It was his first time in L.A. No, not really, he had been here once before. Quite a while ago, when he was just 10 years old. His parents had sent him on some junior high school student exchange trip. He had been to America for 4 weeks, all alone, just 10 years old, without his parents, just with a bunch of children and a few instructors. He could not really remember anything of this trip, only the feeling that he had been afraid, afraid of this huge country, of the strange people there, and of missing his parents, of getting homesick. Probably he had been to Disneyland, but even that he could not remember. The only thing he remembered clearly about this journey was coming home. How he had been looking forward to get home again finally, to fly into the arms of his Mom and Dad.
He did not know why the instructors had not taken care about that, but somehow he had not been bathing for quite a while. So there he was at the airport, back in Tokyo, running toward his Mom and Dad who had come to pick him up, wanting to fling into their arms, but when he finally reached them, they pushed him away instinctively.
"Ugh! You stink like hell! How long since you took your last bath!?"
Something like that had been his welcome home. He remembered the pain, the disappointment. That was the only thing he remembered clearly about his trip to L.A. And now, 16 years later he was back here, walking the streets, Sunset Boulevard.
"Hey! Hide! Look out!"
Pata grabbed his arm and pulled him back, they were standing at a crossroad and a car was rushing by. So deep in thoughts he had not seen it at all.
"Goodness! What are you doing?"
"Oh, sorry... I was just thinking."
"About what?"
"My first time in L.A."
"Oh, that story again..."
Pata made a bored face and Hide could not help laughing at him.
"Oh, come on... I did not tell it that often..., where the hell are we?"
Hide looked around, a minute ago they still had been around Sunset Boulevard. Well at least he thought it had been a minute ago.
"Don't know... but I like it here. That shop over there looks interesting."
Pata indicated some shop across the road, this time Hide checked for cars and followed his friend.
"Ugh... I'm completely lost."
Slight worry on his face. Somehow Pata had led him to a strange area. Suddenly the houses had become a little shabby, not too many people walking by, that word, that people go by car in L.A. and not by foot came into his head, he looked out for a cab, but there was none in sight. Hide started to feel a little uncomfortable. Pata however seemed very calm and enjoying himself and approached that shop with firm steps. As they got closer Hide's interest was raised as well and the uncomfortable sting forgotten. That looked like a nice rock'n'roll shop. Black T-shirts, leather pants, stuff like that, a Red Hot Chili Peppers shirt caught his eye. Soon Pata and Hide were flipping through the shirts. Hide grabbed the Red Hot Chili shirt and just wanted to show it to Pata as there came a scream of delight from him.
"Look! Jack Daniel's! They have a Jack Daniel's shirt!"
"Oh, that's the right one for you!"
Hide laughed at him and beaming like a little boy on Christmas Eve Pata took the Jack Daniel's shirt.
"But this one isn't too bad either, don't you think?"
"Oh, I prefer Jack D. to Chili!"
Laughing at each other they went to the counter and paid.

Coming out again into the harsh sunlight after the dark Rocker's shop blinded them for a while.
"And now?"
Hide looked questioning at Pata.
"This way..."
Pata walked on, not turning back to the direction they came from.
"Are you sure this is the right way?"
"No... but who knows what else we find here..."
"Surprise! Usually I'm the one who is in for shopping and not you...!"
Pata grinned broadly at him.
"Oh, well, I thought this area looks like we might find some place where we can also get the real stuff..."
He started to beat the shopping bag with his Jack Daniel's T-shirt as if beating a drum. Hide chuckled.
"Yoshiki will be angry with us, if we get drunk tonight... recording tomorrow..."
"Oh, come on... it's my first time in L.A."
Pata stressed the word 'my first' explicitly. Laughing Hide slapped at him with his T-shirt bag.
They walked on for a while, somehow this area didn't look like a good place for drinking and besides it was still a little early. Hide checked his watch, 6 p.m.

They crossed another street, a side street, dirty and dark, even in the harsh sunlight. From the corner of his eye Hide saw something. He could not really figure out what made him turn around, some impulse, some vision, blurred. He stopped in the middle of the street and looked down the dirty road. There seemed to be some shop over there, some 30 yards away.
