Midnight Green Awakening

In the dead of night, Jordan Hadfield is awakened by his wife, Kayla, and led outside their RV, where an unnatural, sour-green light pulses through the forest. Their children, Aiden and Alex, are already entranced by the phenomenon. The family, drawn together by awe and a sense of unity, stands mesmerized before the hovering light. The experience is both wondrous and deeply unsettling, as the light's brilliance and heat intensify, overwhelming their senses. The moment is dreamlike, but beneath the surface, a smothering dread grows. The family's fate is sealed in this encounter, setting the stage for the horror that will ripple outward.

Fostered Bonds and Fears

Fourteen-year-old Nell Parrish, a foster child hardened by years of instability, prepares to leave her group home and best friend Lisa for a new family, the Palmers. The Palmers—Casey, Kacy, and their daughter Julie—welcome Nell with nervous optimism. Nell is cautious, wary of attachment, and keenly aware of the fragility of foster arrangements. She observes the Palmers' neatness and warmth, but keeps her guard up, knowing how easily such situations can sour. The chapter explores Nell's longing for belonging, her skepticism, and the subtle hope that this placement might finally be different.

The Blank Canvas Room

Nell is shown her new bedroom—a plain, undecorated space that feels like a blank canvas. The Palmers' efforts to make her comfortable are genuine, and Nell is surprised by a wave of joy at the privacy and potential of her own room. Dinner is a tense but hopeful affair, with Nell balancing the need to be open with the instinct to protect herself. The Palmers' kindness is real, but Nell's experience has taught her to expect disappointment. She resolves to keep her distance, even as she allows herself a sliver of hope.

Secrets, Cigarettes, and Goodbyes

Nell sneaks out to visit Lisa, her best friend from the group home. Their bond is deep, forged through shared hardship and dark humor. Lisa is jealous and fearful of being left behind, convinced Nell's new family will change her. Their banter masks real pain—Lisa's scars, Nell's guilt, and the knowledge that their paths are diverging. The night is filled with cigarettes, jokes, and the ache of impending separation. Nell's return is fraught with anxiety, as she's caught by Julie, who warns her not to squander the Palmers' trust.

The Entity's First Victims

Elsewhere, Paul Linklater, a troubled man, crashes his truck in the woods and is drawn to the same green light. The entity's allure is irresistible, and Paul, like the Hadfields, is consumed—stripped of his will and, ultimately, his flesh. The entity's feeding is both ecstatic and horrific, leaving behind only grotesque remains. The pattern is clear: the light seduces, enthralls, and destroys, moving from victim to victim, leaving a trail of devastation.

Cassette Hunts and Warnings

Kacy invites Nell on a quirky cassette-hunting trip, revealing her own childlike enthusiasm and offering Nell a glimpse of genuine, harmless passion. At a thrift store, Nell witnesses a homeless woman's breakdown and instinctively calms her, hinting at Nell's mysterious ability to clear mental distress with touch. Kacy is unsettled by Nell's effect on the woman, but the moment passes. Later, Nell is invited to a family camping trip, but the mention of swimming triggers her anxiety—she cannot swim, a secret she keeps to herself.

Fractures in Friendship

Nell visits Lisa and their friends, where underage drinking and talk of parties highlight the growing gap between Nell's old life and her new one. Lisa's jealousy and insecurity flare, leading to a tense, drunken night. Nell's attempt to balance loyalty to Lisa with her new opportunities strains their friendship to the breaking point. The next day, Nell's hangover is matched by guilt and fear of losing both her old and new families.

Hux: Silver-Eyed Hunter

In a distant attic, Hux—a hulking, silver-eyed man—arrives through a portal from the Void. He is a hunter of cosmic trespassers, drawn by the disturbance caused by the entity. Hux is haunted by memories and loss, his supernatural abilities a curse as much as a gift. He tracks the entity's trail of carnage, determined to restore balance, but burdened by his own regrets and the weight of his unnatural existence.

