Silent Hill Origins

Chapter 1

Through The Rain And The Fog

It was a dark and stormy night and a heavy rain fell from the sky. It had been nearly six hours since the last truck stop and the driver was slowly starting to feel tired. He had been awake for quite some time now. He appeared to be in his late twenties or early thirties. His clothes seemed to be new as if he had just purchased them. He was wearing a red plaid shirt with a brown vest, on his head he wore his favorite hat. His face was rugged and tired looking and his stare continued out across the wet roads. He looked as if he hadn't shaved for a few days, a short scrubby beard was starting to grow. More time went by and he began to grow more tired. As his eyes began to slowly start to close the sound of another big rig truck came speeding by.

The loud sound of the horn echoed around them causing the sleepy driver to jump. Now wide eyed the driver grabbed the radio and called out on it. "Who did I just pass there" Asked the driver, " Is that you good buddy?"

"Tree top tall and wall to wall" The radio said, "Travis you messed up son of a bitch, what you doing on my road" he asked.

Travis gave a soft sigh, "Late on a gig Bud, I'm taking a short cut passed Silent Hill" He replied. He and Bud had been friends for some time now. Granted that they haven't spent more than five minutes near each other. They usually kept in touch through the radios which was good for both of them. It made driving those long nights a little bit easier with a friend talking to you. "... Stopping for coffee once I hit Brahms... I'm beat." He let out a yawn.

"Bad dreams still keeping you awake?" Bud asked. Travis had informed Bud on his past a little bit. It was a messed up story that nobody should have to have lived through. "I told you man, a girl or two would go a long way" Bud laughed. "Yeah you would sleep like a baby with a chick in your cab" he continued to laugh.

Travis couldn't help but smile at his comments, "I guess I just don't meet the right girls Bud" He responded. He wasn't quite as tired as he had been before, talking with Bud was always a great way to stay awake. Buddy just loved to talk and had so many stories to tell. Sometimes Travis didn't even believe half the things that would come out of Bud's mouth. But still it was mighty entertaining to listen to him rant on and on about anything.

"Well maybe if you would stop blabbering about your messed up past and remembering how and why your paren..."

Travis quickly cut Bud off, " Hey chill! You don't see me bringing up your issues"

Again Bud began to laugh, " No need! My old lady keeps me fully informed of all my failings" Bud continued to laugh, it was something that Bud always did. There rarely wasn't a time that you could talk to him and not hear him laugh. "The girl keeps notes" He added.

Travis began to laugh now, " You mean she hasn't left you yet?" said Travis. Bud's relationship astounded Travis. How in the world could a guy like Bud manage to hold onto a girl for more than a day or so. It was just mind boggling.

"Any day now" Bud laughed, " Well see you around Travis, Take it easy"

"10-4. Catch you later Buddy" Travis said as the radio became silent. Tonights conversation wasn't as nearly as long as most of the others. This was some what of a let down for Travis, he was kind of hoping that Bud would have had another grand tale to tell. He sighed again as he felt himself becoming tired again.

He had driven a few more miles before the rain had really began to pour down, " Man, this is one bad one." He said to himself about the storm. It was almost getting to a point where he almost wasn't able to see out the windshield. The wipers flew back and forth as fast as they could trying to keep to water off. But the rain fell faster and faster with each passing minute.

He turned on some music to try and help him stay awake. He searched through the channels finding a few stations that were just talk shows. "Come on" said Travis as he searched for any station that was playing music. "There has to be at least one." Just when he was about to give up his search he came across and old rock station. "Yeah thats more like it" He said and began to tap his hand of the steering wheel to the turn of the beat. Travis glanced down at the odometer noticing that it had just changed to 365 miles and when he looked back up at the road his eyes widened with shock.

About 100 feet ahead someone had ran out into the middle of the street and collapsed onto the road. "Damn!" Travis yelled as he slammed on the breaks, the truck began to skid and slid on the water that was covering the roads. He grabbed the wheel and held it tight trying so very hard not to loose control of the truck. The truck came to a screeching halt about ten feet away from the person who lay on the road. Travis rested his head on the steering wheel for a moment breathing extra heavily, "That was too close" He mumbled to himself. He reached for the door handle and opened it then climbed out of the massive truck.

Once Travis was out of the truck he looked up to the sky to see that the rain that had been pouring down had suddenly stopped. It seemed very strange to him that the storm would cut out like that almost instantly. He looked over to where the person had been laying to see that they were no longer there. "Whats going on?" He asked himself. In the corner of his eye he could see something white creeping up on him. He turned to see thick clouds of fog coming from behind his truck. "What's up with the weather?" He muttered. He turned away from the fog to get back in his truck when he saw the image of a girl in the side mirror on the rig. Seeing this caused Travis to jump with fear as he turned quickly only to find that the girl wasn't behind him. "What the hell?" he yelled and looked back at the mirror. Now it looked as if the small girl was standing right beside him but he could not see her outside of the mirror. He backed away quickly and stumbled out in front of the truck. As he sat on the cold wet ground he could feel his heart was racing and he had begun to sweat. "Mind tricks " Travis told himself. That was surely the cause of what he had just seen. His mind was playing tricks on him, most likely form the lack of sleep that he had. He got back up and dusted himself off. "That has to be what it was." He said.

