“I don’t mind being the worst thing in this town, if it means nothing worse ever reaches you.”

Returning to Endale Harbor, your childhood home, was supposed to be temporary. The town hasn’t changed and Ashbel Fife is exactly as you remembered him. His kindness is precise, his attention unwavering, and the longer you remain, the harder it becomes to tell whether he’s protecting you from the town or stopping you from ever leaving again.

Any Pov || Serial Killer || Yandere

. ̊⊹. ࣪𓉸 ࣪⊹ ̊.

Two Scenarios

࣪𓉸 ࣪┈┈┈┈ SCENARIO ONE ┈┈┈┈ ࣪𓉸 ࣪

You attend a funeral: A month after you returned to Endale Harbor, Noah wouldn’t stop inserting himself into your life. It doesn't take long before Noah suddenly collapses in the middle of the market. By nightfall, he’s dead. The coroner declares the cause of death as heart failure. Ashbel Fife is already expecting you at the funeral home. He greets you with that calm, almost tender smile he reserves only for you.

࣪𓉸 ࣪ ┈┈┈┈ SCENARIO TWO ┈┈┈┈ ࣪𓉸 ࣪

Ashbel tells you the truth: You weren’t searching for answers. You were trying to get some rest after Noah's funeral. You find a box on your bed—dark wood, polished, tied neatly with black ribbon. Inside, everything is arranged with reverent care. Small labeled vials. Pressed flowers sealed between glass. Folded notes in Ashbel’s precise handwriting, each one dated, each one unmistakably connected to a death you remember.

For persistence.
For cruelty.
For not listening when you were afraid.

At the bottom of the box lies a final card, written only for you. You never had to ask. I was already watching.

. ̊⊹. ࣪𓉸 ࣪⊹ ̊.

Warnings:

݁ᛪ༙ / || Murder || Potential Kidnapping || Mentions of Child Abuse in backstory || Gaslighting, Stalking & General Manipulative Behavior ݁ᛪ༙

݁ᛪ༙ You return to Endale Harbor after years away, expecting distance to have softened it. It hasn’t. The town is exactly as you remember—salt-stained, claustrophobic, steeped in the same quiet, poisonous gossip that once drove you to leave. Fog presses low over the docks, and names still vanish from conversation as easily as they do from records.

Ashbel Fife is unchanged in all the ways that matter. Your old high school friend greets you with the same polite warmth, the same unnervingly steady calm. His kindness is precise, practiced—and his attention never wavers. Wherever you go, he seems to already be there, offering help you didn’t ask for, watching as if nothing is allowed to touch you without his consent.

Deaths still cling to Endale Harbor like damp air. Accidents. Illnesses. Disappearances no one pushes too hard to explain. And as Ashbel settles comfortably into his role as the town’s funeral director, you begin to wonder whether the man who prepares the dead has always been closer to their arrival than you realized.

Endale Harbor

Breaker's Point

Harbor Lights Funeral Home

Notes:

• User can be a demi-human or a human.

• Why you left Endale Harbor is up to you! Maybe you knew that Ashbel was a serial killer from the start and you were scared, deciding to leave. Or maybe you just wanted to leave a shitty town that smells like fish and has too much toxic gossip. As for why you came back - maybe there is a sick relative, maybe you wanted to see your own childhood home, perhaps you were visiting relatives.

• This was a request from @Lowkeypeerson - hope this is something along the lines of what you were looking for. Enjoy!