Coding And Corruption
Chapter 18
Truth
I woke up laying on a hard surface. Upon closer inspection, I realized that I was laying on the floor. But it wasn't the soft carpeted floor of my bedroom. This floor was hard, and pitch black. Unsteadily, I pulled myself up into a sitting position. Looking around, I realized that I was somewhere completely unfamiliar to me. Everything was dark, black. I couldn't see a thing. The place I was in was so dark, that I couldn't even see myself when I looked down. "Hello", I called out, hoping someone would hear me.
In response to my cry, a small white orb of light suddenly lit up in front of me, at eye level. I looked at it, fascinated. I had never seen anything like it before. What was it? Was it some sort of spirit? I tried reaching out, in the hopes of touching it. But as soon as I did, it drew back from me a few inches. I felt this strong impulse to follow it, as if it was beckoning to me, calling me. Carefully, I stood up, and walked towards the source of light. The closer I came to it, the more it would back away from me. I realized that this was its way of leading me. To wear, I wasn't sure. Perhaps it was leading me to my own death? Or maybe even a fate worse than death? I had no real way of knowing. But it wasn't like I had any other choice but to follow it. I was obviously a long way away from home, and I didn't know how to get back on my own. This ,unfortunately, was my only option.
Nevertheless, I was confused. What had I been doing before this happened? It was all a blur now. I remember killing Mida, And I guess I must have gone home afterwards. But her death was the last clear memory my mind could conjure up. Then what? Had killing her actually sent me into so much shock that I fell unconscious? Maybe, I even got into a car accident, wrecking my car, and putting myself in the hospital in the process. Perhaps that's where I was now. In the hospital, completely comatose, and now I was in some sort of dream state. It didn't sound impossible.
I walked on in silence for a good few minutes, simply following the orb. Until, suddenly, it stopped. It projected a soft circle of white light onto the ground. I was confused. What did this mean? " Welcome, Sakura. Please, step onto the circle", A soft, smooth, feminine voice said. I jumped in surprise, my heart wanting to fly out of my chest. I spun around, quickly, trying to locate the source of the voice. "Where are you?! Show yourself!" "Please, Sakura. All will be explained in due time. Please, step onto the circle, as I've instructed you to do previously", she said, in a calm, collected voice. Seeing as I had no other options, I did as instructed.
All of a sudden, I felt a tingling sensation spread over me. "What's going on? Who are you?" "Who I am is not important. I'm just here to get you to understand a few things. We're going to look at some of You're memories together." Suddenly, I found myself standing in a very familiar classroom. "Sakura, can I speak to you in private right now?" Holy shit, it was the memory of the first after school session with Baldi I had ever had. That one fateful day in September. Hard to believe it had been that many months ago. Only this time, I got to see the memory from a third person perspective. As if I had discovered my self splitting capabilities much earlier on than I actually did.
I watched on, in discussed,as Baldi went on talking to me about my performance in his classroom. All the way up to when he actually put his hands on me for the first time, kissing me passionately, desperately. I glared at the memory with all the venom and animosity I possessed. "You really hate him, don't you?", The Voice asked. "What was your first clue?", I curtly responded. "Has it ever occurred to you, that perhaps he's not The most evil thing this world has to offer?" "What are you talking about?" "I'm just saying, my dear. That if you think Baldi Baldimore is as evil as this worlds people can get, then you are very naïve., indeed." "Are you working for him, or something?", I asked, overly paranoid,
an accusing tone in my voice." She chuckled, clearly amused by this whole situation. "Oh no my dear, you misunderstand me entirely. I have absolutely no connection to Mr. Baldimore, whatsoever. I am merely speaking to you now to warn you about what could happen in the future if you're not careful with how you act now. Based on what just happened today, you're not off to a very good start."
