Episode 29
Luis Berfeil was a medical student. He jokingly asked him in a note:
Did you take the ‘green pill’?
Enrique Sullivan had taken the ‘green pill’ after an injury. He couldn’t sleep without it. He vaguely remembered a nurse, a stranger to him, giving him the ‘green pill’ and calming him down, even though he couldn’t see at the time. Was this a side effect of the ‘green pill’?
At that moment, Enrique began to suspect the true cause of his insomnia. Around the same time, Andrei brought in a second doctor.
The middle-aged male doctor appeared reserved and cautious. He claimed to have treated someone with similar symptoms during the war.
“Your brain is showing you hallucinations. Are you familiar with the prefrontal cortex? If you remove it, you’ll be fine.”
“How do I remove it?”
The doctor produced a pristine doctor’s bag and placed it on the table. It was a picture-perfect doctor’s bag. Anything that emerged from it seemed like it could cure any ailment.
The doctor then pulled out a long awl, almost as long as the distance from Enrique’s wrist to his elbow.
“Insert this awl into the nostril or the eye and stab the brain…”
Before Enrique could respond, Andrei kicked the doctor in the rear, sending him running.
After shutting the townhouse door, Andrei returned and spoke awkwardly to Enrique, who was still in shock.
“He seemed fine when he talked to me.”
Enrique rubbed his face in frustration. Andrei left the city again in search of a third doctor.
While Andrei was away, Enrique turned to the library in La Spezia.
One of the advantages of a city untouched by war was its intact records. In the newspapers of La Spezia, Enrique eagerly searched for articles about the ‘green pill.’
He found many accounts of people who had taken the ‘green pill’—hallucinations, arson, violent tendencies, even murderous impulses.
Enrique began to feel like a monster that should never have been allowed to exist.
“This is bad,” he muttered instead of berating himself. “I never thought my mother’s most expensive possession would turn out to be trash.”
A librarian approached him kindly, offering guidance with a smile.
“Please, no noises in the library.”
Overwhelmed by his frustration, Enrique—already teetering on the edge of sanity—felt an almost uncontrollable urge to shout at the librarian.
However, as a gentleman of distinction, Enrique resisted. He merely thought about it without acting on his impulse.
—
Luis Berfeil had a talent for enraging people with his seemingly gentle words. He left a note that read:
La Spezia is a beautiful city. You seem like an arrogant fool who doesn’t think you need to meet a woman. Since I got slapped by that woman in your stead, I’ll borrow some of your clothes.
Below that was another line:
Damn it, how dare you?
Enrique had just woken up after three sleepless days and nights, only to find himself covered in scabs. He realized he had been asleep for days, during which time other personalities had taken over his body.
What are you doing with someone else’s body? he thought.
But rather than getting angry, Enrique acted. To his dismay, he discovered that during his absence, all the servants had been dismissed from Sullivan’s townhouse.
Dragging his aching body to the commercial district, Enrique purchased several volumes of fine stationery. He avoided using any with the Sullivan family emblem, knowing how dangerous that could be.
He hoped that anything written by him—or any other personality—on this neutral stationery would be dismissed as the idle musings of an aristocrat with too much time.
Enrique left a demand for the other personalities:
If you’re going to use this body, at least write a diary so I can understand what’s going on.
One of the personalities replied:
That’s a good idea. I’m tired of pretending to be you anyway.
Another responded bluntly:
It’s annoying.
A third, previously unknown personality, simply wrote:
Okay.
Enrique froze. A fourth personality? He couldn’t afford to dwell on it, though. The first high-society banquet was approaching, and Enrique had other pressing concerns.
His mother, Mrs. Sullivan, had recently recovered from the shock of their separation and had sent him several portraits of eligible women.
“These are the girls with the largest dowries,” she had written.
One of these portraits included Riella Mollet, although Mrs. Sullivan had added her more as a precaution. She suspected Enrique might rebel against her choices.
Enrique laid out the portraits and tried to get the other personalities to memorize the faces, but they refused. Luis said,
I’m worried about these fragile ladies who can’t take care of themselves.
Garcia, on the other hand, scoffed:
Are you crazy? I can’t even figure out how to put on your shoes.
Enrique glanced at his shoes—classic double monk loafers. It was absurd that someone sharing his body couldn’t manage such a simple task.
He clicked his tongue in annoyance. How could such fools take up residence inside him?
The personalities had used his body as they pleased, wandering in La Spezia and engaging in questionable activities. Enrique warned them sternly:
If the honor of the Sullivan family is tarnished because of you, I will destroy you all.
Luis responded cheekily:
You’d have to reach out and stab yourself in the neck first.
Garcia added ominously:
I can kill you too.
However, Garcia also left a cryptic note:
I will cooperate if you do the same.
Enrique was skeptical. Cooperation? With the people hijacking his body?
At the time, he couldn’t understand what Garcia meant. It later became clear.
Andrei eventually brought a third doctor, only for Garcia to punch the man for suggesting a risky procedure. Andrei returned with a bandaged nose and explained the situation to Enrique, who couldn’t help but laugh.
Finally, Luis Berfeil, the medical student, offered his own take:
“If this all started because of the ‘green pill,’ then the only solution to cure it might be the ‘green pill’ itself.”
—