𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐊, 𝘦𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘴𝘰𝘯

001 ASHES

Amongst those speculators were Ingrid and Marshall Thatcher, devastated by the horrific loss of their good friends and their children. Ingrid, a clinical psychologist, tried but ultimately could not wrap her head around the eldest son's actions. She spent many nights creating diagrams, cross-checking with textbooks, and searching endlessly for an answer. Her husband, Marshall, also took a keen interest in the case, using his legal research skills to nosedive into the history of Amityville and the Native American customs that once graced the land.

They prayed for the precious souls lost; they prayed for light. When the house next door ultimately went up for sale, the Thatcher's worries festered like an infected wound. They could feel the shift in the air, the suffocating rapture of darkness.

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📍Amityville, New York
Next door // now occupied by the Lutz family
December 1975

Slime. Dense, green unwavering slime dripped down the walls as screams ricocheted with pressure so tremendous the floorboards shook in apprehension.

Thunder boomed above, further shaking the foundation of the Lutz home as blood oozed through the wallpaper, mixing with the slime and saturating everything in a thick crimson sludge.

Benjamin Thatcher wailed, trapped on the stair landing, cowering in the corner as a dark shadow inched toward his small frame. The little boy, covered in blood, was grabbed by his older sister, Melanie. Mellie raced down the stairs carrying her toddler brother, slipping on the last few steps as the sludge thickened. She face-planted into the foyer, with Benny sliding further toward the front door. The shadow taunted them, a sinister laugh emitting from its depths.

A second entity growled underneath the floorboards, shrieks of terror from Ingrid and her new neighbor mixing with the unearthly sounds. Benny's persistent wailing increased at the sound of his mother's scream as Mellie lay frozen in absolute fright.

Ginny, shaking in fear, witnessed the terror from underneath the adjacent dining room table, and mustered up the courage to step in and help. The young girl, only ten years old, stood valiantly to defend her younger siblings. But courage wasn't enough to defeat the evil before her. The shadow descended, consuming Ginny and knocking her unconscious.

As the young Thatcher kids cried out for their older sister, an eerie silence crept in. The house was suddenly still. Mellie crawled over to Ginny, shaking her shoulders to wake her.

Ginny's limp body flailed with each shove from Mellie. Mellie's hands trembled as tears poured down her blood-stained cheeks, worrying her older sister was lost forever. She felt her heart beating in her ears as it thumped in shock at the events unfolding around her. The basement door flew open with a blunt force, terrifying Mellie, her eyes wide in fear. It was only then that Ginny's eyes burst open, but all Mellie saw was darkness.

Mellie screamed.

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📍Hawkins, Indiana
Starcourt Mall
July 1985

Mellie screamed.

Out of all the atrocities she's experienced and all the twisted nightmares thereafter, nothing prepared her for the gigantic flesh monster towering over her in the food court of Starcourt Mall.