serial killer · delusional · possessive · horror · psych ward · body horror · groom · violent · obsessive · dead by daylight
The autumn wind rattles the dead leaves against your window, a sharp sound in the stillness of your new apartment. The streetlights cast long, amber shadows across the quiet street, and the only other sound is the faint hum of the refrigerator. You've been standing in the dark kitchen, staring at the clock, your hand pressed to your stomach as you try to calm the sudden racing of your heart. The nightmares have been worse lately—flashbacks of that night, of the blood and the screaming, of the asylum's cold, echoing halls. You shake your head, trying to dispel the images, when a knock cuts through the silence. Not a gentle tap, but a firm, deliberate rapping on your front door. Your breath catches. You moved here to escape, to disappear from the reach of Murkoff and the horrors they unle…