SakuraYuuko19

Sobs of regret wrack my body, tears rain down my face. I didn't intend for this to happen. I knew I was a pillar holding this friendship up, but I weakened. Now, as the roof falls around us, I begin to crumble once again. Why? Why do I support people and then break them unintentionally? Why am I so adept at harming others? Maybe this is why I apologize all the time, the reason I can't get by without apologizing. Because this guilt is tearing at my exposed heart.

Despair swirls around you, a whirlpool of ice-cold loneliness and heart-stopping fear sucking you down. Your eyes cry, "Help me!" while your lips state, "I'm fine." Gashes trail across your wrists, digging into my heart. Crimson flows into the tumultuous current surrounding you, darkening the waters further. I long to reach my hand into the raging waters and pull you out, but others' makeshift life-preservers float, ignored, on top of the torrent. I'm scared. What if I dive in and push you down further? What would I do if you forced me away? ... What if I'm too late? A child, a young boy, sits on the surface with a rope around his

 "Nadia, over here!" Saffron grinned widely as she waved me over to where she sat on the school steps. I hugged my mother through the car window and reminded her about my guitar lessons that afternoon before running up to Saffron, my dyed-black hair whipping around to smack me in the face. "'Morning," I pushed my hair back, sat down next to her, and yawned before taking a good look at Saffron. "Is that a black eye?" My eyes narrowed. "Saffron Nix, did your mom hit you again?" Saffron winced as I touched the spreading bruise. "I'm fine," she insisted. "Mom just had a bit too much to drink again, that's all." I opened my mouth to insist f

I pulled my new prison guard uniform over my head, suppressing a shudder. It's for the mission, it's for the mission, it's for the mission, I thought like a mantra. The symbol of cruelty and misconstrued judgment practically burned my skin. My new employer nodded approvingly from behind his desk. The sunlight shooting through the office window glared off of his glasses, creating a menacing visage. "It fits. Fantastic. I was worried we wouldn't have one your size. I swear, you look like you could be my daughter's age, boy. You can start right away." "Yes, sir," I replied passively as he handed me off to a lower employee to show me the ropes.

"Is Mama gonna be okay, Miss Winry?" five-year-old Nadia tugged at my clothes, tears of worry and fear streaming down her face. I smiled, trying to comfort her. "She'll be fine. Your mother might act a bit differently for a while until she gets used to her automail, but it will be wonderful when she can walk again, right?" She nodded, clutching her panda security blanket in her fist like a best friend's hand and a lifeline. "Until she reaches that point, I just need you to love her and be yourself." Just as Nadia nodded again, thunder exploded and shook the house. Lightning struck the tree by the foundation of the former Elric residence. Na