Play@YSDC

Posted: **Mon Dec 19, 2011 11:05 am**

It took a lot of concentration to round the twists and turns in County Road 73 on the way to Silent Hill. The grey skies bordered on overcast but they weren't quite there yet. Her daughter lolled in the back seat, alternating between reading a book and watching movies on her PSP or simply complaining about how long they were taking or how her mother shouldn't be discussing business on the mobile phone. Of course, she didn't understand that Arthur Machos needed to know what his legal requirements would be in the upcoming proceedings and he wasn't the type of man who took holidays seriously. If she wanted to retain him as a client, she had to give him tip top advice even now. He was cross enough that the reception was pretty poor at the moment. Sometimes it'd be fine but then they'd round a corner and it would go back to being terrible again. Oh well, at least the G.P.S. showed that there'd be some sort of Observation Deck coming up (thank the programmers that they'd included a little detail like that) where she could stop to finish the conversation and finalise the details before entering the tunnel that'd take her to Silent Hill itself.

It was just a shame she couldn't reach her files now. Oh well, there'd be plenty of time at the Lakeview Hotel. Recently refurbished apparently, with a nice pool and all kinds of other details. It'd be nice to take a cruise on the sparkling Toluca Lake and do her work in a nicer space. There was also the Lakeside Amusement Park that should keep her daughter happy. Doubtless other bits and pieces as well. A week of annual leave in a nicely secluded spot. Hopefully the sun would come out and warm the day later on. It was early in the morning and they'd just come from a hotel in Brahms where she'd been forced to stop the journey to a lot of work-related fatigue catching up on her all of a sudden.

There was the Observation Deck coming up and not a moment too soon. Mr. Machos was pretty desperate for her to double check something in her files and it just wasn't safe to park on a narrow road flanked by a downward tree-filled slope on one side and a rock wall on the other one. Her daughter was also pleading for a chance to use the restroom and it seemed there was a public restroom to the right of the location as well. Perfect. Well, maybe a little rundown from the look of it but it'd do.

Posted: **Mon Dec 19, 2011 6:51 pm**

Cecilia pulled into the parking lot and stopped the car. Behind her, Katie scrambled out of her seat, upsetting several coloring books, a box of crayons and the ever-reliable PSP.

It was a relief to finally hold her phone instead of trying to precariously cradle it between her ear and shoulder. The position was uncomfortable as well as very illegal. Fortunately, the road seemed deserted - strange for the time of day, but she didn't have to worry too much.

She pointed to the restrooms just off to the right. Katie made a face, but opened the door and hurried out anyway.

The briefcase was lying on the passenger seat, and she undid the latches to reveal a mess of papers. Arthur Machos was another guy who didn't bother to keep his credit card information safe, and he was paying for it now.

Cecilia unbuckled her seatbelt, leaned back, and let out a quiet sigh. This vacation was starting off wonderfully. She grabbed the first paper off the stack, skimmed it, and glanced at the restroom. "Mr. Machos, when did you first start noticing strange activity on your computer?"

Really, if people were just more careful with their machines...

Posted: **Mon Dec 19, 2011 11:07 pm**

Katie rushes off to the toilets, slamming open the door and heading into the rather dirty looking toilet and leaving her mother out there in the cold. Wisps of fog trail into the vehicle and pool along the bottom by her feet. It's more than a little ominous. Mr. Machos continues on his rant, half informative, mostly just complaining. Still, what can you do? He pays extremely well for his time and if he keeps on like this he'll have paid off her vacation. One thing he understands about holidays, you have to pay people more to get their attention. It's about the only thing he understands about holidays.

While conversing with Mr. Machos, she notices that Katie seems to have run black pencils back and forth across the school picture, almost blotting it out and tearing the paper in some places.

Posted: **Tue Dec 20, 2011 12:24 am**

On a bad December night, the temperature in Maine will drop below freezing. Even with that in mind, this place seems colder, and Cecilia makes an attempt at buttoning her jacket one-handed.

"Right. So you handed your credit card information over to this mysterious program--" She grits her teeth and rubs her temples at an especially loud interruption. "No, I'm sorry, it wasn't meant that way. Yes, I'll be more careful with my phrasing. I just need to know exactly what happened."

Irate, inept computer users. The worst of their kind.

She means to clean up a little, but when she reaches for the open coloring book and sees the black scratches, she pauses. Is Katie having problems at school? Taking another uneasy look at the restrooms, she tries to plan out the difficult conversation.

No. No time for planning now. Mr. Machos is not a patient man. "Can you remember what this rogue antivirus was called?" She sifts through the papers in her briefcase. "Rogue antivirus. It's a malicious program that tricks people into-- well, some of them are very sophisticated.... yes, perfectly intelligent people are victims all the time."

Cecilia closes the coloring book and reluctantly listens to her client ramble on. Lakeview Hotel seems farther away by the second.

Posted: **Tue Dec 20, 2011 1:04 am**

Cecilia can hardly see the town of Silent Hill through the murky fog that seems to blanket the area. If only the sun would come out and clear it. It's meant to be May, after all. It should be far warmer than this. While on the mobile phone, she notices that to the left of the Observation Deck there is a signposted hiking trail that goes down the forested slopes. Leaning back against her chair, she manages to quickly convince Mr. Machos that once she has all of the details she'll be able to handle it quicker from where she is if he'd only get off the line (but in politer terms, of course). She does have her laptop, and if she has mobile reception, she may be able to access the internet from here to rather slowly tap into the internet if she needed to. Heck, worse comes to worse she could use the net functionality on her phone. Of course, the first port of call should be for him to cancel his cards and then contact his bank, anyway, but he seems to want her to look into the program and she might as well do it if she wants to keep him happy.

Posted: **Tue Dec 20, 2011 7:12 am**

It's finally quiet, but the effect is unsettling rather than peaceful. Cecilia's thoughts turn to her daughter again. Should she be back by now? Was it okay to let her go alone? She's only six, and this place is sketchier than she'd like.

Great parenting, Cecilia. Way to keep your priorities straight.

A second of worry passes, and then she grabs her purse, shuts the briefcase, and gets out of the car. Not forgetting to lock the car, she approaches the women's restroom, nervously eyeing the filthy door handle.

She promises herself a good hand-washing later, and opens it.

Posted: **Wed Dec 21, 2011 12:32 am**

Cecelia sees and hears nothing peculiar as she approaches the rather grimy looking toilets. You'd think a resort town would have better maintenance crews for the first tourist-y place you pass through on the way to town. It's almost as though this place hadn't been tended to in years. Despite the other car in the parking lot, there's just a sense of utter emptiness and loneliness about the area that seems to have pervaded the entire area. When she opens the door, she finds an equally grimy interior with graffitti plastered all over the walls.

The wide mirror behind the sinks is cracked and surrounded by graffiti-strewn concrete. Go To Hell --> Already Been There --> Got Married, Did You --> No, Got Divorced is one series of tags as two or more people used one wall as a noticeboard. You Don't Have To Be Crazy To Live Here --> But It Helps!!! --> What A Dive! --> Then Move! is on another wall. Want a Slut? Call 1500 555 225 and ask for Mishka! --> Do It! --> I said DO IT! Three of the four toilet doors are open. The second door from the entryway is shut and has graffittied over it: Was Here Am Gone Now

Posted: **Wed Dec 21, 2011 1:26 am**

Trying not to breathe too deeply, Cecilia takes in her surroundings. She allows herself a sad smile when she sees the "Go To Hell" exchange, then shakes her head. Her attention turns to the stalls.

She knocks gently on the closed one, trying to ignore the ominous-looking graffiti. It doesn't mean anything; it's just the product of some bored vandal with a marker. "Katie? Everything okay in there?"

Her voice echoes faintly in the cold room. She tries to listen for any sign of her daughter, but hears nothing.

Posted: **Wed Dec 21, 2011 1:36 am**

Her own heartbeat pounds a slow rhythm in her ears in the near silence but she thinks she hears something, she just can't quite make out what it is. Her daughter is a highly intelligent, though petulant child, and it wouldn't be unusual for her to point out her mother's neglect by pretending to be missing. She's done that before. Her thoughts are snapped back to the time the girl hid under the blankets from her and promptly fell asleep under the messy blanket on the bed. She was so small that Cecilia couldn't see her and spent hours madly dashing around the house looking for her. She'd even called the police. But then her sweet daughter Katie came stumbling out of the bedroom, sleepy-eyed and confused as to why the big police officers were in the house. Cecilia idly moves a foot and hears a slight splash. Her obliviousness came to her again as she realises that a puddle of clear water has spread out from around the toilet door.

Posted: **Wed Dec 21, 2011 2:55 am**

She jumps back and leans away from the stall, face contorted with disgust. The heel and toe of her shoe are dripping wet - ugh, another reason to hate public restrooms. Who knows how dirty that water is?

That's not important. Katie is. Remember.

"Katie?" she calls again, louder this time. This isn't funny, and Katie knows it. It's the kind of thing Cecilia's therapist should be told, but it's also the kind of thing she isn't willing to discuss.

Except once.

"Two days ago, the babysitter told me she was asleep, but she wasn't in bed. I tore the house apart looking for her. I called the sitter half a dozen times. She was hiding in the hall closet."

Silence.

"She knows it's not a game. She knows it scares me to death, and she still does it. This isn't normal childhood behavior, Nathan!"

A long, crackling sigh had come through the phone. Then Nathan spoke, puzzled: "She never does anything like that when she's here."

The statement wasn't meant to hurt. That fact didn't stop it.

"I'll talk to her when she gets home from school."

And that conversation had obviously been fruitful.

Cecilia closes her eyes and shakes her head, like she's trying to clear her thoughts. She crouches low to the ground, balancing uneasily on her heels, and cranes her neck to try and see under the stall door.

Posted: **Wed Dec 21, 2011 3:12 am**

Its hard to keep her hair from the water though thankfully it smells 'clean' enough, when she bends down. Unfortunately, the puddle is expanding enough that it's impossible to get down that low without dirtying her hands and knees (or at least her hands if she manages to hold her balance while risking plunging further into the water) as the stall door is pretty low and the puddle has spread out widely enough. Will she dirty herself to peek underneath it?

Posted: **Wed Dec 21, 2011 3:29 am**

"Katherine Ann Brooks," she begins, and then stops. The full-name-ultimatum doesn't work on Katie. Damn it, she should remember, but it's hard to think with fear rising in her throat. For a moment, she sits on her heels, folding her arms atop her knees.

There will be a shower at the hotel. You've gotten into worse messes before.

Cecilia takes a deep breath and drops to the floor on her hands and knees. Her hair is, unfortunately, not short enough to avoid getting wet. Freezing water soaks through the legs of her slacks and laps at her palms.

What if the stall really is empty? What if Katie's standing on the toilet bowl, or ran off, or...

No. The only way to find out is to look. Worrying won't help.

Posted: **Wed Dec 21, 2011 3:51 am**

At least it smells clean. It can't be hygienic, but at least it doesn't smell bad. In fact, it smells more stale than anything else. Cecilia can see that the water seems to be leaking from around the bottom of the toilet. A pair of little girl legs are swinging back and forth over the porcelain. She can now make out the sound of a little girl humming. It sounds like Katie. Or at least, she's sure it does...

