"Wait, seriously?"
"This man is interested in adopting you and your sister, Tai."
Even without the habit, Sister Angela had the aura of no-nonsense that all the nuns in Gillespie's Home had. It kept the boy's sharp tongue (mostly) in check to have her sitting on the bed in front of him, but it didn't stop the suspicious glare he threw over her head towards the silver-haired man leaning against the doorway behind her.
"We're teenagers. No one adopts teenagers."
"Apparently, I do," the man said softly, pure calmness and authority dripping from his (incredibly deep) voice. The sound sent little shivers down Tai's spine and he could tell it had a similar effect on Sister Angela, to her slight discomfort. (Young would love that.)
He frowned, still suspicious and tense. Pretty voice or not, the guy was probably another skirt-chasing creep.
"I want to share a room with my sister."
"Don't be rude, Tai." Sister Angela stood up and gave him a stern look, though he could tell that she wasn't really angry at his caution. She usually gave potential adopters a much more thorough verbal throw-down, but he supposed that didn't stop her from expecting respect from the kids.
"That's quite alright. I understand the concern." The man held out his hands slightly in a pacifying gesture, steel-gray eyes unwaveringly composed. Huh. His face was vaguely familiar, like he'd seen something like it before… "I'm willing to accommodate any request you make. I can imagine how strange it must seem from your point of view."
Tai was still frowning, fingering the edge of the sheets he was sitting on before looking around at the rows of beds in the room. It had lots of windows and light, but the walls were dull and only adorned with the drawings by younger orphans. It wasn't as depressing a place as the media portrayed orphanages to be, but it wasn't meant to be a permanent home, as it had been for himself and his twin. Even then, they should have been pretty healthy, and for the most part, they were. Tai's hair had never lost the ragged overgrown quality that it had in childhood and both of them never really got enough fat on their bones from the malnourishment they suffered before the orphanage, but otherwise, they were healthy… except Young.
And it wasn't a secret that Young, his sister, had been having a really rough time there, what with nightmares, being followed, getting in lots of little accidents (seriously, light bulbs and shower faucets seemed almost guaranteed to break around her), and general distress. He was worried about her. She needed to get away from here.
There was a chance to leave.
Still, it was shady that some old unmarried man wanted to have two teenage wards.
"I won't ask you to make a decision without consulting your sister, of course…"
"She'll want to go, but she won't go if I'm against it."
The man nodded, expression still not shifting despite Tai's curtness (but judging by the look Sister Angela was giving him, he'd probably get a little rap on the knuckles later), and his odd mustache swayed a little with the movement. It was a very strange, long silver moustache that Tai usually would have been laughing at, but for some reason, this man pulled it off with the same dignity he was pulling everything else off with. "Then I hope you don't mind if I get acquainted with her?"
Tai frowned, giving the man another visual once-over. He was Asian for sure (Tai couldn't place the nationality, though—he could have been Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Taiwanese, or anything else. It was too hard to tell), making his race match Tai and Young's. His eyes were gray, but oddly enough, the shade matched Young's. It was the same subtle, calm silver, but his had a hardness that must have come with age and a hidden edge. Tai had thought that that color was rare, since even as Young's twin he had very dark irises, but apparently, he was wrong.
He shrugged. "She should be in the reading room."
The man graciously dipped his head. His mannerisms reeked of high society, but if Tai looked closely, he could see the muscles concealed by the loose peasant's shirt and the rough, callused hands that occasionally appeared from behind the man's back. "I would love to get to know you both a little better once you become more accustomed to the idea of adoption. My name is Soon Kim. You may call me by my first name if you wish."
Soon Kim. That was… familiar.
A weird look passed through the man's eyes, slipping past the calm mask he had put on, but it was gone before Tai could identify it. He puzzled over whether or not he should be worried about the guy sneaking into his and his twin's room at night, but the man was gone before he really got thinking.
He stopped thinking when Sister Angela started her scolding tirade about his rude behavior. He winced in preparation for a ruler appearing out of nowhere for knuckle rapping.
Nuns were scary.
"Mr. Kim?"
Soon turned to see one of the nuns who had been working with the twins, Sister Diana, walking towards him, frowning tightly and fingering the simple silver cross around her neck. The frown lines etched into her skin were even deeper than he remembered, but he could guess why. She didn't seem the type who was used to people disobeying.
"I thought I told you that it would be in your best interest to not pursue adopting these children."
He dipped his head graciously, but the nun didn't share his calm. She ran her hand over her gray bun, looking around to make sure no kids could hear them.
"You never told me why," he said softly, letting his hands clasp together in a respectful but firm way. He would give the woman every ounce of politeness she deserved, but he wasn't about to budge. "And I can take care of myself and any innocents that are under my protection."
The woman's hands were trembling imperceptibly and she pursed her lips, eyes reflecting something dark. Soon didn't like it when people withheld information from him. It never turned out well. "Young has a stalker. A woman who has tried to take her away more than once. That woman seems to have agents, as I've seen strange people spying on her."
His shoulders tensed and the muscles in his arms tightened, but that was the only sign of his emotions. "Oh really? Well, as I have said, I can take care of innocents. I will make sure she is safe."
"You can't."
He arched an eyebrow.
"These people… this isn't the first girl that…" She scowled, looking at the picture-strewn wall and pulling her ear. "They have targeted other girls. The authorities don't do anything, and every girl they start looking for disappears with their family killed. I know this because I was involved in the investigation into the first little girl they were after, as I was a social worker at the time and there were allegations of abuse. She was the girl who made me enter the nunnery and inspired the founding of this orphanage." She shook her head, pulling her ear more violently and obviously getting anxious. "I'm not going to go into details. Her story is a horrible one that I don't like dwelling on. After that, there were two other girls that were targeted, both of which disappeared into that wretched place after the untimely death of one of their parents."
