Missing home
“Are you sure about this?”
“Yes! I’m sick of living like this. I need to get out, I need to travel. I’m going crazy cooped up in here.”
It had been over a year now since Covid had descended on the world, devastating lives and economies and eradicating all sense of normality. Sam knew she was lucky. She still had her job and case numbers were relatively low in her town, but still, she was starting to struggle lately. She missed her parents and she missed her sister.
Last month her niece had been born and she was dying to go back to the UK and and meet her. Zoom was great but it wasn’t the same as seeing people in person. Japan had been excruciatingly slow to roll out the vaccine and being in her mid twenties, she knew it would likely be months before she got hers. Babies grow so fast. If she waited much longer she would miss out on ever holding her little niece in her arms.
The stranger
It had been pure luck running into the guy who had told her about the clinic. She’d met him outside a convenience store. At first she had assumed he was just trying to bum a bit of free English practice, as was unfortunately quite often the case. However, very quickly he had explained how he had a son living in Europe and that he imagined it must be very difficult for her not having been able to visit her family for so long.
As they got chatting he told her about the clinic. You had to be invited personally and you had to pay a small “administration fee”. Sam recognised it was obviously dodgy, for the Japanese government had made covid inoculations free for every resident. However, at this point she didn’t care. If some business minded doctor had access to vaccines and wanted to make a little extra on the side, then fair play to him, she decided. All she was worried about was getting the jab and being able to go back home.
Too good to be true?
So the guy had called the clinic then and there and made an appointment for her for the following day. Then he had given her a card with a map on the back. She couldn’t believe her luck. Japan was a strange place though and occasionally the “gaijin card” – the special favorable treatment that non-Japanese would often be subject to – worked in your favour. It seemed this was one of those times. She thanked him profusely and offered to buy him a coffee or something in return, but he refused, bid her farewell and disappeared.
Her flatmate had been sceptical. If it had been anywhere else in the world Sam supposed she would have been too, but this was Japan, one of the safest countries you could be in. Besides, she had put it down to omotenashi. This kind of hospitality went well beyond the treatment you’d receive in restaurants and hotels though. People would regularly extend it to random strangers on the street, as long as you didn’t look Japanese anyway. Of course this could be a double-edged sword if you had lived in Japan for two or three decades and were sick of still being given the red-carpet treatment, but in this case Sam was more than willing to let that go.
Jitters
“Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you?”
Sam hesitated for a moment. She actually hated hospitals and she was terrified of needles. She had always avoided the yearly flu shot, not really seeing a bout of the flu as that serious an issue. The coronavirus was different though. The images of overcrowded ICU units across the world remained firmly in her head. There were also stories of people who had seemingly recovered but ended up with life long health issues afterwards. Besides, she absolutely needed this vaccination to be able to travel, for she couldn’t afford the compulsory two week quarantines in a government designated hotel at either end of her trip!
“I’ll be fine, hun,” she said with a smile. “Thank you though.”
The clinic
The clinic was in a part of town she hadn’t been to before. It seemed more run down than the centre where she lived. Some of the houses looked like they were literally falling apart. Gardens were less well kept, the roadside was overgrown with weeds. She dismounted her bike, to check the map. It wasn’t the easiest thing to read. There was a tiny road to the left that she thought might be the right one, so pushing her bike, she walked.
She couldn’t help but notice there were several dead trees alongside the road. One looked like it had been struck by lightning or something, others had no leaves at all, just rotten looking bark and ugly broken branches. It stood out for it was so unlike the well kept streets around her apartment. The pavement was also cracked in several places. She almost jumped out of her skin when she heard a noise in the bushes right beside her. She realised it was just a cat and told herself off for being so ridiculously jumpy.
The sky was dark due to the low clouds. It wasn’t raining, but it wouldn’t surprise her if it started at any moment. At least it was a bit cooler though, she thought. She hated the heat and humidity of the Japanese summer. In a couple of weeks the rainy season would be over and that would be it. She would be holed up indoors with her aircon on full blast, counting down the days until the cooler weather of autumn.
