Disclaimer: Don't own Silent Hill, blah blah blah, don't sue me, blah blah.
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Chapter 2: Visit the Woods
The crunching of leaves echoed around us as we made our way toward the city. At least, we assumed we were headed in the right direction. It'd been about fifteen minutes since we'd started walking the trail, yet there was still no sign of any civilization.
"Boy, talk about a town in the middle of nowhere," I chuckled nervously. The two smiled a bit, though it was obvious neither of them thought it was funny. Apparently I wasn't the only one becoming apprehensive.
"You know," remarked Steph, "for a 'booming resort town', this place sure is well hidden." She stopped just a few steps ahead of me and turned. "You sure you took the right way?"
I glanced up from my thoughts and stopped as well. "Well, I could've missed a road somewhere, but I don't really see how that's possible, especially since there was only the one highway for nearly the last twenty miles."
"She's right, there was only one way to go," Todd chimed in, tossing a pinecone in the air.
"How would you know? I thought you were asleep the whole time," snapped Steph.
Todd grinned.
"Looks can be deceiving."
Stephanie rolled her eyes and turned back around. We all continued walking for several more minutes with nothing more than mist, trees, and distant birdcalls to keep us company. In fact, the lack of any noise but that was just starting to freak me out when...
"Hey, there's something coming up," said Todd, obviously relieved.
Up ahead, as the mist cleared a bit, was a rusty metal gate. Although it looked like it once was locked, the bolt had corroded beyond repair. Now it just stood halfway open. However, that's not what caught our attention.
"Umm...guys," Todd said, stopping and turning slowly toward us, "take a look at this."
As we approached where he was standing, we looked beyond the gate and froze. This was the entrance to a cemetery, and a rather large one at that. We could only make out the definite outlines of a few gravestones, as the ever-present fog obscured the rest.
"No way," said Stephanie. "This couldn't be the right way. What town in their right mind would make you walk through a graveyard just to get to them?"
She had a point. Tourist town, indeed. However, at this point there were only two choices- turn around and walk all the way back to the car, or keep going and hope it was correct. After all, the sign back at the lot did say it was this direction, and there was only one path to follow.
"There's nothing we can do except go through," I said, looking from Steph to Todd. "It's just a cemetery."
Steph arched a brow at this.
"Oh come on, don't tell me you're scared, Steph?" I said teasingly. "I'd think you of all people would enjoy walking amongst the dead."
She started to say something, but apparently thought better of it, instead smiling slyly.
"Ok, fine," she said, half turning back to the gate, "but don't come crying to me if someone tries to share their grave with you."
Reaching out, Stephanie casually swung the gate inward and walked into the mist. Todd, making an obscene gesture behind her back, turned and followed. I was forced to stifle a giggle as I went last through the gate.
Around us, the fog seemed a bit thicker than on the trail, probably because the area was a bit more open. Graves of all sizes and shapes were somewhat organized into rows, though most were tilting one way or another. Very few of the headstones were completely intact, apparently the result of age and weather.
As we walked, it felt as if the hairs on the back of my neck were at attention. I paid it no mind, trying not to let my imagination get the best of me. Glancing around, there wasn't really much to see, just graves and grass, with the outline of a fence (barely visible in the fog) surrounding the whole area.
Just then, something caught my eye. A grave to the side of us stood completely upright, no signs of age whatsoever.
"Hey guys, hold up," I called out.
Upon closer inspection of the stone, I saw that the epitaph was pristine as well, almost as if the gravestone was new.
Here lies Robert F. Peterson
October 11, 1973 - February 17, 2000
May his death be remembered
And the sinners be held accountable
Gee, how cheery, I thought to myself. The name, though, seemed vaguely familiar.
Suddenly the image of a car registered in my mind, speeding down a highway. It was dark, very dark. And then...
A hand grabbed my shoulder. Obviously startled, I spun around.
"Hey, whoa! It's just me, Kuri," said Todd. "Relax, would ya?"
Swallowing my heart, I managed a small smile. Poor guy. I bet he never intended to be wandering in the middle of nowhere with two jumpy, moody girls. Speaking of which...
"Todd... where's Stephanie?"
"She's right-" As he turned to point to her, though, he was met with fog.
