Redemption of a Messiah

He rode the midnight bus to the downtown core, his mind racing ten times this vehicle’s top speed. Silently, he pictured his soon-to-be followers. They would all see the truth as he knows it. The voices tell him so and that must make it true. He has been cast out of his home, but he knew that place could never be home to him again. His parents had done the world their duty of bringing him into the world. Now they could go back to their ordinary lives and he could get on with his holy purpose.

He arrived at the downtown stop, and he realized that there was no turning back now. He carried across his shoulder his guitar case full of books that foretold his coming, and his guitar in his hand, as he exited the bus.

He had recognized the patterns of his life. He was born to be the next avatar of Vishnu, just like the Buddha and Christ before him. The Judas Priest songs "Exciter" and "Painkiller" (along with songs from Jesus Christ Superstar) triggered the epiphany of his true identity.

Now that he was at his destination, though, he felt some trepidation. He stirred himself. He had his destiny to fulfill, he told himself. Standing on the corner of Dundas and Richmond, he decided to make his first proclamation.

"Behold, I come to you, my children, to teach you the way!"

His bold words were met with jeer and snickers, but also with an overall sense of indifference. These people had heard this kind of thing before.

"I tell you, my people, you are the first to hear my words. Words that come from God who speaks through me!!"

"Yeah right, buddy," he heard a passerby say.

"Why do none of you believe me?!?" He was starting to get angry. Almost as angry as he had been when he left his parent’s place when they called him crazy and tried to take him to the hospital. "If you aren’t with me you are against me," he had said, and this was how he felt now. He yelled as loud as he could: "I AM THE MESSIAH!!!"

About this time, two police officers, patrolling the downtown streets, came upon the scene. Fred, "the Messiah" was now throwing a fit. He had left his home just to find the same disbelief. He didn’t notice the officer’s approach. The first officer put his hand on Fred’s shoulder, startling him, but his mania had sped up his reflexes such that he was able to flip the unsuspecting officer on his back. His partner, recognizing that he was dealing with a live one, promptly pulled out his baton and clubbed Fred square on the head, knocking him out.

Fred woke up in the hospital and could not remember who he was, where he was, or how he got there. It was a combination of the blow to the head and the drugs the doctors had pumped into him upon arrival. He was in an ACU ward strapped to a bed. Struggle all he could, he could not break free. He heard moans from his fellow inmates.

After awhile he started to come to some semblance of coming to one’s senses. How’d I get myself into this mess, he thought. 'All I ever wanted was to be free to be myself'. He thought of his family, the loved ones he felt he let down. 'Nanna and Dada wouldn’t have wanted me to be this way'. He started to cry.

After some time, a doctor and two nurses entered the room.

"How are we feeling now," the doctor asked, "A little calmer?". All Fred could do was nod.

"I think it’s safe to untie you now."

So they untied him, and the nurses escorted him to the room he was to share with a rough-looking man who was missing an arm.

For the next few weeks, apart from eating, talking to the nurses, and taking his meds, Fred just lay in bed, feeling like an angel with clipped wings. His mind was still racing but it was telling him a different story.

I-I’m nothing…..I’m nothing, he thought one day

"Who told you were nothing, my son" he heard one of his voices say.

"You’re not real" Fred said. The medication he was on and his talks with the nurses made him suspicious of the voices. The medication took the edge off his delusions and the nurses did their best to convince him of his illness.

"You believe the infidels over your angel?"

"You’re not real."

"You will fulfill your destiny," the voice began benignly enough,
"OR YOU WILL BE DESTROYED" it finished in a demonic voice, the angel became a devil.

Fred’s screams brought the nurses in the room. He spent the night in observation. When they let him out he just seemed to go comatose, and when he did seem more alert he would feel quite anxious. Now he had incentive to believe the doctors. It was that or…he did not even want to complete that thought. His dream had become a nightmare, and now he had to put his faith in people he once thought were robbing him of his dreams.

One night, he got a surprise visit. The doctors had deferred this visit until they were sure it was alright. Fred’s parents entered the room and he greeted them with hugs.

"I’m sorry," he said and wept.

"You have an illness, son," his father said, "and we’re going to see you get through it."

The next day, at the behest of the nurses, Fred made friends with two of his fellow patients, a bipolar guitar player named Billy, and Tom who believed aliens were after him.

After that he spent countless hours playing pool with Tom, and learning guitar tricks from Billy, all the while slowly recovering, letting the rest and medication take its course.
Occasionally, he’d hear a voice but he was beginning to be able to really believe it was not real. Soon he was discharged from the hospital to resume his studies. He decided to switch majors…to study psychology.

Now Fred is a counselor, helping families afflicted by mental illness. He is not a messiah like Christ but through his work he tries to heal in His tradition.