"What place?"
The nun looked back at Soon, putting her hands to her hips. She was genuinely disturbed by something greater than them. He had only seen that look in people who knew about things they never wanted to know about. "I promise that I'm no crazier than you, Mr. Kim. I'm talking about the town up the road from here. Silent Hill, where the twins were found. People go there and never come back for a reason. It's an awful place. If you adopt these children, you're involving yourself in things you don't understand."
"I've practically made a living off of working with things I don't understand, Sister." He glanced at the window, frowning at the frost gathering there. "You never explained the circumstances of their rescue."
"What is there to explain?" She was being evasive again. She knew more than she was saying, but at this point, Soon didn't care as long as both the children were in good health. "They were found hidden in a man's home suffering from malnourishment. They didn't remember anything substantial about their parents, so no abuse charges could be filed." She dusted off her skirt, something nervous to the movement. "I must press the importance of you not pursuing adoption, Mr. Kim. There are many other teenagers or children that want homes."
"I'm not interested in anyone else." He dipped his head again, nothing betraying his emotions. "I thank you for your concern, but I will make sure that neither Tai nor Young will be hurt anymore than they already have been. If they agree, I will go to Mother Rachel and have the adoption papers sorted out." He paused. "And a description of this stalker and her cohorts would probably be useful. I'll get one from you or one of the sisters at a later date."
The nun put her hand to her forehead, searching for something else to say, but he was already going down the hall. By the time her hand dropped, he was out of sight.
"Young?"
Young looked up from her book, furrowing her brow a little when she saw an unfamiliar man standing in front of her before smoothing it out again with understanding. "You're the man who might want to adopt me and Tai, right?"
He nodded, keeping a calm expression, but Young could see things shifting in his eyes under the façade. She was better at picking things out than her brother.
She shifted a little, challenging herself to a little game in order to see how much she could figure out on her own. There was sadness there, making the lines in the man's face that much deeper, and tentative curiosity, perhaps mixed with an odd variation of fear. Not actual fear, but some form of it. There were other things, but he was obviously good at concealing his feelings because Young's silent prying didn't yield anything else.
The sadness seemed old. Like a painful wound that had scarred oddly, but had been there long enough for him to get used to. But there was definitely something new mixed with the old, like he had lost something.
She resisted the urge to frown thoughtfully while she puzzled through his face.
Maybe that's why he wanted to adopt? Maybe he was recently widowed, or his biological children met an untimely end. It was more common than people realized.
Unable to get anything else from his eyes, she moved on to the rest of his face. It looked familiar. It occurred to her that there were some similarities between his facial structure and hers and Tai's. Most likely coincidental, but it served to make her feel more comfortable nonetheless. There were lots of scars, especially on his hands, and she suspected that she would discover many more if he had been wearing less clothing. He had gotten into scuffles that involved sharp objects (probably knives) in the past, which juxtaposed the sense of refinement he held himself with. Maybe he was a war veteran from a high-class family? But she didn't think that soldiers got into so many knife and sword fights. Maybe something a little seedier? Or childhood abuse? Nah, the scars looked too new for that…
"If you wish to ask a question, you don't need to look for answers on my body." By God, he had the most magnificent voice. It made Young's heart skip a beat. Too bad he was a little old for her, and he was probably a creep anyway. He sat down slowly on the couch she was on, careful to keep on the far end to keep her comfortable. That implied either a consideration for her feelings or a consideration for the conclusion people would draw if they came in and saw him too close to the young girl he wished to adopt. "Though I must give you credit for your meticulous observation. What have you found out so far?"
The frost on the window became so cold that she could almost hear it cracking, shadows slipping in and seeping into the walls.
"Were you in a war?" she blurted out, unabashed. If the man wanted to adopt, for honesty's sake, she ought to be upfront about what he was getting into. (Well… mostly upfront.) "The scars are mostly long and thin, so there were blades involved, but I also see a few claw and burn marks." Her voice got slightly higher and she tried to talk faster, distracting herself from the shadows and the burning sensation that was starting in her fingertips. "The burns and claws are easy to explain—a fire here, an animal attack there—but no one really uses blades to fight with unless there aren't guns available. Maybe a street or gang fight? But so many so recent would mean that you were recently involved in that kind of stuff, and that doesn't match your posture or mannerisms. Of course, there's always acting, but there aren't any telltale signs of that, and you definitely don't look like you belong in slums. Illegal sword fights?"
He arched an eyebrow, but his lips quirked slightly in an amused smile (actually, was that genuine fondness there? Wasn't it a little early for fondness?). The shadows weren't crawling towards them, curiously enough. They never kept away from her, even when she was with people. "You could say I was in a war. I come from a different place where the preferred method of fighting doesn't involve guns." (There was a slight accent on the word 'guns', like it was unfamiliar in his mouth and he was still training himself to say it right. And the shadows were moving again.) "I fight with blades, yes, but I don't do it as often as I once did. Age makes some things harder."
"You don't seem terribly old. Your hair isn't black anymore—it was black, right? It matches your coloring—but your body seems to be working in top condition."
Another amused smile. That was good. It looked like he didn't smile that often. All the lines were from frowns. "I took care of it in my younger days, so it takes care of me now."
He leaned forward a little, clasping his hands on his knees. The shadows kept shifting unseen, still not coming any closer. She felt herself getting distracted watching them, waiting for anything, but she struggled to keep her attention on the man, where a sane girl's should be. "Why do you try to find out so much through sight? You could easily just ask me about myself."
"Mom always said that really bad things will look okay, but they always have telltales if you look close enough."
