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Description
Here she IS... finally I'm uploading her ref!! Blackbirch is one of my most developed stories/settings and I'm so excited to share it!!
This covers Part II, CHEVRON's ref will cover Part II!
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TWs: death/murder, violence, sexual harassment/assault, suicide.

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Cheryl "Cherry" Vernon

Blackbirch (Part I) is a horror story set in the mid-80s in a secluded, heavily forested, small Christian town named Blackbirch, somewhere in the Pacific Northwest. It follows a troubled teenager named Cheryl “Cherry” Vernon (if you call her Cheryl she Will break your nose), who lives with her grandfather after her father left and her mother and grandmother both passed away. Cherry is an incredibly angry kid who struggles to get along with her peers, partially because she’s an asshole, and because even if she wanted to be social, she's very awkward. She kind of always was troubled and disobedient, but after losing her grandmother she was getting even sulkier, less willing to work at school, and downright aggressive to the point where she was lashing out at teachers and attacking other students physically when provoked.

So, it’s nearing the end of the school year, and Cherry’s grandpa is kind of sick of her just bumming around the house and being angry, so he makes her go get a job in an effort to force her to make friends. The only available place is working at a local entertainment facility, with the only available position being mascot costume performance. Having no real choice, she begrudgingly takes the job. This mascot costume is a bootleg of a character named Button the Lamb , from an obscure kid’s TV show called Scruffy Pup’s Farmyard Adventures.

So she works there and she actually does make a friend! 26-year-old Kevin Acheson, a cheerful guy who’s regarded well by the community. She’s seen him at church before. He performs as another character named Scruffy, and Cherry finds the job bearable if there’s another person to make it fun... Until it becomes obvious that Kevin isn’t as kind and friendly as he comes across at first.

Kevin, after gaining her trust, shows his true colors- he's a giant creep and incredibly predatory. Cherry is terrified of him, though she has such a distrust of the adults in her life that she fails to tell anyone about his advances and hopes he just stops eventually. Unfortunately, he doesn’t, and the stress of being forced to work alongside Kevin in a job she doesn’t even really like begins to build up over time. Cherry’s only coping skill when it comes to stress is anger, and she continues to become even more aggressive, threatening violence and lashing out at the slightest provocation, unable to sleep properly.

Eventually, Kevin corners her in the changing room of the entertainment facility.

Unable to escape him, all of Cherry’s built up stress explodes and, in a wild panic, she beats him to death with a brick.

She manages to get away with it without being caught, but this was right as the school year ends, and she’s left to sit isolated at home for about a month, thinking about what she’s done and letting the stress build back up again. She watches as the people around her mourn for the man they knew as Kevin, unaware of the monster he truly was, unable to bring herself to tell anyone the truth for fear that she wouldn't be believed. Isolated, scared, and angry, left alone for far too long in the boiling summer, the only thing she can think of to relieve the tension is more violence. Seeking catharsis, she sneaks into the entertainment facility, steals the unused costume, puts on the mask, and goes and kills again.

And, just like that, Cherry Vernon finds herself a serial killer.

She kills 7 people over the course of the summer, earning the reputation of “The Button Killer” (after the name of the character), each time in an effort to relieve stress and only pushing herself further to the breaking point. Her victims include her former best friend, her former crush, random citizens... really anybody who she can get her hands on. She always kills using blunt force trauma, usually with a hammer, and a signature of all of her murders is extreme overkill to the point where the victims are sometimes completely unrecognizable.

Finally, her grandfather decides to address his mounting suspicions that his granddaughter is involved with the deaths in Blackbirch, and attempts to bring it up with her calmly. But, well, Cherry panics and starts threatening him- She knew this must have been coming, and she’s terrified of consequences for her actions. As they argue, he threatens to call the police, and in an act of anger, panic, and desperation, she kills her grandfather with a kitchen knife.

This marks the official breaking point for Cherry. She did love her grandpa, distant as he was, and as he was her only family, she's now completely alone once again to think about what she's done. She hides his body in the bathtub and locks the bathroom door, living alongside his corpse for about a week, not sleeping or eating properly, before finally succumbing to her stress, calling the police on herself, putting on the costume, and committing suicide.

Cherry's body is removed from the costume, but her soul remains trapped inside, bonding with the fabric and taking a new form. Her story is far from over, and Blackbirch is far from safe.

-

To read about Blackbirch (Part II), check out CHEVRON's ref here .
Let me know what you think! Thanks for reading!

