abel is my first son.”