Her cellphone starts ringing.

Posted: **Wed Dec 21, 2011 9:19 am**

"Katie!" It comes out sharper than she meant, a strange mixture of relief and anger. So Katie was there, and knew she was worried. I don't know what you want from me, honey. We can't talk if you're always hiding...

The electronic beeps of her phone make her jump. She stands up slowly, and the wet ends of her hair drip water down her neck, making her shiver. Cecilia wipes one hand on her pants and reaches in her purse for her phone.

She answers without a second thought. "Hello?"

Posted: **Thu Dec 22, 2011 12:35 am**

A smooth woman's voice speaks to you though the reception is quite bad with a crackling undercurrent that sometimes makes her words hard to hear: "Hey! Where are you? Thought you'd be here by now. You're not still moping about your gay husband, are you? Look, come meet me down at Annie's Bar. We need to talk about Katie and where you go from here."

Posted: **Thu Dec 22, 2011 1:19 am**

"...Hi." The woman's voice is frustratingly generic, nothing she recognizes. Maybe she's called the wrong number--

--or not. Cecilia swallows hard when the woman mentions Nathan. This woman obviously knows her, but God, the reception is awful and she can't hear a thing.

"I'm sorry, who is this? We're at a rest stop in the middle of nowhere and I can't get a good signal."

Annie's Bar. Where is that? She should have bought one of those maps.

Posted: **Thu Dec 22, 2011 1:35 am**

"Oh, darling, it's Ash. Remember? We met at --static-- just a --static-- --static-- really terrible recep --static-- talk later at Annie's Bar, yeah? We can talk more ab --static-- --static-- --static-- to blame. We'll get through this. Later."

*click*

Posted: **Thu Dec 22, 2011 1:51 am**

Ash. Does she know an Ash? There's a woman named Ashley who runs around the law offices, doing whatever she does, but they've never spoken.

Or have they? Does she just not remember...?

Katie should be done by now. Cecilia thinks about calling her name again, but it'll probably be as effective as the last five or so times. She wants something from her mother - an apology? Where would she even start?

"Katie, honey?" Cecilia asks softly, leaning over to knock on the stall door again. "Is there something you want to talk to me about?"

Posted: **Thu Dec 22, 2011 2:09 am**

Cecilia's voice doesn't sound persuasive, even to her own ears. Little surprise, then, that there's no response from the toilet cubicle.

Posted: **Thu Dec 22, 2011 2:15 am**

For ten minutes, Cecilia waits to see if anything happens. Ten minutes, that's all - she even keeps time with her phone's clock. They should be on the road by now, but Katie isn't cooperating. It's beginning to frustrate her more than anything else.

If nothing comes of it, she might have to resort to something drastic.

Posted: **Thu Dec 22, 2011 2:17 am**

There's isn't so much of a pipe out of Katie though at least the water hasn't spread any further. This isn't like her. She may be surly, but she's also highly curious and a bit hyperactive. The ten minutes tick by with absolute regularity but in the end she's still staring at the toilet door.

Posted: **Thu Dec 22, 2011 2:27 am**

With a resigned sigh, Cecilia slips her feet out of her shoes and grabs the top of the door. She's a relatively tall woman, but she won't be able to see over the cubicle without some climbing.

The lower hinge of the door is the best foothold she can get, and she gingerly puts one stockinged foot on it...

...but she can't get any stability. The damn thing is too small.

Well. At least there's no one around to see this.

Posted: **Thu Dec 22, 2011 2:33 am**

The door rattles somewhat under her weight but there's no response from Katie. In fact, this whole place is eerily silent. There's no sounds of any traffic passing the Observation Deck nor birdsong nor anything like that. The country really is far more quiet than the city. If only it weren't so cold.

Posted: **Thu Dec 22, 2011 2:53 am**

Cecilia backs up against the sinks, brushes some stray hairs out of her eyes, and runs at the door.

She jumps too late - her fingers miss the top of the cubicle, and she smacks into the door, falling into the puddle of water.

For a second, there's no pain, only confusion.

But it's just a second.

Posted: **Thu Dec 22, 2011 3:04 am**

Katie doesn't respond. Even hearing her mother body slam the toilet door doesn't manage to stir her, but it does cause the toilet door to slam inward off its hinges and crack against the wall, revealing a child-sized mannequin wearing Katie's clothes slumped over the toilet seat. Black electrical tape has been cut to form Xs over her eyes and there's some type of plush rabbit toy sitting on her lap, clasped in the mannequin's hands.

Posted: **Thu Dec 22, 2011 3:16 am**

Was Here Am Gone Now

The graffiti flashes in front of Cecilia's eyes as the door swings. She looks up, and over, and

it's

not

Katie

Her mouth is dry. Her eyes are wide. She scrambles to her feet, touches the mannequin's face, traces the electrical tape. There's no one here. There never was.

Katie was here. She's gone now.

Cecilia is on autopilot as she slides into her shoes, flips her phone open, and runs out of the restroom. Her eyes are fixed on the screen. She prays her call will get through as she dials 911.

Posted: **Thu Dec 22, 2011 3:32 am**

There's no bars. No reception. No one can hear here. The cellphone won't reach anyone. She'd have to aim for a payphone, maybe. Or go to the police station directly. Or maybe search around the area for Katie. She was outside the restrooms. She would've seen a car pull away, surely. She wasn't that distracted by the pompous client's call, was she?

Posted: **Thu Dec 22, 2011 3:43 am**

She snaps her phone closed and shoves it into her purse, eyes darting around for some sign of where she could have gone - where someone could have taken her...

Katie's really gone this time. And it's her fault.

Blood pounds in her ears. She's shaky. Numb. Not breathing quite right.

Her eyes fall on the hiking trail. She crouches down, looking for fresh footprints. Nothing.

The only thing to do now is drive. And she does, pulling out of the parking lot with a screech and leaving that sick mockery of her child behind.

To Silent Hill.

Posted: **Thu Dec 22, 2011 4:21 am**

The dark tunnel encloses around her like a funeral shroud as she speeds through its dark and winding confines as it whips back and forth on its way to the town itself. Finally, it lets out onto Nathan Avenue. The fog presses in oppressively around her, dropping the rest of the town into a murky gloom. There's no other cars or people in sight although she can vaguely make out the lake to her right and the buildings to her left. The Ridgeview Medical Clinic and South Silent Hill Fire Station both come into view. The former faces onto Lindsey Street (the signs reveal that it's just around the corner) while the Fire Station is on Nathan Street overlooking the lake.

Posted: **Thu Dec 22, 2011 4:48 am**

Cecilia slows as she comes into the fog. She needs to find the police, that's all she knows. And maybe the fire department could tell her something.

She parks next to the building; if it's not a space to park, she doesn't notice. Out of the car and into the fire station she goes, her footsteps loud on the cold ground.

Posted: **Thu Dec 22, 2011 5:12 am**

The South Silent Hill Fire Station looks like its been long abandoned. The paint is peeling off in large flakes and the windows themselves are boarded up from the outside with thick black nails protruding from the wood. The steel shutters over the garage have been firmly pulled down to rest on the concrete as well. The glass front door, however, is unbarred though Cecilia can see nothing through the condensation-filled glass. It looks dark in there as though the lights were out. It might be unlocked, however. She's pretty sure she can see movement through the gloomy darkness but it doesn't seem right. Its a smallish figure and it walks with a strange motion like it's kicking out its legs. Maybe it's just a trick of the light, but just as she focused on the shape, it's darted out of view. Hmm, maybe it was something mechanical? It certainly didn't move with any human grace.

Posted: **Thu Dec 22, 2011 5:42 am**

Cecilia turns away from the door. What's wrong with this place? The longer she's outside, the colder it seems to get. No wind. No rain. Just so much fog, hanging thick in every direction.

It didn't look like this on the brochure. There were people, smiling people, and the lake was bright blue. It looks dead and dark now.

She gets into the car and drives more slowly, hoping to find a part of town that isn't deserted. From what Ash said, Annie's Bar should be open and, at the very least, have one living person. Not that she knows where it is, so she keeps driving along Nathan Avenue - ha - for answers.

Posted: **Thu Dec 22, 2011 5:49 am**

Cecilia passes a church, a savings bank, Rosewater Park, and continues on along Nathan Avenue as it seems to stretch on forever. For a moment, it seems possible that maybe people moved out of this section of town but then she notices the cars parked here and there along the side of the road. So people are here (unless they abandoned their cars) but all of the buildings are closed up tight. The church seems not to be boarded up but its front door is hanging loose on one hinge and there's no light coming from within its gloomy depths so she continues. She passes a gas station and just beyond that Pete's Bowl-o-Rama (which is covered in police ticker tape) and keeps on going. Nathan Avenue moves past the residential area into a section that seems to be mostly farmland. It crosses a creek and then a river and then turns right onto another main road called West Sandford Street. She almost passes it when she realises that Lakeview Hotel is on West Sandford Street. She could either turn east towards that road (which seems to follow the curve of the lake) or west along Nathan Avenue which seems to head out through more farmland toward the hills beyond.

Posted: **Thu Dec 22, 2011 6:05 am**

East it is. There must be someone in the hotel - she booked a room not that long ago - as well as a telephone. Besides, she'll need to take some time to write up a description of Katie for the police.

The image of the waxy mannequin in her daughter's clothes is burned behind her eyes. She didn't want to come to Silent Hill. She should have listened. She should have...

...it doesn't matter.

Posted: **Thu Dec 22, 2011 6:16 am**

As she drives along, she gets closer to a building in the distance that must be the rebuilt Lakeview Hotel. But the entire rear section of the hotel is blocked off with thick metal sheets bolted onto scaffolding that disappears into the fog at least three or four storeys above her. In fact, further on ahead you can just make out more scaffolding rising off to the left of you. She could try to search around the building to find an entrance, but there was no way a business could operate with such an ugly eye sore sitting at the rear of it. She can pull up to investigate it further or continue down Nathan Avenue. Surely if you follow it as it hugs the lake, you'll come across some form of open businesses. It can't all be closed, surely.

Posted: **Thu Dec 22, 2011 10:55 am**

Cecilia stares at the scaffolding in disbelief. She's seen pictures of the Lakeview Hotel after its refurbishing, and they were nothing like this. Is all of this some kind of twisted lie?

It's tempting to just leave. This is a bad place, full of lonely shadows and silence. But she can't go without Katie. She'd never forgive her negligence - I let this happen.

The hotel has nothing for her. Cecilia keeps going down West Sanford Street, looking around for any place that might be a bar. Maybe this Ash woman can tell her something about this... ghost town.

Unless Ash is a lie, too. But that doesn't make sense. Does it? She isn't sure.

Posted: **Thu Dec 22, 2011 11:40 am**

Cecilia passes some kind of garage and then crosses a bridge onto Sandford Street. There's some kind of Inn but its sign is too faded. Still, she goes forward a little further only to find a yawning pit of broken asphalt as the road plummets away before her into a mess of twisted asphalt and concrete. There's no sign of the road or the sidewalk nor anything beyond that gaping chasm that falls away into foggy darkness. That certainly wasn't on the brochures nor on the Internet. There was a left turn off about a dozen feet back the way she came that she hasn't explored. Or she can head back the way she came. Or, well, she could always hop out of her car and explore that Inn. It's not much of a good pick considering that everything is covered with boards bolted to the windows and doors but she might be able to prise one loose.

