ABHOR (Death Note/L.)

Part 1

FEBURARY 10th, 2012

According to some, there are four types of evil in this world. Demonic Evil..... Instrumental Evil......... Idealistic Evil......... and Stupid Evil. But, based on my personal experiences, evil has different degrees. It cannot be classified as one thing. It can be multiple degrees of severity and benevolence.

When I was young, I thought the greatest farce of evil I would face in my lifetime was a man by the name of Daniel S. Gray. Daniel was a successful tech entrepreneur: handsome and blonde, his fortune made by his success in inventing the latest computer chip that would help revolutionize the computer manufacturing industry. Somewhere in the time of his discovery, he met the beautiful Jaci Elliott, a literary professor at the University of Yale who was obsessed with old fiction. How the two hit it off, I will never know, but I was always told that it was love at first sight for Jaci. After all, who wouldn't love a man with power, good looks, and money?

With Daniel's patent approved for worldwide distribution, he had to choose a home in which to build in his new empire. And, why not choose the up and coming technological capital of the world? Japan. Specifically Tokyo.

So Daniel and Jaci wed before crossing the ocean to start their new life of fortune and fortitude in the country of the rising sun. After some time, they brought into the world a baby girl. The heir to the company. The one to inherit everything Daniel had created. Daniel and Jaci were overjoyed by the newest addition to the Gray family. The trio was admired by many for their beautiful dynamic. They were seemingly perfect. Seemingly.

Daniel had smooth sailing for the first four years of his international enterprise. But then, the investors started to push, the copyrights became questioned, and the demand for answers and more tech became too great. Daniel quickly realized he was a one hit wonder, not able to replicate another world changing idea that would continue his conquests. People began to lose faith and the stress of his failure, while not evident on the outside, began to internally corrupt him. He turned to the bottle, a few drinks of whiskey after work becoming countless bottles cast aside for the maids to clean. He should have known he could not repress the stress for so long before he took it out on the people he cared about most. 

Jaci tried to help out the best she could. She offered solutions, quit her teaching job, and became his full time advocate. But all her efforts to settle Daniel's growing temper were in vain. The first time he yelled at her should have been her sign to get help for him or at the least for herself. Yelling quickly turned into physical abuse. Knowing Daniel was already at his wit's end, news of a domestic violence case would be the end of his company and leave Jaci and her four year old on the streets of Japan with no home and no where to go. So.... she kept her mouth shut. Endured the pain. Endured the suffering. All for love. Love for the man who used to be her husband. Love for her daughter. Love for what once was.

She should have run. She should have grabbed her daughter and what money she could and left, disappearing into the shadows and never to be seen again.

Money changes a man. Liquor changes a man. Power...... Power changes a man.

Two years later, Jaci Gray died of an "accident" but those that were at the penthouse that night know what really happened. Manslaughter. And it would be so hard to prove with the massive covering of the crime scene and the hush money Daniel gave out to keep the staff quiet about it. The NPA investigated Daniel for the incident but when they found no evidence, they couldn't convict him. Daniel was safe and left to continue to run his disaster of a company all the while caring for his six year old daughter who had seen the whole thing.

No one would believe a six year old. She had even tried her best to tell a detective on the case, Yagami Soichiro, what she had seen on that night. But with the lack of evidence, the best lawyer in Tokyo, and no witnesses apart from a child, Daniel's alibi was solid and unshakeable. So he got away with it.