Line #84 Literature/Hometown2014


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3	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hometown-title_-_tv_tropes_version_3974.jpg]]
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5	It's the Fall of 1994 in the small milltown of Belford, New York. The leaves are turning, the kids are going back to school, and the heat of Summer is giving way to a cool, misty season. It happens every Fall.
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7	Only this Fall, people are disappearing into that mist. Some people are found torn apart, some people are found dead for no reason, and some people aren't found at all. Other people see strange things in the mist: ghosts and campfire stories.
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9	There's something out there in that mist. Something old. Something that has slept for a long time, but has now woken up hungry. Maybe the people of Belford could resist it, but as the terrible Fall wears on, more and more of them start...changing. Acting bizarre and violent. In the end, only a small group of teenage defenders are left to make their stand.
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11	Author is [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Tropers/Steinman76 a troper]]. For more of his work, check out [[http://horizondream.wordpress.com/ his blog]].
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13	----
14	!Hometown contains examples of:
15	* AbusiveParents:
16	** The first time we see Brenda Powers, she throws a glass at her daughter's face. Vicki ducks it with no difficulty, since it had happened so many times before, she knew it was coming.
17	** Both Natasha [=VanDyne's=] mother and Valerie Robard's grandmother count as emotionally abusive.
18	** Darren's father deliberately raised him to be a viciously misogynistic sociopath.
19	* AgonyOfTheFeet: The final attack of the Changed Ones against the unChanged population of Belford comes when Natasha is getting ready for bed. One car crash and barefoot run across broken glass later, and her injuries become a serious issue for the heroes to deal with.
20	* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Vicki and Val both have a tendency to end up with boys who are bad for them. They are aware of it and struggle with it, but occasionally fall back into bad habits.
21	** Downplayed for the women of Belford in general, who consider Darren to be a charming rogue instead of the dangerous sociopath that he really is.
22	%%* AlphaBitch: Natasha [=VanDyne=]
23	* AndIMustScream: The victims of the Heart Eater, trapped in an eternal nightmare while it feeds on their souls.
24	* AssholeVictim: What [[spoiler: Spook]] does to [[spoiler: Darren]] is horrific. [[PayEvilUntoEvil One could easily argue that it was deserved]], but it isn't done as punishment for [[spoiler: Darren's]] many, many crimes. It's done because [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness he'd become more trouble than he was worth]], and he [[BullyingADragon kept mouthing off anyway]].
25	* AttemptedRape: Darren takes brutal advantage of Angelina's incapacitation and the Heart Eater's assistance while she's in the hospital after a Heart Eater attack. [[spoiler: Only Vicki's interruption with a timely GroinAttack saves her]].
26	* AxCrazy: As his nickname implies, "Psycho Mike" is constantly on the edge of going berserk, possibly due to steroid use.
27	* TheBabyTrap: [[spoiler: While inside the Heart Eater, Angelina's nightmare is that she has been caught in this by Darren]].
28	* BadPeopleAbuseAnimals: [[spoiler: Spook]] kills Natasha's dog and horse as revenge for her bullying Vicki, [[EvilCannotComprehendGood something Vicki would never have wanted]].
29	* BadassPreacher: Father Sheehan. While many holy men have used their holy symbols to drive away evil spirits, fewer have used them to physically ''beat them to death''.
30	* BewareTheNiceOnes: Angelina Santos-De La Cruz is kind, friendly, generous, non-judgmental, well-behaved and religious. And she will ''break your arm'' if you threaten her friends.
31	* BigDamnKiss: This is how [[spoiler: Marc]] is able to convince Vicki that [[GoodIsBoring Good Is Not Boring]].
32	%%* BigFriendlyDog: Buddy. At first.
33	* TheBigGuy: Angelina isn't extraordinarily large, but fills this role by [[ActionGirl sheer physical power and training]]. At one point she pulls two (murderously angry) fighting girls apart, and they immediately stop trying to get at each other, because: "Both of them knew, even through their fury, that they couldn’t get through Angelina Cruz to each other. They might as well be on opposite sides of a solid wall. Perhaps they could hurt her, but then she would crush them both, and they still wouldn’t get a chance to get at each other."