Posted: **Thu Dec 22, 2011 12:45 pm**

It's hardly the time for it, but Cecilia almost laughs. There's a hole in the middle of the road. Just sitting there. No construction equipment laid out to fix it. It's absurd.

Is there even anything alive in this godforsaken place? If it's been abandoned for as long as it seems, there would be plants growing, and surely some insects. It wouldn't be so quiet and gray.

She holds the wheel tighter than she should and turns around, heading for that unexplored street.

Posted: **Thu Dec 22, 2011 9:30 pm**

Cecilia does a U-Turn and then turns right down Bachman Road past the inn and continues on past some sort of foggy courtyard or some such gap between the buildings. She can see something coming up directly ahead and to the right. A building that is thankfully unshuttered and with a door that isn't barricaded though she can't make out any details about it. Directly beyond it is another giant crater in the road that seems to continue off to the left and the right into the distance. This might make some sense of the hills where maybe an avalanche created large cliffs in the middle of the road but this is down by the lake. Surely it should at least have filled with water. To the right is Craig Street but there appears to be another damage crater further along there as well. The buildings on either side of the road before the crater don't appear to be affected, however.

Posted: **Thu Dec 22, 2011 9:47 pm**

Cecilia slows to a stop and peers through the fog, trying to find some place to park near the most inviting building she's seen all day. There seems to be a place to pull over onto the roadside.

Even if it's just a trick of the fog, she can probably just stop here. There are no cars that she can see, but that's not saying much.

At any rate, she wants to get a look at this building.

Posted: **Fri Dec 23, 2011 12:18 am**

Cecilia pulls up next to a car that's quite awfully parked across two parks to the west of the bar by the courtyard area. A section of concrete that's been turned into a series of parking lots. Further in, in the gloomy light of the headlights, Cecilia can make out park benches and hedge rows and perhaps a fountain somewhere beyond it all. The door to Annie's Bar is just around the corner.

She easily hears a man's voice call out from the direction of the bar: "Hey, DUMBASS, enjoying the bar?!"

It's the only thing to break the silence thus far.

Posted: **Fri Dec 23, 2011 1:30 am**

A shotgun blast shatters the silence.

Posted: **Fri Dec 23, 2011 2:07 am**

The sudden shout makes her jump in her seat, and she ducks out of view of the windshield. Of course, it wasn't directed at her, she realizes; looking up, she can plainly see that there's no one here.

But there's obviously somebody in the bar. Is that a good thing? They sound a bit... unhinged, and the last thing Cecilia wants is to get attacked by some lunatic who stalks abandoned bars.

Slowly, she exits and locks the car, watching the bar's front door. Her purse is hardly the best self-defense weapon, but it's all she has. People don't expect to be assaulted on vacation.

She walks up to the entrance. The neon lights on the sign have gone out. A second of hesitation passes before she softly raps on the door. "Hello? Is anyone there?"

When the shotgun - it sounds like a shotgun, at least - goes off, she springs away and flattens herself against the wall to the right of the door. This was a bad idea. God, she should never have come here - to the bar, to Silent Hill, to that damn observation deck where Katie was taken.

She'd give anything to take it all back.

Posted: **Fri Dec 23, 2011 2:14 am**

A few seconds pass and then another shotgun blast echoes through the otherwise silent streets of Silent Hill. Was the web-site and everything just a joke? Some terrible prank using the town's unlucky name? Why hadn't any of her search attempts come up with the fact that this place was abandoned? Maybe she could get reception out here away from the hills. Surely it couldn't also be one of the few places in America where there's no reception. She has a good plan, after all. Maybe she should've given her daughter that cellphone she wanted after all.

Posted: **Fri Dec 23, 2011 2:30 am**

"Just a minute!" comes a man's voice from inside the bar.

Posted: **Thu Dec 29, 2011 5:01 am**

[Spoiler-Button]Re-entry, is from here.[/Spoiler-Button

]A tourist resort shrouded in fog. Several roads that have broken into deep and sudden pits that have taken out the buildings surrounding it in a line but have left all of the other ones unaffected. Boarded up buildings. Strange half-glimpsed movement deep in the bowels of the Fire Station. Yet this is a thriving tourist town. More than that, apparently she was here only yesterday, with her daughter and some woman called 'Ash'. Surely all of this damage would take time. Surely she would've noticed it yesterday. A day that she can't remember. And why is Ash at the police station, anyway? To make matters worse, the one person she's met in this place since Katie's abduction has now headed off into the fog by himself. Leaving her alone in a bar (well-stocked with booze) with nothing but a juke box (currently idling), two pool tables, and a dart board. The telephone on the counter hasn't been much help and there's not much else that's worth looking at. Oh wait, over in the corner on one of the tables appears to be one of those folded up tourist maps. With a pen handy, she might be able to mark off all the blockages.

Posted: **Thu Dec 29, 2011 5:40 am**

It shouldn't take too long for Jack to bring Ash back to the bar, but there has to be something to do. Other than twiddle her thumbs, worry about whatever comes to mind, and pet the kitten, of course.

But for a half a minute, that's all Cecilia does. It's a soft cat, and it makes her feel a little better.

She picks up the map, looking to get a sense of where she is - and how far the police station is from here.

Posted: **Thu Dec 29, 2011 10:11 am**

Cecilia finds a map of the local area that is easy enough to read. The kitten chirrups a little to recall her back over to the counter but before she moves back, she notices both that Jack is getting into his car and also that there is a newspaper folded up on a nearby chair in the booth.

Posted: **Thu Dec 29, 2011 12:54 pm**

She takes the newspaper and checks the date. If it's not too old, maybe it can shed some light on what's been going on.

The windows here leave her plainly visible. Cecilia looks around for somewhere else to go and hide. She'd really rather not follow that trail of blood, though.

Posted: **Fri Dec 30, 2011 6:12 am**

The trail of blood heads into the rear of the building through the Staff Only door. It's not a very thick trail of blood. Most some bloody scuff marks like someone's boots were dirty with blood. It's the windows in front of the bar that have had the metal roller shutters rolled up. The shutters are down in front of the pool table area. Or she could search for a cellar door. The newspaper is dated for last week. The front page talks about some author who grew up here having moved inter-state and who's come back here to do a tour and a book signing at Andy's Book Store.

Posted: **Fri Dec 30, 2011 6:32 am**

The pool tables seem like a decent option - away from those open windows and that blood. She sets her purse down in a corner of the room, then considers the kitten. It's probably not a good idea to leave it sitting on the bar, especially among all that food.

Food. What if the poor thing gets hungry? Maybe there's some food for it somewhere around here, but she shouldn't worry about that right now. Cecilia goes over to the bar and carefully tries to pick the kitten up.

Posted: **Fri Dec 30, 2011 6:48 am**

The kitten is quite lightweight and chipper and gives her a carefree meow as she lifts it up, though it tosses a menacing growl in the direction of the 'Staff Only' door. It looks like Jack's car is still parked outside. She can dimly make it out through the fog and there's been no sound of the engine starting thus far.

Posted: **Fri Dec 30, 2011 7:09 am**

The growl surprises her. Cecilia didn't know kittens could make that kind of sound. It evidently feels the same as she does about that door.

Cecilia sets it down next to her purse. "Um... stay," she says, pointing at it. She's not really even trying.

She wonders if Jack is having car trouble, but goes to read the newspaper anyway. He'll ask for help if he needs it... hmm, a returning author making the front page? Small newspaper for a small town, she supposes.

Posted: **Fri Dec 30, 2011 7:23 am**

Well, judging by the picture on the front page of the newspaper, it's really no wonder as he's quite the eye catcher -- a bit like the bartender though more small town boyish rather than rakish charm. Apparently he's big into plots with a Clive Barker touch. Strangely fantastic worlds with a chilling and often gruesome underbelly. Apparently, he'll be here in a fortnight's time. One of the other articles talks about police investigations into drug trafficking involving some local hallucinogen called White Claudia. There's also articles on the importance of locking your car doors as there's a saboteur on the loose who's been tinkering with car batteries. Apparently Silent Hill has had some issues with dog attacks and they caution people against approaching unidentified canines (though they hasten to add there's been no sign of rabies in the region). And a rather large article on suicide prevention and ensuring that there's someone you can talk to if things start getting hard for you and to never give up. Written in red ink are the words: 'best never to take loss too much to heart, easier to say, but who do you talk to when you're divorced and alone?' At least, that's what she finds on a quick scan of the articles. She'd have to spend a good twenty minutes to really absorb everything in this newspaper.

Posted: **Fri Dec 30, 2011 3:35 pm**

Cecilia's attention is drawn to the red ink. She doesn't really want to read the article (she's heard it all before), but she finds herself unable to look away. Who wrote that note? And why?

She looks at her left hand again. Empty. It's been that way for a while.

Cecilia decides to read through the article. Maybe it'll say something new and not just bring up the same old points. And maybe there will be more notes in red ink.

Posted: **Sat Dec 31, 2011 1:55 am**

Why Suicide Isn't The Answer

When people hit the deepest pits of despair, believing that their every choice is so painful that there's no point making any choice at all, that's when they begin to consider ending it all. It's ill-considered by the depressed that they would fight for their lives should a man approach them with a knife. Or that they would resist death if their car should plummet down a hill side. In moments when death stalks you, the answers to all of your problems seem so clear.

Perhaps that is why people consider suicide.

Some deeply ingrained need to find the answers, the clarity, and the simplicity of the answers that Death's Threats can bring. Of course, the deceptive serenity and agonising calm of depression keeps all such answers well away and one's self is unlikely to register a threat even when one's self is the greatest threat that stands before you. Unlike a serial killer's gleaming knife, it is hard to see one's own hands or reflection in the mirror as the true threat. Yet how often do we ignore our own failings, covering ourselves in issues that only cause us pain, and making decisions that will only damage us? We are so often our own worst enemies.

Is it any wonder that we so often want to kill ourselves?

Of course, Death isn't the answer. We don't even know what Death will bring us. If there is an Afterlife, who's to say it is any less complicated than our current Lives? And isn't it a little petty to choose death rather than face poor grades, judgmental parents, or the other general issues that plague us?

It's said that the answers to all of our problems become crystal clear in the bare moments before death. A jumper lives to regret his choose as he plummets to the river and realises that Divorce isn't as frightening as Death. And a man passing out in a car filling with carbon monoxide struggles to undo his seat belt.

Is it any wonder that the most successful suicides are the ones who handcuff themselves first so they can't change their mind? Doesn't it say something about the choice?

So, if you ever consider suicide, step away from the ledge and call Lifeline on 1500 223 368.

Posted: **Sat Dec 31, 2011 4:32 am**

It's the most depressing article about suicide prevention she's ever read, and that's saying something. In fact, it seems to choose its morbid words and phrases deliberately - like it's subtly encouraging people to kill themselves. Disgusted, Cecilia puts the newspaper down and pets the kitten some more.

She's tired, but too keyed up to even think about sleep. The floor isn't a good substitute for a bed, either. Maybe Jack has managed to leave by now. Against her better judgment, she walks over and peeks out one of the uncovered windows.

