Crimson... Scarlet... Ruby... The one color that was always the most prominent since the day I was born... My vision reflecting the world to me in a bloody crimson hue... as if it had been like that... As a small child, I was always highly advanced... But my parents frequently had me at different faucilites to determine if I had a psychological defect. Before I fully understood it, they thought perhaps something was wrong throughout my newborn and toddler years. I had a habit of looking over peoples heads instead of into their eyes. And I was always tries to grab things "that simply weren't there". I didn't know at the time, that they couldn't see the mysterious floating numbers and letters that I could. The only time I saw no numbers was when I looked into a mirror. There I would see my own dreadful reflection. Beyond Birthday hovering indefinately over my head in infinite suspension.
My parents thought something was wrong with my eyes when I could not distinguish colors apart from red. A series of tests followed, and a doctor told my parents that he could not determine what was wrong, and said it was probably a rare form of color blindness. After I learned to read, I learned that the letters would spell out ones birth name. This was useful, but it appears calling someone by their name before you become aquainted, is creepy... I once asked my mother and father what the numbers meant and why I saw them. They seemed confused at first and so I questioned if they could see them. When they replied no, they then took me to an eye doctor. The doctor said that everything came back fine and that my vision was actually slightly sharper than the perfect 20/20 range.
Then came that day... The day I discovered how to read the numbers... I had spent nearly all my time studying math and complex algebraic expressions just to hope to figure it out... Little did I know how much a natural childs curiousity could change my life so much... After I solved the algebraic expressions to solve the number, I leaned what those horrible numbers told me... Ones date of death... Every moment of my life, I had been reminded that everyone will eventually perish and that nothing will be able to stop it... I found out the dates of my parents imminate demise... I knew it would happen sooner or later... I had no idea how closer it was to sooner, than later...
From the day I found out, my father had only 4 more days left... Although I couldn't be sure of the cause of death, I predicted it would be during noon... about the time he had his lunchbreak from work... I dared not tell my parents what I could see... They day he was finally destined to die, I did everything in my power to make him stay home... I tried hiding his car keys, his wallet, I even tried to push the car into a river, which due to being only 6 years old, I could not accomplish... My father used my mothers car keys and she gave him some money... Then he left... As soon as I heard the car drive of from my room, in timeout for my effort to destroy the car, all I could do was cry... And cry I did... My mother was incapable of consoling me... She used her phone to call my father so he can try to calm me down... I calmed slightly... Until he told me he had to go to work again... I screamed... cried... pleaded... begged for him not to hang up... But he did... I remember that I started crying again...
Sure enough at about 12:30 noon, my mother was worried... My father hadn't called her to let her know he had left the office for lunch... Even the days he had to work through lunch, he always made sure to call and tell her... The hours seemed like centuries and it was about 4:30 in the afternoon... There was a knock on the door... I made a dash to the front door, hoping to be greeted by my father... My father wasn't there... Instead was a police officer. My mother soon joined my side and shooed me from the room, assuming that I needn't hear his news. Being the nosy child I was, I listened from the kitchen... The uniformed officer informed my mother that my father been attacked by a thug and had been killed when the attempted robbery had quickly gone wrong... My father was shot twice in the chest and robbed... His life in the end being worth only $27 dollars... The following days seemed eternal, yet they also passed without me even noticing... I was in total shock... my father... was dead... vanished... gone for the rest of eternity... and he couldn't even come back long enough to tell me and my mother goodbye... The day the funeral was held... my mother just couldn't stop crying... I did not cry that day... I had spent so much time crying from the days leading to my fathers death and from the day he died, that my tiny body had no tears left to shed.
My mother didn't have much time either... She was so upset from my fathers death... She had only 3 months left... I know I couldn't tell her how long she had to wait before she would be reunited with my deceased father... I spent every single day by her side... just trying to keep us both happy... I had to enjoy what little time we had left together... After a month and a half passed, my mother had began to move on from losing her love that I called father... And I had wanted so hard to become stronger... I put on a frint for her. To make sure she didn't worry about how I was coping... Little did she know that I would spend every hour of the lonesome night crying... mourning a death that has yet to come...