34	** "Big Dave" Baumann is a more traditional version. Jason is tall, but doesn't have a lot of bulk.
35	** "Psycho Mike" is this for Team Jerk Jock.
36	* BreakTheHaughty: As the Changed Ones take over the town, the unChanged are ostracized and persecuted. This includes Natasha, and by the time things come to a head, she's even more isolated than the protagonists.
37	* BreastAttack: During a fight between Natasha and Vicki, Vicki gets Natasha into a headlock and Natasha rakes Vicki's breasts with her nails while trying to escape.
38	* BullyBrutality: People who cross Darren tend to suffer career-ending injuries. While they're in the locker room with Psycho Mike.
39	** While Natasha [=VanDyne=] is usually a social bully, she crosses over into this when she pours hot stew down Vicki's back, causing painful burns.
40	* BullyHunter: Vicki can take abuse directed at herself, but when she sees someone being bullied she just ''has'' to intervene, often violently. This usually makes things worse for her.
41	* BuryYourGays: [[spoiler:Kara. Val might count, too. She showed a few hints of being bi-curious in Kara's direction when they were alive, which apparently blossomed while they were trapped in the Heart Eater. Hard to say how much is IfItsYouItsOkay.]]
42	* ChildByRape: Vicki is terrified that she's going to have one of these after being [[DateRape date raped]] by Rodney.
43	** Angelina's nightmare after being consumed by the Heart Eater is that she's had one of these by Darren.
44	* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve: Unlike the ghosts, the Reaper and Shady never really existed as living creatures. Both were congealed out of the mist and half-believed campfire stories by the Heart Eater. This is how Shady could appear in a body of water that should have been far too small for a creature its size.
45	** This also gives the protagonists a means to fight back; anything that they believe in deeply enough is a source of power. See MagicMusic and ReligionIsMagic for examples.
46	* ContraceptionDeception: Practiced by many young men of Belford, usually in the form of slipping the condom off mid-intercourse or "forgetting" to pull out after promising to do so. This is the cause of a lot of the TeenagePregnancy.
47	* DCupDistress: Val. Sometimes she enjoys the attention (she particularly appreciates a compliment from Kara), but most of the time they're more trouble than they're worth.
48	* DateRape: Rodney does this to Vicki at least once via ButLiquorIsQuicker. Given the [[ValuesDissonance time, place and social class in which she lives]], she doesn't recognize it as such.
49	** Darren's stock-in-trade.
50	* DefeatByModesty: Averted. While Natasha is inflicting [[BreastAttack Breast Attacks]] on Vicki, she accidentally tears Vicki's shirt, exposing her breasts. Vicki could not care less and just keeps punching.
51	* DefiledForever: Related to AllGirlsWantBadBoys. On some level, Vicki believes she doesn't deserve to be in a relationship where she's treated well. [[spoiler: She breaks the pattern with Marc]].
52	* DeliberateValuesDissonance: The story is set in the early 1990's. Open bigotry against LGBTQ people and an attitude toward sexual assault that demonstrates why #metoo had to happen are just the most obvious differences.
53	* DemonicPossession: The Heart Eater has...use...for the [[SoullessShell Soulless Shells]] left behind after it [[YourSoulIsMine feeds on a soul]]. [[spoiler: An unusual variant, in that while the Heart Eater provides the driving will, its essential mindlessness means that ''they'' provide the intelligence and personality.]]
54	* TheDeterminator: Every single one of the protagonists, to one degree or another. They have to be; otherwise, they would have been just another snack for the Heart Eater.
55	** [[spoiler:Angelina. The Heart Eater didn't know what it was getting into...]]
56	* DisappearedDad: Vicki must have a father somewhere, but you'd never know it.
57	* DragonInChief: [[spoiler:Spook. Without him, the Heart Eater has no sentience of its own, being nothing but the spirit equivalent of an ant lion.]]
