Personal Nightmares
Wolf Runner: Correction. There are 7 DOA girls left. Lisa will be in this one. ^_^
Someone: Thanks for the review! I haven't seen anyone do anything like this before for DOA, so why not? ^_^
TigerEyes2: Since you are familiar with Silent Hill, I believe you do know where this fanfic will go to, right? It's not a matter of if or when, it's a matter of how…^___^ And hopefully, I can add some crazy puzzles to this fanfic as well.
Chapter 2: Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down
"Where could Hitomi be?" a young woman with blond hair said out loud. She came to this town separately from the other soul mentioned earlier. "I knew I forgot something. We should have agreed to meet at a specific place. I've been going in circles around here, and there's no sign of her yet. And what is up with this fog? The brochures didn't mention anything about this…"
She went on wandering, wandering, and wandering around, and not a soul could be seen in sight. Suddenly, she saw a silhouette from a distance. She recognized the distant form as her friend. "Hey! Hitomi!" she shouted. However, the figure did not appear to hear her at all, as she continued strolling around the place, almost fully masked by the thick fog.
"Hitomi! It your pal, Tina!" the blond haired woman shouted. Again, there was no response. The figure kept on moving.
"You dumb bitch!" Tina shouted playfully. "This isn't funny! Answer me!"
Yet again, the figure ignored her. Tina then decided to go after her friend. She ran towards the figure she thought was her friend, but even at full speed, the figure kept moving farther and farther away from her. After running for a few minutes, the figure vanished, and she halted as a structure overlooked her.
"Puff, puff…I'd better start working out soon." She gasped, out of breath from the short run. "But somehow, it feels like the fog is choking the air out of me…"
She then looked at the structure, and said, "This looks like some sort of dojo. Maybe Hitomi went inside it?"
However, after looking around the exterior, she then concluded that her friend probably didn't go inside the place. "The doors, as well as the windows are boarded up. No one can enter this place…besides, the place looks abandoned, and in danger of collapsing. Hitomi won't go inside a dump like this. What should I do now?"
She then went on with her journey, and as she slowly went away from the dojo, she thought that she heard muffled cries emanating from the structure, but paid no attention to it.
After wandering around for quite some time, she suddenly heard loud, familiar noises. "Sirens! Maybe ambulance, police, or fire truck sirens! Finally, somebody else beside me! Maybe they can help!"
She then ran towards the source of the sounds, but as she got closer, the blaring sounds coming from the emergency vehicles slowly faded. When she got to the spot, the sounds stopped, and there was nothing there, except for an apartment building.
"Did they leave already? Ohhh, just when I thought that I could finally find some people from this place." She then looked at the building in front of her.
"Maybe I should check out this place. There might actually be people inside. Hopefully, the door isn't locked like the other doors in this town."
Fortunately, as if by fate, the door leading to the apartment building was indeed open. Sighing in relief, Tina went inside. She then knocked on the first door she came across, door 101, and said, "Hello? Is anyone there?"
She did the same thing to the other doors, but there was no reply. She stopped at room 109, and said, "It looks like there isn't anyone here either. What's going on in this town?"
Suddenly, Tina heard a door slamming to her left. It came from the next room. She then saw a little girl with blond hair running towards her, crying.
Tina wanted to say something, but she couldn't. She just stood there, watching the girl with curiosity. The girl was about to bump into her, but she disappeared before she could do so. "What?" Tina said out loud.
"Am I hallucinating?" She then went to the door and tried opening it, but it was locked. "Hmm. Room 110. It's the same room number I had when my family and I were still living in an apartment. What a coincidence. There's a numerical lock on this door, and I don't know the code. Maybe that child put the lock on the door? Well, what a waste of time…"
She then noticed something scrawled on the wall to the right of the door.
What a naughty, naughty, girl!
How many matches did you light that day?
Enter the correct number to receive your punishment!
"WHAT THE HELL!" Tina shouted. "Is this some kind of a sick joke?" Suddenly, memories flooded her mind, and gave her a headache. "No…I don't want to remember. Screw this." She then turned around to leave the place.
"Tina!" A muffled voice suddenly said, which came from inside the door.
"Huh?" Tina recognized the voice, and shouted, "Mom? Is that you?" She knocked on the door many times, but there was no more response. Obviously, the lock had to be removed to enter the room.
"I…remember. I lit eight matches that day." She then entered the combination of 008 on the padlock, and the lock was released. She was about to open the door, when the sirens came back. It was coming from outside, and the blond woman looked out of the window, but she could see nothing, save the fog. The sounds where too loud and distracting, and finally, she entered the door.
Inside, she found a familiar figure sitting on a couch. "Hello Tina," the woman said.
"Mom! You're alive!" Tina said with excitement in her voice. However, her mom didn't respond. That made her feel somewhat suspicious.
"Is it really you?"
"Of course it is." Her mom finally replied, somewhat monotonously. "Do you remember this place?"
Tina then surveyed the room, and recognized it. "It's our home! Back when we lived in an apartment. There's my teddy bear, my slippers, the kitchen, but, what are they doing here? We used to live in Inglewood, California, not this place."
"It doesn't matter," Tina's mom then stood up, pointed her finger at her daughter, and said, "You killed many people that faithful day, including me."
"What? But mom…" Tina said, but was interrupted.
"You were having too much fun playing with those matches. You stared at them all day long, despite how many times I told you not to do so. On your final match that you lit, you stared at them far too long, and the match burned your finger. You dropped it on the carpet, and caused so much death and suffering."
"But mom, I was only a child then," Tina sobbed, as she held her head with her hands.
"That was no excuse! You could have knocked on my door, or even yelled 'Fire!', but no! You ran crying outside. Do you deny this?"
"…no."
"Good. It's a good thing that your father was away wrestling that night, or you would have killed him too! And what's worse, no one found out that you did this horrible thing, am I correct?"
"Yes."
"Do you feel the need to be punished? Just say it."
"Yes, mother. I deserved to be punished for this horrible crime."
"Excellent! Now, feel my pain. Feel OUR pain," Tina's mom shouted. Suddenly the whole room erupted in flames, and the walls were lined up with burning, deformed bodies in cages, some of them whimpering and shouting in pain and agony. When Tina looked back at her mom, she became a burned, horribly disfigured body, shambling towards her. The burned body then embraced Tina, melting her skin away slowly.
"AAAAHHHHHHH!" Tina shouted, as the whole room turned orange around her.
And thus, another victim was added to the growing population of Silent Hill.
End of Chapter 2
