CHAPTER ONE: Walter and Emily's Journey: Entrapment

[Kadael]

"Oh?" Emily takes a seat on the couch, resting her elbows on her knees. She resists the temptation to giggle. "How crazy?"

[Seon]

"Crazier than a bat out of hell!" Walter muttered. "We all had to leave the table. It's not as if she was the most subtle being in the world, you know. Security dragged her out moments afterwards."

"Fun times, fun times. Kind of disturbing though."

[Kadael]

"Oh, I'll bet. It can't be easy being you." Emily smiles coyly, leaning back and crossing one leg over the other. "Are your book signings usually like the one yesterday?"

Without the PTV, that is...

[Seon]

"Usually. Except perhaps less homicidally insane woman and perhaps 100% less getting smashed in the face with a bottle of milky white liquid. I don't know about Silent Hill, but in Australia, it's generally considered rude to give someone else a facial without asking for permission first. I think. I wouldn't know much about that subject."

He let out a giggle as he sat in the bed next to Emily. "But yeah, life of a writer is horrible!" Walter said complainingly. "All these deadlines to keep. One day I was pretending to explore the continent of Africa and my editor suddenly appears out of nowhere, hits me over the head with a baton, drags my unconscious body to the hotel, and then locks herself in with me until I got the damn book finished for her! And she wouldn't stop staring at me, yah know, with that hawk-like predatory eyes of hers? I exaggerate, of course. That's what we writers do. But the gist of that is right."

[Kadael]

"She what?" Emily straightens up, her curious eyes growing wider with every phrase. "God, and you're exaggerating how much of this? And, uh, what do you mean by 'pretending' to explore Africa?"

[Seon]

"Well, you know, one of those safari tours in Tanzania. Kinda has the same "wildness" to it, but then again hundreds of thousands of people drove to there before I did," Walter shrugged.

"Apparently my editor somehow got wind of my flight and tour plans and was waiting for me in the bloody tour group that I was assigned to. I thought I got a heart attack. Well, we went on the tour and then she dragged me back to the hotel room and locked me in until I actually got some work done."

Walter suddenly yawned. "Oh, and by the way, I wouldn't recommend sleeping in a bathtub. You can't sleep well," he lied down on the bed and started to drift off.

[Kadael]

"Oh, uh, okay. I'll keep that in mind." Emily's smile fades as Walter starts to fall asleep. Damn it! She thought that conversation was going somewhere...

This really isn't the time to think about that, though. Travis could break in at any moment. And that's if they're lucky.

[Seon]

Walter's head suddenly shot up. "What's your phone number, by the way?"

Spoiler:

Spoken in a completely casual, non-chalant, I might-need-this-later tone.

[Kadael]

For a moment, she's excited, until she knocks those silly thoughts out of her head. He didn't say it like that. Get ahold of yourself, Emily.

She gives him her number in a rather flat, dismissive tone, then looks at the door, suppressing a pout.

[Seon]

"I'm sorry..." he mumbled in his half-sleep. "the doorknob... It hurt too much. Everyone else just fucking watched... Alessa... I'm... I'm back. Where are you?"

[Kadael]

"Walter?" Emily whispers, reaching out to brush some hair away from his eyes.

Mother talked in her sleep all the time. She should be used to this.

But he's talking about Alessa again...

[Seon]

"Alessa?" Walter mumbled, eyes half open. "That you? What happened? You are up... You are better now..."

[Kadael]

"No, no," Emily says, pulling her hand away. "Just Emily. Just me."

[Seon]

"What?" Walter cried out, standing up. "I'm sorry... I thought you were somebody else..."

[Kadael]

"Right. I know." Emily reaches out and takes his hand, trying to provide some small piece of comfort. "Walter, what... what was Alessa like? I didn't know her..."

But I know what the others said about her. Especially Roseworthy...

[Seon]

"She was my half-sister," Walter mumbled. "They set her on fire and just watched as the house burnt down."

[Kadael]

Have you seen what she does?

She's a witch.

Burn her.

"Oh... oh, God." Emily's arm drops to her side. It's suddenly cold. "I thought the things they said... it was just an accident..."

[Seon]

"They always picked on her in school. All of the other kids. Called her a witch."

Walter stared wearily at Emily. "You weren't one of them, were you?"

[Kadael]

"No. But I wasn't much better."

She's the Devil's child, Isabel. You don't say a word to her. You don't go near her.

"I was always afraid of her. My mother told me terrible things."

She can see your sins, you know. She'll make you like her.

"I... think my dad liked her, though. I can't remember much about him."

paradise

[Seon]

"Why?" Walter shook his head. "Why were they so afraid of her? She didn't do anything... They just..."

He glared at her. "The teachers didn't do anything to stop the other children from hurting her," he said. There's a surprising amount of bitterness in the voice.