Legend of Ghouls

I woke up at two in the morning to the sounds of winds blowing on our window. I took a small peak through the blackout curtains. The outside part of the window is partially caked with snow and ice spreading around the corners. Dragon fell asleep to the sounds of raining lo-fi music playing our television of our bedroom. I stepped out of the bedroom quietly to go check our balcony and snow piled up to three inches on the floor and fence top. It’s a blizzard night. When I have trouble sleeping, I would sit next to the window in the living room drinking a glass of blood wine to watch the snow blow in the opposite directions. It’s been over two years since the war. It would probably take few of us a long time to recover from everything that happened. I’ve had to go back to the hospital every once a month for my RC treatments and therapy sessions. In the year of 2022, I relapsed too many times of the entire year. I was in and out of the hospital few times because I struggled to manage on my own. I lost consciousness of myself. I wasn’t thinking clearly when darkness took over my head and body. The darkness of the past felt like demons were taking over me. Dragon had to activate his kagune wings to stop me from killing anyone. Moira stepped into hold me down. Kaye shot me with a tranquilizer. Dragon felt heartbroken to see me in that horrible state. It hurt me so much that I couldn’t see him for a month. I spent sleepless nights in the dark room crying as I held onto my pillow and screamed. I missed out on Aogiri Tree’s November feast of 2022 because I spent the entire month in the ghoul ward at the hospital. I was released on the day before we had our family meeting. I remember our long conversations in the dinning room. “Mrs. Viola Love. We are happy that you are back home. I’m going to fair warn you. If you don’t pull yourself together, then you will lose Dragon permanently. You are damn lucky that I didn’t kill you in front of him. You’ve already spent one month in the ghoul ward away from Dragon temporarily for your actions. You were out of control for months subconsciously. We received test results from Dr. Kimi last month, it indicated that your RC levels were very imbalanced, loss of consciousness, and unknown viruses that could’ve led to permanent illnesses that you could’ve turned into a killer flock. You need to take responsibility for your health, but Dragon will not allow you to manage everything alone for now.” Moira stated clearly. “Do you realized that you could’ve almost killed someone?” Moira asked. “Yes, I am guilty.” I admitted. “Do you still love him with all of your heart?” Moira asked. “Yes.” I answered with tears in my eyes. “Do you want to lose Dragon forever?” Moira asked. “No.” I answered with tears in my eyes. “Do you want to spend the rest of your life with him?” Moira asked. “Yes.” I cried. “Good. What do you have to say about yourself?” Moira asked. “I take full accountability for my actions. I’m not proud of myself. I lost consciousness of myself. I almost caused harm on Dragon, my friends, and family. I’m truly sorry for losing control of myself. I promise I will do better for him and everyone.” I broke down crying in the end of the table as Dragon stood up from his chair and approached to me. He caressed my face as I stood up and he hugged me tight. “I forgive you, honey.” “Viola, I have strong faith in you. You’re a good person. You are a great role model for Dragon. He’s a great role model for you. You have Dragon, Ezra, Vanna, Seika, Hercules, Sexy Bae, Jiggalo, Benji, Kaye, Shae, me and everyone who loves and care about you more than anything else. You’re never alone. We’ve all made mistakes in our lifetime. Were all not proud of choices we made. We learn from them and grow. We are thankful that you are alive. Thank you everyone for coming. All of you are dismissed.” Moira reassured me as she closed her document folder. I will not do it alone. If I refused the help, then I would fall into the dark path again. Dragon and I went through one of the roughest years. We’ve overcome the hardships together. When we entered into 2023, I’ve got accepted a job at the Aogiri Tree Venison Factory for the position at the slaughter department. I needed to find work to help myself get back on my feet. I was nervous on my first day of the job, but it took me a couple of weeks to get used to the new work environment with coworkers. Dragon got hired in the retail department for packaging meat to be shipped to grocery stores. He’s not comfortable with handling guts and blood yet, but I will always respect his decisions. It’s okay if he’s not comfortable with the gory parts. Seika and Hercules work together at the slaughter department. They also need money to take care of their child. We work different shift times in the mornings. Most of us work four tens or eight hours on weekdays. We get paid every week on Fridays before the start of our weekends. “Congratulations, Mrs. Love. Welcome to our Aogiri Tree Reservation owned factory. You will make a great team member.” Supervisor Egypt smiled as she shook my hand and introduced me to everyone in her department. Miza Kusakari is our team lead of the slaughter department and she’s very helpful with guiding me on how bleeding out, sharp equipment safety, evisceration procedures, and machinery works in our facility. I learned in orientation that we