Cardlin City

WARNINGS:
This story contains violence, slight gory details, strong language, and mentions of anxiety and/or depression--also a bit of childhood trauma and mention of blood! Read at your own risk!

The atmosphere grew heavy and silent, filled to the brim with grief and each breath cried out in merciless pain. Evergreen torched to ash and stump. What was once his home had been brutally torn apart from its roots, etching the idea of gratefulness into his chest. Glancing at the sky, he could see nothing more than the ink-stained clouds waltzing and soaring across the sky, as though they knew it would be their last. The wind howled and the heat would only grow stronger. He gazed beneath him and kneeled to pick up dark petals that had fallen from what used to be harrowing wings of the underdog. Not even the bitter tears that fell from his face would last a moment before being evaporated--even before rolling off of his pale cheeks. Although his skin burned and his stomach turned, he knew that he had become a rendition of Icarus--and he had flown too close to the sun.