Disclaimer: I don't own Deathnote nor its characters, no matter how much I wish I did. However, Payne and Arisk and the other few minor ones are all mine.
Author's Note: The following happens twelve years earlier then the story's present time.
Warning! This chapter contains graphic scenes and mild language!
Chapter 3:
The kitchen smelt like gingerbread. Dirty bowls and pans lay about the countertop and sticky icing of different colours was splattered on the floor. Five year old Payne sat atop a stool close to the island in the center of the room as she pressed a cookiecutter shaped like a man into the thick dough. She left the cutter in place as she tore the dough away from its sides. Placing the cookie into the palm of her hand she held it out for her mother's inpection. "Look Mommy! It's Daddy." She cried happily.
"My!" Her mother, Grace, exclaimed in mock surprise. "It looks just like him!" She took the cookie from her daughter to place it on a flat pan. Before she placed him on the cookie sheet she held his arms and made the cookie look like it was dancing, making Payne giggle with amusment. She turned back towards her daughter in time to recieve two new cookie. "And who are they?" She asked Payne.
"It's me and you Mommy!" Payne explained excitedly. She was very proud of herself. Her mother took the cookies, one resembled a woman in a skirt and the other a smaller version of the first, over to the pan and placed them beside the man. "Now we're all together." Payne stated. Grace smiled lovingly towards her daughter and was about to reply when the doorbell resounded sharply.
"Grandma!" Payne shouted excitedly as she jumped off the stool she was precarlessly perched upon, which toppled to the floor in her haste, and sprinted towards the front door. It had been over a year since the last time she had laid eyes on her mother's mother. A few years ago Payne had asked her mother why her grandmother only came once a year and why they couldn't visit her. Her mother had stood there for a few moments debating on how to explain. She had said that Grandma lived far away in a special place where people took care of her. Payne still didn't understand what her mother was trying to say that day but she knew better then to press for a less criptic answer by the pained expression on her mother's face.
Payne had to strech her slender form in order to reach the shiny, golden knob that was attached to the front door. With a twist of her hands and a hard tug, Payne managed to swing the large wooden door open which revieled a hardened form. "Grandma!" she cried again and flung her arms around the aging woman.
"It's good to see you Mom." Payne's mother said as Payne grabbed her gandmother's hand and began to pull her inside. The old woman gave a slight nod, the only indcation that she had heard her daughter's greeting. Her blood shot eyes shifted around in their sockets as she took in her new surroundings. Grace sturggled to surpress a shiver. Her mother appeared to be in worst condition since the last time she had seen her. It was clear that she wasn't sleeping by the large purple bruises under her sagging eyes and even with a heavy shirt on her ribs were visible. Her pills weren't working. Again.
"Why don't you take Grandma to her room and help her unpack Payne?" Grace suggested. She bent over and lifted the surprisingly light luggage off the ground. Motioning with her chin for Payne to go first, she headed after the two retreating figures as they disapeared down the narrow hallway. Payne's mother signed inwardly. As with all of her mother's visits Grace always felt paranoid that something bad would happen from the time her mother entered the house, and the feeling only left when she did. At least this year John, her ex husband, wouldn't be there to complain about the house guest.
A little under a year ago Grace had made the decision to leave her husband. Their marriage had started off well enough, but within the first two years he began to show signs of being abusive. It started with words but ended in blows. Grace thought that she could take it in order for her daughter, who was two when it started, to have a father figure, somthing she hadn't had. But when he hit Payne for the first time when she was four, Grace knew she had to act in order to keep her daughter safe. Once the divorce went through and she was free she realized that a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Only a few months later John died from alcohol poisioning.
When she and John had been together, they always fought about her mother's visits. John was against it in the worst way saying that he didn't want to be around someone who was crazy. Grace fought back in order to defend her mother,but at the same time could see his point. Still, she insisted that her mother come because she was the only family, besides her daughter and husband, that she had left. In the end Grace preveiled but then John would go out and become intoxicated. So it was a win lose situation.
But now that he was gone, she could do as she pleased. Grace lived her quiet life with her daughter in peace and without fear. She set the bags she had been carrying in the guest bedroom and left to go check on the now baked cookies.