The man arched his brow, something flickering in his eyes, but it slipped away again before Young could get a good look. It was a little frustrating. She was used to being able to pick out a lot more about a person by sight.
"So you remember your mother?"
She stiffened and her face flushed, only just realizing what she had done.
"I was told that you and your brother had no recollection of your parents when you were found."
The shadows bled back into the walls, the burning receding, but she still felt anxious. "Well, it's not exactly a recollection," Young said hurriedly, trying to avoid the topic and inwardly cursing herself for bringing it up. "More like a imagining, you know? Thinking about what they were like… but it's all idealized, right? I mean, we were in really bad shape when that guy found us, so they couldn't have been that good at taking care of us…" She let out a nervous laugh. "It's like a dream." It's like a nightmare. "But enough about that. I'd like to know about you. You're name's Soon Kim, right? That's what Sister Angela told me."
"Yes, that is my name." He fingered the gray cushion he was sitting on. They were tucked away in a small corner of the room, nestled in shadows and caught in the few rickety bookshelves and stuffed toys that adorned the faded carpeting. The walls had been painted in colorful greens and yellows, but time had faded it to the point that it was almost gray again. It felt like there was an actual presence in this place, clinging for lack of anything to cling to and dragging it into despair.
"I work in law enforcement, for lack of a more specific term. My wife passed on years ago, so there is no one but myself in my family." His eyes were unwavering on her, tracing every contour in her body with the same precision she had looked at him. She wondered if she should be concerned with the intensity he was studying her body added to his lack of a wife. It wouldn't have been the first time a man had decided to adopt because he was 'lonely.' And it was strange that he wanted a teenager.
There wasn't a reason for this place to be sad. The décor was a little dreary because of the tight budget, but it was decorated with the cheerful drawings of all the orphans (some of which made by Young and Tai in their younger days, though those were a little… darker than the rest), which should have brought more light than any new wallpaper. The children, for the most part, were all kind and friendly to one another and the teenagers never got outright mean to a fellow orphan. The nuns were all strict and a little intimidating, but they were also loving and genuinely kind.
But there was something choking this place. Anguish, pain, terror, and hopelessness saturated the walls, the foundation, the very land they were on. Nightmares gripped the kids, Young especially, to the point of madness. There were always whispers when it was dark and you were alone, and sometimes, Young could swear that she felt burning hands on her when she was trying to sleep, fondling areas that were off-limits, but there was never anyone there when she screamed and the lights were turned on. But that had only started a year ago.
Young used to think that she would be able to deal with this, but at this point, it was okay if the man was planning on sleeping with her if he adopted. She was willing to do anything to get out of there.
"Why do you want a teenager, sir? We all know that it's not easy to deal with adopted teenagers."
"Maybe we can come to a deal." His eyes flicked to hers. That was odd. They were the same shade of gray as her own. "I will answer any questions of yours if you tell me about this dream you have about your parents."
She frowned in confusion. She reflexively looked out the window to see if that pale woman was there, looking in, but there was nothing but thick fog.
Young knew it was silly to be searching for the woman, but she couldn't help it. Ever since her tenth (well, what they think was her tenth) birthday, she kept on seeing the pale woman everywhere and she would always asked about the nightmare that patched up her lack of memory of her parents. Once or twice she had tried to snatch Young, but she always screamed enough for Tai or one of the nuns to come running. The woman always disappeared then.
"It's silly. Like a hallucination."
"Call me curious." Another slight smile. "Your brother doesn't seem to be the forthcoming type, so I would like to get to know you a little better while he warms up to the idea."
She was hesitant. When she had told Sister Diana about it, the nun had been genuinely frightened and had rapped her knuckles, telling her to never speak or think of it again. This man might not adopt her if he thought she was crazy.
As if reading her mind, he leaned back a little with a reassuring nod that soothed her troubled thoughts. He had a calming effect on her. It felt nice. "I won't judge you for your own imaginings, Young. You strike me as a very clever girl—what you thought up as a child won't dissuade me."
She relaxed, tentatively smiling, but the nightmare tightened its coil around her heart. She wanted to tell someone about it, but it was so frightening to think about.
Young sat on the bloodstained bed, staring at the locked door as it rattled in place, something groaning and giving muffled screams as it threw itself at the thin piece of wood. It wouldn't be long before it broke.
She stared up at the stained walls, trembling in place, and let her knees out of the tight hug before standing up and rifling through the bedside table in between the two hospital beds. Maybe there was something there to fight. She had dropped the knife Mommy had given her, and she didn't know how to use that magic that would spark out every once in a while.
She had to get to Tai.
"You don't need to be scared."
He hesitated, then put a comforting hand on her shoulder, his skin rough but gentle. It was a small, chaste touch that grounded her a little more.
The shadows seemed to skulk away entirely.
"Well… I'm not sure how much is real and how much is a dream. My first memory is Mom singing a lullaby to me because I had a nightmare. Tai was sleeping like a rock and Papa must have been out, so it was just us." Young paused, noticing another nearly imperceptible flicker in Mr. Kim's eyes. She hummed a few notes, frowning in concentration. "I… remember bits of it…"
"I know that song." Another flicker in his eyes, like some emotion was trying to fight its way out into the open. "Somewhere Over the Rainbow, I believe."
"Yeah. That was it." She hummed a little, closing her eyes. "How did you know?"
He gave a slight shrug, eyes flickering again. "My late wife was very fond of the song."
He nodded for her to continue, so she did. "She was really tired. And hurt. Her clothes were all bloodstained and I remember she had this big angry scratch on her cheek. I was crying because it was scary and I was so hungry. In retrospect, I think she was crying too, but it was dark and I couldn't tell." She rubbed her temples. "It was… such a bad place to be."