Now I remembered at this point that one of the top ten stupid things a person did in horror movies was call out to a missing party member. However, this wasn't a movie, and it wasn't as if we could see very far through the mist. Being an advocate of fact-over-fiction, I took the "risk" and called her name.
After a few moments of silence, Todd joined in. We stayed relatively close, looking and calling. After a minute or two of nothing, we stopped.
"Great," I said, "now what?"
At that moment, something grabbed my ankle and yanked. I managed a scream, right before the world turned upside down.
My head hit something hard, and everything went black. I felt as if I were falling through space, or rather, sinking. In the distance I could hear high-pitched laughter coupled with a voice calling my name.
Suddenly, I was in a hospital bed. A heart rate monitor beeped consistently on my left, and a concerned doctor looked down at me from the right. He was scribbling something on a clipboard and mumbling as he went. I tried to say something, anything, but my mouth wouldn't move. In fact, my whole body was numb.
A lady walked into the room; she was rather old, wearing a drab-colored dress with a white shawl. She and the doctor started speaking to each other, all the while glancing at me. If only I could make out what they're saying, I thought. It was like trying to understand someone speaking with your head underwater.
After a few minutes, something started to happen. I felt a little bit of feeling come back to my body, but it wasn't like anything I'd ever felt before. My skin started to itch, as if I'd been bitten by thousands of ants. The itching intensified, although I could do nothing about it; I still couldn't move. Slowly, and very painfully, the itching turned to burning, and soon I felt as if my very flesh was on fire. I tried to scream, but again, nothing happened. This was intolerable.
Apparently, the doctor and woman had noticed something was wrong, because they'd stopped talking and were now looking at me. However, they did nothing to help me; they simply stared.
The burning, by now, was so bad that I could retain consciousness no longer, and I slipped back into the sinking void. As I fell, the voices called out to me. Concerned voices, almost panicky. Slowly, the sinking feeling dissipated and I opened my eyes.
Two figures stood over me, and for a second, I thought I was right back in the hospital bed. When everything came into focus, though, I realized it was only Todd and Stephanie.
"Kuri?" said Steph, visibly shaken. "Kuri! You're awake! Oh thank God! I'm so sorry, Kuri!" She was talking fast, making it difficult for me to keep up.
"Cool it," said Todd, pushing Stephanie out of the way. "Kuri, you ok?"
"Yeah... I think so."
"You sure gave us a scare," he said as a bit of relief washed over both their faces.
He held out a hand and helped me to my feet. A little woozy, I steadied myself after a moment and noticed a raw pain in the back of my head. Upon further inspection I found a bump.
"What happened, anyway?" I said, picking up my backpack.
Todd glared through his sunglasses over at Stephanie, who seemed ready to cry.
"Ehem! Care to say anything?" He marched over to the girl and pulled her closer by the arm.
"Ok, look I'm sorry. I thought it'd be funny to scare the two of you, except I didn't think you'd lose your footing that easy. I didn't realize you were hurt until it was too late. Kuri, I'm so sorry." By this time, the girl had tears streaking her face.
"It's.. ok. Just don't do it again, alright?" She nodded and sniffled as Todd still continued to glare at her. I patted the girl on the shoulder, but that was it. Hey, she didn't deserve that much consolation. It was a pretty rotten thing to do, not to mention childish.
"So, how long was I out of it, anyway?" I asked, turning to Todd.
"Five, ten minutes maybe," he said, his hands finding refuge in his pockets. "Any longer and we were gonna try and carry you back to the car."
I looked over to where I'd fallen and saw a gravestone I hadn't seen previously. So that must've been what I hit my head on, I thought as I walked over. I glanced at the grave, but immediately my eyes were drawn to something on the ground. Actually, to two something's. Laying near the grave was a small flashlight I remembered packing, along with a pocket radio. Where the radio had come from, I didn't know, but I put it all in my backpack just the same.
Stephanie, after calming down, told us she'd found the other gate while sneaking around, so we followed her. The fog was still just as thick, so we made sure to stay close together as we walked. We soon found the gate and exited into the forest once again.
As I left, I couldn't help but think about the name of the person whose tombstone I'd fallen on. I knew, somewhere, that I'd heard the name Alessa Gillespie before. Weird.
