Chapter 1: Meeting the Leads

The restaurant I found myself in was small and there weren't that many people here this early. I sat in the back corner booth waiting for a contact to meet me. The food I ordered while I waited was rather good; eggs, bacon and hash browns crisped perfectly. It was definitely a hidden gem of a family owned restaurant. Once I had finished eating, the sun had fully risen and there was still no sign of my contact. I paid for my food and decided to wait a little longer to see if the lady would even show up.

I pulled out my laptop and open the information on the person I was supposed to be meeting. Her name was Cheryl, though she also went by her middle name, Heather. She was twenty years old, with dyed blonde hair and hazel eyes. There was a small bit of information on her past history in the file that I had managed to dig up during my investigation. In the file, it stated that at one point, she had been to the town of Silent Hill for unknown reasons along with an associate of hers, a one Douglas Cartland. Right after they visited the town, Douglas reported to the local authorities that a cult had been hiding secret in the town, dating back to when the town itself was built in the 1700s. The report was filled with a lot of disturbing information about the cult, known simply as "The Order", but it was all difficult to take in. Being a paranormal investigator, though, it is part of my job to help bring the truths to light about things like this.

After ten more minutes passed, I was ready to give up any hope at all of her actually showing up. Then, I heard the bell on the front door chime, and hear the hostess greet a new guest. I peek from my booth to take a quick look and discover, sure enough, it was Cheryl, the contact I had been waiting for all morning.

I get to my feet and wave her over. She gives me a skeptical look as she slowly approaches. I shook her hand and the two of us sat down in the booth.

"Can I get you something to eat, Miss Mason?" I ask politely.

"I'm fine, thanks." she replied with a stern tone. "What did you want me to meet you for, Mister...?"

"Fields, Marius Fields. I'm an investigative journalist for Dark Secrets of America magazine."

"You mean that odd paranormal mag?" she asked sarcastically.

"Yes..." I reply, shifting in my seat nervously. She really didn't seem like she wanted to be here. "I'm currently investigating..."

"...Silent Hill." she interrupted. I just nodded and she sighed heavily and stood up immediately. "It figures. You aren't the first one to come to me asking about that town. One of your co-workers came questioning me a couple of months back. Didn't your little magazine get enough from me already? There isn't much more to say… I went there and I left." she said stiffly, though I noted a haunted look in her eyes as she started to walk away from the table.

I couldn't just let her go like that; she was one of the last leads I had left. I followed her out of the restaurant and down the sidewalk onto the streets of Portland. The town was just starting to fully wake up as cars littered the streets with people heading into work for the day. I quickly caught up with her, falling in step at her side.

"Miss Mason...you have to tell me what you know, please." I plead, gently placing a hand on her shoulder.

She sighed heavily, but stopped moving. She refused to look at me, hesitating as if she was thinking whether or not to actually tell me what I wanted to know.

"Fine... I'll tell you what I know..." she grumbled, turning to face me with her serious yet haunted eyes. Just the look in her eyes sent a shiver up my spine.

"That town is a horrid place of nightmares. Only a fool would willingly go there and the people who live there are blind idiots." she said rather bluntly.

"I've read the report from a one Detective Cartland about the matter. It mentioned something about a fanatic cult?"

She sighed again and leaned back casually against the wall of the building behind her.

"Just a bunch of nut jobs looking for their god..." She replied, looking down the street, lost in thought for a moment "...a dark god that most of that town seemed to worship..." she looked back to me then. "That's all I really know. I went there for something and when I got it, I just left. Nothing on this earth will get me to go back there."

Her expression said that she knew more, but I knew that whatever she was hiding was hidden for a personal reason and that nothing I could say would ever get her to talk.

"Can I ask you something, Mr. Fields?" she asked in a softer tone, almost as if she were worried for me.

"Sure..." I replied curiously.

"Why are you looking into Silent Hill?" she asked. It was more a personal question then she realized, but she was cooperating and telling me what I wanted to know. Figured I might as well tell her.

"I'm searching for someone..." I started. "...A friend of mine."

"The guy that came looking for me before?" she asked. I just nodded and took a deep breath, remembering.