Pata had already reached the other side of the road.
"Are you having some problems with traffic today?"
"What? Why?"
"Do you want to get run over by a car?"
"Oh..."
Hide walked on and joined Pata.
"Over there... there seems to be something interesting, come on, let's check out..."
"Where?"
"There... right there... don't you see?"
Hide pulled Pata with him.
"What am I supposed to see?"
"This shop here..."
The second Hide said so they had reached it already. Just one display window, dark, dirty. A jewelry shop, well not gold and diamonds, more the sliver-skull shop type. Much more. Pata raised his brows. The display in the window was pretty much covered with dust, on black, dusty velvet some rings and necklaces, earrings and bracelets, all made of heavy silver, bone rings, scorpions, snakes, spiders, dragons, skulls, that kind of stuff. The inside of the shop seemed so dark they could not really figure out what was on the other side. Pata looked at his friend and sighed a little. There was a strange glitter in Hide's eyes.
"Oh, come on..."
"No... let's have a look inside..."
Before Pata could protest Hide was already opening the door, a glass door with iron frame, it creaked terribly as he opened it. Hide slipped inside the shop and Pata had no choice but to follow him.
The shop was very small, just a little room, some 12 square meters. The whole shop, it's walls, the ceiling, were covered with black velvet. A thick purple carpet on the floor. A strange smell in the shop, somehow rotten, not really stinking yet, but sticky and heavy air. A huge chandelier dangling from the ceiling, much too large for the room, dust on it, spider webs between its arms. Some showcases left and right at the walls. The yellow light from the chandelier was strangely being absorbed by the black velvet all around. No one seemed to be there. At the far end of the room, opposite to the door some more black velvet that seemed to hang about loosely and was not fixed to the wall.
Pata scratched his head. Hide however, absorbed by the weird atmosphere of the shop was staring at the show cases already. There were some nice pieces around, finger rings, the claw or a crow, the mouth of a dragon. He took one of the finger rings and put it on. He sew the air with it before Pata's eyes. Pata chuckled.
"Cool, isn't it?"
"Yeah, but you can't play guitar with that..."
Hide chuckled and put the finger ring back in its place. He turned around and examined another show case.
"Wow!"
He had discovered the eyeball rings. There were seven eyeball rings in total. Six of them nice, but pretty much fake. One however, the biggest one, looked very interesting. Just as Hide wanted to take it into his hands to examine it, a rustling interrupted him from the far end of the shop. Both, Pata as well as Hide could not help staring at the owner. A little old man, almost a dwarf, gray hair, black clothes. Somehow his hair made the impression as if it was covered by dust and spider webs as well, just like the chandelier. His clothes were of the same blackness as the velvet behind him. Somehow his body seemed to melt into the velvet, only his white face and white hands stood out from the blackness. The old man's face, there was something strange about it, lots of wrinkles, piercing blue eyes, his pale skin seemed as if covered with fish scales. No throat, as if his head was sitting right on his shoulders.
He smiled at them, a row of huge and very white teeth flashed in the light of the chandelier.
"Hello... can I help you?"
His voice, a rattling, as if something was stuck in his throat and vibrated with every stream of air that passed his larynx. Pata stared at him with wide open eyes. Hide was more resolute.
"Yes... this piece here looks very interesting."
He took the eyeball ring and placed it on the palm of his hand. The old man approached him and looked at what Hide had chosen. The old man's style of walking was rather irritating as well, he did not really seem to walk, it more seemed like sliding, he was just there suddenly, beside Hide, as if he was detached from the floor.
"Oh... yes... I see you have an exquisite taste, this is a very interesting piece indeed, where are you from?"
Hide looked at him a little irritated, asking himself what this ring had to do with his place of origin.
"Japan..."
"Mh..."
The old man looked up at him and showed his white teeth again, they were very white.
"This ring, my dear friend, or better to say the eye in this ring belonged to a real person..."
"What? What do you mean by that?"
"It's a glass-eye, it has been inside someone's head for 20 years..."
