Mini Story #1: The 3 days previous to entering the cursed town of Silent Hill.

Damien

Day One (Monday)

I got a call today. It was from my sister, who I haven't heard from in over a year, as she has been gone in Los Angeles for around that much time. She had gotten a call, was told that something was there that she had been looking for. Basically her whole life. My sister and her twin are both 3 years younger than me. I have been protecting them ever since they were born, because my dad wasn't here to do the job. That prick wasn't meant to be a father. He can drop dead for all I care. He walked out on me when I was 4, the twins had just been born a few months ago. I guess the idea of commitment was too much for that jackass.

When I picked up the phone, I heard someone sobbing. "Hello? Who is this?' I heard the sobbing stop for a second. "Damien…" I gasped. I hadn't expected to hear from my sister. But what is wrong? Something must've happened! "Sarah! What is wrong! Did someone hurt you?" I was nearly yelling into the phone. I felt my face heating up already. "No, Damien… it was… Dad. He was here, in LA." I can hear her voice start to break again, and I breathe in slowly. That man… What had he done to her? Had he said something to her to make her upset? Oh, the things I'm going to do to him if I ever see him… "What happen with him? Did he hit you?" "No, no, no, he tried to talk to me. Tried to explain why he left us. He was with his wife, who was the bitch who he cheated on mom with when we were kids. I didn't want to listen. My mind was racing, so many emotions went through me. I was relieved, mad, upset, happy, confused… So many things. I couldn't bare it. I ran away. It was my last day, anyway, so I waited at the airport for a couple hours waiting for my plane to arrive. I landed a hour or two ago, and I'm staying at a hotel for the night."

"Are you okay? What town are you in? I can come pick you up." I hear her sit up from a bed. "No, no I'm fine. Do you know where Sadie is?" Sadie is my other sister, Sarah's twin. I remember when they were little, they were those stereotypical twins who wear the same outfit to the mall and hold hands. They were so cute… Where has the time gone? Only if we could be as happy now as we had been back then… But the only remainder of those times is in my memories. "No, I haven't heard from her. I called her one day and we talked, but I haven't heard from her since." It gets quiet on the other line, and I hear her walking across the room.

"That's what I was afraid you'd say. I called her as well, the phone went straight to voicemail. Been like that for a couple weeks. She always picks up… Seems like her line's down. Or unplugged. Do you think she's okay?" I breathe in slowly. Don't want to worry Sarah… I am pretty worried about what is up with Sadie. But I don't want Sarah to be any more upset than she already is. "Don't worry Sarah, she's probably fine. We can drive over to her house when your settled in again and check on her."

I hear her let out a sigh of relief. "Good. At least we will know soon. How does Wednesday morning sound?" I walk quickly into the kitchen, checking the calendar. Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday… Nothing. "Sounds good. I'm free that day, so it's not a bad idea." "Alright, See you then." "Take care, Sarah. Don't worry too much, we'll make sure she's okay." "Thank you. Have a good night, Damien." "You too." I gently hang up the phone, not wanting to pop her eardrums slamming it down.

I check the clock over the stove. I groan. "Quarter of ten already? Seriously? Gotta head to bed then…" I walk into my bedroom, and crash as soon as I hit my mattress.

Day 2.

You check the news lately? Apparently, people have been disappearing all over the state area. West Virginia is usually pretty peaceful with this kinda stuff, wonder what happened. They say names aren't going to be revealed until the family of the missing is informed and asked permission for releasing the names. Apparently there is some connection to a town called Silent Hill. Never heard of it, probably because it's a complete ghost town. Coal fire under the whole town started, still continues even after 50 years. Really small town. Connections have not been figured out yet, or at least I didn't hear them mention the connections.

I have a bad feeling that Sadie is one of the missing. I don't want to believe it, but her missing, people disappearing… Would be a hell of a coincidence. What could the connections to that town be? Maybe whoever is taking these people is bringing them to that town. But why there? It's a ghost town, and even the captor could die of suffocation at any minute in that town. Who would want to bring people there?