Fireworks and Fractures

Nell tries to invite Lisa to a family fireworks night, but Lisa rebuffs her, unable to accept Nell's new life. The Palmers' family traditions are foreign but comforting to Nell, who is both grateful and painfully aware of her outsider status. The tension between old loyalties and new possibilities comes to a head, leaving Nell emotionally raw and uncertain about where she belongs.

Lake Lessons and Dread

At the Palmers' cabin, Nell is taught to swim by Julie and the family, overcoming her fear with their support. The day is idyllic, but a storm looms—both literal and metaphorical. Nell's sense of belonging grows, but so does her anxiety, as the entity's approach is foreshadowed. The chapter is a bittersweet interlude of growth and connection before the coming horror.

The Storm Breaks

A violent storm traps the family in the cabin. Julie loses her phone, prompting a search that leads her and Casey outside. When they return, they are changed—eerily insistent that the others come see something at the lake. The family's concern turns to terror as Casey and Julie, under the entity's influence, begin dragging the others into the storm. Nell's unique ability allows her to break the spell on Kacy, but chaos erupts as the entity's light descends upon them.

The Light's Seduction

The green light enthralls the family, driving them to self-destruction. Nell, immune to its spell, desperately tries to save Kacy and Julie, but the others succumb—tearing themselves apart in a grotesque frenzy. The entity is fascinated by Nell's resistance, singling her out as an anomaly. In the chaos, Nell and Kacy attempt to escape, but are pursued by the possessed family and the relentless light.

Family Unraveling

Nell and Kacy's escape is fraught with peril. Casey is mortally wounded, Julie is killed, and Kacy is gravely injured. The entity's attention is fixed on Nell, whose immunity and mysterious touch both repel and intrigue it. Hux arrives, battling the entity with his silver hands, buying Nell and Kacy a chance to flee. The cost is devastating—Nell's new family is destroyed, and Kacy is dying.

The Entity Feeds

The entity, wounded but not defeated, abducts Nell through a portal into its alien domain. She is examined, debated over, and ultimately imprisoned by the cosmic beings, who are both fascinated and frustrated by her resistance. Their cold logic and inhuman curiosity are terrifying, and Nell is left alone in a cell with the corpses of previous captives, her fate uncertain.

Flight and Loss

Hux, tracking the entity, breaches its lair and rescues Nell in a violent confrontation. He destroys the remaining aliens and returns Nell to the human world, but not before she is deeply traumatized by the experience. Kacy, mortally wounded and under the entity's lingering spell, is brought to Tessie—a healer and Hux's ally—but cannot be saved. Nell is left to grieve the loss of the only family she dared hope for.

The Dread Void

Nell, now orphaned and marked by her cosmic encounter, is taken in by Tessie at Hux's urging. The authorities will never believe her story, and her old life is effectively erased. Hux and Tessie debate Nell's future, recognizing that her immunity to the entity's power—and the scent of "cosmic blood"—make her both vulnerable and valuable in a world where such horrors lurk unseen. Nell is given a room, a dog (Howard, the Palmers' survivor), and a fragile sense of safety.

Alien Captivity

Nell struggles to process her trauma and the revelations about her nature. Hux explains the concept of cosmic blood and the existence of beings beyond human comprehension. Nell's ability to clear minds is rare, but her true origins remain a mystery. She is haunted by dreams of the Void and the faces—both monstrous and familiar—that peer back at her. The possibility of future threats looms, and Nell's place in the world is more uncertain than ever.

Rescue and Reckoning

Tessie, initially reluctant, agrees to let Nell stay, recognizing the girl's need for sanctuary and the impossibility of returning her to a normal life. Hux, burdened by his own past and the weight of cosmic duty, becomes a reluctant guardian. Nell, Howard at her side, begins to settle into her new, strange home, but the scars of loss and the knowledge of lurking horrors remain. The story closes with Nell dreaming of the Dread Void, haunted by visions of her lost friend Lisa and the endless, watching eyes beyond the stars.

