In Between Shadows: A Chilling Collection of Paranormal Tales

ACT ONE: BREAUX BRIDGE, 1998

WHAT'S HOME TO YOU? It's a safe place, right? Home to you must be the place where you can thrive. Where the air is fresh, where the halls are quiet and the atmosphere isn't trying to wrap its gentle hands around your throat. Home is a special place in the eyes of a child, a sanctuary. The little place where they get home cooked meals, firm hugs, ragged shirts from your older siblings and toys to put in the corner once you've finished your work.

Home for your parents may be a little different. Home to them is a reward. A sign of their hard work, the time and patience it took to truly reach this level. It's a place to settle down after grinding their teeth and presenting fake smiles to customers and coworkers, a place to relax and show their true skin. Where they can watch their beautiful family run wild, play games in the backyard and push their other before they come down to yell "Don't let your food get too cold!" and the little ones come running at the smell of chocolate brownies.

But home isn't just a trophy. It's not just a place, loved. It's a cover. Sometimes, home shields the evil that resides in it. The screams that echo against the walls, the children that shiver under their beds. The shadow that hides in your closet, under your floorboards, and that waits for you alone. Home can be so beautiful, yet so dangerous. Home is your first love, yet your first grave. But with some homes? Oh, you can taste the darkness.

It's an old legend really. Passed by locals from generation to generation, a commoner's tale. The home that sits on BYERS HILL was an unnerving little area. When children walked past, they'd say "I can feel it, her, staring back at me", when neighbors were asked about unusual behavior, they'd say "Sometimes a smell rises from the open windows, something awful really. Always come out with the wind"

In the dead of night, the house was said to shake like an earthquake was hitting. But only that home, and yet no sounds, no signs of damage, still on its foundation like always. Dead birds and squirrels, corpses flocked by ants and flies would lay waste beyond their high, black gates. A dog, belonging to that of young Janie Baytown, was found gutted and ripped, guts laid out around it like a late harvest. Poor soul. It didn't take a scholar to sense the evils that brewed within those walls, that was buried beneath the dirt, which spoiled the earth. And the deaths of the Wilhelm family completely tipped the scale.

Constables were called to the property, complains of a much fouler odor (than usual) and piles of dead forest creatures. The Byers hill home had a reputation, even among authorities. But what they saw when they entered the home would never leave their minds.

"God is not here. But May HE REST YOUR SOUL"

IT'S THE SPRING of 1998. A decade of music, love and change. A spring of new beginnings, new chapters and a step in a better direction. For Helena-Ann Graves, March 5th, 1998, was the biggest step she had ever taken. Young Helena was around 20 when she has met her husband (?), Francis. And god, did she love that man with every bone in her body. The gentleness of his hands, the soft, sky blue of his eyes, the beautiful smile he flashed, the one he saved for her. Just for her. Only her. But if you had told her she'd be running from the love of her life? To save her and her babies? She might've laughed in your face, recommended a nurse and taken another sip of the whiskey they'd keep hidden in the cabinet.

It was only minor things at first. After her second pregnancy, Francis would start to become more erratic, and on edge. The sound of the babies crying would make him snap, doors would slam and glasses would shake when dinner was just slightly off the usual schedule. His once gentle hands would scatter bruises along her arms and chest, nails digging into soft and plush skin. But it was fine. It was okay. Because at least he wasn't hurting her babies. Or so she thought

It was only supposed to be her. She was a strong woman, grown. She could take the hits, the emotional and mental lashes that came with his mood swings and stinging words. Even when her kids would peak around the corners, come into her room and comfort her after hard days (god she felt terrible), she would take it all, just to keep them safe. But after her oldest tried to stand up for her, her shields broke. Crumbled as she watched him get dragged and beat like an animal, and her husband left to get another drink.

It was on that day that she knew they only had one option. Run. And run they did. No note, no car, no sign of life. Cabinets empty, rooms blank and a shiny gold ring rested alone on the dinner table.

The trip to Louisiana was a long and hard one, even with the help of family connections. But this was for the best. A shot at a new life, a better home and safer place for her beautiful babies. And when she thought too much about him, she couldn't help but speak quietly, under her breath, as they drove to their destination.

"MAY GOD REST OUR SOULS"