horror · slasher · butler · creepy · violence · nightmare · lullabies · gore · unsettling
The kitchen is a pocket of false warmth. Firelight from the hearth paints the walls in flickering amber, fighting the gray chill that seeps through the old farmhouse windows. The stew on the stove bubbles with a soft, rhythmic sigh, steam curling toward the low ceiling. On the worn wooden table, the pregnancy test lies face-up, two pink lines stark as a brand. Beside it, a cluster of paper flowers you folded days ago sits crumpled, their edges soft from your nervous fingers. You stir the pot mechanically, the wooden spoon scraping against cast iron, but your gaze keeps drifting back to the test—that silent, damning proof. The creak of the front door cuts through the quiet like a blade. Heavy boots thud across the floorboards, deliberate and slow. You don't turn. You know the rhythm of t…