--
More Cherry:

Description
Here she IS... finally I'm uploading her ref!! Blackbirch is one of my most developed stories/settings and I'm so excited to share it!!
This covers Part II, CHEVRON's ref will cover Part II!
--

TWs: death/murder, violence, sexual harassment/assault, suicide.

-

Cheryl "Cherry" Vernon

Blackbirch (Part I) is a horror story set in the mid-80s in a secluded, heavily forested, small Christian town named Blackbirch, somewhere in the Pacific Northwest. It follows a troubled teenager named Cheryl “Cherry” Vernon (if you call her Cheryl she Will break your nose), who lives with her grandfather after her father left and her mother and grandmother both passed away. Cherry is an incredibly angry kid who struggles to get along with her peers, partially because she’s an asshole, and because even if she wanted to be social, she's very awkward. She kind of always was troubled and disobedient, but after losing her grandmother she was getting even sulkier, less willing to work at school, and downright aggressive to the point where she was lashing out at teachers and attacking other students physically when provoked.

So, it’s nearing the end of the school year, and Cherry’s grandpa is kind of sick of her just bumming around the house and being angry, so he makes her go get a job in an effort to force her to make friends. The only available place is working at a local entertainment facility, with the only available position being mascot costume performance. Having no real choice, she begrudgingly takes the job. This mascot costume is a bootleg of a character named Button the Lamb , from an obscure kid’s TV show called Scruffy Pup’s Farmyard Adventures.

So she works there and she actually does make a friend! 26-year-old Kevin Acheson, a cheerful guy who’s regarded well by the community. She’s seen him at church before. He performs as another character named Scruffy, and Cherry finds the job bearable if there’s another person to make it fun... Until it becomes obvious that Kevin isn’t as kind and friendly as he comes across at first.

Kevin, after gaining her trust, shows his true colors- he's a giant creep and incredibly predatory. Cherry is terrified of him, though she has such a distrust of the adults in her life that she fails to tell anyone about his advances and hopes he just stops eventually. Unfortunately, he doesn’t, and the stress of being forced to work alongside Kevin in a job she doesn’t even really like begins to build up over time. Cherry’s only coping skill when it comes to stress is anger, and she continues to become even more aggressive, threatening violence and lashing out at the slightest provocation, unable to sleep properly.

Eventually, Kevin corners her in the changing room of the entertainment facility.

Unable to escape him, all of Cherry’s built up stress explodes and, in a wild panic, she beats him to death with a brick.

She manages to get away with it without being caught, but this was right as the school year ends, and she’s left to sit isolated at home for about a month, thinking about what she’s done and letting the stress build back up again. She watches as the people around her mourn for the man they knew as Kevin, unaware of the monster he truly was, unable to bring herself to tell anyone the truth for fear that she wouldn't be believed. Isolated, scared, and angry, left alone for far too long in the boiling summer, the only thing she can think of to relieve the tension is more violence. Seeking catharsis, she sneaks into the entertainment facility, steals the unused costume, puts on the mask, and goes and kills again.

And, just like that, Cherry Vernon finds herself a serial killer.

She kills 7 people over the course of the summer, earning the reputation of “The Button Killer” (after the name of the character), each time in an effort to relieve stress and only pushing herself further to the breaking point. Her victims include her former best friend, her former crush, random citizens... really anybody who she can get her hands on. She always kills using blunt force trauma, usually with a hammer, and a signature of all of her murders is extreme overkill to the point where the victims are sometimes completely unrecognizable.

Finally, her grandfather decides to address his mounting suspicions that his granddaughter is involved with the deaths in Blackbirch, and attempts to bring it up with her calmly. But, well, Cherry panics and starts threatening him- She knew this must have been coming, and she’s terrified of consequences for her actions. As they argue, he threatens to call the police, and in an act of anger, panic, and desperation, she kills her grandfather with a kitchen knife.

This marks the official breaking point for Cherry. She did love her grandpa, distant as he was, and as he was her only family, she's now completely alone once again to think about what she's done. She hides his body in the bathtub and locks the bathroom door, living alongside his corpse for about a week, not sleeping or eating properly, before finally succumbing to her stress, calling the police on herself, putting on the costume, and committing suicide.

Cherry's body is removed from the costume, but her soul remains trapped inside, bonding with the fabric and taking a new form. Her story is far from over, and Blackbirch is far from safe.

-

To read about Blackbirch (Part II), check out CHEVRON's ref here .
Let me know what you think! Thanks for reading!

--
More Cherry: