Rochelle's Journey: Breakdown

[Laraqua]

"Never you mind," says her brother with an encouraging smile that doesn't meet his eyes. "You just enjoy your birthday while I keep an eye on things. You like creepy, right? Well, looks like this town is just the holiday spot for you." He starts to walk after Rochelle, timing his strides so that he falls about three dozen paces behind her, swinging his tyre iron as he goes, and keeping his eyes on the surrounding undergrowth. "Feisty girl like that's bound to have a lot of enemies ... wonder if they'll come knocking again."

[Kallisto73]

Rochelle holds the plank in her right hand, the knitting needles in her left "I would be much happier if I had my gun." She can hear Charlie's and Lily's footsteps behind her. And she notices, for the first time, that theirs are the only footsteps she hears. It seems like the town is completely quiet. "Silent Hill was always a msnomer. But today, it is eerily quiet."

She looks around

Spoiler:

failed spot hidden http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3499037/

, and stops walking to listen intently, eyes closed.

Spoiler:

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3499039/ failed listen

"I don't believe it, there is no noise." she mumbles to herself. "And this fog!"

After about 30 minutes, she turns into the street where her bar is located.

[Laraqua]

It's a long walk through the fog-shrouded streets. Charles grumbles as he has to keen only an even dozen feet behind her to keep Rochelle in view, and seems to grow more anxious as time wears on, his fingers tensing and re-tensing around that tool. Everything is quiet, muffled even, as they head over the bridge toward the other side of Silent Hill. In one place, charred footprints walk, leading further into town before ceasing. The sky grows steadily darker as they cross that bridge, impossible quickly, and there's the sound of steel scraping against asphalt that sets their nerves on edge. Charles grabs Lily's arm, pausing, and looking around nervously. "Night doesn't fall that quick," he mumurs. His gaze search out the skies, as though trying to pierce the fog and darkness to see the sky beyond.

[Kadael]

"What time is it?" Lily tries to pull away from him, and the footprints catch her attention. How does something like that happen? Maybe they're painted on.

No, that's silly.

"I wonder where everyone is."

[Kallisto73]

Rochelle slows her pace, then stops. "What the...???" She turns to the pair and says "What time is it??? Night can't fall this quickly at this time of year." She walks to where the charred footsteps are, kneels down and examines them.

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http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3502617/ passed spot hidden

. She touches them and rubs the tarmac. She looks her finger and smells the residue

Spoiler:

does she smell anything? Is it charcoal?

[Laraqua]

Rubbing the tarmac pulls loose no residue. It's as though the asphalt itself has been blackened, though there's a faint whiff of smoke in the air. The footsteps appear to be man's sized. A larger shape of shoe, rather than true footprints.

[Kallisto73]

"Hm, if someone burnt to death here, wouldn't there be more to see than just footprints?" She looks at the siblings. "Welcome to Silent Hill. This is "Combustion Street", so called because pedestrians spontaneously combust."
She turns around and heads straight for Annie's Bar.

[Kadael]

Lily stops in her tracks and cocks her head to one side. "Charles, she knows we're here. And spontaneous human combustion is just a myth. Isn't it?"

[Laraqua]

Charlie grins. "Actually, no, it's what happens when you drop a lit cigarette into your fat rolls. The cigarette provides the wick, the fat provides the candle, and so long as you're passed out from whiskey you won't even notice as you go up in flames." He gestures upwards. "Whoosh!"

He hurries over to where the footsteps begin, ignoring Rochelle as she walks forward several paces. "Heh.... Odd, isn't it?"

Rochelle feels somewhat light-headed as though she's been this way before. She's seized by a powerful sense of nostalgia, as well, as though there were something about those footsteps that tugged at every memory in her mind. She can hear a strange noise in the distance, they all can, something between a distorted police siren and a musical instrument. It seems to be coming somewhat from the left as they come off the bridge, in the direction where the footsteps begin to curve, in the direction of Annie's Bar (though on the left footpath, rather than the opposite side which is closest to the bar).

[Kadael]

"Uh... right." Lily just stands there and blinks at him, wondering if he was serious. It's never easy to tell when he gets like this.

I really don't think it works that way...

[Kallisto73]

Rochelle steadies herself. "What was that noise?" she says to the others.
"Well, a couple of hundred yards down the road is my bar. You can have one on the house." She pushes on. But she walks slowly, with her eyes peeled and listening intently, she grips the needles and the plank tightly.

[Laraqua]

The three of them make their way across the asphalt of Riverside Drive, but glancing back over the bridge shows a bright light hovering somewhere off the lake toward the south. A lighthouse, no doubt, provides a beacon in the darkness though it is certainly further away than the bar. Charlie takes Lily's hand, forestalling any comments about visiting it, as they move on ahead. "Shouldn't we hurry?" demanded Charlie.

Somewhere, in the darkness to the right, comes a twisted gurgling sound and the slap-slap-slap of wetness against asphalt.

[Kadael]

"But it's pretty," Lily mumbles to herself. Then she shakes her head and lets her hand sit limply in his.

The noise makes her spine tighten. "What... is that? Is this, uh, frog country?" She looks at Rochelle and swallows hard. Rochelle has a fence picket and Charles has a tire iron, but she can't help wondering if she'd be safer with the former.

[Kallisto73]

Rochelle stops for a second, looking to her right.
She moves closer towards the siblings, instinctively making sure she stands in front of Lily, while Charles is covering his sister's flank. "No, not really. I mean, there are frogs by the lake for sure, but not here in town. Also, it sounds like something bigger. Charles, your tire iron might come in handy soon."
She puts the needles in her pocket and grabs the plank with both hands and holds it like a baseball bat.
"Can you see anything?"

[Laraqua]

The darkness presses in around them and it's hard to see more than a half dozen feet in front of them. Still, the noises are approaching toward them. It seems as though it might have wandered past them, but their voices have attracted its attention. If it's a frog, it's an incredibly large one.

[Kallisto73]

Rochelle stares into the fog. She virtually tries to slice through the fog, but try as she might, she cannot see anything

Spoiler:

1d100 → [93] = (93) failed spot hidden

.

She breathes in and pulls herself up to her full height, her feet are planted firmly on the ground. She can feel her neck hairs prickling. This is not good. "We need to be quiet. Much more quiet." She wills the others not to speak, but of course, not being a psychic...

[Kadael]

Lily surprises herself by drawing closer to Charles, trying to make herself as small as possible next to him. The noises in the dark make her feel claustrophobic, and she holds on to his hand like it's the only thing keeping her from being swallowed.

[Laraqua]

They stand still together and slowly, but surely, the hand slaps move past the bridge toward the left and down the road until they can hear it no more.

[Kallisto73]

Rochelle slowly exhales. She keeps listening, not moving. After the noises have faded completely, she turns to the siblings, locks eyes with them and nods in the direction of Annie's Bar. She puts a finger to her lips and then starts walking quietly and slowly, ears straining and eyes peeled.

[Kadael]

Lily nods at Rochelle's signal to keep quiet, and takes tiny steps to follow her. It's not easy - her shoes were meant to be pretty, not silent, and even her own breathing seems too loud. She imagines the movement of her lungs, exaggerates the sound of expanding skin in her mind.

She wants to scream, just to hear the echo and pretend they're not alone with whatever's lurking in the dark. But that's stupid and she knows it.