Supper wasn't an extravagant meal. Rather it consisted of Kraft Dinner and hotdogs. Payne sat across from her grandmother while her mother sat to her left. She watched as her mother handed her grandmother what looked to her to be small colourful pieces of candy. Payne thought that it was strange that Grandma had dessert before the meal, something she never got away with. Her grandmother placed the candy, which was infact her medication, in her mouth and signaled to Grace that she needed a glass of water to swallow them. As Payne's mother left to fill the glass, her grandmother spat the pills back into her hand and placed them into her pocket. She noticed Payne watching her and held her index finger over her thin lips, telling Payne that she shouldn't tell her mother about what she had seen her grandmother do, that it was a secret. Payne understood and didn't say anything when her mother returned with the water, which her grandmother readily drank. Nothing else, including conversation, happened during the remaining portion of the meal.
Nightfall came quickly after supper. The dying sun gave off a golden glow as it slowly sunk on the horizon. Twilight was Payne's favourite time, there was still enough light for her to see by, but at the same time the soothing sounds of night could be heard though the crack of the open window. She breathed in deeply and through all of the smells her brain resgestered, the most prodominate being that of the Christmas tree in the living room. In just two days time it would be Christmas morning and Payne, like most young children, could already feel the antisapation growing inside her. She stared at the heavily decorated tree from her makeshift bed in the living room.
Normally Payne slept with her mother, but recently she had taken to sleeping on the couch. The main reason for the change was because no matter which way she tossed and turned Payne couldn't fall asleep. Her mother said it might be her excitement for Christmas getting the best of her, but Payne knew the true reason. Each night as Payne lay in the bed with her mother she could feel the walls of the already small room closing in on her. It made it extremely hard for her to get oxygen into her lungs and her heart beat much too quickly to feel comfortable. After half a week of sleepless nights she had decided to move out into the living room, mainly bcause it was the largest room in the cramped house, but telling her mother that she wanted to make sure to see Santa this year. In any case her claustrophbia was more behaved at night.
Payne wrapped the thick quilt tighter around her slender form in an effort to keep the cold away. She punched her pillow in an attempt to make it more fluffy than lumpy and closed her eyes in antisipation of sleep. Coming from her mother's room was the gently sound of snoring. It was a comforting sound for her, one that acted much like a lullaby. Then a new sound broke through the snoring and at first Payne couldn't fgure out what it was. She strained her ears to find to source of the unusual sound. It was a low, constant mumbling coming from the room her grandmother slept in. Briftly she wondered if her grandmother was talking in her sleep, something she did on occasion. Payne hoped that whatever she was dreaming about was cheerful, though the sound suggested otherwise. She didn't dwell on it long, sleep claiming Payne in mere minutes of her head touching the pillow.
It wasn't an abnormal sound that roused Payne from her slumber on the sofa, rather it was the soft sound of footsteps on carpet that made her snap her eyes open. She could hear her mother rolling over in her sleep and, momentarily forgetting that her grandmother was staying with them, wondered if someone had broken in. As silently as a five year old could manage she slid off the sofa and padded over to the nearest closet, intending to stay hidden from the intruder. Before she reached it though, a pale figure regestered in the corner of her vision. At first Payne thought it was a ghost. The figure was dressed in a long, white, flowing nightgown with bare feet and long silver hair hanging down its back. But on closer inspection, the frighten Payne realized that it was her grandmother. She stood from the crouched position she had been in and returned to her make shift bed. Payne watched as her grandmother made her way towards her room and was about to close her eyes again when her grandmother walked pass the door to the room she was staying in and instead walking in to Payne's mother's room. It was then that Payne noticed the object that she held. It was a long, sharp, knife.
Payne froze in fear. Her shocking green eyes followed her grandmother as she entered Grace's room. Payne couldn't see past her grandmother, who stood in the doorway, into the room. She strained her over sensitve ears to hear what was happening. The bed groaned as Payne's mother sat up and mumbled a half formed question as to why she was in her room. The next thing Payne heard was a sharp gasp followed by the sounds of a struggle. Payne watched the shadows on the wall merge with each other again and again until one fell to the ground, a hand cluching it's side. The other dark form raised its arm, with glittering knife in hand, and brought it down hard upon the kneeling shadow. Red splattered against the white wall. The sound of her grandmother's blank voice sent a chill through Payne's body. "I have saved you, my daughter, from the sins of this world. Now nothing can taint your beautiful soul."
