Cold Blood

One

Karma

'Cause I'm only a crack in this castle of glass
Hardly anything there for you to see
For you to seeBring me home in a blinding dream
Through the secrets that I have seen
Wash the sorrow from off my skin
Show me how to be whole again

"Getting up this early is a crime against humanity," I mumbled, rubbing my tired eyes and waddling to the bathroom. Once I had made myself look a little less dead I went downstairs to get some breakfast. Opening the fridge I wasn't surprised to find it completely desolate, after all, mum was still in the hospital. "Three years" Those two words escaped my lips without a second thought as my eyes moved to a calendar I kept on a nearby cupboard. "One more year," I froze, what am I doing? The doctors are wrong...she'll survive...she always does.

Sighing, I simply grabbed an apple and headed out for school, I wonder...if it will be easier today,  perhaps they'll leave me alone- What a silly thought, they haven't missed a bullying session in three years, why would today be any different? "How are you this morning Rin?" Startled I turned to see Mr Tane, our neighbourhood's mailman. "I'm fine, how are you?"

He smiled at my reply, before slotting a single letter into our rusted mailbox. "I'm very good thank you, and look you have mail, what's the occasion?" I honestly don't know, I haven't received mail since mum...collapsed. "Probably bills, they must have forgotten to send it to the P.O box," He smiled again, "Probably," and then he was gone, down the road to the next neighbourhood. I'm going to be so late to school, nonetheless, the letter had piqued my curiosity.

I hurried over to the rusty metal excuse for a letterbox and opened it up, pulling out a dark, crimson envelope. "Woah, It has an ink stamp," My thumb brushed the indented ink, feeling the dips and curves that formed a...skull. "This is a joke right," Looking up, I surveyed the streets for any sign of my school bullies. Whatever, I already know it's a joke, their prank won't work. My thumb trailed down to the envelope's opening and without a second thought I ripped it open and pulled out the bit of paper inside.

Dear Rinly Oni

You have been selected to participate in a social experiment we are holding this year in your city. It is a simple game, if you win,  you are granted anything you could possibly want, if you lose however, the repercussions are rather serious. You see, the aim of the game is to...kill the other contestants. If you manage this and are the last one standing, you will receive the power of a shinigami, if you don't, you will die.

That is all for now, we will update you regularly if anything comes up and if I were you I would keep the game rather hushed, wouldn't want people to know you're planning on killing people, would we?

shinigami corp.

What the hell, even if this is a prank it's gone too far. A game where you kill people, who the hell came up with that?  And shinigami, Isn't that like a death God, who would want the powers of death? Frustrated, I balled the letter up and threw it in the closest bin I could find. Some people are really sick if they think this is funny. How did they even know my full name? No one knows my full name. I'm not even going to waste my time thinking about this, I have to get to school.

"Rin, how are ya doll face?" How do you think, dumbass? I wanted to say but all that came out was. "Fine," A disgusting smirk appeared on his face as the other two idiots arrived at the scene, "Do you have our money," No I'm dirt poor, was again what I really wanted to say and yet I said; "Sorry, I couldn't manage it today," The smirk grew wider, The other two seemed to mirror it, snickers and snivels coming from their upturned lips. "is that right? You never learn," he sighed, taking a large, slow stride towards me. A panicked deer in headlights feeling came over me and like every other time...I froze.