Shatterfly || ONC 2025

Rudyard da Costa, a widowed author suffering from writer's block, inherits from his late and reclusive uncle the old and grandiose Shatterfly manor in the countryside where he once lived as a child. Hoping to reinvigorate his career which stalled after the loss of his wife Jasper, he moves there for the summer with his daughter Evelyn, who has the strange ability to perceive the supernatural.

As father and daughter settle into their new home, they quickly find that the entire property has been the domain of various supernatural beings from other worlds as well as spirits of Rudyard's past who were trapped in its halls.

Whilst his daughter Evelyn was enamored by their unexpected guests and hopefully reunite with her long-dead mother, Rudyard is determined to chase them out of the property and solve the mystery behind his uncle's demise despite the manor's attempts to stall him with glimpses of his past and his deepest desires.

Horrors and mayhem intertwine beyond the doors of the Shatterfly manor, where only the daring can survive its haunting splendor.

(MY ENTRY TO THE OPEN NOVELLA CONTEST 2025; BASED ON PROMPT #19)