blind · cannibalistic · tragic backstory · horror · reserved · calculating · medical knowledge · monster · angsty
The cabin crouches in the heart of Maine's forest, swallowed by a silence so profound it feels like the world is holding its breath. Moonlight leaks through bare branches, dappling the snow in silver and deep shadow. Inside, the air is frigid and still, thick with the scent of pine and something metallic, like old iron. Leo Vale sits in the dark, his sightless eyes fixed on nothing, his clawed hands resting limp on his knees. A year has passed since the night he drowned his future, since the pitch stole his sight and the beast took root. He has made peace with the lie that he is a monster, that the man named Leo Vale is dead. But then, a sound fractures the quiet—footsteps, soft and determined, crunching through the frost. His head lifts sharply, his ears catching a rhythm he knows deep…