Think twice before you blink.

This story is a warning for the young and old for the innocent and veteran's corrupted already by today's world. I want to tell you my story that took place in 2003 in the middle of Japan. You can call me Lana. I was sixteen years of age blue eyes and my hair had been turned strawberry blond for work I'm of Eastern European descent. I was brought over to Japan for a modeling contract and I wished for an experience of culture to learn a new language to taste authentic food to meet new friends and possibly a boy. Learn history etc. at my age I was aware of the danger but I never would have thought what was next in this chapter of my life would happen to anyone let alone me. My agent in Japan was named Kiyoko. She picked me up from the airport and got me to sign my paperwork she was a model herself and was tall with long black hair we chatted while in her car and brought me to an empty apartment. I was used to sharing an apartment with other girls from my last gig in Hong Kong. It was a small loft-style room on the ground floor of a small apartment building. With thin windows and my living room was my kitchen. I was used to small spaces so having a room to myself was exciting and very freeing. I spoke some Japanese already from lessons in school when I was living with my family in South Korea. I set up my Laptop to let my family know I was safe and I made it to Japan okay. They were only a few hour flights away in South Korea. I unpacked my bags and walk around the neighborhood. My first experience was looking for a grocery store nearby. I found my way back home to see a note on my door. It was in Hiragana and back then google translate wasn't even an app at that time. I thought nothing of it and put the note on my countertop to have someone translate it for me. I thought nothing of it as I made my lunch for the next day. I opened my window to only find my lock on the window broken. I e-mailed Kiyoko to have someone please fix my lock because I was on the ground floor. I went to bed and slept with a light on.

I woke up the next morning to a note that had been put under the door. Same handwriting again. I opened my door to find sticky rice that had been flipped upside down out of a bowl onto my doorstep. I cleaned it up and put it into my compost. I hailed a taxi in my area and gave the taxi driver the address to my agency only the taxi driver can open or close the doors in Japan with an automated button. I had tucked away from the notes into my purse and was interested in knowing what they said. I greeted Kiyoko and met everyone in the office and asked her what the notes read. The first note asked if I was an English teacher? and if I would be interested in giving lessons. The second note read I'm a businessman from the area and I would like to learn English. Kiyoko smiled and wrote a note back and said to stick it to my door. The note had her phone number and it said that my Japanese was not the best and to give her a call. I went home and started to study more Japanese. I got ready for an event I was invited to for that evening. I left the note outside my door and someone had picked it up.

I went on with my life and started enjoying my work and worked at a cafe between modeling gigs part-time learning Japanese and Teaching Japanese Businessmen English. I turned 17 and it was typhoon season in Japan and my window started to shake open. I noticed my lock that was repaired was once again broken. My heart sank into my stomach a little bit and I called Kiyoko and one of my new friends I had met at the cafe who was a teacher from California. I e-mailed my mother and explained the strange notes and the rice along with the broken lock. My mother was planning to come to teach in Japan for a while and go talk to the police.

I did...

A few days passed with a new repaired lock.

One night at 11 pm I hear a knock on my door so loud it made me jump. A yellow envelope that read my name and a happy face with a balloon sticker. I opened the envelope and there was a photo of myself and my room as I was asleep. My stomach turned and my hands went cold. I looked at my door and called my friend from California. We will call her Fiona and asked her to come over. I called Kiyoko and she was on her way. I was put up into a hotel for a few weeks and still went about my routine while on edge. Until my mother arrived at her new job and they found her a two-bedroom apartment on the other side of the city. I was done my contract at that point but still wanted to stay in Japan. I felt safe and had my mother by my side and had moved. I found another job from one of my Japanese businessmen friends teaching at a bar. By this point, the strawberry blond hair was growing out. A man with a strange demeanor. dressed business casual pointed to my roots and smiled and asked in broken English if I would help him learn to read in English as I got closer to him he smelt metallic almost like Iron. I said sure and would help him once a week for a month to learn to read. He told me his name was Kenji but to call him Ken.

As the month went on I almost forgot about the creepy photo and notes my now strawberry blond hair as starting to look like a reversed skunk. I decided to go to a hair salon and touch up my hair except I turned into a redhead. I went home to my mother who found a green envelope that read in English. New hair? My mother took me to the police station and by that point, they knew the situation and took the note and asked me questions. The law's back in early 2003 didn't cover stalking much. Especially Gaijin.

My mother and I lived in a house that had a back garden which is rare in Japan to have. Her school provided us a security system and again I went on with teaching businessmen and ken for months until a year almost passed and I turned 18. Ken's English improved fast and he would try to always give me gifts. I would always refuse but one day I accepted a gift from him and he grew a big smile on his face. We went out for lunch Ken was 35 years old. Single and was usually very quiet but would become very chatty over the months we got to know each other. Ken and I went back to the bar after lunch and there was another envelope this time in purple with a photo of myself and Ken walking down the street. The back read Boyfriend? and then a photo of my back yards door. I freaked out and Ken tried to calm me down. We went to the police station and I called my mother.