Day 3

Is this a dream…? This is a strange dream… I think… I'm in a town. Covered, thick with fog. Or smoke. The buildings, they look scorched, abandoned, but there is blood and rust. Everywhere. All over the walls, the streets, there is blood EVERYWHERE. The windows look smashed out, the frames long abandon and rusted the hell out of them. I slowly walk down the street, looking for any sign of life whatsoever. I accidently step in a puddle, and I realize it's blood. "Gross… What the hell is this place?" I see a building, somewhat brighter than the rest somehow. I start walking over, examining the area around it.

The ground in front of the building is actually grass, and it's not completely covered in blood. There's an old swing set, the seats rusted off and fallen below the frame. The chain links are rusted off, scattered across the whole yard. I pick up one, but it crumbles to merely dust as soon as I make contact. I hear the faint sound of feet padding against cement in the school. I look into one of the broken windows, and see a shadow dart across the room. I stand, listening, but hear nothing more. I start slowly towards the door, the fog starting to clear. I take a few steps closer. There is a large sign, rusted just like the rest of this damned place. I can make out some letters. S_E_T H_L_ S_H_L. What is this, a damned puzzle? I look closer. I can start to see the rusted forms of the previously obscured letters. "Sil…t… Hill… Sc…ol?" My whole expression drops.

Silent Hill School. Why here? Why this town? Why the school? I start to hear children giggling, small school girls. I walk over to the door. I can hear the faint, haunting sound of a grand piano tune. Then I hear more giggling, and the sound of padding feet across the ground. I open the door, hearing the echo of the rusted hinges. The giggling stops. The music has come to an eerie halt, and no footsteps can be heard. "Anybody in here?" I yell into the school. I can hear it echo all the way to the top of the building, then all the way back down. Something's wrong. Wouldn't other people be here? If that echoed all the way up, someone had to hear it.

I walk into the school. I gently let the door go. I see 2 hallways, caked with dirt and rusted candle holders. Then there is a stairway, with a broken step here and there. I walk towards the stairway. I hear the door behind me slowly creek shut, then slam the rest of the way. I run over to the door, as the little light I had is now gone. I try to yank it open, but all I do is pop my arm. My shoulder is throbbing, and the door didn't even budge. I hold my arm and slide down the door, resting, waiting for the pain to subside. 5 minutes and the pain is less intense. I try to get myself up, but the pain comes right back. I put all my weight on my other arm, and manage to get up. The pain has already died down.

I look up the stairway. There is a faint light at the end, and I can see a shadow figure. I can hear a low humming coming from it's direction. It kind of reminds me of an angel, it's light figure standing at the end of a black tunnel… But the opposite. I slowly start walking up the stairs. The stairs creak easily, even though I am not that heavy. I trip on around the fourth step, smacking my forehead off of the railing. "What are the god damn odds…" I just lay there for a minute, waiting for it to subside. Now I have a major headache, but I continue up the stairs.

I get to the last step. I am in front of the light, but the shadow figure doesn't even move. It is coming from an open doorway. I walk slowly towards the doorway, trying to get a better look at the figure. Once I get a foot into the doorway, the figure quickly darts away. "Hey! You okay?" The figure stops and turns back, stopping for a minute. I grab the light source, a lantern, and run after the figure. The figure starts running away again, just at my speed. I go through winding, rusted blood soaked hallways.

The figure just keeps running away from me. At one point, the lantern just goes out, and I hear the figure stop running. I hear the soft padding of steps, slowly getting closer. The lantern flickers on for one more second, and I can see a scorched, white robe. There are pale, dripping wet legs, walking closer to me. The lantern goes out again. The figure walks so close, I can hear it breathing, almost down my neck. The lantern flickers to life again, staying on this time. The figure is right in front of me, head facing down towards the ground. I can see through the strands of hair, it looks like my sister, Sadie. "Sadie…? Is that you..?" I slowly raise my hand towards her head, but I see her head slowly rising to face me. As it comes to a 45 angle, I can see her face; All cut up, burn marks, stitches, patches of skin missing. She looks up at me with dark, empty eyes. She opens her mouth, revealing a mouthful of razor sharp teeth. Then, she lunges at me, screaming.