She let her hands drop, feeling drained just by that small memory, but the coils around her heart twisted harder.
Hunger gnawed her skeletal frame, but she didn't say anything. Every time she did, Mommy gave her her own food and she couldn't do that. They were all hungry. Young couldn't make Mommy even more hungry for her sake.
Papa noticed, though. His giant ears twitched and his haunted gold eyes fixed on her and her brother, curled up together in the corner, their eyelids drooping. He patted Mommy's bony shoulder, nudging her towards the door. "Go to bed. You're exhausted. I'll put the kids to sleep and take first watch, okay?"
She looked up, dark eyes dull with tiredness, and nodded, leaning down to kiss her children. Her lips were warm but hard with tension, too distant for real affection to be behind the gesture. Tai held out his arms for a hug, biting his lower lip in hopes that he would get one with love. Mommy hesitated, then shook her head, giving both her children a tight squeeze. "Good night."
Her voice was so strained. It made Young swallow hard, but she squeezed back until her mother pulled away, slipping through the door to her and Papa's bedroom.
Young inwardly cursed the magic that had been given to her. It did nothing but burst light bulbs when she was afraid. What was the point of being a sorcerer (or that's what her parents called it) if she couldn't make the gnawing in her family's stomachs go away?
Papa immediately gave the two children half of his food. Young knew that she shouldn't let him starve himself for their sake, but she couldn't resist. She and Tai both scarfed down what they could, easing the ache in their stomachs a little if not making it disappear.
Papa gave them both a loving, chaste kiss and hugged them, providing all the affection that he was capable of at this point. Tai let out a soft sob, then started to cry quietly, trying to hide his face in shame. Papa just let them nuzzle his warm green chest and ran his fingers through their filthy black hair, giving comfort when they all knew that he himself was a hair from snapping completely. "Come on. I'll tuck you guys in."
"How was it bad?"
Young shifted, still wary, but he was so calm that it felt a little easier to recall these things. And his presence kept the shadows away… she didn't know why, but it did.
"The town was twisted. It liked making people miserable so it could devour them. Tai never saw the really bad things. I think that's why he can't remember—what little he did see he couldn't bear to remember. Mom and Papa could see them, but Tai couldn't."
"What about you?"
"Young, get away from that mirror!"
The Young in the mirror matched her movements like any other mirror, but the reflection was off. Only a little, at first. Just… the eyes in the mirror were black. Not her shade of silver.
The tiles in the mirror started leaking blood from the grout. Sticky scarlet droplets started gathering at the reflection's hairline and in her tear ducts, falling slowly, the pace quickening until her entire face was red. She was staring at the real girl, skin getting dirty but clean at the same time. It was like… she was waiting.
Young felt a sharp pain in her eyes and hairline and warmth dripped down fast, staining the floor.
"YOUNG!"
Her mother snatched her up, kicking the mirror hard and making it shatter into tiny bloodstained pieces.
"I saw some things. It got much worse when I got older. It felt like it was all branded into my mind, so even if I tried, I couldn't forget." Young slowly put her book down and hugged her knees. "I didn't like them."
"Well, I wouldn't either."
He withdrew his hand from her shoulder, leaning against the edge of the couch with his gray eyes still resting on her face. Even at his age, he was really attractive, in a subtle, stable way. Young was surprised that he didn't have another wife by now.
"What was your father like in this dream?"
She rolled her shoulders, glad that he hadn't laughed at her yet but anticipating it at any second. "Papa? That's where it gets weird. He was green and had yellow eyes." Young let out a small laugh, trying to ignore the little ache she felt for her imaginary papa and not noticing the slight change in the man's expression. "Strange bat-like ears too. He said that he was a goblin. Obviously not a biological father if he were real, but he always treated us and Mom well."
Another flicker in his eyes, this one more forceful, but it was gone too quickly to identify. This was getting frustrating fast.
He crossed his legs, smoothing out the trace differences in his expression. "How did he treat you all?"
It was funny. They were talking about it like it had actually happened.
Maybe he wasn't a potential adopter after all. Maybe Mother Rachel had finally decided that it was time to give her professional help.
"Well. He… he went out to get food, even though it was a lot worse on him out there than it was for Tai and me. And he was a good doctor. I doubt we would have survived so long without that." She frowned thoughtfully, thinking back to the dreams she had always tried to keep locked away. The memories had always been there, alive and vivid despite the time that had passed, but she was reluctant to revisit them. "He got the worst nightmares. I would always wake up and see him breaking down alone out in the front room." She ran a hand through her hair, down to its place at her elbows, twirling it around her fingers. "But he still kept it together when he knew Tai or I could see him, even when things got really bad…"
"Papa, I'm scared."
"I know, Sweetheart. It'll be okay. Just stay in my arms and press your face against my chest."
Young did so obediently, turning her eyes away from the writhing monsters, lots of creatures that looked like someone had glued four screaming children to each other, back to back, and stretched a layer of gray skin over them. She blinded herself with her protector's neck, unable to stand the sight. The things staggered forward towards the wall the two were cornered against, muffled shrieking warbling out and static screaming shrilly from the radio at Papa's hip. The gun barrel was cool on Young's back before it was moved away, probably as her papa was aiming it. If only she hadn't run off. The things wouldn't be there.
The gunshots were deafening. The shrieking and static ceased.
Papa kissed her head wordlessly and held her close in the unbearably loud silence that followed.
"And he loved us, which was nice in that place. He was good about being affectionate, and he was good at getting Mom out of moods. That was more important than you'd guess." She let out another nervous laugh, getting increasingly uncomfortable. "But I'm sure you're not interested in dreams."
