“…. It has been two weeks since the minister has been hospitalized due to the apparent chest pain, yet there is no report on his current state of health. If sources are to be believed, the minister is currently suffering from a psychotic break and has been moved to the psychiatric ward…”

The TV Remote was hurtled toward the TV screen, shattering it. The Minister stood angrily, in the centre of the room, trembling with rage. In a span of few minutes, a team of nurses and doctors swooped into the room. The Personal Assistant of the Minister approached the enraged man, as if a parent would approach a hysterical child.

“Sir, What is this?”, the assistant asked calmly.

“They are telling that I am going MAD!!! I AM NOT MAD, THEY ARE!!!” He angrily said, pointing towards the now-destroyed TV. His assistant sighed and gave him the mineral water, which he always carried with him.

The minister took a gulp of water and sat down on the bed. The assistant sat beside him, rubbing his back. His eyes, full of concern, bore into the minister.

The nurses and the doctors were huddled to one side of the spacious room. The janitors were busy cleaning the shards of the broken screen. All of them kept their distance from the minister; they knew, that the only person capable enough to approach the minister in his hysterical fits was the assistant.

“It is those… ghosts…” The minister spoke in a hushed tone, barely audible to his assistant. “They are always whispering in my ears, they are moving around, knocking things… I don’t need a doctor… I need a priest…” he mumbled.

“Of course Sir, we will get a priest to purify and bless the surroundings.” The assistant replied, while signaling for the doctors to come forward and check upon him.

***

“It is absolutely baffling.” the doctor stated, shaking his head. ” There is nothing wrong with him physically, moreover his symptoms are not indicative of any psychotic episodes… or any psychiatric disorders.”

“Then what is wrong with him?” the assistant hissed at the doctor. “Explain what is happening to him!” he demanded.

“I can’t!” the doctor replied in frustration.

“I…..I give up, you should just call a priest, or a dozen, how much ever suits you…” the doctor continued, throwing up his hands in frustration while the shocked assistant stood, mouth agape.

After a minute or so, the assistant spoke ,” Is this how, a doctor should speak?”.

The doctor didn’t answer.

“IS. THIS. HOW. A. DOCTOR. SHOULD. SPEAK?!” the assistant’s loud voice reverberated inside the doctor’s office.

The doctor sighed, and motioned the assistant to sit down, as he sat down in his seat.

“Let’s go back a little… this whole thing started a year ago, right? “

“Right, he thought that the cause was the stress which was weighing on him, so he tried to lessen the workload, but it was of no use.”

“And I presume, that I am not the first doctor to be consulted?”

“We have been to four other doctors before, but even they couldn’t find the cause.”

“The voices were heard only at night, isn’t it?”

“According to him, the voices were heard at 3 am in the night…. at first. Now, he hears them at any time of the day – the time is unpredictable. He would, at times, approach us, the staff, and ask if we could hear it; meanwhile, we were able to hear only his and our voices, and not the demonic voices.”

The doctor, again let out a big sigh and sat silently.

The assistant got up. “It has been a long day Doctor.” he said. “I will go home now. Let us meet tomorrow at 8 in the morning and discuss the course of the action.”

“Are you going home now?” the doctor sat up straight, with an alarmed look.

“Why not? Is there anything I can do by staying here?”

“Actually yes, you can help us by staying here…”

“I don’t wish to waste my time doctor.”

“Please, there are a few things I would like to confirm.”

“Like what?”

Suddenly a small group of policemen came inside the room and held the assistant.

The doctor held up a familiar bottle to the assistant’s face.

“Didn’t you put hallucinogenic drugs into the water and made him consume it?”

“What….w-what are y-you saying?”

“DIDN’T YOU!!!”

“How could this be possible…. he said that the drugs couldn’t be easily detected….”

“Well, in such sensitive cases, we pull out all the stops…. ALL. THE. STOPS.”

The doctor smirked as the hapless assistant was taken away by the policemen.