Before Beyond
I realised from a young age that I wasn't the same as other children. Not just because of the odd name and the odd habit of talking to myself. It's not even because of the unusual crimson irises in my eyes that lead some people to believe that I am the anti-Christ.
It's more to do with the fact that I know a person's name just by looking at their face. Not to mention, I also know exactly when they are going to die.
Some people would say that it's a gift. That it makes me special. And some people wouldn't believe it. But to me, it's only a curse.
I am Beyond Birthday. Otherwise known as B or now, the Wara Ningyo murderer. But not long ago I was known as backup. Even earlier than that I was known as little more than a waste of air and space.
Why you ask? That's a good question…
3 months before birth
"I want to make the eye deal Kara." A black haired woman with scarred limbs and a bulging stomach stood alone in a dimly lit bedroom, clutching a black notebook to her chest with one hand, and wiping away the mascara streaks running down her face with the other. Well at least, if anyone else was to view the scene, they would think that the woman was alone.
"Are you sure Rebecca? You know it will half your lifespan. And think about the effects it could have on the baby. I don't know what happens if a pregnant human makes the eye deal."
The Shinigami, Kara, pointed with a blackened, skeletal hand at Rebecca's stomach. Rebecca shook her head slightly and looked down to her stomach. She sighed sadly, and heavily.
"I don't care. I never wanted a baby anyway. If it dies, so be it. And I wouldn't mind dying early anyway. You've seen how my waste of air husband is. Make the deal." The Shinigami looked at the sobbing woman almost with pity.
"Why don't you just write his name in your death note?" Kara asked in a low, masculine voice. If Kara hadn't told Rebecca that she was female, she never would have guessed. Rebecca sat down on the bed and stared at the floor.
"I still love him. No matter what he does. Make the deal with me Kara. It's my choice." With that, Kara shrugged her shoulders and replied coldly.
"Fine, but whatever happens, on your head be it."
3 months later
"Red?"
"What do you mean?"
"His eyes. They're red."
Rebecca birthday listened to the exchange between the midwife and her husband with interest as she breathed heavily. She was surprised that she couldn't hear any crying. Usually babies cry when they are born. But she heard nothing more than her own breathing and the exchange between the others in the room.
Rebecca silently looked up at Kara who was looming over the tiny child. Kara glanced back at Rebecca and stepped back over to her bedside. Speaking quietly, although no one else would hear her anyway.
"This will ruin his life. He didn't even get the option." Rebecca's curiosity about her child peaked at the Shinigami's words.
"Can I see him?" she asked cautiously, slightly worried. The midwife looked at her briefly, then smiled hesitantly, walking towards her.
"Of course…Congratulations!"
The midwife gently passed the tiny child wrapped in a white blanket to his mother. Rebecca looked into the child's innocent face and felt a pang of guilt. How had she said such horrible things about this boy before she had even met him? She had said she wished his death. Rebecca realised at that moment that she had never been so wrong in her life. The boy flickered his eyes open slowly and gazed into his mother's eyes. The first thing she realised was that the boy did indeed have a striking vermillion colour to his eyes. The second thing she noticed about the boy was that he already had raven black hair long enough to cover his ears. But all in all, she thought that he was beautiful. She smiled, and the boy copied her gesture and laughed. She found herself crying, but still smiling.
"Im going to call you Beyond." She whispered. "Because you are above and beyond my expectations, and I love you so much..."
Even Kara smiled at the sight. And even more surprising than that, Beyond's father smiled. A very rare occurrence indeed…
6 years later
I hear the police sirens drawing closer and closer as I run. My father must have called them again. I roll my eyes and hide behind a tree as the car races past, too fast to see me. This is the 2rd time this month that I've run away, and the 4th time I've ever done it. Why don't they get the bloody message already?
I turn and run deeper into the woods as I hear the car turn around and come back my way. They stop by the side of the road and run in my direction. The saw me. Fantastic. I won't be able to outrun them, I flinch and clutch my side, where angry purple bruises paint my skin under my thin black shirt. I shiver and pick up my speed a little.
The police either don't believe me when I tell them what my father is truly like, or they just don't want to believe it. My father has told everyone that I am insane, that it's all in my head, and that im the cause of all my mysterious injuries, and the only people who still know the truth and care are too scared to do anything.
My lungs start to burn and I struggle to run anymore. I hear the police closing in on me. I stop and run a hand through my hair, panic flooding through me. I can't go back. He'll hurt me again. I find tears streaming from my eyes as I look around for somewhere to hide. Just as the police burst through the trees into the area in which I am standing, I feel a skeletal arm pull me upwards into the concealing leaves of a tree, and hold a hand over my mouth. The men on the ground below continue running. When the sound of their shouting and footsteps have faded into silence, the hand is removed from over my mouth and I lie down on my back and breathe out, trembling. A bony face appears above me, our red eyes meeting.
"Are you alright Beyond?" Kara asks with a worried monotone, if that's a thing. I close my eyes and nod slowly.
"Thanks Kara."
"You know you will have to go home eventually, you wouldn't leave your mother would you?" Kara replies, tilting her head to the side a bit, and backing up as I sit up.
