As the car sped past the sub urban street, a police car chased after it. Arthur sat close to the window as he observed the drama taking place.
"News is getting crazy man." A student said.
"Random and crazy. Some guy was just apprehended just recently, I can bet you don't know why!"
"Lemme guess, he cut the heart out of his victims!?"
"What? No. It's far more worse."
I'm calling it that it's cannibalism. Arthur thought to himself.
As if like he read a book for test, the student completed.
"It's cannibalism! He has the gross thing of eating the meat of only his female victims."
"Be quiet you two!" The teacher shushed them.
Yeah, the story never changes does it? Murder, murder with spin of cannibalism, assault, a cruel sexual assault. The story never changes.
The bell rang as the class scattered with students leaving and some chatting.
Arthur rubbed his head from pain, squinting his eyes.
The chattering in the background turning into noise. Perfume, smiles and hormones attacked Arthur's vision.
He backed out his chair, causing a loud sound, the students looking at him.
"That guy became a role model student within weeks man."
"How does he do it? If I remember correctly he was a pussy who does nothing but get in fights."
Whispers were exchanged as Arthur walked out the classroom.
Humans are creatures with inherent evil in them from the day they're born don't you think?
And the illusion of general kindness and morals is of nothing but fear for external punishment. Often at times, these punishment aren't even well passed on.
Just as Arthur walked and thought to himself, his dull gaze fell on a boy and a girl making out on the hallway. They didn't mind he watched at all.
As they parted their kiss, the boy who seemed like a senior gave the girl who was junior a pack of crushed weed and little does of cocaine.
"Keep that little ass moving, hear me~?" The senior mocked.
"I'll drop by your house later." Said the girl as she swayed her hips and walked away.
What a rotten place I'm thrown in. Whenever I think of the way humans are, I feel like vomiting.
But that's why...
School ended and Arthur made his way home. Slamming his room door shut behind him.
That's exactly why I'll take the responsibility. I'll shoulder the burdens.
He switched on his bulky PC, logging into a live news websites of 'Always News'
A new glaring headline as he looked at it with disdain. He slammed the mystery 'death note' back on his desk. Whipped out his ballpoint pen and let his hands hover over the page in hesitation.
Am I sure? Is this a way to go about it? No, when I first used this notebook, I was hoping it was a bad joke waiting to crack itself, but what if Mayer Mendez was a victim to this pen and paper?
No, no... With this, I can becoming the thing I failed to be as After Death Day. To be the ultimate judge! To manage the evil of humanity. With this pen and paper, I can test my thesis.
Can humanity be bent with absolute certainty of their own actions?
This question got his heart racing regardless of it's answer. A crazed look settled on his face.
Don't worry. After Death Day will shoulder this heavy burden.
And so he wrote on his notebook to confirm if it wasn't all a hoax. A part of him wished it was real.
With careful strokes, he wrote the name: Louis Kirkman. A man of despicable deeds of multiple homicide, fortunately for Arthur, he was on death row.
He steered his eyes towards the clock as it ticked.
His face morphing to a calm expression.
"5 seconds remaining. I'll have to wait it out for at least an hour to get results since this wasn't a live news."
An hour passed, Arthur sat still with his arms folded and gaze sharp. He had been waiting patiently.
Then the channel suddenly switched.
"Just in... The death row inmate had been confirmed dead a day before his execution, by not violence within his cell but by a mysterious heart attack!" The reporter said with confusion and slight urgency.
A sharp glint flashed on Arthur's eyes. A small but satisfied smile slowly crept on his face.
Although his heart raced, he kept clam and called back to the rules of the notebook.
"Well that confirms it... Perhaps this notebook wasn't a stationary toy after all."
Arthur scoffed, as he switched off the television. His phone rang with a notification.
"I won't be home today, so go to bed quickly..."
Arthur read the message, but he clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"Don't worry about that, I will be sure to do the exact opposite."
But with this note, I could have a bit of pitiful hope on humans... On these demons to actually change!
Arthur gestures with his arms wide in a grand pose.
"Don't you think disobeying mommy will get you grounded?"
Arthur's eyes widened at the sound of a deep voice.
"What! Who's there!?" He said in panic.
A lanky figure stood in the shadows of the living room. Walking out slowly revealing itself.