58	* DrowningMySorrows: Vicki after [[spoiler: Val's death]]. Unfortunately, it only leads to more sorrows.
59	* DyingTown: Belford is just starting to show symptoms in the main story. By the time of the DistantEpilogue, its case is well-advanced.
60	* EldritchAbomination: The Heart Eater. [[spoiler: Of the "blind idiot" type. Its apparent intelligence comes from elsewhere...]]
61	* EntitledToHaveYou: Rodney's attitude toward Vicki. [[spoiler: Also Spook's]]. Darren's attitude toward any woman who takes his interest at the moment.
62	* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Natasha and Alan Chadwick are both devastated by Maura Weston's death.
63	* EvilCannotComprehendGood: [[spoiler: Spook. He just ''cannot understand'' why Vicki is so upset that he had several of her friends killed.]]
64	* EvilIsNotAToy: Two people try to summon Satan over the course of the story. It doesn't work out well for either of them.
65	* FauxAffablyEvil: Darren is handsome and charming, which is his primary bait for his [[DateRape favorite hobby]], and his most effective tool for getting away with it (along with [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney his family's wealth and influence]]). The exact second he doesn't get what he wants, people start getting hurt.
66	* FreudianExcuse: Natasha [=VanDyne's=] mother is emotionally abusive, perfectionist and demanding.
67	** FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse: Darren's father deliberately raised him to be a hypercompetitive, bullying, viciously-misogynist sociopath. In no way does this make him more sympathetic.
68	* GeniusLoci: Whatever the Heart Eater was originally, it has become this to Belford.
69	* GiveGeeksAChance: [[spoiler: Marc]] is able to convince Vicki to do so, once he's able to convince her that [[GoodIsBoring Geeks needn't be passionless and boring]].
70	* GoneHorriblyRight: The aforementioned attempts to summon Satan. They were ''not'' prepared for what they got.
71	* GoodBadGirl: Vicki. The other sexually-active girls in the cast are perfectly nice people, but don't quite have the self-confidence to pull this off.
72	* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: Averted. While it turns out that Vicki doesn't need an abortion (but rather some help in overcoming her eating disorder, which had caused her period to stop coming), abortion was definitely considered as an option.
73	* GoodIsBoring: Vicki believes this. [[spoiler: Marc is able to prove otherwise]].
74	* GoodShepherd: Father Sheehan. He's seen far too much sorrow in all his years on the job, but he's there for his parishioners in their time of grief.
75	* GroinAttack: Darren takes advantage of Angelina's incapacitation after a Heart Eater attack to attempt to rape her. He thinks better of it when Vicki grabs his balls from behind and starts squeezing.
76	* HeroicBSOD: Vicki is driven into a brief one of these after [[spoiler: Val dies]], she's [[DateRape date raped]] by Rodney, and fears [[PregnancyScare she may be pregnant]] [[ChildByRape by that rape]]. You can't blame the poor girl at all. And it was exactly what the person who [[spoiler: killed Val]] hoped for.
77	* HonorRelatedAbuse: Angelina's father threatens this when he finds out that she's been associating with a lesbian all this time. It's even worse in her nightmare in the Heart Eater.
78	* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: Horrible as it is, the Heart Eater is ultimately little more than an animal. It was only after it started eating human souls that it started developing traits such as greed, spite and vindictiveness. Where it once would have stuck to weak souls like any other predator going after easy prey, it starts going after the strong souls of people who otherwise would have "gotten out" of Belford. And it is nothing compared to the human AbusiveParents, the vicious [[spoiler:Spook]] who aids the entity, and the misogynistic Darren. [[spoiler:Taken up to eleven when Spook becomes its mind.]]
79	* IfItsYouItsOkay:
80	** Played with. Kara experiments a bit with Jason, but although it goes well, all it does is confirm that she really is gay.
81	** Val shows no interest in girls other than Kara.
82	* JerkJock: Darren Edwards - rapist, bully, and captain of the football team.
83	** Psycho Mike, to the point of being AxCrazy.