A New, Haunted Home

Nell's first night in Tessie's house is restless, filled with nightmares of the Void and the cosmic entities that now know of her existence. She mourns the Palmers and Lisa, uncertain if she will ever find peace or belonging. Yet, with Howard beside her and a new, if uneasy, family forming around her, Nell faces the future—marked, changed, but not broken. The Dread Void awaits, and Nell's journey is only beginning.

Characters

Nell Parrish

Nell is a fourteen-year-old foster child whose life has been shaped by instability, trauma, and a longing for connection. Her defining trait is a mysterious ability to clear mental distress with her touch, a gift that sets her apart but also isolates her. Nell is fiercely loyal, especially to her best friend Lisa, but is wary of attachment due to repeated disappointments. Her psychological landscape is marked by guarded hope, survivor's guilt, and a deep-seated fear of abandonment. Over the course of the story, Nell's resilience is tested by cosmic horror and personal loss. She emerges changed—traumatized but not defeated, her sense of self forever altered by her brush with the supernatural and the destruction of the only family she dared to trust.

Kacy Palmer

Kacy is Nell's foster mother, a woman whose exuberance and kindness mask a deep capacity for worry and pain. She is the emotional heart of the Palmer family, striving to create a welcoming home for Nell. Kacy's childlike enthusiasm (e.g., her cassette collection) contrasts with her underlying anxieties and the trauma she endures. Under the entity's influence, Kacy is both victim and survivor, her mind and body ravaged by forces beyond comprehension. Her relationship with Nell is transformative for both, but ultimately ends in tragedy—Kacy's death is a devastating loss that cements Nell's sense of isolation and the fragility of happiness.

Lisa Carter

Lisa is Nell's best friend from the group home, a girl marked by scars—both physical and emotional. She is fiercely protective of Nell but deeply insecure, convinced that Nell's new life will leave her behind. Lisa's humor and bravado mask a profound fear of abandonment and a belief that she is unworthy of love or stability. Her relationship with Nell is both a lifeline and a source of pain, as the two struggle to maintain their bond in the face of change. Lisa's absence and the unresolved tension between them haunt Nell throughout the story, symbolizing the cost of survival and the ache of lost connections.

Hux

Hux is a supernatural hunter, a man transformed by his connection to the Void. His silver eyes and hands mark him as otherworldly, and his ability to traverse dimensions makes him both a guardian and a prisoner of cosmic forces. Hux is driven by duty but haunted by regret, particularly the loss of someone named Nathan. He is emotionally distant, his humanity eroded by years of servitude to the Void, yet he is capable of compassion—especially toward Nell, whose plight stirs something long dormant in him. Hux's role as rescuer and reluctant mentor positions him as both protector and cautionary figure.

The Entity (Green Light)

The entity is a cosmic predator, feeding on human ecstasy and agony, leaving behind only ruined bodies. Its power is seductive, overwhelming the will of its victims and driving them to self-destruction. The entity is fascinated by Nell's immunity, viewing her as an anomaly to be studied or consumed. Its logic is cold, its curiosity inhuman, and its presence is both alluring and terrifying. The entity embodies the story's central horror—the indifference and incomprehensibility of the cosmic.

Casey Palmer

Casey is Kacy's husband and Nell's foster father, a man who tries to provide stability and warmth. He is practical, supportive, and eager to make Nell feel at home. Under the entity's influence, Casey becomes a puppet, his love twisted into violence. His death is a brutal reminder of the story's central theme: that even the strongest bonds can be shattered by forces beyond understanding.

Julie Palmer

Julie is the Palmers' teenage daughter, initially indifferent to Nell but gradually warming to her. She is smart, sarcastic, and fiercely loyal to her family. Julie's relationship with Nell evolves from suspicion to genuine friendship, but she too falls victim to the entity, her death a devastating blow to both Nell and Kacy. Julie's fate underscores the randomness and cruelty of cosmic horror.