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Chapter 2: Visit the Woods
The crunching of leaves echoed around us as we made our way toward the city. At least, we assumed we were headed in the right direction. It'd been about fifteen minutes since we'd started walking the trail, yet there was still no sign of any civilization.
"Boy, talk about a town in the middle of nowhere," I chuckled nervously. The two smiled a bit, though it was obvious neither of them thought it was funny. Apparently I wasn't the only one becoming apprehensive.
"You know," remarked Steph, "for a 'booming resort town', this place sure is well hidden." She stopped just a few steps ahead of me and turned. "You sure you took the right way?"
I glanced up from my thoughts and stopped as well. "Well, I could've missed a road somewhere, but I don't really see how that's possible, especially since there was only the one highway for nearly the last twenty miles."
"She's right, there was only one way to go," Todd chimed in, tossing a pinecone in the air.
"How would you know? I thought you were asleep the whole time," snapped Steph.
Todd grinned.
"Looks can be deceiving."
Stephanie rolled her eyes and turned back around. We all continued walking for several more minutes with nothing more than mist, trees, and distant birdcalls to keep us company. In fact, the lack of any noise but that was just starting to freak me out when...
"Hey, there's something coming up," said Todd, obviously relieved.
Up ahead, as the mist cleared a bit, was a rusty metal gate. Although it looked like it once was locked, the bolt had corroded beyond repair. Now it just stood halfway open. However, that's not what caught our attention.
"Umm...guys," Todd said, stopping and turning slowly toward us, "take a look at this."
As we approached where he was standing, we looked beyond the gate and froze. This was the entrance to a cemetery, and a rather large one at that. We could only make out the definite outlines of a few gravestones, as the ever-present fog obscured the rest.
"No way," said Stephanie. "This couldn't be the right way. What town in their right mind would make you walk through a graveyard just to get to them?"
She had a point. Tourist town, indeed. However, at this point there were only two choices- turn around and walk all the way back to the car, or keep going and hope it was correct. After all, the sign back at the lot did say it was this direction, and there was only one path to follow.
"There's nothing we can do except go through," I said, looking from Steph to Todd. "It's just a cemetery."
Steph arched a brow at this.
"Oh come on, don't tell me you're scared, Steph?" I said teasingly. "I'd think you of all people would enjoy walking amongst the dead."
She started to say something, but apparently thought better of it, instead smiling slyly.
"Ok, fine," she said, half turning back to the gate, "but don't come crying to me if someone tries to share their grave with you."
Reaching out, Stephanie casually swung the gate inward and walked into the mist. Todd, making an obscene gesture behind her back, turned and followed. I was forced to stifle a giggle as I went last through the gate.
Around us, the fog seemed a bit thicker than on the trail, probably because the area was a bit more open. Graves of all sizes and shapes were somewhat organized into rows, though most were tilting one way or another. Very few of the headstones were completely intact, apparently the result of age and weather.
As we walked, it felt as if the hairs on the back of my neck were at attention. I paid it no mind, trying not to let my imagination get the best of me. Glancing around, there wasn't really much to see, just graves and grass, with the outline of a fence (barely visible in the fog) surrounding the whole area.
Just then, something caught my eye. A grave to the side of us stood completely upright, no signs of age whatsoever.
"Hey guys, hold up," I called out.
Upon closer inspection of the stone, I saw that the epitaph was pristine as well, almost as if the gravestone was new.
Here lies Robert F. Peterson
October 11, 1973 - February 17, 2000
May his death be remembered
And the sinners be held accountable
Gee, how cheery, I thought to myself. The name, though, seemed vaguely familiar.
Suddenly the image of a car registered in my mind, speeding down a highway. It was dark, very dark. And then...
A hand grabbed my shoulder. Obviously startled, I spun around.
"Hey, whoa! It's just me, Kuri," said Todd. "Relax, would ya?"
Swallowing my heart, I managed a small smile. Poor guy. I bet he never intended to be wandering in the middle of nowhere with two jumpy, moody girls. Speaking of which...
"Todd... where's Stephanie?"
"She's right-" As he turned to point to her, though, he was met with fog.