Posted: **Sat Dec 31, 2011 4:36 am**

Cecilia can make out the silhouette of the car through the fog but she can't see him anywhere out there. As she peeks out there, she does realise that the article is quite strange for a newspaper as they're generally quite conservative. Any article that's anything near deep and meaningful is more likely to be found in a magazine but this is plain old depressing. There does seem to be a bit of an implied threat in it that's a bit concerning. Silent Hill's newspapers are as strange as everything else in this God Awful town.

Posted: **Sat Dec 31, 2011 4:46 am**

Cecilia leans against one of the pool tables and lets out a long sigh. Maybe he had to walk - maybe that saboteur mentioned in the paper got to his car. A thought flashes in her mind - she locked the Civic, right? God, there are things more important in there than its battery... but, of course, she can't go out to check.

Just to be sure, though, she tries the door.

Posted: **Sat Dec 31, 2011 4:50 am**

The door is locked but there's doubtless a way to get out through the back of the bar if she really needs to do so. But then, back that way is the corpse. Of course, there might be some evidence on that corpse that would give her some clue as to what's actually going on here. At the very least, she can make sure the individual is dead. And what if the corpse has a gun that she could take for herself? It's probably wise to know an exit anyway. In case of the worst.

Posted: **Sat Dec 31, 2011 5:10 am**

It's hard to imagine that anything could survive two hits from a shotgun without medical intervention, so it's probably safe, if gruesome. She's been exposed to some pretty disturbing stuff from a few murder trials she's taken, but she's never seen a dead person up close. With the exception of funerals, of course.

Still, Cecilia doesn't like the idea of being locked in. In any other town, she might feel safe, but here, she just feels trapped. She tries to avoid the worst of the blood as she heads for the Staff Only door.

Posted: **Sat Dec 31, 2011 5:20 am**

There's just a few light smears here and there like whatever it was had simply clogged the edge of the man's boots only it doesn't appear to be a boot print but it's too flat to be the end of a foot, surely. The corridor is deathly dark but a flick of a switch is enough to settle that. The rear of the corridor opens slightly wider before reaching the back door (judging by the barred window pieces) and there's a door to the left and to the right. The bloody scuffs head left, not right. There doesn't appear to be any lights on in either room. The atmosphere in the entire building is tense with a thick, disturbing silence that exists nowhere in either the urban or rural places.

Posted: **Sat Dec 31, 2011 5:27 am**

It's tempting to go back. The dark shouldn't scare her, she's not a little girl anymore... well, it was never the darkness itself, was it? It was the monsters in the dark that were scary, and monsters don't exist.

Just people who try to kill other people. That's not much better.

Cecilia turns left, seeking a light switch. She wishes she had a flashlight, but why would she bring one on vacation?

That's right. This was supposed to be a time to relax and take her mind off everything.

Ha.

Posted: **Sat Dec 31, 2011 5:39 am**

Well, there's always her mobile phone though that will kill the -- already dead -- batteries pretty fast. She creaks open the door, hand snaking around the door frame to seek out the light switch, while her eyes scan the shapes in the dark. There's no light coming from outside. All the windows must be shuttered in here as well. The scent hits her. A queer mix of vomit, urine, and offal. There ... she has it. She can feel the smooth plastic and with a few more twitches of her finger she locates and flicks the switch. The fluorescent lights flicker to life illuminating a scene of grotesquery. Blood spatters cover the kitchen island and gore streaks the linoleum. The center of this scene of grotesque devastation is a humanoid sack of bony meat, covered in tatters of excess skin like brown cloth, its near featureless face holding a sucking maw for a mouth. One bony hand is tipped in jagged, yellow claws, while the right wrist erupts into a bony, blade-like protrusion. A gaping hole erupts from its back and from the top of the protrusion that counts as its head.

Posted: **Sat Dec 31, 2011 6:06 am**

Cecilia goes pale and claps a hand over her mouth, bile rising in her throat. What is that thing? She can't tear her eyes away from its mouth... what should be its mouth... dear God, is it even human?

The air is thick with the stench. Her nostrils burn, her eyes sting, she can taste the blood and vomit on her tongue.

A moment later, she's running. The light is still on, and she's sprinting towards the bar, as far away as she can get from that thing. Nothing else matters. Just get away.

This is a bad place.

Posted: **Sat Dec 31, 2011 6:11 am**

The door swings open behind her as she throws herself the four feet to the 'staff only' door and passes through into the still-empty bar. The kitten comes rushing up to her with a little meow.

Posted: **Sat Dec 31, 2011 6:28 am**

The corpse lingers behind her eyes; the smell doesn't leave. Her hands smack against the countertop to keep herself standing upright. Then the room tilts and she's on her knees, heaving and retching.

It's unclear how much time passes, but it seems to take forever before she manages to take a deep breath and spit out the last of the vomit. Her skin is tacky with sweat, and she's so thirsty. Her mouth is dry and sour.

She pulls herself up on shaky legs. The air here is clear. Not safe, but there's nowhere safe anymore.

Posted: **Sat Dec 31, 2011 6:34 am**

Now she is stuck in a bar in the middle of a small town with no sign of her daughter in a place where the roads are devastated and the only way out of this locked bar was to go out the back way, further from her car, and passed that corpse. And all she has for company is booze and a kitten. It's the afternoon already, as well, and if the power goes out it'll be gloomy in here let alone if night falls. Can she even count on seeing Jack again? But if she leaves, she's guaranteed to miss his return -- should it ever occur.

Posted: **Sat Dec 31, 2011 6:56 am**

Something to wash the taste out of her mouth is what she needs right now. The whiskey sitting on the bar makes her stomach hurt just looking at it, though. Good, clean water would be best, and the best place to find it would be the kitchen.

She isn't going back there.

Cecilia searches the immediate area for anything that isn't alcoholic. She's still somewhat woozy, so she takes it slow, though she can't ignore her thirst.

Posted: **Sat Dec 31, 2011 7:00 am**

There's plenty of soft drink in the bar fridge, juice as well, and also soft drinks on tap for the mixers.

Posted: **Sat Dec 31, 2011 11:35 am**

She pours herself some orange juice and sits back down near the pool tables to sip it. It's nice and cold, if nothing else. At least the electricity is still going.

The next thing she thinks is that Jack won't be happy about the mess on the floor. When he comes back, that is. Is he coming back? Is it too soon to start worrying? Her phone is dead again, so she can't check the time unless there's a clock somewhere here.

She should probably clean that up, though, or at least find a towel to throw over it. It's kind of an eyesore, and the smell is another thing altogether. When she's done with her juice, she'll look for anything she can use without going back through that door.

Posted: **Sat Dec 31, 2011 11:45 am**

As Cecilia reaches into the fridge, she notices there's a small bottle of Multi-V Health Drink that looks particularly tasty and its label details of pain removal and health benefits plays on the back of her mind as she considers other matters on the forefront of it. She finds the clock beside the folded up towel behind the bar counter but the time seems to be stuck at around 7.12. There's a sensation that the time must be important somehow but it's a feeling her mind shies away from. Turning her attention to the issues of cleaning products, there are a couple rags behind the counter but the real cleaning products are likely either in the kitchen or the other door.

Posted: **Sat Dec 31, 2011 1:52 pm**

Cecilia frowns, but grabs a rag and tries to wipe up the worst of it. When Jack comes back, he can get the cleaning stuff himself. He will probably understand.

It's not anything unfamiliar. She's been cleaning up Katie's various messes since she was born. There were a lot of them. Most were worse than this.

She leaves the tasty-looking Health Drink in the fridge for now. Purloining any more of the bar's drinks is probably unwise.

If the Staff Only door isn't the type to swing closed on its own, she'll go over and close it.

Posted: **Sat Dec 31, 2011 3:22 pm**

It's already closed. Now that the worst of the puke is cleaned up (which leaves her rather exposed to the open windows), she notices the edges of a trapdoor behind the bar. It likely heads down to the cellar. As she straightens, she notices something flicker past the windows through the fog-shrouded day. The flicking, flashing spasm of ... legs? It's hard to be sure. So damn hard to be sure. It does look just like what she saw flash past in the Fire Station.

Posted: **Sat Dec 31, 2011 7:06 pm**

Cecilia drops behind the bar, crouching low. Whatever that is, it probably isn't Jack or Ash. If it isn't either of them, she's not interested. She is officially done being curious. It hasn't led to anything good yet.

The trouble is, how will she know when the thing is gone? She's not in the best position right now.

Posted: **Sun Jan 01, 2012 2:50 am**

She ducks down behind the counter and waits only a foot away from the rapdoor. Outside, she can faintly hear something gurgling and the sounds of skin being slapped against the concrete sidewalk. She can't see anything here, of course, but she's pretty sure she's out of view. It's a fairly well-hidden spot that she's chosen. Maybe it'll be all right and the creature will pass. Then she hears the those hand slaps - or whatever it is - approaching the glass window front. This is the only place with light. Maybe it's attracting them.

Posted: **Sun Jan 01, 2012 3:17 am**

Them. Whatever they are. Is the thing outside another one of those twisted parodies of humanity? The skin, that hand...

How many of them are there?

Cecilia didn't think this through. There's no way she can get to a lightswitch and stay hidden. For a fleeting moment, she imagines the creature's hand smashing through a window, shards of glass scraping against its tattered skin as it climbs through and...

Why didn't Jack close the shutters?

There's nothing but the wet slap of skin on concrete, the pounding of her heart, and the faint electrical hum of the damned lights.

Posted: **Sun Jan 01, 2012 3:31 am**

There's a scrape of nails against glass and then the patter of a hand against one of the windows, as though it were feeling along, until it feels the rattle of the door beneath its weight. It's there and it's bound to be able to see her if she goes for the lights but waiting behind the bar may not be the safest. Cecilia hears a faint hiss and a panicky, pleading meow from the other end of the bar. The kitten is still all the way over there.

Posted: **Sun Jan 01, 2012 3:43 am**

She jumps, scrambles to her feet, and dashes over to the pool tables. Don't look at the window. There's no use in hiding now. It knows. What does it want?

Cecilia grabs the long strap of her purse. It's well-made with thick black leather, but there's not much in it. Not the best sort of improvisational weaponry.

It's right outside. Don't look.

Wait. This is a pool table. Shouldn't there be pool cues around here somewhere? Cecilia takes a quick look at the walls.

Don't look.

Posted: **Sun Jan 01, 2012 3:56 am**

Cecilia quickly spots a pool cue, hearing the sound of hands slapping against the glass door more vigorously now, causing the door to vibrate in its frame.

Posted: **Sun Jan 01, 2012 4:23 am**

Cecilia snatches up the pool cue and drops her purse on the floor. It's not heavy, but it's long and easy to hold. She could probably throw the pool balls at it from a distance.

She takes a deep breath, but it doesn't leave her feeling any steadier. She was supposed to be safe here.

Maybe there's still a chance the thing will leave...?

Posted: **Sun Jan 01, 2012 4:33 am**

The hands keep rattling the door. It can't see her from this angle nor can she see it. Moments pass and then the hands beating at it began to slow and then stop. She can hear the sounds of the creature moving away.

