All right, I guess I have to put in a disclaimer, so I'm just gonna say I don't own Silent Hill instead of putting in one of those bad jokes people love for disclaimers
I will sometimes respond personally to reviews, particularly if you have a question or comment. As of now, I'm using all original characters. I've tried my best to make sure it will still coincide with SH 3. For the most part, it is not connected to SH 1 or 2 in anyway except for what is going on inside the town.
Silent Hill: Dark Memories
Chapter 1
"Is it just me, or is it getting colder all of a sudden?"
"We're up in the mountains man"
"But its getting colder as we're going DOWN the mountain into the valley"
A red Jaguar rolled down a steep mountain road into the thick pine forests of the valley below. The passenger was Thomas Farnwald, a young (and slightly paranoid) journalism student, and the driver was me, Dennis Crocker. I'm a "professor" of journalism, but that's mostly just for a bit of extra cash. I'm really a novelist, with a thing for the paranormal.
I felt sorry for Tom, the day after I sent him home with the project information, he started acting more anxious and agitated. He needed the extra credit though, and I needed an assistant. It was ten o'clock in the morning, and he was chugging on a huge thermos of chamomile tea in an attempt to relax.
"Um... sir", he had asked me that morning. "What kind of extra credit will I be receiving?"
"I'll drop your lowest test score"
He was trapped after that, he had gotten an F on the Newspaper Exam. It was a shame really, his expertise was in the Information Gathering occupation, another reason I wanted to bring him along. I can't understand exactly what made him afraid of the location, he didn't seem very superstitious to me. I guess a true believer wouldn't have wanted to come even for a big sack of money. The place has a gruesome history.
A very old looking sign dangled low over the road, apparently having been bent by some strong winds. It looked old, at least a few years without maintenance, and depicted a lake surrounded by smiling people. Underneath it read, "Silent Hill: The Happiest Town on Earth! You'll Never Want to Leave!"
"See Tom, nothing to worry about", I joked. "Apparently these people are very confident in their town if they saw no need to fix the sign!"
He chuckled a bit, but continued looking all around for wolves or whatever was on his mind. All right, I did have some pretty strange information on the town.
I first heard of the place in the newspaper. "Scientist believe magnetism could cause insanity", was the headline. It was some nonsense about certain places in the world where radio waves interfered with the earth's natural polar alignments which may cause ordinary people to suddenly become schizophrenic. This was one of them. In an attempt to grab more attention though, the amateur writers of this article also decided to mention the fact that the town was very old and had a history of ghost stories. The article only presented a few cases but they were STRANGE. One was about a man named Joseph Barken, who suffered paranoid delusions supposedly brought on by the death of his daughter. He claimed an ancient executioner was stalking him. The shocking thing is that the doctor who was treating him suddenly had a mental breakdown of his own, for no apparent reason, and claimed that the same "thing" was stalking him. It seems that a lot of the local mental cases, of which there were a lot, also saw this executioner. The article goes on to state that its probable that certain types of people that live in this particular area would experience the same kind of hallucinations... blah blah blah.
If one was to go out and read all the articles that anyone has ever written about the supernatural, then it would seem almost impossible to conclude that all these people are either nuts or liars. Well, very few people have gone out and checked up each one like I have. The most typical situation is that the writers were either exaggerating to the extreme, or the more rare, but still probable circumstance of them just plain lying. I wouldn't even have bothered coming out here, if I didn't look up some of the town's history. There have been lots of ghost sightings, connected with a brutal Reconstruction Era Prison Camp that was in the area. A few years ago, a huge fire broke out in the town, which was believed to be connected with some strange cult. The natives treated this land as a sacred place, till they were kicked out by settlers. All these juicy tidbits, combined with the fact that the place is also a resort, made me instantly pick up the phone and call in a few vacation days.
"All right, where do we go once we get into town?", I asked Tom who was looking at the map.
"Um, after clearing the tunnel, you just keep going straight down Bachman Road till we reach the water, then take a left onto Sanderston and the Motel will be immediately on the left."
