I got to the dorm late that night and unlocked my brother's door. I took the iPhone off his desk and returned to my room. When in my room, I took the small recorder off the back and stuck it in a drawer, then returned the iPhone to its place in my brother's room.

I went to my bookshelf and read over the latest book that had been sent to me.

"According to this…L should reveal himself to Light tomorrow," I said.

I flipped through the book again, finding it incredible that my brother Light had this life outside his life as my brother. The fact that my brother was Kira blew my mind.

I allowed myself the luxury for a second to remember the simple times. When we competed for better grades and attention. When he started to protect me as my sleeping disorder grew worse. When the nightmares overwhelmed me…he was the only one who knew.

Something in my heart told me he couldn't be evil. Something had changed him. Maybe he could still be saved.

I curled up in my bed, and stared at the ceiling in my empty room. I squeezed my eyes shut. It was dark, but pale moonlight was filtering in.

I got up, closed the blinds, and went back to bed.

Hours passed. It was twelve. I had a nine thirty class. I got up, crossed to the vanity, yanked open a drawer, and pulled out some garlic. Yech. I swallowed a tablet with some water, and went back to bed.

I noticed that my glands were swollen. Was I getting mono?

I closed my eyes.

Sleep came this time.

DING DING DIN—CRASH! My alarm went off at exactly three in the morning. I shut it off. At the same time, I flipped over, switched it off, and fell off my bed.

"Shit!" I breathed.

Wait. This wasn't my room. This was a hallway. A long, long hallway.

I turned to grab hold of the bed. It was gone too.

Damn.

I got up and started walking.

There were footsteps behind me. I turned. Shadows were lurking.

I quickened my steps, and very soon I was running.

BAM! I fell down, scratching up my wrists.

"What the hell?" we said at the same time.

"Oh…just you Reiko…" I said, then did a double take. "Why are you in your pajamas?"

"What, are you effin kidding?" she asked. "You aren't allowed to show up in my nightmare."

"Oh…that's what this is," I said.

"Duh," Reiko said.

"I bet the scary stuff will show up any minute now," I said.

The lights shut off.

"Really?" I asked the unknown, annoyed.

I took a step, and ran into Reiko's elbow. "Damn!"

"Sorry," she said.

I gripped her forearm so we wouldn't lose each other.

"Hey! A door," I said.

"Don't do it!" she whisper-yelled. "Haven't you ever seen a horror film? Like in The Messengers, when she went down to the basement!"

"Shut up, Reiko," I said. "It's a nightmare, of course it'll be scary. Just get over it."

I opened the door, and almost fell forward. There was no floor, and nothing below.

"Huh," I said.

"Let's go!" Reiko said. "It's like a black hole!"

"So," I said, crouching and reaching a hand into the bizarre nothingness. "This is a dream, dear. So…the only thing for it is to keep going. If we die…we'll just wake up."

And with that, I stood and backed up five steps.

"What the hell are you doing?" Reiko asked, giving me the skeptical look.

"Well, if it's liquid, I'm diving in," I replied, and gave it my best swan dive. Reiko followed me.

I woke up the next morning on the floor.

I was startled for a moment, still halfway caught up in the dream. I looked around. The room seemed too big.

Same freaky mirror that had been there since I got the room…same TV with a remote that didn't work…same two desks…same Mac…same suitcase on the floor…vacuum cleaner…

If this was a dream, I sure was boring.

BANG! The door to Light's adjoining room had opened.

"He humiliated me!" he yelled, storming into my room.

"Um…I'm sorry?" I said, pretty shocked.

"Takara, is that all you can say?" he exclaimed.

"Well what the hell do you want from me?" I yelled back. "What the hell do you w—"

I suddenly realized something. Something was missing. Something…important.

"You're still Light, right?" I asked softly, my voice slightly quivering. The nightmare still hung over me.

"Of course it's me!" he exclaimed, giving me the ultimate 'are you that stupid' expression. Suddenly he noticed my expression and calmed down. "Sister…did you have the nightmare again?"

"I'm fine," I said, shaking it off. "I just thought…something seems off, that's all."

Light reached into the drawer of my vanity and got out a pill bottle. "Take them."

I swallowed the medicine.

Bzzzt! Bzzzt! There was an incoming call on my Mac. "Reiko-Incoming call," flashed on the screen.

I clicked the accept button and adjusted my monitor.

"Takara?" she asked me, looking through the screen at me. "I dreamed last night. Did you dream?"

"Y-Yes, I did," I replied, pulling my brown hair back into a tight ponytail. "The hallway again."

"I dreamed it too," Reiko said. "And now I don't remember. I just knew I had to call you. I woke up and remembered your name. And I know you and I knew something. Something important."

"Takara, who is that?" Light was behind me now.

I covered the camera with a hand. "Um…You know I hate it when people look over my shoulder when I'm webchatting. Give me ten minutes, okay?"

He left the room reluctantly, and I locked the door.

Quickly I explained the strange dream from the night before.

"So you think…you're still dreaming?" Reiko said, looking at me skeptically. "Or we're still dreaming? How can we dream the same thing?"

"Wait a second," I said. "What did we find…what did we know?"

I scavenged the room, looking for anything, a paper, a scantron…finally, I found an old Geography test. "Takara Yagami. That's my real name at least…what the school knows me as. Reiko…is there anything in your room that shouldn't be there?"

"Hn…I don't know, but this is making me crazy!" she exclaimed in hysterics.

I sat down, placing the laptop on my lap. "Calm down. For all we know, this is all a dream."

"Oh, right, well hey! I pinched myself and it's all still here!" she yelled.

"Hn…" I pressed the 'lower volume' button on the laptop. "Light might hear you."

"Wait…why are you worried about him?" Reiko glared into the camera, then her features relaxed. "Am I going insane?"

"I think we both are," I said. "But remember what Artemis Fowl said? If I lose, I'm crazy. If I win, I'm a genius."

"That isn't comforting," Reiko said. "He was a little of both."

"Well…some of the best people are completely insane," I said, uncertainly quoting Alice in Wonderland. "Besides…um…how is your brother not hearing us right now? He has the adjoining room, right?"

"I'm hiding in the bathroom," she said. "I told him we needed to have a ladies discussion."

"Mmph…" I laughed, but smothered it with my hand.

There was a knock at the door. Reiko got up and answered it.

While she was gone, I surveyed my surroundings. Lying on the desk were some papers.

I picked one up. All the papers were in English, thankfully.

They were papers from various websites. All about "Kira." Apparantly he was a "serial killer" who was trying to "rid the world of evil." The articles expressed the opinion of the author that this Kira was simply going to make things worse. The author endorsed the fact that "good and evil exist to create a balance in the world" and "there is no way to destroy one or the other because both exist in the hearts of mankind."

I looked down at the author of the article.

Takara Yagami.