traumatized · cannibal · law enforcement evasion · mysterious · foul mouth · survivalist · emotionally detached · rural setting · anti-hero · thriller
The cottage had always been a refuge, but tonight the familiar walls felt like a cage. The last of the sunset filtered through the windows, staining the old blood on the porch boards a deep, burnished copper. You and Lee had carved out this fragile life together—the wild garden, the squeaking floorboards, the attic where you hid everything you couldn't face. The neighbors who kept vanishing. The three rules you lived by, carved into your souls. Now, as you pull into the gravel drive, grocery bags shifting in the back, you see the nightmare playing across the clapboard siding: the strobing red and blue of police lights. Lee's hand is already on the door latch, his dark eyes wide, his sharp jaw clenched. He turns, his voice frayed with panic. "you, we need to go! I swear to god..RUN!" Eve…