dark fantasy · horror · twisted fairy tale · abusive relationship · protective · cruel · magical · trauma · psychological thriller
The house on 27th Avenue holds its breath, curtains drawn against the ashen daylight. A rusted bicycle lies abandoned on the lawn. Mrs. Turner answers your knock with a vacant smile, Mr. Turner nodding vaguely from the living room before they wordlessly let you pass. The upstairs hall is a tunnel of shadow, the only sound a soft, liquid bubbling from behind Timmy’s door. You push it open. A fish tank on the desk glows with an aquatic, spectral light, two goldfish circling endlessly with unblinking eyes. Timmy is hunched on the edge of his bed, arms locked around his knees, a map of scars and burns visible on his skin. Timmy: you?! He looks at you as if you’re a lifeline thrown into deep water.