A story by Joe Hill with eldritch demons, magic keys, and massive amounts of family trauma? There aren't enough buckets to contain the tears that flow in this tale.
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Chapter 1: Welcome to Lovecraft
- Rendell Locke's funeral. Poor Tyler can only sit stunned as his friends try to comfort him, only for him to eventually break down crying in his uncle's arms.
- When Tyler later thinks about how he inadvertently gave Sam Lesser the idea to kill his father, all he can do is cry and veer dangerously close to depression and self-loathing.
- Nina axes Al Grubb in the back of his head with tears streaming down her face after the trauma she has just endured.
- When talking with Tyler about their dad's murder later at Keyhouse, Kinsey tears up, clearly still very shaken by what happened.
- Later, when alone, Kinsey begins reliving the experience of her and Bode hiding from Sam Lesser. She hugs a pillow tight and bites her lip until it bleeds.
- Bode, too, grieves for his father. After a particularly horrifying nightmare, where he sees his dad's blown-open face up close, he wakes up in tears.
- Even thinking of Sam causes him to get upset. And, he breaks down even more when he finds out that Dodge's echo, clearly an evil character, knew his father somehow. Poor Bode is only six years old and has to deal with all this grief and confusion.
- Sam Lesser's descent into madness. He starts out as a quiet, smart kid. However, his mom's negligence, his dad's physical abuse, bullying at school, and the eventual influence of a demon lead him to murder.
- Nina, in pure shock, breaks down crying when she thinks that Sam has killed Tyler.
Chapter 2: Head Games
- Professor Ridgeway's bittersweet reminiscing over his dead wife, Callie. It's clear he still misses and loves her dearly, and is constantly wracked with regret over the things they didn't do together.
- His own untimely death is tragic, too. Shot in the bathtub by a demon-possessed former student.
- Kinsey, still very upset over the recent events that happened to her family, breaks down in tears over receiving the news of Ridgeway's death. It doesn't help matters that he was very kind to her and was recruiting her for the winter play, and she in turn enjoyed his class. It takes "Zach", Tyler, and Duncan to eventually calm her down.
- The inside of Tyler's psyche is filled with representations of his grief:
- Rendell's face with its gaping bullet hole
- Kinsey and Bode nearly submerged in buckets of white paint
- Tyler standing over his dad's urn, with Sam Lesser whispering in his ear about how Rendell's death is his fault
- A young man in handcuffs, who we'll later learn was the drunk driver that crashed with Kinsey in the passenger seat, an accident also wracking Tyler with guilt
- Various clones of Tyler in various states of grief and despair
- When Ellie remembers how many people have died because of "Zach", she takes a cold shower, tears streaming down her face.
- "Zach's" behavior toward her is getting worse, too - it's strongly suggested that he sexually abuses her during that shower. It's clear that Ellie has buried a great deal of trauma over the years, and "Zach's" reappearance in her life is making her relive all of it.
- Jordan's reaction upon Tyler using the Head Key on himself. Beyond just being freaked out, it's clear that things have happened to her to make her untrustworthy of people.
- Brian and Duncan are unable to spend even a few minutes at a local bar without a couple of homophobes giving them grief.
- Not to mention Brian's eventual fate this chapter, run over and put into a coma by those very same homophobes who were staking out his house.
- Kinsey's sadness sprite is constantly crying, and represents the part of herself that is traumatized by the deaths in her family and school.
- Not to mention, it's very sad that Kinsey is so hurt inside that she would want to remove those parts of herself anyway.
- Apparently, Ellie tried to warn Ridgeway that "Zach" was coming for him, but couldn't even dial the right number because of "Zach" tampering with her memory. She cries uncontrollably as she realizes there's nothing she can do to help him.
- Speaking of memory tampering, "Zach" eventually removes all the memories of himself from Ellie's brain. Even though he's demon-possessed, it's still sad that she won't remember the man she once loved.
- Ellie's home life. Her mother horribly abuses both her and Rufus, to the point of him breaking down in tears.
- Later, Ellie prepares herself to kill her mother by pushing her down a seaside cliff. When she can't bring herself to do it, she runs away crying.
Chapter 3: Crown of Shadows
- Nina's discovery of Brian's injuries pushes her further into alcoholism. When she shows up drunk to Tyler's room, crying uncontrollably, he has to help put her to bed.
- When Kinsey, Scot, Jamal, and Jackie finally escape the cave, Jackie bursts into tears at Kinsey's nonchalant reaction.
- Later, Kinsey tells Nina to her face that she won't cry for her if she crashes her car while driving drunk. Nina, in turn, starts crying herself, and just keeps drinking more and more.
- The domestic violence incident in the epilogue. Nina, after watching old home videos of Rendell, tries to drunkenly juggle plates to impress her kids. When they fall to the ground, she blames Kinsey, causing all her children to leave in disgust. Later, she tries to use the Mending Key to bring Rendell back via his ashes, but instead creepily hugs Tyler instead. In the ensuing argument, a furious Nina slaps Kinsey in the face, leading Bode to burst into tears and beg everyone to stop. Nina still gets in one last nasty dig at Tyler before everyone heads to bed. In a story full of murder and demons, this is one of the most intense and tragic scenes that Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez bring to life.
Chapter 4: Keys to the Kingdom
- Tyler, when finding out about "Zach" and Kinsey's relationship, breaks down crying again with guilt about what happened to his father.
- The sparrow massacre is incredibly upsetting to Bode, who had just been welcomed as one of the flock via the Animal Key.
- The end of Tyler and Jordan's relationship. After he is incredibly caring and forgiving to her, she cheats on him with the captain of the hockey team. Many tears are shed by both parties.
- And, when Scot catches Kinsey and Jamal sharing memories with the Head Key, his jealousy and pain lead him to cry as he walks away. Later, the two start fighting outside of the school building, tears streaming down both their faces.
- Rufus finds his dead mother on the floor after Dodge has stabbed her and torn her lip off. All he can do is cry and tenderly kiss her cheek.
- The end of this chapter, which results in Sam dead for good, and Dodge now possessing Bode's body without anyone the wiser. Oh, and he has the Well Key again. It's a gut-punch to see a thoroughly evil villain score such a decisive victory.
