October 13th, 1983, Happy Death Day.
Meeting their demise on the same day, two children must work together to control the same mechanical body and reach their goal of helping the others who passed alongside them.
Current Warnings:
Non-canon events/characteristics, non-canon twists on canon events, detailed death description, drinking, mention and attempt at suicide, arson, bullying, family issues, running away, PTSD attacks, gore, murder, possession, mention of religion, self-image issues, substance abuse, traces of abuse, torture, digital-conscious transfer, hypnosis, homeless children, robot children, animal abuse/animal death, agony, remnant, immortality, obsession, depression, Automatonophobia, illusions, delusions, insomnia, night terrors, claustrophobia/small spaces, stalking, vr/ar, ai learning, technophobia, robophobia, nyctophobia, non-realistic science practices and beliefs, POV changes, cursing/swearing, smoking, hallucinations, gas chambers, kidnapping, more in the future.
Please read the first section of this before reading anything else. This is an AU with made-up and changed things that somewhat follow Game Theory.
Antique store owner Liz brings home a Victorian taxidermy hound from auction, unwittingly unleashing dark forces on her wife and son.
*****
Nat Loman has finally married the love of her life, Liz, and is getting used to her role as stepmother to Liz's 5-year-old son, Liam. The Loman family runs a bustling antique business so they attend a sale where a striking, black taxidermied hound is up for auction. Liz picks it up for the business, but it ends up being stored in their home, where Nat notices strange things occurring. She quickly discovers the past residents had died violently. Then she hears from a friend about the myth of "the devil's dog", a hound that perches in the shadows, tearing families apart from the inside. Soon, people around the Lomans are dying, and Liz is changing, darkening. It's up to Nat to save the woman she loves from the darkness closing in, and to save Liam from danger no matter what she has to sacrifice.
[[Winner of the 2018 Wattys "Hidden Gems" category]]
[[word count: 60,000-70,000 words]]