Yeah, I just submitted this chapter an hour ago and realized that I forgot to proofread it (but there are probably more mistakes...) Anyway, here's the first ACTUAL Chapter to the story, with some plot development and a new character! Yay!

DiScLaImEr: Ooo...So you think you're all creative now, huh Erbby...ahem, sorry...I do NOT own Death Note, which is property of Ohba/Obata. Also, be wary of some language (like, one word...), spoilers (but not in this chapter), and some awesomeness (even though Mello's only six in this chapter...)...ENJOY!

EDIT – 12/16/07: Here's the first chapter of "The Otherside," REPOSTED and EDITED. As per a reviewer's request, I added a bit more to the fire scene (and it is MUCH improved, thank you very much) and added a bit more tension.

Chapter One: Mother

Lying in my bed, I could hear my mother in the other room, talking on the phone. "I'm leaving him in your care. I can't let anyone hurt him…no, I won't let anyone hurt him. Please, come get my baby…I don't think I'll return," she said. "I found him, Roger. I found Michael…he wasn't dead after all. If anything happens to me, my baby is in your care." I heard her hang up the phone and after a few moments, she started to cry.

"Mommy?" I said, softly. She suddenly stopped crying and opened my door, letting the light from the hallway filter into my room. I quickly shut my eyes, as if I had been asleep all night. She walked over to the side of the bed and placed her hand on my forehead.

"Baby," she said quietly. "Mommy loves you so much, but she has to leave for a while. Mommy might not come back, so you might wake up somewhere else." She started crying again and put her head down on the bed. "I love you so much baby, but Mommy has to find someone…Good night."

She kissed my forehead and got up to leave the room. After closing my door, there was a moment of silence and then the front door opened and closed; she left the house.

I found it hard to fall asleep for the rest of the night; I was too concerned about the location of my mother. It wasn't for another few hours when I heard the front door open. I gasped and bolted out of my bed to my door, opening it slightly. "Mommy," I said softly to myself, smiling. She couldn't have been telling the truth about leaving and never coming home; I knew she was coming back. But all of my dreams of a returning mother died when I heard the conversing voices of two men.

"Michael said this was the house," one said.

"You really think there's a kid in here?"

"Probably, but he told us to just get the job done, no matter what."

"Yeah, you're right. Let's just get this shit done with."

They walked out of the house laughing and I shut my door. Sighing, I leaned against it and slid down to the floor.

"Mommy, where did you go," I asked myself, tucking my tear filled face into my knees. I sat there crying when a few moments later, I thought I smelt smoke. I lifted my head to catch a better whiff of the smell; it was definitely smoke, proven by the small, grey clouds emerging from the cracks of the door. After getting to my feet, I flung the door open and watched in horror as fire and smoke consumed the entire hallway. I slammed the door and collapsed upon the ground.

"Mommy!" I screamed, crying. "Mommy, help me!"

As the flames were creeping their way through the cracks in the doorway, the wall on the opposite side of the room burst apart and two men in black armor came running into my room. I screamed, thinking they were the two men to set the house aflame, but instead, they approached me, threw a blanket over my head, and picked me up in their arms.

"Thank God, we got here in time," one of them said, running out of the house.

"Yeah, I'd hate to think what would've happened if we got here too late," said the other.

They brought me to a helicopter, from which an older man came and took my hand, pulling me into the vehicle. He placed me down on the seat inside and sat beside me.

"Don't worry, you're safe now. It's going to take a while to fly to England, so try to get some sleep," he said, shutting the huge sliding door to the helicopter.

I looked up at him and yawned, falling into the deep sleep for which I had been waiting all night.

Once I woke up, I found myself lying in a bed inside a huge room lit up by a small candle on the night stand next to me. I sat up in the bed, and looked around the lavishly constructed room. The walls were a pale peach color and there were intricate moldings against the ceiling and floor. It looked as if I were stuck on some movie set.

Distracted by my surroundings for less than a minute, I threw the covers off my body and jumped on the floor. I looked down at myself only to see that the soot from the fire had gotten to my clothing. I ran to the door and opened it to find a pitch black hallway. The only light I saw was the light coming from the crack of one of the doors. I ran to the door and opened it, finding a staircase.

I took a deep breath and ran down the stairs, into another dark hallway, but not as dark as the preceding one. From one of the rooms, I heard what sounded like voices. I eventually found the room and sat outside the door to listen in to the conversation. Nothing particularly interested me, until they mentioned the name 'Maria'.

"Mommy," I said, listening in more intently.

"I never expected something like this to happen," one of the voices said, sounding like an older man.

"Roger, where did you say they found her body," the other, more monotone voice said.

Body, I thought to myself. I edged in closer to the door, pressing my ear up against it.

"Somewhere by Venice…God, I can't believe she was murdered so brutally. She was such a great agent, too," the older voice said.

Murdered? There was no question to it now. My mother would never return to me; she was dead. Tears started to pour from my eyes and trail down my cheeks, but I bit my lip to keep from crying out loud.

"When should we tell him," the monotone voice said.

The other voice sighed. "I don't even know. He's only six years old, he may not understand."

"But he's remarkably intelligent, at least that's what Maria said," the monotone voice replied. There was a pause. "I'm going to my room, I have a lot of work to finish," the monotone voice continued. "Good night, Roger."

"Good night, L."

I heard footsteps come closer to the door.

I couldn't hold it in anymore. The second the door opened, I burst into a fit of tears and rage, screaming wildly. I looked up at the personification of one of the voices, but my vision was so blurred by the tears, all I could make out was a mess of black hair and horrible posture.

The figure looked down and then ran back into the room. "Roger," I heard from the monotone voice.

The figure returned with the other one. "Oh no," the older voice said.

I kept up with my cries and screams, but the older figure picked me up and held me in his arms. I could hear him asking me what was wrong.

I stopped crying and looked up at the two men, my vision being somewhat cleared away from tears. "Mommy's dead," I said, sniffling.

They said nothing.

Thanks for readin'! Now, REVIEW, I tell you...REVIEW!!!!!!

-Erbby