The Death Eraser

Chapter 1: Ryuk

I'm just a normal girl, nothing ever happens to me.

So why today? It's supposed to be the most normal day of my life, so why now? Why is it this day, that everything that should never have happened, happens to me? I don't know. I guess nobody knows. I guess this is just fate, my fate.

I was walking home from the university when it happened. I heard something, I looked up and there it came. A notebook dropped from the sky. I winced as it touched the ground. Even at that moment, I knew it was something very special, something magical, something that would change my life forever.

Slowly, I walked over to the notebook and picked it up. What happened then, was almost impossible to describe. The moment I touched the notebook, I knew someone was standing behind me. I turned around and found myself face to face with the most horrible monster I'd every seen!

It was incredibely skinny and tall. It's hair was pitch black and spiky. I couldn't even describe his clothes. It almost looked like they were growing on him! A small book hung from a chain attached to his belt. Disconcerted, I realized that it was similar to the notebook I'd just picked up.

I probably looked extremly terrified, because the monster grinned and said: "Hi, I'm Ryuk."

It could talk…some magical notebook drops from the sky, and now a huge man-eating (or at least that's how it looked) monster comes up to me and says 'Hi'? I felt like I was going to faint, but the sight of 'Ryuk' made me stay wide awake!

"I…I'm Lora" I stuttered, amazed that I could say anything.

"Nice to meet you! Say, do you have any apples?" Ryuk asked. "Uhh, yeah.." I said and got out the apple that was left from my lunch. The monster grabbed it before I could even offer it to him and began to eat it. He smiled delightfully as the apple juice ran over his chin and down his arms. "Juicy!" he exclaimed, seeming perfectly happy. "Oh, I'm a Shinigami by the way!" he said with his mouth full of apple. It looked like his mother never taught him eating manners, if he even had a mother…

"Exc…excuse me, what's a Shinigami? Is that something Chinese?" "Japanese to be exact, but I guess it's all the same for you westerners. It means Angel of Death."

This was too much for me. An Angel of Death just randomly asked me for an apple?

My vision blurred and before I could call for help, I passed out.

When I woke up, I was laying on the ground. Next to me was an enormous beast with wings: Ryuk.

Trying not to faint again, I got up. Ryuk noticed me and smiled, if you could call that smiling. Personally, I'd call it looking-extremly-creepy. "Well, that sure took a long time! I finished my apple five minutes ago! Anyways, I guess I'll have to tell you what I'm doing here and what that notebook is that you're holding!"

Instinctively I looked down and saw I was holding on to the booklet with both of my hands, as if I wanted to protect it from something. I quickly hid it, and faced the Shinigami again.

"Okay, tell me please. Tell me everything!" I was amazed by the sudden confidence in my voice. I wanted to know everything about this Shinigami from heaven and about the notebook, my notebook…

"Well, first off, you must know that you're the only one who can see and hear me, because you are the owner of the Death Note. However, if anyone else touches the Death Note, they'll see me too."

"Ehm, what's a Death Note?" I asked carefully. "Ah right, you wouldn't know. It's the notebook you're holding. You can write names in it and those people will die. All of the rules are written in it. It used to be another Shinigami's notebook. Someone called Gelus, but he died. After him, Rem got the notebook, but she died as well, so I got it. I'm not complaining though, now I won't be bored for a while!"

I stared at the Shinigami. How could he…say all of that so casually. This notebook is able to kill people and two Shinigami's died because of it, but Ryuk talks about it as if it's the most normal situation in the world? I didn't understand it at all, but I decided that I had to get some more information before Ryuk magically dissappeared again.

"So why did this book fall from the sky?" I asked. "Ah well, I dropped it." Ryuk answered. "The Shinigami Realm was boring, so I dropped the Death Note to see if something interesting would happen to it." "Ah…you were bored so you decided to drop a Book of Death with the ability of killing all humans on Earth to see if something interesting would happen?" I asked, not being able to believe what I just heard. "Yup, that's pretty much it!" Ryuk answered cheerfully. "Now, if you don't mind. It's getting late, your parents might be worrying about you and I wouldn't mind another apple!"

