Ren & Connie Kato

Splat: Mortal

Public Information:

Ren Kato was seventeen when his family uprooted their lives in Japan and settled in the United States. It was a difficult transition, one that hardened his resolve to carve out something lasting, something solid. He took to carpentry with a dedication that bordered on reverence. Connie, on the other hand, had always been a builder of minds. A high school English teacher with an unwavering belief in the potential of young people, she thrived on helping students discover themselves, guiding them toward futures she knew they could grasp.

They met and married young, and in 1975, they welcomed their only son, Damien. He should have been the culmination of all their efforts, a child shaped by their diligence and drive. But Damien was different. Unfocused. Drifting. He skipped classes, obsessed over obscure films and moody, discordant music, and treated life like it was something that happened to other people. He was sharp - too sharp to be failing his courses the way he did - but he lacked any inclination to try. It was as though something in him resisted structure, slipping like sand through their grasp.

And then, one day in 1994 at age 19, he disappeared.

At first, they assumed it was another one of his aimless wanderings. He had a habit of vanishing for days at a time, staying with a friend, following impulses to nowhere in particular. But this time, something was different. The days stretched into weeks. The weeks into months. Police reports were filed. Every time the phone rang, Connie held her breath, bracing for the worst.

Then, just as suddenly as he had left, Damien came back.

And he was different.

The shift was subtle at first - just enough to make them hesitate when they looked at him too long, as if their memories had been water-damaged and warped slightly out of shape. The slouch in his posture was gone, his voice steadier, his gaze direct where before it had always been evasive. He spoke about the future, about plans, about the things he wanted for himself. ‘I just needed time to figure things out,’ he told them. And maybe that was true. People change. Sometimes they grow up overnight.

And what parent wouldn’t want to believe that?

The years that followed were the happiest they had ever known. Damien built a career in tech, married a lovely woman, and - while he never gave them grandchildren - promised that he would take care of them. Ren retired, content in the life they had made. Connie still teaches, though she is beginning to consider retirement herself. They are in their seventies now, comfortable, secure. Their son is everything they had ever hoped he would be.

And yet, somewhere in Gatlinburg, something watches. Something seethes.

The real Damien Kato is still out there. And one day, he’s going to come home.