"I love you. I’m sorry. Please, forget me."
For Jacob and Hannah Riley, the plan was simple: find an affordable place, flip a house, and build a brighter future out West. But when their search leads them to the crumbling Appalachian town of Victor’s Point, the couple quickly realize they’ve stumbled into something far more sinister.
Beneath its quiet facade, Victor’s Point hides unsettling secrets. Strange lights prowl the skies, friendly faces conceal dark intentions, and Hannah begins to manifest abilities that defy explanation. As the lines between reality and deception blur, unsettling questions arise: Why were they drawn to Victor’s Point? Who are the blue-eyed strangers that lurk beyond their windows? And how can they protect their family when their minds are no longer their own?
The Rileys came to Victor’s Point seeking a new beginning. What they find could end everything.
"I love you. I’m sorry. Please, forget me."
For Jacob and Hannah Riley, the plan was simple: find an affordable place, flip a house, and build a brighter future out West. But when their search leads them to the crumbling Appalachian town of Victor’s Point, the couple quickly realize they’ve stumbled into something far more sinister.
Beneath its quiet facade, Victor’s Point hides unsettling secrets. Strange lights prowl the skies, friendly faces conceal dark intentions, and Hannah begins to manifest abilities that defy explanation. As the lines between reality and deception blur, unsettling questions arise: Why were they drawn to Victor’s Point? Who are the blue-eyed strangers that lurk beyond their windows? And how can they protect their family when their minds are no longer their own?
The Rileys came to Victor’s Point seeking a new beginning. What they find could end everything.
I lay in my crib and listened to the high mountain wind buffet against the rough wooden walls of the cabin and the muted arguments of my parents in the next room. I couldn’t hear their words – wouldn’t have made a difference if I could, as I couldn’t yet speak. But I could read their emotions, like pulsing waves of midnight black water, washing over me, into me.
Daddy was torn. Love warred bitterly with obligation inside his heart. Inside my Mommy, love had burst aflame into rage, then to obduracy. I felt their emotions collide into each other, fight, grow louder and more out of control, all while the hard whispers in the next room evolved into grumbling shouts of frustration. And beneath it all was fear. A fear so deep and intense it felt like tar flowing down my throat, choking me.
I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to shut out the sensations but not knowing how. The storm of their conflict left me disoriented, filled my head with painful thoughts too large for me to understand. I began to thrash, then to cry, a ringing pain growing in my head with each barbed word they flung at each other. Eventually, their shouts turned to screams, someone hit something, the dull smack of flesh against wood.
I wanted Mommy and Daddy to stop. I wanted my Mommy to come and hold me, feed me and make the bad feelings go away. So I screamed, louder and louder, pushing every note until my little lungs burned and the coppery taste of blood flecked the back of my tongue. Then, suddenly, I opened my eyes and they were there.
Mommy looked down at me, her wide, mud brown eyes hidden behind a curtain of blonde hair. She had a narrow, hawkish face and a long neck, like a stork. Daddy, by comparison, was slighter, narrower across the shoulders, with short wavy black hair and eyes just like mine, a deep, unnatural blue.
Mommy picked me up, tucked me into the crook of her arm, and said something to Daddy, who slipped from the room. Then she was talking to me, holding me up to her eye level, her voice soft and loving. Her words were meaningless, but I could read her intention.
She loved me. She was going to keep me safe. Things would be very scary, very soon.
She took me from the nursery, and everything began to happen very fast. Images seared into the darkest corner of my mind as a series of snapshots. My daddy in the kitchen, shoving mason jars full of preserves into a bag. My Mommy clutching me as we slipped out into the rain. Hiding behind the outhouses while we waited for a patrol of sentries to pass, skittering by on their strange, elongated limbs. An old, rusted sedan, hidden beneath a tarp. The sound of the engine rumbling to life. Then my Mommy’s scream, her face contorted in panic as she pointed towards the rearview mirror. The image of a dozen pairs of glowing eyes, chasing our car down the one road off Mount Olympus.
More screaming, shouting. I started to wail again and my Mommy pressed me to her breast. The car jerked and skidded along slick mountain roads, my terrified heartbeat joined my mother’s like the bellowing of some great drum. Daddy touched the side of his head, looking pained, and said something to my Mommy before the car screeched to a stop. Suddenly Mommy was shouting at him, slapping at his shoulder with tears in her eyes. Then, I felt it too.
A hand clasped down over my mind. I felt someone pulling me open, peering inside at the strange little dreams of infants. Then, I heard a voice that spoke not in words but in meaning, a sudden understanding.
