Bad Luck

There is only one explanation: it’s Bad Luck. Try as I might, it just gets in the way of my goal. For the past three years, I’ve been trying to do one thing. I want to, no… I have to meet Hideki Matose.
When I first went to high school, I had met some people who read what was called “manga,” or Japanese comics. It was captivating. I decided in my sophomore year that I wanted to do that, too—write manga, that is. So, I bought more for research. Well, one day, I came across a manga called NeverEnd. It was touching; about love, loss, and the like. It was by Hideki Matose. I loved the story to begin with, but somewhere along the line, I think I fell in love with the creator himself.
In 2004, I heard from my friends that Hideki was going to appear at a convention in Florida. I knew I had to go, so I gathered all my hard earned money and prepared for the trip. I put my things in the back of my beat-up station wagon, then hopped into the front seat and put the key in the ignition. I turned it… only to be met by the sound of a wheezing engine. Dead. And not enough money for a plane ticket, or a train ticket for that matter. Bad Luck.