mother

In the desolate aftermath of the superflu pandemic, the world lay in ruins, reminiscent of Stephen King's much acclaimed novel, The Stand, where civilization had become a mere echo of a forgotten era. Our protagonist, Jane, a simple grocery clerk until the plague, now found herself standing amidst the wreckage. However, she was not alone. A black crow perched nearby, its eyes holding an uncanny intelligence.

It had been several months since taking down the Grand High Witch and transforming the witches into mice, yet Luke could still feel a faint tingling of magical energy in the air. His grandmother was no longer worried about unexpected witch attacks, and they both lived a much quieter life away from all the madness. But a strange restlessness grew within Luke.

Salamanca Tree Hiddle, or Sal as her friends called her, sat beneath the whispering tree. It was the same old sycamore on the banks of the winding Euclid’s Creek near her grandparents' house in Bybanks, Kentucky.

In the space she knew as the entirety of her world, Ma whispered comforting words to Jack, her five-year-old son. They lay on the creaky bed in 'Room', their world being an eleven-by-eleven-foot square. The room, furnished barely with a bed, a toilet, a wardrobe, a kitchen sink, and the omnipresent skylight, had been their cage for as long as Jack could remember.