He Came Back Hungry: My Family’s Curse

Death never scared my family—until the day Grandma died and a stray cat brought her back. In Maple Heights, rumors fly faster than the autumn leaves, and nothing sets tongues wagging like a resurrection in broad daylight. Now, as ghost stories and Appalachian folklore collide on our front porch, my paralyzed grandma is walking, the neighbors are whispering about zombies, and Mom is laying down lines of rice to test the truth. But when Grandma’s hunger returns—and the kids start seeing fangs in the dark—one family dinner might turn into our last. Is blood thicker than superstition, or have we invited something into our home that won’t let us go? How do you save the ones you love when they come back…wrong?

Death was supposed to bring peace—but for Maddie’s family, Grandpa’s hunger only began in the grave. On the sweltering third night after his passing, Maddie hears her grandfather’s voice—starved and desperate—echoing from his coffin, demanding barbecue. When Grandma burns herself alive in the old stove, the family dismisses Maddie’s warnings as childish nightmares, even as the body count rises and the caskets multiply under the funeral tent. Each night, the voice grows hungrier, craving flesh and turning kin against kin. As ancient vigil rituals fail and whispered secrets unravel, Maddie must face a monstrous truth: some hungers never die, and some family curses demand a final, terrible sacrifice. Who will be devoured next—and can Maddie break the cycle before the skinwalker claims them all?

Survival is a cruel teacher—and family is its sharpest lesson. When her father kills her mother, a desperate young girl flees into the storm-lit streets of Chicago, clutching only her mother’s dying wish: find Uncle John Redford, the city’s war hero. But when blood proves colder than steel, hunger and humiliation drive her to the edge of darkness—where even a scrap of bread comes at a price. In a world where cruelty wears a polished face and love is a weapon, she must bargain for her next meal and face the ghosts of a shattered home. Can she claw her way back to hope—or will the sins of her family bury her for good?

In Maple Heights, nothing is more coveted—or more cursed—than a taste of 'unborn lamb.' For years, the narrator has lived in the shadow of this secret dish, whispered about with pride but never questioned—until a violent night tears their family apart. When a charismatic outsider's arrival triggers scandal, betrayal, and a brutal beating, the narrator's mother is left battered and alone on the infamous Ironwood Ridge. As the town closes in with its own demands, a chilling request for 'unborn lamb' exposes old wounds, forbidden truths, and a horrifying connection between family loyalty and sacrifice. Why does the town crave this dish? What price will the narrator pay to protect their mother—and themselves? When love, hunger, and cruelty mix, who survives the feast?

Death isn’t the end in Maple Heights—it’s only the beginning of vengeance. When Lily’s cursed aunt dies wearing red and the family chickens start dropping dead, everyone suspects a haunting, but the truth is darker: Aunt Mary Jean returns as a bloodthirsty fiend, and the family’s secrets unravel in blood and betrayal. As men fall and monsters rise, Lily—scorned, plain, and underestimated—must survive her brutal father, a town full of liars, and a supernatural showdown where everyone has something to hide. But nothing is what it seems, and the real puppetmaster is closer than she thinks. Can Lily break the curse, or will she become the next victim of a legacy soaked in revenge? When the dead come for the living, who will survive the night?

A wild raccoon and a black snake crash dinner, and by morning, Great-Uncle Ray is dead—buried headfirst in a pit he dug himself. As the family reels from shock, old superstitions surface: omens, curses, and warnings that this death is only the beginning. When a mysterious expert arrives, secrets unravel—rituals are performed, hair is cut, and Mason finds himself caught between folklore and fear. But when he's sent on a simple errand, the world turns strange: time freezes, fog swallows the roads, and the village seems abandoned. Is something hunting the family, or is Mason already lost to the curse? What debt is the snake here to collect—and can anyone escape before the darkness claims another life?

Every time someone hurt Mom, fortune rained down on them—money, love, success. But beneath her bruises, I saw something inhuman: she wasn’t just a hard-luck woman, but a creature who fed on the pain, quietly draining the lives of those who tormented her. Now, as my family’s cruelty spirals, I’m forced to choose—save Mom, or save myself before her curse devours us all.

Desire is a hunger that devours everything—even the truth. Savannah was once a maid, now the invisible wife in a mansion haunted by secrets and the sharp-eyed, pregnant newcomer who claims to be family. Cassie, a cunning transmigrator from another world, manipulates her way to the center of the Whitaker estate, but Savannah knows: hope is the most dangerous thing to feed in this house. As the young lord’s obsession with tradition, food, and legacy twists every relationship, old wounds resurface and new betrayals simmer. In a place where the roses bloom over buried bodies and the game is always rigged against outsiders, who will survive when love curdles into rivalry and loyalty becomes just another transaction? When the price of one more bite is your soul, who dares stay hungry?

Death wasn’t the end for me—it was the start of a twisted game I was never meant to win. When I died, I learned the truth: my rich birth parents only brought me home because a mysterious system threatened to erase them if they failed. Love? Family? All a lie. Now I’m back on the day they took me in, armed with memories of betrayal and the knowledge that every kindness is just a move in their desperate struggle for survival. Carter—the golden boy—always got everything, but this time, I refuse to play victim. As I unravel the secrets behind my toxic new home and the system that controls us, one thing becomes clear: in this family, affection is a currency, and I’m done selling myself short. If I refuse to play by their rules, who will break first—their golden son, or the system itself?

Death was just the beginning of my mother’s cruelty. When I died unloved and penniless, she erased my family and handed our home to my brother’s wife. But fate—or something darker—sent me back to the very day she moved in, with all my memories and rage intact. This time, I refuse to be the obedient son who loses everything. As my wife and daughter face her wrath, I discover I’m not the only one who remembers our old life—and together, we plot to save what’s left of our family. But my mother’s venom runs deep, and in a small town, one wrong move can ruin you forever. Can I protect the people I love, or will the past repeat itself with even worse consequences?

Caleb has spent his life hiding in the shadow of his golden twin, enduring his mother’s cruelty and his family’s dark secrets inside their famed Southern restaurant. But when a powerful outsider offers a fortune for the recipe that built their fortune, betrayal, violence, and forbidden desires threaten to rip his world apart. With everything at stake—including his own hope for escape—Caleb must decide how far he’ll go to survive a family that would rather eat him alive.

Forced into a twisted marriage with a monstrous snake to save her brother, Hannah’s sacrifice turns her family’s desperation into a dangerous secret. As her younger sibling fights hunger and the pull of forbidden meat, the family teeters on the edge of ruin and betrayal. But the curse lurking beneath their roof is growing—and promises alone may not be enough to survive.