It was starting to get dark out, the car clock said 4:00, but I knew that was way off considering it was summer. As we went through the main tunnel into town, I suddenly felt extremely light-headed and almost lost control of the car. If it wasn't for my assistant grabbing the wheel, we might of had an accident. Luckily there were no civilians around. "Actually", I thought. "There are hardly any people out right now, that's kind of odd for a resort town.
The town looked modern, but we didn't go through any residential areas. There was something weird about the trees. They weren't dead or anything, but wilting and I saw some dead leaves on the ground around them. I chuckled at the thought that maybe this polar radio waves theory was also killing off the local flora. The few people we passed by all had blank expressions on their faces. Even a woman carrying a baby looked like she was on her way to a funeral or something. At last we pulled into the hotel parking lot, and I actually breathed a sigh of relief.
I looked south and saw the sun moving under the western tree line. It was making a reflection on the lake that almost made the thing seem like it was filled with blood. I pushed the thought out of my head and started thinking about those people. "What if those writers weren't bull sh**ing and this entire town is going insane?" I attempted to relieve my fear by laughing at the thought, but it didn't help.
Across the lake was South Vale, a relatively new area of the town that was still under construction. It was tomorrow's destination. Both the Silent Hill Historical Society and the Brookhaven Asylum were there, and that's where my research was taking me. I turned around and saw Tom trying to unload the equipment from the trunk. He was having a hard time at it, I don't think he got much exercise, but at least he wasn't overweight. Just scrawny.
Okay, I carry the same stuff those Paranormal Investigators have. I've yet to use it, but if there actually ever is a real ghost in my presence, I absolutely do not want to miss it. All I have is one of those big ghost reader things, a camera, and a radio. I have no idea what the reader thing is, all I know is that I strap it to my back, press a few buttons, and if the number on the thing reads higher than usual, there's supposed to be a ghost nearby. The radio is for recording when a ghost is nearby cause one can supposedly hear their voice on a tape, and the camera is for capturing their images if they're invisible. I repeat, I have yet to use them.
The Motel was like any other. A large parking lot was surrounded by a large building with several doors. Greenery lined the walls. The street overlooked the water, and to the east were some stairs for going down to the docks. To the west was a park and a long bridge that went to a closed Amusement Park on the other side. I could pick out a few of my favorite rides, most noticeably, I saw a huge Roller Coaster looming over the lake.
As we headed towards the Motel office, I accidentally bumped into an odd teenager. The guy looked pale, sick, and was twitching randomly. The pale skin seemed to go with his all black jeans, t-shirt, and cosmetics. I apologized, but he just kept on walking, away from the office I was headed for. I don't really have much expertise in the area, but I think he looked like a junkie in withdrawal. It was just another thing on my list of reasons to leave the town immediately.
The office looked nice and clean, its occupant didn't. Farnwald tried to make himself comfortable on one of the couches, but the fat guy behind the counter screamed at him, saying that he just cleaned them. The clerk was vastly overweight and reeked of liquor. He was balding, didn't bother to shave, and wore only jeans and a t-shirt covered with food. I had half a mind to leave immediately, but the only other hotel in the area was the Lakeside Hotel, and they required reservations.
"It's twenty bucks a night."
"Do you have any meals?"
He grunted and pointed to a soda and snack machine in a corner. I had a feeling this was going to be an unpleasant stay. We headed outside and towards our room. I suddenly felt the same dizziness I got when entering the town, only this time a strange triangle symbol suddenly flashed in my mind.
"Are you all right?", Tom asked as we were unpacking.
"I dunno, there's just something about this town..." Now I was the one being paranoid.
"Ahh... don't think nothing of it. This is the valley, chemicals flow down here, that's probably what's damaging the trees. We should probably report it to the state authorities, the local cops might be getting bribed."
"Yeah that could be."