Posted: **Sun Jan 01, 2012 4:59 am**

Cecilia lets out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. Is this really happening? She stands there in stunned silence... then remembers she's not out of the woods yet.

Trying to be as slow and quiet as she can, she sinks underneath the pool table. If the thing is really leaving, she'll stay there for a few minutes, just to make sure it's gone.

Posted: **Sun Jan 01, 2012 5:01 am**

The kitten peeks up at her as she crawls under the pool table with it. The poor thing is trembling so hard its teeth rattle. Its fur is entirely puffed out and its eyes are almost entirely pupil. The two wait under the pool table as the hand slaps grow dimmer and then disappear off into the distance. And Katie's out there, somewhere, in all of that.

Posted: **Sun Jan 01, 2012 5:17 am**

Carefully, Cecilia sets the pool cue on the floor and invites the kitten into her lap. She strokes its soft fur and leans back against one of the table legs.

I am going to kill Jack when he gets back.

She should turn the lights off, but her body doesn't want to get up. She realizes she's trembling. Tears prick at the corners of her eyes.

God, it's been an awful day. She's frightened, alone, and utterly exhausted. Her eyes close, and she tastes salt on her lips.

Bloodstains smear across the darkness before she forces her eyes open again. No rest.

Posted: **Sun Jan 01, 2012 5:24 am**

It feels like hours have passed buts its likely to have been only a few minutes. In the silence of her mind's ear, she can almost hear her daughter screaming for her in fear and terror as the monsters claw at the door that guards her. Cecilia hadn't been paying attention when Katie'd gone into the toilet. Maybe she'd slipped out to take a look around and someone had grabbed her from the pine tree covered slope. What if Katie had called out that she was going to check out that hiking trail, perhaps just the start of it, and Cecilia hadn't heard her and drove off. So many terrible possibilities.

Posted: **Sun Jan 01, 2012 5:41 am**

Why did she let Jack convince her to stay? She should be out there, looking for Katie, doing something instead of waiting around with a goddamn pool cue. That's what a mother does, right? She does everything for her children, because she loves them...

The school picture in the coloring book. The fake disappearances. The way she never seemed happy after the divorce.

I should have listened. I should have known. I should have...

Cecilia stands. She looks for a lightswitch. Katie's voice is still ringing in her ears. Maybe the shadows in the bar will seem less harsh if she turns out the lights.

Maybe she'll stop seeing Katie everywhere she looks.

Posted: **Sun Jan 01, 2012 6:08 am**

The light switch is nowhere she can see it within the bar. Maybe the switch is just behind the doorframe of the 'Staff Only' door.

Posted: **Sun Jan 01, 2012 6:12 am**

Cecilia pushes the 'Staff Only' door open and shuffles into the corridor. There's still fluorescent light streaming from the kitchen. It doesn't matter.

The smell lingers, but it's not as strong. If there's no switch here, she'll head right - away from the blood.

Posted: **Sun Jan 01, 2012 6:14 am**

The switch is just behind the door. Flicking it, turns off the lights in the bar. There's also a switch labelled Neon which is probably for the neon sign out the front.

Posted: **Sun Jan 01, 2012 6:25 am**

She flicks the Neon switch as well, then heads back out to the bar. Is it her imagination, or are things a little quieter with the lights out? The dark no longer seems ominous. It's almost soothing.

Cecilia eyes the whiskey that still sits on the bar. Maybe she could erase this entire day from her memory. It was certainly easy enough yesterday. That might be nice.

Guilt washes over her. How could she even think of forgetting any of this? She'd wake up not knowing where she was, or what happened to Katie... or anything she's learned about this town. She still can't remember Ash, and something important happened with her...

She crawls under the table where the kitten is. Maybe she can sleep a little longer this time.

Posted: **Sun Jan 01, 2012 6:36 am**

The darkness is soothing and calm and the kitten is quite soft and fluffy when she crawls back underneath the 8 Ball Table. It's so easy, so very easy, to feel herself drifting away to sleep. The kitten curls up in her arm and is soon purring quite softly. Her own personal barometer of how safe this place is. Just a shame she hadn't drunk the whiskey to relax herself further.

Posted: **Sun Jan 01, 2012 6:39 am**

The tension seems to dissolve as she drifts off. It's good to have a moment of peace.

Posted: **Sun Jan 01, 2012 7:07 am**

Posted: **Sun Jan 08, 2012 5:22 am**

*Ka-click* Jack opened the doors and neatly stumbled through them. He spotted Cecilia under the table, curled up in sleep, and growled.

He locked the doors to the bar behind him. He walked silently over to the fridge, took out the health drink, and then downed the bottle, feeling much better afterwards.

He then walked over to Cecilia and lay beside her. "Wake up, hon," he said. "I SAID WAKE UP."

His arms closed around her neck.

Posted: **Sun Jan 08, 2012 5:29 am**

The Health Drink doesn't do anything to assist him with his wounds. He remains feeling woozy and exhausted, like his eyes are going to snap shut and he's going to pass out at any moment.

Posted: **Sun Jan 08, 2012 5:29 am**

Spoiler:

Posted: **Sun Jan 08, 2012 5:42 am**

Mid-morning sunshine streams through the window, warming the bed. It's a lazy Saturday, and nobody's really awake yet. Katie's excited because Cecilia promised they would bake cookies together.

Nathan holds her close. It's why she's so reluctant to get up. Slowly, she opens her eyes, and gazes into--

his face

no eyes he has no eyes a black mouth devours

hands scratching tight on her neck crushing squeezing get out katie is gone the walls are bleeding GET OUT

Cecilia wakes with a strangled gasp, too aware of the hands around her throat. She tries to shove her attacker back, not knowing what it is, not caring.

She looks.

Jack?

Posted: **Sun Jan 08, 2012 6:00 am**

"Morning, Kitten," Jack said. "RIse and shine, smell the coffee, smell the ashes, smell the lake." Jack laughed. He held onto her neck with all the force remaining that he could bear to bring.

"My my, you are looking rather unwell, dear! Restless night? Nothing that a little breathe of outside air can't solve!"

Posted: **Sun Jan 08, 2012 6:23 am**

Cecilia kicks and struggles against his hold, but even though he's battered and weak, she can't push him away.

As her desperation mounts, she gasps for air, staring at this face that should be friendly. What happened at the police station? Did he even make it there?

"Why?" she manages to cough, her fingers clinging limply to his arms.

Posted: **Sun Jan 08, 2012 6:47 am**

"Shush shush shush shush shush," Jack said. "You don't want to waste any breath, sleepy head!"

"By the way, I met Ash."

Posted: **Sun Jan 08, 2012 7:29 am**

Ash? He found her? So where is she? Her mind burns with questions, but she can't ask any of them. His fingers are too strong, too close. It's getting so hard to breathe...

This is the first and only person she's seen in this town. The one who tried to help her. The one who wanted to keep her safe.

And he's trying to kill her.

Cecilia shuts her eyes and tries to push him away. Her hands... what's wrong with her hands? It's like they're not even there, he won't move...

Posted: **Sun Jan 08, 2012 5:07 pm**

"And she's dead!" Jack yelled. "Dead, you moron! God!"

He threw her away and backed off. "She didn't make it back with me," Jack whispered. "She helped me up a fence... And then was wrenched away. There was nothing I could do!"

"Then I come back and find you asleep? How can you even think about falling asleep?!"

Jack sank to his knees. "I lost too much blood. There were so many of them... I can't... I'm sorry...Ash told me..." Jack mumbled. "She told me that your daughter is in the hospital..."

Posted: **Sun Jan 08, 2012 7:48 pm**

Cecilia lies on the floor, panting and rubbing the spaces on her neck where Jack's fingers were. The panic disappears, only to be replaced by shock.

Dead. Ash is... dead. She could have helped Cecilia remember yesterday. But she's gone.

It's only now that Cecilia realizes Jack is covered in blood, and other unpleasant things. Is... all of that his? What could have hurt him so badly, and dragged Ash away? Was it another one of those... things?

Sleep. How could she have fallen asleep? It's easy to get defensive, to pretend that she doesn't feel any kind of guilt, and that it's all his fault - so that's what she does.

"You left me locked in here with a kitten and a fucking corpse for company! What was I supposed to do, Jack? Just sit on my hands and worry?"

I should have gone with you.

"So excuse me if I don't like thinking about what would have happened if you didn't come back! I'm sorry for wanting to have some peace for once!"

She sighs heavily, shaking her head, then speaks again, in a whisper: "Would it have been better if you'd killed me, Jack? Would you like it if I'd died because one of those things saw me through the window?"

And now Katie. In the hospital. Why? Are there even any doctors there? Or is she alone, save for whatever's roaming the streets and looking to kill?

"I'm sorry. God, I'm so sorry."

Posted: **Sun Jan 08, 2012 8:50 pm**

Jack did not seem to hear her at all. "It's not safe outside..." he muttered. "No place for a..."

Posted: **Sun Jan 08, 2012 10:01 pm**

Jack lowers himself to the ground, succumbing to instinct and the overwhelming need for sleep. The kitten cowers beside Cecilia, meowing quietly, and the rest of the world outside those windows is so dark and foggy it'd be impossible to tell even if someone was pressed against the windows. Only Jack's clip-on flashlight creates any illumination, splashed against the ceiling and 8 Pool Table as it is.

Posted: **Mon Jan 09, 2012 12:59 am**

"It's not much safer here." Cecilia stares at the dark windows, letting the kitten nuzzle her hand. "What are we going to..."

But he's asleep now. Right? Beyond the chaos of her own thoughts, she can't even hear him breathing.

She finally stands and stretches - the floor was not a good place to sleep. Memories of Katie seem to call for her, but going outside now would be dangerous and foolish. At least she knows that.

The flashlight on Jack's shoulder could be dangerous if something passes by and sees it. He seems to be out cold, but she still steps carefully as she goes to examine it for a switch. The air around him is thick with the smell of blood.

Posted: **Mon Jan 09, 2012 1:02 am**

There's a little black switch on the flashlight, just beneath the face of it, that is easy enough to flick off - sending the pub into complete darkness. She can see nothing, not even silhouettes, and that causes the few noises that surround her - from creaking wood to her own breathing - to sound like gun shots in the silence. There's no light source outside, none at all, which renders the room in pitch darkness.

Posted: **Mon Jan 09, 2012 1:29 am**

Maybe... that wasn't the best idea. How long until the sun rises? Right, the damn bar clock is broken and her phone's still dead.

She might as well be alone again. Sleep is no longer an option. For a while, she sits down next to Jack, listening to the kitten - it's the kitten, isn't it? - walk around the bar.

Can she trust him anymore? What do you do with a man like that, who might kill you as soon as he saves you? Maybe Ash wasn't dragged off by some monster. Maybe...

...but why would he do that? Every criminal has a motive. Unless he's really and truly deranged (which is still a possibility), he's probably told the truth.

Awkwardly, she tries feeling around for the flashlight again. If she can unclip it and take it for herself, the least she can do is try and find supplies for the morning.

Even if she'd rather not go alone.

Posted: **Mon Jan 09, 2012 4:32 am**

Cecilia feels across his chest, the congealing blood cooling on her finger tips, as she unclips the flashlight, noticing as she does so that his pockets feel quite full. A small ball or warm fur hops up onto her lap and pricks her legs as it settles down to sleep. It feels really fluffy. It must be quite scared to have its fur on edge like that.

