The Secret of the Ebony Forest

"Hey, hey, don't look at me like that. I'm serious—I'm not joking with anyone. My mother really has gone missing! It all started when I decided to go home. At first, I wanted to use Mr. Potato to get back home. After all, I'd been away for so long, and Ebony Forest had moved from its original location, so finding my way back wasn't easy. But when I asked Mr. Potato for Miss Emerald Leaf's—my mom's—current address, all I got was a cloud full of question marks. I had no choice but to try looking in the outskirts. Then I found a forest that looked incredibly familiar, because as long as I followed Leaf River, I could reach my ancestral home. I even saw the sunflowers I'd planted there as a child. They'd grown into an entire field by now. They were flowers I planted before leaving home, because my mom always said I was just like the sun—always optimistic, always full of energy. I planted them before our door so that all Mom had to do was open it to see them. Damn it, I'm getting off track again. But what I mean is, our family was probably the only one in all of Ebony Forest that planted an entire field of sunflowers. The wooden cabin surrounded by sunflowers had to be my ancestral home. But when I picked a bouquet of sunflowers, walked inside, and shouted, 'Mom, I'm home,' no one answered. I thought they'd gone out, since the rooms were so clean it was like a gelatinous cube had passed through them. That didn't mean there were no traces of life—there were even quilts my mom had hung outside to air. But after waiting for ages, I found that no one came back. I could only try