Hemlock

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"Dead people receive more flowers than the living ones because regret is stronger than gratitude" - Anne Frank, Anne Frank's Diary

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## A Boy and A New Town

Hemlock was born into a loving family that was split across two towns, he lived with his mother in a large city whilst his father lived in the quaint town of Willowood. He lived in the city with his mother till the age of three when a terrible version of the flu swept through the city, taking the weak with them. Trying to protect Hemlock from the virus as a vulnerable child, she took him to Willowood so he could live with his father while the illness travelled through the city, slowly claiming lives as time went on.

A few months passed with Hemlock living in Willowood, his father received a letter from a close relative of Hemlocks mother regarding her passing. They were shocked about her death and they mourned her passing for several months. A few years had passed and they had grown around their grief of losing her, Hemlock was adjusting slowly to the towns way of living.

Hemlock's father and the village people taught him about their religion, Equanimian. Hemlock was hesitant at this first but he went along with it. When he asked questions about it, it seemed they were very firm believers in this "god" of theirs, it confused Hemlock how they could put their faith into something with no proof of existence.

As the years passed, Hemlock had developed a rare skin condition called Vitiligo. This made him have patches of lighter skin that changed it's positioning every day or so. He became quite self conscious about this, wearing mostly items that would cover the patches.

## His Research

Hemlock was quite fond of plants, he was mesmerized about how they worked and how they grew. He also studied their multiple medicinal purposes, jotting them down in his messy notebook with their purposes and an illustration of the named plant.

Many people began coming to him as soon as they heard of his research. He helped people with the smallest things like a sore throat to the biggest things such as a flu. He enjoyed helping people and continued to build his knowledge on plants and herbs.

## The Disease to End it All

Hemlock noticed quite a lot of people had been coming to him for the same symptoms as the ones before them. They all came to him with symptoms of nausea, fever, fatigue, vomiting and even sores on their skin. He tried his best to ail their symptoms of this mysterious plague that swept through the town. Only a week had passed and a quarter of the town had already died from this disease. And Hemlock too had fallen ill with this sickness.

The townspeople began praying to their god for some sort of cure for this deadly plague. Whilst the weak were dropping like flies, Hemlock continued his study for a cure of some sort to help resolve this disease but his weakened body couldn't handle much more. The final night of his life had at last come around to take him into the afterlife.

## Rebirth

Hemlock felt warmth touch his body and mind as he opened his eyes to see himself in a giant nest. He looked down at his...body? Was it actually his body? He quickly and clumsily stumbled out of the nest, tripping over his own wings like a toddler learning to walk again.

He looked down at the overgrown town and recognized a few buildings that had been taken over by nature.

Was he.. in Willowood?