Posted: **Mon Jan 09, 2012 4:58 am**

"Hey, shh," she whispers, petting the kitten to try and calm it down. "What's so scary, huh?"

She switches the flashlight on and clips it to her jacket sleeve. Briefly, she wonders about Jack's pockets, but decides against it. Have things really gotten so bad that she would resort to thievery?

Well... she is about to loot this place.

Damn it. For someone who works in the name of the law, Cecilia sure finds it easy to break.

"Go bug Jack," she tells the kitten, trying to coax it into getting off her lap. She shines the light on his sleeping body and attempts to get the cat's tiny claws out of her clothes.

Posted: **Mon Jan 09, 2012 5:09 am**

The kitten curls up in a ball and ignores her. The claws are free of her clothing but she'll need to bodily lift and move it if she wants to be free of the kitten.

Posted: **Mon Jan 09, 2012 5:17 am**

Cecilia scoops the fluffy kitten up in her hands and sets it down next to Jack. Maybe it'll calm him down. Worst-case scenario, the kitten follows her around and gets into trouble.

She stands up, brushing cat fur off her lap, and retrieves her purse. Then she goes to the counter to choose what food she might take.

Her stomach growls at the thought. She really hasn't had a meal since the hotel (or yesterday?), has she?

Posted: **Mon Jan 09, 2012 5:27 am**

The kitten accepts its new position with a little stretch and an interested lick at some of the blood soaking into his shirt. Jack's food pile contains mostly tomatoes, carrots, cheese, and lettuce, although there's also beer nuts and crisps behind the counter if she got desperate. There's probably cold schnitzel and burgers in the refridgerator in the kitchen, judging by the meal suggestions on the menus, but she'd have to go back out there to find them.

Posted: **Mon Jan 09, 2012 5:35 am**

Cheese, lettuce, tomatoes... she could make some sandwiches. Although that raises the question of bread. And she's certainly not going back into the kitchen to find it. (She could probably kill her appetite that way, though.)

Instead, she picks up a couple slices of cheese and some carrots to snack on while she continues her search. Isn't there a door set into the floor behind the bar? That might lead to a cellar.

Posted: **Mon Jan 09, 2012 5:52 am**

The trapdoor has an inset handle to minimise tripping risks but it's easy enough to unfold it and pull it open, revealing a rather mundane looking cellar full of kegs and crates of alcohol. There must be a rear ramp to some back entrance to aid in getting it down there because the trapdoor isn't quite big enough for it. There's a metal locker at the far end of the room, beside a few towering boxes of beer bottles.

Posted: **Mon Jan 09, 2012 6:00 am**

Cecilia shakes her head. There's likely nothing that could be of use in here, so she goes back up and shuts the door.

Next stop, she supposes, will be the Staff Only door. Not to the kitchen, of course - anywhere else will do. She doesn't quite remember the back area, except for the kitchen.

Posted: **Mon Jan 09, 2012 6:01 am**

Cecilia recalls that there's a door opposite the kitchen door.

Posted: **Mon Jan 09, 2012 6:03 am**

Right. To that door, then.

Posted: **Mon Jan 09, 2012 6:46 am**

Cecilia cautiously enters the hallway, her light flashing over the rear-most doorway. The darkness seems to press up against that window, revealing nothing but blackness outside. The door to the right opens easily to reveal some sort of office. The windows are covered in steel shutters, protecting her from seeing the darkness outside. The desk is neatly ordered and the computer shut off. There is some sort of control panel to the right of the steel locker, just above the filing cabinet, on top of which is a collection of telly tubby paraphernalia. There's a lot of paper scrunched up and dropped in the waste paper bin.

Posted: **Mon Jan 09, 2012 7:06 am**

Cecilia suppresses a shudder at the Teletubbies. Those things have always creeped her out. Fortunately, Katie has a clear preference for Sesame Street.

With a sigh, she leaves and goes back to the bar. Yeah, looting worked out really well. Carrots and cheese. She's a stone-cold criminal now.

She sits down next to Jack and the kitten again. Is he going to be all right? She could swear that he hasn't moved or made a sound since he fell asleep. What if he doesn't wake up?

As much as it pains her to admit, she probably needs him. Not only has she never shot a gun, but Jack is a local and would know things she doesn't.

She swallows nervously, and reaches out to shake him a bit.

Posted: **Mon Jan 09, 2012 7:56 am**

All of these thoughts flutter through her mind as she heads back out into the bar only to find a perky kitten curled up into a ball, sleeping. There's no sign of Jack. No sign he's even been here but for the congealed blood stains on the wooden floor. And the shotgun, which lies where he last put it, though there's no sign of any spare ammunition. She's all alone here now.

Posted: **Mon Jan 09, 2012 10:59 am**

Cecilia rushes to the front of the bar and presses her palms to the cold glass of a window. Even this close, there's only darkness and fog. Where did he go? And how?

Fine. No more waiting around for Jack to save her. Carefully, she picks up the shotgun (is it her imagination, or is it still warm?).

If Jack remembered to re-lock the front door, she'll go down to the cellar again.

Posted: **Mon Jan 09, 2012 12:12 pm**

The front door is locked. The kitten rushes over to her as she opens up the trapdoor and peers down into the gloom. The cellar is cold and dark before her.

Posted: **Mon Jan 09, 2012 12:50 pm**

"Go back to sleep," Cecilia whispers as she descends into the cellar. Not that the kitten can understand her. It almost reminds her of a younger Katie.

The thought of closing it and possibly trapping herself inside unnerves her, so she leaves the trap door open for now.

With her clip-on flashlight, she sweeps the cellar for any kind of exit.

Posted: **Mon Jan 09, 2012 9:56 pm**

Not surprisingly, the kitten doesn't submit to her wishes. Not only can it not understand her, but it's a relatively unarmed walking hamburger to those things out there and Cecilia is it's best bet of survival. The feline seems to instinctively understand this - thus it follows, struggling not to fall headlong down the steps as it drops down one than the other. There is a ramp at the rear of the cellar, behind all of the crates and other bric-a-brac, but it looks solid and empty, and she would have to crawl up the ramp to get out. It would likely be easier to just head out the rear door in that 'staff only' corridor - though that might be locked as well.

Posted: **Tue Jan 10, 2012 2:54 am**

Cecilia sighs. "What am I going to do with you?" It's a genuine question - the shotgun is heavy enough without a kitten in her hands.

Upon seeing the ramp, she mutters a curse under her breath and goes up the stairs again. (She does make sure the kitten gets out.) The rearmost door will be her best option.

And maybe she can stop by that office on her way out. There might be a warm coat in there. Hell, if she's really lucky, there'll be some sturdier shoes in her size.

Posted: **Tue Jan 10, 2012 2:59 am**

She brought suitcases full of spare clothing and a change of footwear with her to Silent Hill. They should be in the boot of her car. Of course, she does remember seeing that there was a woollen coat hanging from a hook on the back of the office door which she could also use. As she turns to head back up the stairs, her flashlight lights up a spread of white spray painted graffitti on the wall that states simply: MUMMY WHERE ARE YOU IM D

Posted: **Tue Jan 10, 2012 4:08 am**

Right, the car. She didn't even think about the car. Assuming its battery is still intact, she could drive it to the hospital to stay protected. She could even take the kitten, if it won't freak out and throw up on everything.

Her spirits sink when the words catch her eye. For a few seconds, she stands there, wondering who could have written it. And what did they mean to say?

Was it there before?

Thinking too hard about it won't bring anything good. Just more happy memories turned painful. She turns away and goes up the stairs to go get that coat.

Posted: **Tue Jan 10, 2012 4:10 am**

It's a few steps to the 'Staff Only' door and then a few steps down the hall to the right-hand door - all the while with a kitten meowing piteously and bounding between her legs, as though sensing the risk that her human might abandon her here to be a happy meal for monsters. The coat is as she left it and as she picks it up she notices that there's a weight in one of the pockets.

Posted: **Tue Jan 10, 2012 4:25 am**

Cecilia slips into the coat. It's warm, if nothing else, and it's got pockets. She's about to try and stuff the shotgun into one of them before she remembers that it's loaded, and the safety's off.

Safety on, then. She's not about to become another part of a statistic in the name of teaching people gun safety.

Curious, she reaches into the weighted pocket with one hand, and crouches down to pet the kitten with the other.

Posted: **Tue Jan 10, 2012 4:27 am**

The kitten licks her finger tips eagerly and bats at her thumb with a paw, while her other fingers clasp around a small book with a bound leather cover and a little silken tie that wraps around the covers.

Posted: **Tue Jan 10, 2012 4:37 am**

She pulls the book out. It's probably a diary, which means she really shouldn't read it.

On the other hand, it could tell her something useful about this town, and she needs all the help she can get. Besides, the owner isn't around.

Pushed by that damned curiosity, she undoes the tie and takes a look inside the pages.

Posted: **Tue Jan 10, 2012 4:47 am**

Dated three weeks ago:

Wolfe came in again. Demanded to take a look around. Not selling enough 'stock'. Have to sell more. I've refused. There's been a few incidents. People are getting hurt. A lot of people can't take it. Have to choose buyers better.

Dated eighteen days ago:

Jack is such a ditz! He had another blonde moment and the ordered the wrong beer. Now we've doubled up. Luckily I can count on him to egg people on to drink it all.

Dated seventeen days ago:

Meeting. Wolfe. 14:30. Artaud Theatre.

Dated fifteen days ago:

Terrible production. Why must the Historical Society always call on our crappiest amateur actors? Wilcox sniffed around Jack again. Wanted him in the next play. Can't believe he'd try. Jack would never remember his lines.

Dated twelve days ago:

Is someone following me? I'm getting that feeling. Is it Wolfe? I thought he was happy with me still. Or maybe that detective again!

Dated eleven days ago:

So weird. Constable Bennett searched my bar but it turns out she doesn't even work in Silent Hill. She went missing from Brahms years ago! What is going on here?

Dated nine days ago:

Jack said something that worried me. I think he was just tired but still... I know Wolfe approached him but I didn't think he'd react like this. Apparently he's no I won't mention it here.

Dated six days ago:

He already knew. Damnit.

Dated two days ago:

Wolfe's been implying some interesting things. I hope Jack knows what's best for him. Boy's always been too good for this place.

Dated tomorrow:

Now Jack swears he's being followed. I'll talk to him. Find out what's the big deal lately. Why's he so interested in the Historical Society anyway?

Dated three days from now:

Too late.

Posted: **Tue Jan 10, 2012 5:03 am**

Three days from now? How...?

No. This person... clearly they're confused, or like messing around with dates, or anything that explains it!

She slips the diary back into the pocket, but the questions don't stop. These entries imply a town with a lot more residents than she's seen. Residents who aren't twisted sacks of skin with no faces.

And what was - is? - going on with Jack?

Cecilia sighs and picks the kitten up, cradling it in her hands. She's delayed long enough. Time to try that door.

