Silent Hill

Truth Within Lies

Chapter 1: Awakening

Slowly a room came into focus. A young man blinked a few times as he looked around. The room was white, a small, old fashioned TV sat at the top corner of the room across from him. A hospital? What am I doing in a hospital? he thought. His eyes darted across the room, but there was no one else there. He pulled the blanket covering him, if indeed the paper thin sheet could be called that, and discarded it to the side. A sudden wave of nausea hit and his vision blurred as he sat up. He held his head as he tried to remember what could have possibly ended him up in the hospital. The last thing I remember is riding with my mom to pick up a few things for the house.

He looked at the end of the bed and grabbed the medical chart from the end of the bed. "There's got to be something on here," he said silently. It read: Jason Seaswift, 18 years old, mild head trauma. At least, those were the only important parts he could see. "So, I hit my head on something. That would explain it."

He stood from the bed and stripped off his hospital gown. He looked in a small cabinet to the side and found his clothes. After dressing, he looked around the room for anything possibly related to what had caused his so-called head trauma. He found nothing, so he stuck his head out into the hall and looked around. "Completely deserted," he mumbled under his breath. "This is weird. It's the middle of the day, and none of the staff is within eyesight, and as far as I can tell, there aren't any other patients here, either."

Relying on his better-safe-than-sorry approach, he grabbed a loose scalpel lying nearby and held onto it in case there was any chance that he would need it. He made his way toward the entrance, his eyes moving back and forth as he tried to see more than ten feet in front of him. He couldn't understand why it was so hard to see. It made absolutely no sense. "It's almost like… fog," he said to himself, more to keep himself from losing it than anything else.

As he finally made it to the entrance, he found a small brochure for the town and opened it. The name on the pamphlet surprised him immensely. Silent Hill. It was the name of a resort town that he had heard of over the years, but he had never visited before. "I wonder, was this where mother and I were heading? Is that why I ended up in this… place?" He turned around on his heel and looked at the front desk. "Alchemilla Hospital," he said under his breath. He opened the pamphlet, which included a small map of the town and circled the hospital on the map. If I'm going to go sightseeing, I should keep track of where I've been, at least. He looked over the map again. According to that, there were two hospitals and a Sanitarium in town, in addition to a few other things.

He took a look out of the double glass doors. It was too foggy to see clearly, but he thought he saw some kind of movement on the other side of the glass. "Whoever's out there, I hope they're friendly." He gripped the scalpel in his right hand tightly and walked outside.

The fog was even denser than he had imagined. He lifted his hand up to his face and pushed out against the air until it became hard to see his face. "Looks like I have about a foot of visibility before things start to get hazy." The young man sighed and looked at the map.

Looks like the best place to start looking for answers would be the police station north of here, he thought. Jason pulled his jacket closer against himself and looked at the street ahead of him. He looked left and right before crossing the street, hoping against hope that a car would pass by. A cold chill ran down his spine as he continued to make his way up the street to the police house. He didn't know how he knew, but there was definitely something nearby.

The young man turned on his heel and saw another person heading toward him. He stopped and tilted his head. "Hello!" he called through the fog, waving his hands violently in the air. The person apparently noticed him and began to lumber even faster toward him. The fog got slightly clearer for a moment and revealed what appeared to be a red, bloodstained shirt. Panicking, Jason shot off in the other direction and hid behind the corner of what appeared to be an old bookstore. He looked out from around the corner and didn't see anything.

Sighing, the man collapsed to the ground, clutching the scalpel close to his chest. "What the hell happened here? First I wake up in a deserted hospital and now this?" On the verge of tears, he began to stand up right as an arm came snaking out from beside him and a skeletal hand clenched down on his leg. The young man froze in place before looking down at what had grabbed him.

Groaning through what appeared to be a mask made out of human flesh, a creature with needles sticking out of its body crawled into a kneeling position as it continued to hold onto his leg. Acting out of panic, Jason began swinging the scalpel wildly at the creature's face and torso, eliciting a scream from the creature as it released his leg and fell back. Without thinking, Jason embedded the scalpel where the creature's left eye would have been and stepped back in horror as black bile began to pour from the wounds as the being before him began to twitch on the ground.

He broke into a run and slammed full force into the doors of the police station. He opened the door slowly, making as little noise as possible, and walked in, locking the door behind him until he was ready to leave. He walked to one of the benches in front of the door and collapsed on it.

Holding his trembling hands up to his face, he whispered, "This… this can't be real. It's a dream, a dream brought on by the car accident. That has to be it. Any minute now, I'll wake up…" He waited for a few seconds before whispering again, "Seriously, this nightmare has to end sometime. Let me wake up!"

Another moment passed and his shaking only intensified. "No… no, no, no, no, no, no, no, nonononononononononono!" he screamed. "This isn't real! It's not possible! Creatures like this only exist in ghost stories… don't they?" As if to punctuate his fear, he heard a small clacking sound coming from the other side of the front desk. Jason reached for his scalpel, only to realize it was no longer on his person. "Shit!" was all he could get out as a shadowy figure emerged on the other side of the desk.