"You know about that?" "Dearest, I know everything that goes on. I am one of the overseers, after all. That is one of my abilities. Oh oh but I've said too much already. Wouldn't want to confuse your little brain, now would I?" I was irritated, Because she had basically just insulted my intelligence. But more than that, I was confused, and curious. What did she mean, overseer? Abilities? "Oh, right, you don't know what you are yet", she said, as if she could read my mind. "Well, darling. Sit back, get comfortable, because this is going to be one interesting explanation."As she talked, more memories started to play out in front of me. Specifically memories of past sessions.
"You, My dear, are now part of an extremely rare sub species of human, known as a life alter. These certain people have wonderous abilities, That extend past your wildest dreams. The abilities they can have are numerous. In fact, they tend to discover more as they age and mature. Different types of abilities they can have very. Most of the factors determining what abilities they end up with, have to do with the lives they lead, and the personalities they have. Most life alters are born, as offspring to other life alters that conceive them. That's how we, as a sub species have managed all these hundreds of years without dying out. But in special cases, life alters can be made. That's how you became one, my dear Sakura. If a pre-existing life alter does, certain things of the, sexual nature with someone who isn't already a life alter A certain amount of times. That life alters DNA can act as a conduit. Very effectively turning the other person into one, too. That's how you were made into one.."
I was shocked, did she mean what I thought she meant. "Wait, do you mean to tell me that Baldi is? ""A life alter? I'm glad you figured it out, my dear. Yes, indeed he is',She Replied. "He's been one of us all his life, and now, because he's done things of the intimate nature with you, dozens of times. He has since turned you into one of us." "Wait, does that mean he knows I am one?" "No, not necessarily. Not all life alters know about the process of turning someone else into one. In fact there are more of us that don't know then those of us that do. I happened to know that he is not of any particularly high rank of life altar. He's just an average one, most certainly not an overseer like that of myself. Most common life alters are not told alot of the information I am telling you. However, I have been given expressed permission to divulge this information to you,because, we can sense a great deal of power coming from you. We, meaning myself and the other overseers. I was sent by the head overseer. The oldest life alter himself, to warn you about the danger you pose.
"Exactly what danger could I possibly pose? I'm just a high school girl, trying to deal with the every day life struggle of keeping my grades up, getting my homework in on time, trying to make a few friends here and there, and oh, yeah. Dealing with a creepy obsessive stocker who's on my ass 24 seven, who threatens to make my life a living hell if I don't comply with his demands. " "Ah, yes, But it is the anger you feel towards that particular person. That's where the danger lays. It's caused you to do very rash, and impulsive things in the past." As an example, she pulled up the memory of me shattering all the lightbulbs in the classroom. "If left unchecked, this impulsive decision making will only get worse." As another example, she showed me the memory of myself killingMida Rana. "That bitch deserved to die. She was nothing but a lecherous pedophile." "That maybe so, but what has me concerned, Was your justification for killing her. In your mind, you blamed Baldi for her death." "No I didn't! That was all me! At least, the actual act of murdering her was. But if he hadn't tainted me like that, I would never have had to resort to such drastic measures to get what I wanted in the first place! I only did this, all of this", I put my hands up, swinging them around me in a circle, gesturing to all of the memories that were playing before us at a rapid speed. As if my memories themselves were channels on a television screen, and someone had the remote, and was channel surfing.
"The whole reason any of this ever happened, was, was." "See? You can't even finish your own sentence. You know, deep down, that the only reason any of this happened, the only reason you teamed up with that girl,Ayano, in the first place, was because you felt so powerless, so scared, so alone, and so angry. You wanted to take the power back, didn't you, Sakura? You were so mad at him, you wanted to show him in any small way, that you were still on top of the world, still in control. But even though you say you take full responsibility forMida's death. Deep down, you blame him for it. Instead of taking true responsibility for your actions, like an adult. You childishly place the blame on to him. Now, you think killing him is the only way out." Suddenly, it all came back to me. The message I had almost sent to Ayano, asking her to get rid of Baldi for me. The message I had never actually gotten to send, because I fainted. Now I realized, that me fainting was this woman's way of bringing me here, so she could warn me about, what? It's still wasn't clear to me. "OK, maybe you're right, maybe I did want to feel power. Please, just tell me what you need to tell me. So I can go home." "My warning is this. As much as you may hate him, as much as you may despise the very ground he walks on. Keep Baldi Baldimore alive, because although you may hate him now, you will need him in the future!"
