Chapter 6: Daniel Waters
January 30th 2023
"What do you think the other Death Note holder is doing now, Ryuk?" Daniel asked as his knees sank deep into his bed.
His chin rested somewhat comfortably in his arms on the windowsill, glumly staring out in wonder towards next door, watching, waiting. The question still bugging him ever since Ryuk revealed the other's existence two days ago.
"What kind of person are they? Do they use the Death Note often? Are they scared of its power?"
Questions like these burned at the back of his mind like a pounding headache they remained. Difficult questions and easy ones.
And the only one who could answer them, was also his greatest obstacle, Ryuk. A vastly unreliable source of information.
Not that the God was a liar or anything, Daniel would never have thought that way about the Shinigami. No, Ryuk had been honest and straight forward with some of the questions and vague on others. As long as he was paid handsomely with apples, Ryuk would at least consider with an answer.
The Reaper however liked to keep a lot of things close to his creepy chest. Even though the information wasn't valuable to an immense degree. Instead, Ryuk found a great pleasure in watching Daniel struggle to understand the cursed object and everything related to it.
He got no satisfaction while he waited for Daniel to use the Death Note, but he has certainly found ways to alleviate his boredom.
"I don't care about what the other guy is doing" Ryuk remarked as his jagged teeth chewed down on a fresh green apple. Juices seeped from the corner of his lips and rolled to his chin. Two more bites and the Reaper consumed the apple, core and all.
Daniel had bought five bowls of the fruit from the Saturday market after his failed attempt of killing Henry Price. Yesterday he bought three bags of red apples from Asda. Now thinking about the discarded empty bowls and plastic around his room, Danial might need to buy a few more.
"I'm more curious as to when you're going to write another name in your book Daniel. Two days and two names. Only one of them died by your hand…" Ryuk pondered out loud as he guided a finger across his red lips and then licked them clean.
The one he deeply regretted. Father Curtis visited his dreams again last night, standing high upon his moulding plinth. He still does not utter a single word. Just stares un-blinkingly, judging with eyes full of hate.
"How did Kira do it?" Daniel asked as he softened his voice. It was like the words shamed him to speak, but he knew in his heart that this was the question that bugged him most of all.
"How did the answer of death come easily to him. To remove the filth from this world like he did… I fear to even look at that dammed book, let alone write in it. And yet, as a single being he had ended the life of possibly thousands of criminals and brought peace to millions…. The thought of death scares me, Ryuk. Knowing that it will all end one day. Just gone, no more…. The eternal darkness… I couldn't end someone's life like that. Them not knowing when it will happen or how… I don't know how he did it, Ryuk"
Eyes gloomy with the thoughts of dread, Daniel watched a black 2012 Toyota Yaris park into his neighbour's driveway.
With his slender fingers, Ryuk made an intrigued sound as he found another succulent green apple from his last Bowl. Tossing the plastic onto the floor like it was another piece of trash.
"You're asking the wrong Shinigami kid" he crunched as he chomped onto the green skin of deliciousness.
"I saw nothing wrong in what Kira was doing. He used the Death Note as it should be, to kill humans. Shinigami like myself take lives in order to extend our own. That is our purpose in this world. Kira found his own purpose in life and he followed it through until the very end. That is all"
A large fat man stepped out of the car with some difficulty. The suspension of the car noticeably moving up from the ground as he removed his last foot.
"His own purpose" Daniel muttered as Mr Jones sauntered to his front door like a waddling penguin.
Banging loudly on his own wooden door, the obese lard impatiently waited until someone opened it from inside.
Wasting no time, a furious looking Mr Jones barged inside as a noticeable shriek momentarily slipped by the closing door.
Muffled pleas and shouting thumped through the neighbour's house as Daniel painfully listened. His fingers squeezed deep into his arms as the sound of shattered glass worried him.
Ryuk wasn't fazed in the slightest as the glutton consumed another apple.
"You know kid" he said as he chewed and swallowed the core.
"If your so worried about the girly next door. You could, I don't know. Use the dammed Notebook!"
Trying to ignore Ryuk's somewhat irritated tone, Daniel instead continued to focus on the house next-door.
Kayla was screaming. Her sweet gentle voice scared and weeping. It was tortuous to listen to the pleas and cries while he felt like he could do nothing at all to help her.
But for a moment, a glimmer of hope appeared into view. A dog walker had just gone by, he seemed to have noticed the sounds, he looked, he listened to the shouts. But he continued on, like the event didn't matter to him.
A typical reaction in this town, no one seemed to care for the wellbeing of others as long as it didn't involve them or their loved ones.
Daniel was certain his parents could probably hear it as well. In his mind he could see them in the kitchen preparing the table for breakfast, oblivious to the cries for justice they so believed in.
Once upon a time, when Daniel was old enough, and brave enough to stand up for Kayla. He had told his parents what was going on.
Back when he still had a little faith in God, they all wrote Mr Jones's name in the newly revealed Book of Kira's and waited. Weeks would go by and the fat sack of wasted space would still attend each nightly service at church. Followed by his battered and beaten accident prone daughter.
