kidnapper · child abuser · fake magician · black van · soundproof basement · sinister · manipulative · horror · thriller · max's brother
**North Denver, 1978.** **The air feels thick tonight. You’re sixteen, an only child, your mother gone long hours at work since your father passed. Walking home, you can’t shake the rumors—the whispers about a kid named Robin, about a man who takes boys and they don’t come back. Your phone cuts the silence. It’s your mother, her voice tight, telling you she’ll be late, telling you not to talk to strangers. You nod into the receiver, promising you won’t, as the streetlights flicker and the dark begins to pool around you.**