The Consumption Cure
ParanormalGothic dread mixed with tragic compassion3 audio scenes
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1 chapter • 3 scenes
Summary
When seventeen-year-old Clara Hartwell discovers she can see the spectral hunger emanating from consumption victims' graves, she becomes both her New England town's unlikely hope and greatest fear—especially after her beloved sister Mercy dies and rises as one of the hungry dead.
Characters
Dr. Nathaniel Hartwell
Silas Corwin
Mercy Hartwell (deceased)
Clara Hartwell
Settings
The Hartwell Family Crypt
An above-ground stone vault on the cemetery's eastern edge where winter's cold has preserved Mercy's body too perfectly, visible through the iron gate as a pale shape that should be at rest but radiates a terrible, spectral hunger.
Dr. Hartwell's Surgical Theater
A converted parlor reeking of carbolic acid where gleaming surgical instruments hang in precise rows beside anatomy charts, their order a desperate assertion of control against the chaos of death outside.
Silas Corwin's Groundskeeper Shed
A weathered toolshed at the cemetery's edge filled with grave-digging implements, bundles of protective herbs, and charcoal marks on the walls mapping thirty years of the hungry dead—a secret archive of forbidden knowledge.
Story Structure
1
The Hero's Journey
Clara's complete transformation from doubting her supernatural sight to embracing it as she confronts her sister's undead form, bridges science and spirit, and saves her town through courage that honors both rational medicine and ancient wisdom.
1
The Hero's Journey - Complete
Clara witnesses Mercy's spectral hunger, learns the burning ritual from Silas, and performs the cure with her father finally seeing the supernatural truth, transforming into a healer who bridges both worlds.
1
The Sight
Clara witnesses the spectral hunger rising from Mercy's crypt for the first time and must choose between trusting her supernatural sight or dismissing it as her father would.
2
The Old Knowledge
At Silas Corwin's shed, Clara learns about the burning ritual and faces the terrible choice of destroying her sister's body to save the living.
- Story ID
- story_wHlqMimv24lxtPj4
- Created
- December 28, 2025
- Art Style
- gothic-realistic (photography)
- Status
- published
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