"No, of course I wouldn't. I just needed to get away for a while. Even if it means more pain when I get home." I shrug my shoulders and swing my legs over the edge of the tree, before pushing off with my hands and travelling towards the ground. Kara catches me with one arm just before I hit the ground to prevent broken ankles, and flies alongside me as I walk back in the direction of the police car.
"What are you doing?" Kara puzzles as I get to the side of the road where the police cars have been left. I take a rock from the ground in my hand before swinging it at the car window, shattering the glass.
"Just getting them back for chasing me all the time." I grin, as I take off into a run again before the smashing noise brings the officer's back in my direction…
Kara searches the house before I open the door.
"You're father isn't home yet. Your mother is asleep. You'll be okay." She reassures when she returns.
"Thanks Kara. Come on." I whisper, pushing open the front door and closing it quietly behind me before making my way to my room. I barricade my door by pushing all the furniture against it, including the bed. Satisfied with the blockade, I sit on the window seat, and stare out the window.
"Where did you go before the police came?" Kara asks curiously.
"I went to see Alejandro." I shrug. "He's been having a hard time since his Dad died. He and his brother are orphans now. They're going to some orphanage in Winchester soon. Wammys house or something." Kara sighs and moves towards the door. Before she merges through it, I call out.
"Thank you..." She turns around and smiles sadly, before leaving to return to my mother. I sit by the window for many hours, staring blankly out the window, until I see the figure of my father stumble towards the house…
My mother creeps into the kitchen when the noises stop. My screaming. My father's shouting. The sound of me hitting the worktop as my father threw me back. Im slumped against the worktop, attempting to pull myself up, but struggling. I wince as I wipe the blood from my nose and mouth. I don't even cry. I don't say anything to my mother.
I make brief eye contact with her, twitch angrily and drag myself to sit at the table, letting my head fall onto it harshly. Mother walks over to me cautiously, sitting beside me and placing a hand on my shoulder. I flinch away and she withdraws quickly.
"Are you…Ok B?" She asks worriedly. I flash her an irritated glance, scorching her with my red irises as I check her lifespan again. Just to reassure myself. I pull myself up so im sitting up a bit straighter.
"Im fine. No thanks to you." I spit accusingly. My mother looks so guilt stricken and miserable at my words that I feel instantly horrible for saying anything.
"Im sorry, it's not your fault…Im the problem." I mutter, breaking eye contact quickly. I see her move from the corner of my eye.
"No, it's not your fault Beyond. I should do something, it's just…" she pauses, unwilling to try and make excuses. I finish for her.
"You're scared he'll hurt the baby." She nods sadly and reaches out, taking my hand. This time, I don't move away.
"As soon as I am able, we will leave your father. You, me and the baby. And I'll tell the police everything. But I can't risk it yet. You understand don't you?" she pleads, taking my face in her other hand tentatively and moving my eyes to hers. I force my eyes to return to hers, and I nod my head a little. She smiles sadly, this time pulling me into a hug. I freeze for a moment before returning the gesture. After a couple of minutes she moves away a little.
"Come on. Let's cover up these bruises and get you to school."
4 years later
I walk into the crowded classroom slowly, trying to conceal my limp, as I search around for my friend. I see him sitting at the back of the room staring out of a window. I walk up and take the seat next to him. He swivels around to face me quickly, widening his emerald eyes when he sees my face. I tried but it proved difficult to mask the bruised lip and the black eye.
"What did that bastard to you this time?!" He exclaims, in a loud whisper.
I Shh him before whispering my response.
"He bashed my head against the worktop, threw me into it, grabbed a bottle of vodka and left." I shrug dismissively. A runs a hand through his mousy brown hair and breathes out harshly.
"You need to tell someone before he gives you brain damage!" I stare daggers at him.
"Alejandro, its fine. You're over exaggerating the situation..." He cuts me of promptly.
"First of all, it's A. you know I hate my name. Secondly, it isn't normal or okay for your father to do this to you. Besides, one day, he could turn around and hurt Alodia. Then what?" A looks at me expectantly, but all I can do is sneer.
"I'd like to see him try. I would sooner stab him in the face myself than let him hurt her." I reply firmly before adding. "Then I could join you at the orphanage." I stop myself from thinking along that line anymore. I'd be an orphan if my father died. My mother's sudden death left me to fend for myself and my sister with no help. Sometimes I wish she'd just let that man kill me rather than save me…
Kara
I remember the night clearly, for 4 years is nothing to a Shinigami. Silence rang through the house. An eerie silence that even I, a Shinigami, was unsettled by. Which is why I was relieved to hear the baby cry. I drifted into her room, looming over her cot, and she stopped crying when she saw me. She smiled and raised her tiny balled fists up to me. I smiled gently at her and placed my hand near hers. She grabbed hold of my bony thumb fearlessly and clenched it in her hand, laughing. I knew that Rebecca would die that night. I'd seen her lifespan, but I couldn't tell her. I looked down at the baby sadly.
