"Daddy's home, Daddy's home!"
"Daddy, Tammy hit me!"
"Welcome to the jungle, honey." the slightly flustered but still melodic voice of Frank Ellis' wife, Marlene, was a welcome break from the din that had enveloped him the second he walked in the front door, the din that was his three children. His wife kissed his cheek and he returned the favor, then hoisted his three-year-old son Michael into his arms, leaving his six-year-old daughter Tammy and ten-year-old son Shane staring up at him.
"Now, why would Tammy do something like that?" he asked Michael.
"Because he hit me first!" Tammy declared.
"Oh brother." Shane sauntered into the living room and flopped down in front of the television.
Frank made quick work of settling the argument before joining his wife and Shane in the living room. Frank sighed and smiled as he watched his son, whose eyes were glued to a game he was playing. Frank glanced over at his wife in the kitchen, making dinner. Tammy and Michael sauntered into the living room and joined him on the couch - on opposite sides of their father, of course. Frank couldn't help but feel happy in that moment - as crazy as things got around his house, he was always happy to be home with his family. The stress of home, to Frank, was a welcome change from the stress at work.
"Yeah, look at you smilin' over there like this is easy, like you're father of the year - I have to deal with it all day!" Marlene was glaring, her hands on her hips.
"Baby, I know. And I gotta deal with my own crap at work. But it's all good."
Marlene groaned, feeling her husband wasn't getting the point, and turned back to the stove.
Frank just sat there on the couch, taking it all in...
The fog was thick, intense and almost squeezing those who were unlucky enough to fall into it - unlucky folks like Frank.
Where the hell am I? Frank mused, feeling panicked as he tried to breath the heavy, dank air.
In the distance, the sound of laughter and splashing could be heard. Though it seemed to be daytime, Frank could see nothing. He moved cautiously toward the sound. As the sound got louder, Frank couldn't fight the feeling that, rather than moving closer to safety, he was stepping right into the devil's hands.
The laughter rang out again and then, the voices began speaking.
"A breaststroke goes like this, Dave."
More slight splashing.
"I know that, look."
Splash.
The voices were those of young men.
"Are you stupid or something? You swim like a rock!"
A chill ran through Frank's spine as he recognized the first speaker. That's me!
"What's that supposed to mean?"
And as the second speaker's voice echoed in Frank's ear, he felt his heart rate quicken.
"Dave you're going too far out! Dave!"
"NO!" Frank cried out, charging towards the voices and the new sound of frantic splashing. It wouldn't happen this time - he wouldn't let it! As Frank charged towards the water, the lake lying beneath the fog suddenly became clear. Frank saw only splashing. He leapt into the water and swam towards the commotion. He reached his hands into the water - he could do it this time, he could save his friend.
The feeling between Frank's fingers was cold, almost metallic. He felt alarmed, sure he must have been too late.
Frank guided the cold being up and broke it through the water. Water splashed into his eyes. Before he could see what had happened, a pair of hands grabbed his own. And as Frank blinked away the water, he realized what he was looking at - a creature with a human body and a metallic triangular shaped head, a head with one angle pointing directly at him like a sharp beak. Without moving anything that would resemble a mouth, the creature merely echoed words that were hissing in the voice of his long dead friend David.
"Your lies will come full circle!"
Frank sat up with a start, sweat pouring down his face. Frank wiped the sweat away from his ebony face and ran a hand through his soaked, short black hair. His wife Marlene sat up and placed an arm on his shoulder.
"Honey, what's wrong?"
"Nothing." Frank said breathlessly and then slowly turned his head to look into Marlene's eyes. "Just a bad dream."
Marlene nodded and laid back down. Frank sat there for a moment before slowly rising from his bed and heading downstairs.
Frank grabbed a beer from the refrigerator mechanically, but upon looking at it, his face sank and he switched it for a Coke instead. He situated himself upon the couch and clicked on the TV before glancing up at the clock.
2:30.
Man, I gotta stop eating before bedtime. Frank eyed his Coke and took a swig.
On the television, two men were rambling on about the merits of buying a time share in Vietnam. Frank tuned them out rather quickly and just sat there, letting his body deflate into the couch.
But why is it always that nightmare? Frank wondered, thinking back to hearing Dave's voice.
"It's called guilt." a voice ripped through Frank's thoughts.
Frank looked around with a start and then his eyes drifted to the TV, where he realized the two real estate salesmen were staring directly at the camera. No...they were staring directly at him.
"You heard me." One of the agents sneered, "You're feeling guilty for what you did to David all those years ago."
"I didn't do anything to him! It was an accident!" Frank yelled, then clasped his hand over his mouth, realizing not only how loud he was yelling, but that he was yelling at a TV.
"David is waiting for you, Frank." The second agent stepped up, grinning. "He's waiting for you...in Silent Hill." The TV then clicked off.
Silent Hill...where the hell is that? Frank was shaking. His eyes slowly drifted back to the TV, which was reflecting a distorted image of him and...and...
That thing again! The creature with the triangle shaped head was standing over his reflection, looking down on him. Slowly, Frank turned around, and saw nothing behind him. He snapped his head back around to the TV but the only thing reflected back at him this time was himself.