Lyra laid on her bed, kicking her feet in the air as she read the horror story she'd borrowed from the time library. She didn't know why she bothered. None of her recent reads had actually been scary - in fact, they were downright predictable. With a yawn, she flipped to the back of the book and found her suspicion confirmed - the killer wasn't the creepy, shy boy, who was clearly the red herring, but the star player of the football team. Could the author have been more obvious? 

She threw the book aside and rolled to her feet, stretching out her legs. Though it was barely 6:00 PM, she was already wearing her nightgown - it wasn't like she was gonna leave her prison and sanctuary either way. Even her brothers had stopped teasing her about her strange behavior months ago - apparently, they preferred to focus on her latest insecurities. Like the romance novel she dared borrow from the library a few weeks ago.

Lyra sighed, throwing herself onto her desk chair. She'd finished her homework within an hour of returning home - it had been super easy, as usual. Unfortunately, she didn't have anything fun to look forward to afterward. Even her lousy book had been worthless.

"Hey, Lyra!" called Jason, knocking on her door. "You dropped one of your library books outside earlier. Lucky for you, mom and dad didn't see it. They're still bitter about the one they had to pay for after you drenched it in the tub.

"Just leave it!" yelled Lyra irritably, cheeks blazing. Princesses were [i]not[/i] supposed to be made fun of like this!

After listening to Jason's retreating footsteps, Lyra tiptoed to the door and cracked it open. She didn't recognize the little black book she found lying on the floor, but she scooped it up anyway. It was entitled 'Death Note'. Maybe it was overdue?

The mystery deepened when Lyra flipped through the pages and found them all blank. Was this just some pseudo-creepy notebook? Just before she could throw it aside, she glimpsed the text written on the inside of the cover.

The Death Note... was a tool to murder people? 

Lyra snorted, shaking her head. As if anyone would fall for such a stupid prank! On a whim, she wrote the name of the boy who rejected her from the music club on the first page. It was all too easy to picture his ugly face! When she returned to school the next day and found that jerk alive and well, the Death Note's alleged power would be debunked. Just another idiot's dull attempt at horror! 

She threw herself back onto her bed, willing herself to fall asleep. Within seconds, the Death Note was all but forgotten.