Part One

Human Suffering

Chapter One

August 21, 1983

Brahms, Idaho

5:14 AM

Brahms Police Department was in utter turmoil. When Officer Pollack had returned minutes ago with a bloody and delirious man, Police Chief George O'Grady knew that the day would be a major headache, to say the least. Brahms was a small, simple town, where the most severe cases the police had to deal with were robberies and domestic disturbances.

His assumption had been correct when Pollack began wailing about a dead baby on the road. He had left Brusceme behind to guard the scene (a huge mistake in O'Grady's opinion. Brusceme had joined the force not to protect the innocent and uphold the law but to try and get laid with the uniform). With news of a dead baby, the entire force was going nuts. O'Grady shouted to everyone to settle down. He got Pollack to lock the man in the holding cell and then ordered him to drive them back out to where he had left Brusceme.

It was indeed going to be a long day.

August 21, 1983

Highway 37, Idaho

Near Silent Hill

5:49 AM

Brusceme was getting edgy. Brahms was a long way away. It would be at least another half hour until Pollack got back, and that's if he hurried. Brusceme had a fear of wide open spaces, it was the main reason he hated being Highway Patrol. He tried to cover it up by acting like a whiny slacker.

Brusceme hadn't seen a single car go by since Pollack had left. The only other town nearby was Silent Hill. No one really bothered to come out this way. Anyone traveling used Interstate 86 and 15.

Dammit, Pollack, why did you leave me here to guard this thing? No one's going to tamper with evidence. But since it's standard procedure for someone to guard the crime scene, of course you felt the need to make me stay here.

He stole another glance at the baby, then was overcome by another wave of nausea. He stumbled to the side of the highway and sat down with a thud. He closed his eyes and waited for the feeling to subside.

He opened his eyes and nearly screamed. A figure was standing near the baby. He squinted to make out the figure, but the fog was obscuring it.

"Hey!" Brusceme began to stand up, and the figure turned to him. He started forward but suddenly found himself unable to move. The figure was holding its hand out at him. The fog subsided slightly, and Brusceme could now make out that the figure was female, but her features were still invisible.

The woman knelt down, scooped up the infant's corpse, then turned and disappeared into the fog completely.

Brusceme found he could once again move. Just as he was about to take off after the woman, the piercing howl of an air-raid siren filled his ears. His vision swam, and then he fell into darkness.

August 21, 1983

Highway 37, Idaho

19 miles away

6:15 AM

O'Grady stared sullenly out the passenger window at the passing rocky cliff. He never liked this part of the highway. It was built into a steep cliffside. There had been a number of accidents here, mostly involving residents of Brahms and Silent Hill traveling between the two towns. No one else really came down this far on Highway 37.

The accidents were easily explained. Falling rocks from the cliffs above, and a sharp fall below. Yet still, there was something about them that didn't feel quite right. They mostly happened in the daytime, with a few exceptions, and none of the drivers were ever found to have any alcohol or drugs in their system. Those drivers that were found that is. Some of the bodies were never found.

And now with this incident, O'Grady was liking the highway even less.

Or maybe he was just reading too many horror novels.

That was probably it. Or simply wishful thinking. It was a very dubious honor to be chief of police for a town that nothing ever happened in.

As usual, Pollack was completely silent. He wasn't exactly a social butterfly. O'Grady suddenly needed noise. This silence was overbearing. It was, in a way, loud. Too loud for him to bear. He desperately tried turning on the radio, knowing damn well that there were no radio transmitters near enough to pick up any stations. The only town in the region with radio access was Silent Hill, and even then the reception was lousy.

But O'Grady found the simple buzzing of the static had a calming effect on him. So he sat there enjoying the white noise. Pollack made no move to turn it off. He wouldn't dare turn off anything that O'Grady turned on without written permission. His sense of duty was refreshing, but O'Grady often felt that working with Pollack felt more like baby-sitting.

Both of the officers jumped as the radio suddenly began shrieking, for lack of a better word. It was really more of a strange hollow echo. That was the best O'Grady could put it. It was really an indescribable noise.

"What the hell?" Pollack muttered. As he reached to turn off the radio, O'Grady turned to stare, resigned, out of the window. He'd just have to tolerate the silence.

A moment later, O'Grady swore he saw a little girl on his side of the road. She was wearing a blue plaid dress, white tights and black leather shoes. As they passed her, he made eye contact with the girl. O'Grady's blood ran cold. Her eyes were glowing red. He blinked and looked back to where she was standing.

No one was there.

"Hey, Chief, you okay?"

O'Grady turned to Pollack. "Yeah. Yeah, I am. I just thought I saw something. I didn't get enough sleep last night."

"Okay," Pollack said with uncertainty in his voice, "anyway, we're almost there."

Five minutes later, Pollack pulled the car to a sudden halt. O'Grady stared out of the windshield to where Brusceme lay sprawled on the ground.

Pollack jumped out of the car and ran to Brusceme. "Oh, shit!"

O'Grady walked over to where Pollack knelt by Brusceme. "Danny, you okay? Wake up!"

"You jackass, that won't wake him up." O'Grady grunted. "Hey, Brusceme, some big-chested broad is here to see you."

Brusceme's eyes fluttered open. "Huh? Where?"

O'Grady glanced at Pollack. "See?"

Brusceme then sat bolt upright. "The woman!"

"What woman?"

"She took the baby's body!"

"What?!" Pollack shouted at Brusceme. "Why didn't you go after her?"

"She did something to me. I don't know what, but I couldn't move. Then I heard these sirens and I blacked out."

"Did you get a look at her?"

Brusceme looked down. "No. The fog was too thick."

O'Grady growled. "Well that's fucking great. Now we've got a missing baby's corpse, a delirious man in a holding cell back there, and a mysterious woman who has said baby's corpse."

Pollack stood up. "Speaking of him, we should get back to Brahms and question him. He may know who this woman is."

"Yeah. What else can we do?" O'Grady glared at Brusceme and walked back to the patrol car.