Silent Hill: Shadows

Chapter One: A Late Night Drive

Leah Myers ran a hand over her tired, sleep ridden eyes. It had been a long night and one that she had wanted to forget entirely. She checked her rearview mirror, scanning the road for any other late night drivers aside from herself. There was nobody. Just herself, the road and her old, pale green junker of a car. She nervously drummed her fingertips on the steering wheel, trying in vain to not think back to the events that had led her to take such a spontaneous outing.

            She checked the rearview again and again saw nothing but the road disappearing into blackness as she drove. She glanced at her reflection, not really interested. It hadn't changed. Staring back at her were the same sad, jaded, hazel eyes that she woke up to every morning when she looked in the bathroom mirror. Eyes sometimes hidden behind her mop of brown curly hair.

            Her mind began to wander and slowly, like a connection as the memories formed, tears sprang to her eyes. She wiped at her eyes, one hand still on the wheel and shook her head.

            "No…the whole point of taking a drive at two in the morning is to get your mind OFF of what's troubling you. Forget it…" she chided herself mentally.

            Her fingers went to push a tape into the old cassette player that was begging to be updated with an in car CD player. Her fingers met nothing and she softly cursed under her breath, settling for the radio as her fingers turned the dial.

            "We the righteous, commend the Almighty – "

            "No," she muttered.

            "Rich cream saturated in conditioners so your hair actually gets –"

            The next channel boasted static and the one after a soft, melancholy jazz that did nothing for her mood. "Damnit…" she hissed, casually turning through a few more channels as the pools of tears in her eyes grew.

            "Blue is the color of the red sky. Will he, will he come home tonight?"

            Finally the tears broke free and spilled down her cheeks. A ragged groan of anguish ripped from her mouth and her vision blurred from her tears.

            "Blue is the color that she feels inside."

            Furiously, she wiped a hand at her eyes trying to rid herself of the tears. "Shut up…I don't wanna think. Don't wanna think!"

            "Matador, I can't hide my fear anymore," the sultry voice sang.

            Leah wiped at her eyes once more and looked back to the road in time to see a dark figure run across on all fours. She didn't have time to think of what animal it could possibly be. On instinct she swerved the car and felt the road disappear from beneath the car.

            Her hands gripped the steering wheel, white knuckled, and her thoughts went blank in terror. She was going to die, pure and simple.

            Past the car flew branches that made terrible sounds as they raked past. Ahead of her were flashes of black and green. Beneath her she could feel every violent, tossing bump the car hit, proof that this was no dream. Finally she clenched her eyes and pressed her foot to the break in a vain attempt to perhaps ease the impact of whatever tree she would inevitably collide with.

            The car hit the bottom and before Leah could think anymore thoughts of how painful her death would be, she blacked out.

            ***

            Lyrics repeated themselves in her head like a tape stuck on repeat. "I can't hide my fear anymore…"

            Leah slowly opened her eyes and winced. Her head pounded as though a jackhammer had been set loose inside her skull. She lay face down, feeling soft, cool dirt beneath her palms and against her mouth. On her lip something stung with pain. She gingerly licked her lips and winced again. The familiar taste of blood made her realize that the stinging sensation was where a good-sized gash had fixed itself upon her lip.

            She forced herself to sit up, moving slowly enough to accommodate her raging headache. All around her was forest. Tall, looming trees, of what species she didn't know, as far as the eye could see. She glanced over her shoulder and groaned. Behind her, in a nice crunched heap was her car, still smoking from it's fresh tumble down the hill. Slowly, she forced herself to stand though her legs felt like jelly. She swallowed a lump of anxiety in her throat, as she looked her car over then softly cursed. Granted she was lucky to be alive but the sight of her smashed of car put her in no better spirits.

            "How the hell am I getting home…?" she said softly to herself, hearing her own nervousness in those words. Then like a jolt of electricity it struck her: She didn't even know where home was. Leah stumbled back in confusion and felt her legs give way and she fell to the ground. Just where in the hell was her home and why had she been out driving? She gave a quick glance to the sky and realized that it was late, not exactly the greatest time for a joy ride. O why had she been out and about?

            Her thoughts were shattered glass and there was no picking up the pieces and putting them together again. She carefully lined up the events she had managed to remember but nothing seemed to make sense. She remembered driving and hearing some sappy-sad song and then the accident, but the reason why she had been out so late had just vanished like smoke from the air. Again she tried to remember. "Driving, song, something in front of the car, crash… "

            The last memory of the something running out in front of her car suddenly made her anxiety jump a level. Just what the hell had run in front of her car? It had been as big as a deer, but at the same, brief moment she had seen it, she had known it sure as hell was no deer. It had almost looked like a human…running on four legs.

            Crunch.

            Leah turned her head to the source of the sound.

            Like a ghost coming out the dark, a little girl walked out from a path in the woods, which Leah could've sworn had not been there before. The girl stopped looking just as alarmed as Leah felt. Silence ensued.

            Finally Leah found her power to speak. "…Uh, hi. I-I've been in an accident. Do you have anyone with you who can call for help?"

            The little girl just stared. She was too far away for Leah to make out the color of her eyes, but her face was small and framed with short cropped, straight brown hair. She was adorned with a pink t-shirt and little, blue jeans. Leah stood once more and tried to walk closer. "I'm sorry…I didn't mean to scare you, I just-"

What? What was she going to tell the girl? "I just managed to crash my car and lose my memory all in one night!"?

            Suddenly the little girl tensed and her eyes widened. Leah felt her feet freeze in their tracks. The girl was staring at Leah as though she were the devil incarnate. Leah forced a smile. She felt an intense feeling of aggravation and got the impression that she had never much cared for kids. "Look, sweetie, I just need some help so if you can go and get an adult…" she hinted, trying to sound as sweet as possible after just walking away from a near death experience.

            The girl looked at her for a long moment and Leah threw her arms up, wincing as her headache throbbed violently to remind her it was still present. "Great…" she murmured, looking back to her car.

            Crunch, crunch, crunch.

            Leah turned to look back at the girl but she was gone. "Hey!" Leah cried and took off after the girl as fast as her legs would allow, leaving her car and her memories far behind and not even exactly sure why.

A/n: Just for those who're wondering and for copyright's sake, I did not write those lyrics from the song Leah was listening to on the radio. They're from a song of Sade's called, "Fear." Please RnR. Thanks.