"You look pretty, my dear. You made me think of your mother. You're as simple and elegant as she is," her father remarked, patting her long black hair. She looked at the mirror and stared at her white lacy dress that made her look so pristine.
"Thanks," she timidly replied.
"What's wrong?" he asked her with concern, seeing a pout on her lips.
"Do you really need to do this, father? Do you really want to marry her?"
"Haven't we talked about this, Sadako? Please, just give her a chance. You'll love her once you get to know her. I promise you," assured her father and kissed her in the forehead.
"Alright," she just said, putting her head on the loving shoulder of her father and took a look on her dreamy and well-lit room before she closed her eyes.
And she awoke. Not in her lovely room but in a wet, damp, mossy and dark well twelve feet under the ground. When she looked up, a bleak and grayish sky greeted her. It seemed to crush her and her very existence. She loved the feeling though. She wanted to die now. But death is unkind to her. And time keeps on tormenting her. It seems that her tears are useless even though she cried all of her pain and despair.
"How are you doing there, Sadako?" somebody asked. She hates herself for hearing that voice even though she is far beneath the ground.
What is it to you? She wanted to shot back. But all she can do is clench her fist and bury her fingers on the dusty ground with all her wrath and utter, "Mother." Tears stream down her eyes.
"Oh! So you're still alive then? What a shame! It would be better if you just die there so I could get all of your wealth. I can't wait," her stepmother said. She was about to walk away from the well when she heard Sadako say in a guttural voice:
"I swear…I'm not going to die until I get back to you and all of your kind."
"Did you say something?" she asked, hiding her fear.
Baffled for she did not say a single word, Sadako replied, "Nothing, mother."
"Very well," said her stepmother and dropped her cup of tea on the well which hit her already broken arm. When Sadako first saw her she already knew that this woman would do no good to them. She is nothing like her mother. Her mother would never wear a revealing red dress. Her mother would never hug her father like some slithery snake. Her mother would never look at her with disgust in her eyes. And her mother would never kill her father and drop her in this sickening well.
Then suddenly, she heard splashes of water above. When she looked up, she saw men filling the well up. The water rises up to her shoulders. She tried to stand but failed due to her fractured leg.
"Mother, please stop," she said, spitting water going inside her mouth. She tried to hold on the walls as she stood, but it was slippery. Her better foot stepped on a shard of the broken cup, causing it to bleed.
"Why did you stop? Continue or I'll make all of you jobless," her stepmother commanded. These men knew Sadako since she was little and liked her for being kind in spite of being wealthy, but that cannot match their fear of her stepmother. They continue to fill the well up until they saw the girl drown to death. When she made sure that she's already dead, her stepmother stopped them. Then she heard a scream that sounded like Sadako which made her look back to the well.
"D-did you hear that?" she stuttered.
"Hear what, ma'am?" one of the man asked.
"Nothing, now get the body and throw it away," she ordered. The men pulled up the body and laid it on the ground. Its face looked twisted and distorted. Its eyes opened and stared at her. She screamed and ran like a madwoman until she got home. She went straight to her room. She sat on the bed to rest and looked at the painting of a well in the wall. All of a sudden, the well began to spill water and a figure went out of it. It crawled until it was out of the painting and went to her. When it looked up, she saw the twisted and distorted face of Sadako.