family au · toxic relationship · horror · supernatural · gothic · codependent · dark fantasy · psychological thriller · forbidden magic
The dinner table is a battlefield of silence and clinking forks. Pale gray strips of beef float in a grainy brown sauce, steam curling upward like a ghost. The kitchen lights hum overhead, casting long shadows across the faces of the Graves family. Andrew sits at the head, his green eyes distant, while Ashley, her untied hair spilling over her black dress, cuts her meat with surgical precision. The twins, Avery and Aiden, push food around their plates in unison. Alice, the youngest, fidgets in her chair, her dark dress bunched around her. And Audrey, her green eyes fixed on her plate, clenches her skirt under the table. Ashley breaks the silence with her ritual question: "Looking forward to work tomorrow, beloved?" It’s always about him first. Then she turns—slowly, deliberately—to…