“You’re out of your mind!” Ryu exclaimed.
“You’re out of yours! Think carefully, Mr. Tsang. I told you you’d see why I know more about you than you know about yourself. Now think very carefully, why would I claim to have seen you? I have nothing to gain from it nor is it relevant to anything other than me telling you the truth that it was you that I saw that day.”
“This is ridiculous...you don’t know what you’re talking about,” Ryu responded.
“Think Ryu! Think back on every time you encountered opium and concentrate. I guarantee things aren’t what they appear to be.”
I decided to go ahead and do as Shin said just to shut him up and prove he didn’t know what he was talking about. I began thinking back to when I was with Yugori and we had tea together. Not sure why that moment came into play, but I soon realized that after I left Yugori’s to go back to my own place to take a nap, I couldn’t sleep at all. I was laying in bed and a few moments later, I left my place and returned to Yugori’s. Funny, I don’t remember that at all. I knocked on Yugori’s door and let myself in and, as I sat at the table, I saw myself asking Yugori if he’d like someone to share his opium experience with him. He then handed me an opium pipe and...What the...that can’t be. I...I didn’t smoke opium with him. But I could see clearly that I took the pipe from his hand and began smoking opium.
My mind then flashed back to another time, to the day after Yugori had died and I went inside his apartment when I saw his door was open. I saw myself go back to my place only to lie down for a few moments. I then got up and went over to Yugori’s where I picked up the opium pipe, sat down in the chair I sat in last time I was there, and began smoking. No...this doesn’t make any sense, I thought.
My mind then flashed to the day I was walking home and saw the man up on his balcony smoking and when I returned home, I saw him outside before I closed the curtain. I realized I didn’t sleep and saw myself going out of my place and outside where I walked over to the man. He smiled at me before handing me his opium pipe. He then put his arm around me and we sat down on the steps as we took turns smoking from the opium pipe.
I then flashed to another moment when I was going to Chao’s and walked by a lady before walking inside. As I came out, I crossed the same street where I saw the same lady sitting on the steps the last time, but she wasn’t alone. I never walked by her and the other person, because I was the other person. I saw myself go up to her and strike up a conversation before I sat down next to her and we began smoking. None of this made any sense, and I saw the pattern of me not sleeping, but I had just come out of Chao’s this time...it didn’t make sense.
Finally, my mind flashed back to when I went to visit Liu. Well, I remember this, but I don’t see how it’s connected to opium. I walked up to Liu’s place, but this time, I didn’t see any of the people that were in the other apartments. I saw myself take out a key and walk into what is Liu’s apartment. Liu never gave me a key...I walked inside and into the bathroom and took the opium pipe off the sink and began smoking it. After a few moments, I saw myself exiting the bathroom and then the living room and then I headed upstairs to the roof. This is all so weird. I opened the door of the roof, but I didn’t see Liu there. I walked over to the corner of the roof where I had remembered seeing him, only then I laid down in a fetal position and closed my eyes and began rocking back and forth. My god...Liu wasn’t there. Liu was never there. He didn’t live there, because that was an opium den that...that I stayed at.
Suddenly, I came back to reality and a shock came over my face. My face went white and I could feel myself starting to get even more queasy.
“What’s the matter Mr.Tsang? Remember something you had otherwise forgotten?” Shaojin asked.
“I...did it. I smoked opium. All the times I came across it or saw people doing it...I did it myself...but that doesn’t make any sense,” Ryu said.
“You see Mr.Tsang, I have only told you the truth. Sometimes our minds play tricks on us and in your case, opium has mixed itself with some kind of disorder of yours, because I do not have such blackouts when I smoke opium.”
“But...but how did you know I was smoking it? I mean...how did you know I didn’t remember aside from my denial?”
“When you showed up here, you acted as though we’d never met face to face, but I reassured you we did. Also, the conversation we had that day at the opium den was quite the conversation. You told me your name and how we’d met on the docks and you told me how you appreciate everything I am doing for this town. Since you’ve been here, you’ve acted like you don’t remember anything and are against everything I am. I, like you, am a very observant person; I can read people and profile them and you, Ryu Tsang, are very out of touch with your own reality.”
“I...I don’t believe this...I can’t stand opium and yet I smoke it?” Ryu asked.
“You remind me of a story I once heard Mr.Tsang. A story of a man who sat down by a tree every day for 2 weeks. It was a beautiful Wisteria tree with purple flowers. Every day, around the same time, he would come to the park and sit by this tree. On the fourteenth day, he came to the park and approached the tree and as he sat down, he closed his eyes as he always did. Only this time when he opened them, the tree withered and died before him. The man then looked around and before he knew it, he had found that he never came to the tree at all, but was in an asylum the whole time.”
The story unnerved Ryu who now began to question his sanity. He looked at Shaojin and then looked away and down at his feet. He then looked over to Mia who was still tied up helpless in a chair.
“Am...am I really here?” Ryu asked.
“Ha! Of course you are my dear boy, of course you are. Surely, you wouldn’t conjure me up. For what possible purpose could I serve in your mind? Oh I know, you don’t think you like opium, so you make me up and I serve as everything you hate about it.”
