ANOTHER SIDE, ANOTHER STORY

Chapter Twenty

Funeral

"It's true."

"Oh my god…"

"I can't believe it…"

"The funeral is this weekend, Saturday…"

"I'll go I guess."

"Yeah, me too."

It was Monday during break after second period. Steven was sitting at the table facing Cameron, Jacob and Baker. He'd just told them all about Zito's demise. It had been in the news that two high school students who went to Hazen both died simultaneously on Friday afternoon and that the murderer is most likely Kira. None of his friends besides Luke, who he told on Saturday, knew about Zito's death so he had to inform them of it himself.

"How'd he die?" Cameron asked with a frown.

"They're saying it was Kira…" Steven muttered, clutching his fists and glaring at the table.

"Andrew died too…" Baker muttered.

Steven looked up and was shocked to see that she was crying silently across the table from him. He'd anticipated this but played the role accordingly.

"I'm sorry, Baker…" He said. "You still liked him, right?"

"Not really, it's just…well…" Baker looked down at the table and wiped her eyes. "I'd always feel something for him, even if he did break my heart. And now that he's gone… It's just a weird feeling."

Jacob was staring at them all like he couldn't believe his ears. "Zito's dead, Andrew's dead…why would Kira kill them?"

"I don't know." Cameron sighed, rubbing his temple. "I thought about it…and maybe he or she, goes to this school. I mean, think about it. Ever since the beginning of the year, there were strange deaths all over the school. Random kids were dying earlier on, remember?"

"Yeah…" Steven nodded in agreement. "I was thinking of that too. But how could someone just kill people off like that?"

"And why Zito and Andrew?" Jacob frowned.

None of them had an answer for this except for Steven of course, but Steven knew how to act in front of them all. They wouldn't be suspicious of him. Yes, he'd acted strangely on Thursday and Friday but he'd explained that the reason for this was because he was pissed off with his parents and they hadn't asked him about it since.

"Does Luke know?" Cameron asked.

"Yeah, I told him after I found out." Steven said. "He didn't take it as bad as his parents did though…"

"Oh god." Cameron winced. "His dad must be feeling horrible right now."

Steven nodded and managed to pull off a broken hearted expression. He remembered on Saturday when he and Luke decided to go to Zito's house to see what they would be doing with his body. Zito's dad was a big guy with a loud voice and a tendency to get overemotional about some things. And when they got there they found him crying out to the heavens like a wounded wolf with his wife, Debbie, who was Zito's step-mom, holding him and crying as well.

It had been a sad day and they didn't stay for long. Only long enough to find out when the funeral was and where it was going to be held. As for Andrew's funeral, Steven had no interest in showing up there. Nor did anyone else, apparently. Even Baker said she wasn't going to go because Katlynn would probably be there and she wouldn't want to upset her even more with her presence.

Steven knew they were all in for a sad week, but despite how he was acting, he was truly enjoying everything. Once the funeral for Zito was over, there wasn't much more to look forward to except for his plans with the Death Note.

And not once at school so far had he spotted any signs of a Shinigami. Zando was at home, probably lounging around in his room eating bananas. Steven had one of his Death Notes inside his backpack, the other inside his room with his Death God. Katlynn, meanwhile, hadn't been spotted. And for the next few days, Steven wondered what she was up to and if he should be concerned about it or not.

Steven had decided that he would not use the Death Note he'd gotten from Andrew yet. He would rather use it for emergencies or for safe-keeping just in case. He'd carved a line on the inside wall of his backpack and stuffed it inside. That way if anyone ever decided to snoop through it, they would find only normal school notebooks and papers. And the carved hole was in the bottom so if someone were to try and dump everything out of it, the Death Note would stay hidden against the inside of the wall.

Steven decided to step it up a notch with his acts of Kira. Every day he would watch television and go online, find criminals and write their names in the Death Note. He wondered, briefly, why the news was still showing criminal's names and faces when they know that Kira was out there. They probably didn't want to risk pissing Kira off. If he could kill criminals, he could kill innocents as well whenever he wanted.

