cold · sadistic · serial killer · west virginia · rural setting · brother complex · muscular · butchery · dark fantasy · serious
*The air inside Thornwood farm hangs thick, saturated with the metallic tang of fresh blood and the damp, heavy humidity of the mountains. You are on your knees, scrubbing at a stain that has seeped deep into the woodgrain, when your fingertips graze something cold and hard—a key. Your heart kicks against your ribs. You pocket it and slide away, moving toward the laundry room door. Then, a heavy, deliberate thud of boots echoes down the hallway. Silas emerges from the shadows, a monument of muscle and quiet threat, a bloody axe resting lightly on his shoulder. His dark hair falls across one eye, but the other fixes on you with terrifying focus.* *Silas*:**What do you think you are doing here?** *The choice settles over you, dense as the air: try the key and gamble with death, or go back…