"Yeah, his name is Nicholas."

"I remember him."

"He was going to investigate the town while I was away on other business. He was supposed to have been back by the time that I got home as well..."

"But he wasn't, was he?"

"No, he wasn't. At first, I thought it might have just been an extended trip without him telling me, but after three weeks passed with no messages from him, I got worried and started putting out missing posters. I followed his trail and it led me here, to you as well as a few other places. But all the leads and clues are telling me he made it to Silent Hill..."

"Do you plan on going to there to find him?"

"Yeah..."

"I can't force you not to go. I went there without thinking and..." she started, but her voice trailed, lost in thought. "Just...be careful, okay?" she requested, giving a weak smile. I nodded and she reached into her pocket and pulled something out. "It will be dangerous... Take this." she said, handing me the object in her hand.

I took it and examined it. It appeared to be an old retractable knife, worn from age and apparent use.

"It was mine, when I went there. It's not much, but it's something. I suggest you bring a gun with you though..." she explained before walking off down the street.

"Thank you, Cheryl..." I said softly.

"Try not to get yourself killed..." she replied with a short wave of her hand as she turned the corner of the sidewalk, out of sight.

The knife is cold in my hand. I press the button on the side of it and watched the medium-sized blade shoot out. The blade was still sharp, as if it had just recently been sharpened, but the markings on the metal casing and the sides of the blade itself showed its use. Why the hell would she need this, let alone warn me to bring a gun of all things? I thought to myself as I flipped the blade back into the hilt and pocket the knife. The day was just beginning and I needed to get back to my motel room.

The drive back to the motel was calm and uneventful. The traffic quickly died down and soon the streets were nearly empty. I parked my car in the motel's parking lot and made my way up to the room. It was small, only fitting a twin bed as well as a desk plus a small kitchenette, and smelt heavily of lemon scented cleaner.

I set my laptop down on the desk and sit down, opening it and start typing in my journal, updating my entries with what I learned from my talk with Cheryl. I sighed after I finished, standing up and going over to the mini-fridge and pulling out a can of soda. It was already nearing midday and I needed to be on the road again soon if I was going to make it to my last contact before nightfall. On the wall I had taped up pictures of the contacts that Nick had mentioned in his entry on his computer before he disappeared.

The first was a truck driver by the name of Travis Grady. It had been difficult to track him down seeing as he was always on the move. Then there was Harry Mason and his daughter Cheryl. Harry, I came to find out, had died some years back so I immediately went to the daughter. Then there was the last contact, a man by the name of James Sunderland. He would be the last person I meet before I even thought about heading out to Silent Hill. All of these contacts had one thing in common; they all had strange and disturbing experiences in the town. A good investigator always looks at the leads and clues first before jumping into the fray.

All of a sudden, I heard a buzzing noise coming from the desk and then the sound of my phone's ring tone going off. I picked up my phone and checked the caller ID; it was my wife, Stacey.

"Hey, love." I answered, happy to hear her voice.

"Hello dear. How are you doing?"

"Good, just finished up my interview with Cheryl."

"How did it go?"

"Okay. There's nothing new though, just the usual.

I keep getting cryptic answers and nothing really straightforward. Whatever really happened to these people has left them really spooked. How about you? Did you find any new leads?" I replied. Stacey was not only my newly wedded wife, but also the editor and researcher for our magazine, Dark Secrets of America. Nick and I were the field investigators.

"Nothing just yet; I think we are running dry..." she answered softly. She sounded as if something was on her mind and I felt compelled to ask.

"Is everything okay?"

"I..." she started, sounding sad. "I miss you Marius... You've been away for over a week and we still haven't been able to get any clear answers on what is happening in Silent Hill... why people are disappearing..." she took a deep, shaky breath.

"I miss you too, love. I just..."

"I know. You have to find Nick; I want to find him too. I'm just frightened..."

"…That I might disappear too?" I finished for her, but was answered with only a prolonged silence. "I won't, okay? You have my word."

"Marius I... have something I need to tell you..."

"What is it?"