84	* TheJuggernaut: The Reaper
85	* KillerRabbit: The coydog pup. It doesn't have a lot of physical power (no more than an ordinary puppy), but then, when it can ForceChoke a full grown German shepherd, it doesn't really need to.
86	* LastHetRomance: Not really a "romance" per se, but Kara tries heterosexual sex with Jason to see if she might not be bisexual. She is not.
87	* LousyLoversAreLosers: Played utterly straight. Positive characters are caring and thoughtful lovers. Their skills may not be that great - [[TheirFirstTime we are talking about inexperienced teenagers, after all]] - but even Kara's [[LastHetRomance last het fling]] goes relatively well. Meanwhile, two serious JerkAss characters are revealed as such by their selfish and callous treatment of their partners, while no fewer than three human villains are rapists.
88	* LovableJock: Angelina and Tiffany Chance are both on the field hockey team. Big Dave is on the football team, and Jason would be as well if he hadn't decided he couldn't stand another season on the same team as Darren and his cronies.
89	* MagicMusic: Marc is ''dangerous'' at the keyboard of a piano. The other characters' artistic endeavors have similar power via ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve.
90	* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: "Psycho Mike" Higgmann. The Reaper. The Roadster. [[spoiler: The Heart Eater.]]
91	* NoPeriodsPeriod: Averted. When we first meet Val, she's talking to Vicki about how a PregnancyScare has ended because her period finally came. The Chance sisters have a whole euphemistic code worked out.
92	* NobleBigotWithABadge: Rafael de la Cruz is a tireless, hard-working, conscientious sheriff who cares deeply for his community. He is also a good father...and he considers it his duty, as a good father, to ensure that his daughter has no further contact with her lesbian best friend. Who knows what happened during all those sleepovers over the years?
93	* NothingExcitingEverHappensHere
94	* OffingTheAnnoyance: Darren tries to [[BullyingADragon threaten and intimidate]] [[spoiler: Spook]], who doesn't actually care, but is tired of his lip. It doesn't work out well for Darren at all.
95	* TheOneWhoMadeItOut: The goal of all of the protagonists is to be this, though Val doesn't have the self-confidence to believe that she'll succeed, and Vicki's plan is a bit shaky. [[spoiler: The survivors succeed]].
96	* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: The easiest way to tell if someone has become a Changed One. Sometimes the symptoms are subtle, but when the local BigFriendlyDog turns murderous, you have a pretty good clue.
97	* OurGhostsAreDifferent: Alma Lorn, Luther Harfield, and The Roadster. Maybe the Reaper, too, but there's some question as to whether he was ever alive. All are very solid when they manifest, and seem to be under the control of a greater force. [[spoiler: Dissolve into mist if dispelled or destroyed.]]
98	* PregnancyScare: The story opens with a teenage girl in the beginning stages of one after having unprotected sex with her boyfriend. They don't live long enough for it to be an issue.
99	** When we first meet Val, she's just gotten over one of these.
100	** Later, Vicki has one where she's afraid she may be having Rodney's ChildByRape, and just when he's gone DisappearedDad no less.
101	* PsychicStrangle: As mentioned under KillerRabbit, the coydog pup is no more dangerous than an ordinary puppy physically...but since it can do this, it doesn't need to be.
102	* PsychoForHire:
103	** Except for Alma Lorn, the ghosts seem to serve this purpose for [[spoiler: The Heart Eater]].
104	** "Psycho Mike" Higgmann fills this role for Darren.
105	* QuestionableConsent:
106	** A number of girls are pressured or manipulated into sexual activities (''in addition'' to the outright [[DateRape date rapes]]). The story actually begins with a scene where a couple is having unprotected sex and the boy "forgets" to practice withdrawal as he'd promised.
107	** [[DeliberateValuesDissonance In keeping with the values of her time, place, and social class]], Vicki dismisses her DateRape by Rodney as being this at worst. After all, all he did was show up at [[spoiler: Val's funeral]] [[ButLiquorIsQuicker with a LOT of strong booze]] at the exact moment that he knew she would be desperately wanting to [[DrowningMySorrows Drown Her Sorrows]] and made sure to never take a sip himself...
