SORROW.

introducing the life & death of darcel swanson, as told in the main verse (here), divided in four separate chapters:

ARC I. BLEACH OUT THE WARNINGS OF DARKNESS.

you’re young, but not foolish. you’re young, but you’re ancient: your soul resonates with the spirits of century-old trees, and among the trees you find shelter - out there at the lake, with the fossils and the dust. you hear the shadows call your name; you feel the darkness pulling, and it pulls, and it pulls, and it pulls you through the thick of the forest, to the shallow grave someone dug for a plastic-wrapped body. you’re the one to find the body of darlene quinn, missing from lakemill since her 19th birthday. they ask how you found her, you don’t have an answer; ‘it must be your father’, they say, ‘best damn sheriff this town’s ever had. must be his guidance’. yes, you say, it must be your father: that’s certainly better than the other option. ( this arc covers the span of darcel’s youth, from the death of her father, at the beginning of her last year of high school, through the discovery of darlene’s body, to her joining the sheriff’s department / fc: mollie dunsworth ).

ARC II. FAULT LINES BENEATH A GLASS HOUSE.

your badge makes you feel safe. a shiny light to fight back the shadows; you spend all your days carrying it around, like a loving mother with her shining baby. you do your job, and only ask too many questions when it’s good for the case. you’re quiet, maybe too quiet - but you’re good. (sometimes you think you might make your daddy proud, but you never even called him daddy in the first place). the shadows still pull you in, sometimes: that’s when you get cases solved, anyway, so you tell yourself you don’t mind. you’ve got a shiny piece of metal, and it’ll be enough to fight them off. ( this arc covers the span of roughly twelve years in darcel’s life, from her becoming a deputy until the start of the lakemill killer case / fc: emily rose ).

ARC III. THE COLD & I ARE BOTH OUTSIDE.

one night you wake up screaming. the sound of your own wailing is unsettling, like a bird dying; you wake up, and you feel it. thick black oil sticking to your skin, blocking any movement. a sudden darkness calling out your name. your phone rings, and somehow you know. the body of the first victim is found by the lake, and it chills you to the bone. she looks like you: no, not like you - like a better version of you. like you’re the negative, and she’s the photograph: torn out in shreds and covered in crimson, and she still looks beautiful, but so far gone. that’s the night you realize your shiny piece of metal could never keep out the demons. that’s the night you see that it was written from the start: you were up against the darkness from the beginning, and this is the final match, a chess game that lasts for years. he leaves victims for you to find, and they all look like you. you know that eventually, he’s gonna come for you, too. your shiny piece of metal is useless, but let him come: let him come, you say. you’re ready. ( this arc covers the investigations on the lakemill killer case, from the discovery of the first victim to twelve years later, when the case is archived / fc: emily rose ).

ARC IV. FADED KODACHROME OF SOMEONE IN THE COLD.

you still wake up screaming. nobody can hear them, but you do, in your head: that same bird, screeching as its life ends. you’re tired. you’re fading. but you breathe - a little better now, because the shadows calling your name are getting quieter every day. (perhaps you’ve just convinced yourself to stop listening to them). one more heartbeat joins the emptiness of your house-cave; it’s a girl, a little one, as tough as you’ve always wished you could be. her daddy’s gone, swallowed up by the darkness, so you thought it was up to you, to keep her safe. it was up to her, to help you heal.  ( this arc covers darcel’s life after the lakemill killer case. darcel is now the sheriff of lakemill, shows various symptoms of ptsd, and has adopted a young girl orphaned by the lakemill killer, bea beaumont / fc: anna gunn ).

FEATURING (i tagged all the peeps that showed interest in the verse so everyone knows who’s part of this & you can all plot & rp & make your own storylines!) :