Silence Compendium
By: Diablo Cerberus
Chapter One: Memories Become Dreams
Vincent awoke early that dreary September morning, his eyes burning from the heavy amounts of sunlight streaming in through his window. He looked over at the clock on his table. It flashed 8:15 a.m. repetitively, meaning either that he had missed his alarm, or that the power had flashed about eight hours and fifteen minutes ago. Regardless, the feeling in the pits of his gut told him that he was late for class… again. He rolled out of bed, hitting the floor with a hard thud, and wandered into the kitchen, pulling on a clean shirt as he did so.
"Erika! You home?" His voice carried through the halls of the apartment as though he were in a cave. He'd told her time and again that they needed to fill the hallways with something so that the echoes would die down, but so far he'd been more on the financial downside. Work was slow, and classes were starting to add up in fees. The thought had entered his mind time and again that perhaps he should consider getting a second job on the graveyard shift, but then he'd recalled that he barely saw Erika as it was. He'd have to just deal with the bills and rent for now, filling the hallways as time and money permitted.
Erika wandered into the room, yawning as Vincent noticed her unkempt hair, normally so well taken care of. This was a sign that he had, no doubt, awakened her. He smirked a bit, and then pointed to the one good clock in the apartment. 10:45 a.m. read on its hands, and he had to stifle his laughter as she tripped back down the hallway in a rush attempt to gather some fresh clothes and try to tame her hair before they headed into class late. As she headed back into her room, the door slamming behind her so she could attempt to ready herself, Vincent sat at the table, pulling on his boots and grabbing his keys.
"Erika! Three minutes, and I'm leaving your ass behind!" He headed out the door, grabbing his duster and his cigarettes as he did so. The 1967 Impala sat in the garage, almost as though signaling another normal day, though when he hit the garage door opener, he noticed that something was horribly wrong. "Jesus H. Christ… What the Hell happened out here?" Ashes flew throughout the air outside, though no signs could be seen of a fire anywhere. A thick fog filled the air, as well, making it impossible to see more than three feet out the garage door. He highly doubted that they would be driving in to class today.
Erika ran out to the garage, toothbrush in mouth, wondering what all the fuss was about, though she stopped dead in her tracks upon seeing the fog and ashes. "Holy Hell… What do you suppose happened, Vincent?" Her question, naturally, was met with an acidic glare.
"Well, if I knew that, would I have said 'Jesus H. Christ, what the Hell happened out here'?" He nodded to the car and put his keys up on the shelf as to keep them from being misplaced. "That thing's gonna be dead useless in this fog and with those ashes flying everywhere. We're on foot to class, though it shouldn't be a problem, considering we're already about twenty minutes late for second period, anyway." The two exchanged a look, and Erika tossed her toothbrush up next to his keys, the garage door closing behind them as they headed out into the dark recesses of the once peaceful town of Silent Hill.