Pata chuckled, Hide just stared at the dwarf. The old man turned his attention to Pata for a while.
"I am not kidding, I am very serious... this glass-eye..." He pointed at the ring and Hide saw his hands, his fingers for the first time. Very strange hands, as if some web was between his fingers, like a fish, or was it just dust? The old man took his hand away again.
"... belonged to a Mr. George P., I am sorry if I cannot give you his complete name. He died one year ago at the age of 57 in the Rosebud Asylum for the mentally diseased where he had spent the last ten years of his life."
"He was mad?"
Hide stared at the old man.
"Very."
"You knew him personally?"
"No, unfortunately, my friend Stanley, who is sometimes on the road for me, looking for interesting pieces, knew him personally and I don't know how he managed and I never asked him, but he did manage to get hold of George P's glass-eye after he passed away."
Pata chuckled, he did not believe the old man one word. Hide however stared fascinated at the owner of this strange shop and of course the owner noticed that he could make Hide his victim.
"And this George guy, was he dangerous?"
"He killed four people as far as I know..."
"Wow!" Pata was highly amused.
"So this eye here saw death..."
The old man nodded at the eyeball ring on Hide's palm. Hide stared at the ring.
"You have beautiful hands..."
Hide jerked a little and looked at the old man, he showed his teeth again, the strange scales in his face rearranging themselves for the smile. Hide shuddered a little and did not really know what to do with his hands now after such a comment. Pata grinned all over. Hide put the ring on his finger, it fitted perfectly.
"The ring is all silver, hand made... by me, personally, some pieces I buy, some I make by myself... It fits you perfectly."
"Well, it does..."
Hide looked at the ring on his finger, the eye that was looking at him. Blue, sparkled with green a little, the pupil as black as the depths of space, held in its place by silver claws, the claws of a crow, a hoarse crow, the bird of death. The eye was looking at him. Even Pata's grin vanished now a little as he looked over Hide's shoulder at the ring on his friend's finger.
"How much?"
Hide's voice seemed hypnotized.
"I can see it in your eyes, that you are able to appreciate the value of this ring, it's impact... I had some customers before who were interested in this piece, but I didn't sell it. I wanted to find a customer who would really appreciate this piece... 300 dollars."
Pata sucked in some air at the price.
"You don't take credit cards by any chance, do you?"
"Of course, I take Visa, Master, Diners..."
A nonchalant smile around the fishy mouth of the old man.
"Hide..."
Pata wanted to protest but Hide interrupted him.
"All right..."
Hide fumbled for his wallet and handed the old man one of his credit cards.
"Thank you, my friend, just a moment please..."
With his fish hands the old man took the credit card and vanished behind his curtains. Pata whispered to Hide over his shoulder.
"Come on, you don't really believe that this shit he told us is true... that's just business and I am sure you are being cheated here... 300 is much too expensive for that thing..."
"I don't care... I like it... it looks great. don't you think?"
He stared at the ring on his finger, completely absorbed.
"As usual here we see Hide, falling for the atmosphere of something..."
Hide chuckled and gently slapped Pata's head. The old man came back in his sneaking, silent, creeping manner. With a piece of paper in his hand.
"If you sign here please. my friend..."
Hide checked the credit card receipt and signed it, Pata shook his head.
"Thank you my friend... Do you need a little bag?"
"No... I just keep it on... but do you have a business card? So that I can find your shop again?"
"Yes, sure..."
The old man fumbled in his black robes with his fishy fingers and produced a black business card and handed it to Hide, somehow he managed to touch Hide's fingers as he gave him the card, hard scratchy, scaly fingers. Hide put his hand away from the old man as soon as he could and looked at the card. In silver writing it read "The Black Rose" and some address.
"Thank you."
"Thank you my friend... and have nice dreams..."
They smiled awkwardly at each other and finally Hide followed Pata who was headed for the door of the shop already.

They were back in the street, both could not help to take a deep breath and both looked around astonished. It had become dark meanwhile. Not completely dark yet, but the sun had disappeared and the dirty side street was lying in twilight before them. Hide looked at his watch. It was past seven. He wrinkled his brows.