108	* ReligionIsMagic: Related to ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve - anything that you believe in deeply enough can be a source of power. Angelina, Father Sheehan, Sven Olsen, and Kara all tap into this at one time or another.
109	* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: Natasha and Darren get away with a lot of things that kids from poorer families would not.
110	* SerialRapist: Several. Most prominently:
111	** Darren is a viciously misogynist sociopath who makes a sport of DateRape. We see one of his cruel games in the backstory of Alma Lorn, but even his "official" girlfriends don't escape.
112	** Rodney Dupre is more typical, as a boyfriend who doesn't take "no" for an answer from his girlfriends. Less violent than Darren, he [[ButLiquorIsQuicker prefers to take steps to make sure he never even has to hear it]].
113	* ShootTheDog: Literally. Sadly necessary when the BigFriendlyDog becomes a threat to life and limb.
114	%%* SinisterMinister: Luther Harfield
115	* SlutShaming: A large part of the bullying directed at Vicki and Val.
116	* SmallTownBoredom: Reason for many of the dumb and dangerous things the citizens of Belford do, especially the teens. For a common result, see TeenPregnancy.
117	* SoulEating: Souls are literally the Heart Eater's diet. A particularly horrific version, since the victims are endlessly "digested" while trapped in personal nightmares. Also has a certain "you are what you eat" aspect, since the Heart Eater, being essentially mindless, [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters wasn't capable of greed, spite, or cruelty until it started eating humans]].
118	* SoullessShell: What remains behind after [[YourSoulIsMine the Heart Eater has fed]]. But they don't stay that way for long.
119	* StalkerWithACrush:Both protagonists get one. Angelina gets Darren, and Vicki gets [[spoiler: Spook]].
120	* StockNessMonster: Shady. An odd and suspicious case, since all sightings report a creature ''far'' too large to survive and stay hidden in the bodies of water where the sightings took place.
121	* TeenPregnancy: A recurring theme. In the opening scene, we see a couple having unprotected sex, leaving the girl to fret about the possibility of this before something attacks her out of the mist, rendering the question moot. When we first meet Val, she is discussing with Vicki her relief at avoiding this. In addition to an earlier scare that happened offscreen, Vicki has a brief scare that she may have a ChildByRape from Rodney, but it turns out that her ''real'' problem is that her eating disorder has stopped her from menstruating. Vicki and possibly Val themselves are a result of this. Overall, this is treated as the surest way for a young woman to be trapped in Belford forever.
122	** Angelina is constantly warned by her elder female relatives that any sexual activity ''at all'' will result in this.
123	* TenMinuteRetirement: Vicki wants nothing more to do with amateur monster hunting after [[spoiler: Val's death]]. But after Marc and the rest of Angelina's crew help her deal with her PregnancyScare, she trusts them enough to turn to them about her other issues, and she's right back on the firing line at their side.
124	* TooSpicyForYogSothoth: [[spoiler: Eating Angelina was a big mistake on the Heart Eater's part]].
125	%%* TownWithADarkSecret: Oh, so many. With one big one at the core...
126	* UnusualEuphemism: The Chance sisters have developed an entire euphemistic code system about their periods. It's based on pasta sauce.
127	* VillainousBreakdown: The more Darren is balked, the more his FauxAffablyEvil mask slips, and the more [[ObviouslyEvil visibly psychotic]] he becomes.
128	* VirginShaming: A non-malicious example. Vicki and Val [[DeliberateValuesDissonance consider Angelina and her friends to be silly and naive]] for counting some of the examples of QuestionableConsent as rape. They attribute this "naivete" to Angelina & Co. being virgins.
129	* VoiceOfTheLegion: [[spoiler: The one and only time The Reaper speaks, it speaks in this. The Heart Eater is done pretending by that point; the Reaper is not and never was a separate being. It is only a pseudopod and mouthpiece]].
130	* YourSoulIsMine: Souls are the Heart Eater's diet, and it has several methods of collecting them.
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Context Literature / Hometown2014