Tessie

Tessie is a healer and Hux's ally, a woman with her own mysterious abilities and a no-nonsense attitude. She provides sanctuary for Nell and attempts to save Kacy, but is ultimately powerless against the entity's decay. Tessie's reluctance to take Nell in gives way to empathy, and she becomes a reluctant guardian, recognizing the girl's need for safety and understanding.

Howard

Howard is the Palmers' dog, a silent witness to the family's destruction and a survivor alongside Nell. His presence offers Nell a measure of comfort and continuity, a living link to the life she lost. Howard's survival and adoption by Tessie and Nell symbolize resilience and the possibility of new beginnings, even in the aftermath of horror.

The Alien Collective

The collective of cosmic entities that abduct Nell are driven by curiosity and logic, debating her value as a specimen. Their inhumanity is evident in their clinical discussions of dissection and trade, and their inability to comprehend Nell's emotions or humanity. They represent the ultimate otherness—the unknowable, uncaring universe that regards human life as a curiosity at best.

Plot Devices

Cosmic Horror and the Unknowable

Abe Moss employs cosmic horror as the central device, using the entity's green light and the alien collective to evoke dread not through gore, but through the sheer indifference and incomprehensibility of the universe. The horror is existential—victims are not merely killed, but unmade, their agency stripped away by forces that cannot be reasoned with or understood. The narrative structure alternates between Nell's intimate, emotional journey and the broader, impersonal devastation wrought by the entity, heightening the sense of helplessness.

Dual Narrative and Perspective Shifts

The novel shifts between Nell's first-person experience, the entity's victims, and Hux's cosmic perspective. This device allows readers to feel both the personal stakes and the vast, impersonal scale of the threat. The alternating chapters build suspense, foreshadowing the convergence of human and cosmic storylines.

Foreshadowing and Symbolism

The green light, the recurring motif of touch (Nell's ability), and the blank canvas of Nell's room all foreshadow the intrusion of the cosmic into the personal. The cassette tapes, the lake, and the fireworks serve as symbols of normalcy and connection, soon to be shattered. Dreams and nightmares blur the line between reality and the supernatural, reinforcing the story's themes of uncertainty and dread.

Psychological Realism

Moss grounds the cosmic horror in the psychological realism of Nell's experience—her trauma, guilt, and longing for family. The supernatural is never divorced from the emotional, making the horror more immediate and affecting. Nell's ability to clear minds is both a metaphor for empathy and a literal plot device, allowing her to resist the entity and save others, but never herself.

The Dread Void as Liminal Space

The Void, traversed by Hux, is both a literal and metaphorical space—an in-between where the rules of reality are suspended. It serves as a narrative device for rescue, escape, and transformation, but also as a symbol of the unknown futures that await Nell and others touched by the cosmic.

Analysis

Abe Moss's Into the Dread Void is a masterful blend of cosmic horror and coming-of-age trauma, using the intrusion of the incomprehensible to magnify the everyday terrors of abandonment, loss, and the search for belonging. The novel's true horror lies not in the grotesque deaths or alien abductions, but in the fragility of human connection and the randomness with which it can be destroyed. Nell's journey—from foster child to cosmic anomaly, from hope to devastation—mirrors the existential dread at the heart of the story: that the universe is vast, indifferent, and ultimately unknowable. Yet, Moss offers a sliver of hope in resilience—the ability to endure, to find new bonds, and to carry on even when haunted by loss. The novel interrogates the meaning of family, the limits of empathy, and the possibility of forging identity in a world where the rules can change without warning. In the end, Nell's survival is not a victory over the cosmic, but a testament to the stubborn persistence of the human spirit, even in the face of the Dread Void.

Last updated: December 21, 2025