Chp 33 : I Am Justice?

In certain holiday villas in Beverly Hills,

"What are you reading, Vivian? You seem fascinated by it" The man asked his 24 years old daughter.

"New novel by Edward B. Ephron that released last May. I don't think Americans can really write this, moreover, he is Jews from rumors said." Vivian told him her opinion.

"Another Sci-fi? Well, I like his <Jurassic Park>, <The Matrix>, and <Inception>. I try to get the adaptation of <Inception> from him but he left a message to the publishing company to reject any movie adaptation offer, stubborn guy." He said with a hateful tone.

"He sounds like you dad, maybe you will get along with him." She smiled and her father just glared at her.

She smiled then continue to say, "He released 2 novels this year, first is <A Song of Ice and Fire> that will become a series...."

Her father interjected her, "That's him? I don't know if I should amazed or mad. The American Tolkien they said and all those Brits are losing their mind. I have read it and it is good, more like R-rated LOTR."

Then he realized something and said, "Wait, you said 2 books, what is the other one?"

"It's called <Death Note> dad, mainly it tells us about a book that if you wrote someone's name on it he or she will die, there are also rules about it, here it is the first rule."

Then she showed her dad <Death Note> novel with a pitch-black cover with only white words written "Death Note" in front pages. No synopsis on the back cover, nor author's names.

Then she opened the first page, "A Book by Edward B. Ephron" which appeared at the bottom in small font. The next page is filled with the rules of abstract writing.

"The human whose name is written in this note shall die" She read the first rules aloud.

Then she gave her father the book and he was fascinated by it, more than 100 rules and written in details like Death Note is a real thing.

Then he continued to read it like he has been possessed.

Vivian knew when her father like this, he can't be moved at all even by an earthquake, so she left her father to read it alone and went to the kitchen to make dinner for him.

Few hours passed and he finished read it, to sum up, the plot,

The story begins with a genius teenager whose dad is a fair and just commissioner in a fictional town called Elmore, where the crime was rampant, the officials and police are corrupted, and the mafia controls the city.

His sister lost her legs because car crash by drunk mafia members and they were released with no charges, since then Joshua Turner, the name of the protagonist hated every crime and injustice in this world.

One day, he found Death Note and kill every criminal, corrupted police and politicians in Elmore and the rest of the world. Every of his victim writes the words of "Jäger" in the wall with blood before they died.

So "Jäger" name has been hailed as their Messiah, and Joshua has declared himself as the God in the new world free of crimes and injustice.

"I AM JUSTICE!!" Joshua's words will be one of the unforgettable moments in this novel.

One day the true owner of Death Note come to him, a gentleman with a handsome face and fedora hat named himself as the first son of God, Lucifer.

He then explains to Joshua that he was bored delivering soul to hell in the old way with the other 72 pillars of devils and created a Death Note to simplify their jobs.

But then, he had another idea to let Death Note fall into the human world to make some things interesting.

So after seeing the drastic changes in the human world caused by Joshua, he becomes interested in him and decided to follow him.

Jäger glories don't last long, a detective with codenamed "L" comes to stop the Jäger.

Their thrilling duel and contest of mind fascinated him, and in the last confrontation, Joshua was able to kill "L" by deceiving the devil who also descends to earth and fell in love with a human, its name is Gremory, but Joshua himself was killed by a bullet in heads by his father because of his father's sense of justice after the last message and evidence left by "L".

After reading it, he felt that this is the best novel he has ever read since The Golden Bough. <Death Note> combines religious issues of devils and God, detective mind games like Sherlock Holmes and James Moriarty, and philosophical thinking of crime and justice like Ryūnosuke Akutagawa's novel.

The main character is an anti-hero, sociopath, and narcissistic who thinks killing criminals or bad person is necessary, while his rival acts as a hero but he did this only for solving cases, uncared about people's suffering and hardships by elites and criminals.

While the last surprise, his father who tightly hold his belief in law and rules dared to shoot his own son in the head who he thinks breaking the law and rules made by those elitist.

He stumbles upon a treasure and really wanted to adapt it into films. He hurriedly calls his daughter Vivian to help him got the adaptation rights from the author of this novel.

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'Ding dong'

Vivian opened the front door of the villa, she was stunned and then blushed after saw a good-looking man, a few inches taller than her.

"Hello, can I help you?" Vivian asked.

"Hello nice to meet you, my name is Alphonse Brandt." Al offered his hands to her.

"Nice to meet you too, my name is Abigail Mead." She used her fake names and shook her hands with Al.

Stanley Kubrick made sure to keep his daughters away from the media and kept their names a secret.

"Mead? I'm sorry is this Stanley Kubrick's villa?" He asked for confirmation.

"No, this is not his villa." She quickly denied it, she thought Al was a paparazzi or his father's fan.

"Oh, I must have the wrong villa then, sorry for bothering you." Al turned around and when he was stepping out of the villa, Steven came.

