Something has been watching them since the day they were born.
On Easter Sunday, twin girls Hope and Joy Murphy enter the world under strange and unsettling circumstances. Across town, a woman collapses in terror beneath a shadow that should not exist.
Years pass, but something lingers.
The girls grow up in a quiet, devout neighborhood where nothing ever happens-or so everyone insists. But whispers spread. A missing girl. A man who shouldn't be in the house. Shadows that move like wings. Birds that gather, watching.
Always watching.
As Hope begins to notice what others refuse to see, the line between faith and fear begins to erode. What once felt like protection begins to feel like surveillance. What once felt holy begins to feel...hungry.
And whatever has marked them since birth is getting closer.
Roost is a slow-burning descent into dread-where childhood innocence collides with something ancient, unseen, and deeply wrong.
Autorentext
Hope Madden is an award-winning writer, filmmaker, and film critic. Her novella Killer Pictures published in 2025 from World Castle Publishing. Her short fiction has been published in numerous anthologies. From Speculation Publications, her short story "Aggrieved" is featured in the 2022 feminist horror anthology Incubate, and "Birds and Beasts" is featured in the 2025 anthology, Vampire Hunters: An Incomplete Record of Personal Accounts.Madden's had four shorts published by Wicked Shadow Press: "Meat" in the 2024 anthology Flash of the Dead: Requiem; "Clown Wanted" in their seasonal anthology of the same year, Flash of the Dead: Halloween; "Customer Service" in their 2025 anthology, Petting Boo; and "Give Me Blood, and I Will Give You Freedom" in their 2026 anthology, Dark Vigil: Obliterate. Also in 2025, Madden's short story "Junk Food" appeared in the Arbutus Studios anthology Consumed.Madden's first feature film, Obstacle Corpse, is now streaming on Amazon Prime and Tubi. You can find her short films on YouTube at @maddwolfcolumbus.