"Shit! No! Sadie!" I shoot up, sweat pouring down my face and body. I sit up in my bed, wiping my face with a facecloth from my nightstand. I hear the door swing open. "Damien! Are you okay?" I see my sister Sarah rushing to the side of my bed. I breathe in slowly, feeling and hearing my breath breaking, almost like I was just crying for a long while. Sarah looks concerned, and sits next to me. I wipe off my face, calming down. "I'm fine. Just a bad dream." Sarah gives me a concerned look. Not too happy looking. "About Sadie?" I nod my head slowly.

"No big deal, Sarah. It was just a nightmare." She shakes her head. "What if something is really wrong with Sarah? Didn't you hear the news? All the people disappearing and the disappearances are somehow linked with a town called Silent Hill! Lots of people were killed there! What if it was a killer that purposely started the fire?" I shake my head. "We were in Silent Hill. I was walking down the streets, blood soaked, so much rust, so many screams…" I shake my head. She barely gets out a whisper. "What happened there?" I sit there, trying to recall the dream. "I saw a school. I walked through the front door, but it slammed shut behind me and locked me in."

"There was a stairway. I saw a… Light at the end. I walked up the stairs, and tripped on my way up, smacking my forehead on the corner of a step." I feel the familiar throbbing headache, and cup my head in my hands. She leans down to my level. "Are you okay?" "Yeah, I'm fine. So in the school… I walked up the stairs. I got to the end, and the light was in a doorway. It was a lantern. A shadow… There was a shadow form, standing in the light beam. It ran away as soon as I picked up the lantern. The lantern went out… And Sadie was right in front of me. She tried to bite me…" I feel a stinging pain under my sleeve. I roll up my sleeve, and I see a cut. It is a curve, and has jagged holes. Like the curve of a toothed jaw... Sarah gasps. "And this was just a dream…?" "Of course it was. Don't you see it? The cut just formed somehow." She runs into the next room, and I hear her slam open a door. She rushes back into the room, and wraps a cloth around my arm. "Hold still…" I wince as the cloth touches my open wound.

"Better?" I wince. "Not really… But at least the bleeding slowed." She stays quiet for a minute. "Do you think…?" I can't say yes, and I can't say no. I can't lie about this. I don't know what could've happened to Sadie. "Wanna check on her? I dunno if it's a good idea, but…" She shakes her head. "If we don't, she might get hurt…" I sit up. My arm is exploding from the weight put on it. I lift up the sleeve above my shoulder. Red. "Figures…" I breath out. "What the…?" I nod. "In the school, I tried to ram into that door, trying to open it. But it didn't work, and all I got was a throbbing shoulder." I shake my head.

I stand up, starting to walk out the doorway. I hear Sarah following. I walk into the kitchen, looking for the key hooks. I find my car key, somehow fallen to the floor. I kneel and pick it up. "Let's go." Sarah nods. We walk out the front door, and I lock it behind us. We walk out to my truck. I walk around and open up the passenger seat for her. She gets in, and I shut the door behind her. I start walking around to the driver's seat.

I open up the driver's seat, and put the keys in ignition. I turn the key, but the engine just sputters. I turn it again, but no dice. Third time, it finally starts. I put the car in reverse, and drive out of the driveway. We start driving to Sadie's, about 10 minutes away. "Do you think…?" I shake my head. "We'll find out everything when we get there." She nods her head, and just stares straight out at the street. We continue driving, and finally arrive at Sidney's apartment. "It's room 325, right?" Sarah nods. I open up my door and jump out, then slam it shut. I walk over, open the passenger door, let Sarah out, and shut the door.

We walk up to the closed metal fence. I yank it open, and it swings without much resistance. We walk up the stairway to the higher apartment level. We walk down the pathway of doors. "319…321…323…3..2..5..?" I barely can finish the last number. We stop in front of Sadie's door. Layers of caution tape cover the door. There is a message written in the fresh looking blood. "Don't enter, Damien. You'll regret it." I look at Sarah, who has an expression of extreme fear on her face. I hug her. "It's gonna be alright, don't worry." "But the door…" I nod. "Let's just find out for ourselves." I let go of her, and stand in front of her and the door. I turn the knob, which seems locked from the other side. I slam it a couple times.

