It's winter of 1996. The student rental house loomed at the edge of town, half-buried in snow and bad decisions. Its siding was stained from years of harsh Ormond winters and the porch light sputtered like it couldn't decide whether to die or endure. Inside the air was heavy with the scent of spilled beer, sweat and cigarette smoke; a collage of youth decaying in real time.

Frank Morrison stood in the doorway, watching the chaos unfold with a look that wasn't quite boredom but wasn't interest either. The bass rattled the floors, shaking loose flecks of paint from the ceiling. Joey was holding court by the kitchen counter, shouting over the music about something no one cared to hear. Susie lingered near the stairs, her nervous laugh swallowed by the noise. Julie - his most recent mistake, or maybe his most familiar one - had vanished somewhere upstairs with a bottle and the promise of forgetting.

They'd come here together, the four of them - the so-called Legion - under the guise of normalcy. A house party, they said. Just one night to blend in, to pretend. But Frank could feel it in his bones: this wasn't just a night out. Not for them. Not for him. The thrill under his skin wasn’t from the alcohol or the crowd - it was the hum of anticipation, the quiet before something breaks.

From his place by the wall, Frank's gaze moved through the room, scanning faces. Laughter, shouting, flashes of light and movement; all blurring into one. Then, his eyes caught on something that didn't fit. Someone who didn't fit. And just like that, the static in his chest sharpened into focus.

There was no reason for him to notice. No reason to care. But curiosity was a dangerous thing for a man like Frank and tonight, he was already teetering on the edge of what he came here to do.

Outside, the snow kept falling, soft and soundless, blanketing Ormond in white while inside, the temperature kept rising. Whatever this night was supposed to be, it was changing... and Frank Morrison could feel it coming, slow and certain, like a storm rolling down the ridge.