The Mad Scientist

The mad scientist

Dr Jacob Jaminson. Genius. Psychopath. Disillusioned. Each of these characteristics moulded his character. What does it take to bring a once revered and famous doctorate in physiotherapy and cardiology to the dark side of the medical world? Some say money, others say sheer power. But for this particular man, all it took was the death of his beloved daughter, Cara. It seems ironical as Cara means creator of peace, but her death caused anything but that.

The moment Dr Jaminson turned to the other side was the 27 February 2002. That day, he had just received his new car and he was feeling good. All seemed well on that day. However, just as he wanted to start up his lovely new Mazda 4, his phone rang, the irritating sound of the Sony Erricson's default ringtone piercing through his ear and into his brain. He swore, making a mental note to himself to change his ringtone from the current one which was driving him up the wall. Looking at the screen, he saw the words: Wife. Dreading the conversation, he accepted the call. He supposed his wife would scream at him for not making it to dinner again and possibly suspecting him for having a mistress.

That was far from the truth. The moment he picked up the call, he heard a scream easily likened to that of a banshee, and cries of pure sorrow. Even so, referring to the cries as sorrow would be a gross understatement. Through the cries, Dr Jaminson could make out a few words, something along the lines of "Cara..."*sob*"she's...she's"*wail...* "gone."

He could not believe it. Without bothering about the speed limit, he sped all the way to the hospital, nearly causing a few accidents. He sprinted to the emergency room, pushing aside nurses and ignoring hospital beds with patients in them. Despite protests from the hospital nurses and doctors, he barged into the emergency room and stared at the lifeless body of his beloved daughter. Tears of anguish trickled down his cheeks. It almost seemed as god had played a sick joke on him. Imagine, him, top on the scoreboards for most amount of heart attack patients saved, and yet it only took Eisenmenger's Syndrome to take his daughter away from him. Why, why couldn't he read the signs? The most obvious being when his daughter asked him why her fingertips were blue. Then, he simply dismissed it as Cara playing a trick on him by colouring her fingertips blue. But now, he realised it was the most basic sign of Eisenmenger's Syndrome.

From that day on, Dr Jaminson wasn't himself anymore. He would spend whole weeks in his lab at a time, and barely ate or slept. He grew a beard, due to infrequent shaves, and his hair was a complete mess. Even though it had been three years since Cara's death, he still could not get over it. Some days, he would scream to himself, others, not a sound came from his lab. He seemed determined to find a cure for that disease...

As the months passed, Dr Jaminson grew more eccentric. He would imagine that Cara was beside him and joke with her. He would occasionally say "Cara,