A/N: Why, hello there~ I'm glad that someone actually ended up clicking on this story, wanting to check it out :)
Let me first explain the background of this fanfic, though, before you head on to read the actual thing.

I'm currently using the story this fanfic is based on also for an online fan comic. You can find a link to it in my profile.
Originally
DayMare was supposed to start as a fanfiction, in fact, but after not having worked on anything resembling a comic for a while, I decided to give it a shot and used the plot of this story for it. But since I'm a very slow updater when it comes to drawing comic pages (and, to be completely honest, in general) and the ideas for DayMare just keep coming and coming, wanting to be written down in some way, I decided to follow my original intention and create a fanfic with it as well. So, there you go, that's the basic thing behind it.
(So, beware, updates here might come very slowly as well. I tend to lose my motivation rather quickly at times, alas...)

Now, to some general story related notes;
This fanfic is based on the video game
Silent Hill 4: The Room from Konami and will cointain major spoilers to the game.
Background story, some characters and places are © by Konami. I only own my original characters and the basic plot lines. And no, I do not make any money with this. ;)

Summary: The young, "mediumistic" student Alice Harwood decides to visit an old friend during semester break - without knowing that this visit might signify her end. Because her own inborn ability will lead to her doom...

Phew, that's about it.
Now, I hope I didn't bore you all too much and that you enjoy this story :)


DayMare - 01

There she was again.

A thick layer of fog was making it hard to make out the whole of her surroundings, but the by now familiar wooden walls just next to and behind her that she could see - covered with the occassional graffiti, which she assumed to have been put there by child's hand - told her she was back again.
This was the third time now she found herself in this weird foggy yard within just a few days. She really started to wonder whose dreams were so centered on this place. And why the heck she hadn't been able to find the dream's owner so far... That was what confused her the most. It was already unusual enough to be drawn into the same person's dream thrice, but not seeing the dreaming person itself? That was a first.

Having taken a look around her to make sure that there really was no one to be seen, she decided to investigate this place a bit further, since she hadn't been able to see much of it during her earlier visits. Maybe this time she would be able find out something.
After just a few metres of walking she could make out that large house with the flat roof in the fog, that she had caught a glimpse of on her last visit. With every step she made towards it, the fog seemed to lose more of the layers obscuring the building, and when she was close enough to see it clearly, another sight made her stop dead in her tracks. There was someone standing in front of the building, with their back to her, looking at a door to which a few wooden stairs led to. The length of the person's light hair made her think of a female at first, but then she noticed the broad shoulders which the tips of the hair just about brushed.

So she had finally found the dream's owner, it seemed. 'About time.'
With a bit more enthusiasm she resumed her steps towards the house, and just as she was about to call the man's attention with a casual "Hey-" her surroundings started to fade away.

She became aware of a ringing sound penetrating her mind, faintly at first but growing louder with the second. And louder still, until she finally snapped her grayish-green eyes open with a small gasp and woke up for good. Groaning, she felt around for the source of the ringing on the nightstand next to the bed she lay in, finding it after a moment and pulling it over to her, while sitting up sleepily. She could barely keep her eyes open in the early sunlight that was lighting up the room when she answered her mobile phone. "Hello?"
"Alice...? Sorry, did I wake you up?", a familiar voice asked, in a rather unfamiliar uncertain tone.
A small lazy smile tugged at the corners of Alice' mouth. "Nah, it's okay. What's up?" The young woman pulled some of her dark shortish and bed-mussed hair behind her ear.
"Listen, I'm sorry about yesterday."
Right to the point, eh?
"So... I was thinking of making up for it by treating you to some breakfast."
The small smile on her face broadened and this time even reached her eyes. "Sounds good", she agreed. She really would like to get a few things explained. And at what better occasion than over some nice, free breakfast?
"Great! I'll pick you up at the hotel in about half an hour then."
"Alright. I'm in room 205. Later then."

When there came no other response, Alice closed the flap of her phone and breathed a sigh. "Oh man, what a timing..." Just when she had finally found the person who was dreaming so much of that place...
But she was glad he had called. He had been acting pretty weird yesterday evening... 'Seems like there really did happen something.'


