in order to begin a new life for himself & to avenge the life of his father , a former occult detective , marshall weatherly has traveled from his hometown of boston to mausebrook , connecticut to become the new writer for their newspaper's fictional oddities section ﹙ later known as ❛ the weatherly report , ❜ ﹚ as well as investigate the odd goings on in this seemingly happy little town.
danny estrada was a well revered occult detective. his work was unknown to the world of humans , but among other creatures & the netherworld / paranormal , he was respected , feared & even adored. he had no powers , he wasn’t really a magic user or had any bargains with demons. he was a human who earned his keep , but was also a threat to those who wanted to wreak havoc in the world. danny enjoyed what he did , but he knew he couldn’t continue on working like this forever. deciding to retire at a young age , he eventually settles down into a small apartment in boston , where he earned a job as a grocery bagger. on moving day , he bumped into a young woman who was about to finish her final year in her graduate program. all it took was one look , & he knew he made the right choice. two years later , danny & alana would get married , giving birth to their son marshall shortly afterward.
the first few years were blissful ━━ almost too perfect beyond words. marshall was a bright young boy who looked & resembled his father , a man he admired & wanted to be like. danny & marshall were very close & it almost seemed like nothing could tear them apart. then , life of course intervenes , & danny is contacted by an old friend in need of help. he tries to refuse , but he also can’t resist helping old friends , so he decides to do this one last case & then be done for good. alana , who knew of danny’s past , wished him well & danny tells marshall that he’ll be back in time for his final softball game. unbeknownst to the estrada family , that would be the last time they’d ever see danny & after a year of searching , he would be pronounced dead. at age six , marshall would attend his father’s funeral , which to him seemed pointless since his body was nowhere to be found. if there’s no body , then why were they treating him like he died ? it confused him , angered him & rather than stay for the remainder of the service, he leaves in a huff , breaking down in his room in private.
not too long after his father’s passing , marshall struggles with his speech. he’s always been a very shy , usually soft spoken child , but it’s almost as if his father’s death had made it worse. school becomes incredibly agonizing as he’s bullied relentlessly for his inability to answer questions in class , & it makes him more & more closed off the older he gets , less wanting to be around people. at the age of eight , alana decides to take marshall to a speech therapist , thinking it would be good of marshall to learn techniques to help him ﹙ she originally wanted to do it earlier , but with his grief / family counseling & therapist sessions , she didn’t want to overwhelm him ﹚. at the very first session , they are greeted by a very kind secretary named allison weatherly , who helps a nervous marshall ease up just before his session , making him laugh with her silly expressions & general goofiness. alana sees this & thanks her , and it gets the two to start talking. thursdays at the speech therapist’s officee become both marshall & alana’s favorite day of the week , if only because they get to see allison , who always seems to brighten their days. a year into the sessions , allison finally strikes up the courage to ask alana out , & not too long after , they elope & are officially married. when marshall turns 10 , allison asks if she can officially adopt him as her son , to which he happily agrees.
alana & marshall add the name weatherly to the estrada last name , not wanting to entirely lose their connection to danny. however , alana encourages marshall to use the name weatherly more , & he agrees , unsure why , but he didn’t want to argue with his mother. as marshall grows , his speech continues to improve but he continues to be bullied in school. puberty is unkind to marshall & it only makes the bullying worse , leaving marshall to come home upset & angry at people’s lack of acceptance of him. allison , seeing how angry he was , would approach him & try to get him to vent , but he struggles to get the right words out. she then figures out a system. using her records which she adored so much , she organizes her music by genre & based on the song or album that marshall plays when he gets home , it gives allison & alana an idea of what is going on with him. it helps marshall to open up , but it also awakens a love of music. on quiet nights when there was no work or school , the estrada-weatherly family could be seen laughing & singing to songs as allison plays them on her guitar. those were some of marshall’s favorite nights, but it also makes him miss his father & how he wishes he was around to see this.
as marshall reaches the age of 14 , he begins to have very strange daydreams. not nightmares ━━ daydreams , as they would happen in the middle of the day. the first time happened during a school field trip, where he sees someone in the distance calling out to him ﹕ ❛ hey kid. come a little bit closer. ❜ the person , if they were a person , was singing out his words to the tune to that jay & the american’s song , & before marshall could approach , suddenly he’s surrounded by his classmates , blood oozing out his nose. its dismissed as dehydration & he’s allowed to go home early that day , but it happens again a few weeks later, this time when him & his moms are out at a restaurant. he excuses himself to go to the bathroom & he recalls the music playing indoors. it was staying alive by the bee gees, but then . . . he hears someone else singing. the voice gets louder & louder as he approaches the bathroom , & then as he opens the door , something jumps at him. he screams , blacks out & is awoken again by a crowd of people , his nose bleeding & his pants wet. he’s taken to neurologists & doctors to try & analyze what’s happening with him , but they find nothing. allison tries to distract marshall’s worries & teaches him to play guitar. meanwhile , when the episodes happen more frequently , he’d stay home & watch tv with his mother when she returned from work , a lot of it investigative work & true crime documentaries. both his mothers helped to awaken two interests in him , & it helps ease the strangeness he feels when he has his dizzy spells / daydreams, the vision of someone getting closer with each visit , but he has no idea why.
