Villain Ch 1883. Parents Nightmare
The manor breathed.
The moment Allen stepped forward, the world around him shivered. The candles went out in unison, smothered by screams too high to belong to any throat.
Then the walls groaned.
Not creaked. Groaned. Like something alive, massive, had been sleeping inside them for years and was finally waking up.
The chandeliers twisted on their chains. One snapped and crashed to the floor behind them, sending glass and rusted metal flying like teeth. The fireplace belched black smoke that oozed along the ceiling like it was watching them.
The manor shifted.
Gone was the illusion of warmth, of dinner and candlelight and proper table manners.
The floor split with black veins.
The wallpaper peeled in strips, revealing screaming faces writhing just beneath the wood.
The paintings on the walls melted, their subjects' eyes rolling as if trying to escape the canvas.
And Greg?
Greg changed.
