You're here.
I hadn't expected it.
But obviously this letter found you, or else you wouldn't be reading it right at this moment.
I've got to warn you. This place isn't exactly what you would call normal.
Especially not now.
I can't quite explain, but you'll begin to understand, I'm sure.
Brookhaven. I'm there again. I'll leave the choice up to you.
There's a map of the town stuck to the announcements board in this inn. Just go to the front.
I've circled it for you.
With More Love Than You'll Know,
Ian Scarlet
It was short. Much shorter than the others. Much more to the point and urgent. And much more horrifying.
Monika sat numbly on the wooden floor, letting her eyes scan the letter again and again, trying in vain to reread it as something, anything else. A message of complaint from the innkeeper, for turning her music too loud. A note from Trish. Anything.
Ian Scarlet of Silent Hill.
The man who loved her more than life itself. The man who continued to haunt her, despite it being virtually impossible to escape from his current predicament of mental hospital patient. The man who could outwit Brookhaven's outgoing letters chaperoning staff, and fool her into thinking that she, Monika Andreas, might actually be worth someone's unconditional love.
Ian Scarlet.
"Trish..." Her voice was weak.
Trish had been in the bathroom at that time, not having seen the letter been first found, not seeing Monika reading it, but there were no other sounds going on after she finished washing her hands, and even with Monika's currently weak voice, it was easy enough to hear. She opened the door, peeking out curiously, thinking at first that perhaps Monika's voice had just gotten covered up by a bit of mucus, they did have milkshakes on their drive down here.
What's u-... up?" it actually became more of a question then the statement it usually served, and Trish rushed out, her curly hair tied back into a high ponytail. "Hey... hey," she nestled herself next to Monika, putting a hand on her shoulder and shaking very lightly to get her attention since she seemed to be in a daze from whatever she was reading, "What's that...?" Her curiosity was overwhelming and, carefully, so as not to spook Monika too badly, slipped it out of her fingers to read over it.
Creepy little bugger. Who the hell was this? Quite obviously it was a man, and he was speaking to Monika in the letter like they had spoken before...
"...Who is this?"
Monika was only vaguely aware of Trish's presence, only looking away from the letter when it was plucked from her hands. And even then, her gaze, which was primarily fixed on Trish, occasionally laid back to the paper.
"Ian." she answered, still shakily.
And after a moment, she repeated: "Ian...he...how...I never told him I was staying in Silent Hill...I never told him anything at all. How did he know?"
She looked pleadingly at Trish. "Trish, something's wrong..."
Oh. Really?
"Well obviously something's wrong, Monika!" there were a few things she wasn't pleased with at that very moment, all of them fairly obvious, "He must be stalking you if you didn't tell him anything. Did you ever reply to any of this guy's letters?" If she had, she would have to reprimand Monika later for provoking such a man, but then if she hadn't... well there wasn't much explaining that could be done.
Trish let out a heavy sigh, shifting her position next to her, resisting the urge to crumple the letter right then and there, but slowly handed it back to Monika instead, "...Look. There's a few things we can do about this... he gave a return address, so he must either be wanting contact back from you, or he wants you to seek him out another way. I'm still technically on duty... they did let me go here for a reason, and it wasn't a paid vacation," she scoffed at that, "So I've got my gun... just in case. ...What do you want to do?"
She knew well enough to stay calm with her. Monika was the rather emotional type, after all, so she had to be quite careful with her tone and how she worded things.
Monika watched Trish dully, her senses of thought process seeming blunt at the fact that Ian had once again found her. Found her and warned her. Unless he was lying.
Trish's reaction was naturally straightforward and to-the-point.
Monika nodded dumbly. Of course. Of course there was a return address for a reason. She just hadn't thought of that reason. That was why Trish was the cop, and she wasn't.
At least her voice was beginning to return a bit. "A...gun? Do you really think the gun will be necessary?"
"Come on, kiddo..." Trish patted Monika's shoulder lightly, "You lay down and watch some TV...think things over. I'll go and get that map he mentioned and grab a few snacks, okay?"
This was so worrisome. Why hadn't Monika told her about Ian's previous contact, or mentioned him at all? How had he come to find out about her, and a better question still, how did he learn how to contact her? Wasn't Brookhaven a mental hospital here? That just brought in more troubles and thoughts she didn't want to worry about at that moment, so she helped Monika up from the wood floor and up onto one of the beds, closest to the television set on the table on the opposite wall.
"Maybe there's a news channel on or something that might say something about the lack of normalcy in this place..."
