| “ | Sparrow tried to hold it inside of her, to protect others. She thought that if she could fight it long enough it would die with her. | „ |
| ~ Talk about a corageous teenager |
What is the Work?[]
The Worm is the second episode of the horror web animated anthology series Don't Walk Home Alone in the Dark.
It tells the story of Dr. Jacob Merrick, a psychiatrist that got obsessed with his latest patient: Sparrow Moon, who, institutionalized for unknown reasons, suffered a mental breakdown despite being a seemingly well adjusted teen. His insistence in finding out what happened lead to him meddling in the darker aspects of what happened to the unsuspecting Sparrow...
Who is her?[]
Sparrow Moon is the deuteragonist of the short film. The last surviving member of a group of kids called the Woodfield Five, she lived an appearently unassuming life until an ambiguous psycothic mind break that got her into an institution. Details are not given, but her state is silent, non-agressive, occasionally self harming and incredibly apathetic. This only makes the doctor in charge of her even more curious.
What makes her close to Pure Good?[]
Sparrow was a member of a group called the Woodfield Five. One day, she and her friends came across an old man, who told them about the Worm. What is the Worm? A demonic parasite who feeds off fear, makes your life hell by tormenting you with constant nightmares, and spreads to other hosts as soon as a host can so much as mentions it to someone else. In a non-detailed event described as a murder suicide, the old man and four of the five young people died, leaving Sparrow alone. She was then locked away, institutionalized in a psychiatric station.
Well, for starters, she, perfectly aware of what the Worm does and how it spreads, decides to never tell anyone about, explicitly with the goals of taking that parasite to the grave along with her. Such silence and lack of communication drives Jacob even more intrigued about her and her story.
While she does seem happier after she loses it, passing it on to Jacob, she was forced by Jacob to tell her, since he drugged her, and heck, despite being more in peace, she still has a sadness look when meeting Jacob again, implying that while yes, she is relieved to a degree since she is now free, she is also disappointed in that she failed and that the thing will keep finding new victims.
What prevents her from Pure Good?[]
Well, while it is implied she has something to do with the deaths of her friends, this is only implied. They might as well have killed themselves because of the Worm (which is honestly more plausible) and it is honestly impossible to know for sure; the only thing canon is that they're dead. So what prevents her?
The issue here is... characterization. Sparrow is a mute, apathetic shell of a person for most of the video, and even her actions are explained to the audience by Jacob, who talked to her, and is the de facto protagonist. The only scene she is the full protagonsit of is the opening dream sequence, where she just says "hello", and acts scared upon the Worm coming closer. Sooooo, yeah... lack of characterization.
Admirable Standart[]
She willingly attempted to live her life through a fate worse than death that drained her mentally and physically so that she'd take the entity causing it to the grave with her, stopping anyone else from contracting it.
The other characters are a doctor that drugs a teenager in order to find out what happened to her, and once he knows about the Worm, willingly passes it on, contrasting Sparrow, since he decides he can't live with it... and the demonic parasite itself. I, really don't think Sparrow's got much competition here.
Veredict[]
Assuming the worst in the mysterious occasion that got her instituitonalized would be treating Fridge Horror as canon. The rest of the Woodfield Five more than likely took their own lives. Since it is unlikely any episode in this anthology will ever receive more details, it is safe to give this girl a yes.