My first interaction with drugs was when I was about ten and I walked in on my mom snorting cocaine in her office. She didn’t see or hear me but I definitely saw her. How ironic, one of Japan’s finest lawyers snorts white bricks, imagine that. My father, of course has been oblivious to her coke habit for the last ten years. However scandalous my mother is, she is smart; she’s kept her secret well guarded for longer than most could.
As soon as I found out how much she was paying for just a couple of ounces of the stuff, I decided that I could have a very bright future in the drug trade. If my mom, a high profile lawyer, can manage to keep from getting caught for more than ten years, then so can I.
I had a rough childhood but I’ll spare you the details. It’s not my style to complain, besides my story is simple. My parents never cared about me. All my parents cared about from the time I was born was rising to the top ranks of Japan’s elite.
I would tell you their names but they’re not important to this story. You see my father is a wealthy producer of mindless pop music, while mom spends her days locked in an office scheming and plotting ways to keep criminals out of prison. Since I was about eight years old I’ve been on my own. Everything I ever learned I taught myself. My parents were never interested in anything I did. The idea of my family doing anything that required us to be in the same room for more than ten minutes at a time is laughable. At the price of my childhood, both of my parents became well known and respected throughout Japanese circles of power.
So you can imagine how surprised I was when I got the phone call that day. I was at my small apartment when I felt my phone vibrate. Without looking at the caller ID I answered it.
“Mr. Matsuyama?” the voice on the other end asked
“Yes?” I said starting to feel a little impatient. “Why are you calling me?”
“I’m from the Aiiku Hospital and I regret to inform you that your mother is in currently in a comatose state and we think it might be drug induced. You are listed as her next of kin and we need you to come to the hospital to fill out some papers in case anything happens.”
I had known it was only a matter of time before the old lying bad got caught. I was just about to hang up on the doctor when I decided against it. I thought it would be really fun to watch her lying there looking so helpless, and oh the fun I would have if she woke up while I was there. I could rub it in her face.
“Okay,” I said with false sympathy “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
When I got to the hospital, the woman at the front desk directed me my mother’s room. I had to stop myself from skipping. I burst in the door and saw my mother looking more pathetic then I could have ever hoped. There was a tube hooked to her nose to give her oxygen, her mouth was wide open and there was drool on her cheek. Her hair was a mess and the hospital gown looked extremely unbecoming on her. And to top it all off, one of her wrists was handcuffed to the bed rail. I started to take a picture with my camera phone. I didn’t have any intentions to fill out paperwork for the wretched woman. I just needed some embarrassing evidence of this moment that I could use to blackmail her with someday.
“Well mother,” I said to her unconscious figure, “this little reunion has been nice but I really must be on my way.”
It’s funny how fate brings people together. Here’s how it happened. I had just gotten off the phone with my boss. My objective was to get a couple dozen pounds of the finest grade pure cocaine to underground Tokyo. I was to meet the clients at 6:30 at a subway station.
I called the clients to confirm the meeting spot; the last thing I needed was for these people not to show up. They were supposed to meet me and my wingman at the predetermined rendezvous point so we could make the trade; the money for the coke. All of a sudden I saw a police car out of the corner of my eye. Had I not been specifically looking for one I never would have caught it.
“Jason I think they’re on to us.” I said to my partner.
“No they’re not. You’re just being paranoid; stop looking guilty before the police really do get suspicious.” He snapped back at me. Jason isn’t the most social person.
“Excuse me for being concerned about police while we have enough cocaine in our trunk to earn us both life sentences and then some.” I said just as snottily back.
“Oh shi- “I started to say the cop had turned on the lights and was starting to tail us.
“Jason step on it I really don’t want to go to prison,” I said
“No, if we just pull over and do the whole ‘cooperative citizen’ thing we should be fine” He replied just as irritably as before.
I decided I wasn’t going to have this conversation and I stomped on Jason’s foot that was on the gas pedal and leaned over him so I could jerk the steering wheel so that we made a sharp turn around a corner. And the cop car turned its sirens on.
“Let go of the steering wheel you idiot!!” Jason screamed.
“Jason I know you don’t like me but you’re going to thank me later for keeping you out of prison” I said. For some odd reason this didn’t do much to relieve Jason’s anxiety about the whole situation and he kept trying to throw me off of him. Luckily I had a good thirty pounds on him. So he eventually stopped trying when he saw he wasn’t going to overpower me.
“I swear to God if you get us caught I’m blaming everything on you. I’ll say you kidnapped me and forced me to drive this car” He threatened me.
“Whatever. I don’t have any intentions of getting caught.” I said as I made another turn. The police car didn’t manage to keep up with me for long because Tokyo’s crowded streets are jam packed with cars of every size shape and model.
“See what’d I tell you?” I asked with a smile. All he could do was stare at me as I eased my foot off of the gas pedal and let go of the steering wheel. Just when I thought we were out of harm’s way I heard a loud thunk and Jason pounded his foot on the break. I jumped out to see what he had hit. To my horror I saw a little girl no more than eight years old sprawled out on the ground in front of the car. She was probably adorable before the car had dragged her half way up the street. Most of the skin had been scraped off of her face, leaving it a bloody mess. I stared transfixed in dismay as the blood trickled on to her white school uniform.
“Get in the car” Jason said slowly.
“What! We can’t just leave her here like this!”
“It’s either her or us. That cop from before most likely has our license plate number. If we stick around here for too long he’s eventually gonna catch up with us and like you said before we have enough heat on us to put us away for life. You can stay if you want but I’m leaving. Time to make a decision.” Jason said.
“Yeah. Yeah you’re right.” I said.
Just as I started walk over to the car I heard the girl moan and move her leg from the awkward position it had been in. As she did this her body turned towards me and I saw the blood stained name tag on her shirt that read Mona. Why should this little girl have to suffer because we had been careless? More importantly, why was I feeling like this over one little girl. The drugs I sold probably harmed millions of people everyday but I never gave a second thought about them. I was so torn between my feelings of whether to stay or go.
“Jason,” I said, “call an ambulance and let’s get the hell out of here.”
Despite the fact that our mission that day went off without a hitch my conscience was weighing in on me. I sat on my bed and stared at the ceiling. All I could think about was the girl. Did she die? What about her parent? I’m sure they were horrified at what happened to their daughter. ‘I’m going crazy’ I thought. ‘I need to get out of here’. I decided to go visit my mother.
I walked down the too clean hallway of the hospital still lost in my thoughts. As I passed one of the room doors something caught my eye. The name Mona was printed on the medicine chart taped to the door.
Out of curiosity I opened the door and felt a jolt of horror when I saw the same mangled face that I had seen earlier.
It’s remarkable the way fate brings people together.