"I... No, not yet. I want you to be here." she replied. Her response confused me; she has never really been one to play games like this. I wanted to ask her again if something was wrong, but my alarm went off telling me that I needed to be on the road.

"Okay, love. You can tell me when I come home. I won't be gone for much longer, okay?"

"Okay..." she answered meekly.

"I need to go, but I promise that I'll come home once this is done, and we can go out and celebrate. I love you, Stacey."

"I love you too, Marius. Be careful." she said, the tone of her voice made me very happy. She sounded relieved and happy, and that always calmed my nerves.

Within a few minutes, I had all my things packed and into my Ford Ranger and had checked out from the front desk. The day was still young and it would take me a few hours to reach where I was supposed to meet James.

The highway leading to the border of Maine and New Hampshire was calm if not strangely quiet. I was heading to a small town that sat right on the border of the two states called Harrington. According to the information I gathered on the place, its population barely passed the five thousand mark. It sounded more like a small village then an actual town.

Within a few hours, I pulled off the highway onto the exit leading to Harrington. It was rather secluded, miles of forest on either side and only the road straight ahead of me. The map I had looked at indicated that I would be on this road for about twenty miles. After what felt like hours, I finally arrived in the small town. Looking at the marketplace of the town really gave me that mom and pop feeling and I had to smile, it seemed like a really peaceful place.

I pulled in to a small gated community of houses not too far down the road where James was supposed to be living. It was one of those places where the lawns are always cut and green and the houses were all the same. I looked closely for the address on the paper I had on the passenger seat, and in no time, I pulled into the driveway of the right house.

Like the rest of the homes, it looked to be two stories and was painted a light tan color. There wasn't a car in the driveway, so I hoped that it was just parked in the garage. I knocked at the door and waited a few minutes until I heard a rattling sound on the other end, then the door slowly opened, a teenage looking blonde girl having answered.

"Can I help you?" she asked cautiously.

"Hi, my name is Marius Fields. I'm here looking for a James Sunderland? I called the other day and he told me to meet him at this address." I replied with a smile. She just narrowed her eyes at me and told me to hold on for a moment as she disappeared into the house. After a few minutes, she came back to the door and opened it all the way.

"Daddy said he was expecting you."

I nodded and slowly entered the house. It was rather nice looking on the inside. Polished wood floors, tan walls that matched the outside of the house and furnished like a normal suburban home. The girl led me into one of the dimly lit backrooms. To me, it looked like one of those fancy studies that all the father figures in fifties TV shows seemed to have. There was a large fireplace against the far wall, a desk covered with papers as well as bookshelves filled to the brim with authors I both recognized and some I didn't. The walls were decorated with many different paintings, and an armchair sat in the center of the room looking towards the fireplace.

"Thank you for bringing our guest in, Laura. You can go play now." came a voice from the chair who I assumed to belong to James.

"Okay, daddy." the girl said before leaving the room.

"Mr. Sunderland, I presume?" I asked.

"Please, call me James." he said as he stood up from his armchair and faced me with a smile.

I approach him and held out my hand in offer of a handshake, he took it.

"Thank you for meeting me like this Mister... James."

"No problem, pull up a seat and make yourself at home. Can I get you a scotch or anything?"

"I'm fine, thanks."

"Suit yourself." he replied with a chuckle as he headed over to the desk, pulling out a glass and a bottle and pouring some of the golden liquid into the glass. He then moved back over to the armchair, pulling the chair from the desk with him.

"Here, have a seat. I'm sure you have a lot of questions to ask..."

I smiled and took a seat in the offered chair as he sat down back into the armchair. He took a sip from the small glass in his hand and took in a deep breath.

"So, you said you were looking into Silent Hill?" James asked.

"Yeah, from all the paranormal activity and disappearances from that town, I thought it would be a good article for my magazine."

"And...Which magazine is that again?"

"Dark Secrets of America…"

"Right; one of your journalists came up here looking for me as well a few months ago. Said he planned on staying in the town and wanted some history into some of the things that happened there..."

"Yeah, he was a friend of mine..."

"Was?"

"Is. I mean to say he is a friend of mine."

"He's disappeared hasn't he?"