"Al? Why don't you go in?" Steven was confused seeing Al was getting out of the villa.

"Oh, I think we have a wrong address, it's Mead's residence," Al answered his question.

Then Steven look at Vivian and smiled.

"Hello Vivian, long time no see, is Stanley home?" Steven asked with a teasing smile.

Vivian blushed and said, "Long time no see uncle Steven, dad is home today. Although some things made him a bit moody."

Al who was confused interjected them, "Wait, Vivian? I thought your name is Abigail Mead? And dad?" He scratched his head.

"Forgive me, I thought you were his fans or a paparazzi. Uncle Steven said he will come with a rising child star who idolize dad, where is he, by the way, I didn't see him." She said looking behind Steven.

Al rose his hand and said, "Sorry miss Kubrick but I was that kid." he smiled.

"What!? I thought you are uncle Steven's assistant!" She turned to Steven and said, "Uncle Steven, why did you said it was a kid? Are you lying to me?"

Steven smiled then said, "I'm not lying, Al here is still 14, a year ago he still just some brat."

"14!? What are you kids eating these days? Wait, did you mean that you are that Alphonse Brandt who won best original screenplay?" She stared amazed at him.

"Yep, the one and only." Al smiled.

Vivian just shook her head, seemed lost in amazement. Then she said, "Come in, Dad is inside."

Then she said to Al, "I'm sorry Mr. Brandt, our first meeting doesn't seem quite hospitable, my name is Vivian, Vivian Kubrick, its nice to meet you." She smiled and took out her hands.

Al smiled and shook her hands, "I already introduce myself before, but you can call me Al, Abigail." He gave Vivian a warm smile.

Vivian blushed when she saw his smile and his bright amber eyes, 'Calm down Vivian! He's still 14! Oh my God, why am I so embarrassed by this kid?' She snapped out.

She took a breath, hiding her embarrassment, and said, "Well met Al, please don't tease me, call me Vivian or Vi."

After he greeted her, they entered the villa and saw a man and a woman. This was Stanley Kubrick and his wife, Christiane Kubrick.

Al was happy that he met one of his favorite directors. He introduced himself to him and his wife and they took Al and Steven to have dinner with them.

They have a nice warm dinner and some desserts and began talking about filming. Al, Steven, and Stanley Kubrick had a nice talk and Vivian watched them with interest.

Especially when she saw Al, she began to develop an interest in this boy's knowledge about filming.

"Do you know Al, this man in the past shown me some movie scene he shots, but I kinda feel it doesn't right. Then he stopped the scene, looked at me, and asked me what's wrong with it. That made me had cold sweat you know." Spielberg said and Both of them laughed.

"I'm sorry Steven, I want to tease a new director a bit and when I look at your face that day, I wish I could have recorded it." Stanley laughed, then he turned to Al.

"And you kid, what's your name before, oh right young Alphonse. Are you sure you are 14? From all the directors I know, you got the best theoretical knowledge, no one can be par on you. You only lack practical experience. Let me watch your short film when you have finished it."

"Yes Stanley, this kid can be claimed to have a genius mind." Steven patted Al's head. "Oh, by the way, Stanley, how's your new movie preparation going?"

"Great I can say, I have prepared it from 1983, the shooting will begin in 1986. Say, Steven, have you heard <Death Note> novel?"

Al who was drinking water was choked and coughing when Stanley mention it.

"Be careful when you drink Al." Steven advised him, "Yes, amazing book, I heard it made some controversies with some Christian fanatics followers and they still have protested in front of the publishing company to withdraw the book from circulation. I tried to get the adaptation of <Jurassic Park> from him but the publishing company said he rejects all offer and keep his identity confidential."

Vivian then said, "I told dad yesterday that if they meet, I bet they are going to be best friends." Everyone laughed when they heard her, except Al.

Well, technically he didn't know that Steven had contacted The World Publishing Company.

"Wait Steven, when did you contact the publishing company to get the adaptation?" Al asked Steven for confirmation.

"3 years ago Al, I know this kind of author is hard, so I just give up." He regretfully told him.

3 years ago, Al is not yet his Godson and sooner or later he would have to tell the world he is the author named Edward B. Ephron someday.

The reason he didn't tell anyone before was to protect his career as an actor and director in Hollywood. Now he had a lot of people backing him up, it's not wrong to tell them now.

He looked at Steven and coughing a bit, "Steven, I may have hidden you some tiny little secrets."

"Okay Al, what are you hiding again, did you tell Amy about that painting." He asked with a panicked voice.

"Not that, it's a man promise, I kinda forget to tell you that my full name is Alphonse Edward Brandt. My father's name is Jonas Brandt and my mother is Avigail Ephron." He laughed nervously.

"What are you implying Al..... oooh kid, you are one kind of surprising creature I've ever seen." Then Steven laughs loudly with joy.

The other seems confused by this Godfather and Godson duo, but Stanley also realizes what Al meant and stare amazed at Al.

To Be Continued...