Chapter 3: Guilt
She was the core. She was the most vital piece of the machine. She made everything connect together.
And now she was put out of commission.
The machine disassembled, if only temporary. However, it was just enough time for the brave group of youths to make their way to the only exit it had; a small opening, a small rift in a sort of time/space dimension that harbored a very faint, very thin bridge that connected the cursed machine together with the normal world.
It was very faint, but it was enough.
But the core…
The core had finally been put to rest. After all the years of upholding the machine, she was finally put to rest and able to move on to a silent, content sleep, when she had finally, after all that time, been able to come to terms with her own death, and being able to forgive her culprit for forcefully taking her life.
But being the very young girl she was, her mind was fragile, in a shattered, sensitive mind, never having been really mended after what had happened to her all those years ago.
She spent much of her time in the light she deemed safe, far away from the dark shadows that lurked in the corners tucked away in the most hidden folds of her own mind. Whenever they could, they would pounce on her and eat away at her, and she wanted to scream and cry and shout and call for her mother and wanted the horrible pain to end.
She knew she could find her mother in that light. She knew she would be there when she needed her, and she knew that she could count on her mother for support.
-''Sachi-chan…'' A soft as velvet voice whispered from within the light. She wanted to go there, get into the light, get to the source of the voice, just grab onto her mother and hug her and hug her and hide from the shadows and never let go and be there forever, but she knew she couldn't… They would hold her back; they would use her mortal weakness against her.
And the guilt she felt, oh the guilt, for taking countless, innocent souls that were just in the same situation that she had once been… Frightened, confused, completely helpless in their unknown endeavor.
-''It wasn't your fault, Sachi-chan…'' The girl core Sachiko wanted to touch her mother's soft as silk skin and hear her voice forever and ever until the end of days, and she would finally feel safe, untouched and unharmed by the predatory demons of her own darkness.
But how? How could she redeem herself and let go of the guilt that tormented her very mind. All those souls… All the innocent lives she had so carelessly, so selfishly taken, just to satisfy her own murderous demeanor… How could she find forgiveness from anyone for such actions, such vile commitments?
She wanted to be with her mother, just run away from it all, but she was the one responsible for all this despair.
She was the core.
(A/N: Here you go, a little insight into Sachiko's afterlife. I'll see if I can get another chapter up quickly.)