He felt his fingers. Sore and swollen. He brought it up to his face. This couldn 't be his hands.

It felt detached from his body, or maybe it didn't. He looked a round, but he was engulfed in darkness. A darkness so opaque, it seemed to crash down on him. Crushing him. His head throbbed. His whole body drenched in sweat as panic struck him. There has to be an exit. He gets up from the floor but an a ttempt to stand up left him crashing to the eternal darkness below him. His eye lids felt heavy. His mouth dry. Why was he here? He had no recollection of how h e got here. His sense of time, direction, location seemed to have completely fai led him. The crushing darkness lasted for as long as he could remember, but that's when h e noticed the dancing of a light beam. Like a splinter of brightness, it played on the bare, dark walls. Edgar's eyes lit up. For the first time he knew he was alive. His eyes searched for the source of the beam. It was coming from one of t he walls. Edgar ignoring the excruciating pain dragged his life-less feet toward s the source. A window? Edgar wasn't expecting that. Has he lost his last ties to sanity?. "No " he assured himself "this is real". But how? Why? The confusion pricked him lik e a thousand needles falling piercing into his flesh. But the window was masked with a curtain. There was something outside the window . Something was happening. Something bright. .Leaning against the wall, he was b reathing right into the dust laden curtains. The pain increased. Torturing him. Why? Why was this happening? Why the pain? The curtain suddenly drew open. As if the hands of god wanted Edgar to see somet hing. The view was bewildering. An inferno. Bright as the sun. Flames rising and dancing. Edgar's eyes watered. The view. It was too bright. It was too hot. His hands went to the curtains but they wouldn't budge. He pulled with all his stre ngth but in vain. Edgar covered his eyes with his hands. The flames. They were t oo close. He could swear that he even smelt smoke in the room. But the queerness of the moment took a whole different turn when a voice, a very distinct voice r eached his ears. A woman's voice. "Edgar...Edgar.." Edgar opened his eyes. The inferno had died down and from within those flames, he could see a figure. Yes. She was a woman. But she was burning. She was in flames. Her face. Beautiful. But why was she the re? Quite instinctively Edgar said the name "Emily.." Edgar was surprised. His head was throbbing. But why did he take that name? The figure was much closer now. Ed gar had a good view of her. She seemed very sad. Her face brought back vivid memories. Flashbacks of him and her. Did he know her? "I loved you..but..you..you killed me" Edgar was blank. What? He killed her? How could he, when he didn't even know who she was? "WHO ARE YOU?" Edgar thought he screamed that out , but what came out was barely a whisper. The figure looked down at him through the window "You said you were never going to leave me..but you left me..alone..to die?" Edgar couldn't take it anymore. "I don't KNOW who you are, who I am, what I have done..I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!"

His face twisted with the pain. She... Whoever she was.. was causing this pain. The figure ,her face white, emotionless turned away from him. But he couldn't let her go. Watching her turn away caused a pain much deeper tha n what he had ever experienced before. "No" Edgar screamed. "Don't go...I want to know..I want to know..I can't take th is anymore" A tear trickled down Edgar's cheek. The pain was hardly physical any more. It was his head. It was surely his head. She walked to him. Her face barely inches away from the window. Edgar raised his face to her's. He looked into her eyes. And what he saw was something so beauti ful. A sunny day, a Ferris wheel,a roller coaster, and by the roller coaster, a beach . The sun setting across the limitless horizon.The setting sun reflected by the water.. She put her arms around his neck and laughed. Her laugh was the most bea utiful thing he had ever heard. "I love you so much" she whispered into his ear. "I love you too" he said pulling her close, "I'm never letting you go". So beau tiful. His Emily. "You..you are emily" Edgar said. She nodded her head. The heat waves were brushi ng against her golden coloured hair. The pale-ness of her skin illuminated by th e rising inferno. Edgar suddenly felt lost. Like his own memory was a library where he was just a visitor. He felt different now. He felt more himself. He existed, for her. His E mily. "Emily..it's you.." His eyes were full of tears. And he knew it wasn't the brigh tness, but the emptiness which she had left in his life. "I have missed you so much darling" Edgar said. Emily stood there. Motionless. "You said you would never leave me" Emily whispered, "you never came back" "But I did!! I came back!!" His throat felt constricted "To kill me?" The words from her shattered Edgar's heart. Then he remembered. Emily. Lying next to him. The rising sun casting rays through the open window on to their bed. She looked beautiful even in her sleep. He wished he didn't have t o leave her to go to Germany. She opened her eyes sleepily and smiled. "Come bac k soon to me, I think I miss you already" she said, half asleep. He smiled. "I loved you Emily... I still love you" Edgar pleaded. "You killed me. You broke my heart" Emily spoke. The trip had gone well. He was happy. He came home early to surprise Emily. He c ould hear voices. He smiled. She is watching TV. He pushed the door open, he was going to be together with his love again, and enters. Edgar felt possessed. Memories. Flashes. Visions. Feelings. All unknown to him yet so very known. He saw them. On the couch. Laughing. Anger. Jealousy. Betrayal. Hurt. His best f riend. His love. BETRAYED HIM. He went to the bedroom. They had not heard him ye t. He takes 0.35. . He walks into the living room. The television is on. They lo

