Hospice of the valley.

Chapter One.

Dedicated to my dog who was put down, I'm so sorry Sammy, I will always love you. I will never forget about you because every time I think of you I fall into an emotional pit of tears that I will never swim out of. I'm so sorry, I'm so disgusting.

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Thou's hand, the good lord from the holy heavens gripped my pale body, and the cool draft of wind swept beneath my feet. Shall I fall? If this is indeed my moment to descend, I shall yield, for what purpose remains in this world of sorrowful souls?

The hospital, a place where I should have offered peace to many more, yet I failed in my duty as a nurse and as a granddaughter. How dare I kill so many, I am indeed a wretched human, I am everything my mother told me I was.

"My child, my sweet poor child. I am not here to let you suffer but I am indeed here to give you solace for your misdeeds." Our god spoke with a loud voice, a loud soothing voice that would make anyone tumble into a misguided sleep. Our lord, the one who everyone prays for, the one who can easily end someone's life if he wanted. "Beyond the hills of the Mabori Valley lies the town of Utsurobashi, there exists a place where only the ones nearing the brink of death live. I want you to go there Ayame Yamazaki, I want you to pour reality into the lamps of this dark village."

"How my dear lord! How can I, an erroneous soul, bring good to a village of darkness?!" My voice trembled as I yelled at the holy figure whose large hand held my waist. One wrong move and my spine could be snapped in half. Shall I follow the orders of our god?

"You are a child of me, of your holy lord and saviour, I believe you are a child of light, of pure goodness. If you're unable to fulfil this order of mine I shall let you fall out of my palm and crash through the earth to the Nether World, letting all your organs burn and be fed to the creatures of my realms. My brother is waiting patiently for more angels to fall every day. Don't disappoint me, Ayame Yamazaki." He commanded me. The sound of him will break the borders of reality someday, everyone hopes that a day like that will come soon, an end to this cruel existence of being toys for the gracious gods. I must follow him so our land doesn't descend into chaos.

No longer do I dare question the lord, for the fear of reprisal grips my very soul. Despite my inherent greed for my life, I will spend every last second of it on him. I love the lord and shall let him take over my body however he likes.

* * *

"Ya... Yam... Yam Yam!" I wake to the sweet sound of the lady I nurse calling me, Haruko Takahashi. "Were you daydreaming again?" I glance at her unaware of what I was doing for a split second. My breath fogging up the glass of the window I sat in front of.

"I'm so sorry, Miss Takahashi." I get up swiftly and look at her. "I didn't mean to, I'm so very sorr-."

She cuts me off. "It's alright Yam Yam, after all. My room does hold the most lovely view in the hospice, in the whole town in fact, you can never go a day without forgetting about it. You can come here anytime to sleep." Takahashi laughs, sometimes you forget she even has barely a few months left to live. "After all, you do your best to take care of everyone here." Her beautiful blue eyes stare at me, her wrinkles fold as the skin around her mouth turns into that of an angel smiling.

The red rose bushes that surround the outside of the window as well as the lake that sits right down in the centre of the valley in fact does truly make it the prettiest spot I've ever seen. You can see the garden the hospice holds to the left as well as the forest behind it. I'm sure many people have died in that garden. Maybe that is why every person who has seen this view has treasured it. The souls of the purest of pure haunt it.

I smile at Miss Takahashi, my orange eyes gleaming with the same brightness the sun holds. "You need to stop being so kind to me, I'm only just a nurse."