As the knife was pulled out of Grace's back, Payne managed to move her body from it's frozen state on the couch and on to the floor. She began to crawl towards the closet once more when her grandmother stepped out of the bedroom. Payne made it half way to the closet before her grandmother saw her. "Now now Payne," she chidded, "you have nothing to fear. Come to me." She bent into a crouch and extended her arms towards her terrified granddaughter.
"Stay away!" Payne cried, her voice cracking in fear. She now had her back against the closet door. Warm salty tears flowed freely down she soft cheeks as she looked up into her grandmother's cold face. Payne's green eyes widen in horror as her grandmother raised the knife in antisapation of its near future use. "Please don't hurt me!" she pleaded in an effort to avoid the invertable.
""Don't worry my child." her soon to be murderer cooed "Soon you shall join your mother and be free of pain. God is waiting for you, now let me lead you into his warm embrace." Suddenly the old woman jerked her head back towards the bedroom, her caring expression vanishing and replaced by one of meniace. "Quiet you." she stated through gritted teeth. "This is my family and I will do as I see fit." She paused as if she was listening to a reply even though Payne couldn't see anyone else in the room. She turned back towards her grand daughter only to find her missing. Payne had seen her distraction as an opportunity to crawl away. She had made it halfway to the kitchen by the time her grandmother realized that she was missing. "Damn it all!" The old woman growled, "This is all your fault! How am I suppose to save them if you keep interupting me?" She looked around the empty room in an atempt to find her missing grand daugher.
Payne's heart was beating so hard she was sure that it would rip through her chest any moment now. When her grandmother had looked away Payne had fled into the kitchen and hidden inside the cupboard below the sink. She could hear her grandmother talking to herself in the living room, but didn't dare to chance a look incase she was seen. Her mind was racing with unanswered question. Was her mother really dead and was she going to die too? Why wash her grandmother doing this and who did she keep talking to? As these and other questions floated around in Payne's head she heard her grandmother leave the living room and enter the kitchen in hopes of finding her missing grandchild. The young child held her breath and willed her pounding heart to be still, sure that the whole world could here it. As the sounds of footsteps grew closer to where she hid, Payne closed her eyes and prayed to whoever that she would'nt be discovered. Her grandmother started systematically opening the cupboards. There were six between her and the one Payne was hidden in. Woosh pause bang, nothing. Woosh pause bang, nothing. Again and again cupboard doors opened and closed as her grandmother searched. One, two, Payne counted in her head. Three, four, she braced herself for what was coming. Five, her mind sceamed in fear knowing even in her young age that she was seconds from death. Her hands clenched and unchenched and she gritted her teeth. Woosh pause bang. Six. Then, nothing.
It felt like an eternity had passed before Payne found the courage to open her green eyes. She was still in darkness, her cupboard's doors had yet to be opened. Ever so slowly she pressed them open olny to be met with the dead gaze from her grandmother's lifeless eyes. A sceam riped forth from her lips as Payne stared at the corpse. As quickly as she could. she fled from the cupboard and tried to run from the room only to run smack dab into a solid object. Payne fell back from the impack into a pool of her grandmother's blood and felt her hand touch something that felt like paper. At first Payne was confused and looked down to see what new horror faced her only to find a scrap of paper under her fingertips. The paper was also covered in blood and the writing was too blurred to read. Repulsed, she drew her hand away only to catch a glimpse of movement in the corner of her vision. Payne snapped her head around to locate the movement only to let lose another terrified scream. There before her stood the most grotesque creature she had even seen.
AN: My apologize for this chapter taking forever to write. I had a serious case of writer's block. I'm hoping to post the next chapter before Christmas but that all depends on how much free time I get. If you have any questions or comments or have an idea for the story, feel free to leave a review. Thanks and I hope you're enjoying the story so far. I promise that L will make an appearance soon.