Once upon a time a great and powerful cult worshipped a great and powerful god, a god that they believed would bring about their paradise. The cult believed that they could deliver that god unto the world and they tried…And failed. The last of the cult has now died and faded into history, but their dark legacy remains and the dark powers they unwittingly unleashed survive to this day. It is that power that haunts the town in which it was born. That instead of creating the paradise the cult wished for creates a living hell for those it deems necessary. It waits, whispering to those with the darkest of hearts and memories and calls them away…To the town of Silent Hill…
The sudden voice over the station loudspeaker jerked Naomi back from her thoughts, announcing the next train at platform 3 was just arriving.
"…And will be stopping at Pleasant River, Toluca Station and Central Brahms." The announcement finished.
Naomi muttered a quick apology to the bored looking man in the ticket booth and took her ticket from him, making her way quickly out of the lobby and onto the platforms. She darted rapidly up the stairs and across the bridge connecting to platform 3 just as the train pulled in and the departing passengers filed out. Naomi was round faced and spotty around the nose and cheeks. After a year of neglect, her shoulder length auburn hair was unkempt and messy and the fringe hung over her hazel eyes shielding them from view and, by the looks of them, her lack of sleep. She wore a plain white shirt underneath a sleeveless orange jumper and green jacket, a tattered pair of jeans and black converse trainers. A small leather bag was strapped around her waist and several brightly coloured buttons adorner the shoulders of her outfit, contrasting greatly to her dark mood. A rucksack hung over her back and she dragged a heavy looking suitcase behind her, thankful for the tiny wheels at the corners that saved her having to slowly wear away the base from dragging for there was no way she would be capable of lifting the object by herself.
"I still remember," she thought "It's been about a year, and I'm still not over it. I'm not sure I ever will be."
She sighed and pulled a photograph from her leather bag, the image upon it showing a family of four; A tall, well groomed man with dark hair and the same roundish features as Naomi's, a woman much shorter than her husband, with long hair that matched the same shade as Naomi's, a small boy who could barely have been seven years old perched on his mother's lap, mopped brown hair and a childish grin on his face and finally a teenage Naomi sitting between her parents, her hair longer and much neater without the walled fringed half covering her eyes and a bright beaming smile on her face. Without being told, it would be almost impossible to connect the girl in the photograph to the one staring at it.
"Nobody else will understand," her thoughts continued "They've never had to come home to find their family murdered by a man who was never caught. They don't even try to."
She arrived on the platform just as the last of the boarding passengers where entering the cabin and quietly joined the queue, deaf to the endless chatter going on around her. The cabin was fairly crowded but she found a seat near the back, attempting to heft her large suitcase onto the overhead shelf. A hand reached out and grabbed the end of it, assisting her in pushing it over her head. Naomi looked around, spotting a bright eyed man with neat black hair and contrastingly bright blue eyes.
"Thanks," she muttered, averting her gaze as she sat down.
The man sat down next to her after half-heartedly chucking his own luggage into the overhead racks. Naomi didn't look up, instead fishing a Rubrik's cube from the satchel around her waist and began fiddling with it.
"So, where're you heading?" The man asked brightly.
"Brahms," Naomi answered without looking up.
"I see," the man apparently hadn't registered Naomi's desire not to strike a conversation but continued as though she where talking animatedly to him "I'm stopping by Toluca Lake myself. I'm dropping by to visit a friend up from hospital in town, Silent Hill."
Naomi made a slight 'hmph' as acknowledgment, not entirely interested in his story.
"Silent Hill," she repeated in her head "Why does that sound so familiar?"
"Yeah, Wesk's been having a bit of a rough time lately;" the man said, ignoring Naomi's disinterest once more "My name's Allen by the way, Allen Crow."
Naomi looked up briefly before returning to her puzzle.
"Naomi," she replied.
Allen grinned once more as the train began to pull away.
"Wesk's only a nickname really," he continued, under the impressive Naomi was interested "His real name's Wesker but me and most other people just call him Wesk, suits him more."
Naomi made another uninterested noise in response and finished her fiddling. Allen glanced down and his eyebrows raised in surprise when he saw the once jumbled and confusing colours where now in neat groups on each side just as Naomi twisted the final corner into place.
"Nice," he commented "I can never get the hang of those things."
Naomi shrugged and stowed it away again. With nothing to occupy her she turned to stare out of the window as the urban landscape slowly changed to a view of trees and hills as they left the town far behind them. Naomi leaned back in her seat, closing her eyes and folding her arms across her chest.
"Going to sleep?" Allen asked.
"Yeah," Naomi grunted in reply.
"Okay, I'll wake you up when we reach Toluca Station then," Allen said "Wouldn't want to miss your stop."
Naomi gave another short murmur in response and turned her head away from Allen, slowly becoming deaf to the chatter around her and aware only of the soft rumble as the train sped along the tracks, the hypnotic rhythm of it quickly sending her to sleep.