The days of playing alongside my mother sure enough, didn't last forever... I was always reminded of the countdown... And that day... her final day left on this earth... I had no idea what she would succum to... She told me that my aunt would be watching me while she went downtown to buy me some new clothes... I remember how much my eyes widened... and how I threw yet another tantrum of begging and crying for her not to leave me... to just please stay home... She gave me a sad smile, not wanting to leave her child at home in tears like that and kissed my cheek, reassured me that "mommy will be right back". I gave her a tight hug... trying to cherish our final moments together... Then... she left...
At around 2:15 in the afternoon, my mother had not returned... I had left my aunt in the living room and went to my bedroom... and then I just kept sobbing... pleading to every higher power that she would come home soon... I had at some point, cried myself to sleep and was awoken by my aunt... her voice shaking, trying to repress tears for me as she told me that my mother had died... A train had disrrailed and slammed straight into the bus my mother and other passengers were taking... There were 6 fatalities... my mother included...
Her funeral was similar to my fathers... small, mostly family members and friends gathered to say their final goodbyes... She was buried in a grave next to my fathers... A few more people had gathered since families of the survivors of the train crash wanted to try to console the now orphaned child she had left behind...
My aunt already had 3 other children... my grandparents all in senior homes... I had to be given to a foster home... being put in a new home... new parents, new "siblings", and in general, a new life... I had become a very silent child by then... But the lonliness I felt inside made my emotions take on new turns... I frequently got into fightds and as a consequence, was always being sent elsewhere... That cycle continued for 6 years... I had just barely passed my 13th birthday the day i met that man... what a silly name he had... Quillish Wammy... Must have been British as he spoke with an accent.
He told me that he had heard about my incredible intelligence and had a place for me to stay. of course, me being as stubborn as a mule, refused. I had been living on the streets after running away from my last set of foster parents and found it to be easier on my mental health. He told me to at least give it a chance... and that if I still hated it, that I may continue my life from where I left off. I had nothing to lose and I accepted his offer. It took quite a while, but I soon found myself in England in front of a large orphanage. Quillish, who told me to address him as Watari, told me that Wammy's House is an orphange for children with extrememly advanced mental capabilities and that the others here were just as smart as me.
I knew there was something he wasn't telling me, so in the next few days in my new home, I asked around about what this place is. During those days, I was given an IQ tested and scored 157. Second highest. I was given the codename Backup, also called B. Then, I met my first friend... Alexei Aftermath. Codename: Alternate. Other alias: A... He asked me if I knew about L. I gave him the strangest of looks, my expression clearly asking him if he thought I was a total idiot. Of course I knew who L was. He laughed a bit and said that all the kids here are the ones in the world smart enough to one day become his successor.
Needless to say, I was shocked. It was bittersweet... Being smart enough to become the worlds greatest detective... but him seeing me as only... a Backup... a replacement... a copy... My purpose in life was now only to become him... My own hopes and dreams, not that I had any, meant nothing now, as being L was more important.
Despite the sadness I felt from that news, Alexei was there to numb my pain... I had really found a friend... Slowly but surely, I found myself gradually becoming happier... stronger again... Alexei and I were always together. It was like an unspoken commandmant. Best of all, A's numbers were not due to run out for another 65 years. I could finally spend the years with someone now...
... Or so I thought...
Alexei and myself were about 16 years old... I had noticed something about him had changed rapidly... The happy go-lucky boy with a smile brighter than the sun itself was changing... I questioned him frequently about it and his answer was always the same... he'd smile at me sadly and say "Don't worry B, everything's fine. I'm just stressed out is all." ... I was foolish for believing that was it... I knew he was stressed, but I didn't think it was as bad as it really was... I started to see cuts on the boys wrists... The determined glint in his eyes gone... almost like it had burned out... He had lost a dangerous amount of weight... I begged him to tell me what was bothering him... He refused to tell me, passing it off as a delayed bout of teen angst...
Though I was worried... I believed the boy I had come to accept as my closest friend... How I wish I hadn't... On a warm but windy summer day, I went to find my dear friend Alexei. He used to love days like this and I wanted to see if he would perhaps want to spend the day relaxing outside like we would in the past... I searched the orphanage for him desperatly... Asking everyone if they had seen him... They all said the same thing to me... "I haven't seen him Backup. I thought he was with you."
