Twist of Destiny

Chapter 4

The car that hit Wale was a red Ferrari. The driver stopped abruptly and other vehicles coming behind him had to stop too. The driver of the car came out. He was a tall, dark, and hefty man who seems to be in his fifties.

He ran to Wale who was unconscious and bleeding profusely from the head. "Please someone should help me carry this boy into my car, I want to take him to the hospital". A passerby rushed to meet the man and they both carefully carried Wale. As they were walking towards the car, blood was trickling ceaselessly from his head.

They got to the car and gently laid him on the backseat. The man as well as the passerby's clothes were soaked with blood. The man thanked the passerby and gave him some money as he entered his car. By then there was a gridlock because of the accident and there was already a crowd with the majority of the women amongst them crying. The hefty man briefly took a look at the crowd and drove off. As he headed for the hospital, he thought about an urgent appointment he had with the Vice President. He was already behind schedule. But that will have to wait as this involves the life of a human being. "This young man must not die", he muttered, as he sped towards the hospital.

Wale opened his eyes feeling so weak with a terrible headache. He saw himself lying on a bed. He looked beside him and saw a young pretty petite nurse of about 24 years old sitting on a chair and reading a magazine. He knew he was in a hospital but how he got there he could not remember. He touched his head and felt a bandage around it. He asked, "Nurse, what happened to me?". The nurse looked up from the magazine that she was reading and smiled cheerfully and said, "Thank God you are awake. You had an accident and you have been unconscious for two weeks. The driver of the car that hit you was the one who brought you here and paid all your bills. He has been very worried about you".

Wale said, "Are you serious? So you mean I have been unconscious for two weeks? "Yes", the nurse replied. "Gosh! My head hurts", he said. "You are very lucky the injury on your head was not too deep, if not, it would have been a different story", she replied. "Anyway, what is your name?", the nurse asked. Wale winced, aghast as he couldn't remember his name!

He felt highly embarrassed has he told the nurse he couldn't remember his name. The nurse's expression changed as she said "Oh my God! You have amnesia". Wale asked "What is amnesia? "It is the loss of memory. Anyway don't worry, in time you will regain your memory", she replied. "Please nurse, what day is today and what year is this?" Wale asked. "Today is Friday, the 15th of April, 2001", she replied. The nurse said "I will go and call the doctor now to tell him you are awake and you have amnesia. I will be back shortly". She left the room.

Wale was looking at the ceiling and so many thoughts were on his mind. He couldn't remember his name, his family, where he comes from, where he was before he had the accident that brought him to the hospital. He couldn't remember anything. He was very worried as he didn't know his fate but he was optimistic. After all, the nurse assured him he will regain his memory.

Ten minutes later, the nurse came back with a tall, fair middle-aged man with a bald head. Judging by the stethoscope hanging around his neck, it was obvious he was the doctor. He said, "How are you, young man?". "I feel weak and my head hurts", Wale replied. "Don't worry your wound is healing fast and you will soon regain your strength. The nurse told me you can't remember your name?". "Yes doctor", Wale replied. "It's okay. You will be alright in no time and your memory will come back". He then raised the upper lid of Wale's eyes with his hands and looked intensely into them. He scribbled something on a notepad in his hands and said "You will be fine. For now, you need a lot of rest and try not to think too much okay? Because I know you are worried about your present state". Wale nodded and thanked the doctor. The doctor told the nurse to let him know if there's any change in Wale's condition. Then he left the room.

The nurse gave Wale some medication with a glass of water. Wale took the drugs and shortly after drifted off to sleep. He woke up some hours later and felt much stronger. The pain in his head had subsided. The room was dark and everywhere was quiet except for the low noise coming from the ceiling fan. He looked beside him and saw the same pretty nurse that attended to him earlier in the day sleeping on the chair beside his bed. He admired her beauty as well as her diligence. He is indeed grateful to God for sparing his life for he would have been a dead man by now. He muttered "Thank you God" as he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep again.

He opened his eyes to see a bright beautiful morning and heard the mellifluous voice of the nurse as she said "Good morning" with a cheerful smile on her face. Wale answered back. "I feel much better now" and the nurse replied, "That is great!".

Just at that moment, the door opened, and the doctor walked into the room with a hefty man behind him.

The nurse greeted them and they answered back. The doctor and the hefty man asked Wale almost at the same time "How are you?". "I feel much better now", Wale replied. The hefty man said "I am chief Williams. I am the one that hit you with my car. I'm very happy to know you feel much better now but the doctor told me you lost your memory but he assured me you will regain it soon, that it's only going to be for a short time". "Yes, I can't remember anything", Wale replied.

The doctor placed a stethoscope on Wale's chest and after a few seconds, he scribbled down something on his notepad and reassured Wale will be alright. Then he left the room. The nurse offered Chief Williams a chair. He sat down beside the nurse. "By the way, I came with your bag which you dropped when the accident occurred. Here it is", chief Williams said. He gave a bag to Wale and he looked at the strange-looking bag and collected it from the man looking perplexed. The man told him to go ahead and open it.

Wale opened the bag and he saw some clothes, three textbooks, a novel, two notebooks, a toothbrush, a comb, and a wallet. He opened the wallet and saw his passport photographs and some money. He then opened one of the textbooks. On the first page is boldly written; Olawale Johnson. He opened all the books including the novel and they all had the same name written on them. He sighed and said, "Well, I guess my name is Olawale Johnson". Chief Williams replied, "Yes, I think that is your name. So until you get back your memory, we will be calling you Olawale".