When Frankie met Joey: A DADA story

The moon shone down casting white shadows over Tokyo as Frankie stumbled down the dark alleyway. Nothing in her life was worth living for anymore: both her parents were dead, she hadn't got a job and she had had a one night stand with Enekomon!

She stopped and sat down behind some dustbins. No-one would find me here she thought. She pulled a huge hypothermic needle and as she plunged the Heroin filled needle into her arm, began to cry. It won't be long now she decided, soon it would all be over and the suffering would end. Tears rolled down her face and her white blouse was becoming damp. She shrank back into the shadows waiting for death.

Joey Wheeler wandered lonely down the streets of Tokyo city centre with the usual takeaway for himself and his friend Tristan. The wind started to blow and he wrapped his green trenchcoat tighter around himself. He mused silently to himself as he made his way home. The good thing about living in Tokyo is that you can get a takeaway at two o'clock in the morning. All of a sudden it started to rain. Oh great said Joey angrily to himself. Luckily Joey knew a short cut with would shorten the journey by half. He run for about two hundred yards then turned into an alleyway.

Joey went as quick as he could down the alleyway considering he couldn't see much but as he got to the end of the alleyway he turned back ( to this he still doesn't know what possessed him to do it) and wandered over to some dustbins . He peered behind them and saw something lying there. Anxious, he moved the bins to get a closer look. His face turned white when he saw that it was a person. He picked the young woman and lay her down on a section of ground that was dowsed in moonlight.

"Hello?" he asked, but no-one answered. "Hello?" he said again, his concern for her growing. Again there was no reply so he checked her pulse: she was unconscious. Joey got out his cell phone and phoned for an ambulance. "Which service do you require?"

"Ambulance please."

"Putting you through." Joey jumped around on the spot waiting to be connected.

"Ambulance service, how may I help you?"

"Oh thank God!" Joey replied in short breaths, relieved that he had finally got through after what seemed like an age. "Um, I've found a young woman unconscious in an alleyway."

"Ok. And where is the alleyway?"

"It's just off the high street in Tokyo city centre."

"Ok, we're sending an ambulance out to you now. Don't panic, everything will be fine. I'll stay on the phone with you until the paramedics get there."

"Thank you. Thank you!"

"Can you see anything that may help us to find out why she's unconscious?"

"Let me go look."

"You mean you moved her?"

"Not very far and besides I had to, she was behind some dustbins."

"Just don't move her again, if she's got head or neck damage moving her could be very dangerous."

Joey went back over to the dustbins and, after a bit of searching found the Hypothermic needle Frankie had used to inject Heroin. "I've found a syringe. Maybe she's taken a drug overdose or something."

"Ok, just don't touch the needle or prick yourself with it. Have you got something to put it in?"

Joey searched around. Then he dropped the contents of his takeaway on the floor and the newspaper around the it ( the syringe not the takeaway).

"Has she been sick or is there something blocking her airway?"

Joey went back over to Frankie and opened her mouth. "Nope. Nothing."

"Ok, jus-" The voice of the operator was drowned out by the droning of sirens. "The ambulance is here," Joey said quickly, "thank you very much." And he ended the call.

A call echoed from the distance "Somebody call for an ambulance?"

"Over here buddy!" Joey called back.

Two paramedics came running down the alleyway with a stretcher and bags full of medical equipment. "Hi," said one "This is Toby and I'm Dave." Then looking down at Frankie "Do you know what's wrong with her?"

"She may have taken a drug overdose I found this." He handed the newspaper covered syringe over.

"Ok."

Then they put a neck brace on her, lifted her onto the stretcher and wrapped blankets around her and bundled her into the ambulance.

"You wanna come along ?" Toby asked

Joey nodded his head and climbed in.

Inside, Joey sat holding her hand and stroking her hair, praying for her to be all right. He gazed down at himself: his trousers were muddy and his trenchcoat was soaking. But it was a whole lot better compared to how Frankie looked: Her hair matted and clothes drenched and her face and limbs caked in mud. Joey went into a daze until Toby's voice brought him back to the land of the living.

"Do you know her?" he asked.

"Joey shook his head. "No. I found her behind some dustbins in that alleyway. It was a shortcut. If I hadn't had found her who knows what would have happened to her."

The paramedic looked out of the window. "Oh, we're here." And he opened the door where he was greeted by half a dozen doctors and nurses. They made through the carpark and through the main doors.

"Caucasian female, identity unknown, may have taken a drug overdose, BP's 130 over 83."

"Is that bad?" asked Joey, tears coming to his eyes.

"I'm sorry," said a nurse "you can't come any further." And led him away.