CHAPTER ONE: Walter and Emily's Journey: Entrapment

[Seon]

"Laura? Magic?" Walter mused. "A little blond girl? About your height?"

[Raiko]

Wiping away her tears, Katie smiles up at Walter - maybe this man and lady are Laura's mommy and daddy.

She nods her head and speaks excitedly, "She's my best friend! We're going to play hide and seek later!"

[Kadael]

"The rides. At the Amusement Park?" Emily's smile becomes more honest; she's relieved that the girl's a little calmer now. "So you were there with Laura, and she said... wait, you came back to the hotel without your mommy?"

This is troubling, to say the least.

[Seon]

"That's the girl I saw outside the room," Walter muttered, shaking his head. There was something about this other than the giant mysterious burning hotel filled with zombie.... well, actually, that was the gist of things that he had problems with.

"When did you meet Laura, by the way?"

[Raiko]

"In the boys toilet. It was stinky!"

She screws up her face to simulate the 'stinkiness', "Laura got magicked there too, then we went to the amusement park. Mommy didn't come, because she was on an important telephone call - and she gets real mad if you talk to her when she's on the telephone."

"Laura said mommy would be at the hotel, because that's where all the grown ups go. And these are mommy's things, but she's not here!"

[Kadael]

"So where was your mommy when she was on the phone?" Emily struggles to maintain her air of friendly calm now that the pieces are coming together. How could any mother who cared about her children do this? Letting their kids out of sight for so long, in an unfamiliar place?

God, what an uncomfortable reminder of Midwich and its parents.

Oh, he's actually sick? I was sure he just wanted attention, you know, and I've got more important things to do...

[Raiko]

"It was a car park next to the lake, for picnics and things. We'd been driving for ages and ages. Mommy said we were nearly at Silent Hill, but I needed a pee, and mommy got her important phone call"

Katie didn't understand why the grown ups asked so many questions, she'd already said that Laura magicked her here, what was so complicated? This lady seemed nice though...

"Do you know where Laura is? She'll know how to find mommy."

[Seon]

Walter sighed. "No, we have not seen Laura. Well. I think anyways," he muttered.

[Raiko]

"Oh no," Katie's spirits sink, "Will you help me look for mommy then? She must be here somewhere, all her bags are here."

[Kadael]

"Of course I will. What does she look like?" Emily squeezes the girl's hand, then turns around to look at Walter. He can chase phantoms all he likes, but... "Can you go look for her? I should stay here with the girl."

[Laraqua]

The world outside the doorway remains dark and criss-crossed with vaguely glowing scars that twist and writhe in a most threatening manner. He's unlikely to get far without a good light source or, ideally, a weapon.

[Raiko]

Katie squeezes Emily's hand tighter and stares fearfully at the scene outside the door. This wasn't what she expected, she'd expected Laura's magic to take her out of the scary burnt out hotel to a nice fun one. How was she going to play with all Laura's friends if everything was burnt and dark and scary?

[Seon]

Walter eyed the broken open door. "Ehh... you sure you are going to be safe here?" he said. As he said so, he looked around the room for anything that he could use as a light source...

[Kadael]

"It's better if she stays in one spot." Emily bites her lip, not mentioning the thing that chased her or the burning outside.

When she turns back to the girl, she's all smiles again. "Do you like coloring?"

[Laraqua]

The only ambient light in here is coming from the ambient glow in the corridor and it leaves the entire room in darkness.

There may be flashlights, or something that could be used for illumination, within one of the bags of luggage.

Alternatively, there may be other light sources in one of the other hotel rooms.

[Raiko]

OOC,I think the TV spontaneously switched itself on as well didn't it? Illuminating the room a little better at the same time that Katie stepped out of the wardrobe. Katie had a PSP in the car, that might be amongst the luggage and would make a decent makeshift flashlight. I'm not sure that she'd think of that herself though. :)

Katie nods proudly and moves to grab one of her colouring books, "I coloured these to show mommy when she comes back."

[Laraqua]

Show,ahh, right you are.

Katie is bathed in the creepy, icy staticky glow coming from the television set as she proudly shows off her colouring book.

Somewhere, out in the hotel, there's a cracking sound, somewhat like sticks snapping (or so it sounds to Katie and Emily) but certainly like bones being cracked in a fire (Walter's understanding).

[Kadael]

"I'm sure she'll love them." Emily flips through the brightly colored pages, feeling some silly twinge of jealousy - Mother never let me draw. It almost makes her long for childhood again, those days when...

The cracking, when she notices it, pulls her away from those thoughts. It's like the static from the television has invaded the very air, weighing heavy on her mind. Or maybe that thing from the stairs was real after all, and the floor is breaking under its feet.

"Walter? Do you hear that?"

[Raiko]

ooc,Are we all waiting for each other? I think maybe Seon has assumed that Walter was checking the luggage and Laraqua is thinking he's just "looked around"?

[Laraqua]

Show,I think Seon's busy as he hasn't responded in Murray's thread either. That's fine. I'll post up his search of the room anyway as I'm pretty sure Seon won't mind.

Walter pulled open suitcases and handbags, searching around the used tissues for anything that could be used as a light source. There's a magazine on the coffee table called Resort! that seems to have a feature on Silent Hill beside a purse that contains a Silent Hill Town Map; Alchemilla Hospital Map with markings around the ICU, lip balm and other odds and ends as well as a wallet with driver's license, business cards, a photo of Katie, keys, and money. There's also a pair of suitcases sitting on the couch with a laptop case beside them. Inside is a laptop, charger, case notes. One of the suitcases is a wheeled suitcase with lots of clothes, toiletries, phone chargers, historical books, a nonfiction book about parenting, wire-framed glasses in a case. There's even a camera, quite a flash one, sitting on the television set. There seems to have been some sort of flyer that's slipped beneath the couch. There is a post-it note box sitting on the writing desk and not a whole hell of a lot more. There's used tissues everywhere, the colouring book, pencils. In the wardrobe there's a a Robbie Rabbit stuffed animal, three show bags from the Lakeside Amusement Park, and the camera bag. The show bags each have a tag attached to them, like you do when you're giving people presents. Hanging in the wardrobe is a ladies' wool coat with a clip-on flashlight (currently off) with a Robbie the Rabbit, a Dawn the Duck and a tenderheart Bear stuck into various pockets whose heads poke out and gaze out at him.

The hotel room looks quite a mess once he's done searching but he's been as thorough as he can be without actually stopping to read anything.