Naomi dreamed of walking down a long, dark corridor, holding a flashlight to light up the shadows. She heard footsteps and sped up, catching sight of movement as the tail end of a tattered trench coat fled quickly out of her field of light and the sole of the owner's boot as they fled. She called out to them and continued running, coming to a pair of large red double doors, the paint looked old and peeling and the surrounding walls where worn with age. She looked around, seeing no other means of escape and opened the door, walking through into what appeared a large room with steel grated floors and chains hanging from the walls, looking up she saw the ceiling was obscured by darkness as the walls rose up to a height far higher than her flashlight could reach. A cold breeze filed through and Naomi shivered, not with cold but with something she couldn't quite place. It was as though she had been on edge for a good few moments and this place only served to spark her nerves even more. She looked around, feeling unnerved by the place when she heard the door slam behind her. She ran back quickly, attempting to open the door but it wouldn't budge. She leapt back in surprise as what looked like blood red roots grew from the handle and consumed the door, obscuring it behind a wall of bloody plants. Naomi backed away, her heart pounding as she heard a soft scraping behind her coming closer and closer as well as the sound of heavy chains clanking and being dragged across the metal mesh of a floor. She turned around slowly and saw a hand shoot out of the darkness, a set of long and rusted knives fused to its fingers, or rather driven painfully into them so that they were split up to the second knuckle, thin steel wires extending from them to dig into the hands flesh. The hand reached forwards, a rusted black cuff sealed around its scarred wrist with a heavy black chain extending off into the darkness. Naomi pressed herself against the wall, her flashlight slipping from her hand as the gruesome claw drew closer, opening and closing as it grasped at her, the knives threatening to tear her open with every inch it drew nearer.
She woke with a start as the nightmare ended, feeling sweat on her face as she sat up and rubbed her eyes.
"Jeez, what a dream," she muttered, rubbing her eyes absently.
She then paused and looked out of the window, seeing nothing but a thick fog that clouded her vision after barely a few feet. Finding nothing unusual in this, Naomi closed her eyes again with the intention of going back to sleep when she noticed that the train wasn't moving and that the sounds the wheels rolling over the tracks and the idle chatter of the passengers were gone, in fact Naomi couldn't hear a thing aside from her own breathing. Opening her eyes again she cast her gaze around the cabin, seeing nothing but a deserted train, there were no sign of any of the other passengers, or their luggage or even any of the staff.
"Did I oversleep while the train came to the last stop?" She wondered aloud.
She shook this thought from her mind. Perhaps the train had stopped due to the fog and everybody else had left to wait in the station. Naomi stood up, walking over to the doors and looking outside, making out a platform through the window. She calmly pressed the 'open' button beside them and stood back as the doors shuddered and opened a tiny crack before jamming.
"Huh?"
Taken slightly aback, Naomi pushed the button again with the same result.
"Is it jammed?" She muttered.
She looked up and down the cabin before moving back to check the carriage behind, looking through the small square window of the door the separated the two compartments, but aside from noticing that the second door covering the cabin's entrance was open she saw nothing. She shrugged and moved back to her seat when a sudden noise pierced her ears and she jumped back from surprise, the sound of static spitting out of something. She looked around before realizing that the sound was coming from her own breast pocket. She paused, reaching in to retrieve her phone which she identified as the source of the noise.
"What the…?" She paused, seeing the screen was flickering like a broken television set "Why's it making that noise?"
She spent a good couple of moments fiddling with the buttons with no result before she dropped the phone in surprise as the noise suddenly became more intense. Then another noise, barely audible over the static, sounded from outside the cabin she had just checked for life. Naomi looked around at the door leading to the next carriage over; a sliding sound could be heard, like something heavy being dragged across the floor, accompanied by a soft hissing sound, getting slowly louder as whatever it was drew closer. Naomi moved closer to try and see through the window, seeing nothing on the other side.
"Hello?" She whispered cautiously.
All of a sudden a hand slammed against the window, causing Naomi to jump back in fright and back away. Rather than attempt to open the door however, the hand slid around on the window's surface, spreading out its fingers to try and cover as much space as possible. Confused by the odd behaviour Naomi moved closer, hearing her own heart as it beat against her chest.
"H-hello?" She reluctantly called again through the door.
The smell of burning plastic slowly dawned on her and she noticed that the hissing sound was now even closer than before. She then noticed that the hand seemed to be spreading something across the window pane, but she couldn't make out what it was or why anybody would do such a thing. The static from her phone was still blaring out obnoxiously and the hissing was growing louder.
"H-hey, do you know what's going on here?" She asked through the door, but whoever was behind it ignored her as the soft hissing suddenly grew louder.
