PROLOGUE
This story is inspired by a tale that lies somewhere between legend and reality. The names of some of the characters and places are the product of the author’s imagination.
The beam of light from the torch pierces the darkness that engulfs the abandoned corridors of Lowbrook School, illuminating the peeling paint and rusted wheelchairs that lie in the same spot where they were forgotten years ago.
Meanwhile, the summer night weighs heavily against the broken windows, laden with humidity and oppressed by the chirping of cicadas. Somewhere in the overgrown grounds, beneath some twisted vines and a carpet of rotten leaves, the ground appears to have been disturbed.
Detective Sebastian Hunt stands at the edge of the forest on the eastern shore of Saten Land, watching as officers cordon off the perimeter with yellow tape. It is July 1987 and temperatures are reaching 32°C, but the ground beneath his boots feels cold.
They discovered Alice Stonnie’s body thirty-five days after she disappeared from her family’s camper van, less than three kilometers away. Thirty-five days of searching in the oppressive summer heat... thirty-five days of hope. The girl was twelve years old and had Down syndrome. Unfortunately, she will not be able to tell her story... unfortunately, she trusted too easily.
And now, in the shadow of a building where once numerous children with intellectual disabilities were institutionalized and forgotten, where scandals closed its doors but left the structures to fall into ruin, where today local kids whisper about a madman with a hook for a hand named Cleeman who lives in the tunnels, the legend has become reality.
The 12-year-old’s search ended in the worst possible way, but the investigation has only just begun. And Saten Land will realize that sometimes the monsters in stories told around a campfire are real.
