“Something Wicked This Way Comes” by Ray Bradbury – Carnival of Darkness

The Power of Melancholy

Nostalgia is a feeling that comes us over every single one of us at some point or another, whether we're simply lost in the carefree days of our childhood or just daydreaming of a time when things were better. For the most part, we can only experience that feeling in relation to our own past; after all, how can one feel nostalgic for something they never had? Nevertheless, that's exactly what Ray Bradbury does to us in his classic novel Something Wicked This Way Comes: he makes us yearn for a time and a life we've never lived.

“The House by the Lake” by Ella Carey - The Memento of a Bygone Life

The Good Days Before the Storm

World War II is a conflict that needs no introduction, forever marking our history books with a litany of studies dedicated to dissecting every single part of the conflict, studying it and bringing the truth to light. The damage and chaos it caused are unquantifiable, claiming millions upon millions of lives and forever wounding many more. So many were forced to flee and leave behind the things and people that made up their lives until then, essentially becoming stripped of the great parts of their identity that they've worked their whole lives to assemble. When the war finally came to an end, many people tried to return to their lands but too much suffering had been sown into the land; thing would never go back to the way they used to. And so, many people carried souvenirs of a time they knew would never return, a time before the innocent were consumed by war.