Imagine; the Baker family before finding Evelyn and Mia, before their property regressed, before the mold took hold.
Jack Baker, father of two, driving into town on a weekly basis; helping the homeless and disenfranchised people the best he can. Sometimes, he offers them a dinner and a bed for the night - bringing them the home where Marguerite is happy to make a semi-special dinner in front of their guest - scolding Jack in the next room. “Stop bringing home guests, Jack.”
“They needed help, Marguerite.”
And the visitor stays the night; they stay in a guest room. They never see Zoe - she rather sleep in her trailer - and Lucas Baker never seems to be around. Jack and Marguerite like having guests, they planned to someday rent out their home as a Bed & Breakfast - that’s why they bought the house on the edge of the bayou.
In the morning, the visitor sees the half-deconstructed yard, with chopped log and stumps scattered around the front yard. Work tools left off to the side, it’s still a big work-in-progress. Stuff here and there, but the passion is there, and only in certain light does it look a bit creepy.
The visitor leaves in Jack’s truck that morning; Jack’s truck is known locally to give people a ride or a home for a night. People suggest those without a place to stay to look for Jack’s truck.
And after going out Jack returns home, resuming his work on fixing up the property. Marguerite helps too, so does Zoe. The three of them ask Lucas to help out when he’s not locked up with his next project. He doesn’t know what to do, but he tries to do his best. They have their laughs, they have leftovers for dinner, and go to bed.
That’s how the days go for the Bakers.
Jack and Marguerite work on their dream Bed & Breakfast business. Zoe and Lucas are working up to their own ambitions. They’re isolated from the nearby town - not many people come visit them. Cut off from the rest of the world except for a lone road and the nearby river.
One night, there’s a series of thumps. They sleep through it, except for Lucas - working on another one of his projects late into the night. He brings it up the next morning, Jack plans to drive out down the river later that day.
After trying to dig out a stump for most of the day, he goes out on a boat.
And he finds the wreck of the tanker; horrified but what he finds, still clinging to some hope there is someone alive. He continues to search with the light on his boat, searching the dark waters with a plastic PVC pipe - finding odd growths here and there on the rubble. He finds a young woman and a conscious child on a pile of wreckage and - as he’s always done - takes them home. Give them a bed and a meal.
Jack and Marguerite ask the young girl, Evelyn, if she knows what happens. She claims no, and she’s afraid of losing her mommy too. There’s tears, Jack and Marguerite try to cheer her up; reassuring Evelyn her mommy could just be fine - she just might be out for a couple days.
Evelyn is happy; she has a family.
Then Jack wants to go into town for supplies; tools and food to fill the fridge. Evelyn tags along; strangely, she doesn’t want to bring up the tanker, nor is she keen on looking to have Jack tell anyone about it. And when they get back Marguerite tells Jack that ... Evelyn never left.
She’s been in her mother’s room for the entire time.
Slowly, things start getting weirder. Marguerite starts finding grey mold in the cracks of fresh floorboards. Grazed by nicks here and there from fixing the house just seem to vanish - no welt, no marks. She must’ve imagined them.
At dinner Evelyn doesn’t want to stay at the table; Jack and Marguerite try and get her to stay, but she leaves anyway. Lucas and Zoe are spending less time at the table, in the house. Lucas tells Marguerite on his way to eat leftovers the next morning the little girl creeps him out. Zoe says nothing.
Over time, things just keep getting weirder. Jack finds himself being able to uproot stumps easier, some of his tools are more worn. He shows off the Marguerite - that his strength when he was younger has come back. Marguerite finds more strange mold in the crooks of the house, Jack suggests that he could get some specialized things in town.
And Evelyn is always just ... there. By his side, saying nothing. Watching.
He doesn’t talk with other residents anymore, doesn’t invite anyone to his family’s home even if they plead. It just wouldn’t feel right to him. Eventually, he doesn’t show up in town anymore.
Rumors grow that something has gone wrong at the Bakers, but no one goes to check on them - not many people know them well enough to just swing by.
Lucas put up signs for visitors to stay out on the front gates.
Behind the front gates, the family is suffering.
Marguerite’s joy of cooking starts failing her, finding herself more and more often giving out under-cooked food to Jack and occasionally Lucas or Zoe. She starts craving for odd things - the bugs swarming the boat house, a bird that died in a tree above the property. It disturbs her when she has time to think about it. But after being cut off from the outside world ... she’s gotten used to it.
Jack has endured intrusive thoughts about taking people he wants to help home to make them a part of the ‘family’. Evelyn keeps trying to persuade him, no matter where he tries to cut himself off, she’s always there, telling him, yelling at him. One night, he digs out the gun he got Marguerite back when he was working. He makes a note for Marguerite, makes sure the gun is loaded, and pulls the trigger.
Marguerite finds him soon after, half stunned and half relieved, Jack tried to commit suicide, and it succeeded ... and failed. He’s still alive; he’s distraught, Marguerite is distraught, Evenlyn is distraught ... and angry.
Evelyn’s demands get more stringent; and her mother wakes up and becomes her muscle.
