chapter 29

Everly There are no winners in war. Either way, somebody loses. Even the winners lose; they lose friends, family, humanity, and themselves. We may have won the battle, but no one truly wins the war because no one walks away the same after witnessing such carnage, such loss, and it always ends in grief. Grief shows you how valuable life is, but also how cruel; how precious life is, but also how short; the darkness of loss and how torturous it can be when you lose someone you can't imagine living without. Yet, somehow you do. Somehow, you're still breathing, even when the pain of grief is so intense you believe it will kill you—sometimes wishing it would, just so you don't have to know the pain of losing them. Nothing will kill your soul more than losing a loved one. Nothing will break you down more than realizing you will never hold them again, never hear their voices, never see them. Standing in this hall with hundreds of faces staring back at us, you can see their grief as if they wea