Akiyama, The Ghost Wolf

This is the story of chaos and darkness, of blood and revenge, and of death and decay. This is the untold story of the hero who doesn’t get the girl at the end, who does kill the bad guy, and who does get his revenge. This is also the untold story of the hero who weeps his losses and cries in pain and anguish, longing for the life he once had. This is the tale of the mafia killer, the revenge bringer, and the blood soaker. This is the tale of Akiyama, the Ghost Wolf of New York City.

Detective Arnold Jones looked into the interrogation room at the fierce looking man shackled by handcuffs to the table. The man had long straight brown hair, falling like a river of mud down his face and head to his shoulders. Dark brown eyes were set deep into his skull behind 1960's hipster glasses. A permanent scowl was set across the bedraggled man's face as he blankly stared at the one-way window, his gaze seemingly boring through the glass and through Detective Jones.

            Detective Jones opened the door and strode with contempt into the interrogation room and sat down before the crazed-looking man. He threw a black mask onto the table in front of the man. The man seemed to recognize it, for the scowl on his face disappeared, to be replaced by fondness as he picked up the mask and examined it. The mask resembled the face of a wolf, but pure black, with red marking around the eyes.

"So," said Jones, startling the man out of his reverie, "I am led to believe you are this so-called Ghost Wolf everyone has been rambling about. Have I been led to believe the truth?"

The man sat there, complacent, but without reply.

"Well, if the rumors and ramblings ARE true, and you ARE the Ghost Wolf of New York," Jones said, "let's hear your whole story, from the beginning."

The man finally looked up from the wolf mask. After what felt like a lifetime, the man finally spoke. He said, "My name is Chris Selby, and I have done terrible things. I have killed countless men, all members of the Mafia dead by my hand. But worst of all, I killed the pregnant wife of the Mafia’s Kingpin and the baby, without remorse, without regret."

Jones, slightly irritated now, said, “That’s all well and good, but I want your WHOLE story. Everything. Like why did you become Akiyama, The Ghost Wolf?”

Chris stared at the cuffs binding his hands for a while, and looked up into Detective Jones’ face. Jones could have sworn he saw a tear in Chris’s eye. Could this man, who was crying at the slightest questioning, really be the equally feared and respected Ghost Wolf?

Chris finally started, “About a year ago, I would have told you that I was the happiest man alive. I had it all: money, a job, a beautiful house, and a gorgeous wife and handsome son. Life was good for us.”

“So what happened? To all of this happiness?” said Jones.

“One day the company I worked for was suddenly bought out by a conglomerate. A conglomerate, I would fund out later, was owned by none other than Nico Forenzi-”

“Whoa whoa whoa, wait a minute. THE Nico Forenzi? As in the head of the mafia family of New York?”

“The one and the same. Anyways, I was out of a job, and I couldn’t seem to find another one. Eventually, my savings ran out. I had only one option. I turned to a loan shark. He gave me enough money to pay off my house and keep my family fed for a year at least.

“Then the night came when the loan shark demanded his repayment. I told him I would get him the money as soon as I could. He told me that wasn’t good enough and that the kingpin would be very angry with me.

“One night as I was out with my wife and son, a group of large men, accompanied by the loan shark, cornered us in an alley. The shark gave me one last chance to hand over the money, but I couldn’t. He had his men break my legs and made me watch in horror as they raped my wife and sodomized my son.

“I tried not to watch, but one of his goons forced me to. When they were finished sodomizing and raping my family, they killed them. Slowly and painfully.

“I could feel the pain in my wife and son’s eyes’ as they were slowly killed. Then the goons dropped their corpses and left, laughing maniacally all the way. All I could do was sit there and watch the life slip away from my son and wife.

“Finally a good Samaritan found me and called 911. I was rushed to the hospital to be treated. My wife and son were rushed to the morgue.”

Jones said, “I can see you recovered.”

“Yes, though it took six months, after healing and therapy. And in those six months, I contemplated. I thought about all the injustices the mafia had caused-“

“So this is your ploy at a pity-for-the-weak story? Pathetic.”

Chris slammed his fists into the table and stood, “I WANTED REVENGE!!! I wanted those fuckers to pay for what they had done to me and my family! So you know what I did? After my therapy was complete, I went home and dug out a set of light armor passed down from generation to generation in my family. I took it, and I fixed it up. I painted it black. And then,” Chris motioned at the mask, “I found this, painted exactly the way it is now. I donned the suit, took up two katana, and became the Ghost Wolf of the Akiyama clan.

“My first target was the loan shark. I found him hustling another poor sap. After he had sealed the deal and the sap had walked off, I stepped out of the shadows behind the shark, completely hidden from his view, and rammed one of my blades through his throat. As he gurgled in his own blood, unable to speak, I stepped into his field of vision and removed my mask, showing him who I was. That was the last thing he saw, the fury and hatred in my eyes, before I sliced his head cleanly off of his shoulders.

“From there I single handedly hunted down every member of the mafia residing in New York. Then came Nico. I had something special for him in mind.

“I found him in his office, on the top floor of the building I used to work in. He was cuddling with his wife, who was pregnant, when I blew open the double doors.

“When the smoke had cleared, I was crouching on his desk, not two feet from that rotten bastard’s face. I rammed the two katana through his shoulders, pinning him to the chair. He screamed like the bitch he was, but he wasn’t my target, not yet. His wife tried to run screaming from the room, but I caught her in two strides. I spun her, showing her to her husband, and said, ‘An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a claw for a claw. This is what happens when you kill others needlessly,’ and I took my knife, slammed it into one side of her swollen belly, and drug it across with deliberate slowness. I could almost hear the final scream of the infant inside.”

A look of terror crossed Jones’s face, “You’re… you’re a monster.”

But Chris wasn’t finished, “Then I removed the knife from her belly, the only thing holding her upright was my arm around her throat. ‘and this, is for my wife and son you killed for your God-damned money!’ and I stabbed her in the throat, and slashed both ways. When I pulled the knife out, the only thing keeping her head on her shoulders was a small sliver of skin. I let her body drop.

“Needless to say, Nico was furious. He screamed in rage and pain. ‘and this,’ I said, ‘is for their souls, and for all the souls you damned with your corruption!’ and with that, I plunged the knife in between his eyes. 

“When I walked out the front doors, there you were, with all your little cop buddies. And now, here we are, detective.”

Jones was speechless. This man had killed hundreds, all in the heat of revenge. As a byproduct, he also brought justice to all those who had been hurt by the mafia, including his wife and son.

He had also killed an innocent woman and her yet-to-be-born child, in cold blood. Jones had no idea what to say, or what to do with this man.

Jones stood up, and without a word, walked out of the room and slammed the door behind him. Chris sat back down, head in his hands, and for the first time in many years, Akiyama, the Ghost Wolf of New York, wept.