The Spring Wind

Prologue

"Most humans? They don't truly live. You can exist, you can talk, you can move; but, it's only when you realize the true meaning of life and death that you can survive."- Unknown

  " There are things in this world you cannot oppose, no matter how hard you try."

- Hiroko Sanji

I wake up on the ground, to a life that shouldn't be mine. The frigid, icy, ground, that shouldn't be freezing in the natural sunshine of summertime, that shouldn't be producing large splinters on every part of my body when I so much as twitch, purely out of genuine reflex when I detect a sound, proof of the knife-sharp life I'd been living on. 

Of course, that wasn't the only cause for concern. The hole in the roof constantly wakes me up. An unfixable gap, smack-dab in the center of our wretched, makeshift...what do I call it? A house? A cottage? A tragically uncomfortable hut that looks like it's been run over by a tornado? Yeah, that's more comparable. I attempt to snuggle in the thin, raggedy, threadbare sheets, of which have also fallen onto the floor, desperately trying to coax some meager amount of heat out of the thing that doesn't look anything remotely like a blanket. No such luck. 

When I belatedly acknowledge that no matter what, I'm not going to become warm anytime soon, a small child marches inside. His bright hazel eyes remain sparkling, his face beaming, his jounce energetic. This 5-year old boy named Nagi, who has endured so much, who refuses to eat more than needed, who continues being felicitous, smiles at me, like a ray of sunlight. I smile a little, allowing my lips to curve up, just slightly. It's at that moment when Kuriko and Ara enter the room. Their faces are rather different than Nagi's- more mature, more knowing what life was like, but, ultimately, still smiling. Kuriko is offering a handful of berries, and Ara is providing a few more. The berries are a deep crimson, and they resemble grapes.

"Grapes?" I question, and I receive a nod in response. After selecting a large, pearly one, I give it a taste, and, instead of the sweet taste of nectar, the flavor of metal fills my mouth. Kuriko and Ara, faces betraying their motionless bodies, unintentionally drop the berries, which roll onto the floor. I panic, though I'm not sure what for. They were just grapes, weren't they? My heart told me that I was wrong. As my eyes eventually settle on the berries, I glance up to discover the 3 children are gone. Yet, when I stare downwards again, I don't see berries, or grapes, or fruit. I see the splatter of blood. It's then when I wake up sweating and screaming. I'm in the identical beaten up hut, and, I remember. I remember why they're gone. I understand, that the only thing I want in this terrible predicament, are the 3 children who I cared for so greatly.

They're not coming back, Sayaka, Seilah whispered, like the hushed wailing of souls long gone. The cries of spirits with regrets and sins, the people who wanted to start over, to make things right, before they left the world.

"I get it, okay! I know! So just SHUT UP!" I yelled, clutching my head, digging my nails into my scalp, sobbing. "I know. I know that they're gone." I buried my head in my hands, my tears streaming down my gritty skin, like raindrops, the only things in the world that could express how pure sorrow is when you realize how important life, and death is. In response, I whispered an utterance that could explain my entire life, start to end.

" I just want them back."