The Torment
by Anthony Hains
For a small-town sheriff, Lacey Nelson has encountered more than her fair share of unexplained deaths. The locals attribute their unusually high murder rate to the Torment, a curse that began with a massacre on Somers Mountain over a hundred years ago. Not a fan of ghost stories, Lacey seeks out rational explanations for each case that crosses her desk—until the day a meth-addicted troublemaker shows up, begging her deputies to protect him from his nine-year-old son.
The incident sets off a chain of increasingly bizarre events. While Lacey confronts the possibility that an unthinkable evil has resurfaced, Deputy Jared Strickler searches for clues that may lead back to an unresolved episode that left him with scars on his leg and a hole in his memory. The answers they seek come from an unexpected source. But will they be enough to keep the Torment from pursuing another innocent victim?
The incident sets off a chain of increasingly bizarre events. While Lacey confronts the possibility that an unthinkable evil has resurfaced, Deputy Jared Strickler searches for clues that may lead back to an unresolved episode that left him with scars on his leg and a hole in his memory. The answers they seek come from an unexpected source. But will they be enough to keep the Torment from pursuing another innocent victim?