The Witches of Hollow

- Prologue -

"They say the tree was planted by the witches themselves. It stands in the center of what is now a world renowned circus. It's known for its mysterious performers, shifting of the tents, and the tree. Their tree.

The Hollowed Circus seems to be part of a different time entirely. With a different "theme" each time you come, some claim to have felt like they were ancient Egyptians, carving tombs and graves for those who have died, others say it was in 1600's Japan, with perfect cherry blossoms, and towering temples.

Very few are invited to attend this novelty, and those who did reserve their place always return with ink stained fingers, and a grin crossing their once pale face. No one quite knows how to achieve the prize of a ticket, and those who do know have been sworn to silence.

Many years ago, in a town where you can't help but jump at your shadow, and you always glance behind you whenever you turn a corner, there lived a boy. He was a small boy. Deathly pale with a tortured smile and eyes that could have been hiding all kinds of monsters. No one quite knew the reason he stayed home all the time. Some said it was the plague, that the disease had somehow filtered into their small town and would grip them with the sickeningly sweetened sent of the afterlife. Fear grows like a virus when given a host. It was fear that caused all the children to be locked inside and told not to drink the water because of what they thought could be carried in it. It was fear that sent the husbands out in groups with axes and torches. It was fear that caused the burning the little boy. They marched into his home, chanting paragraphs from books on other worldly creatures they found in the library. They believed the boy to be a demon. A monster from hell sent to condemn them all. 

But the boy was not a monster. Merely a child, who had made the mistake of crossing the witch on the next street over."