I felt myself growing deathly worried. I began to enter a state of panic... Despite being known as the clean freak around here, I just started tearing every room apart, leaving not a single inch unexplored. Still unable to find him, and not getting scolded for the mess, I began checking the one place I have yet to look... the attic... I had wanted to avoid going in there because it's very dusty and I get very picky about room. After I climbed into the attic, I glanced around. occassionally glaring at some small spiders who fled from me. I looked around... what I then saw... I'll forever have the imagine carved into my brain...
Hanging from a pipe which had a horizonal pipe atteched to it several feet from the ground, was the body of A... Alexei Aftermath... My only friend... All I could do was scream... Scream at the top of my lungs. I was so confused. How could this happen, I asked myself throughout my screaming fits... Roger came up to see what had my screeching like a banshee, assuming that I had seen a large bug, and was scared speechless by what he found...
Other adults had to literally drag me out of the attic kicking and screaming... I didn't care at that point... I wanted A... I wanted to plead with him to wake up... But I knew even if they let me, it would be useless... The numbers and his name were gone... He was nothing more than an empty shell that once held a tortured soul...
I locked myself in our shared room for the days afterwards... Roger would occassionally come and try to console me... Despite him despising children and adolescents, he was not heartless... He wanted to comfort me from losing my closest and only friend... Even though knowing someone wanted to try to help me gave me the tiniest of sad smiles, I found myself unable to cheer up...
I had to learn how this happened... The day before his funeral, I took his laptop and hacked it... I was hoping maybe he had his final thoughts written down... I found nothing other than mountains upon mountains of work... Was this is..? Did L overwork him to point of him no longer being able to bear the stress..? Turning my happy friend into someone similar to myself and I assume L as well? Someone who is reminded every moment of their life that people die..? Could A not have been able to handle that..? But then why did he die if he originally had all those years left? His lifespan remained the same. And I always caluslated to make sure. He was supposed to live a very long time... But here he is... dead... I researched my eyes deperately... and found nothing... Since I couldn't think of an explanation, I had to come to most possible conclusion. That if a human decides to end his or her life, that since it isn't the way they're meant to die, my eyes can't predict it. All of this... because L needs a successor...
L... The man we were supposed to idolize... praise... worship... had practically murdered my only friend...
The day his funeral was held, I kept looking around... Searching for an unfamiliar face that would be L... Surely he would attend his successors funeral right..? Wrong. L never showed up... I was filled with immense anger and hatred... one that some say can change a person in unexpected ways... And change I did. How could L just not care? He didn't even attend his funeral! He never told me he's sorry thids happened! All he did after that was have Roger tell me that I was now next in line to succeed him and that he expect me to do better than A did! He didn't even care! he doesn't care about us as people, only as developing L clones! We mean nothing at all to him!
I had to prove him wrong... to show him that I, his Backup, could surpass him... Give him a case so hard, even he, the worlds greatest detective couldn't solve it. I ran away from that cursed orphanage and began to plot. I had to make sure that in case L did get worried about his missing clone, that he wouldn't be able to find me... I spent the next few years plotting... And I came up with the most brilliant plan ever.
That's how the "Locked Room Murderers" or the "Wara Ningyo Muderers" as they were called my the media, came to be. I knew l would take the case on. He would know it was me. I had to disguise myself. I had to go by every rumor I had heard about L from my years at Wammys... Some said he never sleeps so he had dark bags under his eyes, giving him close resemblence to a panda. Another was that he hunched over. I wonder why? Does the "perfect L" maybe have a hunchback? Or maybe the heartless bastard finds it comfortable. This rumor was widely acceoted to be true, even confirmed by Watari, that L had a huge sweet tooth. He wouldn't eat anything that wasn't sweet or covered in sugar.
