Chapter 14: Chapter 12: Professor Harold Banks
The year is 1986. A young couple from England moved to India to continue their research for the Foundation. The two were part of a group of scientists who were sent to recover an anomaly from the Indian ocean.
Throughout their mission, they saw countless colleagues murdered in mysterious ways and the pain and misery that accompanied these deaths stayed with the couple forever. They ended up leaving the Foundation soon after and decided to stay in Mumbai located on the west coast of India. The two settles down quickly and suppressed all memories of the events that had taken place a few months ago.
Their love for each other soon resulted in the birth of a healthy son in 1989. Due to their English origin, the two were constantly faced with disgusted looks by the locals who never gave up the hatred they acquired through the years of oppression. They knew that their son would face this hatred as well and decided that it would be a good thing to move out of the country.
A few weeks later, the two quickly returned to England and named their son Harold.
Harold grew up with three close friends who he considered his brothers. The four of them were inseparable, and Harold's parents doubted that he would have such great friends in India.
The next few years would go by instantly as Harold grew up and graduated from high school. He now had to decide where he would lead his life. but the choice of his future came at the cost of being separated from the brothers he had made along the way.
He cherished the strong memories he had created with them and refused to let everything end. Despite all the pain that accompanied this separation, all four of them had already accepted that all good things must come to an end. They knew that one day, the four of them would walk in separate directions and soon drift further away.
Harold decided to continue studying the science of life, biology. Two more years passed and Harold enrolled into a Medical sciences college. His mind was affixed on helping others and he decided to take that obsession and make it a career.
Throughout his four years in college, Harold would slowly drift away from his parents. He didn't know if this was something that accompanied adulthood, or if it was because they hated him. He decided that it would be best not to approach this problem and instead focused on his studies.
A few more years passed and Harold finally finished his college years. All of his hardwork had paid off and he was finally capable of helping out those in need.
The day he graduated from his college, Harold received a phone call. It was his dad, and he said that there was something urgent that they needed to speak about.
Harold was worried about his parents' welfare. the two parties had barely spoken to each other for the past few years, only receiving a phone call or two once or twice a year during any holiday or their birthday. Harold returned home and was tightly hugged by his mother. He couldn't imagine how pained she must have been by letting her only son go after years of loving him.
The three of them sat down on the couch and spoke awkwardly. It was as if they were meeting each other for the first time.
"Harold we have something important to tell you." Harold's father spoke while endlessly fiddling with the sleeve of his t-shirt.
The two had decided to tell him about his past. Not their past though. They had to make sure he never came into contact with any anomalies. They had to make sure that he would never be involved with the Foundation.
In the past five years, the two had realised how truly corrupt the Foundation was. They said that they only tested on death row inmates, but the reality of the situation was that there weren't enough inmates in the world who were sentenced to death. If what the Foundation said was true, then they should have run out of inmates by now. So what then?
Who were the test subjects once the inmates ran out? Would it be petty thieves who had been jailed for pickpocketing or robberies? The two scientists wondered whether they had tested on any regular people under the guise that they were inmates.
"son, your mother and I had you when we were visiting India for our research. We had originally planned to stay there and raise you there, but we feared that the children there may pick on you because of our ancestry. We both feel like you should visit the country first. And experience what you never got to. I'm sure you understand."
Harold was confused. Why would his parents make such a big deal out of something so insignificant? There should be no reason for them to apologize for this. Unless they were hiding something. Harold wondered if there was another reason why they had returned to England from India, but he decided to leave the matter alone. If it was his parents he was sure they would have a good reason to hide the truth.
The conversation ended with the parents welcoming Harold back once again and he soon went into his room.
Night came soon and Harold continued to wonder why his parents decided to have that conversation. After a few minutes, he let the thought go and fell asleep.
The next few years passed by as Harold found a job and worked under a prolific surgeon known throughout the country. He worked for a few more years until he decided that his life needed a change.
In an unforeseen change in events, Harold decided to apply for a teaching license. He had decided that the only way for him to make his life interesting would be to surround himself with young minds that were full of excitement and craved knowledge.
His application was accepted and his title changed from Doctor Harold Banks to Professor Harold Banks. The next seven years went by as Harold shared all of his knowledge with students from across the world.
The day Harold turned 40 his life would change for the worse. It all started with one student named Rohit Shukla from India. At first, it was just him joking around in class while Harold taught. But then it got serious. Every day Rohit would disrupt class in hopes of getting everyone's attention. He would openly express his dismay towards Harold every time they saw each other. Harold knew that Rohit didn't like him.
Throughout the first year, Harold ignored Rohit. This made the boy act up even more than usual. Throughout the second year, Rohit would bump into Harold, nearly knocking down the 41-year-old. The first few times was fine by Harold. The kid was seeking out Harold's attention. And Harold had no intention of providing that.
They just increased the severity of Rohit's actions. The 6th of September was the day Harold lost it. He retaliated against Rohit who had just tackled him outside the lecture hall. "The audacity of this child!" Harold thought as he pinned the kid to the floor.
"Professor Banks!" Harold looked up to face the angry façade of the principal. Unbeknownst to Harold, the principal was related to Rohit who was smiling as his face was pushed against the floor.
"This is your first and only warning professor. Any harm done to a student will result in you being fired. I don't care if you're the greatest doctor in the goddamn world, harming any student will result in termination of your teaching license and your job."
Harold tried to retaliate but he knew it would be useless. He slowly stood up and walked away.
The next few months would be true hell for Harold. The restriction placed upon him by the principal just made it more convenient for Rohit. His acts got worse every day until the day Harold received a message on his phone.
Unexpectedly, one of the teachers who Harold had been seeing had asked him to meet behind the school building. He had gone on 3 dates with her and was excited to spend the rest of his life with her. He was still unsure whether the teacher felt the same way.
Harold left the office in excitement and ran to the back of the building as he imagined what was about to happen.
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