The Welcome to another edition of Nightmarefews and Peepers.

I'm Dan Cummins, and I'll be sharing the conclusion of another original short story of the fictional horror variety.

Before we jump back in, a quick recap of the

story so far. Ned Watkins, a man in its early 40s originally from just south of Seattle,

has returned to the Seattle area to bring the old Hermetic Healing Institute, across the sound from

Seattle and O'Lala back to life as the liminal lodge, a high-end occult-themed resort of sorts.

Nearly a century earlier, a woman named Dr. Mildred Blackwell had carried out strange

experiments there based on crossing over and exploring life after death. Her experiments involve

starvation, shedding one's shell, to loosen one's hold on this life and make a type of astral

projection more attainable. And enough of her patients died for the area around her so-called hermetic

healing institute to become known as Death Mountain. Ned lost in his grief over losing the love of

his life, a woman named Courtney, found out about the former Institute after

becoming obsessed with the occult due to an intense longing to reconnect with Courtney's spirit.

And his belief that he'll be able to do just that at the old institute by following the

ghost of Dr. Blackwell's guidance and notes from her old experiments have led to his death,

to him being murdered by Blackwell's ghost in the hospital,

and then imprisoned in her quiet room attached to the lodge, where she continues to run cruel

experiments in the afterlife in order to strengthen the hum and open up a portal between

the land of the living and the land of the dead that will remain open forever.

Ellen and Marco, along with Cal, have decided to

finish restoring the liminal lodge, as Ned would have wanted. And unbeknownst to either Marco or

Cal or anyone, Ellen has just confirmed that Ned's spirit has not moved on and neither has Dr. Blackwell's.

...