Deserted
The building was not what she had expected. Most clinics in Japan seemed modern and welcoming. This place looked old and was barely bigger than a home. There was a tiny carpark in front, but no vehicles in it. It looked dark inside and for a moment she wondered if she had made a mistake. The place looked closed. She ventured closer though. It had taken her almost forty minutes to get there and she wasn’t going to give up that easily.
The door opened when she pushed it. She slipped inside and paused, trying to work out if she was supposed to remove her shoes in the entrance or not. It depended on the hospital, but it was usually pretty obvious as soon as you walked in.
“Hello?” she called out nervously.
There was no response. She debated what to do. She saw there was a cupboard, so she slid the wooden door open and was relieved to see some slippers stored inside, answering her question. Taking a pair, she slipped them on her feet and placed her shoes together neatly, slightly to the side, so they wouldn’t be in anyone else’s way.
The waiting room
This place was so uninviting. There was an odd musty smell and the lights were dim. There was no natural light thus far and still no reaction to her presence from anyone. She glanced around, seeking further proof that she was really in the right place. There were some old frayed notices hanging up in the hall and they definitely looked medical. So, cautiously, she began to venture along the hall.
To her relief she came to a waiting room. There was no one in it though. It was most unusual, for every other hospital she had ever been to had always been busy. This place was obviously run down and must be struggling financially. No doubt this was why they had taken to offering secret covid jabs, she decided.
She stepped up to the counter and peered into the little office room, through the plastic sheet that had been hung up, as was the custom for a lot of places in Japan now.
“Hello?” she called out again.
Unsettling
This time there was a response.
She heard her before she saw the old woman shuffle into view.
“Hi, I’m Samantha Phillips,” she said in Japanese. “I have an appointment.”
The woman waved her bony hand towards a clipboard with a name list on it. Sam was used to hospital procedures, and so immediately took a pen and signed her name. Hers was the only one on it. Maybe they had prepared a new sheet for the afternoon session, she wondered.
Once she had signed her name, as instructed, she took the form she had been handed and went to take a seat to fill it out. She perched on a chair, holding the clipboard on her knees. Glancing down at the seat she was surprised to see a thin layer of dust on the chair. Every hospital she had been to thus far had been spotless. This place looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in weeks, maybe even months.
She glanced around the room. The walls were faded, the posters peeling off them. There was something really off about this place. It was beginning to feel downright creepy. Maybe she had made a mistake coming here. What if their hygiene practices with the needle reflected that of the way they kept their waiting room. The fact there wasn’t a single other person here was a major red flag. Her friend was right, this was as dodgy as anything.
She got to her feet.
The doctor
“Is everything okay?”
She almost jumped out of her skin. The guy had come from nowhere.
“I, erm, I think I am in the wrong place,” she stammered nervously. The man was tall, almost freakishly so. She noted the white jacket. He must be the doctor.
“You’ve come for a vaccine?” he said, in perfect English. The American sounding twang to his accent suggested he had probably spent some time in the States.
“Erm, yeah I…”
“Come this way,” he said with a smile.
She was in a quandary. Everything inside her was now screaming to get the hell out of there, but that was crazy. She knew she was nervous about the needle and that was probably what was freaking her out. For goodness sake, get a grip she told herself firmly. The image of her sister holding her little niece to her chest entered her head. She needed this vaccination. If she didn’t get it now, it would be months. She could do this. It’d be over in less than five minutes.
Taking a deep breath she followed the man into the examination room.
The examination room
He indicated for her to take a seat and she did so.
“I’ll be right back,” he said.
Left alone in the room, she gazed around. It was in no better state than the waiting area. The walls looked yellow and there was a red stain on the floor over by the bed. Was it blood? Surely they could have done a better job at cleaning it than that? But it was a hospital after all, she reminded herself. It wasn’t inconceivable that blood would get on the floor. Her eyes fell on the bed and then on the straps hanging down from the top and the bottom. Were they restraints of some kind?
