When Joseph woke up that day, all he could see was darkness. Was it the day or the night? Joseph couldn't distinguish. It was so pitch black that his sense of direction was useless. As every person would do, he stretched his hands as far as he could, in order to feel where he was. His hands could make up the edges of the surface on which he laid. He couldn't stretch his hands very far. They seemed tied to something. His back and butt cheeks felt very comfy on that soft surface that supported them. He tried moving his feet but couldn't. He felt a knob tied around his knuckles, preventing his legs from moving. He tried pulling but it was in vain. In the position he was in, he couldn't muster sufficient energy to pull effectively. After all those investigations, he concluded that he was laying on a bed and tied in an X-shape. Since he couldn't do anything apart from waiting in that position, he tried recalling how he landed in that position. But nothing came. He, who was always very confident of his capacity to remember was tied in an unsettling position, without any clue of how he arrived there. As he strained his brain to remember, he began having severe migraines. It ached so much that, it knocked him out. When he came back to himself, there were beams of light rays illuminating part of the room. Now he could distinguish his left from his right. To his left, there was nothing. And to his right, there was also nothing. His room was empty. No chair, no table, nothing apart from the bed he laid upon. When he looked back to his right, he noticed that the wall had several holes in it. It was through those holes that light was channelled into his room. 'How could those numerous holes illuminate the whole room?' Joseph asked himself. He looked to the left and then to the ceiling and noticed that they were painted in a silver-mirror colour. It would reflect the rays in all sorts of directions. A very ingenious system. Joseph did not know that that system was only used in his room. He would soon discover with a lot of grief, as to why he was in that grim room. At least, there was light to illuminate Joseph's thoughts. He began pulling on his chains, but they were well tied. He couldn't free himself, even if he had the hulk's strength. As he was fighting with his chains, the door opened, letting in a female janitor. She entered with her back first, hence she couldn't notice that Joseph was awake. She had earphones, filling her ears with loud afrobeat music. That prevented her from hearing Joseph's greetings. She pulled into the room, her bucket of soapy water, with all her cleaning materials. Picked up a sprayer filled with detergents. When she turned to spray the floor and walls, she noticed Joseph was awake. Her first reaction was to rapidly drop all she was holding and dash out of the room. She began screaming in the corridor;
"Patient 2-4-8-2-1 is up. Patient 2-4-8-2-1 has gotten up from slumber!!"
Joseph didn't understand what was just from happening. What had he done to make that woman flee as such? What was in his words that scared her so much? He just greeted her politely. Can a 'good morning', be so scary? Joseph pondered. A few minutes later after the janitor's screaming episode, 2 muscular men entered his room. They were tall and gigantic. Their blue-black uniforms spelled QRB. QRB meant; Quick Response Brigade. Those were the ultimate forces of the country. Only called upon in extreme cases. At that moment, Joseph knew that something was wrong somewhere. His awkward position? (Talk less of location), the janitor screaming just after seeing him? and two giant crab-like soldiers looking after him? All these events smelled fishy and stinky. Joseph swallowed down saliva so hard that, he felt some pains down his throat. His throat wasn't dry but just looking at the soldiers vaporized all the liquids found at the level of his oesophagus. The only thing crossing his mind was; So, I am going to prison, without even knowing why. Life is not fair. While he was silently cursing the star under which he was born, a beautiful lady entered his room. The lady was fair in complexion and was wearing a lab coat. She looked in her late twenties but was actually in her late forties. She ordered the two big bunny soldiers to untie Joseph. With Joseph untied, he immediately sat up. The lady approached him and took hold of his left hand. She dipped her hand into her pocket and removed a chunk of cotton. She then softly removed the catheter that was on Joseph's hand and placed the cotton on the little wound that resulted from that action. Joseph had not even noticed he had a catheter. Why did he even have one? Everything was just blurred in his mind. The woman then smiled at him and said;
"Follow me. We have much to discuss." Joseph was relieved. He was finally leaving that room. He was finally going to the outside world. He stood up and when he lifted his left leg, trying to make his first step towards freedom, he fell to the floor. He was very weak. No strength in his legs and no strength in his arms to support his fall.
