Remel is in a cell.
It was as if it had been the place that had inspired the metal office of the ‘Uncensored Change’. The cell was freezing as if it had purposefully cooled itself to make its inhabitants feel uneasy. The concrete floor and the metal walls rejected any idea of a ‘home-y feel’. Remel felt fear crawling all over his body. He wasn’t sure what he was scared of in particular, but he felt the need to run away. The bars on the cell had assured him for the previous three hours that any thought of escape was a silly one. Adira marched in, accompanied by the officer who had handcuffed Remel. She was beyond tears and words. She was like a robot, rejecting all feelings which came her way.
“You’re lucky for all the things your mum has done to get you out of here. If it wasn’t for her spirit, you would be facing a serious criminal record.”
Remel nodded at the officer and apologised profusely for his actions. His mother allowed him to finish declaring his guilt before she grabbed him by the ear and practically chucked him into the taxi that had been waiting outside for him. He began sobbing as he got in to the taxi.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
“Don’t cry. I know what you’re going through, and we’re going to solve all your problems today,” Adira said.
Remel didn’t argue with his mother’s cryptic statement. The taxi driver spent an hour driving through London before stopping in front of a building with a plaque which read: ‘The Janus Mental Hospital’. Adira handed the driver £40 before they went on their way. Remel knew the area where they had arrived and was certain that this was not their home. The five-storey building towered over him and assured him that the worst was yet to come. He followed his mother into the building. She walked past the front desk and up the stairs to the first floor. She knocked on a door which was labelled ‘Dr Damagh’s office’. A tall Egyptian/Arabian looking man came through with a wide smile on his face. He hugged Adira before turning his attention to her son.
“Hello, Remel. We’ve met before when you were younger, but I’m sure you wouldn’t remember me now. It must’ve been close to 15 years ago.”
Remel took a seat at a desk with Asa’s chair opposite him. Remel slowly began to recognise the man, but his memory was still vague.
The small room was lit only by a lamp next to the laptop. The wooden walls left a vintage feel. On the walls were some pictures of some famous movies. The only one Remel could recognise was The Matrix.
“Your mother has told me recently that you haven’t been feeling well. Is that true?” asked Asa.
“No. I’m perfect,” replied Remel much to his mother’s chagrin.
Asa paused before continuing.
“That’s all right. So talk to me about what happened today at the ‘Change Maker’s Event’.”
Asa had chosen his words carefully. Remel also had to pause before answering.
“I don’t know,” he answered simply.
“Do you know the names of the people you performed with?” questioned Asa as if they were in an interrogation room.
Remel nodded his head. Asa handed him a piece of paper to write their names down. After a few seconds of arguing with himself about whether he should or shouldn’t have done so, he began to write. Asa read the names Remel had given to him before typing them on his laptop. He tried to ask Remel a few more questions about, ‘Revolución’, his father and his life, but Remel wouldn’t answer. Once Asa realised that he had simply been attempting to draw blood from a stone, he called his assistant via intercom and told her to bring up his paper from the printer. He walked in the room swiftly with a single A4 sheet and handed it to Remel. He left. The room was void of any sound. Remel looked at the paper and gasped at what he was seeing. Asa perused Remel’s expression and began to type things into his laptop again.
“Do you recognise these people?” asked Asa.
Remel nodded his head, but what he was seeing was impossible. The paper in front of him held the images of seven musicians who he enjoyed listening to. The seven of them were identical to a member of ‘Revolución’, apart from Leroy Kaylan who had no counterpart in the pictures. Two of the musicians, Ghostface Killah and J. Cole, although male looked just like the twins that were at the incident at Rasharn’s house. In fact, he realised at that point, with startled surprise, that they were Germaine and Dennissa, two of the musicians he had just performed with. The two rappers looked nothing alike, but somehow their female counterparts had merged enough of the two rappers characteristics to bear uncanny resemblances to each other and their celebrities. Remel turned in his chair to wave the paper in his mother’s face frantically. He pointed to one of the rappers and said:
“Don’t you remember her? Our taxi driver from this morning! And look: I performed with these people today.”
Adira shook her head at her son.
