Fiction

The Black Terror

A story of traumatic relationships and how wounds make us vulnerable.

Emily returns to her family home in Leicester after escaping an abusive relationship. The house is filled with echoes—of comfort twisted into control, and of childhood memories buried beneath trauma. When she befriends an eccentric sweetshop owner, a black dog begins stalking her.

But this is no ordinary dog. It is the Black Shuck—a shadow hound, a mythic portent of doom. As the creature terrorizes her, Emily quickly learns that death may be waiting around every corner.

‘Emily recalled dark images. Bones grinding. She saw bones -- young bones laying in the dark, sinking into mud.’

As she stumbles through the ambiguity of comfort, the terror of vulnerability, and the slow unpacking of her past, Emily begins to understand that healing isn’t just about becoming strong—it’s also a painful confrontation with truth.

The Black Terror is a novel about toxic relationships, emotional survival, and the mythic forces that shape our inner lives. It blends folklore, horror, and emotional realism to ask:
How do we recover from exposure to what we are most vulnerable to? And what must we risk to truly be free of it?

Themes,

Toxic relationships,

The architecture of healing and reclamation of self

Recognising the difference between predators and protectors.

Mythic symbolism

Emotional realism

Status and intent;

Currently in revision. Preparing to query agents and share this story with readers who believe horror can heal, myth can reveal, and fiction can transform.