Silent Hill 2: Founded Fears

Chapter 3

Brother

Angela watched as the man left her where she was, and by the rather dark feeling she was getting from him, maybe it was for the better that she stayed away from him, although she had no idea why she should be so afraid of him. He was looking for someone too, just like her. But, maybe like her, he was also looking for that person to...no, she couldn't worry about whoever that was right now. She had more urgent matters...at the ranch.

Picking herself up and wiping off the grass her pants had acquired while she was kneeling, she double-checked her map to confirm the location of the ranch. She started walking, then stopped for a minute. She looked back towards the church where she was just attacked.

"Must have been my imagination. Demons only made their appearances in biblical times, not in random graveyards," she thought. Still, she was too shaken by the experience to check whether the body inside the church was still there. She reached into her pocket to take out her knife. She felt foolish, but what's the harm of any protection? Besides, whos to say another human wouldn't want to try and mug her in town? Although, even from here, Angela felt the town's emptiness. Gathering her courage again, she walked to where the man exited the graveyard, and exited herself.

The path was just a dirt trodden road, not meant for any vehicle but rather for hiking than anything else. As she walked along, she started hearing noises in the brush, but she just jogged that up to some forest critters running around out there.

5 minutes passed.

Angela had just reached a rather shabby looking structure that looked to be once a checkpoint. A checkpoint for what, she wasn't sure. All she knew is that it was made of wood for ceiling and floor, and a chainlink fence for the walls. She was just about to enter when she started hearing noises in the brush again. She turned, curious to see what was going on. Then she heard breathing. It sounded like something had been walking or running for a long time, and it had stopped to take a rest. Angela was afraid that something was stalking her. This person, or thing, whatever, had been following her since the graveyard. Brandishing her knife for use, she stepped closer to the brush, trying to see through the ever-thickening fog. As she got closer, a shape came about in shadow. She stared at it, confused. As she did, the thing turned around (from what she could tell) and went lumbering into the forest. Angela was perplexed. She could have sworn she was looking at an upright door with legs. The fog and the stress of the church must have been getting to her. Turning around, she finally went through the checkpoint, and passed without incident to the other side.

As she walked, Angela kept repeating to herself what road that the ranch was on.

"Wilson Road, Wilson Road, Wilson Road..." Angela had been known to be so forgetful. It had gotten her into trouble quite a few times, and she really hadn't improved as she got older. In fact, she had gotten worse. It was almost like an early case of dementia. However, there were certain things she could never forget. Like her brother. Where Daddy was often rough with her, and Mama was apathetic, David was always...well, David. Angela's original intention was to find Mama, but she really hoped for a chance encounter with David as well...

...The ranch of one of the most beautiful places she had ever seen. There were horsies, some of them ponies. There were sheep (they were baaaaashful, she thought to herself) and cows and cowpies and rabbits. Yeah, the rabbits were one of the best parts. And furthermore, the place was in a forest, where there would be smaller critters around. And the forest was big with lots of trees. She was no longer confined in her house.

Angela is now celebrating her tenth birthday and everyone in her family had come. Gramma and Grampa, her Aunt and Uncle, along with her two cousins. Unfortunatly, she also had to invite her mean bigger brother, David. He acted so cool just because he was eighteen now, and he always had to pust her around. Well, not today. Today she was a big girl, and that meant he had to start being nice to her. Nothing was going to spoil this day.

The barbecue that was set up was smelling good. Daddy was making hamburgers and hot dogs, while he had Mama take care of getting the ice cream (her parents were forgetful to get things sometimes, but that was okay, at least Daddy remembered her birthday. She thought Mama did to, but of that Angela wasn't too sure). They smelled delicious, and Daddy looked like he enjoyed making them. He even had one of his beers in his hand, and you could tell he really liked what he did when he was drinking.

Two hours passed, and Angela had already received her presents. She got clothes, and school supplies, and even some candy. She was hoping for some dolls or toys to play with, but that was alright. At least she still had her teddy bear waiting at home. The cake was good, as well as the barbecue. She could tell Daddy enjoyed it too. She could tell that by how he was laughing and his nose was getting red. Of course, the day was not over yet. For the final part, she would get to ride on a horse.