No answer, no budge. "Shit… Are any of these other apartments open?" I knock on 324. No answer, but the door doesn't seemed locked, just jammed. I shoulder slam it a couple times, and it swings open. I walk inside, Sarah right behind me. Seems like it hasn't been used for a couple months. I walk around the room, which seems to be the master bedroom. There's a long, 6 by 3 drawer dresser. I start with the top row, and open each one. Nothing besides a couple of hairpins and a cobweb here and there… Second row, I find a combat knife. Like, a buck knife, but with brass knuckles instead of a handle.

"Who would keep that around in an apartment…?" I shrug. "A thug? Loan sharks?" "Isn't that stealing?" I shake my head. "Looks like this place has been deserted." I start opening the bottom row. A box of revolver rounds in each draw. "What the…?" Sarah looks wide eyed at all the ammunition. I open the last drawer, praying. Yes! I lift it out of the drawer. Butterfly revolver magnum, best of the year's models. Three barrels in each box. I put one of them into the empty revolver, and give the barrel a spin. I hear that lovely, speedy, gentle clicking sound. I stuff my pockets with the boxes, thank god for cargo pants.

We walk in front of Sadie's door again. "Your not gonna…?" I nod. I aim the loaded pistol at the doorknob lock, and pull back the hammer. I nod to Sarah, and she blocks her ears. I pull the trigger, and feel the heavy recoil of the butterfly. The bullet goes through the doorknob fully. I twist the knob a few times, and the door slowly swings open. I peek inside, feeling the knife in my pocket, just in case. I look to the left of the door, and there is a dresser like the one in 324. On top is three flashlights, and 8 double A batteries. "You got any pockets?" Sarah nods, and I hand her a flashlight, then 4 of the batteries. "Pocket the batteries, and keep hold of the flashlight. It's loaded, so the batteries are for replacement." She switches on the flashlight. Luckily, it's an LED. I turn mine on, and put the third flashlight into my sweatshirt pocket.

We walk into Sadie's apartment, and there is her belongings scattered everywhere. Perfume bottles, notebooks, pictures, cellphone, everything is scattered. I walk around the room, shining the light on everything I see. Sliced up pictures, smashed bottles, fray wires, smashed frames… What in the hell happened here? We go to the back, where I can here a gentle knocking, or more of a thudding noise.

We walk into the back of her apartment, which turns out to be her bedroom. There is a streak of blood across her bedspread, blood on the walls, smashed mirror… Sarah covers her mouth. Either she is going to puke, or scream bloody murder. Neither is good. I put my free hand on her shoulder, and squeeze gently. She calms down, and nods. I walk over to the wall, where I hear the knocking. There is more blood on the wall, but in letter shapes.

"Come to Silent Hill, Damien. Welcome back home." I shake my head. "No.. This can't be right…" Sarah screams, finally letting it out. I guess it's better out than in, huh. She runs out of the room, out the front door, and into the railing. "Sarah!" I run out after her. She is on the ground, slid down the railing. I can see her leg bleeding, and I can see her eyes tearing up.

"Stay still, I'll get you something…" I walk back into the apartment. I go into Sadie's closet, and find a white robe. "Sorry Sadie…" I rip a long strip of cloth off of the robe. I walk out with it in my hand, and wrap it around Sarah's leg. "Can you put wait on it?" Sarah tries to get up, but I see her wince as she puts weight on it. She shakes her head. I put her arm around my shoulders, and stand her up. I lift her legs up, and I start walking down the stairs back down to the truck.

I manage to walk her down to the passanger side, and she opens up the door for me. I place her down in the seat, and she does her seatbelt. "You alright?" She nods at me. I close the door, and start walking to the other side. I get into the drivers seat, and start driving away from the apartment buildings. "Where are we going now?" I shake my head. "The only place we can go." She gasps. "You don't mean…?" I nod. "Silent Hill."