"Im sorry, I cannot help your mother. But im sure your brother will care for you whatever happens." I knew she wouldn't remember this or understand me, but I felt the words had to be said. That's when I heard the intruders break into the house. Glancing down at the baby again, I proceeded to blockade her bedroom door from the inside with any furniture I could find, before drifting through the floorboards to watch everything play out.
A man stood in the Livingroom with a knife to Beyond's throat whilst Rebecca wept helplessly, begging the man to let him go.
"He is the devil! See his eyes! He knows people's names instantly and he knows when they will die! Who other than the devil could do such a thing! I must send your demon children back to hell!" The man shouted manically, seemingly about to rip away the boy's life whilst he simply stood there, face unmoving, paralysed with fear. Rebecca attempted to grab the knife from him, but in a swift movement, she instead was stabbed in the chest. Beyond finally reacted, first screaming, then biting the man to make him lose his grip before taking the knife, and violently stabbing the man in the stomach repeatedly until he stopped breathing. When he returned his attention back to his mother, he hugged her to him tight and whispered the words.
"Please don't leave me…You can't leave me..." His mother's eyes ran with pained tears, but she took his face in her hands.
"I love you B. look after your sister. Also…the death note is yours, so Kara will be with you…but never use it…understand me?" She pleaded with her last dying breath. Beyond didn't point out that he had just killed a man anyway so using the notebook was no different. He simply nodded. Rebecca Birthday smiled at her son, as both he and I saw her lifespan and name disappear from above her head, and she was gone.
As I looked on at the scene I saw Beyond's lifespan decrease by a couple of years. I frowned, but didn't say anything. I knew that Rebecca's death could damage B to the point that he commits suicide later in life. That was one possibility to the sudden decrease in his lifespan. What actually happened was unexpected to say the least…
Beyond
Out of the corner of my eye I see Kara staring at me. I shift uncomfortably and give her a subtle glare. She looks away slowly, instead focusing on an empty space of wall. My mind wonders back to the night my mother died four years ago. I was only six, and she left me with a new-born baby and an aggressive father. I had called the police myself, after sitting by my mother for about 10 minutes, rocking backwards and forwards. My father arrived at the same time the police did, shocked at his wife's dead body. He truly did still love her. He didn't hurt her, only me. He cried as they took her away under a white sheet. He didn't say a word to me as he disappeared to his room, ignoring the sound of his baby daughter crying in the next room.
Kara unblocked her bedroom door, and I went to her cot, cradling Alodia in my arms until she stopped crying. As I looked into her brown eyes, I saw them flash red, and she smiled at me. I smiled back, despite the pain I was in.
"You too huh?" I whispered, wiping tears from her eyes, then mine.
"I'll look after you, don't worry." I promised, sitting on the floor with my back against the wall singing quiet lullaby's I had learnt from my mother, until she fell asleep in my arms. I stayed awake all night replaying the night through my head to the point I nearly went insane.
I return my attention back to A as he nudges me gently.
"Come on, lessons over." I nod and stand up, stumbling a little from the sudden thudding pain in my head. A catches me and helps me stand. Someone else in the room had noticed.
"Beyond? Are you alright?" A white haired boy, about a year older than me walks forward with a concerned look on his face.
"Im fine...it's just a headache..." I reply quickly. Looking up to the boy's face, I realise a deep purple bruise under his right eye. He sees me looking and starts to walk away.
"Ok…if you're sure you're not dying or something." The boy laughs light-heartedly, leaving the room.
"Seriously mate, are you sure you're gonna be ok?" A asks concerned.
"Im fine. Lets go." I say dismissively, limping out of the room, half supported by A. I see a strange expression on A's face that concerns me, but I know what it is.
"Are you ok? I mean with being at wammy's." I ask casually. A keeps a stony face and shrugs his shoulders.
"I don't know. It's a pretty depressing place. Not going to lie." He sighs.
"Well it is an orphanage A."
"Shut up B."
"Sorry."
As I drag myself through the rest of the day, I swear I can hear a muffled voice, somewhere in the back of my mind. I can't figure out what it is or what its saying, but it's there, and it puts me on edge.
When I get home, the first thing I do is check on Alodia. She's in her room, hanging off her bed backwards. Strange child. When she sees me, she falls off the bed and laughs.
"Hi! B!" She smiles, running at me and hugging me around the middle.
"Hey, what have you been doing all day?" I grin tiredly. She detangles her arms from around me and runs to a pile of paper on her floor. She picks some up and runs back over to me. I sit on the floor cross legged as she approaches and does the same. She shows me some brightly coloured drawings grinning widely as I look at each one carefully.
"They're beautiful Alodia, what's this one?" I ask curiously, a little confused.
"It's a jar of jam." She laughs. I look at the picture again, then up to her, confusion on my face.
"I like jam. Jam is the best thing in the world." She explains. I nod slowly.
"O.K.. You are one strange kid, you know that right?" I laugh. She shrugs and raises an eyebrow at me.
"Say's you demon boy." She replies, making her normally brown eyes flash red.
"Rude." I reply. She smiles and shrugs her shoulders.
"Fight me."
We both turn as we hear the front door open, then slam shut. My face turns serious.
"Stay very quiet, ok?" she nods, as I walk slowly downstairs.