This woman saw herself beginning life in the southern region of Spain as a little boy. Before the age of 7 he was happy and carefree, seeing himself running through the meadows, picking flowers and chasing butterflies. All that changes in a single day when he was 7 years old.
Soldiers dressed in black came through his village, destroying everything and killing everyone, shouting in an unfamiliar language. His mother, father and sister were killed during the attack but at the urging of his mother he hid from the soldiers. From his hiding place he could see smoke as the buildings and bodies were being burned. He was lost with no where to go and a heaviness in his heart. He makes the conscious decision that he will never love again because he doesn’t want to take the risk of the heartbreak of losing someone he loves again. He is going to lead a solitary life.
He wanders around aimlessly for a while, nourishing himself only on whatever berries or edible plants he can find. When he finds another village he steals bread, but stays hidden and apart. As he grows older and more adept at stealing to sustain himself, he begins to look on those he pilfers from as small minded, naive people who are living meaningless lives, just going through the motions. He fails to see beauty in anything, he fails to acknowledge love or kindness as anything but silly and naive. He feels bitterness and even a sense of superiority over all he meets, believing that he is wise to avoid relationships and they are stupid to find any purpose in life. He doesn’t understand these people with their small lives and he believes himself to be an observer, even a philosopher, with much more understanding and wisdom than those he observes. He has no home, he travels and sleeps wherever he can find shelter outside, far away from people.
When he moves forward in time to his death scene he finds himself in a wooden building which he understands to be a hospital dedicated to sheltering the poor, the homeless, and the dying. There are rows of makeshift beds with dirty sheets, staffed by women who give water to those who are unable to drink by themselves and check foreheads for fevers. There he dies unnoticed, un-mourned, unloved.