"What did he mean by that? Have nice dreams...?"
Hide shrugged his shoulders.
"Damned if I know... I guess that guy is a little crazy himself... Goodness... have we really been in that place for one hour?"
"What?... well... it's dark now... come on let's go..."
Pata pulled his friend by the sleeve.
"If you ask me you have just been cheated, but I know you are not asking me..."
"So what? That ring is very nice, cheated or not..."
Hide looked at his hand and the ring with defiant pride.
"You don't really believe that story about George, do you?"
"Who knows..."
"Oh, dear, you do believe it...!"
Pata laughed at his friend, however his laughter was not really convinced, it was a laughter of someone who wants to get rid of a strange, bad feeling of tension.
"Well, look at the ring... it is different... there is something about it... I have seen many eyeball rings before, but none was like that... none was so real... George or not, but for sure this eye was a real glass-eye... and anyway, who cares... it's a nice scary story..."
Pata smiled at him, he knew he couldn't change a bit about Hide's opinion now, Hide had made up his mind to believe the old man's story and to adore his purchase.
"Okay... let's look for a place to have a few beers... you are invited... guess you went broke now..."
"Oh, thank, you!"
Hide laughed heartily at Pata.

Hide and Pata had reached some bar. They were sitting at the counter, having a few snacks, beer and booze. Pata looked pretty satisfied at a bottle of Jack Daniel's before him. Hide beside him just downed a drink.
"Ah, what a day... and that thing is really cool, ain't it?"
"Well, it's not bad... I have to admit that..."
Hide looked at his ring, satisfied as well, both were pretty relaxed and happy from booze by now.
"So, what'ja think Georgy has done?"
"What?"
"The guy whose eye you are wearing..."
"Oh... hm... well I guess he killed a few little, beautiful girls... scarifying them for some religious, occult ritual..."
Pata burst with laughter and downed a drink as well. He filled Hide's glass, Hide took the bottle out of his hands and refilled his as well.
"Why a ritual?"
"Well, if he had just killed them, he would have ended up in prison or got executed, but he ended up in an asylum, so he must have done something sick and weird..."
Pata made a thinking face, then nodded seriously.
"Yeah, some SM, some bondage, covered by an occult ritual..."
Hide laughed at him loudly and drunken.
"Now there it is! That glitter in your eyes!"
Pata laughed as well.
"By the way... that weird guy seemed to have a fancy for you as well, didn't he?"
Pata took one of Hide's hands, the one with the ring on and touched it the same way as the old man had done, when he handed Hide the business card and imitated the old man's voice.
"You have beautiful hands..."
Hide burst with laughter.
"Oh, dear... yes... I felt some cold sweat when he did that... have you taken a real look at this guy?! His hands... like a fish... as if there were some webs between his fingers! And his skin... like scales...!"
"Yeah, he looked pretty fishy..."
In their drunken mood the two friends got now one attack of laughter after another.
And yet, although Hide felt generally good, warm, drunken, funny, there was a strange feeling left all the time. A bitter taste under the happiness. The eye on his finger was looking at him. It stared at him, seemed to penetrate his skin. It looked inside of him, it knew his fears and nightmares. Hide just could not get rid of this feeling. That the eye was studying him, examining him, scanning him. Hide tried to drown this feeling in booze.

Hide did not really remember how he had got home. He only realized that he was falling onto a bed. He was not so sure whether it was really his bed or whether they were at Pata's place or at a hotel, or wherever. Anyway, it didn't matter, there was a bed and he slumped into it and did not even take off his clothes nor the ring. He fell asleep right where he was.

"George?"
"Yes my dear?"
"Could you please help me?"
"Yes, sure..."
Hide turned around, he was in a bedroom, a woman was standing by the mirror and tried to close the zippers of her evening dress on her back, she did not manage. He approached her in order to help. His hands were freezing as he reached out for her. She had no throat, and her hands, fumbling at the zipper on her back, there were webs between her fingers! Like a fish. He looked up and at her face in the mirror. Her skin, covered with scales. The woman was young and before she had started to turn into this fishy monster she must have been beautiful. Long black hair, clear blue eyes. She smiled at him through the mirror, her teeth, very white, just too many white teeth smiling at him. But much more horrifying than the woman was the glimpse of himself Hide caught in the mirror.
