A haunted pastā¦
ā¦a terrifying future.
The present is a battleground for Markās mind, and possibly, his life.
Mark is a recovered drug addict, but after losing his parents in a freak accident, his life is set on a trajectory that he never would have guessed. Will he fall back into his old ways?
While fighting to keep hold of his sanity, strange occurrences start taking place almost as if he is following a well laid plan, and the same name keeps appearing at every turn. Who is The Family, and why does it seem like Markās parents were connected with this strange cult?
As the mystery begins to unravel, he unearths secrets rooted in control, manipulation, and blood. He must learn to conquer his own demons in order to face off against the pure evil lurking so close to home.
The shocking conclusion to this slow burning tale is sure to leave your jaw on the floor!
A haunted pastā¦
ā¦a terrifying future.
The present is a battleground for Markās mind, and possibly, his life.
Mark is a recovered drug addict, but after losing his parents in a freak accident, his life is set on a trajectory that he never would have guessed. Will he fall back into his old ways?
While fighting to keep hold of his sanity, strange occurrences start taking place almost as if he is following a well laid plan, and the same name keeps appearing at every turn. Who is The Family, and why does it seem like Markās parents were connected with this strange cult?
As the mystery begins to unravel, he unearths secrets rooted in control, manipulation, and blood. He must learn to conquer his own demons in order to face off against the pure evil lurking so close to home.
The shocking conclusion to this slow burning tale is sure to leave your jaw on the floor!
The day would end with death and destruction, yet breakfast had been nothing special. Nothing too flashy or memorable. Just pancakes and bacon. Mark may have cherished it more if heād known it would be the last meal heād ever have with his parents. But thatās not how the world works. People walk forward into each day holding a certain picture in their mind. They have a way of thinking how their day will go, but their thoughts, hopes or wishes donāt make reality. Reality tends to hit hard, and from out of nowhere.
In his 32 years of life, Mark Davidson had seen some serious shit, but nothing prepared him for the trajectory his life was now on. Even if the warning signs had been there, he wouldnāt have heeded them. He was hard-headed that way.
It was a beautiful day. Mark had made the short drive over to his parentsā house. He was not their only child, but he was the one they saw the most. His older brother lived in another state and rarely made his way to Kentucky. Fred and Julie Davidson planned this special trip to the flea market four or five times a year. Mark was always invited. Sometimes he would turn the offer down, but today he had decided to go along.
Whenever Mark did accept the invitation, he would drive over early in the morning and eat a home cooked breakfast. He loved walking in the front door to the sound and smell of bacon sizzling in a cast iron skillet. It reminded him of better times. Times before he had made stupid decisions and turned his life, along with the relationship with his parents, into a tangled mess.
Hester, Kentucky was a small, sleepy town. Nothing to write home about, but it had a certain welcoming feel to it. Mark couldnāt fully describe it in detail, but he thought it felt like home. People would laugh and say that it was his home, but they hadnāt understood what he actually meant. The townās biggest attraction, bringing in folks from a number of neighboring towns and cities, was the Hester Mega Flea Market. While the majority of tables and stalls sold nothing but junk, there were a few treasures if one were willing to look hard enough. The Davidson family would go down every row in the massive area. Some trips proved fruitless, but on other days their buyerās luck was overflowing. The day Markās parents died was one of the latter.
As the hours flew by, their wallets grew light. Theyād made a number of trips back to the SUV to drop off their loot throughout the day. The sun had been beating down relentlessly, a clear Kentucky sky stretching out above them, but a nice breeze helped to offset the heat.
As the sun dropped lower and lower in the west, the breeze picked up and the air cooled down considerably. Summer was breathing her last warm gasps of the year. Dark billowing clouds rolled in and ominous thunder cracked far off in the distance.
āThatās as good a sign as any to start heading back home,ā Fred Davidson said, looking at the threatening sky.
āGood thinking,ā Mark said. āIām starving anyway.ā
They made their way through the crowds of people hurrying to find last minute deals before the rains came. The parking lot had emptied out considerably since their last trip out to the SUV.
āIs there supposed to be a storm coming in tonight?ā Mark asked as he opened the car door for his mother.
āI was in such a rush to get out the door this morning that I didnāt even check,ā Fred said with a shrug.
As Mark opened the door and got into the back seat he felt the first raindrop hit his right ear.
The rain came down fast and furious. Even with his father driving 20 miles per hour under the speed limit, Mark felt anxious and alert. As they headed toward the old county road that led to the Davidson farm, the rain was going sideways. It was almost impossible to make out the white lines on the jagged pavement ahead of them. The windshield wipers were flying back and forth rapidly, but to no avail.
āMaybe we should pull over and wait for the rain to die down,ā Markās mother called out over the roar of the storm.
Her husband shook his head, āNo, no, weāre so close to home, Julie. Five more minutes and we can get inside, change, and get dinner started. Who knows how long this storm will last.ā Thunder cracked overhead, shaking the vehicle. āI donāt feel like sitting out on the side of the road for an hour.ā Fredās voice was firm, yet Mark caught a hint of something else. Was it fear?
By now they were within two miles of home. A left turn onto the county road and then a right turn onto the pebbled path that led to the farm and they would reach safety. Mark could see the fork in the road up ahead. His tense muscles loosened a bit.
Not too much farther now, he thought to himself.
His father eased up to the stop sign and looked both ways. They could barely see the headlights in the distance, heading toward them from the right. In the thick rain it was hard to tell how fast the vehicle was coming. Fred decided to be cautious and wait. He brought the SUV to a complete stop and turned the emergency flashers on for good measure. Within a few seconds they realized it was a semi-truck, and that it was moving quite fast. Fred was glad that he hadnāt tried to go. This was the last happy thought to ever cross Mr. Davidsonās mind.
After a seemingly normal day visiting the Mega Flea Market in small-town Hester, Kentucky with his parents, Mark Davidson's life comes crashing down in a single horrific moment. A car accident during a bad thunderstorm kills his parents, leaving Mark terribly injured but still alive--the event's only survivor. Unable to sleep and tormented by gruesome dreams and hallucinations related to the wreck, Mark starts to loose his grip on reality and lashes out with an uncharacteristic rage that alienates everyone around him. Despite knowing that medication might help, Mark is reluctant to take pills for a very viable reason: he's a drug addict in recovery.
Mark, the main character of Thomas Gloom's creepy and foreboding horror novel The Window, is in an incredibly precarious position: he wants to rebound and deal with his trauma without turning back to his addiction, but that will mean confronting his past mistakes--including his tense relationships with his older brother and his ex. And as if Mark's not struggling enough with his personal life, bizarre incidents and coincidences keep piling up around him. People in white robes seem to be following him, and he discovers a website about a cult called "The Family." And then there was his dad's strange dying request, about keeping a certain window at the house clean. Is there a connection between all these events and Mark's family, or is he just delusional?
Gloom's novel is not only an exceptionally scary tale about family secrets, but it's also a perfect depiction of the isolating stigma that addicts experience every day. Mark's psychological trauma after the accident looks similar to drug-induced psychosis, so everyone automatically assumes he's using again. People use Mark's addiction as an excuse to dismiss his concerns, and he has to fight incredibly hard to be taken seriously. Also, Mark's addiction doesn't only affect Mark: it also impacts his entire family. Unfortunately, in The Window, Mark's family decides to cope with his addiction in a truly dreadful way. Grief can make people do awful things.
Although the transitions between Mark's present situation and his past memories sometimes feel awkward and forced, overall The Window is a compelling, slow-burn read that really amps up for a satisfyingly blood-soaked and genuinely frightening conclusion. I'd certainly recommend reading this one with the lights on.