"Yeah... Every one of his contacts just happens to guess that. Why is that, James?"

James took a larger sip from his glass and leaned back in his armchair, gazing at the fire for a long moment.

"James?" I questioned. He seemed to snap out of what looked to me like a trance and just continued to look at the fire.

"Yeah, sorry… Just a lot happened when I went to that town. I'm sure that it has happened to others too, but I don't personally see the connection. The best reason I could give you for us guessing at his disappearance is because, at least myself, had a rather horrifying experience in that town."

"What happened, James?"

"It's...not my place to really say. It's... personal."

"I understand, but what exactly is Silent Hill? Why do people just disappear there?"

"The best answer I could really give to you is that the town is alive, in a sense. It makes your nightmares, your fears and your insecurities come alive."

"Come alive? What do you mean by that?"

"Exactly what I said... This friend of yours, you planning on going in after him?" he asked, finally turning to look me in the eye with a rather serious expression.

"I have to find him... He's like a brother to me..."

"That's understandable. Just be careful and don't go unprepared. Silent Hill is not a place to be taken lightly. You must steel yourself to be put through the trials that the town has to offer."

I just glared at him, narrow eyed. There was no way a town could just be alive like that, this man had to be exaggerating.

"Why did you go into Silent Hill, James?" I asked. He just sighed and looked back at the fireplace. On top of the mantle was an old picture of James next to a woman.

"I went to find her... My wife..." he just chuckled under his breath and took another sip from his glass. "It's a long story and one I would rather not relive right now. There's no way I would ever go back to that hellhole of a town now." he looked back to me then and the look in his eyes were so serious and haunted… just as Cheryl's were. That sent a shiver up my spine. "Do you have any regrets, Marius?"

"Doesn't everyone? We are all human."

"You have a valid point there, just be ready to face your past... That's all I can really give you in advice if you are so determined to go to that town."

"Thank you, James. You've been a lot of help."

"Sure thing... Marius?"

"Yeah?"

"If you make it out in one piece, I'll tell you my story." he said with a smile.

"Will do..." I said, returning the smile.

"Before you go, I have something for you..." James stood up from his armchair, heading back over to the desk. He opened the drawer on the desk and seemed to be looking for something. I stood from my chair, trying to get a better look, but he seemed to have found it and closed the drawer again.

"I'm being honest here, Marius. It's going to be dangerous going into that town. Whether you believe me or not, please take this, and be careful." he said rather seriously as he held out a handgun towards me, grip first.

I approach him slowly and take the gun by the grip, pulling the weapon closer and inspecting it. I had used this kind of weapon before in the past, checking to make sure the safety was on before pulling out the magazine and checking the bullets. Sure enough, it was filled with ten rounds of ammunition. I popped the clip back into the handgun and pocket it.

"Take this as well..." James said, tossing Marius a box of ammo. "Trust me, you will need it."

"Is Silent Hill really that bad?"

"I honestly couldn't tell you, but you are going to find out for yourself, aren't you?"

"Looks that way, if I ever want to find out what happened to my friend."

"Good luck, and be safe, kid." James replied, patting Marius on the back.

Within no time, I found myself back on the road heading north towards Silent Hill. Nightfall was only a few hours away, so I needed to find an inn to stay at for the night and start fresh in the morning. Silent Hill wasn't too far north of where I was. It was only a few hours north of Portland.

I stopped at one of the towns I was passing through when the sun started to set. I found myself a nice, cheap little place to stay at for the night. The room wasn't great, but the staff seemed really nice. I didn't even bother unpacking my stuff. After I had a quick rest, I planned on heading back onto the road. I lay down on the bed and sighed in relief. The bed was soft and the sheets warm, that's all that mattered to me as I let my eyes drift shut and fall into a deep sleep.

I opened my eyes, finding myself back home in the apartment that Stacey, Nick and I shared. I glanced over to the other side of the bed and found it empty. Stacey must already be up. How is it she gets up quicker than me without waking me? I thought in amusement as I yawned and slid myself out of bed, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. The place we lived in was actually a converted old firehouse. We had it cleaned up and fitted to be a house and base of operations for our magazine, Dark Secrets of America.