Arthur's calm expression is replaced with that if utter horror. Falling to his butt in a coward manner as he pointed his shaking finger.
"W-what in the hell are you!?"
"A shinigami. You can call me Dennim"
Arthur's eyes shook violently in their sockets. Unable to grasp what he was seeing
"Shinigami? Dennim? What's tha--"
"Oh, don't mind me, I was joking about my name. Call me Altergott." The monster waved his long hand slowly.
"I-i see..."
Arthur dragged himself slowly from the floor and stood on his quaking feet.
"You look pretty rough. I can't be that bad."
The shinigami said, walking around the room with curiousity in his eyes. Arthur observed his appearance that sent chills down his spine.
A skull mask sat on his face, covering whatever horror hid behind it. Fingers are decorated with gold and silver ring that shook with every movement. A grey body suit with several zips and a fur neck warmer.
The shinigami stopped and said: "you sure are a weird one."
"..."
"I'm looking very closely and I can't see it. I can't see it at all... This has never happened before." With just an inch of it's face from Arthur's.
Arthur chuckled nervously as he backed out slowly.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Said with his usual calm tone.
"You'll get it sooner or later." It walked up his PC and fondled with it, saying with out looking back at Arthur, "You've used that notebook haven't you?"
Arthur's neck snaps towards the notebook. "The notebook...?" Arthur wondered as he grabbed the notebook, "What about it?" He asked with his usual sharp tone.
"Nothing. It's just mine, or in other words, was mine."
"What do you mean?"
"Once the notebook touched the ground or falls into earth, whoever picked up the note becomes the owner." The shinigami explained as plopped into Arthur's bed.
"I see..." He said as he looked down at the sleek cover of the death note. "And what do you want? You some kind of Eldritch horror who come to take my soul?"
"Don't be stupid!" Suddenly the shinigami appeared in front of Arthur's face, "I can't leave until the notebook is finished or you're finished."
Arthur stared into the any of the skull mask with intricate details.
"So in other words, I'm stuck with you?"
"HA! more like I'm stuck with you!"
The shinigami chuckled loudly as he looked under the bed and squeezed himself in.
"I heard humans are scared of whatever's hidden under the bed. Is that true?"
Arthur didn't entertain his question and asked, "so what exactly are shinigami?"
"I see why humans are scared of whatever's hidden under their bed, it's dirty, cold and dark! Bleh!!"
"Stop that and answer me!"
"Never heard of the Internet?" The shinigami walked over to the window and looked at the neighborhood.
Whatever's this thing, it's pissing me off and giving most importantly, giving me the creeps.
"Would be better to hear from the source." Arthur probs.
"Sure thing kid. Shinigami's are unemployed assholes, disguised as gods who keeps cutting the life of others so we could continue being unemployed and bored"
This some kind of joke...? Yet again, I've been met with reincarnation, a notebook that can kill and I don't think I'll be drawing the line on whatever this thing's saying.
"Sure." Arthur said with slight annoyance leaking from his voice.
Arthur picked up his bag and started leaving the room.
"Hey, hold on! You still haven't introduce yourself."
Arthur whipped his black hair from his vision. "Arthur Bateman."
"Oh I see, I see! I don't know what's wrong with my eyes. So you gonna start filling up those pages right?"
"What do you mean Altergott? I have no intention to fill the notebook mindlessly."
Arthur said as he walked down the stairs. The shinigami floating behind him.
"You can just call me Al."
"Of course Al, besides, why are you such in a hurry to go back to wherever you came from. This might be your only time to be entertained."
"... Yeah, thanks. I don't care for entertainment, I like my solitude more than myself."
"C'mon, don't be a bore. After all, the show's just starting."
The shinigami sighed as he cursed himself and a certain shinigami as well.
"With that said, I won't be in a rush. So take your time to make yourself at home, that's if I'm the only one who can see you"
"This is all thanks to Ryuk. What a pain in the butt, the bastard dropped my notebook to this buzzing landscape." Al grumbled under his breath.
"Well that settles it then. I welcome you to the rotten world of evil. And with this notebook, I'm tasked with the management of it's inherent evil, in hope of humans changing."
The shinigami stared at Arthur who was absorbed by his own world. He wondered how he got here.
"Do eye drop work on shinigami's?"