once he turns 15 , the weird vision of the strange man stops & he suddenly can begin a normal life again. during this time , alana becomes a bit ill , though there is no explanation as to why. as the years go on , she becomes more & more ill , & at age 18 she’s completely rendered bedbound , unable to work & too weak to stand. marshall wants to stay home &; stay by his mother’s side , afraid of what might happen if he leaves , but alana encourages him to follow his dreams & to not put them aside just because of her. unbeknownst to marshall , this would be the final goodbye he & his mother would have , & not too long after allison drives marshall up to nyu, they get the word from her caregiver that she had passed on. there’s a lot of pain & regret that marshall feels in that moment & it only makes his more negative tendencies even worse , closing off from allison & unable to cope. he lost both his parents. what was he supposed to do now ?
he studies journalism at nyu , but attempts to get in the music scene by playing at a small club called the grindhouse café , which was just a few blocks from his apartment. his apartment was a little rundown , but nothing major & on either side of him lived two people. on his left lived anthony terach , an engineer major & a singer at the grindhouse , & on his right lived mara sable , an art history major & a painter, who worked at the grindhouse & frequented as a customer often. marshall mainly stayed closed off from these two people , especially not liking anthony , who’s fake / cheery disposition really irked him. mara , however , always tried to make nice & while he didn’t show it , he did appreciate it from time to time & often found himself thinking about her whenever he was home alone. the nights at the grindhouse served as a welcome escape from the real world. there he could play songs he enjoys , not think about his mom , allison or the guilt he carries from not staying in boston. he would continue to frequent the club for years as he finished his major , eventually befriending & falling for mara , though he doesn’t do anything about his romantic interest for her initially.
right out of college , marshall is hired to work part time at the village voice , an arts & culture weekly newspaper that focuses on city nightlife. he becomes the resident music & theater critic there , seeing shows & giving his honest opinion. at the start he gives rather fair reviews , but as his life worsens his reviews become more negative , being much more harsh & mean than actually constructive. he’s asked by his editor to soften up his approach , but he does no such thing. during this time , he’s asked by allison to come home to help sort through his mother’s things , but he has absolutely no interest. he continues to play at the grindhouse & things with mara begin to progress , seeing her as the only bright spot in his dreary life. one night , after a show , mara & marshall walk home together right after her shift. rather than go to her respected apartment , she invites herself over to marshall’s & that was that. these evenings together would become a regular thing & marshall clings to that bit of happiness & sort of ' alive ❜ feeling he’d get whenever he was with mara, even if it disappears just as quickly when she decides to head back to her place, or cancel plans to go hang out with anthony. mara makes it known that she isn’t interested in anything serious & that she’d like to experience dating & fun before settling into a relationship. marshall tries to respect this , but he finds himself so jealous when he sees her with anthony , berating his talents & badmouthing him quietly whenever at the grindhouse , wishing mara would stop seeing him. despite being clearly uncomfortable with the arrangement , marshall continues to see mara , far too in love with her to stop. he hopes that his patience will be rewarded with her deciding to be serious with him , but that moment never comes.
after much complaint from readers , the village voice decides to fire marshall off the paper , not wanting his negative energy to bring down their readership , seeing as how they were struggling to keep that already. taking to the grindhouse for solace & comfort , he is instead met with mara laughing & flirting with anthony & it’s enough to make him on edge. already tired of the rejection , seeing mara clearly enjoy anthony’s attention over his sticks a knife in his chest & twists it , so when anthony comes by to greet his fellow neighbor with a smile , marshall barely realizes that he’s punched the poor man right in the face , knocking him out flat. as an ambulance is called , mara curses marshall out who finally reveals his feelings & frustrations. ❛ i’m not yours to claim. i don’t owe you anything , ❜ were her words & that ends their romantic affair instantly , mara never wanting to speak with him again. in addition , the owner of the grindhouse asks marshall to leave & suggests that perhaps he doesn’t come back.