Now I remembered at this point that one of the top ten stupid things a person did in horror movies was call out to a missing party member. However, this wasn't a movie, and it wasn't as if we could see very far through the mist. Being an advocate of fact-over-fiction, I took the "risk" and called her name.
After a few moments of silence, Todd joined in. We stayed relatively close, looking and calling. After a minute or two of nothing, we stopped.
"Great," I said, "now what?"
At that moment, something grabbed my ankle and yanked. I managed a scream, right before the world turned upside down.
My head hit something hard, and everything went black. I felt as if I were falling through space, or rather, sinking. In the distance I could hear high-pitched laughter coupled with a voice calling my name.
Suddenly, I was in a hospital bed. A heart rate monitor beeped consistently on my left, and a concerned doctor looked down at me from the right. He was scribbling something on a clipboard and mumbling as he went. I tried to say something, anything, but my mouth wouldn't move. In fact, my whole body was numb.
A lady walked into the room; she was rather old, wearing a drab-colored dress with a white shawl. She and the doctor started speaking to each other, all the while glancing at me. If only I could make out what they're saying, I thought. It was like trying to understand someone speaking with your head underwater.
After a few minutes, something started to happen. I felt a little bit of feeling come back to my body, but it wasn't like anything I'd ever felt before. My skin started to itch, as if I'd been bitten by thousands of ants. The itching intensified, although I could do nothing about it; I still couldn't move. Slowly, and very painfully, the itching turned to burning, and soon I felt as if my very flesh was on fire. I tried to scream, but again, nothing happened. This was intolerable.
Apparently, the doctor and woman had noticed something was wrong, because they'd stopped talking and were now looking at me. However, they did nothing to help me; they simply stared.
The burning, by now, was so bad that I could retain consciousness no longer, and I slipped back into the sinking void. As I fell, the voices called out to me. Concerned voices, almost panicky. Slowly, the sinking feeling dissipated and I opened my eyes.
Two figures stood over me, and for a second, I thought I was right back in the hospital bed. When everything came into focus, though, I realized it was only Todd and Stephanie.
"Kuri?" said Steph, visibly shaken. "Kuri! You're awake! Oh thank God! I'm so sorry, Kuri!" She was talking fast, making it difficult for me to keep up.
"Cool it," said Todd, pushing Stephanie out of the way. "Kuri, you ok?"
"Yeah... I think so."
"You sure gave us a scare," he said as a bit of relief washed over both their faces.
He held out a hand and helped me to my feet. A little woozy, I steadied myself after a moment and noticed a raw pain in the back of my head. Upon further inspection I found a bump.
"What happened, anyway?" I said, picking up my backpack.
Todd glared through his sunglasses over at Stephanie, who seemed ready to cry.
"Ehem! Care to say anything?" He marched over to the girl and pulled her closer by the arm.
"Ok, look I'm sorry. I thought it'd be funny to scare the two of you, except I didn't think you'd lose your footing that easy. I didn't realize you were hurt until it was too late. Kuri, I'm so sorry." By this time, the girl had tears streaking her face.
"It's.. ok. Just don't do it again, alright?" She nodded and sniffled as Todd still continued to glare at her. I patted the girl on the shoulder, but that was it. Hey, she didn't deserve that much consolation. It was a pretty rotten thing to do, not to mention childish.
"So, how long was I out of it, anyway?" I asked, turning to Todd.
"Five, ten minutes maybe," he said, his hands finding refuge in his pockets. "Any longer and we were gonna try and carry you back to the car."
I looked over to where I'd fallen and saw a gravestone I hadn't seen previously. So that must've been what I hit my head on, I thought as I walked over. I glanced at the grave, but immediately my eyes were drawn to something on the ground. Actually, to two something's. Laying near the grave was a small flashlight I remembered packing, along with a pocket radio. Where the radio had come from, I didn't know, but I put it all in my backpack just the same.
Stephanie, after calming down, told us she'd found the other gate while sneaking around, so we followed her. The fog was still just as thick, so we made sure to stay close together as we walked. We soon found the gate and exited into the forest once again.
As I left, I couldn't help but think about the name of the person whose tombstone I'd fallen on. I knew, somewhere, that I'd heard the name Alessa Gillespie before. Weird.