Preface: Unfruitful Calm

I wasn't always a vagrant. No, I used to be a soldier. A soldier in a time when our return to the capital was heralded as triumphant and grandiose. A time when simply wearing a uniform and carrying a sword was a sign of pride and discipline. A time when your Commander's commands meant the world, and the men serving next to you were your brothers.

Some could say that they were the glory days of war.

War has changed since then. After Independence, there was no need for soldiers like me. It seemed as if my own government didn't care if we lived or died, not offering us working positions and jobs in exchange for all we did. All we lost. All we sacrificed. It would have been a nice gesture; let the soldiers police the people.

I suppose the government had other plans for us. Maybe it was too risky to have the most elite fighting force in the hemisphere patrolling the streets unchecked. Maybe our conditioning came at a price of sanity.

Pierre broke down in the kitchen and almost slit his wrists a few weeks ago. "Stainless Steel" doesn't necessarily account for blood on the pasta. It's no longer on the floor or the walls or anything anymore, but you can't apply ammonia to your brain.

That's what Jake did. Decided to play the "Inhale Game" with a gallon of bleach. By the time we found him, he was so green that he could have done a self-portrait for the 5 dollar bill. Dante was no better. A proud man, he decided that it would be better to die on his feet than to live on his knees.

I suppose I can consider myself lucky. At least I had her to go back to. Though the dreams of my youth, shattered and smashed on the rocks of reality, had it not been for her, I would have bit the barrel of my shotgun months ago. She was my morning and evening star, the reason I woke up in the morning and the face I saw in my dreams. Holding her in my arms was the sweetest reward this victory offered.

I thought I could be content on my farm. I thought that life would continue to be uneventful, but comfortable.

Unfortunately, Fate had a cruel twist in mind for me. My love was stripped from my life. It all happened on that fateful night; The Night When the Wind Stopped.