"On the contrary, I find this very interesting. I've always liked stories." He looked her up and down again, the intensity of his gaze slightly unnerving, but the aura of calm was relaxing her, unwinding the tension and keeping the demons at bay. "Do you think he and your mother were in a relationship?"
"You wouldn't have guessed it by looking at them. They hugged each other sometimes when one or both of them were going through a really bad episode, but otherwise, the affection was limited. The only sign that there was anything going on was that they shared a bed, but even then, that was easily for practicality's sake because it was best for everyone to be close together incase something horrible happened at night."
She swallowed, reviewing the vision of two bodies wrapped in one sheet, groaning and crying out for each other. She didn't like talking like this. She was used to being the one who interrogated.
Though she found that once she started talking, she couldn't stop. "But I walked in on them once." Her eyes went down to her hands as she fiddled with the edge of the cushion, blushing a little at the memory. "I didn't understand what was going on, of course. I came in because I had a nightmare. Mom and Papa seemed… ashamed that I saw them like that. Like it there was something wrong to it. Maybe Mom was upset because Papa wasn't my real father and Tai and I should have had him there instead of Papa, but I don't see the problem, even now. It was a horrible place. I could always tell when they had been together because they were both stronger and more able to deal with the fear. I don't blame Mom for needing Papa, or vice versa."
The man crossed his legs, lacing his fingers on his knee and glancing out of the window briefly. "…I don't blame them either."
For some reason, Young got the sense that that was significant.
"Why didn't you leave that place?"
Young pulled a scalpel from the bedside table, biting her lip. It wasn't much, but it was something. Useless power tickled her insides, but there wasn't nearly enough to help, provoking a mental curse. She looked up at the window, then paused.
A hand, knuckles white, was gripping the grating from the outside. It wasn't moving, but maybe it was Tai or her mother waiting for her to notice that they were there. She went on her tiptoes, hoping to see that help was on the other end of the arm.
It ended just before the elbow.
"There was… a gap. Right were the road should have been. It was just a canyon of nothing. There was no way past it and no other way out, so we were trapped. The town didn't want us to go."
"Why are you crying, Young?"
Tai frowned at her, sitting down and wrapping an arm around her trembling shoulders, uncaring that they were getting scraped against the brown-stained asphalt and concrete. "I thought that Billy and Miriam were nice."
She looked up at him, tears streaming, and stared in shock. "You… you didn't see? They… fell apart…"
"Huh? I dunno what you saw, but I was just having fun playing with them. When do we ever see other kids besides Laura and Alessa? Laura's nasty and Alessa never stays around for long, so I don't think they're fun."
The image of Alessa's blackened, pregnant body flashed in Young's mind. She'd said that Young was going to be like her because she had magic. She'd said they would both burn together.
"I wish I couldn't see, Tai."
Tai's face was practically the embodiment of a question mark. He scratched his head, shaking out his overgrown hair and squeezed Young a little tighter. "Well, I wish I could, so I could tell you that it's okay."
Young licked her lips, replaying the image of the two blond twins, so much like her and her brother, suddenly collapsing with that phantom man above them, Billy dying fast but Miriam writhing as she was torn apart by an ax. It had just been an imprint. A memory so horrible that the town had kept it.
"I'm glad you can't."
His hand was on her shoulder again, shaking her out of the memory gently. "No matter what has happened in our pasts, it's only our past. Memories can't hurt you anymore."
Her eyes flicked up again in surprise. No one could tell when she started thinking about the nightmare. Not even Tai.
The man seemed to understand her thoughts just by a glance. "You aren't the only one who is good at reading faces." He patted her shoulder, something fatherly to the gesture. It made nostalgia for her imaginary papa rise in her throat, but that receded quickly. She had long since come to terms with the fact that Papa had never existed as she thought she remembered him.
"I see that this is upsetting for you. I won't ask you to prolong the pain any further after this. I'm simply curious as to how you escaped."
Young backed away from the disembodied hand, the door rattling off its hinges. There wasn't hope. She had only wanted to save Tai. Now they both would die.
She hugged herself and sniffled softly, but she let herself come to peace with the inevitable. This whole time, even at her age, she had known that her family wouldn't survive long.
The door started to creak, ready to break, and she tightened her grip on the scalpel, shifting so her legs were wide and she was in a fighting stance. She wouldn't survive, but maybe she could put up a fight.
Muffled gunshots boomed from the hallway.
The door stopped rattling.
"Young? Young, it's Papa. Let me in!"
The door started rattling again, only this time, it wasn't frightening. Young gasped in relief and slammed the door open, leaping into the arms of her bloodstained Papa.
"Damn it, Young! You know that you're never supposed to go into the hospital!"
Mommy was loading her gun, slipping it into her belt for a moment to allow a relieved squeeze of her daughter. That was the only affection she showed, however, as she quickly began a storm of rage only those whose loved ones had acted incredibly stupidly were capable of. "Where's your brother? Why the hell did you come here?"
"Mijung, don't scare her more…"
Young whimpered softly, clinging to her papa. She could feel his heartbeat against her breast, fast as a rabbit's. The dead demon nurses lay twisted on the ground, blood lazily leaking from the gunshot wounds, adding fresh stains to their smeared red uniforms. Their skin ranged from gray to rotted, complete with a putrid smell, and their bosoms were unusually big but tastefully covered, but their heads were always the worst to look at. They were on backwards and swollen like puffy bubbles, but even from behind, there wasn't any face visible under the twisting, pounding flesh.
Neither Papa nor Mommy thought to tell her to look away. She'd seen enough monsters and death so that it would have been pointless anyway.
"I-I just wanted to save Tai! That pale woman told me that she took him away to the hospital and she'd only let him go if I let her put God in me!"