"Don't be so loud, kid. You'll attract whatever's out there," spoke a voice from the other side of the desk. Jason heard footsteps going to the door to the right side of the desk, and then the clear sound of a door unlocking. The door swung open to reveal a slightly overweight man, slightly balding, with a shotgun slung over his shoulder.

"Come in, and hurry, before those things come in."

"But I locked the door," Jason said, thankful only to have someone else to talk to.

"The lock on the main door's been busted for months," the cop replied. "Get your ass in here."

He complied, happy to have someone in an authority position who seemed to know what was going on. Once he made it inside, the officer closed the door behind them and locked it with a bolt lock. "Okay, kid, what's going on? What are you doing here?"

"I… I'm sorry. I just woke up in the hospital down the street and figured I'd come here looking for some answers. I don't know what's going on, either…"

The cop looked at him carefully for a moment and said something under his breath about doctors, shrugged, and motioned for Jason to follow him. They made their way back to what appeared to be a break room. "Alright, let's start from the beginning. You're that kid we found in the car accident a couple of nights back, aren't you?"

"Yeah… I guess. I was with my mom. Have you seen her?"

"Sorry, kid. You were the only one we found at the crash site. By all reports, you were lucky to be alive, yet here you are, already healthy enough to make it here without those monsters getting to you."

"My… mom wasn't in the car with me?"

"Nope. Sorry. Maybe your head got mixed up during the accident. You were in the driver's seat, alone, no evidence that there was anyone in the car at all, well… besides you, anyway." The cop sighed and leaned back in his chair before throwing a can of soda at him. Jason barely reacted in time to catch it and put in on the table in front of him. "I'd love to sit back and hear your life's story, kid, but that ain't going to get us out of this mess any faster."

"Yeah… You're right. What are those things roaming the streets, anyway?"

"Monsters, near as I can tell," the cop replied, holding his hand up to his face and shaking his head. "All I remember is falling asleep in the squad room and waking up with the whole town looking like this. The fog is so dense I can hardly see, and if my guess is anywhere near right, none of the cars in town will work. At least, the squad cars don't work." He cracked open a bottle and took a swig. "I've been barricaded in hear for at least a day, now, ever since I ran into one of those… things. More of them have come around, but they haven't tried to get in the building. I leave the door locked just in case, though."

"I… I see," Jason said, suddenly at a loss for words.

"Yeah. You can kill them, but it's easier and better for your health just to avoid them. I killed the one near the squad cars, but I can tell you it wasn't easy and I barely avoided being that thing's dinner. My leg was seriously injured in the exchange, too." The officer pulled his pants leg up and motioned toward the bandage wrapped around it, soaked with blood. He nodded slightly as Jason raised an eyebrow. "Yes, this bum leg's the reason I haven't tried to get out of here. I'll die if I get cornered. I'm still too injured to run."

"You were strong enough to make it here from Alchemilla, right?" he was asked. He nodded before the older man continued, "Well, then, you're strong enough to use a gun. I'm afraid I can't spare much for someone as untrained as you, but a handgun and a magazine or two should suit you so long as you use it sparingly and keep as far away from those monsters as you can unless absolutely necessary."

He stood up and balanced on the chair for a second as he motioned for Jason to follow him. They walked down the halls, Jason noting the lack of sound to be extremely disturbing. Every time he'd been in a police headquarters, he'd heard the continuous sounds of talking, laughter, clacks on keyboards, and other random sounds. As much as he appreciated silence, this was deafening.

Wait a second… When did I go to a police station? he thought. Then he remembered. One of his friends had brought him a few times to talk with his dad, a police captain, to get some money or to deliver something from his mom. He nodded to himself silently as they finally came upon the armory room.

"Here. This is where we keep our guns." He pulled out a key and unlocked the door before going in, closing the door behind him. "Even in this situation, no civilians allowed." The sound of rummaging could be heard until the young man heard the officer say, "This'll do. Just…" the rest came out as an indistinguishable mumble.

A few seconds later, the door opened from the other side and Jason found a gun being pushed into his hand, along with an extra clip. "This is all I can give ya. Don't waste it." With that, the cop looked around and locked the door. "I'm staying here. I won't be able to avoid them. In case I don't make it and you get out of here, tell the other officers that Lysle wants them to take a shot for him. They'd ask the same from me."

"Alright. You have my word."

With that, Jason walked out back into the front office. He turned around as Lysle began to speak. "If you come back this way, let me know you're the one at the door. I'd hate to shoot you on accident."

"Thanks, but right now I'm going to go and look for my mom. If there's even a chance she's out there…"

"I understand, kiddo. Just sayin' if you need me, I'll be here." The officer closed the door and locked it before limping away.

The young man sighed. "Looks like I'm all alone again."

He opened the door, noticing that even though he locked it, the door still came open easily. "I can't believe they let that door stay broken for so long," he said. He closed the door behind him and looked at the map again. "I might as well go back to the hospital and see if there's any record of my mom being admitted."

And so, as our story begins, this young man, drawn into the foggy world of Silent Hill, begins his search for his mother. Risking life and limb against creatures no living human had ever seen before, he desires nothing more than to see his mom's smiling face telling him that everything is going to be alright. Hark, dear reader, as the descent into the madness around him continues in future chapters. Enjoy your stay... in Silent Hill.