“Remel. Today at the Change Maker’s Event, you performed with a backing track. From the information I’ve been given, you’ve shown many symptoms recently. We’re going to have to keep you here over the next few weeks to see exactly what’s wrong and how we can treat you.”
Remel had already had his share of prison for the day. He stormed out of the room and ran downstairs to the foyer. Two security guards stood at the entrance. He tried to run past them into the streets, but the first guard stopped Remel whilst the second one got behind him and injected him with a serum of the tranquilising nature. Asa came downstairs and helped to drag Remel into his quarters as if he was an inhabitant of an asylum for the insane. Adira stayed in his office and cried quietly, hoping that she was doing right for her son.
*****
Remel has been in and out of the hospital for 11 months without any diagnosis. Asa is planning to release him permanently within a week. The date is October 29th. The time is 16:00.
Asa and Adira had come to visit Remel in his quarters, holding hands. They opened the door to find Remel on his laptop, lost in an episode of his favourite anime. Over the 11 months Remel had spent in inconsistent isolation, the laptop was one of his only companions. He had lost contact with the little amount of friends that he had left, he had lost contact with the outside world and he had lost contact with the masked man who, during his stay at the hospital, he had been forced to believe was a figment of his imagination. His only friend was Coreen Akinyemi, who he had become friends with, after he found that she too had been admitted to the hospital. A small gold chain was offered by her as a peace offering between them. She wouldn’t talk to Remel about why she was admitted so he respected her privacy as she respected his. Eventually, their mutual respect became a foundation for trust. Adira and Asa had also grown closer over the 11 months.
“Remel, this is all going to be over soon. You can come back home by next week,” Adira spoke joyously to her son who was more interested in his anime than her good news.
“Remel, turn that off we have something to say,” continued Adira.
Remel paused his laptop.
“We’re getting married!” she exclaimed, whilst waving her engagement ring in the corner of Remel’s peripheral vision.
“Congratulations,” he sighed before returning to the episode.
It was clear that Adira had lost her son to the emotions that he grappled with internally. She and Asa stood worryingly behind him trying to find the right words to say. Remel too yearned for the ability to express himself and all of his troubles, but he failed to find any possible way to do so. Instead, quiet filled the room. Asa and Adira’s presence gave Remel a sense of discomfort. Their relationship felt like an insult to his father, but he couldn’t be angry at his mother for being able to move on.
Remel needed to run away. In that moment of awkward silence, as Remel searched for an escape from whatever factor it was that stood in the way of fluid conversation, he saw an envelope on the floor. It was a usual white envelope: rectangular, not large in size, and stamped in the corner, yet Remel was taken aback by its existence. For some odd reason, he needed to pick it up and analyse it as if he had been commanded to do so. The envelope was entitled to him. Literally. He felt no shock or surprise for somehow he had known that the envelope was his from the second he had laid eyes on it. Remel ripped it open with the urgency of a wild animal devouring its prey. Asa and Adira watched from the corner of the room, unable to understand what was going on. A folded piece of A4 paper was inside, almost blank, aside from a small typed note which read: ‘Fire 1700’.
The scent of liberty hovered through the air. Remel, the inquisitive, ran past the couple, booted down the front door without being interrupted by any security guards and ran with the letter. He ran with an ignited spirit away from the unforgiving fury he had felt against Adira and the constitutions which had been put in place to keep him imprisoned in Asa’s asylum. People on the streets dodged and danced nimbly to avoid bumping into the young man sprinting in the middle of the pavement like a starving cheetah with a pack of deer in sight. Within an hour of unmatched stamina and speed, Remel found himself in front of Rasharn’s old house side by side with a tall man (around 6 foot 4) with a long overcoat and an iron mask. The man wore a small silver necklace, which had the word Leroy on it, underneath a white, slim fitted shirt. Both Remel and Keys looked at what once was a family home.
“Destruction,” Keys sighed.
Remel nodded his head. He hadn’t really understood why Keys had said it but he saw the word’s relevance. They had destroyed each other, their own family and their home. Their tale was a mirror of the broken world of violence and misery that Remel used to inhabit.
“We have a lot to do,” Keys stated.
And they flew.
*****