The alarm went off. I groggily looked at the clock as I hit the snooze button. 6:15 in the AM already? I thought to myself as I tried to sit up. My math class would be starting at 7:30AM. I had been having a difficult time getting up lately.

I was eighteen-years-old, and just started to attend Pleasant River University. The town of Pleasant River was located very close to Silent Hill, where my friend Dahlia Gillespie lived. I had gone there the night before with my roommate, Bobby Randolph, and his two close friends, Sein Martin and Jasper Gein. We went to Lake Side Amusement Park, and I saw Cynthia there. Cynthia Velasquez was a girl I met while making one of my many visits to see my mother. She was beautiful, but I was always too shy to initiate a conversation with her. What she was doing in Silent Hill, I didn't know, but I was happy to see her again. She didn't notice me, though. She was with a group of her friends.

I went over to one of the carnival games and I won a stuffed doll of Robbie the Rabbit, the Amusement Park's mascot. I intended to give it to her when I next ran into her on this night. When she first met me, I had been homeless. That was about a year and a half prior to this night. I was alone, waiting for a train in the South Ashfield Station. I had been doing odd jobs here and there to earn money. She was there with friends. I saw her looking at me and I smiled. She came up to me and asked me if I had the time. My voice shook as I told her that I didn't own a watch. She smiled, then walked back over to her friends. I heard her say to them, "He's filthy... But he's handsome."

"Uh, Sullivan, what are you doing?" Sein asked me after I won the stuffed animal. I didn't answer. I looked around and surveyed the crowd to see if I could find her. "Dude, you're starting to scare us," Bobby chimed in. I chose to tune them out. This would be my moment to finally stop being so shy. I had always been interested in her. And I had seen her a few times since that first encounter. I spotted her in the crowd, and left my companions to talk to her. I walked right up to her, and she looked up at me.

"Yes?" She asked. I seemed to have lost my nerve. There I was, a stupid boy with a stupid expression, holding a pink, plush rabbit.

"Wait, don't I know you from somewhere?"

I smiled. "My name is Walter. Walter Sullivan? We met once in the South Ashfield Station."

"Oh! Yes, I remember now. You definitely look more kept up now than you did then." she said with a laugh.

Her friends snickered. She looked back at them and told them to be quiet. She looked back at me with a sweet smile.

"So, what brings you to Silent Hill tonight, Walter?"

"Well, uh... I, um... I attend PRU, it's in the next town over from here. I'm here with some of my friends from school." I lied. They weren't really friends, but more like people who occupied the empty time slots in my day. "What about you? Isn't Ashfield a little far away?"

"Not really. It's only about an hour's drive. I'm here with some friends for my birthday."

"Oh? Happy birthday..." I trailed off, pretending not to know her name. She had never formally introduced herself to me before, but I knew her name from overhearing her friends that first day we met.

"Cynthia. My name is Cynthia Velasquez. And thank you, Walter."

We looked at each other for a moment. I froze. Cynthia laughed. "Um... So, is that your little friend?"

"What?" I had no idea what she was talking about, and then she pointed at the plush Robbie doll I had clutched in my hand. For the first time during our conversation, I noticed that my grip on Robbie had tightened from my nerves.

"Oh, no... Here, he's for you. Happy birthday, Cynthia."

Her friends laughed again, and again she told them to stop. She looked hesitant to take the stuffed animal from me.

"What? Is there something wrong?"

"It's just that... I don't know how my boyfriend would like me taking gifts from handsome boys."

I felt like I had been stabbed.

"Oh. I see. Well, um... It was good to see you again, anyways."

In silent defeat, I walked away, back toward my three companions.

"What happened, Sullivan?" Bobby asked as he saw the defeated expression I wore. "Nothing. I'm fine." "I have a-a-a-a extra bottle of-f-f-f chocolate milk if you-ou-ou want it," Jasper offered. "That's OK. I just want to get back to the dorm. I forgot, I have a paper to write."

As I left, I threw the stuffed rabbit in a nearby trash bin. I suddenly had a great deal of contempt for that little, pink asshole.

And so, here I was. The next morning. At 6:15, getting up to get to class. I shut the alarm off completely and swung my legs over the side of the bed, inadvertently taking some of the blankets with me. I sat still there for a moment, my head hung. I rubbed my eyes and ran my fingers through my long hair, then looked up and noticed that Bobby wasn't in the room. I was confused for a moment. Bobby should have been waking up for class, as well. He had insisted on registering for this class together so that we could help each other out.

I walked over to my desk and saw that he left a note for me. It read:

Sullivan,

Class was canceled. Professor got sick.

I'll be back soon. Went with Jasper to get food.

