Prologue
All secrets are kept in the dark. All danger arises when the secrets are brought to the light. It is in human nature to keep secrets. Yet, the longer anything remains in the dark, the more obscure and inhuman they become. Cast forever into night things
start to fester and yearn; to blind their eyes to the brightness from which they've been neglected. Sometimes the darkness is overcome. When thatoccursterrible things may happen. For all our lives, we've been told to fear the dark; to keep to the
light. Sometimes that is the worst mistake one can make. More often than not it is better to keep to the shadows. Though you may be walking in step with the worst creatures imaginable you will at the same time remain unknown; just another moving silhouette;
as safe as one can be when surrounded by evil. It may just be that to keep the terrible secrets just that, you must become one yourself and hide in the may just be that the best advice you could be given is: "Stay out of the light."
Chapter I: Cold Filament
Cecilia's mouth turned into a pained grimace as she turned onto her side and with one sweeping motion pulled her heavydown comforter over her head. She had once again forgotten to close the blinds on her bedroom window and the early morning sunlight was
in a frenzied state trying to wake her up. She pulled the covers down ever so slightly and scowled at the billowing ebb and flow of dust particles as they cascaded towards her in the spotlight of dawn.
"No matter where I put my bed,"she thought,"I always seem to get the sun right in my face every morning."
Glancing at the clock on her bedside table she groaned as a flashing "07:24" clicked over to a flashing "07:25". The electricity had been going out in her apartment complex far too often for her liking. She picked up her phone and used its clock to set
her alarm to the correct time. Eventually, Cecilia sat up and cast her feet over the side of the bed. She let her toes play on the soft carpet for a moment while she stretched and finally stood and made her way to the washroom. She reached for the
light switch and flipped it up. Inside the wall, just behind that sacred piece of ecru plastic, a contact was made and sent an arc of electricity in mere milliseconds to the incandescent bulb that sat completely naked dead center in the ceiling. This
morning that arc of electricity resulted in nothing more than a hollowpop!and the room remained unlit. Cecilia looked up at the bulb and noticedthe dark, rain-cloud colored stain nestled in the bottom of the bulb.
"Just my luck,"she said to herself.
After taking care of her morning routine she made her way to the kitchen. She crossed over the threshold and cried out in pain while throwing all of her weight backwards. She landed with a heavythudon her backside and howled as every nerve shot
at once. Almost immediately she heard her downstairs neighbor hammering on his ceiling, her floor, with his damned broomstick and yelling at her that it was too early for all her damned noise. She yelled through her floor ever so sweetly and with
none of these chosen words to "be quiet" himself. When all of the noise had died down she drew her right foot up to herself and pulled a shard of glass from her arch. Its one edge was leaking red. Cradling herself and sucking on her bottom lip she
looked past the doorway and saw that the entire floor was covered in broken glass. Whatever had knocked out the electricity last night also managed to blow every single bulb in her kitchen.
Cecilia decided it was all too much for her to handle right now and decided to just escape to the diner down the road for breakfast instead. She'd come back to clean up. She had to pick up bulbs now anyway because hell if the landlord would come to her
rescue.
After cleaning and dressing the puncture on her foot she slipped on her pair of comfortable sneakers, grabbed her wallet and a light jacket and went into the hallway. She was never much one for a purse. Why bother?She would say. If I can't carry it on my person, it's not worth carrying at all.But
then she would always question herself on that being a reason why she couldn't hold down a boyfriend; since it never seemed worth it to carry any make-up. Not that she needed it. She had a natural beauty, albeit simple and a little on the pale side.
Her eyes weren't too close together, nor were they far apart. Her nosewasn't a button, but nor was it a beak and it sat ever vigilant overnot-too-thin/not-too-plump lips. Her hair, a dark auburn sat shoulder length with a slight curl, but you'd never
notice it since it was usually pulled up and into a pony tail. Easy to miss on most days, but she'd turn heads if that's what you were looking for.
This morning, however, she didn't care if heads were turned or not. She was annoyed, limping slightly and hungry. The diner was a block away and she did not feel like pulling her car out of the underground garage so she decided to walk. It didn't take
long, even with every other step sending a numbing pain up to her calf. After only about ten minutes she came to the plate glass door and pushed in on it. It didn't move. Confused and a little frustrated she cupped her hands over her eyes and peered
through the door. It was darker than usual. After only a minute or so, she saw someone walking towards the door and then heard the bolt slide open.
"Good morning, Cecilia," said the woman as she opened the door.
"Is that what this is, Val?" She responded. "What's going on?"
"Power surge did a number all over town. We're trying to get everything cleaned up before we open."
"Tore my kitchen to shreds, too," Cecilia said as she cocked her head back in the direction of her complex. "Any way I can get in early?"
Valerie played with one of her curls as she contemplated and finally opened the door wide enough for Cecilia to walk through. "You're going to have to be happy with coffee in the dark, Sissy. That's about all we got right now. Unless you don't mind glass
in your eggs."
"Coffee in the dark is just fine, Val," she said as she sat down on a stool at the bar.
With coffee in hand, Cecilia finally started to relax a little. Val was propped up on one elbow behind the bar with her own mug and was regaling her with some of the local gossip that Cecilia really didn't care about but knew was best to know.
"Oh, that reminds me, Sissy. You weren't our first 'customer' today."
"I wasn't?" Cecilia asked while focusing more on her quickly emptying cup than on what Valerie was saying.
"No," Val continued. "There was this fella that came up to the door about half and hour ago. He was looking for you."
"A fella, huh?"
"Yeah. Came up to the door and asked me if I knew where you lived."
"What did you tell him?" Cecilia asked,a bit more interested now.
"I didn't tell him anything. I didn't know this guy and he looked really strange. Like, well, I mean he was kind of cute and all, but he had this weird urgency about him. Definite stalker vibe. So he left this and told me to give it to you if I saw you."
Valerie reached into her apron and pulled out an envelope. The envelope was probably originally white, but it was now a very light grey color was yellowing tape running over the edges of the flap. There was something hard inside of it. Cecilia opened
the flap and pulled out the contents. There was a newspaper clipping and an old key. Cecilia picked up the key and turned it over in her fingers. It looked like the classic skeleton key, only more tarnished. She then looked at the newspaper clipping
and her eyes grew wide as she read it. Val took notice of Cecilia's change and asked her what it said.
"Val. It's… it's an obituary," she stammered."
"So what?" Val replied. "Is it of someone you know?"
"I should think so. It's mine."
Valerie stopped raising her mug to her lips and lowered it slowly. "Yours?"
"Yeah. 'Cecilia Blake Ladd: Beloved daughter and friend was found deceased on the shore of Toluca Lake early Friday morning. She had no living relatives and will be survived only in the memories of those she's touched."
"That makes no sense, Sissy. You're right here. Toluca Lake? Why does that sound familiar?"
"It's in Silent Hill, Val. That's where my parents used to take me on vacation when I was a kid. God. I haven't even thought of that place since I was maybe ten years old."
"Well, what are you going to do?"
"I don't know, Val. But I'll let you know when I do."