Mona has arrived in town.

She'd been walking for a while, right? For some reason, she couldn't actually remember. She had some vague recollection of driving into town, though where she would have parked was a mystery. Did she even drive herself? Did someone drop her off? Her father, maybe?

No, not him. That would be absurd. The fog in her brain was only surpassed – dwarfed, even – by the fog flowing through the streets. She could barely even see her hand in front of her face, let alone any dangerous cracks or potholes she might be stepping into while walking down the street.

Traffic safety didn't seem to be that much of an issue all things considered. Anyone driving in these conditions would have just as much of a chance of hitting her whether she was in the middle of the road or on the sidewalk. Not that there seemed to be anyone else around. From time to time, it was almost like she could make out figures in the fog darting around just out of view, but she chalked it up to nothing more than her imagination.

No cell service, either, the device serving as little more than a glorified flashlight trying fruitlessly to cut out a narrow path through the mist. That wasn't too surprising given how old this place seemed, but it was no less disconcerting. This entire town seemed more like a model of a town left out in the rain for too long. Like a relic from ancient times unearthed and put on display in a museum no one ever visited. Either way, it didn't seem happy, though why she thought she could personify a town of all things was a mystery.

She remembered a street sign from earlier that identified this place as Bachman Road. A cafe, a burger joint, what looked like a flower shop; all abandoned with nothing much of interest to be seen through the glass. Though she felt a bit hungry after considering it for a moment, it was doubtful these shops had anything on the menu.

As she approached the intersection to what she'd come to learn was Matheson Street, the fog appeared to lift, at least along that stretch of road. Unlike the brief shadows from before, she could absolutely make out the shape of a man in the distance. As he looked to be walking away, she ran to try and catch up, calling out to him. "Hey! Hello! Wait!"

Like one would expect in this situation, the man did not stop. In fact, he must have continued on at such a pace as to seemingly disappear the moment he passed out of her line of sight. Trying to chase after him seemed useless.

"You're new here," said a voice from behind, causing her to jump nearly bad enough to fling the glasses right off her face. Whether it was the man from before or not couldn't really be known given how far away an obscured her initial viewing was. "That's interesting."

He walked around leisurely several feet away, almost seeming to circle her like a shark. While he didn't really give off much of a dangerous vibe, it was still hard to trust someone who appeared so suddenly in a place that was otherwise abandoned. Dressed normally in a white t-shirt and short sleeved black jacket, hands shoved into the pockets of some old jeans, he was the most normal thing about any of this, somehow making him decidedly less normal in the end.

"Introduction?" he asked, pulling one hand out of his pocket and raising it as if to gesture for her to speak. Upon closer examination, she noticed rows upon rows of dark blue tattoos against his brown skin. They covered almost every inch of his fingers, hands, arms, and even up his neck and into his hairline, the only place devoid of ink being his face.

He circled his hand, causing her to realize she'd been blankly staring off into space considering all of this for far longer than a person should. Clearing her throat, she finally stuttered out, "Mona. Murakami." After a pause, she repeated, "Mona Murakami."

The stranger didn't seem to react to this, merely observing her as he continued to walk. For some reason, he didn't seem to really be looking at her so much as through her. What he intended to find wasn't clear, though. "And you?" she finally asked to try and break the ice.

He stayed silent for several second, eventually saying, "This place is old." Whether he was dodging the question or simply didn't hear it asked was yet another mystery.

"I assumed," she said. Several more tense seconds passed, the two doing a kind of dance where the stranger would continue to walk in a circle around her as she turned to continue facing him. It was almost dizzying with the fog obscuring any kind of buildings or landmarks that would tell her which direction she actually faced. "What's it called?"

"Silent Hill," he replied promptly, looking her in the eyes for the first time since they'd met. "It was a resort once," he continued. "Now it's not. It's all gone." Rather than saddened by this, he seemed to smile. "You should consider turning back."

"I don't remember how I got here," she told him. "Can you show me the way out?" Why she thought he'd be able to do that, she couldn't tell you, but as the only face (friendly or otherwise) she'd met in this place so far, it was worth a shot.

Instead of a reply, he chuckled as if he found the notion absurd. "I think we'll see each other again soon," he said, ignoring her question entirely. "I think it's about to get warmer," he added out of nowhere, running his hands through his short cropped black hair. Was he commenting on her clothes? She was wearing a brown leather jacket, sure, but it wasn't like it was inappropriate attire. Just a blue tank top and white shorts under that. If worst came to worst, she could leave it behind.

Why was she so focused on that comment and her outfit? So focused, in fact, she'd spaced out again. When she finally came to, the stranger was gone. Now she was alone again in the unfamiliar place called Silent Hill. She should start looking for an exit.

One more thing for Halloween since you've all been good. This one might actually be a bit scary.

End notes will be sparse on this since I don't want to break immersion. Same with comments assuming there are any, though I'd really like to encourage people to freely speculate on how things are going to turn out as you read. I'd like to see where you think things are going.

I have no clue going in how long this will be or when I'll post chapters. Stick around if you're invested in it.

Thanks for reading. Always remember you're not alone.