Severed Cord

Chapter 1

Eight days, that's how long it took to give up. Eight days of search parties. Eight days of being in the papers. Eight days of door knocking. Eight days of missing posters. Eight days of grief. Then, they just. Gave up. Everyone. Gave up. Everyone forgot. It was as if she never existed. She was stripped from all forms of documentation, including her birth recording from the local hospital.

She was never held a funeral, as most missing persons would have. She never did receive the smallest amounts of recognition. All except the stories. Stories of how she disappeared. Some were quite basic; She got lost in the dreadful storm or ran away from home. Some were more creative; she was locked in the basement to starve or got locked in the attic and trapped in a chest of old trinkets.

Then there were the more creative ones, these were ones that circulated and were most popular. She was killed they said, her father dragged her into her bedroom and dismembered her body, hiding it under the bed, sealing the room away. Try as they may, but all their crazy stories could not be further from the truth. Not a single of the stories included the detail of her parents constant fighting. Nor did they include her hiding behind a couch, scratching into the floor with her nails. And surely none of them included her being dragged by the ankles, out from under her bed. Shrieking as the monsters from her nightmares dragged her into a place she may never get to leave.

There were very few people who were interested in her disappearance. An investigation once every couple of years. Purely cause it was mandatory for an unclosed case to be put off for another couple of years. The house was sold a mere 4 years after her disappearance. Some unfortunate couple would move in, they would fight pointlessly for a while, then move out again. That's how it went every year. Like clockwork. May 25th the house would be put up for sale, then on September 5th, it would be bought. The owner would move in on September 11th. Then the cycle would continue. Only 19 years later, was the cycle broken.

I have collected many children since then. Some I had taken from abusive situations. Some were lost in a dark forest on a rainy day. Some had run away from home. Nobody cared for the children. For the shadows they left in their wake, the holes in the family portraits, never again to be filled. I very rarely had to use force to get them to come, I had my own methods of transport. On most occasions the children were tucked loosely into bed, I would pick them up in their blanket and carry them over my shoulder, as a baker may do with a bag of flour.

I would then cross the threshold and walk into the mirror realm. I would place the children onto the small metal cots I had. Spaced out far enough, that no child could ever find another. That was the way it had to stay. If the child was isolated, it would become impossible for them to be hurt. Some would say my practices were cruel. But they are the same people who leave their children to fend for themselves as they lay passed out on the couch in the middle of a twelfth bottle of whiskey.

If I am to be named a monster and banished from their realm. Then whatever is the reason for these beings to be praised, and blessed with children. I only take from those who deserve to be stolen from. Those who leave a child to push themselves on a swing whilst they go to smoke for another hour. Those who abandon their children for days on end, just so that they can have another round of drinks or be taken home by another stranger.

I do not take those who do not wish to be taken. Although in the beginning they may fight, or try to run or even escape. All of the children give in eventually. They know once they choose to come, they may never return to their realm. I make sure of it. But of course, if I am to be able to continue to save more children. I too need to feed. Not very often though.

I'm not like the humans. I am a creature from years of old. Many moons have I spent on this earth. Feeding. I have watched mankind destroy themselves over and over again. I have seen the most gruesome of wars. As well as the most beautiful of sunrises. I have watched the thousands of children, in their final moments. Never once has any of mankind stopped to watch a sunset. Never once have they seen a flower bloom. Nor have they ever witnessed a long shaky blade draw a long red line across the small neck of a child. Though I watched many. Far. Too many.

Though I can not save every child from the troubles of life. I can save some. It may never be enough to stop mankind from creating more pain. Though it will eternally be enough for the children I do save. May I be doomed to watch mankind destroy itself over and over again. But may these children be blessed to never again endure any forms of pain. These children are no longer suffering. Yes, it may be at the cost of them ever again being freed, but all good comes at a price.

The price of their sorrowless immortality is nothing more than their free will. A simple price, for a simple gift. May they be ever free to roam the endless lands of the mirror realm. Though it may be nothing more than a personalised looping of the same surroundings, it will forever be better than the hardships offered by mankind. It was selfish really. That a single boy attempted to destroy that gift. That is the tale. I am here to tell.

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1012 words

this is the usual word length of my chapters, though it will still vary depending on the plotline.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and hopefully, I can continue to make more.

(I will be trying to keep the header art consistent through out the story)

-Ikigai