Our room was basic, there were two beds with green sheets in the front part and a bathroom in the back. Tom was taking a shower when I noticed a piece of paper on my nightstand. There was writing on it, in red ink, and it wasn't a Motel Card or something. It read:
Dear Doctor Crocker,
Welcome to Silent Hill!! Its a rare case that we receive someone with such high educational honors to our humble little town. I hope you enjoy your stay, perhaps we shall meet sometime, share tea and cakes. Don't worry about who I am, you'll know soon enough! Till then, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite!
Sincerely,
Mr. S
The letter obviously scared me a little, but I am a pretty well known author. One of my colleagues probably told some of the town officials. My mind was a little hazy from the lack of sleep anyway, and I wanted nothing more than peaceful dreams. As I drifted, my eyes shifted to that slip of paper again and the triangle symbol suddenly jumped in my brain as the void took me.
It was dark, cold and damp. Sleeping on city concrete is not pleasant. Especially knowing that a house and a warm bed await you if you simply give in. I'm not into giving in though. Especially to these people. Bribes of food and clothing paled in comparison to the excitement brought on by freedom!!
Fleeing from slavery...
A new life...
I am innocent...
Forget everything...
I woke up with a distant memory of blood and triangles in my head. My head was pounding, I felt like I was in the midst of an all night hangover. I spent a few seconds sitting up in bed and then looked towards the window. It was still dark. I felt the urge to relieve myself, so I headed for the bathroom. I stopped to take a look in the mirror. My eyes were deeply bloodshot, and I swore that my brown hair was turning gray. It wouldn't surprise me, being forty-five and all, but it wasn't gray yesterday. On my way back I could've sworn I saw someone staring at me from outside.
I decided to go out there, with my ghost reader thingy. Not that I really thought I saw anything, but I did have the reader, so what the hell. As I suspected, "psychic" energy was normal. It was late but I decided to take a quick peak at the lake. A light fog was settling over it. Again, I swear I saw something strange out there. It looked like a ship, but the second I noticed it, it was gone.
"You've got to calm down", I told myself. "You're tired, get to sleep." It was difficult getting to sleep though. Some sixth sense told me that this town was not the best place in the world to be.
I will sometimes respond personally to reviews, particularly if you have a question or comment. As of now, I'm using all original characters. I've tried my best to make sure it will still coincide with SH 3. For the most part, it is not connected to SH 1 or 2 in anyway except for what is going on inside the town.
Silent Hill: Dark Memories
Chapter 1
"Is it just me, or is it getting colder all of a sudden?"
"We're up in the mountains man"
"But its getting colder as we're going DOWN the mountain into the valley"
A red Jaguar rolled down a steep mountain road into the thick pine forests of the valley below. The passenger was Thomas Farnwald, a young (and slightly paranoid) journalism student, and the driver was me, Dennis Crocker. I'm a "professor" of journalism, but that's mostly just for a bit of extra cash. I'm really a novelist, with a thing for the paranormal.
I felt sorry for Tom, the day after I sent him home with the project information, he started acting more anxious and agitated. He needed the extra credit though, and I needed an assistant. It was ten o'clock in the morning, and he was chugging on a huge thermos of chamomile tea in an attempt to relax.
"Um... sir", he had asked me that morning. "What kind of extra credit will I be receiving?"
"I'll drop your lowest test score"
He was trapped after that, he had gotten an F on the Newspaper Exam. It was a shame really, his expertise was in the Information Gathering occupation, another reason I wanted to bring him along. I can't understand exactly what made him afraid of the location, he didn't seem very superstitious to me. I guess a true believer wouldn't have wanted to come even for a big sack of money. The place has a gruesome history.
A very old looking sign dangled low over the road, apparently having been bent by some strong winds. It looked old, at least a few years without maintenance, and depicted a lake surrounded by smiling people. Underneath it read, "Silent Hill: The Happiest Town on Earth! You'll Never Want to Leave!"
"See Tom, nothing to worry about", I joked. "Apparently these people are very confident in their town if they saw no need to fix the sign!"
