Beyond

I didn't know how to tell her. She will die because of the condition she is in, at four years old, but they won't let her die peacefully. This will be dragged on and on. Im not even sure what's killing her, but her lifespan suggests she will be dead in a couple of days. Having already been treated and let out of my hospital room, I spend every moment of the day with Alodia, who has started suffering from splitting headaches, nausea and now can't walk. No one knows what is wrong with her as they've ruled everything it could be out. Mysterious bruise like marks have appeared on her torso, suggesting internal bleeding, but she would already be dead.

Kara glides into the room and sees Alodia sleeping, she walks over to me with a slightly angry expression on her skeletal face.

"What's wrong?" I ask curiously, it's not often something makes a Shinigami angry.

"I know what's wrong with Alodia." She replies solemnly, fiddling with a strand of her black hair like a child would. I bolt upright to attention.

"What? What's wrong with her?" Kara looks into my eyes, now looking sympathetic.

"There is this Shinigami in my realm called Kenelm. He is a spiteful, sick creature. He is one of the few Shinigami who kill with methods other than heart attacks when they write in their death notes…" She stops, looking for the words.

"What are you saying?" I ask, horrified, not really wanting her to finish the sentence.

"Kenelm enjoys watching humans die slowly, painfully. He wrote in his death note "Dies of mysterious illness which no one is able to diagnose, two days after being rescued." I visited the Shinigami realm briefly because I had this theory, and I confirmed it with Kenelm. Im sorry B, there's nothing anyone can do to save her. What's written in the death note cannot be unwritten." I feel my knees go weak. I drop my eyes from hers and they land back on my dying sister. This can't be happening…my eyes well up as I rest my head in my hands. Kara leaves me to let the news sink in fully.

There is nothing they can do, and my sister will die.

Needless to say the day drags on as her lifespan slowly counts down, her symptoms worsening by the hour. New ones appear, and now her arms and legs are paralysed. Why would Kenelm kill my sister? Why her? It makes no sense to me. She still doesn't know what's going on. As she sleeps, I hear the door open. I turn to see A closing the door behind him

"Only family members are allowed to come in. So I told them im a cousin." A explains. I smile at him and shake my head.

"Ok then." I reply.

"How is she?" A asks, after a moment of grim silence. I still haven't explained to A either, but I have explained about death notes.

"She's going to die." I sigh bluntly, "there's a Shinigami, like Kara, but he's evil. He wrote Alodia's name in his death note and made it so that she will die slowly, and there is nothing anyone can do to stop it." I hear a voice in the back of my head again that becomes very hard to ignore. It tells me the same thing every time I hear it.

You could kill her B. Make her pain and suffering disappear quicker.

I try and shake the thought off as I watch A react to the news with a shocked expression, followed by sympathetic words that im tired of hearing. He leaves shortly after. But the thought doesn't leave me this time. By the end of tomorrow, she will die, but the suffering is likely to get far worse before then. So I am left with two options. Let my sister die a slow, painful death, or end it quickly so she is at peace.

I know which option I favour. I feel a strange, eerie calm wash over me. I should be distressed, or disturbed by what Im going to do, but the voice is there, along with a figure in the corner of the room. Saying, Good choice B. Good choice. I look at my sister again, squeezing her hand gently, before walking calmly from the room.

Alodia

My heart pounds in my chest as I open my eyes. I hear the sound of screaming, weeping behind me. I turn to see something that takes me aback. My brother is curled in on himself with his knees to his chest. He is wearing a strange white jacket preventing the movement of his hands. His feet are chained down and his ankles are red and burnt. I hear him pleading quietly.

"Im sorry Alodia. I failed you and our mother. All those people…" I find myself somewhere else this time. The room doesn't seem familiar but I observe how there are two people here I haven't seen before. One is a boy of about 18 years old with a startling likeness to B, but his eyes are more heavily rimmed with black and his eyes are a grey/black colour. The other is a boy of about the same age with white hair and white clothes, apart from a flower of blood swirling from over one of his lungs. The first boy clutches the other, but faces towards the door.

"I'll KILL YOU B! ILL KILL YOU!"

And with that my eyes snap open to reveal my white hospital room, and I find that I am alone for once. I shiver and wish I could move my arms to pull the blanket closer in on me. Then I feel the blanket being pulled up a little higher. I look up to see Kara moving the blanket for me. I smile.

"Thank you." She smiles and nods back.

"That's ok Alodia. I presume you were actually awake when B was speaking with A earlier?" She asks.

"Yes. I heard everything. I will be dead by the end of tomorrow." I reply calmly. Kara looks so incredibly sad. It's a strange sight. Im the one who's dying.

"Are you not scared?" she stutters slightly.

"No. I welcome it, to be honest. Im only four, yet im not sure I like this world all that much. Besides, B and I came up with a plan. I won't die so slowly after all."

"What do you mean?" she queries. I smile weakly.

"Don't worry about it. Just keep an eye on B for me. I've been having strange dreams about him recently. I don't want any of them to come true." I close my eyes and feel Kara rest a hand on my hand gently.

"You are very brave Lo. I don't know much about human emotions, but I know I care about you and your brother greatly. Like a mother does her children. I will stay with B until the day he dies. I promise." She rests her head against mine, and I feel my eyes threatening to cry.

"Goodbye Kara." I whimper.

"Farewell, sweet, little one."

I hear Kara move away and when I open my eyes, im once again alone. Tomorrow, B will carry out the plan, and I will be dead.