Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 1

My Mother Has Gone Mäd Episode One

I remember that day clearly, like it had just happened. I was ten years old, and my mother had taken me to the market to buy food. We didn't have much, but she always found a way to provide. She held my hand tightly as we walked through the stalls, her other hand clutching her faded handbag. We laughed about yam porridge-my favorite-and she promised we would cook it together. The market was full of life that day, and everything seemed normal until she suddenly stopped walking. She dropped my hand and looked around with eyes that seemed very strange.

Before I could ask what was wrong, she began removing her blouse. At first, I thought she was just adjusting something or feeling uncomfortable, but then she pulled off her wrapper. She stood there half-na.ked in the middle of the busy market. People began to stop and look. Some pointed at her. Some laughed. Others whispered loudly. I felt shocked. My mother, the woman who always protected me, was now acting like a stranger. She is going mad. I moved closer, trying to reach for her, but she shoved me aside like she didn't know me. Then, without warning, she ran.

She ran past stalls and sellers, knocking over basins of tomatoes and peppers. Her laughter rang out loud. It was strange, and terrifying. I chased after her, screaming her name, but she didn't respond. I heard people say she had gone mad. It's true. Some traders tried to stop her, but she was too fast. Her bare feet pounded the dusty ground as she zigzagged between people. I was breathing hard, running with all my strength, trying to catch up. I didn't care who was watching or what they were saying. I just wanted to reach my mother and make her stop running.

She burst into the busy road, narrowly missing a moving car. Drivers shouted and honked, but she kept going. I followed, weaving through traffic, my small legs barely keeping up. My heart felt like it would burst, but I couldn't stop. She turned into a narrow road and ran past broken fences and dirty gutters. I recognized where we were going. It was the slums, then the dump site. Fear gripped me. The area was dangerous, filled with smoke, garbage, and stray animals. But she didn't care. She kept running, faster, like something was chasing her.

And I kept following, determined not to lose her.

At the edge of the dump site, she finally stopped. She dropped to the ground, right there in the middle of trash and smoke. Her chest rose and fell quickly. Her body was covered in sweat, and her face looked tired and distant. I approached slowly, calling her softly. She looked at me with wild, confused eyes, then shouted, "Go away! Leave me alone!" Her voice was sharp and filled with anger. I stepped back, ut didn't leave. I couldn't leave my mother. I sat down beside her on the dirty ground, ignoring the smell and the flies. I couldn't leave her like that. She is my mother.

I kept talking to her, trying to remind her who I was. I told her I was her daughter, Oge. I reminded her of the yam porridge. She looked at me blankly, then turned away and said something under her breath. I reached out to hold her hand, but she slapped it away. "I said leave me!" she shouted again. Tears filled my eyes, but I held them back. I didn't want to scare her more. I just wanted her to come back. I didn't know what was wrong, but I knew she needed me. And I needed her too.

Time passed slowly. The sun began to set.

Night was coming. People passed by, some were looking, others ignored us. No one stopped to help. My stomach rumbled from hunger, and my legs hurt from running and sitting on the hard ground. But I didn't care. I stayed close to her, watching her every movement. She no longer screamed. She just sat there, quiet, looking at the smoke in the dumps. I gently took her hand again. This time, she didn't pull away. She didn't hold me back either, but the fact that she let me hold it meant something.

I looked at her face. She looked far away, like she was lost in her own world. I wished I could enter that world and pull her out. I whispered to her again, telling her I was there and I wasn't going anywhere. The words felt small, but they were all I had. The sky grew darker. The smell from the dump got stronger. But I stayed. I leaned against her shoulder, still holding her hand, listening to the quiet sounds of night creeping in. The woman beside me wasn't the same mother who laughed with me earlier. But she was still mine.

I didn't sleep that night. I just sat with her, watching, waiting, hoping. Somewhere deep inside me, I believed she would come back. I didn't know if help would come or what.

tomorrow would bring. All I knew was that I wasn't going to leave my mother. Not in that condition. Not in that place. I held her hand tightly, and in the quiet darkness of the dump site, I whispered one last time, "Mama, I'm here. I'll never leave you even if you are mad."

Watch out for episode 2