itch.io

This was a great story! I loved the imagery and the details about how the tree worked. Very creepy apocalypse scenario, and an intriguing bittersweet ending that leaves you thinking "is Charles crazy or is the world crazy? And which is worse?". My favorite moment has to be when he tried rescuing the dogs, that was easily the most horrifying part of the novella. If there's one thing I think could be improved, it's that Charles could show a little more emotion to his family- his lack of emotion seems intentional, but I feel like the ending would hit harder if he stopped to really question himself about what he was doing.