Indian Film Festival Short Story Submission

Limit: 1000 words | Genre: Time Travel | Title: Red Herring

6 January 2021

Neel’s glasses were getting fogged up with tears. He wipes them on his shirt and continues to read the article in the newspaper.

The sickly thin girl sitting next to him on the metallic hospital chairs peeps over his shoulder to see the headlines~

Dr. Hans dead, Nation mourns a hero

‘Shame he died before you made it as a doctor…’ Décès whispers.

Neel raises his head from the paper and stares at the stranger incredulously.

Who was this girl?

How was she aware of his father’s last wish?

Suddenly she springs up, grabs his hand and in a high pitched voice announces ‘Let’s go!’

Before Neel could free his hand from her vice-like grip his vision fades to black. When it cleared up, he knew he wasn’t in the same place.

‘It’s John Hopkins, your father’s alma mater’ Décès says while dragging Neel through different doors of the hospital. The floor they were on had a rush of doctors and nurses and they struggled to walk swiftly through the crowded alley. Neel was sure he was hallucinating when he read the date on one of the digital displays on the ceiling-6 January 2026

‘Who are you?” Neel says as he tried to regain his breath.

Décès finally stops and leans over the corridor they were standing in and points to the reception below. ‘The question should be-What are you?’

Neel follows the direction of her finger and for the second time, his vision faults. He was looking at an older version of himself in a white coat.

The pale girl finally announces her name ‘I’m Décès.’

As he was processing her bizzare name, Neel open-mouthed stared at his doppelgänger. In the year 2026, he was finally a doctor.

Décès lightly presses a newspaper to his chest.

Neel slowly recovers and reads the headlines-

With the onset of new side effects, Phuloro continues to kill millions of cancer survivors

‘Phuloro..but that’s the drug that my father created…’ The drug that made his father a 'hero'. Neel struggles to comprehend and for a moment his color almost matches that of Décès. ‘But Phuloro worked! I saw patients improve, hundreds of them were cured!’ Neal was exasperated. He remembers the flashes of the times he had assisted his father in the lab.

‘It did work…initially’ Décès starts ‘but if Hans had told the world about the incurable side effects that patients would develop after 5 years…’ She moves to face Neal and a cruel glint shines in her eyes, while her lips curl ‘…he wouldn’t have been the most celebrated scientist in the world now… would he?’

Neel would have loved to shut down her blasphemy right then but the memories of his father always refusing to let him study the last phase of clinical studies was etched far too clearly on his mind. He never wanted to read into the little details that had irked him.

Neel kept quiet as he watched his older doppelgänger assist other doctors below. He did fulfill his father’s wish. But maybe it held a far more important reason than just an emotional one. Dr. Hans always said that Neel was better at fixing things. Did Hans know that Neel will one day become aware of his mess?

Décès holds his hand and Neal’s vision begins to blur again. ’Stop Phuloro’ Décès whispers.

‘Why didn’t you tell him?’ Neel asks as his head spins.

‘Mortals don’t see me until it’s their very end…you are a special one.’ Décès continued And I saw no reason to show Dr Hans a future he was already aware of.’ As his vision faded to black Neel wondered if his father ever really met Décès.

6 January 2026 (Present)

Neal couldn’t help but notice how ironic it was that his patient from oncology wing was listening to ‘Fourth of July’ by Sufjan, even though she was in remission. Maybe it was the dull cold morning in John Hopkins. It was deathly silent. The usual rush of patients was unexpectedly absent today.

Neal opens the door to his office and his blood runs cold. Décès was casually lounging on his desk. She doesn’t open her eyes.

‘You… your father… all keep disappointing me’ She murmurs.

Neel knew his final confrontation with Décès was inevitable. He wouldn’t accept but in his heart, he had been waiting for it. For 5 years. He takes a deep breath and begins ‘You didn’t come to me that day to save lives Décès, you came to stop the drug that saved lives. I later studied if it was possible to cure the side effects and it was! You giving me a ticket to see the future was a ruse to make me feel special.. you presumed later I would stop the drug in panic? Ruin my father's work?’

Décès opens her eyes and raises a lazy brow.

Neel continues ‘A proper cure would have saved too many lives and ruined the balance for you…Décès.’ As Neel said these words he realised that her own name was a red flag he should has seen sooner.

Décès

Deceased..DEATH personified herself. Neel continues- 'You came to me when you realised I could fix Phuloro in the future.’

‘Pholoro meant Fool’s Gold…’ Décès laughs loudly. 'And we didn't care about balance you fool' She stood up saying this.

‘It was our own little joke…me and Hans, how long did it take you to figure that one out?’ Décès says in mock amusement before disappearing from the desk as Neel after 5 years realised- He never really knew his father.

FIN