"What?" Mommy swore viciously and Young fearfully watched as another one of the few threads holding her mother together snapped. Mommy took out her gun again, cocking it with a wildly unhinged look in her eyes. "No. No. I am not letting them take my baby like they did with that girl!"
Papa was pale. He wiped some of the smeared blood on his face away, trying to think. "We have to get Tai. He's not safe with those people. Neither of them are safe."
"You think I don't know that? Damn it, if only she weren't a sorcerer. They wouldn't be interested in her otherwise…" Mommy grabbed her hair in a fist, squeezing her eyes shut to calm down. "I'm not letting them hurt my babies. Not one bit."
"Neither am I." Papa stroked Young's hair, getting a little blood on her forehead. "Sweetheart, where is he?"
"The lady said that he was in the surgeon's room. I was trying to get to him…"
"Mijung, we can't let Young near them. We—"
"Damn it, I KNOW!"
Papa fell silent, but he wasn't hurt. He understood.
"Get Young back to the Baldwin house. It's kept us safe this long: maybe it'll hold them off for a bit longer. I'll bring Tai."
"Mijung, you don't honestly expect me to—"
"I will not let our baby walk alone in the hospital and I'm not leaving our other baby behind."
"I love them too. I can't leave Tai."
"Well, you're either leaving Tai or Young. At least I have a chance of not being killed immediately—they can use me. They can't use you. Now go before we dawdle too long!"
Recognizing an argument he couldn't win, Papa let out a soft distressed sound. "…Please don't get hurt, Mijung."
"I won't."
Young buried her face in Papa's neck, but she knew that he couldn't carry her and run at the same time. He put her down and her mother was off, gone without saying goodbye.
"Keep hold of my hand, Sweetie."
She set her face grimly and kept a tight grip, beating off her fear with a stick. Papa didn't break down even though she knew it was hard for him, so she wouldn't either.
Static exploded from the radio at his hip. They kept walking through the twisting hallways of the hospital, and for every nurse that stumbled out of the rooms, wielding planks and crowbars (and one or two shotguns!), gunshots sounded. Papa always crushed their heads with a strong stomp for good measure. Their skulls made horrible cracking sounds and the scent of blood got caught in her nose, but Young never uttered so much as a whimper. It was her fault for going into the hospital instead of going to Papa and Mommy for help.
They passed what used to be infancy care. A monster threw itself at the glass, making it crack, and shrieked loud enough so both Papa and Young covered their ears for a moment. It was a baby, but it's skin was the color of old paper, wire cut through its wrists and tied its hands together, and where there should have been a face there was a writhing vertical slit with horrible teeth and a long, suggestive tongue waggling out. Papa stiffened, eyes zeroing in on it, and started shooting at the glass, immediately shattering it before killing the baby monster. It let out a horrible cry, like a real baby, and writhed on the ground until it bled out.
An air siren sounded.
Papa swore, something he almost never did in front of the children.
His grip tightened painfully on her hand and he broke into a full run. Young struggled to keep up, heart pounding so hard she thought it was trying to get out of her chest, and the world started morphing. That couldn't be. Weren't they already in the grip of the Darkness?
They flew out of the hospital, the morphing hot on their heels. They turned so forcefully on the street that Young's sandal flew off, leaving her foot exposed to be torn apart by the asphalt. She still didn't say anything, clinging to her papa's hand as if her life depended on it (as it probably did) and biting back the fear.
They ran into their home and Papa slammed the door forcefully, locking it. It started rattling. Something wanted to get in.
"Go upstairs, Young."
"I won't." Young stubbornly waved her scalpel, swallowing past her dry mouth. "I can help."
"No, you can't." He gave her a nudge with his foot, his eyes fixed on the rattling door. There was a catch in his voice. He was terrified. "Go upstairs."
"I'm scared, Papa." She bit her lip hard, keeping the frightened tears at bay. "I don't want you to die."
He softened briefly. "I won't, Sweetie." He gave her a quick squeeze and a kiss on her head. "I love you. Go to your mother's and my bedroom."
She hesitated, then there was a loud bang from the door and she scurried up the stairs to do as told.
Her foot was bloody and she was forced to limp to the bedroom, but she closed the door to it and staggered to her papa and mommy's bed, slipping under the covers like she used to when she had a nightmare. It was sanctuary. She could smell them there. It was all wrapped in the sheets. There was another smell coming from the white stains, but that was overwhelmed.
Young cuddled to the pillows, breathing in the scents and trying to not cry too much.
There was more banging downstairs. There were gunshots.
Despite her fear, exhaustion forced her to doze for a small while, wrapped up in her parents' scents and praying that Tai would soon be there to help make the bad things go away.
The bedroom door burst open, jerking her awake and making her fall out of the bed. Mommy, carrying Tai, scrambled in with Papa slamming the door shut behind them.
"Tai!"
Mommy let Tai go and the twins raced to each other's arms, running together so forcefully that they both fell on the ground, hugging each other. They didn't need to say anything. They just rubbed noses and that was it.
It seemed that Mommy and Papa needed something a little more substantial.
"Yutrin?"
Papa turned from his locking the door, giving a relieved smile. "Mijung, I—"
She threw herself into his arms and kissed him passionately. Tai and Young both sat up, frowning quizzically at this unfamiliar display. Papa wrapped his arms tightly around her waist, returning the kiss, before their lips parted and their foreheads started touching, his eyes reflecting his confusion.
"I thought you didn't want the kids to see us like this…"
"I love you. I know that I've never said that, and I should. I'll always love him, but I love you so much for everything you've done…" She kissed him again. "Thank you."
His shoulders dropped slightly and he reached up, tucking a lock of overgrown hair behind her ear. "I love you too. I always have. If I could do it all over, if I could have avoided coming here… I would do the same thing."