So on that Wednesday morning, the media was in a frenzy. Fifty criminals in each state of the U.S. had all died of Heart Attacks. The biggest amount of deaths in a day by Kira so far. So far. Steven and Zando watched the news before school that morning and laughed. He was back in business at last.

That Friday, Steven sat down in second period and got out his notes for Mrs. Shaunesty's class like they normally did. When he looked to see what was on the board, he froze for a split second at what he saw written.

Class Discussion about "Kira"

Steven smirked. Excellent. He hadn't prepared for this and he was wondering if he should give his honest opinion about Kira or if he should lie. Lying would be interesting but he decided that he would be able to talk more if he told the truth.

So when the rest of the class had settled in, Steven had already thought of what he was going to say and all that was left was to wait patiently.

Mrs. Shaunesty gave them all a fake smile like she usually did as she talked about the homework they had to do. "And if you've read what's on the board like you're supposed to then you'll know that we're going to be having a group talk about quote, unquote Kira."

Steven frowned. He didn't like the way she did the bunny fingers when she said Kira's name. It made her look like she didn't actually believe that Kira was real and the way she smiled as she talked about how the media gave him the name just to cast fear to the public made him want to strangle her.

"So is his name actually Kira?" a girl asked once they were all facing each other in a circle on top of their desks.

"No." a guy named Brian answered. "It's more like a title."

"Oh, Okay."

"What I want to know is how Kira kills people." Brian said.

Mrs. Shaunesty spoke so quickly it nearly knocked a few people off their desks who were sitting next to her. "We are not here to talk about that, the topic is whether or not what "Kira" is doing justifiable or not."

Steven raised his hand.

"Yes, Steven?"

"I think…" Steven paused with a frown on his face. "That what this Kira guy is doing is justifiable. I mean, think about it. He's only been killing criminals, and most of them are criminals on Death Row. I think what he's doing might be…wrong but the reason why he's doing it is good. For the greater good, yah know? So yeah, I think it's justifiable."

"How is an eye for an eye justifiable?" The red haired boy named Kyle asked.

"Everything in this world comes down to what's the greater good." Steven said. "Abortion, war, immigration, whatever the topic is it all comes down to what's the greater good of them and Kira is just like that. Yeah, murder is wrong and all but, like I said, most of these people are people on death row. And if you've been paying attention to the news, crime rates across the whole country have dropped by 35 in the past month. I think Kira, whoever he is, is trying to stop crimes and make society a better place."

"I agree." Brian said. "I mean, why do you think we go to war? We kill people so that we can make the world a better place for everyone and however Kira kills people, like Steven said, he's doing it for the greater good."

Across the room from Steven, Jennie raised her hand and he felt his gut clench. He was surprised that he had never once thought about what her opinion on this issue was.

"Yes, Jennie?" Mrs. Shaunesty addressed her.

"I think what Kira is doing is definitely not right." She said and her voice shook when she said this. "I mine, I personally believe that everyone deserves forgiveness and this Kira person is dealing out deaths like he's god and I don't think that's right. Humans shouldn't be able to do that kind of things, that's not why we're here. We're here to make decisions and if people make the wrong decisions in life then I think they should be given a chance at forgiveness."

And for the first time, Steven felt a surge of anger toward her. Without raising his hand, he said "Some people don't deserve forgiveness."

Jennie looked at him, almost surprised to see that he was disagreeing with her. But he went on anyway.

"There are people out there who truly enjoy killing. Mass serial killers. Sadistic, mentally instable people. They enjoy doing what they do and don't want forgiveness and I think anyone who ends up on Death Row like those people have basically given up their right to be forgiven, even by God."

"That's enough, Steven." Mrs. Shaunesty said.

"This isn't just about forgiveness; it's about what's morally right and wrong." Jennie shot back. The class was looking between the two as if unable to believe that they would argue. The loudest and the quietest people in the class arguing about something like this?

"Everyone has morals." Steven said, even though the voice inside his head was screaming to stop arguing with her. "But people will always have to make a choice about what's right and what's wrong and if doing something that's "morally" wrong in order to do something good, something that is worth doing what's wrong in order to achieve, then that's doing it for the greater good."

"Killing people is murder. It you a criminal, no matter how you look at it." Jennie said, getting a little more heated. "Kira is just a hypocrite who thinks that he can play God but nobody can play God."

