At the top of a construction site, I lay beaten, with a few bullet wounds in my stomach. People say your life flashes before your eyes when you're on the verge of death, but the only thing running through my mind was the faces of the corpses beside me. Comrades and enemies alike—lives snuffed out in a matter of minutes, the smell of the blood and the pain of my wounds mixed together and made me realize that there were still some things I regret— some things that needed to be done before my time ran out.
I grew up without parents, raised by my uncle and his wife—at least until they got tired of me and sent me to military training. I wasn't the most physically gifted or the smartest guy, and when the training ended, my uncle and his family wanted nothing to do with me. I was old enough to fend for myself, they said.
Things happened. I tried to find decent work, but nothing ever worked out. Without anywhere to stay— a place to call home. My life wasn't worth looking back on except for the person that changed my entire world, the one person who took me in under their wings .
Seven years ago, on a cold winter night, I found myself sitting on the side of the road, eating a gas station meal. Suddenly, a middle-aged man approached me. He was dressed elegantly, and his presence radiated a certain warmth—the kind of warmth that makes you want to trust someone.
"What's your name, son?" the man asked.
"Atlas, sir," I replied.
"Need a place to stay, Atlas?"
As he reached out his hand, I instinctively grabbed it and stood up from the sidewalk.
A few minutes later, a truck with pitch-black tinted windows pulled up. Inside, two well-dressed men sat in the front seats.
"Mister Zephyr, who is this stray?" one of the men asked.
"Relax. He's a friend," Zephyr replied.
"Uh, sir, why are you helping me?" I asked.
"I've been watching you trying to get through life the right way—you remind me a lot of myself when I was your age, son," he paused and we locked eyes. " I know you've been through hardship, but I promise from this day forth you can be sure that there is someone in this cruel world that cares for you," said Mister Zephyr, a proud smile on his face.
In that exact moment I felt as if a huge weight had been lifted , and all those cold moments of my life were getting covered by a comforting warmth. I let out a deep sigh of relief and smiled back at him.