He chuckled a bit, but continued looking all around for wolves or whatever was on his mind. All right, I did have some pretty strange information on the town.
I first heard of the place in the newspaper. "Scientist believe magnetism could cause insanity", was the headline. It was some nonsense about certain places in the world where radio waves interfered with the earth's natural polar alignments which may cause ordinary people to suddenly become schizophrenic. This was one of them. In an attempt to grab more attention though, the amateur writers of this article also decided to mention the fact that the town was very old and had a history of ghost stories. The article only presented a few cases but they were STRANGE. One was about a man named Joseph Barken, who suffered paranoid delusions supposedly brought on by the death of his daughter. He claimed an ancient executioner was stalking him. The shocking thing is that the doctor who was treating him suddenly had a mental breakdown of his own, for no apparent reason, and claimed that the same "thing" was stalking him. It seems that a lot of the local mental cases, of which there were a lot, also saw this executioner. The article goes on to state that its probable that certain types of people that live in this particular area would experience the same kind of hallucinations... blah blah blah.
If one was to go out and read all the articles that anyone has ever written about the supernatural, then it would seem almost impossible to conclude that all these people are either nuts or liars. Well, very few people have gone out and checked up each one like I have. The most typical situation is that the writers were either exaggerating to the extreme, or the more rare, but still probable circumstance of them just plain lying. I wouldn't even have bothered coming out here, if I didn't look up some of the town's history. There have been lots of ghost sightings, connected with a brutal Reconstruction Era Prison Camp that was in the area. A few years ago, a huge fire broke out in the town, which was believed to be connected with some strange cult. The natives treated this land as a sacred place, till they were kicked out by settlers. All these juicy tidbits, combined with the fact that the place is also a resort, made me instantly pick up the phone and call in a few vacation days.
"All right, where do we go once we get into town?", I asked Tom who was looking at the map.
"Um, after clearing the tunnel, you just keep going straight down Bachman Road till we reach the water, then take a left onto Sanderston and the Motel will be immediately on the left."
It was starting to get dark out, the car clock said 4:00, but I knew that was way off considering it was summer. As we went through the main tunnel into town, I suddenly felt extremely light-headed and almost lost control of the car. If it wasn't for my assistant grabbing the wheel, we might of had an accident. Luckily there were no civilians around. "Actually", I thought. "There are hardly any people out right now, that's kind of odd for a resort town.
The town looked modern, but we didn't go through any residential areas. There was something weird about the trees. They weren't dead or anything, but wilting and I saw some dead leaves on the ground around them. I chuckled at the thought that maybe this polar radio waves theory was also killing off the local flora. The few people we passed by all had blank expressions on their faces. Even a woman carrying a baby looked like she was on her way to a funeral or something. At last we pulled into the hotel parking lot, and I actually breathed a sigh of relief.
I looked south and saw the sun moving under the western tree line. It was making a reflection on the lake that almost made the thing seem like it was filled with blood. I pushed the thought out of my head and started thinking about those people. "What if those writers weren't bull sh**ing and this entire town is going insane?" I attempted to relieve my fear by laughing at the thought, but it didn't help.
Across the lake was South Vale, a relatively new area of the town that was still under construction. It was tomorrow's destination. Both the Silent Hill Historical Society and the Brookhaven Asylum were there, and that's where my research was taking me. I turned around and saw Tom trying to unload the equipment from the trunk. He was having a hard time at it, I don't think he got much exercise, but at least he wasn't overweight. Just scrawny.
Okay, I carry the same stuff those Paranormal Investigators have. I've yet to use it, but if there actually ever is a real ghost in my presence, I absolutely do not want to miss it. All I have is one of those big ghost reader things, a camera, and a radio. I have no idea what the reader thing is, all I know is that I strap it to my back, press a few buttons, and if the number on the thing reads higher than usual, there's supposed to be a ghost nearby. The radio is for recording when a ghost is nearby cause one can supposedly hear their voice on a tape, and the camera is for capturing their images if they're invisible. I repeat, I have yet to use them.
