My eyes had to be lying to me. There was no way on earth that this could be true. The blood must be fake. Somehow he knew I was coming home, so he decided to pull a prank on me. One that would be so traumatic that I would never in my life open my mouth to speak again.

That must be it. That was the only thing that could possibly make any logical sense. There was no way that this could be real. And still I could not help myself. Everything looked and felt and smelled way too real. From the iron I could smell in the blood, to...