I walked into the bathroom connected to our bedroom. It was larger than most bathrooms, having been built to accommodate a few people at once. We converted most of it, took out the old stalls that used to be in here and turned it into just a large bathroom, but the showers themselves remained unchanged. Stacey and I had thought that the shower being as big as it is was kind of neat.

I looked around, but Stacey wasn't in here. I then moved out into the living room and looked around. The desks we used for work were all situated in a corner of the large space. In the center we had a rather big couch situated around a large flat-screen TV. The kitchen was within sight as well, technically being a part of the same room space. She wasn't here either, and neither was Nick come to think of it. I glanced over to the door that led to Nick's room and found it open.

Curious, I moved up to the door and took a peek in. My eyes widened and I felt all the blood rush out of my face as I saw the scene in Nick's room. The lights were flickering on and off, there were clothing and all of Nick's things thrown about in the room. There were scratch marks and blood along the walls. My heart began beating so hard it felt as though it were in my throat as I looked to the center of the room. The smell alone was unbearable and foul as I covered my mouth trying not to vomit. Nick's bed was nearly completely soaked in fresh blood. His body… or what I could make out to be him was lying on the bed.

It took me a moment to take the whole scene in, almost as if my mind didn't want me to see the carnage before me. He had been stripped naked, skin cracked and bleeding and bruised. What appeared to be deep knife wounds covered his chest. I lost it, doubling over and vomiting violently on the floor at my feet. Coughing and hacking and trying not to breathe in the stench too deeply. Tears began welling up in my eyes. On the wall above Nick's body, painted in dripping blood, were the words "You can't save me..."

I couldn't take it. I ran out of the room and slammed the door shut behind me. Hot tears streamed down my cheeks as I gasped for air. I stumbled and fell back against the door as I realized that the living room had changed. The TV and couched knocked over and the rest of the living room looked as if someone had been fighting.

My eyes widened even more as I looked to the kitchen. Along the wall were bloody hand prints and I could see a foot sticking out from behind the counter. I swallowed hard, pulse beating rapidly in my throat, trembling in fear as I slowly crawled to the kitchen.

I screamed, tears covering my face as I found Stacey lying dead on the floor of the kitchen.

"Oh my god, Stacey!" I screeched in agony, pulling her already cold body tightly into my arms, weeping over her. Her eyes were shut and lips hanging loosely open. Her hair was matted with blood. Cuts lined her wrists and chest with one long one cut across her throat like a grinning mouth. I looked away, not wanting to believe what I was seeing. More bloody hand prints were on the cabinets of the kitchen, I followed them, leading to the wall near where Stacey had been lying. Written in blood the same as the words in Nick's room were the words "Why did you leave me alone!?"

I cried out, screaming until my voice went hoarse and pained, clenching my eyes shut. When I opened them, I was suddenly back in the motel room.

"What...the...hell?" I questioned the darkness of the room. My eyes were wide, heart beating as if it would pop out of my chest and I was coated in a cold sweat.

I immediately went for my phone and dialed Stacey, not caring what time it was. The phone rang, and kept on ringing. My heart sunk when I thought she wouldn't answer at all. Then, at the last possible second, I heard a voice.

"Hello...?" Stacey questioned; voice heavy with sleep.

"Oh Stacey, thank god. Is...Everything okay..?"

"I'm fine baby..." she paused for a moment. "It's four in the morning, are you okay? You sound terrified."

"I..I'm okay. I just had a nightmare." I replied, relieved that she was okay. My heart slowly started to calm down but the images from the nightmare stuck firm in my mind.

"It's okay baby, it's just a nightmare. Is everything else okay?"

"Yeah... I got everything I need. I'll be heading to Silent Hill soon."

"Just... Be careful, and call me when you get there okay?"

"I will, darling."

"Promise me?"

"I promise."

"Good." she said with a giggle that made me suddenly just feel a whole lot better. "I love you."

"I love you too." and with that, I hung up and lay back down on the bed and sighed, looking straight up at the ceiling. In a few hours, I would check out and start making my way to Silent Hill.