Imagine being a young child who has been left alone to fend for herself, trying her best to make the most of an unfortunate situation. Played by Shree Cooks from American Horror Story: Hotel, Stephanie (2017) begins by showing us this scene. We do not know why she is alone, but we can clearly see she does not have all of the necessary skills to take care of herself. She injures herself on broken glass making a smoothie and is also scared of the dark. Stephanie has no one but her stuffed turtle, Franklin, and the corpse of her dead brother for companionship. No one else is with her, or seemingly around her, save for an occasional visit from a dangerous yet unseen creature stalking her.

Stephanie has been abandoned in such a state by her parents for unknown reasons, and we are led to believe they may have fled in a hurry, or be dead as well. Very little background information is provided up front. All we know for sure is that she is completely alone and vulnerable, save for her blanket fort. She’s too young to properly care or cook for herself. We see an occasional glimpse that some dire sequence of events led to her isolation. Stephanie bounces a ball next to a knife stuck in the ceiling, a door has cracked windows, and her dead brother is rotting upstairs tucked into his bed. Aside from a short-lived visit from her former rabbit friend, Stephanie is completely and utterly alone.