“Wha...What?!” Ryu asked, now even more bewildered.
Shin Shaojin laughed hysterically before approaching Ryu and striking him in the face with a furious punch.
“Is that real enough for you?” Shaojin said as he kicked Ryu in the knee and punched his face again.
Ryu backed away and wiped his lip revealing blood. He looked at Shin Shaojin and his bewilderment turned into sudden anger upon being attacked.
“Yeah, I guess this is real, but so what? What now Shaojin? Why leave me in a tunnel and let me battle my way through only to come across you?”
“Well, it’s simple really, Ryu, I wanted to break you and I believe I have. Yes, I am very much real and I led you here so I could see just how brave and tough you think you are. You’re brave, I’ll give you that, but you’re confused now and your mind is a fragile mess. Miss Morgan here was going to expose me and add her findings at Chao’s deli to her report on me.”
“I’ll sort out whatever I have going on later, but right now this ends Shaojin, this ends once and for all.” Ryu said firmly.
“I have revealed your true self to you Mr.Tsang, I have been more honest with you just now than anyone you know ever has. And you wish to thank me by telling me this is going to end? I must say, while I’m normally an ill-tempered man you, you bring out the enlightened side of me. Exactly how would you like this to end, Mr.Tsang?”
In the time they have been talking, Mia had managed to free her hands from being tied to the chair. Ryu noticed her emerge from the chair before he quickly locked his eyes back on Shin Shaojin.
“I said, just exactly how do you see this ending Mr.Tsang? Personally, I say we let bygones be bygones and call it a truce by celebrating with tea and opium, what do you say?”
“I don’t find you the least bit funny Shaojin and I see this ending with me and Mia walking out of this tunnel,” Ryu said.
Shaojin laughed. “Such a noble statement, however, I’m afraid that’s not going to happen, because you see, I’ve changed my mind about killing Miss Morgan and you’re going to stand there and watch, so you can completely lo
se your mind.”
Mia managed to undo the ties on her hands and untied her feet from the chair. She then looked over to a small ornate shelf and noticed the pistol sword that Shaojin had left on it. She slowly and quietly got up from the chair and went over to the shelf and retrieved the pistol. Shin Shaojin was unaware as he was too busy talking to Ryu. Mia raised the pistol and pointed it at Shaojin’s back and attempted to shoot him. She pulled the trigger, but the gun flinched in her grasp as she missed his back and shot him in the shoulder.
Seeing as the shot still hit him, Shaojin yelled in pain,“Damn you!”
Mia stood there with the pistol still raised shaking in her hands. Ryu, seeing this as their opportunity to leave, took advantage of the situation.
“Mia it’s alright, step back,” Ryu said.
Mia backed away from the shelf and the chair. As she stepped away, Shin Shaojin held his shoulder wincing in pain. Ryu then decided to take Shaojin down and punched him square in the jaw with an uppercut along with a shoulder thrust that pushed him back and into the chair and then the shelf causing him to fall over. Mia lowered the pistol and ran into Ryu’s arms.
“It’s alright, we’re going to get out of here,” he comforted her.
They looked over at Shin Shaojin who now lay on the ground with a deep cut above his eye and one on the side of his face. As he tried to get up, Mia aimed the pistol sword again and fired another shot hitting him in the knee.
“Gahh!” he cried out, now unable to get up.
“It’s over Shaojin, we’re getting out of here and leaving you here to rot,” Ryu said.
Shaojin laughed. “Rezel and Kazar will be here shortly, so even if I can’t take care of you, they will.”
“Well then, I guess they’re going to die with you, because I’m blowing this place up.” Ryu said.
“With what?” Shaojin asked, then remembered the dynamite in one of the passageways. “You fool! If you do that, you’ll die too, not to mention, you’ll destroy the whole foundation above this tunnel!”
“This is how it ends Shaojin,” Ryu replied.
Ryu and Mia began walking out of the elaborate Shaojin hideaway, not looking back.
“This isn’t over Mr.Tsang! Your destiny has already been set into motion and my plan is already in effect. When you reach the surface, you’ll see that Shanghai has become infested with opium. The opium capital of the world!”
They continued walking until they reached the two diverging paths. Back in the open room, Shin Shaojin has lost consciousness. He heard a voice call out to him.
“SHAAAOOOOOOJINNNN!”
As Mia and Ryu reached the paths, Mia asked him which way he came from.
“I came from the left that’s where the dynamite is, just up ahead. It’s a long way out of here though.”
“Well, I came from the right and it didn’t take too long. I took a ladder down from an opening in the floor of a warehouse; it’s probably a lot faster than where you came from.”
“Alright, let’s go left and grab some dynamite and then head back that way.”
“We should probably see how far it is, so we can place the dynamite and get out of here.” Mia suggested.
“There’s no time, Shaojin may get up and who knows when his goons will get here,” he said.
