#(maybe???)

[thankchaosforspellcheck]

Need help finding a story

there was this horror story I read in a horror anthology when I was a kid that has been haunting me recently.

the anthology had some pretty good stories iirc (there was the classic about the evil ice cream man in there) but one really stuck out:

It was about this kid from India (I think?) who got adopted by a rich couple in America. The kid wasn't thrilled about the situation, but they were happy they got a stuffed tiger at least (cannot remember for the life of me if this kid was a girl or a boy but they miiiight have been a girl? maybe?).

The couple had apparently had several adoptive children before this kid and had a system by this point. The husband had checked out of the relationship entirely while the wife clucked at everything the kid did.

There was also this super ominous painting at the top of the stairs that had a demonic-looking woman in it holding a child. the child was almost completely enveloped in shadow.

As time goes on, the kid is visited each night by the woman in the picture. the child imagines that their tiger (who they had named after a tiger deity) was protecting them from the lady each night.

iirc on the final night, that belief became real, but the lady easily tore through the tiger (it was her house, after all). the ritual succeeded, and the couple could enjoy their riches and youth for a bit longer until they needed to grab the next kid.

meanwhile a very sad & scared visage of the kid stared out at them from the painting, doomed to be absorbed by the demonic entity inhabiting it just as so many other children were.

(of course, I could be misremembering that last bit. maybe the kid used the chance the tiger gave them to get away & ruin the painting! ...but I don't think it ended that positively)

---

anyways, if anyone recognizes this story, please let me know! I read it when I was like 8 in the public library & haven't been able to find it since, so I'd REALLY appreciate just knowing the name.

(one last thing to note: just remembered that it MIGHT have been in an anthology made by R.L. Stein. I was preeeetty obsessed w/ goosebumps at that age.)

[angelsandemons]

niffty did you know some species of insect don't have vulvas so the male just has a really sharp dick to get in there

"Ooooo, really?"

"So they stab!"

[astralier]

hmmm maybe naz.anin bonia.di zya this time??

[mists-of-ravenloft]

is that fucking Akasha

[the--other]

OOOOooooOOOOo- im wating your TIMEEREEE

" Are you having a stroke or something?? "

[sparrowsarecool]

Getting the sudden urge to wear men's clothes about monthly for a day doesn't mean anything, right?

Right?

[whatwouldeddiedo]

to answer the question are we gonna ignore kim:

the answer is probably. because ultimately that wasn’t the point of it all. that wasn’t the lesson meant to be learned. the lesson for eddie (and to an extent, chris) is that eddie is not perfect. he’s not some infallible hero who isn’t allowed to be selfish or make mistakes. he can’t be. no one can. that’s the lesson.

the lesson is that making a mistake that was made in grief and pain doesn’t make eddie a bad person or a bad father. the important thing is the love and compassion he has for his kid. the important thing is that he fixes it and he moves on from it.

and in him moving on from it, it allows chris to do the same. bringing it up again and again and apologizing over and over and trying to keep explaining it only prolongs the pain and the trauma and they are both at a place where they can move on and that’s okay.

and also, he talked about it with father brian and with buck and we know at this point the truth of who kim was has been explained to chris. we know he’s been torturing himself over it. he doesn’t need to do that anymore. he can move on with chris and find his happiness.

and he knows to be honest which i think is ultimately the really important thing. that was the point of the end of 3x12. apologize for the lie. that’s ultimately what hurt chris the most.

idk i just don’t see the point of dwelling and dragging the storyline on longer than necessary when they’ve covered the issues at the heart of it all because in the end it was more about eddie and chris than it was ever about kim.