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Psychological Horror/Thriller Plot Help

@KoffeeOwl forum 3 comments schedule
@KoffeeOwl

So I have most of the plot (generally) figured out for this short story that I'm writing, except I cannot figure out how to start it. The basic idea is this: Ayame (my poor unfortunate child of a main character) ends up going out with a girl named Florence. Florence belongs to a family of cannibals and I want Ayame to figure that out in the beginning, but I have no idea how I am going to go about that. Here are some ideas I've considered so far:

  • Ayame sees…Parts in the family's refrigerator
  • Ayame stumbles across something that leads her to the conclusion Florence's family is doing something illegal while she is helping Florence move out or paint
  • Or maybe she's eating dinner with them and finds something strange on her plate that the family neglected to remove (or Ayame could have been handed the wrong plate)

I would also appreciate any ideas as to why Florence's family cannibalizes people. This is not necessary, but it would be nice to not have them doing this for no reason. Any and all advice is appreciated!

Have some bullet points:

  • Ayame is going to college for a business degree. So is Florence
  • Ayame wants to own her own event planning business (which of course, will not happen)
  • Ayame is 19, Florence is 20
  • Ayame has a friend that Florence is constantly using as "insurance"
  • Florence sometimes has Ayame help her with certain activities
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@Blossom_Utonium
Some ways to build up to the cannibalism

1) The family has no friends, no neighbors, no family, they seem to have zero people who are interested in being with them.
2) There's a weird, indescribable smell in the house.
3) They have a giant freezer in their garage.
4) An old anatomy book with weird red splotches sits where a cookbook would ordinarily be in a normal kitchen.
5) They discourage Ayame from opening the fridge/freezer.
6) They have no empathy for the pain and suffering of others.
7) Their trash smells awful.
8) Florence does NOT want to have Ayame over, under any circumstances.
9) They own a lot of knives.

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@lemon-gummy group

I absolutely LOVE physiological horror. so much. one thing i see a lot, and why i think it can be so, so interesting- add a TON of repetitiveness. take doki doki, one of the most well known- the way everything tries to continue the same way is fascinating (no spoilers lol). also make sure everything seems normal. say someone says something really weird, and (if this is like, a video game) their only responses are unrelated, suggesting they were supposed to be talking about something else- or "yes" and "no". also things seen as little things in personalities being taken a different way, such as-

  • laughing when unsure about something, at inappropriate times, or just randomly
  • never breaking eye contact
  • random/cryptic dialogue before something unusual happens

anyways hope this helps! i also love your idea