They held hands and ran to the left of the tunnel where, after turning a corner and going a little further down, Ryu came across the crate of dynamite he had seen earlier. He saw that the crate was already open and sure enough inside it was filled with dynamite. He and Mia each grabbed two sticks of dynamite and headed back to where they came from. As they got to where they came from, they took the left which was now straight ahead and as they ran turning at the corner, they were met by Rezel and Kazar.
“Whoa! Not so fast you two,” Kazar said.
“I told you what would happen if we crossed paths again buddy,” Rezel says to Ryu.
“Well, we have four sticks of dynamite in our hands that I can easily make to go off, and your boss is lying back there bleeding to death, so how would you like to do this?”
“Doesn’t matter to me, I said I was going to kill you and I meant it,” Rezel said.
Mia who was still holding Shaojin’s pistol sword in her other hand took the blade of the pistol and rushed toward Kazar thrusting it straight into his gut. She then pulled it out of Kazar and tried to thrust it into Rezel, but he countered it by stopping her hand from coming forward. Rezel raised his pistol sword attempting to use the blade on Mia. As Rezel came down with the blade, Mia countered it by having it meet with the blade of the sword in her hand, but she dropped the dynamite from the other hand. Rezel stared at her waiting for her to look down, but she did not. While both of them were locked in on one another, Ryu charged at Rezel and they both fell back. Rezel’s pistol sword went flying from his hand and hit the wall before falling to the ground. Mia took a step back as Rezel got Ryu off of him and the two began exchanging punches. While Ryu wasn’t the best at fighting, he did his best to defend himself. Ryu got in one good punch and ran for Rezel’s pistol sword. Mia then aimed hers at Kazar while he was still on the ground holding his gut. Ryu then aimed the pistol sword right at Rezel as the latter got up.
“Go ahead buddy, shoot me. I doubt you have it-”
Ryu shot Rezel hitting him right below his shoulder, but he still remained standing. Mia took her focus off of Kazar, took the blade of the pistol sword, and drove it through Rezel’s neck. Rezel then held his now bleeding neck with one hand while holding his chest with the other. He then slowly fell against the corner of the wall until he sat on the ground bleeding out.
Mia dropped the weapon and picked up the two dynamite sticks. She ran back to the two diverging paths and lit each dynamite stick, throwing one straight ahead and the other to the side where Shin Shaojin was. She then told Ryu that they were lit and the two ran past the two men and run all the way down the long passageway. They turned at one final corner to the right and headed straight down as they reached the ladder where Mia said she came from. Ryu began to climb the ladder with Mia right behind him. As he reached the top, he turned the nozzle, opened the hatch, and crawled up and into the warehouse. He then extended his arm out to help Mia up. With Mia now safely out of the tunnel, Ryu then lit both of his dynamite sticks and threw them down into the opening and then closed the hatch.
Not sure if they would make it out alive and unaware of when the dynamite would go off, Ryu and Mia then looked at one another and ran as fast as they could out of the warehouse. As they reached the door, they felt the ground start shaking. They made their way out and kept running as far away from the warehouse as they could. Suddenly, another loud boom was heard as Ryu and Mia stopped running where they could now see the warehouse from afar. Another explosion was heard and this one startled both of them as it felt like it was right next to them. They held one another and a final explosion went off and the warehouse caught on fire.
Ryu let go of Mia and then stared hard at the burning warehouse. Mia also looked ahead at it before reverting her attention to Ryu.
“Thank god it’s over and we’re out of there,” she said.
“Yeah, and Shin Shaojin is gone once and for all...” Ryu agreed.
Then they got up and brushed themselves off before walking back into town holding hands. As they got back into town, Ryu stopped and looked around. He looked at the houses and buildings and saw clear evidence of open opium use. He started to believe he was losing his mind and is seeing things.
“It’s okay Ryu...I see it too,” Mia reassured him.
“You do?” he asked.
“Yeah...looks like Shaojin was right...the city got caught up in it.”
“And so have I...” Ryu looked down holding his head in shame.
Mia gripped his hand tightly and put her hand to his chin, and he looked up at her.
“It’s alright Ryu, we’ll get you some help, and we’ll figure this out...together.”
Ryu tried to smile
the best he could. The two then began walking further into town unsure of what the future may hold.
* * * * * *
6 months later.
Ryu was sitting at the dinner table at his parents’ house with his father at the end of the table and Mia sitting beside him. His mother called out to him from the kitchen.
“Ryu, sweetie you have a phone call.”
He excused himself from the table and went to the kitchen. His mom smiled as she handed him the receiver.
“Hello?” Ryu said.
“Hello Mr.Tsang, I hope all is well with you, because there’s about to be a reckoning. I wonder though, are you truly at your parents house or are you really in an opium den somewhere? Or perhaps under your own Wisteria tree? I told you this wasn’t over and, soon enough, I’ll be coming for Miss Morgan, your family, and then you. I’ll kill you just like I killed your grandfather...by cutting off your head!”
About the Author
Justin Bienvenue is the author of other books such as The Macabre Masterpiece,
A Bloody Bloody Mess in the Wild Wild West
and Like A Box of Chocolates. He resides in southern Massachusetts.
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Opium Warfare Page 13