Mommy wiped moisture from her eyes and kissed him again, softer this time.
Tai and Young exchanged puzzled glances. Young did a tally in her head—the word 'love' had been used in reference to another person exactly six times. It hadn't been used that much in their whole lives.
It then occurred to Young that her parents expected to die that day.
Tai realized it the same moment.
"Wait, wait, Mommy, Papa, don't say—"
Young shook her head and touched his lips with her finger, making him fall silent. He looked heartbroken.
"Kids, you know that your Mommy and Papa love you, right?" Mommy scrubbed her eyes quickly, smearing dirt on her face, and ushered them quietly towards the closet.
The door rattled.
"YOU CAN'T KEEP US OUT!"
It banged.
Tai yelped softly, clinging to Young in fear.
"W-We know. We love you both too," Young whispered, her voice catching.
"It's okay, Sweeties. You don't have to be scared." Papa leaned hard against the door, trying to keep it intact. "Just do what your Mommy says."
"Go into the closet. No matter what you hear, don't come out."
"But we—"
"Listen to me and do as I say." Mommy shoved them into the closet, glancing back towards the door before looking at the ceiling. "If you have an ounce of mercy left, please bring them to safety."
She closed the opening, but in the split second before their view of the room was gone, they saw a giant rusted sword tear through the door, impaling Papa completely.
Tai shrieked, but his screams were masked by their mother's. Young's voice caught in her throat, the only thought going through her head being, 'He's not dead. He promised he wouldn't die.'
The door closed completely and they were in the darkness.
Tai immediately stood to open it again, but Young pushed him down so forcefully that he hit his head on the wall. She was sobbing uncontrollably as she pinned him to the ground, the vision of her father etched into her vision. He had to be okay. It was just her eyes playing tricks. Papa was fine.
The room around them warped and twisted, shocks of turquoise power seeping into the wood. There were gunshots. Shrieks. But she couldn't understand them anymore.
"You don't need to be scared. Their sacrifice saved you."
A little girl sat across from them, serene despite the clamor outside. "You might be the first ones to really be saved. But you can't let their sacrifice go to waste and hate the people that killed them."
"I HATE THEM! THEY STABBED PAPA!" Tai let out a wounded howl and clawed for the door. "LET ME GET THEM!"
Young hugged her knees and the hysterical sobs ceased, unable to process the reality, the turquoise leaking from her fingertips and twisting the room until it was an unrecognizable hellish mass. "Papa… Mommy… You promised you wouldn't DIE!"
"Your mommy and daddy and other daddy all love you more than my mommy ever did," the little girl said gently, touching their tearstained faces with her burning hands. "And you will always have each other."
There was nothing from outside. No screams, no gunshots, nothing. There was silence.
They were alone.
"That's what saved you from burning. Don't let the hate warp this world anymore. Remember the love they had for you and each other and their souls will be able to leave too, one day."
Young buried her face in her knees, the turquoise power slowly sliding away from the wood.
"You're safe now. Even if you forget their faces, the sound of their voices… just remember that they loved you."
The little girl withdrew her hands, fire starting on her shirt and lighting up her face. "Mommy doesn't have you now."
Tai let out a choked cry. For the first time, he saw what was there. Young hugged him close and stared as the fire ate the girl whole, the heat singing their faces, and then there was nothing left.
The room returned to its regular form.
The children were silent for a while. There were no sounds from outside. There were no sounds from inside. There was only true silence.
They slowly started to cry.
They clung to one another, both reviewing the memories they had of their mother and father. There were so few happy ones, but somehow, that made them more profound. Young didn't know what to feel, so she just cried. That morning, she had woken up and thought it would be like any other day. Now her parents were gone.
Tai snuggled up, wrapping his legs and arms around her so they were as close as possible to each other, and their sobs made them rock together, like one being..
The door opened. They didn't even look up to see who it was.
"…How did you two get here? By God, you look famished!"
It was a voice they didn't recognize. They looked up to see a portly middle-aged man with a gray mustache and only wisps of hair on his head. Tai frowned in confusion, and seeing as Young was in a daze, he glanced out of the closet.
The bedroom wasn't the dark, gloomy, dirty place it was a moment ago. It had dark purple walls and pictures of many smiling faces were all over the place. There was a new queen-sized bed with a violet duvet and polished wooden drawers and a window with drawn gold-colored curtains, moonlight streaking in…
The man went down on his knees, making a strange waddling motion and examining the children. He was so clean and fat. Neither of the children thought it was possible to be either. Compared to him, they were a sight to see—filthy, greasy, overgrown hair, dirt and blood-streaked skin, threadbare clothing, sticky tearstains on their shirts and faces, stark white skin, so little fat that one could easily count their ribs even with the clothes in the way… Just the sight of a man so pudgy made their mouths water and the constant gnawing in their bellies feel more prominent.
"Uh, where are your parents?"
Young sobbed and leaned against Tai, shutting down completely. Tai hugged her tightly, his lip trembling as he looked up at the man. "We saw Papa… Papa got stabbed. Mommy's probably dead too."
They both started to cry softly again, and the man blinked in panic, trying to figure out how to handle it.
"Uhm, there, there, my condolences…" He gingerly patted their shoulders, getting some of their filth on his palms. "You, um, can go use my bath. I'll lay out some clothes and, uh, get something for you to eat and I'll, um, call the police. They'll get you to a nice home and, uhm, find the man who killed your parents, alright?"
All of the words were foreign to them, but it didn't matter. He ushered them to the bathroom, much shinier and cleaner than they were used to, and started the faucet. Almost none of the faucets in their experience worked, but this one started letting out clear water immediately.
He was gone in a moment, eager to get away from the children.
