Name, Akito Aoki. I was born and raised in Tokyo, Japan.
I didn't had any parental issues of any sort. I had loving parents and was also gifted with a little sister. They loved and supported me unconditionally and there was no pressure on me to choose a particular career. I was happy.
I also had my grandpa, I loved him the most and he loved me the same. I remember going to his house during holidays when I was little and I would play with him and he would tell me all this different and interesting stories and I would just listen to him for hours. Those were such simple times.
I remember one of those times very clearly as my grandpa told me the story of the day that I was born.
"OJI-SAN! OJI-SAN! I'm back! I missed you so much" little Haruto said to his grandpa, entering their house and running up to him and hugged him, with his parents behind following him.
"Oh! little Akito I missed you too! You(Akito's father) should come more often or atleast send him here, at this age one doesn't know when they'll take their last breath and I want to make as many memories as possible with my grancildren" he said said to my father with a seemingly angered face.
"Oto-san! Don't talk like that, you're healthy and you're going to live a long life and as for us, you know how both of us(including my mother) works job in the city and Haruto has his school, so it's hard to take out time but we try our best and whenever we get the chance, we always come here don't" we he said to grandfather, a little worried by how my grandfather talked about death so easily.
"Oji-san!Oji-san! I want to hear a story" I would say to my grandpa, trying to break their conversation after getting bored by it.
"As you wish my grandson, so tell me what type of story you want to hear" he would ask with a smile on his face and with no anger that was there a second ago.
"Any story but it should be a nice one" I would say with a similar smile on my face.
"Not now Akito, you just had a long trip and its getting late, let's go to sleep now and tomorrow you'll hear as much story as you want" my mother would tell me in an authoritative tone.
"No! Not now! I want to be with Oji-san and hear stories!" I cried.
"Let him be, you two go rest and I'll make sure that he goes to bed, don't worry and you(my mother) need more rest than anybody here, I don't want anything to happening to my second grandchild, don't stress yourself so much" he would say to my mother as she was pregnant with my sister at that time.
"Okay if you say so, but don't let him stay up too late" she would say and leave us alone knowing that my grandfather loved to take care of me.
"Let me think, a nice story, hmm...aha! I've got one, this story is about your okaa-san when she was carrying you just the way she is now carrying your little sibling" he said to me.
"Really?About Oka-san? tell me more!!" I would say with the fascination of a child I was at the time.
"She came with your father, to visit me, it was a few months after your grandma passed away, I was lonely at that time so they came to look after me. The time when your parents came, it was raining very heavily, it had been so for two days if I remember correctly.
It was evening, your mother was making tea for me, when she accidentally slipped on water that had come from a leakage from the roof. She had to be taken to hospital immediately."
I listened to him with my jaws open.
"We drived to the nearest hospital and fortunately there were no accidents on the roadamd they reached safely.
We were all worried when the doctor told us that neede to be taken to the emergency unit and also that you would be given birth earlier than what was expected..."
"Oji-san what's an emergency unit??" I would ask many questions like these as I was a kid and didn't knew many things at that time.
He would take some time to think of a definition that would be understandable by a child and then reply"It's a special space in the hospital, where doctors look after people who need immediate care, just like your mother at that time"
"Oh! Doctors are nice" I said in my childish voice.
"Yeah they are very nice people...okay let's continue with the story....where were we?...oh yeah were all worried that something might happen to your mother or you. I remember that at time I prayed to God for you and your mother's well being.
Then suddenly the clouds disappeared and the doctors came running out of the unit and gave us the good news that both you and your mother were alive and in good condition. Both your father and I were overjoyed by that news. I felt happy after a long time and I named you Haruto, which mean sunlight, just like the sunlight that replaced the clouds that day on the sky...and inside of me" he would say looking down to find me asleep and would take me to my bed with the utmost care.
My life was simple at that time and even when I grew up. Nothing seemed hard enough with the help of my family.
One such simple day, I was hanging out in a mall with my friends when we passed by a potshots going on. One of the photographers asked me to pose for the photos as the model was absent. I happily agreed to it without any hesitation, after all who would pass a once in a lifetime offer. The photographer took my contact info for the future.
This was not the last photos hoot that I took part in, I was scouted by many modeling agency after the photos were published. My parents allowed me do it and I did it with much enjoyment.
I did photosgoots after photoshoots and by the time I was 16, I had already became one of the top young models in Japan. I got famous and whenever I went out I was crowded by people wanting to take a selfie with me.
During this time I had also grown very distant with my family. I also cut off all the connection that I had with my old friends as I had new celebrity friends. The only relationship that I still had was with my grandpa.
I also got invited to parties and all sort of gatherings, where I drank alcohol, did drugs and all sorts of things that I'm not very proud of. One such photo of me doing drugs got leaked and that photo was the beginning of my downfall.
Unlike America or Europe, drugs were very shunned from the society in Japan and were considered a big taboo there.
That photo became viral in the whole of Japan, it was printed on newspaper and shown in news as well, and now whenever I went outside I was welcomed by glares.
All of my celebrity friends for whom I had left my old friends for, left me when I needed them the most.
My parents and my sister, tried to talk to me and help me, but I just shut them off, just the way I had been doing so for the past few years.
My modeling career was over, as no modeling agency wanted someone who did drugs or atleast who people know about.
And just when I thought I was at the lowest point in my life, I was given the worst new that I could hope for. My grandfather passed away. The person that I cared about the most was gone.
I felt lost and went into depression. Each day this depression would grown even worse than before. I even went into withdrawals quite a few times.
My family tried to help and even some of my old friends who came after hearing about me, but I ignored them, just like how I had been doing so.
In this time of depression I did something that I shouldn't have done. I contacted one of the old dealers and bought some drugs, the same drugs that brought my downfall.
I consumed every last ounce of the drugs I bought, hoping to feel something other than the sadness that I've been feeling for a long time, hoping to fill the void that I felt in my chest and closed my eyes.
My mind was filled emptiness and loneliness, bitter and cold loneliness, I could feel
losing my grasp from reality, losing my consciousness, I knew I was dying yet I felt nothing.
That's when I opened my eyes in the white room and that's how the story of a drug addict came to an end.