Randolph

I huffed at the note and crumpled it before throwing it into my wastebasket. I was embittered toward the world that morning, even more than usual. Everything irritated me. I had no other classes scheduled for that day, so I now found myself free to wallow in my anger.

Two hours passed, and I was lying down, reading scriptures from The Descent of the Holy Mother, when I heard a knock at the door.

"Sullivan? Hey, Sully, you in there? It's Bobby. I forgot my key. Could you let us in?"

I begrudgingly left my comfortable position on my bed and shut the book, leaving it on my pillow. I opened the door, and the usual suspects came marching in. Jasper was drinking a bottle of chocolate milk, and carried a brown, paper bag which I assumed contained more of said bottles. Sein had a bagel sticking out of his mouth, and both his hands were being used to carry heavy grocery bags. Bobby put down the bag he was holding and sat down on my bed, picking up the book.

"There's some food in there if you want it," he said, motioning toward the bag he carried in, which now rested beside him on my mattress. "Is this a book from The Order?" he asked a moment later, while he started to flip through it.

I helped Sein with the bags, then turned and grabbed my book out of Bobby's hands.

"Hey, relax Sullivan! I was just asking a question!"

"Yeah, it's from The Order. Why are you guys so obsessed with it? I'm not obsessed with any of your religions."

"None of ours are anywhere near as interesting, Walt," said Sein, talking with his mouth full of half-chewed bagel.

I rolled my eyes and went to sit down at my desk to finish writing my paper.

"Um, that reminds me, dude... We've been meaning to ask you... The other night, you were talking in your sleep about 'sacrifices' and 'sacraments...' Does that have anything to do with this? Or were you just having a weird dream?"

As Bobby spoke, I froze, and sat upright in my chair.

"Wha-a-a-a-t does th-th-th-that mean?" Jasper asked. He was always a little slow and almost childlike.

I figured I'd throw them a bone. They had been relentlessly asking me questions about The Order since the semester started, having browsed through some of my literature when I was in class. Besides, they didn't have to know every detail. They couldn't know every detail. They might have tried to stop me from performing the ritual and, thus, stop me from truly being reunited with my mother.

"According to ancient lore, there are '21 Sacraments.' Sacrifices made to our God. Blood sacrifices."

The three of them echoed each other in a collective, "Whoa!"

"So, like, if you wanted to do it, you just cut yourself or something?" Bobby asked.

"Sure. Something like that. But don't get any ideas."

"Oh!" Sein said suddenly. "I almost forgot... A letter came for you. It has that same seal on it that your book does."

I went numb as I did twelve years earlier when Dahlia Gillespie first told me about my mom. Could this be my notice that it was time to perform the Sacraments? I excitedly took the envelope from Sein's hand and tore it open. I grabbed the letter and unfolded it. The news was not good news.

Mr. Walter Sullivan,

Due to your close attachment to Dahlia Gillespie,

we felt that we should inform you that

Ms. Gillespie was murdered.

~Father Jimmy Stone~

I was numb once more, however it was, this time, from sorrow. Dahlia Gillespie was my only true friend in the world. She was the only one who ever cared about me. She was the only one who always told me the truth. She was always the one rooting for me to be with my mother again. And she was dead. And this letter was very blunt. I found it morbidly fitting that the man to whom his colleagues referred as "The Red Devil," and to whom I had referred as "The Red Priest" when I was a child, was the one to bring me this black news.

I let the letter fall out of my limp hands. Without saying a word, I slowly walked out of my door. I faintly heard my roommate and his friends trying to ask me what was wrong. I ignored them.

I walked. I just kept walking until my legs ached. I sat down on the sidewalk on a random avenue, folded my arms on my knees, and rested my chin over my arms. I stared blankly into the blackness of the street. I felt so alone.

After about an hour, I started to become aware of my surroundings again. I noticed a little girl walking in my direction. She was holding her mother's hand, and in her other arm, she hugged a small doll. I envied her. So loved. So very close to her mother. I was sure that they would just pass me by, leaving me to my masochistic thoughts. But I was wrong. I looked and saw that the little girl was standing next to me.

"Are you OK?" she asked in a sweet, tiny voice. I shook my head. She held out her doll at me.

"I want you to have her. She always cheers me up." I absent-mindedly took the doll. I held it close to me, but never broke eye contact with the girl. I was bewildered that a young kid, a total stranger, would be so kind to me.

"Eileen, come on. We have to get home," her mother called to her. The little girl looked at me one last time and said, "Bye-bye. Feel better." She skipped away from me and took her mother's hand again. After they were completely out of sight, I hugged the doll tightly and wept.

A/N: OK, so we're about to really get into the heart of the story in the next chapter. I'm sorry for the terrible pun, but I couldn't resist :)