The doctor reappeared. He had put on a plastic apron over his white coat and had a plastic cap covering his head. This seemed like a bit of overkill for a simple injection. She was suddenly very aware of her heart beating faster in her chest. There was something just not right about the place. The doctor seated himself opposite her. She saw he had a vial in his hand. He reached for a packet, and ripped it open, revealing a needle.
Unease
Sam stared at it. He’s just opened a new one, she told herself. It’s fine, it’s clean, it’s all good. Everything is normal. You’re just freaking out over nothing.
“Which arm?”
“What?” she stammered.
“Which arm do you want the injection in?” the doctor asked.
“Oh, erm, er, the left I guess,” she said slowly.
“Can you roll up your sleeve?”
“Sure.”
Sam, gingerly began pulling up the fabric of her shirt, exposing the flesh of her upper arm. She couldn’t take her eyes off the doctor’s movements. He had now pierced the vial with the needle and was drawing in the clear fluid. She watched him squirt out the liquid a little to remove the tiny air bubble. She was entranced, she couldn’t take her eyes off him.
Trepidation
She had a sudden flashback to a TV show she had seen as a kid. It wasn’t completely clear in her head, but she remembered the young medical student, how his superior had relentlessly laid into him, criticizing every single thing he did, how exhausted he had been, how he had been ridiculed in front of everyone for messing up and nearly accidentally killing a patient, how his superior had told him useless he was, that he’d never make it as a doctor and that he would be failing him.
Then she remembered the tube he had tied around his arm to bring out his veins and how he had injected himself with something or other. His roommate had found him a few hours later. She couldn’t get the image out of her mind, of him lying there, eyes wide open in a stunned kind of tragic embrace of death.
The doctor reached towards her and she started, her stool sliding backwards with a horrible scraping sound. He had hold of her arm and pulled at her, trying to bring her forward and closer to him. She shook him off as she frantically jumped to her feet.
Panic
“I’m sorry, I’ve changed my mind,” she said, backing away to the door.
“There’s nothing to be afraid of,” the doctor said. “It’s just a needle. It’ll be over in a few seconds.”
“No, I’m sorry, I can’t. I’ll pay of course.” Sam said, as she hurried to the waiting area, reaching into her bag for her wallet as she went. She grabbed a 10,000 yen note and laid it on the counter.
“You can’t waste the vaccine!” the doctor scolded her. He was stepping towards her, the needle still in his hand.
“I’m really sorry,” she reiterated. “But I have to go.”
Escape
She half ran out of there, hardly daring to breathe, looking behind her as she did, fearing the doctor coming after her. She grabbed her bike and headed as fast as she could away from the clinic. it wasn’t until she reached the main road, that she finally slowed down and managed to calm down. The immediate danger over, tears began streaming down her face as she thought of not being able to see her sister as soon as she had hoped.
Home
Her flatmate listened to her description of the hospital aghast.
“My God that sounds fricking creepy,” she said. “I’m not surprised you got yourself the hell out of there.”
“I don’t know. I probably completely overreacted. Now I have to resign myself to being stuck here and never getting to see my sister and the baby.”
“I’m sorry, sweetie,” her friend said, wrapping her arms around her in a hug. “This pandemic really does suck.”
“Yep,” Sam agreed miserably, “it does.”
Disbelief
A month later
They stared at the TV in stunned disbelief, barely able to comprehend what was happening as the images of the hospital and a man being taken into custody flashed up on the TV. It was the main report of the evening news and had made headlines worldwide.
News Report
“A man has been arrested for the murder of seventeen people in possibly the most prolific serial killer case in modern Japanese history. Fumihiro Yamada admitted to impersonating a doctor and giving out fake covid vaccinations. An avid fisherman, he revealed how he had collected tetrodotoxin from fugu, the infamous poisonous puffer fish, that he had caught himself. He then injected it into his unsuspecting victims’ arms. The poison, which can take up to six hours to have full effect, hadn’t been connected with the fake inoculations, for his victims had been sworn to secrecy about receiving the jabs. By the time they arrived at the hospital, they were too sick to report him. Several other deaths thought to be related are now being investigated. Police are currently looking for a second man believed to be involved in luring the victims to the fake clinic.
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons or events is purely coincidental.
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