This is the third chapter. Enjoy, motherfuckers.
"What's wrong?" Daniel asked as he followed Brenna down the sidewalk.
"I-I can't tell you." Brenna spoke as she dialed Jack's number.
Call dropped.
Fuck, Brenna thought as she searched her contacts for her mother's number.
"You can tell me, Brenna."
"No, I can't, because I have no idea what's going on in my head right now." She spoke.
Daniel shrugged off his jacket as Brenna fussed with her phone. "You're cold, what happened to your jacket?" he asked.
Brenna didn't respond; she only held her phone to her ear after dialing Renee's number. It didn't even ring, just went straight to voicemail.
"Mom, call me as soon as you get this; I can't reach Dad." She spoke and hung up.
Daniel draped his coat over her shoulders, receiving a quiet 'Thank you' from her.
The evening wind was chilling, but refreshing to Brenna as she stared at the stars above. She rubbed her eyes, unable to erase the image of Douglas' pained and horrified face as he was lifted from the elevator. The whole event almost made her forget her scare earlier in school.
"So where's home?" he asked.
"Just a couple of blocks away." She replied.
"No, I mean, where are you from?" he corrected himself.
Brenna had to think for a moment, "Uh… my family and I move around a lot, so… nowhere, I guess." She responded honestly.
"That sucks."
She laughed, "Yeah, it does." She agreed.
The two remained silent for a moment, until Brenna spoke again.
"Daniel, do you think there's a difference between dreams and reality?" she asked.
"That's a hell of a topic for small talk," he laughed. "No 'What's your favourite band?' or 'Do you Instagram?'?"
"Fuck Instagram," she rolled her eyes, "What do you think?"
He sighed, "You know, that's something a man from my hometown would ponder.
He'd tell you that there were no dreams, just endless piles of realities stacked on top of each other. Because his ideas were so radical, he got sent to the asylum."
Brenna frowned, "That's kind of extreme."
"Yep. Back in my sweet small town, Old Man Leonard drools in a padded cell." He looked at her, "As for me, it's not something I want to dwell upon, honestly. Life is complicated enough."
Brenna nodded a sign of understanding, but soon found herself staring at the stars once more, this time being able to actually see them without monsters plaguing her memory. "A Perfect Circle." She said quietly.
"Hmm?"
"That's my favourite band; A Perfect Circle." Brenna reiterated. "Actually, Mom has almost every single album from them. Dad is really into Tool, Placebo, and Nine Inch Nails, and has his own little collection of their albums."
"Really?"
"Yeah, I think right now, Mer de Noms is in my CD player."
Daniel laughed, "You still have a CD player? And it functions?"
Brenna laughed as well, "Yes, and yes, it's lasted me eight years and I think another three when it was Mom's. I listen to it when I'm at home, and I just use my mp3 when I'm out and about." She explained.
"I see you're quite the music-lover." He smiled at her.
As they neared her street, Daniel spoke. "You know, Leonard once said 'some people see monsters, other people see people, it all depends on their reality.'"
Brenna frowned, "I don't think I like my reality…"
"Who does?" he reasoned. "I know I'm real. You're pretty real, to me," he spoke. "Or you're just pretty."
Brenna started laughing, "Was that a pick-up line?"
"That bad?" Brenna began to notice a faint pink colour come to his face.
"That was a crime against pick-up lines." She smiled and came to a stop, "Well, this is my street. Thanks for walking me home."
Daniel smiled, "I'd like to do it again."
Brenna's smile faded, "Look Daniel, I'm sorry for being a bitch to you at school earlier, but I really don't want to know anyone here, and you don't want to know me." She said quietly.
"But I do want to know you-"
"No, you don't." Brenna interrupted him and abruptly handed him his jacket, "Thanks." She spoke and turned to go to her house.
"I'll call you later!" Daniel spoke as she walked on.
"I didn't give you my number! See you later." Brenna called to him and turned to go into her house.
Her stomach twisted when she saw that the door was already ajar.
Shit!
