The Silent Bloom

Escape the world. Enter Port Blossom.  But beware the silence.
War-torn journalist Marlowe Cain seeks solace in the unnerving tranquility of Port Blossom, Oregon, a town untouched by the global pandemic.  Nestled between the brooding Pacific and the imposing Cascades, it offers a sanctuary from the screams that haunt Marlowe’s sleep.  But the silence is a deceptive facade, a suffocating blanket woven with unspoken agreements and chilling secrets.  Children stare with vacant eyes, the local clinic stands eerily empty, and the townsfolk speak in hushed, measured tones, their smiles fixed, their gazes guarded.
Beneath the harmonious surface, a discordant note rings true to Marlowe’s finely tuned instincts. A faded photograph, a whispered rumor, a midnight ritual under the pale moon—fragments of a disturbing narrative begin to coalesce.  At the heart of this enigmatic community stands Dr. Elara Kessan, the town's physician and revered leader.  Her serene demeanor inspires unwavering trust, yet Marlowe detects a chilling pragmatism beneath her composed facade.
A hidden, leather-bound volume, discovered in the town’s deserted library, reveals a series of unsettling experiments conducted by Elara, experiments intertwined with Port Blossom’s unnatural calm.  Marlowe’s investigation deepens, drawing her into the orbit of Rhys Talbot, a reclusive fisherman haunted by his own secrets.  He speaks of “the Bloom,” a recurring phenomenon that bathes the town in an otherworldly luminescence during the full moon, intensifying the silence and deepening the mystery.
As Marlowe unravels the threads of truth, she uncovers a disturbing connection between Elara’s experiments and the town’s manufactured peace, a pact that implicates everyone in a conspiracy of silence.  The closer she gets to the truth, the more dangerous her questions become, attracting the attention of those who will stop at nothing to protect Port Blossom's carefully crafted illusion.  Marlowe must confront the cost of this manufactured tranquility—a cost far greater than anyone could have imagined—and decide if some truths are better left undisturbed.  In the heart of silence, a chilling bloom awaits.