PART 12

Light's cell phone suddenly rang with a standard ringtone and vibrated from somewhere in his room. It was heard, but it wasn't answered. The last moment of the whereabouts of his cell was in his pants pocket, he recalled. It must still be there, wherever Yukie had decided to place his clothes.

"No one is going to disturb us, Light," Yukie said, licking her lips. Yukie slowly pulled back the bed sheet and revealed his tied wrists and ankles, but respectfully, allowed him to keep a fraction his dignity keeping his genitals covered, the sheet bundled over his crotch.

At least she isn't going to sit there anymore, Light thought.

But he wondered who was calling him. Maybe it was his parents calling to say they were on their way home, or, rather dismally, they were calling him to say they were staying out later. They knew he always had his cellphone with him. Teens these days were never without one.

Tied by his ankles and wrists with thin rope, he was at Yukie's mercy. She could do anything she wanted to him. Ravage him, kill him. She was sick and demented. And now she wanted him to write an entry into his Diary saying that he loved her.

I would—to free myself.

Yukie untied his left wrist and then his right.

He rubbed them, but he didn't dare try to escape yet—his ankles were still bound.

Yukie helped prompt him into a sitting position where she gave him the pen she had gotten from his desk.

Ironically, with this pen and another book, I could end this now—or, at the very least, in forty-seconds!

Light eyed Ryuk with a sidelong glance. The Shinigami seemed to be enjoying this like some alien observing a humanities experiment with two subjects. Apparently what Yukie was doing to Light was so mesmerizing that Ryuk was smiling fervidly.

Light knew if he didn't escape, Yukie would kill him—even after he wrote the Diary entry.

Yukio handed Light the Diary and positioned it in his lap. "Oh, my sweet Light…" She paused. "Write this: Light HEART Yukie; Forever and Always! I will never love anyone else. My life belongs to her!"

"Don't you think: 'Light HEART Yukie' is enough? And the rest sounds too…superfluous."

"I don't want there to be any doubt, Light," she said strongly. "If someone finds your Dairy…let's say, something happens to you for whatever reason—not to say anything will, that's bad luck—I want people to know, you love me, and more than any other girl you have ever known."

She plans to kill me, Light thought. And this entry is my suicide note, my own death note! Damn it!

"She's a real piece of work, ain't she?" Ryuk said.

"A little help would be nice!" Light replied.

Yukie cocked an eyebrow. "A little help with—what?" she asked.

She looked at him as if it had been meant for her, but Light needed to get the message out and he had to say it out loud to Ryuk.

"The pen," he lied, shaking it. "It seems to be running out of ink. I won't be able to write anything."

"Oh," she said, accepting it without dispute, and then went to get another one, taking the pen. She tossed it aside like she had with her empty Epipen, and iit bounced and clinked on the hardwood floor.

"Ryuk, cut the ropes," he mouthed, pointing. "Free me, or she'll kill me!"

Yukie returned, her back turned during his exchange with Ryuk. She had a fresh pen in her hand, taking from a holder on his desk. "Write it now," she said, almost like it was an order. "And when you do, remember: your words will live in infamy. Don't you know everything we do, say, think, and write exists in the universe? The gods know everything and watch us from the shadows…and if they think it will benefit them, they will advert disaster and save someone if they choose."

"You're off on that front, girl!" Ryuk said. Light sighed lowly.

Yukie continued, "The gods enjoy being entertained, and if they help someone, then that person is considered blessed, much like the ancient gods of old did, or so history tells us," she finished. "They had their favourites."

"She's not entirely wrong," Ryuk said. "There were gods like that, but they're no longer around. Still," Ryuk went on, musing, "if you die here, Light, then I'll loose my entertainment, and you just started with the Death Note. I want to see what you can do with it. I don't care if you live or die, really. I'd just give the book to something…maybe your friend Demetre. He seems capable."

Traitor! Light thought.

"Yet something tells me you'll be more fun. So, I'll help you just this once." Light's eyes widened. He watched the Shinigami approach the bottom of the bed and then cut his ankle ties with the swipe of a sharp finger talon. "This doesn't mean I like you, just get that straight," the god of death exclaimed. "I'm having too much fun. Now, entertain me some more. You're free!

Indeed, Light was free, and at that moment, he sprung into action. He made his move and grabbed the bed sheets, rolling Yukie up inside. He then pushed her off the bed. He got to his feet and staggered away. He backed away as far as his desk chair and even used it as a temporary crutch. He felt adrenaline pumping inside him. He breathed out heavier. He didn't care about his nakedness as he watched Yukie stir, trying to make her way out of the covers. He only cared about surviving the night.

"What now, huh?" Ryuk voiced. "She's about to get free. She'll be mad when she does."

Light thought quickly. "Then I'll have to do something about it, won't I?" he answered. Yukie is insane. She tried to rape me, and who knows what she did to me when I was unconscious?

He opened the top drawer and fumbled for the Death Note and almost triggered the trap in his desk, pushing the fake bottom back down so the explosive wouldn't blow. Then he grabbed a pen, opened the book—almost dropping the Death Note in a moment of panic—and then began to write her name.

Yukie managed to unravel herself from the sheets and then she screamed in a wild and animalistic manner. She lunged at him with her hands bent into claws. He ran across the room as she slammed into his desk chair, tumbling over it. She was acting like someone possessed.

He had rejected her and now she wanted revenge.

He looked at the Death Note and at her name, his writing was horrible and illegible right now, because he was attempting to get her name down fast. The rules stated the note will not take effect unless a name is written down legibly. His first attempt had failed.

He tried again.

Then he saw Yukie pick up the knife she had left on the desk. Light's eyes widened with fear. He hadn't thought of that, only of the Death Note. Now he wished he had picked it up for himself.

His hand was shaking as he tried to write her name down again.

Then a drop of sweat dripped down onto the paper and it smudged a letter. Attempt number two had been ruined. He knew he could try as many times as he needed as long as he spelt her name right in the end. The motorcycle biker was evident of that at the convenience store weeks back, writing his name down four separate ways to save that girl he and his gang were going to rape had done the job.

He found it ironic that that situation and now the rolls were reversed and he was prepared to kill Yukie to save his own life using the Death Note.

I'm not a killer, he told himself. I'm using it to save my life from a killer, there's a difference.

"Why are you running away from me, Light? I love you!" Yukie said, her eyes aglow, and wide with insanity and bloodlust. She took a step forward, knife in hand. Her eyes. It was like she was possessed.

She's beyond redemption, Light thought.

"Why are you writing in that book?" Yukie asked. "You're supposed to be writing in your Diary!"

He finally wrote her name down, spelling it completely. But it was of little comfort. He knew it would take forty-seconds to take effect. In that time, she had more than enough time to kill him. And in less than a minute, he could be laying in a pool of his own blood, his parents coming home finding him murdered…

And not knowing why! Light concluded.

To be continued...