Brenna entered the house and turned to go into the living room, only to stop dead in her tracks.
On the wall beside the bookshelf, was a strange symbol on the wall, drawn in blood next to large letters (also in blood) combining to make the phrase 'COME BACK TO SILENT HILL'.
"Mom?!" she called and dashed into the kitchen, nothing.
"Dad?!" Brenna then ran into the small study which was once a guest room; nothing.
Brenna ran up the stairs, calling for her mother and father, only to receive nothing but the echo of her voice.
Brenna found herself searching every room, until almost sinking down to the floor in front of the staircase, unable to breathe.
Why them and not me?
The doorknob rattled.
In a flash, anger and fear filled her entire being. Hot tears fell to her cheeks as she stood, ready to swing the door open and kick the shit out of whoever was on the other side.
"Brenna? It's Daniel; I heard screaming, are you alright?"
Brenna furiously wiped away the tears and opened the door.
"I need your help." She said quietly and pointed to the wall.
Daniel walked into her house and looked to where she was pointing. An expression of shock swept across his face, "Is that blood?"
She nodded.
"Did you call the police?"
"I can't-"
"Why not-"
"I just can't, alright?!"
Daniel looked back to the blood, "So, where is this 'Silent Hill'?" he asked.
Brenna shook her head, "No- It… It's something I've dreamt about ever since I was young." She looked at the symbol, "And… I've seen that before."
"Where?"
Brenna took his sleeve and headed towards her parents' bedroom, "Come with me." She said and swung the door open.
As Daniel stood in the corner of the room, Brenna opened the closet and pulled out a large rectangular box, "I used to draw things from my nightmares. Mom and Dad would keep them in here." She said as she lifted the lid.
"Are these your parents?" he asked as he looked at a photo.
"My adoptive parents, yes."
"You're adopted?"
"Yeah, I never met my real parents." Brenna took a small binder out, recognizing some of the drawings as hers and set it aside.
She found a letter, titled 'FOR PHOENIX'. She grabbed it and shoved it into her messenger bag before Daniel could notice. "These are some of Mom's notebooks. She did a lot of research from when I was younger so she could understand." Brenna herself had done little research. She was usually too busy with school work.
She pulled out a few more notebooks and stuffed them into her bag so she could read them at a later time. When her hands felt something unfamiliar, she frowned. She pulled out a circular object wrapped up in cloth. She removed the fabric and found herself staring at a tediously designed seal.
"Do you know what that is?" Daniel asked and looked over her shoulder.
"No…" Brenna whispered. "It looks like it's a key." She said when she flipped it over to see engravings. In the messenger bag it went.
She knelt down before the bed and pulled out something wrapped in a simple washrag. It was a hand gun. She loaded it, grabbed the extra clip and carefully placed them in her handbag after checking that the safety was on.
"A gun? What do you need a gun for?"
"Brenna Watson, this is Detective Trudeau."
"I thought you didn't call the police." Daniel frowned.
"I didn't, Daniel I need your help! If they catch me, I won't be able to find my parents."
"Catch you? Brenna, what did you do?" he grabbed her shoulders gently, looking into her bright blue eyes.
"Nothing!" Brenna hissed.
He sighed taking a moment to contemplate. For a split second, Brenna was terrified that he would refuse. But, he didn't. "What do you want me to do?"
"Miss Watson?"
"Can you drive?" she asked.
"What?"
"I can't drive! Can you?" she pushed a set of keys into his hands.
He nodded and Brenna rushed to the door of her parents' bedroom. She quickly and quietly closed it and pointed to the window. "We have to go out that way." She said quietly as she shoved the window open. At this point, she was grateful her parents didn't choose the upstairs bedroom as theirs.
"I'll go first and help you out." Daniel offered and gracefully slid out the window.
Brenna would have felt jealous if it weren't for the police breaking down her front door.
Daniel (literally) lifted her from the window when she was barely sitting on the window sill. "Where's the car?" he asked as Brenna readjusted her skirt (thanking God that it was too dark for him to see).
