• I sat behind the thick glass; it was the only thing that separated him from me.
    “So for your birthday—“my dad started to say, but I stopped him.
    “Daddy, you’re in jail. We won’t be able to celebrate my birthday.”
    He shook his head and smiled at me like he was a fox and I was a lost little mouse, “That’s just it Zika! We will spend your birthday together even if I can only escape for that one day.”
    I looked at him for a long time. I looked just like him with his dark, black hair, except mine is longer, and red eyes of the shinigami.
    Most people knew my father as B; that was all. Some even knew him by his full name, Beyond Birthday.
    I watched carefully as my dad reached into the jar of jam next to him and brought his fingers back out to lick them.
    I did the same, but with my jar of Nutella instead.
    “Remember, Zika…” He warned, but I finished his sentence for him.
    “The bottom of your closet under the black coat is off limits because it’s a surprise. I know daddy. I know.” I smiled at him and he smiled back.
    We sat like that, smiling at each other warmly, for awhile.
    My dad was strong and I understood that he wasn’t invincible, but I hadn’t imagined that he would die the way he did.
    We smiled and ate our sugary treats, then daddy’s smile faded and the world seemed to go in slow motion as I watched him fall back off the chair he was seated on.
    Before he was out of my sight I watched as he mouthed “I love you”.
    Time sped back up when I heard the thud of him making contact with the cement floor.
    I shot up from my chair, “Daddy!” I screamed as loud as I could as I pounded the glass.
    “Daddy!”
    I saw two guards run in to help him and watched as one left to call
    9-1-1.
    I felt numb.
    One of the guards walked up to me, “Do you know this man?” He asked.
    I turned and scowled at him, “Yes, I ‘know this man’! Michael Johnston you should’ve guessed! I’m his daughter!”
    The man backed up a little when I’d said his full name, since we’d never met and he didn’t even wear a name tag. That was the power of the shinigami eyes.
    “Come with me.” It sounded more like a question then a command, but I followed him anyway.
    He handed me a jar and when I took a second look at it I realized that it was the jar of jam my dad had been eating when he fell.
    When the ambulance arrived I was loaded into the back with my dad.
    I didn’t say anything, but I knew not to get my hopes up that these people could save him.
    He was dead.
    His name still appeared above his head, but the numbers all read zero and I knew my father would never smile again.
    Even so, I went to the hospital and waited endless hours for those bone heads to finally confirm it.
    I thanked the doctor when he told me and walked home in the dark.
    It was hard to believe that someone like my father, bad or good, could die so easily.
    Sure, he eats strawberry jam all the time and it should be enough an explanation of why he had a heart attack, but it wasn’t.
    He was healthy, despite his eating habits, and I suspected foul play. I wasn’t quite sure what kind of foul play because I’d never known of a way for someone to give someone else a heart attack without begin nearby.
    When I got home that night I went straight to his closet and looked under the coat.
    I picked up the envelope while holding back tears, ‘This was what daddy was going to give me for my birthday…’ I rubbed my eyes with the back of my hand.
    When I opened it up I saw it was a letter. I read it carefully:
    Dear Zika Birthday,
    We at the Whammy House are pleased to inform you that if the time comes we would like you to be the Z in our alphabet.
    Hope to see you some time. Tell your father Hello.
    Sincerely,
    L
    I shot up and ran out the door and to where I knew the Whammy House was.
    The Whammy House was a place for intelligent orphans. The man who started it is known as L and he’s the best detective in the world. He can solve all cases. He was the man who put my dad in jail. I didn’t hate or resent L for that, but I knew he was dead now anyway.
    L was going after Kira when he was killed. The Kira case is the biggest case among detectives right now. This man named Kira kills without being near anyone.
    I darted to the Whammy House and ran to the office.
    “Zika?” The caretaker of the house asked as I burst in.
    “I’ll be Z.”