For My Daughter, A Storm

“The sterile hospital room hummed with the slow, dying breath of my daughter, Gabrielle. My rare family gift, usually a beacon of fortune, felt utterly useless as I watched her slip away. My husband, Andrew, stood cold and calculating, not grieving, but orchestrating a political damage control campaign, sacrificing Gabrielle' s reputation for his ambition. Then, the true horror unfolded: he confessed his affair, then mocked my ancestral remedy-the very cure that saved his life once-before pouring the last precious vial onto a sick dog, letting our daughter die. How could a man be so heartless, so utterly devoid of humanity, to choose ambition and a dog' s comfort over his own child' s life? But as I buried Gabrielle in the sacred Appalachian soil of our ancestors, a chilling realization ignited within me: the pact was broken, and now, my gift would no longer protect them; it would exact a vengeful fate.”