It Wasn’t Very Sudden

Ashikage Mari…

A woman in her late forties who lived in a broken down apartment and wore nothing but ragged clothes. To many, she was seen as an absolute failure.

All the money she once had, which was earned by the workings of her son who became a successful CEO was drained away by her addiction to gambling. Before anybody could notice Mari had stacked up a ridiculous amount of debt and lost everything she once had.

“Please! You have to help me Sora!”

Mari was on her phone, screaming while crying pathetically to her son. 

“I-I need this money! I really…really need this money!”

The other end of the line was silent, until Mari could hear a faint sigh before a tired voice replied back.

“I’ve given you, 100,000 yen last week…where did it go?”

“I-I…I lost it all after going to the…t-the horse races and—“

“I told you to stop going there and pay your debt so those guys can leave you alone.”

“I-I know—b-but I just felt like I could do it! I was feeling very lucky—“

“GOD DAMMIT!”

A loud slam echoed throughout the otherside of the phone. Mari held the phone back for a second, scared of the sound that nearly made her left ear deaf.

“S-Sora!? What’s wrong!?”

“WHAT’S WRONG!? YOUR WHATS WRONG!!”

“HOW MANY TIMES ARE YOU GONNA DO THIS TO YOURSELF!? EVER SINCE I GOT THIS JOB ALL YOU’VE DONE IS USE THAT MONEY FOR BETS AND YOU LOSE THEM! AND NOW THE LOAN SHARKS ARE COMING AFTER YOU!!!”

“I’M WORRIED HALF TO DEATH! I CAN’T TAKE THIS ANYMORE! WHY THE FUCK WON’T YOU CHANGE!?”

“W-why are you yelling at your mother!? I-I did nothing wrong!”

Sora did not say anymore but Mari still continued to rant.

“I bleed for you, did many part time jobs, I dedicated my whole life just to make you happy and your saying I can’t even indulge in just a little bit of comfort!? How is that FAIR!? My life has been nothing but miserable ever since I gave birth to you! You were unwanted baggage from a man I never loved but then you became successful which made me—me very proud!! I WAS PROUD!! AND ARE YOU SAYING I CAN’T REAP THE BENEFITS!? I CAN’T BE HAPPY!? WHY THE HELL SHOULD I SACRIFICE EVERYTHING FOR THE LIKES OF YOU!? A CHILD I NEVER EVEN WANTED!?”

“…I didn’t know I was so much baggage for you.”

“I-I…Sora, look, I was just a little heated…M-Mommy’s sorry and—“

“I hate you.”

Those three words were like three bullets, each aimed at a vital organ which hit. Mari was always flooded with love from her son, Sora this was the first time she had ever heard such words escape from his lips.

“From this point on, we are strangers. I tried…God knows I tried…”

Mari could hear faint sobbing from the other end. 

“S-Sora…? Y-you didn’t mean that right? W-wait…Mommy’s sorry okay? Mommy is just stressed so please don’t—“

“I can’t do it anymore! I CAN’T DO IT ANYMORE!!!”

“MY MOTHER—MY MOTHER IS DEAD!!!”

Abruptly, the phone disconnected. Mari was left in a completely frozen state looking at the nearly dead phone. She tried to call back the number of her son but saw that she was blocked.

“W-what!? W-w-w-w-w—“

Mari started to shake uncontrollably and dropped the phone to the cold floor, cracking the screen. She clenched her head which started to hurt from intense pounding. 

“S-SORA! S-SORA!? SORA!!!”

“Hey! Hey lady!”

The door behind Mari broke down as if it was made of cardboard. Scary looking men with pipes and bats approached the old lady who was shaking uncontrollably.

“W-what do you want!?”

“What the hell do you think!?” The gangster spat on the ground. “Where the hell is our money!?”

“I-I…I don’t have it right now! But if you give me some time—I can—“

Mari was instantly cut off as the gangster slammed the side of her head with the metal pipe in his hands.

“YOU ARE A FUCKING JOKE! DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY TIMES YOU SAID THAT!? THAT’S IT! THIS IS THE LAST STRAW!!”

“W-wait—“

But Mari’s pleas were not heard as the loan sharks surrounded her and began to beat her senseless. Feeling the dark room was the sounds of metal crashing against flesh, gushing blood, and cracking bones. At first, Mari was screaming in pain, begging for help but eventually she lost all strength and even sensations…

She became incredible tired and her body had no more power to move. 

“A-ah…”

There she was, Ashikage Mari, resting in a pool of her own blood. Her arms and legs twisted in directions they shouldn’t be, her front teeth missing, and her right eye rolling on the floor. The brutual gangsters laughed at the dying woman, sounding more like demons from hell.

As Mari was slowly beginning to lose consciousness, her eyes drifted to picture frame that she knew all too well. A picture of a younger version of her and Sora when was still sweet and innocent.

Back then, they were barely getting by but they were happy…

“We were…happy…”

A single tear left Mari’s eye as her heart begin to feel weak.

“We were happy…Sora…Sora I’m sorry…Mommy is…Mommy is…Mommy…Mom…”

And then the light in her eyes flickered off like a switch.

Ashikage Mari had died on February 14th, 2021.