Death Note: The Next Kira (Part One)

Chapter One: Pack Up for Japan

JANUARY 12, 2006

WACO, TX

6:39 AM

                                                                           MARIE 

I woke up gasping and heavily breathing as the sunlight from outside shone down on me.

 "Marie!" I heard a voice call out. "Marie! Please wake up! You don't wanna be late for your trip to Japan!"

 I opened my eyes once I heard my mom call that out. As soon as I sat up in bed, Alex woke up from his sleep. We stretched out and yawned together. Well, I stretched out my arms, and Alex stretched out his front paws. My yawn was louder than Alex's, which was very quiet. Memories from my dream last night hit me. I looked at my coat rack with my bags hanging from it. The bags looked barely full. I slipped on my black and purple house shoes and rushed through the coat rack with Alex. As we searched through them, we were relieved to find they were empty.

 I sighed in relief. "It was only just a dream." 

I've never been so happy in my life. I then packed all of my bags with all of my clothes, my favorite movies, my books, my CDs (those were things I didn't pack in my dream because I became too fixated on what was on the news), my iPod, and some stuff for Alex, like his feeding and water bowl, along with his litter box. After I packed up all of my things, I picked out an outfit that I forgot to pack up. It was a black t-shirt with one of my favorite band singers, Siouxsie Sioux (the lead singer of Siouxsie and the Banshees), along with a black and charcoal plaid colored skirt, some fishnet gloves, some fishnet tights, and a pair of high-heeled boots. 

After I picked out my outfit, I heard the sound of the door shaking and the sound of someone knocking three times. 

"Marie, why is the door locked?" I asked. 

"I don't know," I answered. "Sleepwalking, maybe." That was strange. I don't remember locking the door last night. 

My mom jiggled the doorknob again and knocked on it three times again. "What's going on?"

 I went to the door and unlocked it. Afterward, my mom slowly opened it. She was a thin woman with glasses, green eyes, and long curly bronze hair. "Honey, did you just get up?" she asked.

 I nodded. "Yes, I just...don't remember locking the door last night."

 My mom nodded slowly. "Ah, I see," she said. 

"Oh, and I almost forgot to tell you that Alex is going to be coming along with me since I packed up all of his things," I told her. 

"Oh," my mother said in a surprised tone. "I'm not so sure you should do that, honey. What if Christy Grim has a cat allergy?" she reminded me. 

"Mom," I assured her. "It's rare for people to be allergic to cats."

 My mother nodded. "Well, okay," she said. "Just in case she is allergic to cats, you need to keep Alex far away from Christy Grim. You got that?" she asked.

 I held up an okay sign with my hand. "Got it," I answered. 

"Now, why don't you go brush your teeth and pack up your toothbrush with a bottle of toothpaste? You don't wanna have stinky breath when you go meet your favorite popstar, Christy Grim, do you?" Mom asked.

 I shook my head. "No, Mom," I answered. "I'll get to it." I hurried straight to the bathroom after she said that. 

After brushing my teeth, I went downstairs to the dining room to see what Mom had made me.