Silent Hill: Beyond The Edge Of Reason

NB: SH3 opening, does not hold true to game in entirety, it has been re-worked to better suit the novel format

Prologue

Round and around and around, round they went. Spinning with artificial elegance on their preset path, with no one to view their grace. Each wooden horse bounced lightly as it danced to the tinkling music that filled the air, but something was wrong. The music sounded distant, to highly pitched giving the playful tune a vaguely sinister air, perhaps the pipes where clogged, the ride certainly hadn't been serviced in a while. The horses were covered in ancient dustsheets, sheets that had only partially protected the absorbent wood from the blood that coated the rest of the ride like thick red paint. Rust covered steel where crimson stains failed to prevail, causing a low grinding, just audible beneath the faltering scream of the carousel as it spun its lazy pirouette. It was then that she became aware, then that she realised that she cold felt the artic tang of the cold air, felt the pain caused by the carousel's grinding motion, saw the rising mist rise up to block her view and tug at her with fingers of ice, dragging her further into the dream… it was a dream wasn't, it had to be… and yet. Slithers of glass ran down her spine, her cries making the fog grow denser and then… it vanished, and she found herself standing before large stone arch. No, not stone, it was made from many bricks interlocking together and it wasn't just an arch it was a tunnel. There was something above the arch, a sign of some sort, but when she looked up the fog rusted back to surround her, just as it did when she thought of going back, attempting to leave this place.

Suddenly the tunnel rushed forward, engulfing her like the maw of some terrible beast. She would have screamed if she had a mouth, but she was just a presence, trapped in the cold, damp mist of unreality. Each moment elongated, blurring into the next in a dizzying kaleidoscope of pain and confusion until… it was gone. The mist, the tunnel everything gone and she was left, trapped in the obliterating white of inexistence, sustained and defined solely by her suffering, and then, what might have been a second or an eternity later, the world rushed back in, shattering the fog before it could embrace her. Air, cool and crisp, rushed into her lungs. Lungs?, yes that was right, people needed air to live, and lungs to take in the life giving gases. Her arms and legs tingled and pimpled under the cold airs harsh treatment, reminding her that they needed to be moved to stay warm. A body? I have a body? Try as she might she couldn't recall why this surprised her, of course she had a body, didn't everyone? A violent shiver shook her body, reminding her of her rather Spartan attire. A sleeveless orange polo-neck top covered by a sleeveless padded white flannel jacket and a racy brown miniskirt emphasised her slim, almost bony physique and knee high leather boots completed the ensemble. Relatively flattering in a trailer trash kind of way, but not very practical in the face of this cold. So why was she wearing it? A new scent drifted in with her second breath, the smell of decay, quickly banishing such trivial thoughts from her mind. Gradually her attention turned outwards and the world around her came into focus. Broken stalls, covered in grime, splintered supports clawing jaggedly for release from their torment lay everywhere, and lying on the bench in from of her, the mouth of what she assumed must have been part of some sort of mascot costume covered in blood, was the source of the smell. Gasping she stepped back in alarm, her boots echoing on the strange steel grate that had been used as a platform over the gaping dark pit beneath her feet. The mascot was in the image of a giant pink rabbit in comically oversized red dungarees, the name Robbie Rabbit emblazoned on the pocket underneath the words Lakeside Amusement Park written in cursive. The getup may have seemed funny if not for the splattering of crimson fluid that plastered the mouth and front of the mascot as if the man inside had been torn apart inside his costume or perhaps he had… There was a low growl in the distance and she spun with a yelp. She scanned the area furtively, but no danger leapt from amongst the coloured rags and shattered booths to assail her. The growl faded and was replaced by a faint tinkling, like a bell gently struck, carousel music. The tune called to her, enchanting her even as the memory of the guttural growl that had preceded it filled her with an inexplicable fear. She had to find that sound. Clambering over the debris around her, scratching thin red lines on her arms and legs, she scrambled onward, doing her best to ignore the lumps of discoloured flesh that poked grimly out of the rubble, as if to guide her. Blind to her own nausea she struggled on, the music drawing greater speed out of her than she believed she was capable of, something important hinged on her getting to its source in time. The rubble eventually gave way and her boots rang hollowly in the unnatural silence as she ran across the steel grate. Stalls, rides, old and broken, long devoid of the joy and raucous laughter that should have surrounded them, flashed by on either side, all seeming inexplicably sinister in their solitude.

The closer she got to the sound, the greater her sense of unreality became, as if the fog was trying to keep her from a great treasure. Her legs became harder to feel, more sluggish.

In the distance the carousel began to rise, lifted up on tethers of mist and dream and out of her reach.

Desperate now she searched for a way up to her goal. There was an old rollercoaster ride, it's dangerously decayed track running past the floating carousel. She flew up the stairs, knowing she didn't have much time left, the fog was back, eating her existence, cutting her off from the body she needed to be whole again, to reach her goal.

Rebellious limbs carried her onto the track and she staggered in the direction of the ride.

As she got closer she could see the outline of a young woman, her thick black hair slicked to her skull, reaching out to her, like she was embracing a long lost relative, but her face was etched with fear.

"Who are you?", she shouted at the girl

"You shouldn't be here, she'll find you/us", the girl answered in a strange, echoing voice, "leave"

"Where am I?"

"Leave"

"Wha-", lights blinded her as something struck her at incredible speed, shattering her body and returning her to the cold embrace of the fog…

Author notes: Prologue complete, thanks to those who have/will review, the next chapter will be finished shortly, please bare with me on matters of paragraphs etc, I'm still adjusting to the setup on this sight