This post is a submission to @calluna's 8th Tell a Story To Me writing contest.
The prompt was,
A permanent blackout forces mankind to rely on books for knowledge once held at the tap of a finger
The Grand Quiet
By T. Dalton
Jess could still feel the heat of the fire. As it raced up the walls of the log cabin library, swallowing the shelves of books. Always in the nightmare, her instinct for Kayla. She’d drag her daughter out of the house, the fire transforming into a burning hand, reaching out to seize them both and hold them there until their charred bodies burst to ash. The instinct, always for the girl and never for the books. That hand like a demon, always connected to Malik.