"What? What do you mean?! How will I need him?" "I can't say anymore. I'm not allowed to divulge those secrets. I was given instructions to simply warn you about the dangers of killing him. I was only told to tell you to keep him alive. Please, promise me you will not have him killed! You can hate him all you want. But for the greater good of the future, promise me you'll keep him alive!" I sighed, Closing my eyes, and scrunching my eyelids together in contemplation. I really wanted to be free. I wanted this nightmare of a hell hole I had been living in for the past few months to be over with, and just when I thought I would get that opportunity. A mystical voice tells me I have to keep him alive for the greater good of the future? What kind of bullshit was that? "Why should I? I don't OU anything! You've never done anything for me! In fact, if you knew all this was happening, why didn't you try to do something?! Why didn't you try and help me, if you're some grand overseer?!
"I am not allowed to intervene unless I am given express permission to do so, and I was not. I was only given permission to warn you." "I still don't see why I should have to sacrifice my freedom, my happiness, my chance at ever feeling sane, normal, whole againfor, what? Something you're not even allowed to tell me about?! That's bullshit!" "Stop being such a childish little fool! You have no idea the lives that are at stake right now! Do you not care, do you not have even the slightest ounce of compassion for those around you, left inside of that cold little heart of yours? What about your brother, your parents? Do you not care about them, and their future?" "Of course I do, but what do they have to do with?" "Then keep Baldi Baldimore alive! If you don't, you will regret it! Think about it, long and hard!" That was all she had to say, suddenly, a bright light in golfed me, and I woke up, in my room, once again.
I was on the floor, apparently, I had been laying there for a long time. My body hurt when even trying to move. I noticed that I was still wearing my school uniform, which had gotten quite wrinkled. But I didn't care. Looking up, I saw my phone, laying on the floor from where I had dropped it when I fainted. Reaching out, I got hold of it, pulling it towards me. I checked the time, wondering how long I had been out. Holy shit! It was 7:45 AM, and it was Friday, meaning that I had been out the whole night. My parents must be worried sick about me, if I didn't even wake up for dinner. But I didn't have time to worry about that now. If I didn't hurry up, I would be late for school. "Sakura, sweetie, Are you up yet?" "Yeah, mom, I'm up, I'm just getting dressed", I lied. Finally standing up, and trying my best to ignore the pain in my body. I tried to straighten out my school uniform as best I could. After a few minutes, I got it looking well enough. But I could tell it was going to need a good washing and ironing. Luckily it was Friday, I could take care of that over the weekend.
"There you are, sweetie", Mom said as I walked downstairs, bag in hand, ready to go. "I made you two breakfast burritos that you can eat on the way. I was so worried. You didn't come downstairs for dinner last night, and when I came up to check on you, you were dead asleep. Like, no joke. I tried to wake you up, and everything. You just would not wake up for anything. Are you all right, darling? Are you under a lot of stress from school? Should I have a meeting with your teachers and." "No, No, I'm fine, mom. I guess I was just a little tired last night", I lied. "Well, All right, honey. But just so you know, you can always tell me about anything that's going on in your life. I know your father and I have been working a lot more recently. But that doesn't mean we still won't make time for you, And your brother, when he comes home." Mom wrapped her slender arms around me, squeezing me tightly. I wanted so badly to tell her what was going on. Both Steven and I had always had a really good relationship with our parents, and we always thought we could trust them with anything. But I just knew I couldn't, I couldn't risk bringing her into this