Cursed! Cursed! I remain a damned spirit trapped in the damned human world. I'm a detective, see, I've solved thirty of the worlds crimes in the last week and yet no one will know it! I can't communicate with anything in the human world save for the journal I'm writing in now. Even that is only in my hands in spirit, by every other means it's gone. As strange as this is to explain it's true. My journal is here but it's not. Peculiar, eh? I'm a big city New York detective. I was a big city detective. I was born in New York but I've travelled to many other big cities to help other detectives and cops. I talk normally, I don't have that New Jersey accent, just to throw that out there. I'm currently pacing my old room thinking of what I should do next. Oh... um... I was atheist but I just found out there is a Devil of sorts. I met him. I have just, quite literally made a deal with the Devil.

(Author's note: If any of you are feeling awkward right now, it's all good. Just remember, this is fiction. Keep that in mind. This person doesn't exist and never met Satan, Hades, or any other evil lord of death. This is purely fiction and theoretical. Just thought I should mention something about it.)

The Devil said that I had to solve my own murder in order to return to the human world and continue to do the job I love so very dearly. I am Claude, Claude Kohaku Pierrick. Before you ask about my odd name, I'm part French and part Japanese and before you say it, I'm not just crazy smart because I'm half Asian. I got where I am because of hard work and persistence that many other people besides Asians also give, so please go and sod that idea. Yes, that's English terminology, I lived in England for a spell. I go by Claude. I'm pretty handsome if I do say so myself. Unfortunately, I've never really been interested in a woman... or a man. Sorry ladies and gents but I'm in the spirit world any way so... meh. Sorry, looking back at my writing I notice that I'm being scatter-brained. It's hard to write cleanly when one has twelve different cases running through their head. I hate it here. I don't have to deal with people which is great but I also can't deal with my cases which makes it kind of hard on me... I don't know... All I know is I want out.

Do you know what it's like to be a shapeless, massless nothing in the middle of a big bustling world that has people that are mourning your loss? Granted, I'm a bit of a sociopath so I don't really care but it is awkward when they say things like, "It's like he's standing here with us," or, the oh so popular, "We'll join him at some point in time." I am standing here with you I am already here. I have joined you. Curse your eyes not being able to see beyond the material world! There are others like me. They've been trapped longer though and have lost their minds all together. Few humans can see the ghosts of people's souls. For the most part, you only see the crazy ones. The sane ones remain hidden from your sight. The longer you stay in this position the crazier you are, the crazier your actions become, and the more visible you become.

Here's a little side tangent (I say that as if it were new to you but this entire piece has pretty much been one long side tangent.). Imagine, yourself being in my position. Your walking down the street thinking about this and that and you bump into something. You can't see it but you yell out anyway, "Hey! Can't you watch were you're going?"

"No," a voice replies, "but neither can you. That's the only reason I'm not angry at you. Sorry."

"I'm sorry too," you reply.

Now imagine then that you had run into a person, or rather a soul, new to this dimension of the world. A soul a little less reasonable. A soul that was already having a bad day. He/she begins to yell at you. Unless your a smart-ass like me, who doesn't really give a damn about people's feelings, then your going to end up yelling back at the person. For most people, emotions are toxic. You'll then be in a bad mood, you'll bump into some soul at some point, share the bad attitude, then that person and yourself will bump into another person, and so on, and so on. It's like an exponential growth but instead of figures, numbers, or variables it's with emotion. It's a gradual flood of negativity.

I've 'seen' things and seen things that you'd never believe if ever I had told you. I guess the simplest thing I can tell you is, life after death sucks if you're in your late twenties and recently made a deal with, what I can only describe to you as the Devil. I wish English had another word for cheeky, evil bastard who also happens to be the overlord of the afterlife and death but it doesn't. I'll just stick with... Darren... Darren the Death-lord. (Author's note: Darren is just a random name that popped into my head when I wrote this. Chances are, if you are also named Darren, you're probably not a death-lord. Everything Claude's about to say about Darren doesn't apply to you.) Looking back I realized I've talked a lot about my predicament but not a lot about Darren. Darren is... Darren is a... Well he's... He's an evil son of a bitch. Darren is cunning and smart. He makes deals to souls that they will later regret. He's like a shady drug-dealer. He'll talk you into a deal and when you realize the deal is bad, it's too late. You're hooked, you can't back out. The only reason I took his deal was because I know I can do it. I can find my murderer. The question is, can I do it before I forget all the work I've done on my other cases. Darren is going to toy with me through all eternity. My body will grow old before I can actually escape this situation. I'll have to talk to him again to ensure my body won't decompose before I return to it. I'd rather do anything else. Darren is a dick. A prick. An asshole. Call him what you will but he's not nice. I'll see if I can't talk to him. This'll be fun.

(Author's note: Sorry, I know there's a lot of these. If the author's notes take away from the story just comment about it and I can get rid of them. I just know I'm going to get a little heat for this story. I try to avoid talks about religion but this was a good start to a story. Religion is and always has been a touchy topic.)