"It's over here." she took his hand and led him towards the back of her house where the driveway stopped.
Brenna shifted position in the passenger seat, reading her mothers' notebooks. "It says here that Silent Hill was originally a penal colony, built on ancient burial grounds, taken from the natives." she read aloud.
Daniel shook his head, "Don't build on ancient burial grounds; I thought everyone knew that."
"No kidding." Brenna frowned as she read more, "The town had been run by 'The Order of Valtiel' for the last hundred years, until a huge fire wreaked havoc in the coal mines beneath. The whole town was evacuated..." Brenna read from a newspaper clipping.
"Silent Hill is abandoned?"
"Well..." Brenna read on, "That's not exactly what my parents thought..."
"What?"
She turned a page, "The Order of Valtiel was waiting for a child to be born, who would be the vessel of their God, and bring forth an everlasting paradise, kind of like one of those crazy doomsday cults. They sacrificed a child by the name of Alessa Gillespie..." Brenna stopped in mid-sentence. Alessa...
"What is it?" Daniel looked at her for a second.
Brenna shook her head, "Nothing... Um, Mom wrote that from Alessa's pain and hatred, she created the hell that Silent Hill is today, trapping everyone." She wanted to say that it was crazy. She wanted to throw the notebook out the window, but with everything she had dreamt, everything that she had seen, it was impossible for Brenna to not believe what she was reading.
While Daniel was concentrated on the road, Brenna pulled out the letter from her messenger bag and began reading.
Phoenix,
If you are reading this, then something has happened to either your father and/or I. Though we may not be with you, we cannot urge you enough to stay away from Silent Hill. I know how tempting that is, but for the sake of your future, run. You know where to look for emergency money; take that and move far away from here. Ian has left a set of instructions to create a new identity for yourself should he be gone as well.
We love you so much.
Mom and Dad
Brenna sniffled and wiped a tear.
"What's wrong?" Daniel asked.
"Nothing." she answered quietly.
He sighed, "We need to stop." he said.
"What? Why?" she turned to him.
"We both need to rest for a while." he reasoned.
She nodded, "There's a motel over there."
As they pulled in, Brenna already felt her eyelids drooping. Quickly, the two paid for a room for one night.
Brenna almost collapsed onto one of the beds in the motel room. She was more tired than she thought.
Daniel turned on the lamp and checked out the window to make sure they weren't followed.
"Do you think we're close?" she asked.
"Yeah, pretty close. And... I don't think you should go." he turned to face her.
Brenna sat up; "Daniel, I have to." she stood.
"Your parents said to not go, and for a reason." he argued, "If this place is so dangerous, you should run." Daniel sighed and approached her, "I just don't want anything to happen to you." He pulled her into a hug, and Brenna didn't push him away. For once, it was relieving to open up to someone, something she hadn't done since she was a young girl.
She allowed herself to hug him back, wrapping her arms around his neck.
Brenna was shocked when she realized that she literally fell asleep as soon as her head rested upon the pillow, but when she awoke, she saw Daniel sitting on the edge of his bed with his back turned against her.
She sat up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, noting that it was still dark out.
"You didn't sleep?" she asked.
He didn't turn to face her, "No, I uh… I didn't. And, I still don't think you should go."
Brenna frowned, "I have too, Daniel, you don't understand." She countered. She stood and reached for her messenger bag. If she had to walk there, she would. It was only half a mile away.
"I understand-"
"How? How could you understand?!" she cut him off.
Daniel seemed to have been at his edge of patience, ready to say something, but biting it back every time.
"Because I am a child of the Order!" his words were rushed as he threw his hands into the air.
Brenna became silent. She backed away, "What did you say?" her voice was barely above a whisper.
"I was born and raised in Silent Hill, given the task to convince you to come back." He said.
Brenna, wide-eyed, shook her head. The ice in her eyes came back as she spoke. "That's not possible, the Order is trapped in Silent Hill, there's no way you could have gotten out."
Daniel looked into her eyes, "It is possible, but… it requires pain and sacrifice." He lifted his black sweater to reveal a mark engraved on his chest; The Halo of the Sun. Something that Brenna had seen too many times than she liked to admit.