That was not him! Some strange man he had never seen before! His reflection in the mirror, how could that be!? A lie... this must be a lie. Hide turned his eyes away from the mirror and back at the woman. She was still fumbling at her zippers. Hide reached out to help her, he stared at his hands, no! Those were not his hands, not these thick, small, clumsy fingers! He backed away a little and dared to look again at his reflection in the mirror. A man in his forties, brown hair, a broad face, hard features and his eyes... One eye static, unmoving, artificial, glass. Desperately attempting to resemble the living eye next to it, the same blue color, with sparkles of green, but dead. And yet he could see, in fact he could only see through this dead eye as he realized now. He stared at his reflection in the mirror, incredulity, disbelief, shock.
"George? What's wrong?"
The woman's voice... such a strange rattling.
"Nothing," he replied with a voice he did not know and turned his hands, these thick, clumsy hands that were never his own back to help her with the zippers. He finally managed to closed them.
"You have changed so much...", he heard himself saying.
"You really think so?"
"Yes... are you sure you are all right...?"
"Of course I'm all right... I'm feeling fine... I never felt better..."
The woman frowned and stared at him.
"Come on, admit it... you are ashamed to show yourself in public with me like that..."
"No, no... of course not, darling..."
"You are ashamed!"
Tears under the rattling.
"Well... I... I'm not used to it yet..."
He had spoiled it, now the woman was injured by his staring, by the shocked face he had made.
"It's a quite common phenomenon... you will meet a few others like me on the party tonight..."
Hide stared at her in horror and disgust. What the hell was she talking about? A common phenomenon? More people at the party? What party? What the hell was going on here? What had happened to him anyway? Why did he have the feeling to be caught in George's body?
"Come on George, don't make such a face... let's go..."
They left the room and the house, never ever had he been in this house before. It was raining outside and the woman seemed to enjoy it, he took a close look at her, walking a little behind her. The scales on her skin seemed to welcome the water with joy, they changed their color, they started to sparkle and glitter, like silver, like a fish in the sea.

They had arrived at the party. Hide asked himself if this nightmare would never end. They climbed the stairs to some house of a millionaire, they entered it and there they were, the guests. All of them in dinner clothes. There they were, the party of fishes. Not all of the guests, but most of them. All of them alike, the same symptoms, the same symptoms like this shop owner and the woman before him. No throat, webs between their fingers, scales on their skins. Some were changed into fishes quite a bit already. Hardly any skin visible no more, only scales, their fingers connected by the fish webs up to their finger tips. And yet they were having a quite normal party. A buffet arranged on a few tables. A little brass band playing dance music, Champagne and wine, evening robes, dinner suits, like the one he wore. Laughing and talking all around him as if nothing was wrong.
Hide tried to find a familiar face, the face of the owner of the shop. But he did not seem to be here. Another fish woman and her fish husband approached him and the woman that was apparently his wife.
"Oh, hello darling... so nice you could make it... and George... welcome my dear...!"
The fish woman approached him, in that unmoving, sliding manner and embraced him with her fins. He had to fight down repulsion, he felt like he had to vomit. That thing that was embracing him now was not a woman but was a monster, defying nature! She rubbed her scale skin at his cheek, it was rugged and damp at the same time and cold! So cold! As if no blood floated anymore in her body. And the smell, this stench, somehow rotten and decayed. He had to fight for his consciousness, he felt his knees giving away under him from repulsion, he felt as if he had to vomit right over her evening dress. But before he fainted she finally released him. He was soon forced to shake hands with her husband, this rough and slimy, fishy hand.
"So glad you could make it... George... are you all right?"
No, he was definitely not all right, he stared over the shoulder of the fish woman, behind her. There was another fish coming, the most advanced he had seen until now, his face could not be called human anymore. The eyes had come out of their sockets, his face had sharpened, the eyes wandered a little to the sides, the nose had retreated into his face, the mouth had come out, very fat, protruding lips. Never ever in his life had he seen something so ugly, so disgusting. He did not want to see this man, he did not want to look into his face. He managed to lower his eyes, he felt dizzy.