are not allowed to use our kagunes as horseplay at the workplace. The only time we need to use our kagunes at work is for emergencies only such as an active shooter, break open exit areas for fire alert, or in all serious cases. If we want meat to take home, we can purchase meat from the shop in the cafeteria with employee discount. We talked about medical, retirement, beneficiaries, bonuses, and insurance plans for ghouls. We discussed about important information about the workplace is a safe haven, equal rights, and respect for all individuals. Certifications for lock out and tag out, maintenance repairs, fire safety, and medical safety. It’s a long eight-hour class, but I learned more about the factory. The bleeding deer hung upside down being gutted for ghouls' food supply and skinned for leather. There are deer breeding farms, and deer processing factory owned by the Aogiri Tree Reservation. Red meat and blood are very important for ghoul communities are growing more in our area. When they first opened Aogiri Tree’s Venison store, jobs opportunities grown in the community. The meat profits are growing and helps to feed ghoul families. The deer growth population has been running for over seven years. Seidou and Banjo work together at the deer farms on the small acres of land. It’s the year of 2024, I received a phone call from the Hollow Guard members that Sigfreed broke the family contract and abandoned his group. We’ve been called for a family meeting in the living room early morning again. “We received unfortunate reports that Sigfreed Cox has disappeared without a trace. He’s got a warrant for his arrest for breaking the chain of command, dishonor, dishonesty, and fraud. Viola, Ezra, Vanna, and Dragon, it’s not going to be easy when I tell you four, but council recommends that you avoid having contact with Cox for safety reasons. I’m very sorry for the loss of family due to his criminal actions. If you have questions or concerns, please call the Aogiri Tree Reservation government office or talk to me and Kaye. I wouldn’t be concerned about his whereabouts. If he’s wondering around the area, contact law enforcement. Enjoy the rest of the day.” Moira informed us wit her head down as I slowly walked to the kitchen to pour myself coffee. I could tell she was not happy to share the news to us. I grabbed myself a cup of coffee and sat by the window to watch heavy snow cover the forest for weeks. I spend the month of January mourning about the person who used to be our brother for ten years. I’ve been in my head filled with anger, grief, and sorrow. When I opened the letter, I found out that he lied to me and my family about everything. All I wanted to do is activate my kagune and destroy s**t to release access rage. The feeling of betrayal hurts like a heart attack. I went into work hung over with tears in my eyes that morning because I had too many glasses of blood wine last night at the bar. Egypt sent me to the medical office and sent me home early. I counted myself lucky that I didn’t hurt myself at work or fired. They wrote it down as a sick day for me without troubles. At least my supervisor is understanding about our situation. I cried my eyes out. I woke up Dragon in the middle of the night. He woke me up to talk to me. “Viola! That is enough! You need to look at me in the eyes and listen to me right now. It’s not your fault. We can’t force people to come back into our lives. We can’t force him from making choices that he created himself. I know it hurts to hear the truth, but he’s not the person who we used to know anymore. He’s gone permanently. I experienced losing someone who used to be family. I know how you feel. You are not alone. You have me and everyone with you. It’s already been three weeks, honey. It’s time to move on, take care of yourself, and focus on both of us. Come here.” Dragon moved me into his arms and hugged me tightly as I cried on his shoulders that I soaked his shirt. “Let it all out. You need to purge much out of you.” I released a lot of my tear on his shoulder as I lean my head on his chest. “Your right. It’s time for me to move on.” I spoke. “Are you still having trouble sleeping?” He asked. “Sort of. I’m sorry for waking you up at a wrong time.” I apologized. “Don’t worry about it. We are not scheduled for work tomorrow. I can’t sleep too. I actually have an idea now both of us are awake.” Dragon said. “What do you think? Are you sure about that?” I asked. “Do you want night snacks and watch television, honey?” Dragon suggested. “I don’t see the problem with it.” I said. “Good! Consider staying up all night as our treat. You need meat chip bites, dip, and laughter, honey.” “I can’t say no.” I smiled as we kissed each other. Dragon grabbed the wooden trey of our goodies and hot beverages. We watched the Boondocks and High School DxD on adult swim together. Both of us decided to stay up late to eat our snacks and laugh our ass off rest of the night together. We spent two hours finishing few more episodes of High School DxD as he sat the trey of our empty dishes on the little table next to us. We were ready to pass out as he changed the channel to calm lo-fi music. I fell asleep on his upper shoulder as he kissed my forehead before he passed out. This is better than sitting by the window alone for weeks. Tomorrow is going to be a new day for us especially if we wake up late in the morning.