She gaped at the horrific scar, "You've been lying to me?"
"All we are ever taught in Silent Hill is that Alessa is the great evil of the world; that you are a part of that evil. The only way we can ever get out is to make you come back and destroy her. But… after spending this time with you, I know that you aren't. If you are part of Alessa at all, then… you're definitely the innocent, the part of her that can still feel love."
"Why did you take my parents?" her voice became full of hurt and anger; no amount of good words could make her forget that. As the ice in her eyes hardened, the lamp beside them began flickering and the alarm clock blinked after resetting itself.
"I swear to you, Brenna, I had nothing to do with that-"
"But why them?! Why them and not me?!" she stepped back as Daniel tried to approach her. The beginnings of tears began at her eyes. The radio on the dresser began emitting a light amount of static, seeming only to be white noise at first, but growing more and more.
"Because you have to go back upon your own free will. Taking them, the Order knew you would come back." Brenna could now see that he was holding the medallion she found in the box earlier. "Brenna, you mustn't go back!"
"I have to!" she argued as she turned to the door.
"Wait! Take this."
Brenna sighed and turned back around.
Daniel extended his arm, holding out the seal, "You'll need this," Brenna slowly approached him. "It's the only way you can save your family. The other half is with Leonard Wolf in Brookhaven Asylum," he said.
As her hand reached out to take the seal, he pulled her closer, "Let me come with you."
"No!" she argued and tried to pull her arm away. If he had lied to her once, she couldn't be sure if she could trust him.
The static became louder and all of the lamps were flickering wildly, creating slight buzzing sounds as if they were about to blow up!
"It's not safe for you to go alone!"
"Let me go!"
In the midst of their arguing, the lights cut off entirely. The radio was silent and even the alarm clock shut off.
The two immediately stopped fighting; Daniel still holding her arms, but at this point, Brenna didn't care.
"What's going on?" she asked, slowly her voice rose to a panicked tone.
"The darkness is coming." Unlike her, Daniel's voice seemed calm as if he was expecting for it to happen.
As if on cue, the lights came back on, only Brenna wished they hadn't. The walls were peeling away from the frame of the room.
"Please not this again." She watched in horror as the world fell away, leaving behind its rusted frame and darkened past, "How do you make this stop?!" she pulled away from him.
"This isn't me, Brenna. This is you."
"Me? How in the hell am I doing this?!"
"You're close to Silent Hill; it's like a chemical reaction. You're close to Alessa, and it's allowing the darkness to come through."
Brenna felt sick to her stomach. Am I really causing this hell?!
Daniel reached to hold her face, forcing her eyes to meet with his, "Listen to me, I can help you. I know where your parents are."
A curved blade reached forward, sinking into Daniel's right shoulder. Before he had a chance to even yelp in pain, the blade pulled him backwards.
"Daniel!" Brenna reached for him, only to come face-to-face with the same monster that had terrorized her in the mall. It took the blade from its other arm, and with the blunt edge, knocked Brenna to the ground.
When Brenna awoke, the world was piecing itself back together. An early morning light basked the room in a cool palette of colours.
She weakly sat up, touching the spot on the side of her head. She winced immediately. Damn, I'm lucky that didn't kill me…
Brenna stumbled to her feet, realizing that she was still holding the seal. Her eyes drifted to it, and then to her messenger bag which was still on her bed.
She shoved the seal into her bag and slung it over her shoulders. She checked the bag; the gun was still in it.
After taking a deep breath, Brenna opened the door to leave the motel room. She gaped at the outside environment.
Everything was covered with ash. It was so foggy that she could almost barely see the motel sign. Everything in this world was so… dead.
She gulped, Fuck it, I'll walk.
Well, this update wasn't quite as long as the first two chapters, but I hope it's still good, nonetheless. As soon as I finish this story, my surprise for you guys will be ready (hopefully). Well, read, review, favourite, like my page, whatever. Have a wonderful day =)