My Story of Life

                                                                      Hictor Finner was an actor par excellence. Coming from a very poor family he had struggled a lot to become one of the best actors of all time. His hard work and determination had won the hearts of many. After grabbing two Oscars for this blistering performances in “Wonderful Man” and “The Woman's Sight” he was making a movie with one of the most innovative directors in modern era namely John Simmoner. Shooting had commenced and there was a lot of expectations on Finner's shoulders to satisfy the fans of his which was increasing everyday.

                                                                    Titled “The Thriller” the movie was about the life of a man.  It was made a point not to publicly announce much more about the movie and shooting was kept top secret. Only thing that was known was that Finner was going through a lot of training sessions for bringing his best performance on screen.

                                                                     It was just a week since shooting had started. It was 9:00 pm in the night. John made it a point to rehearse a shoot scheduled for the next day. That assured better performances by the actors. By the time the rehearsal was over it was 10:15 pm. Hictor after a hectic day of work comes to the hotel. Having no mood to undress he just falls on the bed and sleeps. Suddenly he hears a loud scream. He gets up trying to clear his eyes and see his watch. It was 11:15pm. Hictor was a gentlemen. He was always there to help people whenever he could. He got up and looked down the corridor. Only one door was open, two rooms to his right, allowing the light to enter into the corridor. He walks down the corridor and enters the dimly lit room. There he saw, covered in blood, a woman's body. Even her face was hardly seen. It had stabs all over the stomach. There was a slit at the throat. Agitated, Hictor runs to his room and calls 911.

                                                                  The cops arrive and collect all the evidence possible. It was a professional murder planned such that there were not much clues left for the police to work on. On questioning Hictor he explains how he heard the scream and came to the room to find the corpse. There was nothing much he could tell and the cops thank for his immediate call. He felt happy he could help in some way. He was told that her name was Helena, a manager in an IT firm.

                                                                   

                                                                   The next day Hictor is unable to set his mind right after the incident he had encountered and asked John for a day of rest and he agreed. In two days, shooting had resumed and there was a need to change the location. The crew fly to Detroit to continue their shooting. As shooting progresses John becomes extremely impressed by Hictor's performance.

                                                                   One day in the sets a strange event occurs. One of the crew of the film comes panting and shouting explaining that he saw the assistant camera man of the movie dead in one of the rooms in the location. Shocked on hearing this, Hictor and John run to Room no 14. There they find Julius, his eyes wide open and his hands hanging from the sides of the bed. There was a mark of a piercing knife on his forehead. The crew didn't dare to touch him fearing they may be responsible for losing some evidence. The cops arrive at the scene of the crime and try to get all fingerprint's available. They file a case and detective Marx from the Scotland Yard is appointed to investigate the case.

                                                                  

                                                                  He questions everyone in the sets individually trying to get as much information as possible. Shooting remains canceled for a period of a month. Investigation was being carried on but it was in vain. John and Hictor were questioned the most, being the director and the lead actor. They share what ever they could giving all the information to the detective.

                                                                After a month, producers start questioning the progress of the movie and the director resumes shooting. Everything was going well,when after five days of shoot a terrible thing happens. One of the light men in the crew is found dead hanging from a rope in the sets. Marx rushes to the spot. He immediately orders the shooting to be canceled and demands the crew to stay in a hotel for fifteen days for questioning. They have no option but to abide by the rules.

                                                               After many sessions of questioning the detective is unable to draw a line. Just when he was about to question a crew member some intuition makes him think of a solution to the problem. He swivels his chair turning to the director. He asks the director to tell him the plot of the movie which he was currently shooting. The director hesitates,hinting that it was kept a secret. After a bit of persuasion the director tells him the story.

                                                              The movie was about a man who, due to the loss of his wife becomes depressed and slowly starts becoming mentally ill and starts killing people who come in his way or get into arguments with him. As the director starts elaborating on the story the detective gets a clue. What if Hictor himself, because of his involvement in the character had himself turned into a killer? The idea keeps coming to him but he doesn't express this thought. After hearing the complete story the detective thanks the director and leaves.

                                                              The next day Marx questions Hictor on the preparations he had done for the movie. Hictor explains how he had researched on behavior of people who were mentally affected. As Marx started digging deeper into what Hictor had prepared, he gets to know how Hictor had prepared the screenplay by exploring new ways to murder people. Marx now gets a clear idea on who the murderer is. The only point was that there was not enough proof.

                                                              Hictor is asked to come to the neural and psychiatric centre. Having no idea on why he was called, he goes there. Top doctors from the leading psychiatric research centers in the country assemble there. The psychiatrist start questioning Hictor. Slowly as he digs deeper into his character in the movie he senses a change in Hictor's behavior. Hictor starts yelling at him and suddenly reaches out to a surgical knife and tries to attack the doctor. The personnel in the hospital quickly hold Hictor by his hands and legs and rest him on his chair.

                                                             The doctors explain John that this is a case where too much involvement in his character had led Hictor to become that character itself. This was not exactly a case of multiple personality disorder. Only conclusion doctors could come out with was that maybe the story  was running in his head that particular time leading to his dangerous actions. The whole plot was clear to the doctors now. It was Hictor who was responsible for these deaths. Marx gets the information on the death Hictor had encountered in the hotel. Marx now gets a clear picture in his mind. The only problem was that, while collecting the details from people Marx had interviewed, Hictor had a perfect alibi on every occasion.

                                                              The only way to conclude the case was in the hands of the  specialist doctors by making him accept his mistakes, from the horses mouth itself. The sad thing was that Hictor never knew he was responsible for the deaths. Keeping him under complete attention under the doctors and luring the story out of his mind, Hictor(or his subconscious memory which was responsible for the deaths) finally tells what actually had happened.

                                                               “I was actually reading a book that day on how to slit the throat of a person and murder him. That's when a  woman came to my room asking for water. As I was talking with her she was telling me that being a woman and a wife was the worst thing that had happened to her. After she went I just took a knife entered her room and slit her throat.” - After hearing this the doctors realize that Hictor was physically responsible for killing the woman but it was his subconscious mind. The “real” Hictor had heard the scream earlier but assumed that he had heard it only after he had come back to bed. He killed her because she was of the opinion that being a wife was a worst feeling. Whereas in the movie he has lost his wife and he becomes mentally ill because he starts missing her.

                                                             

                                                                “Similarly I had come to the sets earlier than anyone else that day when I was alone with Julius. As we were talking he spoke terribly about his wife which I didn't like and I killed him. Similarly the light man I killed was earliest to come to the shooting to set the lights when we had arguments about personal life as a husband” - This was all Hictor's subconscious mind narrating what all it had done. Hictor always had an alibi because these incidents happened in minutes before he actually returned to his hotel. When Hictor was interviewed by Marx regarding his activities his subconscious mind failed to tell the truth and he always proclaimed that he never went to the shooting spot so early.

                                                               Here was a man, because of nothing but his passion for acting never realized what he was doing when he was shooting for a movie. Here was a man who had to be treated for years and still be kept under close watch for his activities. Here was a man, who's involvement in his career was solely responsible for his career to come to an end........

                                                    These were the last lines in the biography titled “My Story of Life” by John Simmoner.