A few weeks went by. I was asleep in my room and I had turned on my security system before bed. I fell asleep and woke up to the sound of my closet in my bedroom opening. I screamed at the top of my lungs and my mother was in the kitchen at the time. She ran in and hit a man over the head with a frying pan as hard as she could. He knocked her over and the security system went off as he opened our front door. He was no one I recognized from the cafe. or the bar. and how the hell he got into my closet to this day still baffles my mother and myself. For a few weeks, I would refuse to leave my apartment. I quit my job and would be glued to my mother's side.

Ken called me one day and asked how I was doing. I told him I was not well and what happened. The police still had yet to find out how he got into the apartment. Ken came over and brought some warm tea from a vending machine outside my house. He smiled and asked if I would like to go out. again he smelt of iron off his breath. I declined but after a few moments, I agreed. We went to a building I knew well from the other models. Many of the girls would get invited out to parties and I had heard of a few stories of girls going missing from these parties. We went into an elevator and Ken grabbed my waist and I pushed his hand away and said no. We walk into a penthouse lounge on the 70th floor. Businessmen and Russian models were around. Ken asks if I would like anything to drink and I walk over to the bar to get my drink. No one Id's you in Japan when you're western. They either don't care or cannot tell your age. I'm tired and want to go home. I ask Ken if we can leave but he wants to drink more. I don't want to drink anymore so I go to the elevator. as he screams Lana across the room. I step into the elevator and I'm the only one. It stops on the 43rd floor and a woman and her dog come on. I feel drained over the events. I'm alone but feel safe with this Japanese and her little dog. 23rd floor we stop and no ones there... Ground floor... The doors open and there is no one in the lobby it's now 3 am. I hail a taxi and a taxi cuts off the one that's about to pick me up. "weird" The automatic door opens. and I step in. I check my Nokia flip phone to see the time again. I'm tired and give the taxi driver my address. We start driving and we start to go the wrong way. I tell him in Japanese this is wrong. ask he replied it is okay in English. I tell him no do a Uturn this is the wrong direction. Fuck.. the wrong direction!!! My nerves already on edge and being overtired woke me up. I try to open the door but it's locked. Where is he taking me??? WHY!! I call my mom and tell her the taxi driver's ID number. He turns and smiles and my heart dives into my stomach as he takes off his hat. The man from my room the man who's been tailing me since day 1 of me arriving in Japan. The notes... the photos... the.. how the hell did he get a taxi? who is he? my mind overwhelmed with what is to come next. We are now in the direction of where I used to live. He pulls over and takes out a knife. Fuck...I hear movement from in the trunk. Tells me to give me my phone and opens the trunk. A taxi driver possibly in the back? Fuck fuck fuck...I can feel the blood leaving my face. I have no tears to cry or panic I just feel already dead. I go over in my mind what's happening. I don't know what he's done but the movement from the trunk has stopped. He gets into the taxi. I smell Iron and blood. I'm fucked. My phone is gone. My heart starts to go crazy. He pulls into a parking garage. He gets out and looks around. I'm locked in the taxi trying to break a window with my boots. I start to cry. The front portion of the taxi is covered by protective glass. I'm stuck, alone. and my life may end today of all days on a Sunday. I start to laugh and cry and try to cope with what is happening. I look for my purse but he had taken it. I look around me and remember I have bobby pins in my hair. I'm 100 pounds at 5'7 soaking wet in my tears and sweat. I see men passing by the taxi and scream. They pull me out and shoved me into a trunk I'm now freaking out as they drug me. I count three men.. I'm going to die.

I wake up to the sounds of crying. I'm in a tiny box I push and push both sides of the box and kick with my feet. I notice I'm now naked. and I can see threw a crack. I hear a girl's voice saying hello? I ask where are we? who are you? the faint voice says I'm not sure. I've been here for days it feels like. My name is Ksenia. she says. My mind numbs i cannot stand the fact I'm in a box and start screaming. A man's voice is coming towards my way and kicks the box hard and tells me in Japanese to shut up. Flings the box open and wraps his hands around my face. I look around him and not at him. I see 2 other boxes and photos of girls. I understand now what's happening. I've been a toy. and today they have collected the prize from their fucked up game.

I pass out...

I wake up in water briefly. someone is washing me and my hair.

I wake up fully in clothes and I'm tied in a room with mirrors.

I hear a voice, wait no voices and numbers being said aloud.

I'm drugged on something.

I feel numb and the room keeps turning off and on as much as I fight to stay awake.

I hear a familiar voice...

It's Kenji's voice... no...

I hear a scream.