I kept on forgetting that other people couldn't see Ryuk. Everytime someone looked at me, I felt like I got a heart attack. Oh no, they've seen him! It's all over!

I probably looked weirder then the Shinigami would have looked to them, being that paranoïd. I had to act normally, or even a little kid would see that there was something wrong with me.

Eating dinner with a Shinigami sitting in your living room is a rather strange experience. Especially when everyone else has absolutely no idea that he's there. I wondered if another Shinigami had ever been in my house and watched me eat without me knowing. Probably not though, since they can only come to this world when they drop their Death Notes.

As soon as I finished my dinner, I ran upstairs with a bunch of apples, saying I had to study.

I quickly closed the door behind me and put the apples on the table. I wasn't even surprised anymore when Ryuk walked through the wall. At this point, everything seemed possible.

"Okay, where were we?" Ryuk asked while helping himself to another apple. "Ah yes, the Death Note. Well, I'd suggest you just write a name in it right now! Who do you want to kill?" This question shocked me. Who did I want to kill? Why would I want to kill anyone? "Nobody" "Huh?" Ryuk looked up. "What do you mean 'nobody?' There must be someone you want to kill?" "No, I don't want to be a murderer!" "Arghh!" Ryuk groaned. I knew I shouldn't have given this to a girl! "This has nothing to do with me being a girl! It has to do with my being a good person!" I said firmly.

I wasn't afraid of Ryuk anymore, he was just some weird apple-eating human-killing monster and I wanted nothing to do with him.

"But…but you have a Death Note, you have to kill someone! That's like a rule...hmm, no it isn't. Well, it should be a rule! Now I'm going to be bored again!" Ryuk muttered, definetely not amused.

"You can kill me" I said, "but I'll never kill anyone!" He seemed to consider that idea for a moment, but then shook his head. "I can only kill you when it's your time, but I have another idea." He grabbed something from his pocket and put it in my hand.

I looked at it. "Uhh, it's an eraser?" I asked stupidly. "Yes, It's the Death Eraser! You can erase any name in that notebook and those people will come to life again." That idea sounded a lot better! "But, is therea Death Pen then too?" I asked curiously, he never told me about that. "No, you can use any pen to write down names." "And can you use any eraser too?" "No, there's only one Death Eraser! Other ones won't have any effect to those dead people." "But that's not fair!" "Hey, we're not Angels of Life, are we? We're supposed to kill people, but you're being stubborn, I had to give it to you!" "Oh, okay…" I guess that made sense.

"So, I can erase any names I want to erase in here?" "Yup!" "Can I erase all of them?" Ryuk sighed: "I'm afraid so, but what's the point? They're better of dead anyway!"

I ignored him. Carefully, I opened the Death Note and tried to decide on a name to erase first.

There were so many of them! I shuddered at the thought of how many people the last owner must have killed. Then I noticed there was a piece of paper taped to the notebook. It had been torn out before.

I tried to read the name on it, but part of it was covered in blood. MIAHL KEHL. "That's Mihael Keehl" Ryuk said, looking at the name as well. "People used to call him Mello. I wouldn't erase that name though, he's ma..." Too late, I had erased the name already.

"He's what?" I asked . "He's a maffia leader" Ryuk sighed.

"What?" I screamed. "I just made a maffia boss come to life again?" "Hey, be quiet! Your family can still hear you, you know!

"Lora, did something happen?" I heard my mom calling from the living room. "No mom, I'm going to sleep now!" I shouted back. "Have a good sleep honey!" she answered.

"Ryuk, when will the maffia guy…rise from the death again?" I asked frightened. "I don't know, I've never used that eraser!" "How do you know it works?" "Did I ever tell you it works?" Ryuk asked.

I sighed relieved. Ryuk had been lying all this time. No maffia boss would come to life because of me. And with that, I fell asleep.