Good Intentions
She has dreams sometimes where taking the girl from the well was enough. Dreams in which Ryuji is alive and her father is alive because she did the right thing, she did enough.
Sometimes she finds herself in the well, arms around a girl whose eyes are nothing but tears. In those dreams she asks. She asks:
"Why wasn't it enough? Why didn't you stop? I tried to help you, Sadako-chan. I wanted you to be happy."
And the dead girl shakes her head, long hair clinging to her face, held down by stagnant water. Sadako likes to have secrets. They are all she has ever known.
But still, Reiko asks. She holds the shivering girl, strokes her hair, comforts her. She asks, again and again and Sadako never answers.
But she knows that eventually the dream-Sadako will let her secret go. Reiko will feel a soft breath against her skin and she will know the truth. She won't sleep any easier once she knows, but it might make the days go by faster. She'll know why the curse stayed when the woman in the well was freed.
Why didn't Sadako rest?
One night the girl in the well will look at her with shining eyes and tell Reiko what she did wrong.
Reiko knows exactly what she did wrong. One day Sadako will tell her what she already knows. One day Sadako will say:
"You didn't do it for me. You did it for Yoichi."
And Reiko will weep.