The human whose name is written in the note shall die.

The note will not take effect unless the writer has the person's face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected.

If the cause of death is written within 40 seconds of writing the person's name, it will happen.

If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack.

After writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds.

Elizabeth read the rules of her new notebook, clearly amused. Whoever had written these rules had a sick sense of humour that she could relate to and deeply appreciated. Most people would have looked at this notebook and wondered what kind of a sick person would write something like that. Well, that was what Elizabeth was wondering, but not in a bad way. She almost wished that she could meet the person who had wrote these rules. It was a very clever concept; to write a name and for the person to die, it would be the ideal crime. After all, a heart attack would leave no trace, and if one was careful, it would be the most powerful and undetectable killing machine ever devised.

Of course, there was one huge problem. It was completely and ridiculously impossible. For anyone to even suggest that such things could be done would result in said person being ridiculed and tossed into the nuthouse. Although, there was a very fine line between insane and genius, and the two often coincided. Would that mean that those deemed insane could therefore be correct?

What if, in a completely hypothetical case, this notebook did actually possess the power to kill someone simply by writing the name of the human being? Hypothetical of course. Elizabeth pondered the possibilities. One would be indestructible… almighty… god. It would be so, would it not? To have complete control over life and death, with only a name and a face in the way, is that not godly? No, of course not. Not god would need the name and face to kill. A god should not have to go to the trouble of worming a name out of someone.

No, the book itself is powerful, god. The human who writes in it is simply the tool through which the notebook can pass judgement. To judge or not to judge. That is not the question; the question is who would be judged? Innocents? Possibly, were the writer to be in the mood for a petty killing spree? Wrongdoers? Those who were cruel to the writer, who did wrongdoings, who lied, bullied, tricked, and abused. Extremely selfish, and guarantying discovery; it would be obvious enough who the killer was if every person who had wronged them dropped dead like flies.

What about… criminals? Yes, it would be so perfect. Criminals were known all over the world, with almost unlimited access to their names and their faces. So many were broadcasted a day, so many people that stained the world. And with so many criminals dying of unexplained heart attacks while innocents remain as healthy as ever, it would cause panic among the underground societies of crime. Crime would be less prominent, no, it would be obliterated. Were I to pass my judgement upon criminals, young and old, the world would become a safer place. It would be safe to walk the streets. Criminals would be trembling in their shoes. And I… would be a despicable monster less worthy of life than the criminals I was judging.

No, this notebook is an evil thing. It is a thing of power, a deep and ancient power that – Hey. Wait a minute, when on earth did I decide that this notebook was even genuine, I – Oh yes. I recall. This is a hypothetical case. Just a hypothetical case…

Elizabeth sat at her computer solving expert Sudoku problems in the blink of an eye even as she thought. The notebook lay beside her, placed neatly on her perfectly organized desk. The silver font seemed to shine in the incandescent lighting of her small bedroom. Death Note. A beautiful concept, both intriguing and open ended. There was no end to the amount of arguments that could be made over this book. Right and wrong, good and evil, power and submission, life and death; to use the book, or not to use the book, that is another question, but is it the question?

Were this power real, would it be wrong to use it? Or would it be a crime to not use it, to use the power to create a better world? Is it a crime to cower in the corner, afraid to use the power that could save the lives of innocents? As Elizabeth finished yet another puzzle, she could not help but to hold the notebook in her hands again, just to feel the reassurance that it was really there, and not a figment of her overactive imagination. The book was real all right. But was the power real? There was only one way to find out. "Wait, what am I thinking, am I really going to do this?" She actually spoke aloud, her large grey eyes growing even wider at her own thought process.

Isn't this what you want, Libby? The power to pass judgement upon criminals and to rid the world of crime?

I want to rid the world of crime, not fill it with even more by killing people myself.

Oh, so you want a short cut now? A quick fix that requires no work? Well this is the closest that you will ever get to destroying crime.

I prefer to use the phrase 'passing judgement' as opposed to your violent 'destroying crime'. I have morals which I tend to follow to a T. It would be selfish and arrogant to take matters into my own hands rather than let human kind deal with its own people.

Ha, and I suppose that you really have faith in the modern justice system? It is far too weak nowadays and you know it. Back in the days of 'guilty before proven innocent', crime was pathetically nonexistent. People stole to eat, not to gorge. People killed for honour, not for fun. And now justice is soft. Are you really going to stand by and watch as the world kneels to murderers when you have the power to stop it resting neatly in your hands?

Of course I don't have faith! But I can still hope. Humanity will never be perfect, and neither will human justice. But I would rather kneel to the whims of ordinary humans rather than hold the façade that I am a god and have everybody kneel to me instead.

You are going to use it.

Am not.

Oooohhh childish and stroppy are we? It is because you know you want to.

I don't –

Oh yes you do. You have to know everything, and that is your biggest flaw. And now you are going to have to write a name because you know that if you don't, the possibility that the power is real will forever be in your mind. It will drive you insane that maybe it is real, that maybe it was not ordinary… but I guess you never will know… seeing as you don't even want to write a single name…

…Just one name?

Yesssss… just… one… little… name… a vicious criminal will do Libby. Just one criminal and then you are done with the book. I know as well as you do that you have already calculated that there is a 98% chance that the book is a fake… Who knows… most likely… nothing will happen… but… you won't know until you try…

The sly voice in Elizabeth's head was very cunning and she knew it. She knew because it was her cunning side reasoning with the rest of her. Of course, it would seem that her cunning side had sided with her love of justice, or would it have been with her insanity? Or was it her cunning and her love of anarchy? No, she didn't even like anarchy. She was a perfectionist down to the soul. But she was also very curious, and her little voice had spoken the truth. She would not be able to stay sane wondering if the notebook was genuine or note. She had to know, she just had to find out.

With a Biro in hand and the name and face of the vicious murderer Eiji Yoshida sentenced to death row in mind, Elizabeth wrote the name, asking for forgiveness to no one in particular, and then waited. She stayed up all night checking the news on TV and on the internet. As she drifted to sleep in the early hours of the morning, one final broadcast caught her eye. Too exhausted to truly react, Elizabeth lost herself to dreams as the announcement of Mr. Yoshida's unexplained heart attack played on.

Stupid voices.

I hope you like it… kind of ranting on about good and bad I know, but I wanted to get conflicted feelings across. Please review, I would really appreciate it! And thank you very much for reading!