What was I supposed to do? I was paranoid. I could not help it. It was hers. It was her fault! I do not understand what she meant, how she figured it out. The blood lust was unbearable. It was almost as if she could see into my soul through my eyes. Everything she said was true. It was disturbing. It was something I could not figure out. How could she?

At night I can still see her. She was beautiful. Stunning in fact. She had smooth ivory skin with just a touch of blush beneath the surface of her cheeks. She was slender, but short, with a perfect figure. But something about her that bothered me. Her eyes.

They were an eerie whitish-gray with a hint of blue. Or were they a whitish-blue with a hint of gray? I was never completely sure. All I know is that they were haunting. As compelling as they were they were almost devoid of emotion. Even as—I will get on to THAT later, but damn she was masochistic. Probably a sadist. The strangest person I have ever met. Yet also my would-be best friend...

At Wammy's house I suppose I was pretty bright. My grades were nearly top-notch. My best friend was... Different. A. A did well as well, but there was always something missing. It was not that I loved A or anything, A was just my best friend. I think. Right now I am not sure of anything.

A and I were always together. A and B. The first to letters of the alphabet... There was no relevance but I always liked to tell myself that. We would always be together. We could never be apart. Even if we were away from each other, in the end A and B would be together...

Right then, I remembered again.

I thought about it.

I almost wanted to cry.

My best friend was gone.

Dead.

A committed suicide, A didn't even tell me why!! No note. Nothing. A was just gone, at which point I ran away. I could not stay at Wammy's without A. I think I became emotionally unstable. So I just left.

After A's death something rather peculiar happened. My once clouded eyes began to see. They saw such wretched things, it was almost unbearable. The life I once could barely see was now visible. I could see through the red light, the color that shielded my eyes, the only thing my eyes had ever really seen. I could finally see the world around me clearly.

One more thing.

I could see death.

At first, I thought I was insane, I felt like a stalker. I knew their names. All of them. Every one...

But then...

They started to fall at my feet... those dates... that strange time... the people around me began to fall! I desperately searched my own reflection for answers, but found none. The people around me continued to fall. It was not THAT that nearly pushed me over the edge thought. It was...

Locke.

Locke – the reason I regretted leaving Wammy's, at least at first.

Locke, tall, pale, hooded – glowing red embers as eyes.

It was some ghastly horror, so I thought. I was alone in England. In an empty, devoid, city. No one was out that day.

I must have looked too closely or something, either way, that THING approached me.

"You, you are—"

I cringed. I could not listen to my name.

"Well then. This is interesting. You're afraid. Aren't you?" that thing asked me.

"Who – what – are you?" my eyes were wide.

"Locke," it spat, "and clearly you don't wish for me to address you by your real name. What then, pray tell, shall I call you?"

"B." I was confused. What the hell was this thing?

"I've been looking for you... B." it said.

"You've what...?!" "I am a shinigami, B. You have been blessed... or cursed... to have been born with a shinigami's eyes.

"A shinigami's eyes...? I'm drawing a blank. What do you mean?"

Locke, the shinigami, raised its skeletal finger to point at me.

"You, B, can see the names and life spans of every human being – excluding your own."

Oh... well that answers—

"I knew you would be wondering as to why you couldn't see a date above your own head."

I stared blankly at Locke. This was insane.

Shinigami? Like I have ever bought that shit. Hah. This was some jackass pulling some sort of prank; but then again, how would he know?

Locke lifted his hood, pulling it back from his face. When the shroud was gone, I could see his so-said face.

Locke had a crooked neck and spine; and a diamond-shaped skull. Its glowing red eyes now showed black. He had fanglike "teeth" that hung over where his bottom lip would be, and a row of sharp, spiky bone running down his vertebrae. Large, heavy, lead locks adorned his neck, hanging from an industrial, titanium chain.

Shadows seeped out from beneath his black shroud. As Locke lowered his hand, smaller locks began to fall to the ground, out of his long sleeves, dangling from more chains. They jingled whenever he so much as breathed.

"I don't—You shouldn't—Can't other people see you?"

"No. Only those who have either touched my death note or someone with a shinigmi's eyes. And YOU are the only one who has ever been born with shinigami eyes."

"Why was I...? Was I chosen?"

"Heh, normally it would be arrogant for someone to think that a shinigami actually chose a human; but in your case, yes, you were chosen. You were chosen to do... great... things."

"What kind of things? And what is a death note?"

"Hmm... That is for you to figure out. And a death note is of no consequence to you."

"Then why did you mention it?"

"You asked about the circumstances surrounding the ability for humans to see shinigami. I merely answered. I owe you nothing. Do not make the mistake of believing that I am here to help you. I am in this for my own benefit, for my life. I am eternally chained into this."

"Chained into what?"

"What if I said that it was... A's choice?"

"Ah...ah... A?" I stumbled backwards.

"Haha, what if A asked me to watch over you?"

"Then... Then... A still cared about me? Why did A commit suicide then?"

"Death is a funny thing, Beyond," Locke mocked me, "It wasn't A, Beyond. My reasons, as I have previously stated, are what you humans would call 'none of your business.'" He snapped.

Okay? Apparently even after death someone can still be as...Hmm; how to put this? Someone or thing can be as stuck up?, possibly, as they were before they died.

"Then why did you come to find me? Did you think I wouldn't be curious? Why bother sticking around. Just go back to the shinigami realm or whatever."

"Like I said, I am here for my own benefit, for my life."

"Yeah, right. Shinigami have lives. Bullshit."

"You would be surprised. We have to extend our lives, the time we have left by writing humans' names in our death notes—damn...."

"You write human's names in the death note? What do they do? Do they....?"

"Never mind."

"Fine."

I turned and walked away, shaken. He didn't really tell me why he had to find me. Was he going to follow me? Look for me again?

Christ.

This was all too much.

Once I was a good distance away from our initial meeting place, I looked back. Locke was right behind me.

"Do you have a problem?"

"..."

"Why are you following me?"

"I told you."

"What the hell? Go away."

"As much as I would like to... I cannot oblige. I have to stay with you."

"Seriously? Get real. Get out. Go away."

"Hmm, are you always so easily annoyed?"

"DAMN IT! LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"You don't even want to know how you got the eyes?"

"No! And if you have to follow me everywhere just shut up and don't talk to me!"

"Fine."