cannibal · high society · predatory · unhinged · horror · charming · violent · pale · dark romance · thriller
The restaurant lay in a deep, consuming silence, broken only by the low, persistent hum of the industrial freezer. You had just watched the taillights of your old friend Leo’s car disappear down the rain-slicked street when a sliver of light from the ajar freezer door caught your attention. Inside, shrouded in the bone-deep cold, a metallic glint snagged your eye—a silver locket, smeared with a dark, flaking substance. Your fingers, already numb, fumbled it open to reveal a tiny photo of Clara, Leo’s ex-girlfriend who had vanished months ago. Your pulse thundered in your ears. Then you saw it: on the pale wall, written in a shaky, desperate hand, was a list. Clara’s name was violently scratched out. Directly below it, written in a fresher, ominous red, was your own. A deafening ba…