Daniel had begged his parents to do something to help protect his childhood friend. He pleaded that they should do something more. As loving parents, they agreed.
Gathering a few of their closest friends from church, they all wrote Mr Jones's name in the Book of Kira once more.
A month had passed…
The man continued to walk, unabated by God's righteous judgment. While Kayla seemed to die a little more each day.
Grovelling to his knees, Daniel wept tears for Kayla. His parents listened, and they shook their heads. "Kira has passed judgment" dad said as the words echoed disappointed in his son. "Jones is still alive because he is innocent of the crimes you claim he has committed. If what you have said was true, then that man would not have lived after Kira listened to our prayers. I'm sorry son, but no more"
The screams of terror grew louder and clearer, violent as objects continued to smash inside.
Badump, badump.
And yet through all that noise. Daniel could hear a familiar sound.
Not the screams of agony, but the object sitting by his bed, watching, waiting.
Badump, badump. Like a heartbeat or a drum, it called. Daniel had tried to ignore it at first, like a faint whisper on the wind saying your name. You turn around to see who was there… but, no one answers.
Badump, badump. He didn't want to admit it, but he heard this sound before. During the morning of Henry Price, as his pen inched closer to the Death Note, hesitating to write a single letter. Daniel could hear it calling. Faintly it was there, it wouldn't stop until he had written a name.
Badump, badump. From the nightstand there it lay, the book in black… Daniel could feel it daring him, whispering, making sweet promises of an easy life, as the sounds of Kayla crying for mercy echoed from its pages.
I would be easy. It would be quick. All Daniel needed was a pen and a name. A simple name "Luke Jones" and all will be well. Kayla would be safe, and that man would be dead.
Badump, badump.
Hands twitching into his arms, Daniel had heard enough as released his tension and reached towards the nightstand. Leaning his full weight over his bed, his arms stretched out as he wiggled his fingers trying to touch and grab.
Tickling the object with the tips of his fingers, the item inched closer with each tug until he could finally grasp it. Snatching away from the nightstand, Daniel held out his mobile phone in his hand and left the Death Note alone to its ceaseless calling.
He didn't need it, not for this. Not ever.
"I won't use the Death Note, Ryuk. Not even for Kayla's sake. Situations like these require the proper authorities" he declared as he dialled emergency services.
"Yes… I would like to report a domestic abuse"…
Later on in the morning, after the whole family had their breakfast of toast, bacon and eggs. Daniel was in a rush to get out the door as he paced up the small pathway and onto the sidewalk. Little Eva followed closely behind happily, skipping as she badly sung a cartoon theme.
Daniel couldn't tell what cartoon she was singing about. The way the lyrics kept jumping or merging, like she was singing two songs together.
Standing by the road, a random gust brought them both a winters chill as they each rubbed their arms close to their bodies.
"Brr. Hold still Eva, we'd better zip up your coat now. Barely any wind blowing and it's still freezing!" Daniel noted as he kneeled the cold hard sidewalk.
Gleefully giggling as Daniel struggled to pull the zip up the last few notches of her pink coat, Eva waited like the good girl that she was.
"Are you done yet?" she smiled.
"Yeah, I'm done. Let's get going or you're going to be late for school"
Struggling to get up, Daniel's heart skipped a beat as he noticed a police car turned into their lane. Slow with unblinking lights.
"Come on Eva" he hurried, grasping her tiny hand as they walked up the road.
The officers in blue pulled up just before Mr Jones's house as Daniel passed by with nervous curiosity. He didn't dare look back as he could hear a pair of bobbies step out of the vehicle and walked purposefully to the house. Muttering to each other as they went along.
This wasn't the first time Daniel had called them. It wasn't the fifth either. It still made him nervous to call them, like if he was somehow wrong, he could get into trouble. Because with each time they arrived, they would soon leave after doing absolutely nothing.
Mr Jones apparently had a way with words, or at the very least knew how to bullshit himself out of a situation. Because with each visit, the officers would spend less and less time at the door. Barely entering the property or even seeing Kayla's damaged body.
But it was the way it had to be done. If not the police, then who? Who could save Kayla from her agony?
Turning the corner and heading towards town, Daniel took one last glancing look down the road and hoped. Hoped that with each phone call, the police would get suspicious and finally help Kayla. They had to.
After fifteen minutes or so of meandering through town, the pair of siblings finally reached the large park in the centre.
It was massive in size and surprisingly had a lot to offer. A playground for the kids sat in one corner with an ice-cream shop near-by. On the opposite side was a small aviary with parakeets and budgies. Around the green mown grass, a series of exercise bikes lined one by one following the path. And finally for the teens; a basketball court by a skate park for all your radical needs.
Eva was more fond of the large green open space than anything else. Within seconds she wriggled free of Daniels hand and ran off like a puppy into the grass.
"Don't run too far Eva. You have until I get to the other side of the park and then we are leaving" Daniel shouted as the high-spirited lass stopped to do Roly polies on the hard ground.
