THERE'S ALWAYS A LIGHTHOUSE, A MAN AND A CITY

She’s exhausted. He could see the lines around her eyes. The kids are tiny little beings and one of them is asleep in their crib after four hours of carting them around the room, trying to get their wailing to stop. Chase is holding the oldest because she’s not quite still. She’s fussy and she’s a little heavy and she’s idly knocking her foot against his stomach, but she wants her ear to rest closely against his chest and mumble a soft conversation with her father about nonsense that he keeps up without a stumble. 

Chase’s gaze, however, is utterly captivated by resting a Stacy who is curled up on the arm chair, nestled by a wool cardigan. It swarms his heart with slight buzz.

 And he’s compelled then to cup the head of his little girl to keep her from moving, and bending down to press a long and intimate kiss on her brow with unvoiced affection. 

❛ the fear of the blood tends to create fear for the flesh. ❜ 

❛ when you’re hurt and scared for so long, the fear and pain turn to hate. ❜

❛ she’s lucky to have you. ❜

❛ a mother is god in the eyes of a child. ❜

❛ you’ve darkened the heart of an innocent. ❜

❛ you promised you’d take me there again some day. ❜

❛ well, i’m alone there now, in our special place… waiting for you. ❜

❛ you disgusting piece of shit! ❜

❛ you’re nothing but a waste of skin! ❜

❛ it doesn’t matter if you’re smart, dumb, ugly, pretty… it’s all the same once you’re dead… ❜

❛ do you know what it does to you? ❜

❛ the memory of his cruelty is forever burned into my mind. ❜

❛ you don’t understand. none of you do. ❜

❛ monsters? ❜

❛ they look like monsters to you? ❜

❛ that’s when i first had the nightmare. ❜

❛ i haven’t been able to get out of my room since then. ❜

❛ i can’t even get anybody to hear me when I yell. ❜

❛ the phone doesn’t work… the tv doesn’t work… ❜

❛ the windows are sealed shut. ❜

❛ someone chained the door from the inside. ❜

❛ how am i going to get out of here? ❜

❛ you’ve always been there for me, haven’t you? ❜

❛ bad dreams still keeping you awake? ❜

❛ i told you, a girl or two would go a long way. sleep like a baby with a chick in your cab. ❜

❛ guess i just don’t meet the right girls. ❜

❛ be careful what you choose. ❜

❛ hey, chill. you don’t see me bringing up your issues. ❜

❛ she hasn’t left you yet? ❜

❛ all the stores are closed or boarded up. ❜

❛ the town seems empty. ❜

❛ it’s complicated. ❜

❛ a lot of things have happened since you left. ❜

❛ i noticed a banner out front that said something about an anniversary. ❜

❛ i thought i remembered being here for it. ❜

❛ i guess it’s time we took that down, huh? ❜

❛ it’s like something’s not letting us move on. ❜

❛ we’re the ones who decide if we can live with what we’ve done. ❜

❛ why didn’t she take me? ❜

❛ evil wakes in vengeance. be careful what you choose. ❜

❛ fire doesn’t cleanse, it blackens! ❜

❛ look at this map, memorize it. ❜

❛ your memory may save your life. ❜

❛ let me do this! ❜

❛ i have to do this! ❜

❛ you burned in the fire that you started. ❜

❛ nothing can save you because you’re already damned! ❜

❛ i don’t talk to strangers. ❜

❛ what the fuck? what the fuck?! you saw that right? that was real? ❜

❛ what the fuck is going on? ❜

❛ i’m afraid she’s been hurt. ❜

❛ they used to say this place was haunted. ❜

❛ what’s it gonna be, city boy? ❜

❛ i can put you in jail or you can go home. ❜

❛ that’s your definition of justice, huh? ❜

❛ filth and lies! ❜

❛ she’s not here! ❜

❛ can you see anything? ❜

❛ we have to leave! ❜