It was then that she realized where the hissing was coming from as she noticed that the window was apparently melting and the strange slime that the hand was spreading was leaking through, running down the door and melting through the plastic coating. All of a sudden the hand burst through the small window, groping outwards as Naomi leapt back out of reach. The hand was unlike anything she'd ever seen; the skin was a sickly brown-grey colour and was scaled and slimy, like a slug's. The same acid slime was dripping from it and Naomi noticed the underside was smooth and shiny. Resisting the urge to puke Naomi backed away to the other side of the cabin on her backside as the hand gave up its groping and proceeded to spread its acid slime over the rest of the door as it slowly began to melt away. As the hole grew large enough, the creature began to pull itself through and Naomi saw its face was almost non-existent except for sunken flesh where the eyes would be and the traces of what looked like a mouth opened in a scream. The thing looked human for the most part, but the same slug-like skin appeared to cover its entire body and its legs appeared fused together as it had to pull itself through the hole it made and then drag itself across the floor towards her, all the while spreading the burning slime across the floor.
Now in utter panic Naomi scrambled to her feet and turned around, running to the door leading outside of the carriage and attempting to open it but finding it still wouldn't budge. She tried the other side with the same luck as the creature slowly drew closer. Desperate, she opened the door leading to the next carriage and to her surprise found it slid open with little resistance and she dashed through just as the creature reached within arm's length of her. She quickly closed the door behind her, opening the second door and rushing through into the next cabin before the creature could get through.
Naomi raced to the other end of the carriage, finding it in a similar state to the one she'd just left and proceeded to try the doors at either side with no luck.
"What the hell is going on here?" She muttered in panic, glancing about wildly for a means of escape but finding none.
She heard the creature beginning to make its way into the cabin and proceeded to try the end door, bursting through it into the driver's cabin and quickly shutting it behind her. She could still hear the creature burning its way through as the hiss of the melting glass and plastic from its acid grew louder and the smell of burning met her nose. Naomi looked around, trying to find something to defend herself with or some way out before the creature got to her. Looking around she spied the window and noticed something written hastily over it, apparently in blood.
'I am two sides of the same coin, Light and Dark, Law and Anarchy, Order and Chaos.'
The next window over had a bloody arrow pointing down to a small box resting on the controls, a strange padlock fastened around it. A sudden noise made her jump and she looked around to see the slug creature had made its way to the door and was beginning to melt through it like before. Seeing no other option, Naomi quickly turned her attention to the box, examining the lock on it which had a hole through the middle. Still panicking, Naomi looked around, spotting two coins on the floor just in front of the door. Looking up briefly to see the hand on the window she quickly ducked down and grabbed them, just as the hand burst through. Naomi quickly leapt back as the hand groped around where her head had just been a second before and proceeded to continue breaking in. Naomi examined the coins she'd picked up, noticing that they were oddly thin for coins their size and seeing that one had LLO carved into it and the other had DAC while the other sides where both blank.
"Two sides of the same coin," she muttered, repeating the message.
Desperately she picked up the box, jamming the coins into the lock, so that the carved sides faced outwards at either end. To her surprise it worked and the lock opened with a soft click. Naomi reached into the box, hoping to find a weapon of some sort within but instead pulling out a small deep blue stone with what looked like an upside-down Y carved into it on either side.
The sound of the creature pulling itself through the hole it had made alerted her once again to its presence and she whirled around, dropping the stone and pressing herself against the controls, trying to stay out of reach as the thing drew nearer. As the creature drew nearer, however, a sound blared in the distance, Naomi recognizing it as an air raid siren, though the mystery of its presence was lost on her due to the mere terror of her situation. She found her gaze suddenly drawn to the stone on the floor as its colour slowly changed from deep blue to blood red as though the colour within it where mist. As she watched this, Naomi began to feel drowsy and felt herself falling to the floor as the world in front of her became a blur. Red mixed with brown seeped into her vision as the foggy image of the Slug Man drew closer to her, reaching out to grab her before another foggy image shot out behind it, bearing the vague image of a hand that plunged itself into the creature, causing it to emit a blood chilling shriek no human being should be capable of creating as it was pulled backwards and Naomi passed out, her world turning black in an instant.
Naomi awoke, sitting up to find herself on the floor of the driver's cabin with no signs of the creature that had pursued her moments ago. She stood up slowly and looked out of the train window, finding her vision still obscured by a thick fog and not being able to see more than a few feet of track ahead. Looking out to the right side of the train, she noticed the tip of a platform through the fog and moved to open the cabin door leading outside, only to find it firmly closed.
"This is either a really weird dream or a really uncreative nightmare," she muttered, finding the door leading back into the train open.
She paused, looking down to find the stone, now blue once more, hanging by a string around her neck.
"How did that get there?" She muttered, reaching up to untie it but not finding anything close to a knot that she could undo, and the string wasn't wide enough to lift over her head.
Giving up she walked back through the carriage, ending up back where she had started and finding her phone still lying on the seat. She picked it up, noticing the screen was back to normal and finding a message in the inbox. She opened it, finding a message that read: 'Welcome to Silent Hill.'