-The evening before-

She could barely surpress a silly grin in her excitement, as she knocked on the door - just a few inches under the sign that labeled it as belonging to apartment 302 - and took a few steps back to where her traveling bag was standing on the floor, putting some space between her and the door. When it slowly opened after a few seconds, she threw her arms to the sides in a presenting pose and greeted the half hidden face behind the door with a cheerful "Surprise!".

And a surprise it really was, judging from the stunned expression on the brunet man's face in front of her, who had pushed the door open wide then. It took him a few seconds until he found his voice. "What the... Alice? What are you doing here?"
The smile faded from the girl's face and turned into a playfully hurt pout, her left hand resting on her waist. "Is that a way to greet your favorite cousin, who went on a long journey just to visit you?" He simply blinked at her in stunned confusion. The slightly darker haired girl clicked her tongue. "Oh, now... Come on and give me hug, Henry!" That seemed to finally snap him out of his daze, and he bent over to pull her into the demanded hug. Into a rather firm one, she thought, which struck her as a bit odd, even if it really had been a while since their last one... It almost had something desperate to it, as if he'd be afraid to let go.

The thought left her again when, after a moment, Henry slowly pulled back to look into her face. He appeared to have recovered from the surprise. "Not that I don't appreaciate your visit... But what exactly brings you here? I mean, it's been years since you last visited me", he added quickly, "And aren't you busy with university lately?"
"Semester break", Alice replied simply with a grin, before sobering a bit. "As you said, it's been a while since I've visited you... And then there's the fact that no one has been able to get in touch with you over the last few days..." She paused shortly, before adding, "Your parents are worried."
Henry cocked his head back slightly, giving her a disbelieving look.
"...Well, your mother is, at least", she finished a bit lamely.

They stood watching each other in the deserted hallway, an uncomfortable silence beginning to spread. Alice decided to break the moment before it could get any more awkward. "Well, anyway, I wanted to see what you've been up to...", she said while passing her older cousin, heading for the opened apartment door. "So, this is your new apart-", she was starting to say, while poking her head through the doorway before Henry could stop her. However, she didn't finish the sentence.
She had only just stepped over the threshold, when all fo the sudden the air seemed to be pressed out of her lungs. For a few seconds she had no idea what was happening, standing stock still, unable to move, unable to even form a single clear thought. It wasn't until she felt something touching her left shoulder, pulling her back into the hallway, that she felt her body reacting, staggering back, her hand reaching for her head.

"Ugh..." Alice breathed hard, trying to regain her composure. What the hell had just happened?
When she felt sure it - whatever 'it' was - had passed, she looked back to Henry, seeing his hand still hovering uncertainly near her shoulder, and gave him a small strained smile. "Gee, Henry... When was the last time you aired this place?", she asked jokingly, trying to lift the mood, when she became aware that the air inside the apartment actually did appear to be a bit stale. She wasn't really too sure what just had happened herself, and didn't want to freak Henry out, seeing his already troubled face. Sure, he was already aware that sometimes... unusual stuff happened around her, but never something intense like that, and especially not while she was awake... It made her feel a bit uncomfortable, even if he was the one person never having treated her differently because of it.

Seeing that Alice seemed to be all right, he calmed down again, his expression returning to neutral when she joked about it. If she were to put her finger on it, Alice might even say he looked... apologetic.
Which actually didn't seem too far-fetched, considering what he said next.

"Sorry. Some... stuff happened and made this apartment kinda uninhabitale...", he began. "I'm actually looking for a new place to live and in the process of moving out." He bent over to pick up her traveling bag, and only then did she notice a band-aid on his right forearm, a few scratches covering the bruise colored skin around it. "Had I known that you were intending to visit me, I would have told you so sooner..." He was standing upright now, her bag resting on his arms. And this time his face looked definately apologetic, when he said, "I'm really sorry, but you can't stay here, Alice."

Wait, what? Alice stared at him, dumbfounded, not knowing how to react to all the weirdness happening. Had Henry, her cousin, really just told her he wouldn't let her stay at his place...? Before she could think of anything to say, he continued, "There's a hotel just across the street. I'll take you there, if you want me to." Still rather taken aback by his actions, she replied in an unsure voice, "Uhm... Sure, thanks..." Again a strained smile. What she actually wanted to say, was something more along the line of, 'Who are you and what have you done to Henry Townshend?'.

He did take her to the hotel then, which really was just across the street as he had said. He even paid for her room and wouldn't let her argue about it, which seemed more like the Henry she knew. But still... there was definately something off. And she was determined to find out what.