The Motel was like any other. A large parking lot was surrounded by a large building with several doors. Greenery lined the walls. The street overlooked the water, and to the east were some stairs for going down to the docks. To the west was a park and a long bridge that went to a closed Amusement Park on the other side. I could pick out a few of my favorite rides, most noticeably, I saw a huge Roller Coaster looming over the lake.
As we headed towards the Motel office, I accidentally bumped into an odd teenager. The guy looked pale, sick, and was twitching randomly. The pale skin seemed to go with his all black jeans, t-shirt, and cosmetics. I apologized, but he just kept on walking, away from the office I was headed for. I don't really have much expertise in the area, but I think he looked like a junkie in withdrawal. It was just another thing on my list of reasons to leave the town immediately.
The office looked nice and clean, its occupant didn't. Farnwald tried to make himself comfortable on one of the couches, but the fat guy behind the counter screamed at him, saying that he just cleaned them. The clerk was vastly overweight and reeked of liquor. He was balding, didn't bother to shave, and wore only jeans and a t-shirt covered with food. I had half a mind to leave immediately, but the only other hotel in the area was the Lakeside Hotel, and they required reservations.
"It's twenty bucks a night."
"Do you have any meals?"
He grunted and pointed to a soda and snack machine in a corner. I had a feeling this was going to be an unpleasant stay. We headed outside and towards our room. I suddenly felt the same dizziness I got when entering the town, only this time a strange triangle symbol suddenly flashed in my mind.
"Are you all right?", Tom asked as we were unpacking.
"I dunno, there's just something about this town..." Now I was the one being paranoid.
"Ahh... don't think nothing of it. This is the valley, chemicals flow down here, that's probably what's damaging the trees. We should probably report it to the state authorities, the local cops might be getting bribed."
"Yeah that could be."
Our room was basic, there were two beds with green sheets in the front part and a bathroom in the back. Tom was taking a shower when I noticed a piece of paper on my nightstand. There was writing on it, in red ink, and it wasn't a Motel Card or something. It read:
Dear Doctor Crocker,
Welcome to Silent Hill!! Its a rare case that we receive someone with such high educational honors to our humble little town. I hope you enjoy your stay, perhaps we shall meet sometime, share tea and cakes. Don't worry about who I am, you'll know soon enough! Till then, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite!
Sincerely,
Mr. S
The letter obviously scared me a little, but I am a pretty well known author. One of my colleagues probably told some of the town officials. My mind was a little hazy from the lack of sleep anyway, and I wanted nothing more than peaceful dreams. As I drifted, my eyes shifted to that slip of paper again and the triangle symbol suddenly jumped in my brain as the void took me.
It was dark, cold and damp. Sleeping on city concrete is not pleasant. Especially knowing that a house and a warm bed await you if you simply give in. I'm not into giving in though. Especially to these people. Bribes of food and clothing paled in comparison to the excitement brought on by freedom!!
Fleeing from slavery...
A new life...
I am innocent...
Forget everything...
I woke up with a distant memory of blood and triangles in my head. My head was pounding, I felt like I was in the midst of an all night hangover. I spent a few seconds sitting up in bed and then looked towards the window. It was still dark. I felt the urge to relieve myself, so I headed for the bathroom. I stopped to take a look in the mirror. My eyes were deeply bloodshot, and I swore that my brown hair was turning gray. It wouldn't surprise me, being forty-five and all, but it wasn't gray yesterday. On my way back I could've sworn I saw someone staring at me from outside.
I decided to go out there, with my ghost reader thingy. Not that I really thought I saw anything, but I did have the reader, so what the hell. As I suspected, "psychic" energy was normal. It was late but I decided to take a quick peak at the lake. A light fog was settling over it. Again, I swear I saw something strange out there. It looked like a ship, but the second I noticed it, it was gone.
"You've got to calm down", I told myself. "You're tired, get to sleep." It was difficult getting to sleep though. Some sixth sense told me that this town was not the best place in the world to be.