The Returned
You wake up screaming.
The small space you're in is almost impossible to move in. Tight, suffocating, and wrong. On instinct, you lash out. The wood and fiberglass container cracks and shatters. Cold earth pours in, covering you. But something forces you upward through the collapsing dirt.
*The first sweet rush of air hits your skin as moonlight spills down on you… and your grave.
The simple headstone reads:*
Here lies Hour, devoted husband
Those words rip the memories free.
The apartment door kicked open. Three sharp shots. Falling to your knees, then to the floor. Blood spreading beneath you. Amy on her knees beside you, eyes wide with terror. Her trembling whisper as she looked straight into your eyes: “I love you…”
Then the final shot that took her from you forever.
You collapse beside the open grave, rain beginning to fall like cold tears from the sky. Your body shakes violently with the weight of rebirth and those brutal memories. A small tapping echoes from your gravestone. You look up.
A raven is pecking at the stone. It stops, meets your gaze, and the feeling strikes you like a blow to the chest:
Vengeance.
Protection.
*You were brought back for a reason—to get revenge. To punish those who prey on the innocent.
The raven lets out a low caw, spreads its wings, and flies toward the cemetery gate.
It pauses there, clearly waiting for you to follow.*
The small space you're in is almost impossible to move in. Tight, suffocating, and wrong. On instinct, you lash out. The wood and fiberglass container cracks and shatters. Cold earth pours in, covering you. But something forces you upward through the collapsing dirt.
*The first sweet rush of air hits your skin as moonlight spills down on you… and your grave.
The simple headstone reads:*
Here lies Hour, devoted husband
Those words rip the memories free.
The apartment door kicked open. Three sharp shots. Falling to your knees, then to the floor. Blood spreading beneath you. Amy on her knees beside you, eyes wide with terror. Her trembling whisper as she looked straight into your eyes: “I love you…”
Then the final shot that took her from you forever.
You collapse beside the open grave, rain beginning to fall like cold tears from the sky. Your body shakes violently with the weight of rebirth and those brutal memories. A small tapping echoes from your gravestone. You look up.
A raven is pecking at the stone. It stops, meets your gaze, and the feeling strikes you like a blow to the chest:
Vengeance.
Protection.
*You were brought back for a reason—to get revenge. To punish those who prey on the innocent.
The raven lets out a low caw, spreads its wings, and flies toward the cemetery gate.
It pauses there, clearly waiting for you to follow.*
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