depressed & struggling to find work , marshall is eventually called home by allison once again , only this time, he accepts. the two reunite & reminisce about alana , as well as marshall’s less than successful ventures post college. he’s worked at the village voice for some time & devoted so much time to the grindhouse. what was he meant to do now ? allison suggest that perhaps he try to make a fresh start somewhere else , because he deserves to have a happy life & a career , just as his parents hoped for. while thinking on what to do , marshall finally goes through some old items that were left behind by her mother , accidentally finding his father’s old journal stashed at the bottom of one of her boxes. curious , marshall skims through his father’s writings , only to discover who danny truly was. at first he believed that maybe this was a book of stories he created , but then he realizes that danny was using this to record experiences & his cases. upon further inspection , one case that is constantly mentioned is that of a demon , who’s main goal was to capture as many souls as he could , both dead & living. the demon in question is constantly at odds with his father , & while his name is never mentioned , marshall quickly deduces that this is perhaps his father’s biggest nemesis. there is a brief mention of a town called mausebrook in connecticut in his notes & something about it being the main entrance for the netherworld. curious to discover more about his father’s secret career , marshall finds an ad for a new newspaper columnist in the mausebrook gazette. he applies and is offered the job rather quickly.
upon his arrival , he quickly discovers that mausebrook is literally the town of his nightmares. it was a kind , chatty town with beautiful scenery & kind people as well. so many people would approach marshall to make small talk , but it’s the last thing he cares about. settling into his new home , he gets another one of those visions again ﹙ the first one in almost 20 years ﹚ , this time the voice of the person is clear , with taunting words. the movers have to help marshall up to his feet when he faints , but he knows he’s getting closer to finding out more about his father.
the mausbrook gazette , aware of his reputation at the village voice , gives marshall a column to do with as he pleases, thinking his way of thinking could be of interest to their readers , as their news reports tend to fall on the chipper side. they call it daydreams , which ends up confusing many of the town citizens , as it wasn’t a weather report at all. it earns him the name ❛ the weather man , ❜ & lots of teasing jabs from people. initially set to use the column to continue reviewing plays & art programs , he ends up running into . . . strange happenings in the town. he’d notice things that shouldn’t be there , or experience strange occurrences that shouldn’t be happening . . . hauntings & more. deciding to use the column as a sort of journal like his father , the newspaper actually loves the idea , thinking the stories are fabricated in order to captivate the townsfolk. marshall , admittedly frustrated that they didn’t believe him , decides to roll with it & continues to use the section to write about what he sees & experiences in the town of mausebrook, all while trying to find clues as to what happened to his father , the demon he keeps seeing & what this all means.
unknown to marshall , the demon ﹙ known to a small few as the wanderer ﹚ that was at odds with his father , was planning to kill danny & send his soul in a constant spiraling abyss in hell , as he couldn’t let him stay in the netherworld for fear of him becoming too powerful in the afterlife. the demon lures danny back to his roots in his hope to capture him , hoping to eradicate him from this world so the souls of the living would be his for the taking , as it's what he feeds off of for power & longevity. danny does go back to mausebrook & he is captured , but just as he’s about to be tossed , he has one last trick up his sleeve. knowing a bit of magic ﹙ for emergencies only ﹚ , he puts up a fight & cuts his own finger , using the blood to smear against a wound that he elicits on the demon during their scuffle. uttering a few words , this connects the two & binds them together , meaning that neither can die while the other lives.
danny is sent to the abyss without the demon realizing what had happened , believing he attempted to kill him with a curse & it failed. danny is still alive & won’t die unless the demon is destroyed , keeping him safe for now. however , there is a catch to the spell , one danny didn’t realize. because he used blood to bind him , that means others of his own blood can also be connected to the demon , but at a lesser degree. this is why marshall can see the demon later on in life , & once the demon realizes what danny has done , he tries to lure marshall in so that he can be rid of him. unlike danny , he can kill marshall if he wanted to , but alana , who is very much aware of danny’s life & knows the demon has something to do with this , protects her son by selling her soul to the demon , exchanging his protection for her own life. cruel as ever , the demon decides to slowly suck her life away rather than take it instantly , which is why she died so slowly over marshall’s late teen years.
with her gone, the demon is still bound to the promise he made with her of not killing marshall, though that didn’t mean he couldn’t ruin his life a bit with misfortune. a lot of the things that happened to marshall post his graduation was influenced by the demon’s doing , ruining his life solely simply because he was his father’s son. once he realizes that marshall was planning to move to mausebrook, he decides to lift the barrier he created to stop their visions , & allowing their connection once again. he can’t kill marshall with his own two hands , but he can make his life a living hell & if they ever are to ever cross paths, he will be ready for him.