Although relaxing was the last thing, in Monika's own opinion, that should be considered, she allowed her friend to gently help her up and onto a bed. She felt like a bomb, with all the delicacy Trish was handling her with. At least I'm not sitting in front of the door like a brain-dead zombie, now...
Monika uncomfortably shifted her position on the mattress Trish had led her up onto. She suspected there might be a spring or two out of place, but it was a small price to pay for cheap inn fees...
"I guess so, but...the guy says he's back at Brookhaven. That's one of the mental hospitals my aunt's a therapist at."
Maybe this wasn't the best thing to be telling Trish. She continued anyway. "I mean, maybe...he's just...imagining it?"
Or lying. Would he really do that? Just...write lies to her? It wouldn't make any sense at all. He'd have no reason...
That's the trouble with crazy people. They didn't need reasons.
Trish shrugged it off, getting then one of the answers she had wanted; where he got knowledge of her and, more over, her address. Her aunt. "Well just try and calm down a little, alright? I'll go get the map... maybe try and decide what you want to do about this; go find him or leave him alone. Either way, I'm going to be doing something about this. It just depends on whether it happens now or later," she let out a long sigh, giving Monika one last glance before pulling a hoody on and heading out the door of their room, making her way out towards the front area of Jack's Inn.
This really was troubling.
Why of all people would this stalker freak go after Monika? And even still, if she never even replied to his letters or whatever other forms of contact he had tried, was he still keeping up with her? Even to the point of finding out that they were here just hours after their arrival!?
If Monika did decide that they should search him out, then she sure as hell was going to give him a piece of her mind.
And by mind, she meant gun.
Monika nodded half-heartedly, forcing her worried mind to focus on the monotonous drone of the TV news anchorman. There was some kind of report on the Thanksgiving vacation traffic, that she was only vaguely paying any attention to.
I've got to warn you. This place isn't exactly what you would call normal.
She groped about for the remote, seeming to have lost the amount of energy necessary to push herself up and look for it properly. Eventually, her fingers brushed against smooth plastic.
With more love than you'll know.
The volume was raised to full blare. Her thumb remained on the little rubber '+', unaccepting that it couldn't be any louder.
There it was.
At least the guy wasn't lying about the map. If they did decide to go in find him, that sure as hell would be useful.
Trish plucked it from the tacks on the board, letting the piercings fall to the floor without bothering to pick them up. There were more important things to worry about then a couple of stupid thumbtacks on the floor, anyway. "...We'll find out soon, ya little bastard..." she frowned, rolling up the map and holding it close to her hip, the other arm holding a few cans of soda and bag of donuts that she had gotten from the vending machine and small selection area.
Walking back across the parking lot to their door, there was a noticeable amount of fog that had begun rolling in that wasn't there before, just adding to her lovely mood. Fog wasn't fun...
"Monika, I got some donuts... and the map... it was there with Brookhaven circled like he said... You okay?" she half yelled that through the door while fumbling with the nob, backing up immediately from the door when it opened and the loud TV blared the sound out.
"Turn it down!!"
Monika jumped at Trish's sudden command. After a few seconds extra of fumbling around with the remote she's nearly dropped, the volume was adjusted to a bearable level.
"Sorry..."
"God..." she mumbled, wandering inside and dumping the contents she had gotten while out of the room on the bed next to Monika, standing up straighter after and letting her back stretch a bit since she had been slightly hunched on the walk back. "Why the hell'd you have it so loud, anyway?," a sigh, "Well... did you hear me back behind the door?"
She guessed not with the volume as loud as it was that she could barely hear herself scream over the noise the TV had been emitting. One look at it also told her that the signal was getting steadily weaker, a bit of snow and static covering the screen occasionally, fading in and out, but aside from that it was still watchable, and thus served their purposes. Trish repeated what she had said out in front of the door, that she had gotten donuts and all then, that proceeded to show Monika which donuts were the kind she liked and which were the kind Trish liked.
It was after that and she managed to wipe away some of the donut dust off onto her shirt that she unrolled the map ad put it straight on the bed, pointing out the vibrant red circle around the area that was Brookhaven Hospital. Not a long way from there current position...
"...Did you decide?"
Monika listened attentively as Trish went from complaining about the noise to showing her donuts, and proceeded to the map Ian had promised was there. She noted, with much edginess, the distance between Brookhaven and Jack's Inn.
Now the choice.
To go meet this Ian Scarlet, or let Trish and the proper authorities handle it. The latter of the two was tempting...
"I want to go meet him."
Oh my. That wasn't right.Not right at all. I have to meet him. I have to at least see him.