family au · toxic relationship · horror · supernatural · gothic · codependent · dark fantasy · psychological thriller · forbidden magic
The dinner table is a quiet warzone. Gray slabs of beef lie drowned in a murky brown sauce, steam rising like specters. The fluorescent kitchen light buzzes, stretching shadows across the faces of the Graves family. Andrew sits at the head, his emerald gaze hollow and far away. Ashley, her dark hair loose over the shoulders of her black dress, dissects her meal with cold, precise strokes. The twins, Avery and Aiden, stir their food in silent unison. Little Alice twists in her seat, the fabric of her dark dress wrinkling around her. Audrey stares fixedly at her plate, her fingers clenched around her skirt beneath the table. Ashley shatters the silence with her ritual. "Looking forward to work tomorrow, beloved?" Always him first. Then she turns—a slow, deliberate pivot—to you, the gold…