Tai's lip was wobbling again, but he pulled off all his clothes and pulled off Young's, going into the first indoor bath they'd had in their lives. They sat there together, naked, watching the filth float off of their bodies, watching as they became as clean as the fat man.
They hugged each other, not even crying this time. They didn't let go.
"Mom and Papa saved us. They hid us when these weird cult people wanted to…" Young shook her head, feeling more and more drained. "I don't know. It was weird. I think they wanted to impregnate me or something, which was crazy since I hadn't even hit puberty. I didn't know what was going on, but they did and they were killed." She paused, her voice catching. This was embarrassing. She was ready to cry over a hallucination. "Then we were just… gone. Gone from that world. Alessa—I don't remember who or what she was, but she was important for some reason—let us go. We were in the hospital for a while, then the orphanage took us."
She rubbed her temples. "It's a silly nightmare, though. Just… silly."
"I don't think so."
His hand was on her shoulder again, soothing her inner demons. "I won't ask anymore questions. I see that I've upset you. I apologize."
"No, don't be sorry. It was just a dream, after all." She wiped her palms on her jeans, suddenly feeling very vulnerable. She hadn't thought about her imagined childhood for a while, save for in her nightmares. All the emotional responses were real, even if the memories weren't.
The shadows shifted in the corner of her eye, but she didn't bother looking at them. They were always normal if she looked at them.
She hated this place.
"…I know that teenagers are a pain to adopt. There's generally only one reason someone would do it." She avoided looking at him, trying to keep the blood from rushing to her face and twirling a lock of black hair around her finger. She didn't like what she was about to do, but she wanted to get out of there so badly… "If… If you want to adopt me to sleep with me, that's okay. I won't tell. I don't want to be here anymore, and you're nice."
There was a short silence and Young squeezed her eyes shut, expecting embarrassed denial or desperate groping at any moment.
"Why do you believe I would force myself on you?"
She let out a small chuckle. She started to wonder if it was possible to ruffle this man. Even when she told him it was okay to adopt her for sex, the only reaction she got was the slightest inflection of concern in his voice. At least he wasn't awkwardly lying and trying to deny it like some other adopters did. She could tell when people lied.
"That's why people adopt teenagers. It's not to have kids around. The younger kids are always sweeter and easier to deal with—teenagers have way more issues and almost never accept new parents as parents. For example, one time, two years ago, a man came and asked about adopting one of the teenagers. He wanted to talk to all the girls without the nuns around." She grimaced at the memory, her insides crawling a little as she opened her eyes again. "He was a jerk. He felt all of us up and actually asked who would be willing to sleep with him to be adopted. I wasn't willing to do it, but there were a bunch of girls who were. I think he adopted three of them." She shook her head, taking her hair in a fist. "It wasn't the first or the last time something like that happened. I'm willing this time. You're a nice guy and you'll adopt Tai too, so we won't be separated. It's okay if you want…"
"Young."
The stern voice had a gentle undertone to it, but it brooked no room for argument. She looked up at his face, shrinking a little, but it was impossible to break eye contact with those steel-gray eyes.
"I'm sorry that happened to you. But it doesn't matter whether or not you are willing now—I swear on my honor that the issue will never come up. And I am nothing if not a man of honor."
Oddly enough, Young found that she believed him.
She smiled and ducked her head, rubbing her eyes. Ever since her imaginary papa and the doctor who had taken care of her at the hospital as a child, she had never met a man who treated her nicely.
His arm slipped around her shoulder, remaining respectful but supportive. It occurred to her that it was possible that he actually was looking for children and not just boarders. She searched his face, trying to call on her power of observation.
He didn't seem like a man who would want children on his own. She could see him as a family man who would want kids with the woman he loved, but not if he thought he wouldn't be able to support them. Maybe he and his wife were too old to have children, or she had died before they had any.
"Why did you pick my brother and me? You didn't browse. You didn't even meet us. But we're the only ones you're looking at."
"I have my reasons." A slight smile, a little sad but affectionate, heavy with time and secrets, crossed his face. "I doubt you would believe me yet, but I'll explain soon enough."
She hesitated, reluctant to let him off on such a vague answer, but relaxed. She wasn't about to be picky about the man who seemed more and more like her future guardian.
"Are you looking to be a father or a legal guardian?"
He dipped his head, not even thinking about his answer. "A father, if you and your brother permit it."
Young nodded, closing her eyes. It didn't feel real. Not after all these years. "That sounds nice."
"Should I take that as an agreement to be adopted?"
She kept her eyes shut while she nodded. "Yeah."
"Then, should your brother agree, I will get the papers ready. I must warn you: I live in a… strange and different place."
"I'm happy with anything but here. I swear, sometimes I think the house is haunted." Young opened her eyes again, rubbing her hands together. "You promise that you won't hurt us?"
She knew it was a rude question to ask, but she needed an answer.
"Of course. You have my word."
She nodded. "And… is it okay if I call you Dad or Father?"
The flicker in his eyes was much more forceful this time. She was able to catch a little bit of it before it left. It was longing. "Of course."
He let her go, walking towards the door and turning to face her. "I will speak with Mother Rachel. I think that you and your brother should discuss your decision before I ask you to sign anything. I won't separate you." He paused, thinking for a moment. "For what it's worth, I'm sure Mijung loved you with all her heart and she would be very proud of both of you if she were here."
He was gone.
Young frowned.
She had never told him her imagined mother's name.
A/N: This is a little fun thing I did to stretch my 'supernatural horror' muscle. I tried to see how well I could develop original characters and the relationship dynamics between them and others in a singular oneshot, and I'm not sure I did too well, but it was still fun to write and hopefully entertaining to read. And, of course, I don't own the Order of the Stick or Silent Hill.