Lily Thompson's Journey: Deception

[Laraqua]

Charles hushed her and opened the boot, pulling out a tyre iron before slamming the boot shut with the flat of his hand. "Can't go through the underpass. Have to go another way." He jerked on her arm, this way and that, as a way to get out the nervous energy summoned by his thoughts. "Right, we'll need to go down the slope ... the slope." He drags her along behind him toward the hiking trail. "Keep up," he hissed, when his grip forced her to follow him, and he jerked her closer to him, so close she can feel his breath against her neck when he turns to look back over his shoulder at the fog-shrouded road.

[Kadael]

I was just here, Lily almost says, but keeps her mouth shut.

Of course, that's not the only thing she'd like to say. Why do you have a tire iron? Why can't we go through the underpass? Slow down already! What's down this trail? Stop breathing on me! Thinking those things is entirely different from voicing them, though.

One of her lesser worries is what Charles is looking over his shoulder at. And the fact that she'll probably fall on her face if they keep going this fast.

[Laraqua]

Charles drags her down the concrete steps, letting her almost trip over them, until they reach the dirt path when he pauses for a moment and casts a wide-eyed stare back up the steps behind him. From somewhere out there comes a long, low sound that rises up into an eerie wail like an old air raid siren and as it does so, he pales and jerks at her arm. "C'mon!" He hurries down the dirt path at a near jog, forcing her to struggle to keep up.

[Kadael]

Something about that siren is frightening on a strange, primal level. It's a sound that fills her ears and chills her blood, and a feeling of helplessness invades her entire body. All Lily wants is to get away, and it leaves her stumbling after her brother in a pathetic attempt to match his pace.

[Laraqua]

"Whatever you do, stay with me," mutters Charles. "There's something ... someone up there. You don't want to know what he's done ... what he's...." There's a haunted look in her brother's eyes. "So stay with me and we'll get through this. We'll find ... the police ... or a mechanic or ... something."

He must be afraid to think of going to the police. He's always scoffed at their worthlessness before, hadn't he? Thought they were nothing but fools bumbling into honest men's businesses.

[Kadael]

Lily answers with a frantic nod. To see her brother so panicked... well, if she wasn't scared before...

Who could this person possibly be, to shake him do badly? What in the world could they have done? Charles is hardly ever afraid, especially not of just one man.

[Laraqua]

Charles turns on her suddenly and savagely, grabbing her tightly by the shoulders and shaking her slightly, his eyes flashing with sudden rage. "Has anyone been following us? Watching our house? Have you been talking to anyone online? How the hell would anyone know I was here?" He steps in closer, voice low, as though truly expecting that she would hold the answers.

[Kadael]

"I don't know, Charles, I don't know, please don't..." A weight drops into the pit of Lily's stomach as her entire body goes rigid.

They need to keep running. Why did he stop? Does he know? Is all of this her fault?

"I've been good, Charles, I really have! You know I have! Y-you're scaring me, please..."

[Laraqua]

"Right, right, of course, you wouldn't fuck with me, sis, would you?" He calms himself, breathing heavily, and reaches out to cup the side of her face, revealing the edging of elaborate black tattoos through the end of his shirt sleeve. "I can rely on you, and you can rely on me, because you know just how easy and good I make your life. You'd be nothing without me. Nothing." He glances around again. "Maybe it was just a coincidence.... Maybe it wasn't.... But that would be one hell of a coincidence."

"The underpass was blocked up with scaffolding. Damn time to make repairs, middle of tourist season. No one could arrange that ... not just for me. Not for that." He makes eye contact once more. "You'd better come along with me and stay with me. We speak to the police and you tell him that we've been together this entire time, yeah?"

[Kadael]

Lily slowly nods, her hands folding into fists as her shoulders slump. She closes her eyes, unable to blot out the feeling of his fingers on her face.

Don't touch me.

She takes a shallow breath and speaks with a voice so quiet, it's almost like an echo. "Yeah. I will. I'll tell them whatever you say."

[Laraqua]

As they continue along the path, a figure can be seen staring into a well by the side of the path. She has dark brown hair and rumpled clothing, and seems to be using the well to support herself on her weary legs, with a crimson wetly gleaming in the pale light of the sun.

"Hey, who's there?" demanded Charlie.

Show,enter Rochelle's thread. Also, bear in mind that her neck is bleeding quite a bit from a cut so that'll doubtless affect you when she turns around.

[Laraqua]

Lily approaches the mirror and examines her reflection as the door shuts gently behind her as Rochelle leaves her to it. Her reflections looks faded, almost haggard. She turns on the tap and the pipes rattle for a moment before a black glob spits out of the faucet and something rings out against the ceramic. Is that some sort of coin? It looks old. Nothing else comes out of the faucet. It seems like the water has been shut off. As her gaze returns to the reflection in the mirror, she sees a blurry silhouette behind her, a shadow of a figure too indistinct to be recognised as man or woman, crouched over the toilet as though weeping.

[Kadael]

Ew.

Lily folds a loose bit of sleeve over her hand and picks up whatever came out of the faucet with it. The dress is ruined anyway. She'll just have to find the other restroom, and tell Rochelle her sink doesn't work.

When she sees the figure, she whirls around in shock. They weren't here when she came in - she would have noticed. Did they come in just now? She didn't hear the door...

[Laraqua]

There's no one there.

[Kadael]

Lily turns back to the mirror. She's obviously just being paranoid.

[Laraqua]

The vague and blurry figure is obviously still sitting there in the mirror's reflection.

[Kadael]

Lily leans in close, squinting to try and make out the blurry shadow. "Why can I only see you in the mirror?" she asks, a little too calm. "Are you a reverse vampire?"

The humor is only a defense. She's more than a little terrified, but interest wins out.

[Laraqua]

The reflection remains as it is and, try as she might, she can't pick out any more details of the figure although she does suspect it might be a woman.

[Kadael]

Taking a deep breath, Lily reaches up and pokes the mirror. It's worth a shot.

If nothing happens, like she kind of expects, she'll take a closer look at whatever she grabbed out of the sink.

[Laraqua]

The glass feels cool to the touch and her body shivers for a moment, all the hairs on her arms and the back of her neck standing on end, and yet everything appears to be normal. Or at least, as normal as anything gets in Silent Hill. The reflection hasn't changed and neither has she. The shadowy silhouette is still there in the corner of the room. She's still holding what appears to be an old-fashioned coin from 1882.