Turn back. End this foolishness and come home. She isn’t worth it.
The words were meant for Daddy, and they came with images: of Daddy and me sitting at the dinner table beside granddaddy, all smiling and laughing.
I will find you, the message said. And then you will be sorry.
Then, an image of Mommy, hanging from a tree with black holes where her eyes had been.
Daddy recoiled, then looked at Mommy. He whispered something to her, then kissed her forehead. She shook her head, sobbing, clinging to his shirt. He pulled away all the same. Then, he looked at me, eyes swimming with love and a fierce determination. He said something to me that felt like goodbye and I wailed, reaching for him with stubby little fingers.
Daddy, Daddy no, don’t go, no.
He reached to me and stroked the top of my head, smiling sadly. Then, he sent me a thought, one filled with warmth, love and a pain that rattled my heart.
I love you. I’m sorry. Please, forget me.
I felt his hand inside my mind, encircling my thoughts, squeezing them into a cage. In an instant I could no longer feel his emotions, couldn’t sense the raw animal hunger in those who chased us. My mind had become a black box where it had once been a window. I screamed, thrashing in my mother’s arms, suffocated.
Then he was gone, jumping from the driver’s side seat and running back up the road the way we had come. A moment later, I was jammed into the car seat in the back, Mommy got behind the wheel, and we were moving again. Facing the rear window, I watched the shadowy figure of my daddy running up the road, towards the glittering sea of blue eyes that soon enveloped him.
We made it off the mountain, off the dirt roads and onto ones made from smooth asphalt. I watched the rhythmic waves of passing highway lights wash over me. Soon, my throat hoarse, I stopped crying. Soon, I slept. And when I woke, I had done exactly what Daddy told me to do and forgotten him entirely.
The Light Between Us is a compelling blend of sci-fi and horror that tells the story of a young married couple, Jacob and Hannah Riley, who move to a small Appalachian town with their baby daughter Wendy. Running from a dark and violent past, strapped for cash and determined to build a better life for themselves and their child, they try to keep to themselves and stay out of trouble, until trouble finds them. Mysterious figures invade their house, they encounter strange neighbors that try to befriend them and offer cryptic advice, Hannah begins to develop telepathic powers, and someone or something might be after little Wendy. And half the town seems to have experienced strange sightings of a seemingly sentient light in the sky. As the couple's patience begins to fray under the totality of curious incidents that seem to happen around them, it becomes increasingly harder to stick to the promises they made to each other to lead a peaceful, non-violent life. Soon, they begin to realize not everyone in the small town is who they claim to be, and there are higher powers at work that try to make pawns out of the inhabitants of Victor's Point - but to what end?
The story is told in the first person, mostly alternating between Jacob and Hannah's point of view, but some other characters have their own chapters as well. The parts told by Hannah and Jacob respectively are easily distinguishable from one another because of how well the characterization is done. They each feel like a separate person with their own quirks and their own ways of seeing the world, bound together by their love. Moreover, they are both immensely likable and easy to root for. Interspersed between the chapters are interludes that detail hypnosis sessions with Hannah and Jacob, in which they outline events from their past before settling in Victor's Point. This is a great narrative choice because it offers a natural break in the story, and also gives us crucial background information about the characters in an organic, nondisruptive way.
The violent scenes are immersive and visceral, only adding to the horror, because they are used in the exact places where they have the most impact. Furthermore, the book relies on one of the most effective kinds of horror out there - an undercurrent of weirdness under a seemingly normal facade. Not knowing who in the small town can be trusted and what agendas the different characters have keeps the reader on edge as the mystery slowly unfolds. Some of the most impactful scenes start in a seemingly innocuous way, with an encounter that escalates into something otherworldly even as the rest of the world continues with its regularly scheduled programming - that pocket of chaos and reality-bend is extremely effective.
Significant elements of the story seem to function as an homage to UFO and alien lore, with names inspired from famous alleged encounters, characters that study UFO encounters, and a generous mix of sceptics and believers. These sci-fi elements are skillfully mixed in with horror and a very successful character study, especially of Jacob and Hannah and their relationship. The struggles they face are exceptionally real and portrayed in a believable way, and the violent, drug-fueled life they try to escape is juxtaposed very effectively with the new, supernatural horrors they face in Victor's Point. Ultimately, as the author states in the acknowledgements, this is a story about love most of all, and the love Hannah and Jacob have for each other and for Wendy is profoundly moving and represents the beating heart of the story. Far from being just gimmicks, the sci-fi and horror elements serve to ground a story about love, trust, and overcoming trauma in a profound and moving way.