David could not believe all the attention the little brat was getting. He was the male of the household, and that made him in charge after father passed away. What right did this girl have to happiness when she hadn't earned it. She wasn't born a boy, she didn't wrestle with father whenever he needed someone to brawl with when he was drunk. All Angela did was cry...She had to go. She was undeserving of love. No matter how many times he told that to Angela, she would never listen. Angela was the reason Dad drank, and here she was, enjoying herself. Well, Dad was getting wasted again, and Mom's back was practically perpetually turned on whatever he was doing. The horse ride was coming up. That gave him ideas...

Angela was being helped up by Daddy. She nearly fell, because Daddy had been drinking too much again, but at least he didn't mean to almost hurt her this time. As she settled in her saddle, she looked around to stick her tongue out at David. He usually was dissapointed when she managed to escape harm. However, he was nowhere to be found. Angela was confused. Where could he be?
She realized a second later that she like it better this way. No David whatsoever. She gladly took the horse off on a trot, down the short trail into the forest.

He was in position behind a tree near the midpoint of the path. Soon Angela would be making the bend on the horse, and then he would make his move. He heard the clops. She was coming...

Angela loved being by herself, even if it was for just a few minutes on a horseride. In fact, the ride was already halfway through. The U-turn was approaching, and soon she would be back to her loving family. She turned the corner.

Now to strike! David took the pebble from his pocket, and with precision, chucked it into the horse's eye. It was a bulls-eye (so to speak). The horse reared, and went stampeding down the trail. Unfortunatly, Angela was still on its back. Damn, he intended for her to fall or break her neck. Or if that failed, break her neck for her before anyone came to investigate.

Angela couldn't understand what was wrong with the horsie. Something like a bug hit it, and all of a sudden it got scared. She was holding on for dear life as she sped back to where she began.

The end of the party was a disaster, at least David had that much to chalk up for a victory. It had taken three hours to clear up the mess. All the guests left early in order to stay out of the chaos, leaving Angela alone with the immediate family, and an extremely pissed off owner. Angela was thrown off as the half blind horse crashed into a corral fence, but she only suffered a few bruises. The horse, however, wasn't so lucky. It had broken its leg, and it had to be put down. It was the most valuable horse the ranch had, and Dad was paying through the nose for it. $8,000 in all, with the price having to be backed up by a loan from the bank. As they were heading towards the car to go home (Mom was obviously driving, seeing the shape Dad was in), he had another idea. David stopped Dad for a second and said, "You know Dad, you saw that missing eye, right?" Thomas groaned, which was yes in drunk talk. "Well, I happened to see before the accident that Angela wanted something she thought was stuck to the horse's eye, and she accidently blinded it with a stick when she tried to get it. Hasn't she been a bad girl?" Thomas, already impaired in judgement by alcohol and financial trauma, was letting the information set in as he started walking again. David could see that Dad was getting angry, and in his state he wouldn't, no, couldn't be skeptical about the story. It was going to be fun when they got home...

Angela remebered that at the end of the day, she was beaten so bad that she had to be taken to the hospital for broken ribs, a fractured skull, and internal bleeding. Daddy had managed to get out of going to jail that time, but later he wasn't so lucky. That story, however, was for another time.

Angela had just reached the ranch. Looking around, she noticed that she had walked a long while...again...while in a daze. She had to stop doing that. She was going to approach the fence, but her face fell at what she saw. There was barbed wire all over the fence, and saw that chains were put up around the door.

"When did this happen?"

She was about to go further down the road when she spotted a red truck.
"What's that doing there?"

Angela approached and looked into the trunk. There wasn't much, just a hedgeclipper. Angela knew exactly what she wanted to do with that. She picked it up, and brought over to the chains that held the door closed. Praying it would work, she used the clippers. The chains came off easily. As she entered the ranch, she noticed that there was cloth and blood caught on the barbed wire.

"Ok, the wire's doing its job, but what was so desperate to want to get inside the place in need of doing that?"

She decided not to think about it, and entered the ranch building.

End Chapter
Author's note: whew. I wanted to make this chapter longer, but I got tired, and the next event doesn't need to be in this chapter anyway. Also, I do not know if the ranch lies on the beginning of Wilson Rd. or not, I just chose a road on the map that seemed convinient. Let me know what you guys think. One last thing. Due to future content, this fic will be rated M. +)