"Jennie! Steven! Both of you stop this nonsense or you'll both receive detentions immediately." Mrs. Shaunesty shouted, standing up and glaring at both of them.

Steven glared at her now, almost happy to look away from Jennie's upset expression. "You said we were supposed to talk about whether or not what Kira is doing is good or bad."

"Yes, but discussing and arguing are two different things." The teacher snapped.

"The only difference is the tone of voice. If people are smart enough they can argue and be intelligent at the same time." Steven said. "There's no harm in arguing if it stays on topic and we're not making fun of each other's moms."

The class giggled a little at this and Steven dared to look at Jennie. She wasn't looking at him but she had a small smile on her face.

"Go outside right now." Mrs. Shaunesty commanded suddenly, shoving her finger toward the door as if he needed direction.

Steven rolled his eyes, grabbed his backpack, and hopped off the desk. When he was outside, he leaned against the railing of the portable and looked up into the sky, releasing a long sigh from his nose. What was the matter with him? Getting into a heated argument…and with Jennie of all people. What if she hated him now? What if she thought he was just an idiot? He had no idea she felt so strongly against Kira.

Mrs. Shaunesty came outside a minute later and scolded him for arguing before letting him come back inside. He sat down and listened to the class discussion but didn't say anything. Nothing anyone was saying was anything new or interesting so he decided to doodle on some paper absentmindedly.

When the bell rang and he got up to leave, Jennie approached him.

"Hey." He said, a little awkwardly.

"It's a good thing Mrs. Shaunesty stopped us." Jennie said. "I was just about to start making fun of your mom."

And instantly he knew things were still good between him. They both grinned and walked out the door together, Steven feeling glad that he hadn't screwed things up with her.

It was Saturday and Steven was wearing his best suit for Zito's funeral. He was going with Luke's family because his parents were both busy. And Amanda didn't know Zito well enough to care.

So when he arrived at Luke's house, he found that everyone was already dressed in black and ready. Steven was the only one without a tie and had to have Luke's mom help him get one wrapped around his neck.

"God, these things are uncomfortable." He muttered when they got in the van.

"You get used to it." Luke said.

It was only a fifteen minute drive before they pulled into a place called "Overgrove Cemetery". They parked and Steven got out with Luke, his two sisters, and his parents. Together they walked underneath a huge, marble arc that had the words "Gone but not forgotten" written on a plaque across the front.

Steven could see Zito's father in the distance with Debbie and Zito's brothers, Jeremy and Jason, standing in the circle talking with about twenty others. Steven saw Cameron and his twin brother, Bryce, talking to Catheryne Baker next to them. Steven and Luke immediately went and joined them.

"Jacob couldn't be here." Cameron said. "He had to work."

"That sucks." Steven sighed.

"Ah, I haven't seen Jacob in forever." Luke grunted.

"It's not like you're going to spar with him in-between the graves." Bryce grinned.

"Well, no shit."

"The ceremony is going to start, I think." Baker said quietly.

Steven looked away from the group and could see a coffin be herded through a crowd toward the burial site in-between two tall graves that had crosses above them. They all went and joined the rest of the group following the coffin before they finally came to a stop and took their seats.

The clouds seemed to reflect the moods of most of the people at the funeral. They were dark and grey and looked like they were about to rain. Steven was sitting in front row next to Luke and Jeremy looking at the closed coffin knowing that their friend was lying in there somewhere.

Steven felt no guilt for what he did. But he did feel guilty about hiding it from Zito's family. Seeing his dad sob like that was something he never could've imagined.

A man in blue and black robes was standing over the grave reading from the bible. Steven paid no attention to it and instead looked down at his feet. Rain finally started to fall from the sky. At first it was only a shower, but soon they were being drenched in it as the man finished and the coffin began to lower into the grave.

Zito's dead let out a roar of sadness as it happened. Steven watched the scene as if it were in slow motion. The darkness around them. The rain falling. Sad faces of people he didn't recognize. Zito's family crying in agony. The coffin lowering. All of this was Steven's fault. He'd caused this.

And then Zito was gone.

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