-Back to the morning after-

There was a knock on the door, letting her know that Henry was as punctual as she remembered him to be. She'd had just enough time to take a shower and reflect about what had happened earlier. Grabbing her shoulder bag from the bed, she replied with a "Coming!" to the knock, before opening the door and greeting her cousin.

He took her to a restaurant which, as she was amused to find out, was also just across the street. She could see why he had decided to live in this area, having a restaurant and small kiosks nearby, as well as a subway station to get downtown. Even though his cooking wasn't all that bad, he seemed to prefer buying frozen foods or eating out, though Alice didn't know whether that was because it was more to his liking than his own food, or if he was simply lazy.

At first they kept the conversation light, catching up on what each had been doing since their last phone conversation. Henry seemed to gradually loosen up while they talked, after he had appeared rather tense in the beginning, being even more quiet than was already his nature. Until Alice decided to finally get some answers. "So, why don't you tell me why you're not being your usual self?", she asked in a by-the-way sort of manner while sipping her coffee.
Henry dropped his gaze. "It's-"
"And don't tell me it's nothing", Alice cut in, "Because there's definately something off. I know you long enough, Henry."
He remained silent for a while, still not quite raising his eyes. After a short while then; "A... friend of mine died recently."

Alice frowned, lowering her cup. Why hadn't he told her earlier...? They used to be so close to each other, almost as if they were siblings rather than cousins, and even though she had to admit that there had passed a few years since they actually last saw each other - and that he had seemed to gradually withdraw into himself after moving out - it seemed strange that he hadn't seemed to want to let anyone know about this...
Back when they had still lived in the same neighbourhood, they had told each other almost everything. When she couldn't talk to anyone else about something that was pulling her down, because of its relation to her "special abilities", Henry had been there. He had listened to her, sometimes even given her advice. When he'd gotten into a fight with his father, he had let himself be easily persuaded to talk about it with her, at times even broaching the topic on his own. Hell, she had even been the first person he had outed himself to.

So why had he now, when something of such weight had occured in his life, not said a single word...?

She was pulled out of her thoughts when his soft voice spoke again.
"She was... she had been living next door. I..." He seemed to have trouble finding words.
Something struck Alice as odd, though. Judging from the haunted look in his eyes and the way he gripped his cup so firmly that his knuckles turned white, the death of that person seemed to trouble him a lot. Yet he had never mentioned a neighbour during one of their phone calls... And if that person had been such a good friend that her passing away caused him such pain, why had he never even mentioned her before? If Alice hadn't known better, she might have even thought there had been something going on between them... But since that possibilty seemed rather unlikely, she couldn't help but wonder about the circumstances.

After offering him her sympathies, there was a short lull in the conversation. They managed to pick it up again, though, and Henry seemed to open up towards her a bit more again. After a while Alice even managed to cheer him up a tiny bit, and so it was that they later left the restaurant with small smiles on their faces, while Alice told Henry stories about some of her fellow students and their habits.
When they were crossing the street, something on the other side seemed to catch Henry's eye, causing his smile to disappear. Alice followed his gaze, but couldn't really make out what he might have seen. They arrived at the inner courtyard belonging to the apartment complex Henry lived at and stopped. Henry turned to face her. "I'm sorry, but as I've already told you, I can't really invite you in...", he began a bit awkwardly.

Not wanting him to close up on her again, Alice shrugged her shoulders and smiled reassuringly. "Can't be helped, you should just see to it that you find a new place soon." Henry seemed relieved hearing her reply. "But that apartment of yours surely won't keep you from going to the movies this evening as well, will it?", she added with a wink. She would have liked to ask him if he'd show her around the town, but he looked rather worn after their talk, so she decided to put it off to one of the following days.
Something about her question seemed to cloud his face for a moment, though it passed quickly, leaving her to wonder whether she hadn't just imagined it. He finally returned her smile and replied, "No, the movies sound good..." It really had been a while since he'd last went out. "I'll just pick you up at the hotel later then?" She nodded and they said their goodbyes for the moment.

Alice made her way across the street to the hotel, not seeing her cousin walk towards a young man who was standing in front of the apartment building's front door, his eyes following her across the street.

-Chapter 1 end-


A/N: Liked it? Interested in reading more? Then, please, do feel free to let me know :)
Thanks for reading!