Continued from Saturday, May 20, 2023

It was precisely after seven days when Toye woke up from deep slumber that he realised he was in a psychiatric hospital. He was wearing a strait waistcoat. He had been placed on sleep-inducing drugs and heavy sedatives to calm him down. He looked around, searching for his girlfriend and his mobile phone.

“Where am I, and what am I doing here?” he asked for the umpteenth time.
“Toye, my son, you’re in the psychiatric hospital,” his mum replied him.
“By Jove, why did you have to bring me here yeye mi?” he asked, trying to turn his body on the sick bed.
“You went mad and crazy my son, I have always warned you to take things easy with life, but you wouldn’t listen, see the end result now,” his mum softly replied.

He turned and looked around properly, and all he could see were patients looking wild and weird, some with chains in their legs and arms. He was completely shocked and electrified with surprise.

“My God, what has come over me?” he asked himself.
“Where is my babe, and mobile phone Yeye mi?” he added.
“Your babe must have gone with another guy as we speak Toye, your phone is with your dad. How are you feeling now my son?”
“Ha, this is big trouble for me!” he sighed and murmured to himself.
“Toye, I have to go now, the psychiatrist doctor is coming to see you. I will see you tomorrow. Just be good to yourself and remain calm.”
“Please, mummy don’t leave me here I beg you in God’s name…” he pleaded, with tears streaming down his brows.

Toye’s mum left the mental home that day leaving his son behind on the sick bed. The following day was the turn of his dad to visit the young man at the hospital to see for himself how he was improving. Days and weeks started to roll by, Toye was still in the psychiatric hospital.

In a flash, the whole world became very lonely, boring and uninteresting to him. He cried and shed bitter tears while thinking of his terrible state and condition. None of his friends and girlfriends came asking after him during these trying times. They had all deserted him.

He felt like a lonely bird without shelter in the wilderness, thirsty for love and affection. For months, he stood gazing at inmates of the mental hospital how they all ranted loony sentences that made no sense at all. Some even died right beside him.

He wept and called on the Almighty God on daily basis to come to his rescue. He actually saw how mad men and women looked and how there was no difference between him and these people.

Months after months, Toye remained at the psychiatric hospital hoping for a miracle to bail him out of this self-induced incarceration. He knew he was the genuine cause of his situation. He continued to drink the waters of sorrow, pains and loneliness.

When it was exactly one year, the Head Psychiatrist approved that he should be discharged. He became the happiest man on earth! His parents took him to a good salon where he was giving a nice haircut. He mused to himself when he entered his room and meditated unto God that day.

He knelt down and whispered: “I thank my Maker, that in midst of judgment He has remembered mercy. I humbly beg my Redeemer, to give me strength to lead henceforth a purer life than I have done hitherto!”

He sincerely accepted God in his life and he became a preacher of the Word.

He later had a wife and kids, turned a new leaf and became a prosperous and successful personality in the society. He lived happily ever after.