Eva was like a Duracell battery when it came to the outdoors. Never tiring even when all the other kids her ages panted and sweated chasing after her.
Now somewhat alone with his shadow, still following closely behind like a stray cat. Daniel snuck out a glistening fresh apple from his black coat pocket. Glancing around to make sure that no one was watching, he tossed the fruit behind him as the Reaper caught it in his mouth.
"Oh ho, ho oh! Thank you, Daniel. You can be so generous to me. It makes me want to cry for all the human's I possessed that treated me like dirt"
Slowing down his pace a little as Ryuk's words opened a line of intrigue. Daniel responded with hopeful intent that the Demon would continue to talk.
"Have you possessed many humans, Ryuk?"
Sounds of crunching and yummy noises spurted from the death Gods lips before he replied "Yeah, I've had a few over the years. Not many that I can recall or even bother remembering to be honest. When you die, I doubt I would even remember you either"
A cold chill tickled Daniel's spine as he heard those words. It almost felt like a threat. Empty but threatening, almost like a promise.
And yet, Daniel was curious about those who came before. What kind of person had left an impression on God.
"Did any of your previous holders ever impress you, Ryuk?" he asked, knowing the Shinigami would more than likely ignore a rather vague question.
But to his surprise, as the Reaper licked his lips, Ryuk gave an inquisitive sound as he thought.
"Well… nothing really jumps out to me. Buuut if I were to choose. I would say the incident on the bus with Kira"
Kira!
"Go on" Daniel encouraged. Ryuk was often vague about the biblical figure. It would be nice to know more about him from the voice of God.
"Hmph! It wasn't anything special really. It started when Kira was being followed by an FBI agent and needed his name to get rid of him"
"Wait! Kira wanted to murder an officer of the law?" Daniel interrupted with a shocked and confused expression.
Until now, he had only known Kira to have killed criminals and those who pursue unjust lifestyles. Everybody knew this to be true, it was what the news channels and websites talked about.
But then again, there had been rumours of police trying to get in his way. Documentaries and school had taught much of Kira's battle with the Japanese Task Force and the death of the innocents that followed. So, it shouldn't shock him to hear such words.
But when it came from the mouth of Ryuk, the one who had followed Kira until he disappeared from the world. Well, it had to be true.
"Shut up kid, I'm talking. Anyway, Kira arranged a little date with one of his girly friends. The agent followed them onto a bus to a theme park. Along the way a highjacker also stepped on and held the bus ransom. Long story short, Kira dropped a piece of paper onto the ground and the criminal picked it up. You see, it wasn't just an ordinary piece of paper but a fragment of the Death Note. Touching even a small piece, the highjacker saw me standing at the back and unloaded his gun. Bullets can't hurt me, understand. So, when the gun was empty the criminal ran off the bus and got hit by a passing car. I can't remember how Kira got the Agents name. I just liked how I was involved in the machinations of his plan"
"Kira used you in his plans? Did he do this often?"
Ryuk seemed amused as though the question brought back memories.
"Yeah, I was a part of quite a few of his plans… I guess you could say that without me. He wouldn't be Kira"
With the gate of the park within reach, Daniel turned and searched the wide-open space for his little sister, quickly spotting her in her pink coat chasing a poor helpless squirrel. The little grey mammal pumping its tiny legs as Eva sprinted after it with joyous laughter.
"Eva! Enough! It's time to go" he shouted.
Stopping in her tracks with an annoyed groan, Eva waved the squirrel goodbye as it scurried into a nearby tree.
"Bye mister squirrel!" she sweetly called out.
Dashing at full speed, his little energetic bunny slowed down only a few feet from where Daniel stood. With grass and leaves tangled into her hair, Eva beamed with delight at the chance to enjoy the park.
"Thank you, Daniel!" she smiled
Pleased to see that she was having a good start to her morning, Daniel took her by the hand and replied softly "Let's go Eva. School starts soon"
As the pair left the park, Daniel pondered on Ryuk's story as he felt Eva's pulse beating in her hand.
Badump, badump…
The Reaper's words stuck to him more than toffee to teeth as he chewed on a thought.
With Ryuk… am I Kira?
Authors Corner;
Just a quick note to start with. When describing Mr Jones as a fat man. I'm not trying to body shame when I describe horrible things like the suspension moving in the car. I'm overweight myself and I can inform you that my car also elevates when a get out. Makes my friends laugh every time it does.
What I am trying to do is picture him in a bad light. He's an evil guy, obviously. Using negative descriptions in a simple scene can portray a man in that way, without having to describe what he has done.
Now let's talk about pacing. I hate it. A must have in any story, you just need to understand how it works and when to use it. Not easy to implement.
To give you an idea why I hate it. I wrote a full completely different version of this chapter where the story went from one to a hundred in mere moments. Bad move.
I had to forcibly pace myself and restructure what I wanted to tell story wise. The result, a planned draft of at least three chapters of a short story arc. The set up, confrontation and then resolution. Hope it works.
May Kira be with you.