"I... I'm sorry... I think I better lie down for a while..."
"Oh, yes, sure..."
The fish woman took him by the arm and lead him upstairs, he stared at her hand holding his arm, that fin. He looked around, to his horror and despair his own wife, the fish woman's husband and that monster that had just joined them went with him upstairs.
He swallowed hard.
The fish woman opened a door and lead him into a silent room, some guest room it seemed. Grateful he lay down onto the bed. The moment he did so he felt something in his back, he wondered what it was. Something hard... a gun! Yes, that was a gun! Goodness... George, why did you bring a gun with you? Hidden in your belt at your back?
He looked up, the four fishes were staring down at him.
The fish woman looked at his wife:
"Do you think he is ready?"
"Yes... I think he is quite ready to become one of us..."
What?! What did she say there? One of them? He felt his heart sinking, pure horror gripped him. To become like them?! Never... he would rather die than become one of them! The monster fish smiled at him with his fat, unreal lips.
"All, right..."
The voice of this monster sent shivers down Hide's spine. That was no voice anymore but some indescribable smacking and sliming. The monster bowed down to him as if it wanted to kiss him, the rotten smell took Hide's breath. Instinctively he raised himself a little and grabbed the gun behind his back. He was not thinking, he was just doing it, anything was better than having this incredible monster touch him. He just couldn't stand that thought, and to become one of them?! Unthinkable!
He drew the gun and shot right into the face that was coming closer and ever closer to him. The face exploded, slime and mud spread all over him and all over the bed. The other three fishes screamed and still without thinking Hide aimed at them one after another, shooting them.
Silence returned to the room. Four smashed bodies lying around and half on his bed. Only now he realized he had never had a gun in his hand before. He stared at the mess, at the slime pouring out of their wounds.
Then he heard the others coming. There were no steps in the corridor and on the stairs but only that strange sliding. They were coming closer. He felt as if he could see the trace of slime they left behind them on the stairs. Panic and horror gripped him again. He threw the gun away, jumped out of bed, toward the window, threw it open and leapt on the balcony. He looked down, some three meters, not too deep and a soft lawn below him. The door to the room was being opened, the mass of fishes started to pour inside, enraged, angry, that their friends, their brothers and sisters had been murdered by him. He did not hesitate anymore jumped and started to run for his life.

With a scream Hide sat upright in bed. He looked around in panic, he was soaked in sweat. Where was he?! Pata... that was Pata's home. He jumped out of bed, ran into the bathroom and stared into the mirror. A sigh of relief, he had his face back, he touched his face as if to make sure it was really there. His hands. He looked at his hands in the mirror. Yes it were his hands, not George's. but it was George's eye on his hand that was staring back at him from the mirror now as well. In panic Hide took the ring from his finger and threw it through the open bathroom door back into the bedroom. He almost hit Pata with it. Sleepily and still somewhat drunk, Pata was slurping toward the bathroom door.
"Hide chan... what's wrong? Are you all right?"
"Yes... yes, I'm fine now... sorry for waking you up..."
"Nightmares?"
Hide shivered.
"George was not the bad guy Pata..."
"What?"
"George... the owner of the glass-eye... he was not the bad guy..."
"What the hell are you talking about...?"
"He...oh dear... forget it... this is too complicated to explain... and you wouldn't believe me anyway..."
Pata smiled sleepily.
"Come on Hide chan, go back to bed... You've been dreaming..."
"Yes sure..."
Hide looked once more into the mirror, very happy to see his own face there and not that of George. He turned around and patted Pata's shoulder, who was almost sleeping again, even though he was still standing. Hide sent Pata back into bed and looked for the ring he had thrown away. He found it soon under the bed, sat down and stared at the ring for a while. He shook his head.
"Goodness..."
Hide stuffed the ring into some pocket and went back to bed, swearing to himself never to wear that ring again.

The End.