After he got his mind back on track he turned around and saw another small child standing in the middle of the road. "Hey!" he said with alarm. He began to walk over to her, "Are you the one who ran out in front of my truck?" He asked.

The little girl only stared at him, she gave no facial expressions. As Travis looked at the little girl he got shivers. There was something about her that just didn't sit well with him. Just as he got closer to her, she took off running down the road. " Hey! Come back here!" He shouted but to no avail. The fog was beginning to get more thick around him. He turned on a small flash light that was attached to his jacket. Normally Travis wasn't one to go off exploring in the middle of the night but he wanted to know what that little girl was doing. He walked back to his truck and grabbed one of the portable radios.

He closed the door and locked it up, "Don't want anyone breaking in while I'm gone" He said. He began to walk down the old beat up road. There was a forest that on either side of the street and with the thick fog everywhere it made this walk very creepy. The sounds of the night echoed all around Travis as he marched his way onward. He passed by a few billboards and road signs, none of which helped Travis out in any way.

He began to jog lightly trying to speed things up a bit, there was no way that little girl could have gotten very far. Or at least that is what Travis kept telling himself. Up ahead the shape of another sign could be seen. As he neared it he was able to read what was printed on it.

"Welcome to Silent Hill"

He stopped briefly in front of the sign before moving on. He didn't realize how close he had stopped to Silent Hill. He had no intention on even coming through this town tonight or ever if he could have his way. But his curiosity got the better of him and he continued on his way to find the little girl.

Not to much father down the road a strange and eerie orange glow could be seen. It wasn't until he got closer that he realized that the orange light was a house burning. "It wasn't fog." He said to himself. "It's smoke... My god" He said looking at the now fire engulfed home. The fire was mesmerizing as he looked upon it. He thought about the poor family that just lost their home. It must be a terrible feeling, one that Travis wouldn't want to feel. Through the sound of the house burning Travis was able to hear what sounded like bushes rustling so immediately his gaze fell to the corner of the house where he saw a woman watching the place burn.

Travis was just about to call out to her when he heard yet another sound, this one however was more unsettling. He could hear someone screaming and it sounded as if it was coming from with in the house. "There someone still in there!" Travis said with panic in his voice. He looked back to the corner to see if that woman was still there but she had vanished in the smoke.

Feeling the need to do something Travis darted into the burning home to find who ever was still trapped inside. He approached with caution as he got closer to the entrance. He could feel the heat from the massive fire. It was almost unbearable but still Travis entered, he took a deep breath and ran into the house. "Hello?" He shouted as he searched franticly. There was fire just about everywhere inside and the heat was just terrible. It was hard to breath or even keep your eyes open. "Where are you?" He yelled but received no answer. After checking the bottom floor the best he could he decided to check up stairs.

He started to climb up and with each step he took he could hear the wood breaking. This was definitely not good. He managed to get half way up before they gave out and began to crumbled. Diving for the top floor Travis was barely able to make it up. He let out a quick sigh of relief before searching some more. He walked into what appeared to be a living room of some sort, there was tables and couches all around. Pictures were on the wall, most of them had burned so badly that you couldn't even see what the picture was of. The fire up here was much more worse than from the first floor. Travis began to cough from all the smoke. "Where are you?" He asked himself softly as he looked. The fire and the heat were beginning to become to much for him and he was about to retreat back when he saw her.

"Dear god" He said when his eyes fell upon the child. She was covered from head to toe with terrible burn wounds and her skin was charred and boiled. He automatically assumed that she had been dead, burns like the ones she had would have been impossible to survive. And as he was about to leave he heard her mumble something.

"Let me burn" She cried softly.

Travis gasped in surprise and quickly knelt down to her side. "No you're coming with me" He said and picked her up as carefully as he could. The sight of this child was almost unbearable and nearly brought tears to Travis' eyes. "I'm getting you out of here" He said and as fast as he could he moved through out the burning house. The fire was spreading faster now and the door he had came though was now in flames. "Damn!" He said and turned around. The fire was slowly closing in on them and Travis didn't know what to do.

As he stood there he could hear more wood cracking, then realized the the floor beneath him was starting to give way. Before he could move to safety the floor collapsed sending the two of them to the ground below. Luckily for them it wasn't that far a a drop and Travis was able to land on his feet, stumbling only a little bit. Once his balance was regained he quickly made his way for the front door. More fire had spread throughout the house making it nearly impossible to get to the door.

"Okay" said Travis as he looked at the door and then to the fire blocking the way. "I can do this " He said and ran jumping through the flames and hitting the ground in front of the door. He looked out at the grass and road ahead. "Thank God!" He said once he and the child were safely away from the burning house. He fell to his knees and gently sat the girl down on the grass, his head was beginning to spin and his vision was getting blurry.

"Someone Help!" He managed to yell before he fell over and lay on his side. His eyes now growing heavier than ever, his breath was slowly beginning to weaken. Just before he closed his eyes he swore he could have hear emergency vehicle sirens approaching. "Please hurry" He thought as he passed out.