Daddy and me
Why…why did she come down here?
The girl sniffed, dragging the saturated air into her lungs and trying to ignore the damp reek that settled at the back of her throat like coarse dust while the question rolled about her head. It was enough to make her wish she could just stop this repetitive, pointless motion of breathing in and out altogether… but then, Angela Orosco had been clinging to that particular morbid dream for a very, very long time now.
Shame she was just too damn scared to live it out.
Flash
Somewhere within the mess that was her mind, something stirred and those un-cherished memories and images began to flicker on and off once again.
'No…' She shut her eyes, drawing herself into a tighter huddle and silently praying that the wall behind her would just give way and let her finally be absorbed by the never ending darkness that ran beneath the thin surface of this town like bitter life-blood. That… that would be just so much nicer than having to remember but much like the distant, intangible and unattainable hope of death, this was another pray that would go unanswered.
What a surprise. Angela had always suspected that god had turned his back on her long before she'd even been introduced to the concept of The Almighty. After all, no one had ever lifted a finger to help her so why should he? There were hundreds of other people begging for him to solve all their problems, so what right did this filthy, tainted, self-pitying creature have to add they're voice to the chorus baying for his attention?
Not like he'd hear her anyway…no one ever did.
That…that was why she'd had to take matters into her own hands.
"Stop it!" Her voice cracked through the dim room, barely audible over the eternal hum of white static being thrown out by the only other occupant of the dingy cell; an old, broken T.V set.
But too late, too late came the cry, for the memories had already started reeling by. One after the other they tirelessly came flooding in until the girl was convinced they'd drown what little sanity was left moping around within the confides of her skull.
Blood?
Each one
My blood?
Forcing her
His blood?
To remember
So much blood!
A little
Blood, everywhere.
Bit more
Blood and hate.
Of what
Hate and love?
She'd tried
Love and pain?
So hard
HIS LOVE IS PAIN.
To forget.
Before she knew it, she was screaming again and this time she wasn't going to be able to stop. Those thoughts and images, they were going to eat away at her, eat away till nothing was left. Already she could feel them squirming and crawling under her skin like a thousand and one fat maggots. Oh god, she could feel them in her, and…
'They feel just like him.'
The girl rammed her head into her hands, letting the fingernail rake in a crazy dance over her thin scalp in some vain attempt to dig those toxic thoughts from her.
"…makeitstopmakeitstopmakeitstopohpleasemakeitstop…"
It didn't.
If anything they came faster now until they were nothing more than a blinding blur loud enough to split her skull open.
"MAKE IT STOP!"
With that cry, she threw her head back, slamming it into the wall behind her. There was a sharp crack of pain, a buzz of white…
Then everything fell silent, aside from the ragged hitched gasping coming from the girl as she desperately tried to hold it all together for just a little bit longer. The television set just looked on while humming its cordless tune as if the whole display brought some mild amusement to it.
Why had she come down here? Was she still trying to keep alive the ghost of hope that was still fooling itself into believing she could actually out run it? Ha, how could she even stand to bring herself to try and think that! It was dead. She'd seen to that herself. She'd made sure it would never be able to hurt her again.
Ever.
But it lived. Somehow, that corpse, doused in its own scarlet blood that had run in rivers from the wreckage of its slashed throat, had managed to pull itself up off its carpeted death bed and come lumbering after her… and it wasn't going to let itself be forgotten.
There was, however, one way to get rid of this, her very own personal monster once and for all, but she'd given her only means of achieving that to a man that was being haunted by phantoms of his own creation. Angela would have taken a moment to laugh at the whole situation if someone hadn't beaten her to it.
"I bet you though that was pretty fucking funny..."
She froze. Those worrying fingers suddenly jammed up like broken machinery and something cold grabbed her heart in a death grip. There was no mistaking that coarse, husky voice, something that over the years had evolved into the ugly backing track to all her nightmares.
It was him. Oh god help her, it was him.
Beyond the arc of hectic, grey light thrown out by the t.v, the darkness moved.
"…Didn't you, leaving me there like that, huh?" It laughed again, but from the way the girl slammed her hands over her ears, you would have though someone had just viciously dragged a hoard of nails over some dusty chalk board. It stopped, almost as if shocked to see the thing before it shrivel up like dead leaves.
"What? No hug for your dear old daddy?"
There came no reply from the quaking girl.
"Well, that's not very nice… you know, some people might get angry if their kids weren't happy to see them…" It trailed off, its voice dissolving into the darkness that hung around its looming form. God, she could even hear that sick grin cracking across its face. "Some people might punish their kids for being like that, you know, ungrateful…"
"L-l-leave me alone. Please, can't you j-just leave me alone?"
"…But I'm not going to punish you, Angela..." It crooned on, utterly deaf to the sad whimperings of its child as it stepped ever closer yet still managing to stop short of the illuminated, spluttering arc thrown across the dingy room by the T.V. Some of the light caught its shirt and danced on the material, highlighting the occasional blotches of heavy red that looked so very out of place against the white. "I promise I won't, if you say you love me."
The girl choked on something, glancing up at the thing that clung to the wet shadows hanging about the room, hovering just below its dark and murky surface like some monstrous fish. She tried to keep her eyes on it for just once as she struggled for the empty words, but all too quickly her flittering gaze betrayed her and submissively dropped to one side like it always did.
"S-sorry…"
The trembling word hadn't even had the chance to fade before it erupted from its black habitat. Before Angela could flinch, those great, bear-like had wrapped themselves up in the collar of her polo neck, drawing the loose material into a tight noose.
"Say it, you selfish little bitch! Say you love me!"
The girl could do nothing but gasp dryly, goggling at the thing before her which tried so hard to pass itself of as a man while what little air in her throat quickly evaporated.
"SAY IT!"
The hands flew up, clamping onto the sides of her head. It felt like he was going to crush it between those fat, coarse fingers of his, perhaps in hope that he'd be able to find the words he so desperately sought amongst the wreckage of her fractured skull. Fear rammed its slick hand down her throat, grabbing the words that refused to come and was just about to drag them out when…
"Fine." The beast coldly muttered more to itself than anyone else. Those hands limply dropped to his side, the strength suddenly all but gone from them. For a moment, Angela was able to bring her self to look at the thing slumped over her from the corner of her eye and all was quiet in the little room.
"You'll just have to show me then."
The barely audible words were enough to make the air stick in her throat as the sick realisation dawned on the girl.
"no, please, no"
But the thing before had already roared back into life, flinging those groping, out-stretched and hungry hands back at her. Oh god, they were going to eat her, every inch and all.
"DADDY, PLEASE DON'T!"
A shot of clanging metal rang out and light flooded into the tiny room.
Time, it seemed, had stopped.
Angela peeled open a tightly shut eye and the hand that had gripping viciously at her chest slipped away once more as both turned to see who'd interrupted the reunion between father and daughter.
A man stood silhouetted in the open door way, limply clutching at the shot gun in his hands as if the lifeless metal could protect him from what he'd almost seen.
"Oh my god…" was all he could say.
.A/N- Well, I said i'd be back. I started exploring the relationship between Angela and her father in Sin's of the Father, but I found my self wanting to go back to it and take another look, which resulted in this. In my opinion, it truly was one of the most disturbing thingts in Silent Hill 2.