Bird of Paradise

Chapter One: The Worst of War:

War is Ugly. There is no nicer way to put it. War is just a hideous thing to see or hear about. There is a war in this particular story. However, this isn’t exactly a war story. Well… it’s kind of a love story, but not quite. Okay, let’s start over.

War is an ugly thing, that much is true. Human beings die on both sides and someone profits off of it. What does that have to do with this story? You see, the smaller Greek islands are in the middle of a civil war. The world dubs it as the Row Flower War. Why is it called as such? There is an reason behind that, somewhere. It would be better to give a better timeline of what’s going on here in the side story. Take a deep breath and try to keep up, okay?

The origins of this war are confusing enough as it is. Many stories surround the very start of it. The most common one goes like this: some goof accidentally lit off some fireworks in the sky and freaked out a base nearby. Plain and simple as that. Others try to put their own spin on it, but that’s really what happened. There’s a kind of funny story for it.

The islands were celebrating their independence from mainland Greece that occurred about ten years ago. It’s a great festive time, right? Everyone was partying in the streets like crazy. So far in the past ten years, things had been quite peaceful and kind of boring. This one day of the year was the only chance to go crazy. Sometimes, the people on the islands can take it too far.

This is where things get a little confusing.

Nobody knows exactly where or how the firecracker hit. Some say it hit a child, killing them instantly. Some believe that it was a group of children that caused them to be seriously injured. A couple said that it was an elderly person. A few even believe that an important building got hit and destroyed. Either way, it hit something or someone and all war broke out. It all sounds like a dumb reason, but it caused war that would drag on for close to twenty years.

This mess gets crazier as this story goes along. It started out with two islands fighting each other and then more and more got involved. Soon, nineteen of the twenty Greek islands were at war with each other. They don’t even know who started all of it. The two sides fighting each other are just fighting for the Hell of it. Most of the people want this war to end and go back to those peaceful times. As of right now, that’s more like a game of chicken of who’s going to make the first move for peace. The talks lead to nowhere each day. The politicians are useless and the headaches just get worse each day.

Let’s all pause for a breath. Now that that’s out of the way, here is the actual story.

Within the chaotic warring Greek islands sits one sane, laid-back island in the middle of the storm. This is the lovely paradise known as Creila. All five-hundred people on this island try to make sense of this hectic mess around them as they get on with their daily routines. Despite the roaring storm on all sides of them, they refuse to let it in and get them down. They believe that life is too short to fight over something trivial like a firework going off in the wrong direction. The island itself is staying on the neutral side of things. Its government all made unanimous votes to stay out of the war as long as they could hold off. Nobody on Creila wanted to get mixed up in the Row Flower war to begin with. The elderly saw too much blood loss and death in the wars before. The youth were sick of hearing about war from the outside world. No matter how many times the other islands tried, Creila refuses to pick a side. Every Sunday, anti-war protests fill downtown around three in the afternoon. Housewives and college students gather at the activity center, make signs, and march around chanting for peace in hopes to drive away any war that tries to come their way.

However, the government is allowing injured, dying, and AWOL soldiers to stay on the island’s shores as a way of refuge. Everyone knows about it, but they choose not to say a word. After all, Creila isn’t involved in this pointless war and they have accepted strangers for years. As long as they stay neutral, both sides are willing to turn a blind eye of how many soldiers end up there. Some of the native citizens do not agree with this arrangement and want all of the soldiers to leave. They won’t open their homes to them or even give them food. A couple of old ladies even spit on them. Still, incidents like those are few and far in between. Meanwhile, everyone carries on with life on this island. They try to ignore updates about the Row Flower War over the radios, internet, TVs, and newspapers. The people of Creila have far more important things to worry about than some senseless war going on into its fifth year.

So, what does this Row Flower War and Creila have to do with this story repeatedly mentioned so far. One is the backdrop and the other is kind of a reoccurring theme. What is this story about anyway? For starters, it’s about a girl. Earlier mentioned, this story is kind of a love story in a sense. However, it’s not as simple as that. There are a few elements to knock you off your guard and send you in a spin, trying to keep your balance.

Okay, I’ll shut up and get to the story now.

Island of Creila, 2108, year five of the Row Flower War…