"True, you should be void of any strength," The woman said. "Guys, pick him up and bring him to my office. Make him feel at home. I have other patients to inspect." She ordered.
Joseph was lifted by the two guards and brought upstairs to the doctor's office. He was placed on a soft bed and given fruits to eat and water to drink. That was to give him a little punch. One of the guards then asked, with a rugged voice;
"What do you want to eat?"
The first thing that crossed Joseph's mind was a large bowl of boiled rice with tomato sauce and a large piece of meat. One of the guards left the office and 15mins later he came back with Joseph's command. Joseph voraciously ate his food, then gulped down a 5litres gallon of water. That completely revived the revenant, giving him a brighter look on his face. An hour after sipping his food, the doctor entered her office. Smiled at the guards and relieved them of their duties. She then pulled a chair and ushered Joseph to sit on that chair. While Joseph was making his first steps towards the chair, she opened one of her drawers and began searching through the files. She kept humming and whistling while doing so. She pulled a file and placed it on her office table, closed the drawer, and rapidly sat on her chair. She opened the file and took out 3 compact disks. She put on the computer and while it was loading, she picked up her notebook and a pen and faced Joseph.
"Greetings patient 2-4-8-2-1. It is nice seeing you up." She said smiling.
"I am not patient 2-4-8-2-1. My name is ZENU Joseph and I am not supposed to be here." Joseph immediately engaged.
"Hold on boy. You will leave this place when I say so. But in the meantime, let's do a little inspection." She responded, with her fingers drumming the table.
"What do you mean by that? I have my rights. You can't forcibly keep me here!" Joseph answered ragefully.
"In which month are we??" She asked. Joseph paused a minute, puzzled by her question.
"Answer the question, Joseph. I insist." She said, adopting a serious look. Joseph felt he was not in a position to argue. He calmly answered;
"We are in the month of August."
"Patient says we are in the month of August." She spoke while jotting her own words.
"What are the names of your parents?" She further engaged.
"ZENU Alfred and ZENU Priscila." Joseph responded. She continued asking questions that seem worse than senseless to Joseph. At a certain moment, Joseph felt irritated and stopped answering.
"I see, you want to know what is the meaning of this drill. Let me present myself. I am Dr. ANYONG Primera. I am the director of this GREEN CITY District Hospital. You are a patient whose issue transcends scientific concepts." She spoke. Joseph wasn't in the mood of listening to any other word emanating from her. He just wanted to leave. But Dr. Primera's last action got him on a roller coaster of problems.
"Joseph, before you go, just look at the date on my PC screen." She spoke gently. Joseph stood up happily and rapidly looked at the bottom right corner of the screen. What he saw left him stranded.
"This can't be true," Joseph spoke with a trembling voice. "Surely the date on that screen is wrong. It has to be wrong."
"Really? Then put on the TV and look for any news channel or anything to reassure you." Dr. Primera answered. Joseph rapidly rushed to the flat-screen TV hung on the wall. Pressed the power button and hurriedly picked up the remote control. He began switching from channel to channel and fell on 10 international channels giving him the same date.
"I hope now you are convinced. Surely you thought that, since it was on my PC, I could change the date in order to prank you. But those channels you just saw, serve as a tangible proof than any long speech I could make." Dr. Primera spoke. Something was wrong. In fact, everything was wrong. There were so many unanswered questions hanging. How did Joseph arrive there? Let it be he was sick, why put him in an underground hospital? Why does he seem to be a stranger in his own body? Why doesn't he recall any treatment given to him? Everything was shattered in Joseph's mind.
"Doctor," Joseph began, with a trembling voice. "That date can't be true. It has to be wrong. How possibly can we be on the 27th of November 2021? If the date is true, how come I don't have any recollection of the events that took place 3months ago?"
"The answer is simple yet complex," Dr. Primera began. "The day your parents brought you to my hospital, you were barely alive. You had been poisoned and your parents noticed it a tad too late. With what they had at home, they tried giving you something that will slow the effects of the poison while they rushed you to the closest hospital. We immediately put you on emergency services. But one day later, on the 24th of August 2021, at 9: 45a.m GMT, you died."