15 CRAZED

Jay.

I had to make sure my brain wasn't playing tricks on me again so I reached out and touched his face but flinched a little when I realized he was real. He was really standing before me looking more fresh than the last time I'd seen him.

He moved closer to hug me but I only stepped backwards not allowing him to touch me. I guess he got the message since he didn't come any closer. He put his hands back into his pocket and smiled at me wearily. He was wearing a black leather jacket and with a white T-shirt coupled with a pair of black rouged jeans and his white shoes complemented the whole outfit.

"How are you?" he asked still wearing that charming smile of his. I was still shocked and dumbfounded to talk so I didn't say anything. I simply looked away.

"I'm staying with them now" Sebastian informed me and I realized he meant Jay's family when he said 'them'. "Are you okay?" Sebastian asked when I still didn't say anything. I simply nodded without uttering a word.

Before either of them could say anything else the nurse had walked in through the door, "You have to go now. She's not supposed to be having visitors" said the dark, chubby nurse. They hadn't even spent up to ten minutes.

"We'll come back soon to get you out of here" Sebastian assured me before heading towards the door.

"Bye" Jay waved before they both left me to my loneliness once more.

I didn't want them to go but I still couldn't tell them that. And even if I did, it would make no difference. I hated being alone because I didn't trust my own self anymore. As a matter of fact, I hated myself. My own skin irritated me.

Over the days, my body had become too sensitive for its own good. I would scream whenever the male nurses touched me with their rough hands. Every skin contact felt like a flashback, a reminder of Uncle Harry's rough hands on me.

I used to think only the male nurses had that effect on me but from the way I'd reacted when Jay was about to hug me, I now realized that definitely, all males had this effect on me.

But I hugged Sebastian.

I didn't want to believe it but aunt Thelma had been right when she said I'd eventually loose my mind in here. I couldn't tell if it was because of whatever they injected me daily or if it was just because I was surrounded by crazy people.

Nevertheless, it still made me hate myself more because I felt nothing in particular. I was simply a void of emotions and the remaining sanity in me was fighting a lost battle.

Just end it all. It was that voice again. The voice that always gave me what seemed like the only solution of peace.

You are useless already. No one cares about you. They won't even notice that you're dead.

The voice in my head kept tormenting me. It was loud, clear and constant. Maybe I should listen to it.

__________________

Mattias Psychiatric Hospital was nothing close to what I'd imagined a normal psychiatric hospital in Nigeria to look like.

It was neat and we'll facilitated. I kept wondering why aunt Thelma would bring me to such a place if she really wanted to punish me. Although I was already punishing myself already.

The place had a dining hall. A very large dining hall where the patients would come to eat and socialize according to one of the nurses. Can mentally unstable people really socialize?

They had separated the patients into two sections. One half of the building was where the violent (demon possessed) patients were kept and they were never allowed out of their rooms unless they were going to have their baths. These were also the folks that mostly screamed at night.

The other half of the building was where the more stable patients resided. In other words, these guys weren't violent but they still had mental health issues. For example, the guy that keeps looking up to the ceiling and counting invisible items and the woman that keeps smiling at the floor. These people were most times allowed to come out and 'socialize'. 

I searched for a manageable place to sit as I carried my food around the large hall. I didn't want to risk sitting close to a person that was too crazy or irritating.

Every seat was filled except the one next to a girl that kept looking at me with wide eyes. Her eyes followed every move I made and that made me turn around a few times to confirm if I was the one she was staring at. It suddenly felt like she was asking me to come sit with her, just by looking at me.

She scared me but I had no other choice so I eventually settled down next to her since my food was getting cold anyway and no one likes cold yam.

I ate my food silently and with the corner of my eyes, I could still see her wide eyes on me. What was her problem? I decided to pretend like I didn't see her and keep eating. I felt so uncomfortable and uneasy.

"Who's the girl behind you?" her voice startled me as I immediately dropped the slice of yam in my hand to turn around. There was no one behind me.

"W-who?" I mumbled looking frightened. I had no idea what she was talking about. Her voice sounded so cold and firm at the same time. The way she moved her brown eyes, you'd think she was a robot.

"The girl behind you" she repeated and I turned around again to meet face to face with... nothing. "She's talking to you but you don't seem to be hearing her, do you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about" I said to her firmly and she smiled. This girl has definitely lost it.

"The girl is tall, brown skinned with small lips and long eyelashes" she said while squinting her eyes a little.

If I didn't know better I'd say she was describing... "Aisha" I voiced out my thought.

"You do know her" the girl said.

"What is she saying?" I decided to play along with her.

She was about to say something when the male nurses announced that lunch time was over. Most people stood up and matched to their various rooms and the mystery girl didn't get to say anything else.

Was she actually telling the truth? I had no idea.

_________________

I couldn't sleep that night just like every other night. I kept thinking of what that girl had said. It didn't make sense to me but it sounded so real.

So she could see spirits? But Aisha wasn't dead. Was she?

It had been almost a month already. I had no idea of what was going on in the outside these walls. I just hoped Aisha was okay wherever she was.

___________________

I searched for mystery girl in the dinning hall until I found her but the seat next to her was occupied by the smiling woman. An idea popped into my head.

"Shola," I called the woman by her name when I'd gotten to their table. She looked up at me still smiling, "You see that fine nurse there..." I pointed to one of the male nurses at the entrance, "...He said I should call you. He said he likes you so much. He wants you to be his wife"

"Really?" she asked now grinning and I nodded. She immediately stood up and made her way to the nurse still smiling sheepishly.
"What was that for?" the mystery girl asked as soon as I took over Shola's chair. The mystery girl actually sounded like a normal person which made me reconsider my thought about how crazy she was.

"We have unfinished business" I replied while looking sternly at her.

She simply nodded her head and said, "My name is Prisca by the way"

"I'm Rachael" I smiled and she returned it.

"To be honest, I was also hoping I'd see you again because your friend kept haunting my dreams last night. This has never happened with any spirit before—"

"Wait, what do you mean by that?" I cut Prisca off with my question.

"I have this... ability... I guess, to communicate with the dead. That's why I'm here..." she stared down at the floor while she explained. My mouth was left wide open after she'd said that.

"Okay... That's.... Interesting. I guess. And so scary" I admitted. "But wait, from the description you gave me yesterday, this particular friend of mine isn't dead, so..."

"Maybe you're thinking of the wrong person" said Prisca. We both kept quiet for a while as we watched Shola being dragged back to her room after she'd tried to romance the male nurse I sent her to.

Prisca and I chuckled slightly at that.

"This girl..." Shola started, "She was trying to tell you that one of your friends were in danger. I think... Aisha or something"

"Aisha. In danger? How?" I asked
"I don't know, the only thing I kept hearing last night was, 'save Aisha'" Shola further explained. "Personally, I think it's a spirit who has reached out to you before that's reaching out again"

"But there's no spirit that has reached out..." it was then that realization hit me. She had appeared in my dream the previous year to warn me about Aisha and Feyi.

Divine.