Posted: **Tue Jan 10, 2012 5:09 am**

There's no internal pocket that is as deep as Jack's but there is one deep enough to hold the shotgun on the outside if she doesn't jostle it or try to run. Alternatively, she could put the kitten in her pockets and hold the shotgun in her hands. The rear door is unlocked and opens easy between her fingers, spilling her out onto a concrete path that leads across a small car park to the road (where he car sits not far from Jack's) or up against a walled fence that leads to the courtyard she passed earlier. Outside it's inferally dark. Her flashlight barely reveals a dozen feet ahead of herself.

Posted: **Tue Jan 10, 2012 5:20 am**

Carefully, Cecilia puts the kitten in one of her pockets, making sure not to squish it. It seemed to like Jack's pocket just fine, but it was probably more roomy.

Slowly, keeping an eye on the ground, she heads to her car to get her better shoes. And to see if it's still up to being driven.

Posted: **Tue Jan 10, 2012 5:35 am**

She reaches her car unmolested and unlocks the boot. All of her suitcases are there, just as before. Alongside hers are Katie's, including the big pillow that Katie always insisted on bringing along to holidays, when they happened. The car itself seems fine, completely undamaged, though its empty back seat with its drawings pains her to look through. The rest of the world hangs still, as though breathless with anticipation, and the air feels cool but damp against her cheek.

Posted: **Tue Jan 10, 2012 5:50 am**

The car blurs in front of her eyes as she blinks back tears. That pillow is Katie's bedtime companion, like Molly the Collie (who is absolutely not in a box in Cecilia's closet). It's covered in years of childhood, including a brown patch from when she lost a tooth in the middle of the night.

It makes her remember why she's going on this crazy mission through a fucked-up town, though. The reason she hasn't left.

She pulls the zipper on her suitcase and retrieves her sneakers, replacing them with her heels. After lacing them up, she slams the trunk closed and digs her car key out of her purse.

Time to go.

Posted: **Tue Jan 10, 2012 6:01 am**

The kitten meows its agreement, the sound muffled beneath the wool, and Cecilia realises that she can only jut make out the vague silhouette of Annie's Bar. The shadowy darkness seems to coalesce around the edges of the light meaning the shadows seems murkier and thicker nearer the light than elsewhere. She can tell, however, that there is some slight ambient light in the area, much like one would expect when outside during the thunderstorm. It isn't much, but she can vaguely make out silhouettes a few feet away in the non well-lit directions.

Posted: **Tue Jan 10, 2012 6:09 am**

Is dawn finally coming? No time to wonder, though - she's not messing around with any silhouettes. Quickly, she unlocks the car, gets in the driver's seat, and shoves the key into the ignition. The shotgun goes on the passenger's seat after she checks that the safety's still on.

Please work.

Posted: **Tue Jan 10, 2012 6:17 am**

The engine coughs and sputters, then goes silent.

Posted: **Tue Jan 10, 2012 6:25 am**

"Fuck!" Her fists slam against the dashboard, and she takes a deep breath, releasing it in a growl of frustration.

Cecilia grabs the key and makes a few more futile attempts to start the car. This is great. Just wonderful.

After a moment of seething, she opens her purse and takes out her map. Maybe she can figure out a good way to the hospital on foot.

Assuming, of course, that she doesn't hit one of those holes in the road.

Posted: **Tue Jan 10, 2012 6:36 am**

Cecilia takes a look at the map but her mind is so fractured by all that has happened that she just can't seem to hold any of the street addresses in her mind for longer than a few moments nor can she tell precisely the right streets to travel. North. That's all she knows. North. She can see the hospital and where she is now - though it takes awhile - but she can't tell much else. She's not even sure she'll be able to move easily in the dark without getting turned out constantly.

Posted: **Tue Jan 10, 2012 6:47 am**

Taking the shotgun, the map, and her key, Cecilia leaves the car and locks it. She makes no effort to calm down whatsoever. Her therapist will have a field day if she makes it out of this.

North. Where the hell is north, anyway? She doesn't carry a compass around. Who does? She crams the car key and the useless map into her purse.

Tending the fires of her determination, Cecilia walks in the general direction of where she thinks she should go.

Posted: **Tue Jan 10, 2012 6:53 am**

Cecilia stares forward from where the car park meets the asphalt road. To her left is Annie's Bar with its unshuttered windows an empty silhouette now that her light source is gone. Behind her is a brick wall. To her right is Jack's car and more carpark. A blood smear trails from the other side of the car and across the asphalt road. She has so many choices. She can vault the wall, head back inside, or follow the road one way or the other (on either sidewalk or along the road itself). Left, right, forward, back. Her mind is too frazzled to know precisely which way to go though she has an inkling it may perhaps be somewhere forward. Or is the hospital near the medical clinic all the way back the way she came? Who could say? She only vaguely remembered 'north' from her addled read of the map.

Posted: **Tue Jan 10, 2012 7:24 am**

Cecilia steps onto the sidewalk closest to her, turns left, and walks forward.

Posted: **Tue Jan 10, 2012 9:15 am**

She reaches another intersection. Everything is still silent and still but for the wriggling of the kitten.

Posted: **Tue Jan 10, 2012 10:52 am**

She turns right, crosses the street, and keeps moving.

Posted: **Tue Jan 10, 2012 10:42 pm**

Her light brushes across the crumbling edges of a crater that yawns wide and large before her. It gapes between the residential houses on the left but ends up against the now leaning cafe on the right that precariously tilts above the abyss. The air is still cool and quiet. There's no sound of anything else out here with her.

Yet.

Posted: **Wed Jan 11, 2012 1:41 am**

With a 180-degree turn, Cecilia goes back to the intersection, crosses the street again, and continues walking.

Posted: **Wed Jan 11, 2012 2:01 am**

To her right, an ocean of asphalt that stretches off into darkness. To her left is the bar, then the vague outline of hedgerows and wooden benches in the courtyard. Her sneakers sound against the concrete sidewalk, sounding like rifle shots in the utter silence, but soon she discovers the vague sound of rustling leaves and something else - water lapping against stone. She passes a sign for Jude's Diner that stands tall outside of yet another carpark and then comes to another T-intersection. The sign reads Sandford Street.

Posted: **Wed Jan 11, 2012 2:04 am**

Cecilia almost wishes for the silence again. She crosses the street, then turns left and walks.

Posted: **Wed Jan 11, 2012 2:21 am**

Cecilia can vaguely make out a bright, flashing light somewhere in front and to the right of her as she stands at the intersection but her mind is still so frozen by fear that her senses fail to pick out anything of note. She follows the road past the Haerby Inn Motel whose yellow neon sign reports current vacancies. Just past the motel is Weaver Street - though whether it's a T-intersection, a Cross Roads or a left-hand turn she can't be assured of unless she tries to cross the road one way or another.

Posted: **Wed Jan 11, 2012 2:26 am**

Cecilia makes an attempt to dash across the street. That light, the sense that she's constantly getting turned around... it urges her to run, despite the danger.

Posted: **Wed Jan 11, 2012 2:49 am**

Cecilia runs across the street and suddenly slows, near tripping, as the dilapidated walled off barrier appears abruptly before her. She staggers forward, still pushed on by her momentum, and grasps the stone before finally halting. The water below of the lake sparkles black under the flashlight's glow. From what she can glimpse, the entire right side of her is bordered by the lake. She can either head back and follow this road to its end across the other intersection or continue left.

Posted: **Wed Jan 11, 2012 2:53 am**

The lake... that's something. Cecilia turns left with a sigh, and continues on.

Posted: **Wed Jan 11, 2012 3:07 am**

The water laps against the pilings with an eerie regularity, almost like it had strange tides of its own. After awhile, the sidewalk branches out and she passes a building signposted: The Indian Runner. Further beyond that, the asphalt gapes open across Craig Street, pressing against the edge of the Indian Runner building. She can head left along the sidewalk against the edge of the crater or see if there is a way around the crater by going through the Indian Runner.

Posted: **Wed Jan 11, 2012 3:15 am**

Cecilia heads left. She seems to be taking a lot of lefts. If she goes left enough times, maybe she'll have left this town.

Oh, dear. She's making lame jokes. That can't be a good sign.

Posted: **Wed Jan 11, 2012 3:23 am**

The way is clear and the crater soon ends. Moving further she reaches a gore-spattered side of a car, beside which lays a horrifically mutilated corpse of denim and blood and flayed skin whose belly has been carved out and liquefied revealing juicy red hip bones and a shattered skull still leaking juice. Just beyond that, vaguely visible in her flashlight's beam - is Annie's Bar. She has managed to walk around the block and has done little more. She could try to follow the bloodstained prints across the asphalt and see if she could make her way through the buildings that way or she could take a right on Sandford Street -- unless she wanted to try to make it past the crater by going through the Indian Runner there weren't many other choices.

Posted: **Wed Jan 11, 2012 3:36 am**

Cecilia stares dumbly at the corpse for a few seconds. It's the kind of thing that should shock and horrify, but she just looks at it. It's almost unsurprising.

Wait.

She's back at the fucking bar, isn't she?

Throwing her hands up in frustration, she decides to follow the footprints. Common sense? Ha!

Posted: **Wed Jan 11, 2012 3:49 am**

The bloodied footprints lead into the laneway between the MEC Burger Joint and some other place whose sign is too faded to read anymore. The laneway is tight and narrow, yet surprisingly neat, almost empty but for a single dumpster that sits pressed up against the MEC Burger Joint's wall. She'd have to climb the fence (luckily the struts are on the side - +10% to your Climb skill) or Jump it from the dumpster. It's too dark to make out much beyond the fence.

Posted: **Wed Jan 11, 2012 3:58 am**

She carefully slides the shotgun into a pocket and almost manages to climb the fence. Unfortunately, she can't quite make it over, and drops to the ground grumbling.

Back to the bar to try another way.

Posted: **Wed Jan 11, 2012 4:12 am**

Posted: **Wed Jan 11, 2012 4:21 am**

Or not. Maybe she can still make it. It's not like the fence has spikes on it or anything.

Slower this time, she makes her way up and manages to pull herself over, dropping down to the other side.

Posted: **Wed Jan 11, 2012 4:45 am**

The kitten squeels in protest as its pushed against the metal fence but soon Cecilia is up and over and landing on soft grass. Ahead she can dimly make out the occasional tree whose branches seem caught in a perpetual rhythm of swaying despite the lack of a breeze. Rain drops begin to fall, further chilling her skin, and dampening her face and hair.

Posted: **Wed Jan 11, 2012 4:50 am**

Cecilia peeks at the kitten in her pocket and gives it a scratch behind the ears. The rain makes her shiver, and she pulls the coat tighter around herself. Unfortunately, wet wool always smells terrible.

She walks forward, curious about the trees. The whispering of their branches makes them seem as though they're sharing secrets.

Posted: **Wed Jan 11, 2012 5:08 am**

Cecilia walks through a park filled with green grass, raised flower beds, and neatly trimmed hedgerows. The trees rise up above her, ominously shaking their branches in the non-existent breeze, and providing little to no shelter from the chilling rain. One of the trees even as a brass plaque:

Cr. Stanley Chambers
1928 - 1967
Whose willing ear solved many problems

Moving forward around the tree she reaches a winding cement path which heads forward and to the right of her and backward and to the left of her that she can follow should she wish.

Posted: **Wed Jan 11, 2012 5:18 am**

Forward and to the right. Maybe right is the right way to go.

However, puns will solve nothing.

