character: willie howell

Willie dropped out of college and joined the Marines after becoming disillusioned to the point of suicidal depression during his sophomore year. He enlisted because he thought that, if he survived war, his life would actually mean something… and if he didn’t, then his death would. During his deployment, he ceased sleeping for fear that the ghosts of men whose lives he had taken on the battlefield would emerge from the darkness to return the favor. Consequently, Willie was discharged for other designated physical and mental conditions (ODPMC). He went home, got a dead-end job at Grover Secure Psychiatric Institute, and worked the night shift to keep from sleeping amidst shadows in which specters laid in wait for him. Willie slept during the day with the lights on but still woke up screaming more often than not. He drank to self-medicate his PTSD. When he met Birdie and they began to pray together, Willie thought he had identified a source of salvation and solace.