The mind of a psychopath

I slowly opened the door of my car and stood before the huge building which read ‘The San Jose Asylum’ and I started to walk towards the facility. As a curator of the facility I made it a habit to visit each and every patient in the asylum every day.

This is the biggest asylum in this part of the world where people are treated for various mental disorders. I have spent more time of mine with these insane people than anything else in my entire life over a period of 29 years. And that compelled me to author few books called ‘The lines of sanity’ and ‘Living with the sane in an insane world’

Our patients are kept in huge cylindrical glass chambers where they are constantly monitored and treated. And hence our medical facility stands out of the crowd for these state of the art equipment and the ways which we adopt to treat our patients.

A renowned psychologist and the curator of this asylum and also the author of these books have earned me respect from various quarters of the world.

A cool wind blew away the dried leaves infront of the facility and even as I approached the door, I suddenly felt a chill run down my spine. As I turned back, I saw a young woman probably in her twenties approach the asylum.

She introduced herself as Jemina Stevens. She said that she was a journalist and that she was writing a book called ‘The mind of a psychopath’ and hence she wanted to interview a few of the patients.

“No miss, this is a prohibited area. And more over the patients cannot be exposed to strangers which may cost you as well as them,” I said.

“Please sir, I have been a fan of yours. Particularly the way in which you described how people are insane while thinking themselves to be sane is really outstanding. I am doing this thesis work for my criminology project,” she pleaded.

I looked at her from tip to toe. She had great curves with a pleasant face. The face of a perfect beautiful woman to whom you can’t deny anything. But as per my book ‘The lines of sanity’ goes, beauty is only skin deep and more beautiful people are cleverly insane.

I felt even more apprehensive because of the chill factor whenever I stood close to her. A negative force always makes its presence indicated by a drop in the temperature of the surroundings. Nevertheless her beauty masked my fears and I allowed her inside the asylum.

“The world now is a dangerous place. There is a thin line that divides sanity from insanity. The brain is a very sensitive organ in the human body. It can bear or receive adverse shocks up to a certain stage. It is an individual characteristic as to what that limit can be.”

“But once that limit is crossed a person will still look sane from outside. But what happens inside his mind, nobody knows. And ultimately he may turn out to be a psycho. But he’s still normal outside. This is what is called The mask of sanity.”

“Look at this man,” I showed Jemina, “Look at his face. It’s so still and so calm. Yet you would be surprised to know that he’s killed more than 20 people. This is what is called the mask of sanity,” I said. She looked closely at the glass chamber and tapped on the glass.

“No ma’am, since the day he’s come to this asylum, he has never spoken a word, either with me or with his investigators,” I said.

And then we proceeded to the next patient. “This man has murdered his wife and children in cold blood. He always complained that he under the puissance of a negative force perpetrated to the bloodshed. And one day he started to vibrate under psychic trance. Initially he said that the negative force inside him was trying to kill him. And a few hours later he blanked out. But his brain is still caught in the same psychic trance that at one point of time or the other he starts vibrating again. Very interesting case.”

“This is a classic case of possession. The patient believes that he’s possessed and belief makes him do all this,” I continued.

And then I lead her to most of the chambers. She interviewed few of them. A few of them who have significantly showed some medical improvement spoke to her.

“Thank you so much sir, I will now be able to complete my thesis,” she said and left the place.

I too was tired and left for the day. The next morning I was back at the asylum when I found some of the glass chambers were broken and few of the insane have escaped when I called 911 and complained.

“I guess its Jemina who’s freed them all. As she was the first person whom I led to the interiors of the asylum. Normally no one else has the access to these interiors,” I testified before the judge.

The judge was looking at me. “Have you suffered from any psychological disorder?” he asked. “Yeah, I was treated for Obsessive Compulsion Disorder,” I nodded.

“And this is the girl, Jemina?” the judge pointed his finger and I looked in that direction. “Yes, she’s the one,” I shouted.

“In what seems to be one of the most bizarre cases I have ever seen in my life, Dr. Wary Jones, the man who testified here infront of me is suffering with some major psychological disorder,” there was a pause of a while.

I looked at him, completely confused. Is he insane? Why is he trying to convict me?

The San Jose county sheriff will now narrate the exact incidents that happened when a man wearing a hat walked forward and spoke.

“The police have raided the area where the San Jose Asylum is located. In fact there is no such institution in that area. We could only find the residence of Dr. Wary Jones with a placard displayed with ‘San Jose Asylum’…” and he paused for a while.

“We broke into the house and were more than surprised to see huge glass chambers as indicated by the doctor. But… but the glass chambers aren’t any state of the art treatment facilities but huge vats containing vinegar used to preserve the dead bodies that were lying in those vats,” and he looked at me.

“We have ultimately caught one of the most prolific serial killers in the history of US of A who for over a period of 29 years has kidnapped his victims and preserved all of them in the vats in the cellar of his house which he called himself, San Jose Asylum. This girl Jemina is his last victim.”

“The previous night, Jemina was walking along the street when the doctor kidnaps her and eventually leads her into his death trap. In this affray to save her life, Jemina broke two glass cylinders from which the bodies came out and the doctor still under his mental state thought that Jemina helped some of them to escape called the police and helped us catch him,” the sheriff concluded.

And he handed over two books to the judge and said, “these diaries named ‘The lines of sanity’ and ‘Living with the sane in an insane world’ would give a complete account of how he killed people.”

“No, this can’t be true, you people are insane,” I shouted my heart out. But none of them heeded to me.

“The doctor will be treated for his medical condition and the judgement will be pronounced after further notice from the curator of the treatment facility,” the judge said.

The next morning I was lead to the medical facility. The door opened and I slowly got down from the car. And I looked around. The place seemed familiar. The huge words read, “San Jose Asylum” struck my eyes like a lightning. And I shivered under fright.

They slowly lead me into the asylum and I saw the huge cylindrical glass chambers before me.

Even before I could understand what was happening, “Please, don’t let me into those chambers. I am not insane. Please…..”

The next day newspapers read, Dr. Wary Jones escaped from trial the previous night. And the judge as well the sheriff too went missing. The police stormed the house of Wary Jones and found the dead bodies of the judge and the sheriff in the cylindrical glass vats still preserved in vinegar. And Wary Jones is reportedly missing. The police however recovered a diary with the name ‘The mind of a psychopath’