Posted: **Wed Jan 11, 2012 5:34 am**

Cecilia follows the winding path and notices that there is another tree with a plaque on it:

Cr. Ronald Withers
1922 - 1967
Who forever championed the rights
Of people
Who were not his own.

Further down the path she comes across a large stone fountain where an angelic woman stands tall, her arms raised skyward as water cascaded down over her fingertips to enter the crystal clear pond. Amongst the coins scattered in the water sits a rather nasty looking sharp knife and three severed fingers. A plaque on the fountain's base states:

Mrs. Dora Harris
1926 - 1967
She was Mother to Us All

There are five different paths that come off from the hedge-edged circular path that surrounds this fountain. Two go rearward - one left, one right. Two go forward - one left, one right. One goes forward and seems to be the straightest path of them all.

Posted: **Wed Jan 11, 2012 5:38 am**

It's a lovely fountain. She could stare at it for why are there fingers in there?

Never mind. Cecilia steps back, disturbed, and takes the straightest path forward.

Posted: **Wed Jan 11, 2012 5:45 am**

Cecilia reaches a small laneway lined on one side by a high brick wall. Splashed across the wall are multiple pieces of graffiti in many different styles from large balloon words, to spidery lettering, to an image of a big, fleshy angel reaching skyward, to some strange symbolism, and several spray cans lie beside the wall next to a discarded jacket. Over all of the other graffitti tags is a single word: MOMMY. She could doubtless look at this wall for hours before reading it all or she could head left or right and follow the wall. Or head back into the park.

Posted: **Wed Jan 11, 2012 5:54 am**

It could mean something. It could even say something important, but she can't read it. The word blocks out everything else in her mind.

An image of a little girl in a hospital room, with her mom's green eyes and her grandpa's blond hair. She's crying. Alone.

Stop.

Cecilia tries to shake the image away, and follows the wall to the right.

Posted: **Wed Jan 11, 2012 6:15 am**

The laneway meets a wider road at some sort of intersection. She could cross the road and see if it keeps going straight or she could turn either left or right. Hopefully with the park behind her, she shouldn't get turned about again - and if she does, she shouldn't end up back where she started.

Posted: **Wed Jan 11, 2012 6:20 am**

Cecilia decides to cross the road. She'll head straight if it goes that way - if not, she'll turn to the left.

With cold fingers, she tries to button or zip the coat up. Tiny beads of rain cling to the wool and drip from the ends of her hair.

Posted: **Wed Jan 11, 2012 6:28 am**

Apparently this vertical street is called Borden Street. More shops crowd the road. So many places to purchase. Then she crosses another road and at the intersection is a Town Hall whose lights, against all odds, are still on, still radiating warmth amidst the darkness and coldness and dampness. A big stone building with a doorway set deep within an alcove, Silent Hill Town Hall was a monstrous edifice that beckoned to her. Behind it was another intersection, perhaps a cross roads.

Everything is so still.

There's not a single monster hounding her heels.

Not a single creature trying to kill her.

Where have they all gone? Or was Jack lying all along?

Posted: **Wed Jan 11, 2012 6:34 am**

It's certainly possible, though it's more likely that he really is crazy. But what about the thing in the kitchen? The corpse behind the car?

And his injuries. There doesn't seem to be a soul around capable of causing them. Could they have been self-inflicted?

But why?

The Town Hall is strange and tempting. She almost walks toward it before remembering the hospital. It's got to be close, right?

Instead, she passes it, to the intersection that lies behind it.

Posted: **Wed Jan 11, 2012 6:39 am**

The intersection certainly goes left and right and might even go across. Everything seems pretty still. Pretty quiet. Even if there are monsters around, perhaps she'll manage to get past them without any trouble. Perhaps she'll somehow remain safe.

Posted: **Wed Jan 11, 2012 6:42 am**

Cecilia heads left, and takes advantage of the silence to check on the kitten.

Posted: **Wed Jan 11, 2012 6:51 am**

Two more intersections turn left along the sidewalk as she continues along her path before she reaches the line of residential buildings that block off this end of Midway Avenue - which seems to be a rather long and curving street. The kitten purrs and nibbles on her finger when she puts her hand inside her pocket. Compared to all the coldness that surrounds her, the kitten is a small island of soft, fluffy, warmth.

Posted: **Wed Jan 11, 2012 6:58 am**

A residential area? Cecilia frowns. That doesn't seem right. She heads back to the nearest intersection and turns right instead.

While she's walking, she talks softly to the kitten, keeping her hand in her pocket.

"Katie's going to love you. She came back to the house once gushing about kittens. One of Nathan and Keith's neighbors had just adopted one from a shelter..."

It fills the silence, at least.

Posted: **Wed Jan 11, 2012 7:01 am**

Cecilia is on the current intersection and crossing the street finds herself on another long road with a crater on the right-hand side and a surviving sidewalk on the left-hand side. It's impossible to see what's on the other side of that crater through the gloom.

Posted: **Wed Jan 11, 2012 7:11 am**

This is oddly familiar, but she walks along the left sidewalk eventually. Too many holes in this town. That's one advantage of being on foot, at least.

"...need a litter box and some food, and a tag if you want to be an outdoor cat. The backyard's pretty safe... and she'll want to give you a name. The vet can tell us if you're a boy or girl kitty..."

Posted: **Wed Jan 11, 2012 11:16 am**

The kitten licks at her finger and nibbles on it, its fluffy paws wrapped around her hand, softly batting at it, without a care in the world. The crater gives way to jutting out asphalt and crumbled stone and then back to smooth asphalt on the other side. The rain continues to spit down on her, leaving her damp and miserable, though somehow the woolen coat protects the kitten and everything within her pockets from that same fate. She could provide comfort and succor to the kitten but she would get none while she was out of these streets. She could try to see what is on the other side of the road or she could simply continue on ahead down this long, long road.

Posted: **Wed Jan 11, 2012 1:09 pm**

"...nice to have you around. I just wonder what you were doing with Jack. Did Ash leave you with him, maybe?"

She pauses in her rambling to try and see what's on the other side of the street. Maybe she's going in the right direction?

Posted: **Wed Jan 11, 2012 9:56 pm**

The other side of the street remains a mystery to her, draped in shadows and gloom.

Posted: **Wed Jan 11, 2012 9:59 pm**

Unsatisfied, but driven by a need to keep going, Cecilia continues down the long stretch of road.

Posted: **Wed Jan 11, 2012 10:57 pm**

There's another intersection which branches left and straight ahead from what she can tell, though it might be a cross roads, she couldn't tell without turning right and crossing the road. It's been about twenty minutes or so steadily wandering the streets and yet she still hasn't come across anything. Maybe it is safe. Maybe there's nothing to worry about. Or maybe she's just been lucky. It's impossible to say. There's been no sign of people, unless they're hunkering down in their shops, and the few cars she's spotted have been parked along the side of the road, not generally abandoned along the middle of it.

Posted: **Wed Jan 11, 2012 11:41 pm**

Cecilia turns right, crosses the street, and continues on.

Posted: **Thu Jan 12, 2012 12:10 am**

Galaxy. Loggia. A-Market. These are the stores she passes as she heads along down the other sidewalk and she can vaguely make out a police car with its boot popped that's parked in the middle of the road. The entire street is so still and quiet like she is the only one left. Perhaps she is all alone? Perhaps there is no one left? There's a right turn in front of her, though she could always investigate the car, or take a look on the other side of the street.

Posted: **Thu Jan 12, 2012 12:20 am**

Cecilia takes a curious look at the car's trunk. Was it abandoned? Is someone coming back for it?

Posted: **Thu Jan 12, 2012 12:23 am**

The police car boot contains little more than a blood-stained rag, three shotgun shells, and an energy drink. However, a half dozen notes scrawled across police crime scene forms lie scattered across the asphalt, slowly growing more damp from the rain drops. It's odd, though. They should already be soaked through but it's as though only now are they being rained upon. Now she's in the middle of the street, she can vaguely make out the ominous shape of the Silent Hill Police Station just across the road.

Posted: **Thu Jan 12, 2012 12:36 am**

She takes the shotgun shells and puts them into a pocket. It's probably paranoia-driven more than anything else, since she hasn't shot anything yet.

Then she takes the right turn. Maybe she's close now. Maybe.

Posted: **Thu Jan 12, 2012 1:02 am**

Son Corp (legal firm? advertising?). 386 (recording studio?). Salmon (clothing shop). Hot Dog (clothing shop). Koontz Street intersection. The sidewalk to the right brushes up against a chasm. She could follow that sidewalk, continue on straight across the road, or go left and see what lies down that undamaged street. The rain runs into her eyes like tears, starting to blur her vision, and no matter how hard she tries to block them, they keep slipping around her fingers and into her eyes to streak down her cheeks like she's crying.

Posted: **Thu Jan 12, 2012 1:48 am**

A drop of rain slithers down her neck, its touch like ice. The water tastes oddly like salt, but her eyes don't sting.

It's unforgiving as the ocean.

Cecilia heads left, grateful for the tiny ball of warmth in her pocket.

Posted: **Thu Jan 12, 2012 1:57 am**

Dai Dai Restaurant. Sue Nail. Cafe Sun. Simmons Street heads left. There may be another road turning right. Who can tell? This is a short road. The blocks are more inter-cut with roads here.

Posted: **Thu Jan 12, 2012 2:03 am**

Cecilia will head right at the first available opportunity. If there isn't one, she'll just go left on Simmons Street.

Dai Dai Restaurant. That must create some interesting awkwardness in conversations.

Posted: **Thu Jan 12, 2012 2:13 am**

Cecilia crosses the street to see if there is a chance to cross the road at any point here and finds herself looking at the intersection of Canyon Street. Funnily enough, this is one of those stupid cross roads that aren't. The vertical Canyon Street ended in a T-intersection right next to the T-intersection that is Simmons Street, meaning any car that wanted to get from Canyon Street onto Simmons Street must stop at the intersection, cross, and then get quickly into the proper lane to turn left.

It's such a long walk. How long has it been since she's seen Katie? How long will it take? The icy coldness bites into her heart as her legs begin to tire. Even in sneakers, there's only so far she can walk...

She starts down the left sidewalk of Canyon Street, following a chasm that whips across the asphalt for a dozen or so yards before she comes along a long telephone pole that has dropped from the sidewalk to hang across the void. It doesn't seem to be dipping down at all, despite the fact that it's not longer attached to the concrete sidewalk, and yet it seems perfectly solid. It must have landed on the other side of the chasm and is being held there by some more land.

Posted: **Thu Jan 12, 2012 2:21 am**

Cecilia blinks at the telephone pole, sighs, and steps carefully around it. The kitten doesn't seem warm anymore, and the rain continues to fall.

Like a spray of seawater on her face.

She tries to plan what she'll do once she and Katie get back to Waterville. Maybe they can pretend that all of this never happened.

Unlikely.

Posted: **Thu Jan 12, 2012 2:28 am**

The road is long and ends at another T-Intersection onto Midway Avenue with the chasm floating around to the right, though assumedly she could follow the sidewalk past it should she choose.

Otherwise, she can always go left.

Play@YSDC

CHAPTER ONE: Cecilia: Checking In

CHAPTER ONE: Cecilia: Checking In

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