The other rumors like hair and eyes, I had to take a wild guess on. My hair was already dark brown, but I dyed it charcoal black just to make sure. I also got highly skilled at putting makeup on from all this. I had always asked people what color my eyes were, and they always told me that mine were grey. Of course, I don't know what grey is, being surrounded by red every second of every day. I put in dark grey contact lenses just to be sure. And under the impression of being a private detective named Rue Ryuzaki, I convinced the families of all three of my victims to hire me to "solve" their murders. Investigating the house of my first victim, Believe Bridesmaid, I heard someone coming in. Reciting my evil laugh in my head, I crawled under the bed. This what quite uncomfortable but I had to be patient. A woman walked in and glanced around before calling someone on her phone. She was discussing the case! Kyahahahaha she must be the one working on this case as L's eyes and hands.
After she ended the call, I revealed myself, scaring her half to death while doing so. Her name was Naomi Misora... I must admit, she was quite beautiful. A perfect figure, long shiny black hair, and wearing all leather, she's the kind of woman that most men just want to plow repeatedly until they give out. As tempting as the thought was, I forced myself to ignore it. This case is much more imoprtant than such animalistic desires. I honestly wanted to ask her if she got her leather jacket and pants from the local domanatrix. I decided against it because it seems that my mannerisms disturbed her. We spent the days investigating the other victims house. During that frame of time, I found her to be a very intelligent woman. She probably could have been in Wammys if she was an orphan. I must say, I was rather impressed with her ability to figure things out. Of course I had to give her the samllest of hints to help her, but still, the ability to figure things out from the tiniest of clues, VERY impressive. She wasn't the one L picked simply because her ass looks hot in leather... right?
Before I knew it, the day had come... August 22, 2002... The day the case would have it's final victim... The plan was foolproof. I found a condo that had 2 residents with the initials B.B. residing there. One, a woman by the name of Blackberry Brown in room 1313... And Blues-harp Babyspilt in room 404... I would have Naomi in room 1313 since if the killer did come to that room, he would be expecting a woman and vice versa if he was looking for a man in room 404. But the killer wouldn't come to room 1313...
The killer was already in room 404... I had tampered with the fire alarm and sprinkler system beforehand. I locked the door and nailed a Wara Ningyo into the wall opposite of the door before dousing myself in gasoline. I have to act quickly or the fumes could kill me before I can finish the job.
Goodbye L. I'll be joining you soon mother, father, A... I light the match and drop it, my entire body catching on fire. I'm unable to control myself and scream in agony. The pain is excruciating. All I can do is run around the room flailing in pain. This is a horribly painful way to go. I can feel the intense flames starting to burn through my skin and starting to burn my muscles. I think a hear a sound though my own screams and the sounds of the crackling fire... a bang... someone trying to break the door down followed by gunshots. Dammit no! She couldn't have figure it out by now!
The pain is starting to fade, the flames having begun to burn my nerve endings off. I can barely take this... I can practically feel deaths cold embrace taking over me. But then I feel something odd with the last bit of nerves I have left... I feels cooler... the heat disappearing. I have already collapsed to the ground and I'm barely breathing and now covered in foam from a fire extinguisher. She saved me... No... she caught me. She cares nothing for my life and neither does L. She simply stopped the flames from killing me so that I can be arrested.
I hear Naomi's voice, but I can't make out what she's saying. Then I black out... When I awaken, I'm in a white room covered head to toe in bandages. I'm in a hospital... No... I survived... I couldn't beat L... I couldn't prove my worth...
The weeks I take healing go by fast and I don't bother to worry about it... it's over now... In the next few days following my recovery, I am taken to court... I lightly glance around... Still no L... He didn't care enough to even see me get convicted... He solved this case but didn't care enough to show up...
It's been almost 2 years... the date is January 21, 2004... A killer has been causing chaos for L so I've heard from the news channel I hear when the guards have a tv or a radio on. Kira... A killer that kills with heart attacks, not having to be there in person... I bet L would see him hgetting convicted once and if he catches him... Kira... would outdo me despite my best efforts...
I sit on the edge of my bed in my small cell, just thinking... Then suddenly... I feel it... A sharp overpowering pain in my chest. I immediately collapse, clutching my chest in agony as I yell. No... No this can't be... Kira... he... he's killed me... I then feel nothing but frigid cold, just barely able to hear my cell being opened as a freezing blanket of darkness overpowers my entire body...