ok at him in horror. "Yes. You shot us both. How could you doubt me? Mark was your best friend. He ha d come home to watch a movie. You killed us. " Edgar felt helpless, clueless. "No..NOOO!..This didn't happen. No..It didn't.." Emily's voice suddenly was louder than ever "YES! IT HAPPENED. And you. You turn ed into an animal. You were hardly human anymore. You burnt the house. You left me there. You left Mark there. You SHOT US AND LEFT US TO BURN!" The heat of the fire burned against his face. The house they had lived in. The h ouse where he was betrayed in. The memories. His Emily. Burning before his eyes. "NO ..NO..NOOO.." Edgar was screaming but his voice was subdued by his guilt. "I loved you." His head was in his hands but the window. The sight. He couldn't ta ke his eyes off it. "Your love was the reason for my death..your madness.." Emily was now looking di fferent. The flames were affecting her skin. She was burning too. "No..NO...I am going to save you" Edgar screamed. He tried to stand but couldn't . He struggled to break the window. He felt helpless. His vision blurred from th e flames and the tears in his eyes. "No..don't go.." The cold winter wind. He could hear the sirens in the distance. He just killed t he woman he loved. And then darkness. Complete darkness. And pain. "Goodbye Edgar..you are the reason for my fate..you did this.." Emily whispered. "NOO!!!..." Edgar screamed. He pulled at the curtains. But they were stuck there . He couldn't avoid the horrendous sight. He pulled with the little strength tha t he had left. Screaming. But in vain. The curtains never moved. Emily turned to ashes in front of him. Edgar dropped to the floor. "How could he?" he thought to himself. "How?". And then the darkness swallowed him. His emotions pulling him to the deepest dun geons of guilt. Sadness. Sorrow. He didn't deserve a life anymore. "Emily.." The last word he uttered before losing all senses. Half an hour later "So did it work ,Captain?" Russel asked quite unsure of what he had just witness ed. "It has never failed us ..never.." ,the Captain said. "Captain, the human mind..a very remarkable object isn't it?" Russel said. He co uldn't believe that he was just allowed to witness one of the most controversial new punishments introduced in the legal system. "Remarkable? You gotta be joking", the Captain exclaimed, "It's the single most valuable thing God has gifted us with. It's powers are yet to be discovered. Tr ust me, the Curtain Project utilizes an atrociously small part of the capacity of the human brain. Barely negligible." "Treating violent criminals by exposing them to their own deeds. Wow. Kind of un

realistic. I never thought this new system could work. I can't believe I just sa w a case with my own eyes" Russel said. "You talk as if we do some magic here. It's a military funded project to change the way criminals are treated. That's all.",the Captain scoffed. He knew trying to make a Civilian understand would be a futile attempt. Let alone a journalist. "But Captain, I know this is a very secret business, but people want to know wha t you guys do here." Russel proceeded, " A lot of reports come in newspapers wit h wild theories about how you "mentally torture" criminals into acceptance of cr imes committed by them and this makes them emotionally unstable to lead a health y life later." The Captain looked suspiciously "And I thought you were one of the good reporter s. Haa..all of you belong to the same breed. I should have known." Contempt spre ad across the Captain's strong face. Project Curtain was his brain child. These journalists knew nothing. "Let me tell you something. Don't get swayed by the n onsense those vultures scream out. We at Project Curtain are helping criminals w ho otherwise would have to rot in jail. We help them become better human beings ." Russel ,still confused, asked, "But what I saw through the camera, what was happ ening to that guy..Edgar? Yeah? He didn't look like he was in good shape at all. " "After committing a crime like that? Nobody can be in good shape. Trust me. And if you are talking about the way he was thrashing around a room and feeling like a completely mind-less and memory-less mad man..well..that's the hypnotic drug doing it's job." ,the Captain said. "Hypnotic drug. Oh yes.You people use benzodiazepine derivatives I suppose?" Rus sel asked. The Captain just nodded as he picked up a new cigar from his case, offering one to Russel which he calmly refused. "You see, it is necessary. These criminals. Their minds are so taken over by vio lence. To have any effect on their emotions, we have to free their mind complete ly for some time at least. It gives us the window to attack their emotions. The dose is extremely small. As you have seen, the effect lasts only for 30 minutes or so. For the criminal it may seem like an eternity 'cause he has no sense at a ll of what's going on." the Captain said, adjusting the cigar in his mouth. "And the curtain? The window? All the sound? Visuals?" Russel asked. "The curtain is automated. We control it's opening and closing remotely. Audio a nd visuals are smart use of 3D Perception technology. Plus the man in there is s o senseless, he can't differentiate between a dream and reality can he?" the Cap tain chuckled. Russel smiled but quickly asked his next question. "But what about the heat? And an occasional smell of smoke?" "Are you in the 19th Century?!" the Captain remarked. "We have our ways. All ill usions, I assure you." Suddenly it all made sense to Russel. He felt stupid having asked those question s. The answers seemed painfully obvious "And what happens after the job is done? " He continued.

"Well, the criminal is taken to a psychiatric institution where his character an d personality is redeveloped, reconstructed from scratch. Like writing a new sto ry on a blank piece of paper." the Captain said. "And do they remember anything?" Russel asked. His hands hurt from the note taki ng. He should have just brought along his recorder. "No. The guilt makes them forget almost everything. As I said, the human mind ha s powers we cannot begin to fathom. It has the ability to mold the fabric of rea lity into what is best. We just give it the extra push." the Captain said Suddenly the phone rang. The Captain picked it up. "Another one?...okay..hmm...f ine..send him to CEF-5..I will be there in a few minutes." The Captain got up. "We got another case in our hands. This one has robbed a ban k and murdered 10 people in his quest for a few extra bucks. Too much work to do .." Russel stood up too. "Can I join you again today,captain? For this case? Please? I won't intrude... much.." The Captain murmured to himself "The things they make me do for good PR" "You said something?" Russel asked. "Get your coat. We work fast here. C'mon." the Captain said. And they both left the room.