Chapter Six: Welcome To Paradise

She took me away and gave me a new life. And for that I thank her. But in some ways, and I hate to say this, she was responsible for everything that happened. She took me to a cozy little resort town in northern Maine. A little town called Silent Hill. It was then that I started to question who she really was.

She seemed to have enough money for an apartment just south of the lake. The lake was called Rosewater, very cute little place, and the park overlooking it, absolutely lovely. Our apartment was in a building called Blue Creek, just next to another apartment building, Woodside was the name if I recall correctly. It was a nice and comfortable little apartment, very nice, and very expensive. She decorated with the oddest assortment of furniture and paintings, not to mention a lot of candles and flowers, which made the room smell just like a nice peaceful and quiet heaven.

Life in Silent Hill was unlike anything I've ever experienced ever before. The people here are extremely religious and nice, humility is above all else to them. But the one thing that was detrimental to this new happiness was the excess of times that seemed to fall into my hands, like a bird shot dead out of the sky. Boredom got me thinking about the past, and with my new mind I was able to break through the barrier separating the two of us, the people in the same body, the other me. Without any problem I was able to locate and file my memories at my pleasure and witness past scenes I never knew even existed.

One of them, the most prominent one, the one I couldn't force to the back of my mind no matter how hard I tried, it occurred around ten years ago. I was eight at the time. It happened back when my father was still alive, before my mother killed him.

It was still when we lived in our older house, in the nicer town. My mother and father were having a fight about me again. Still my father favoring me and my mother abusing me. The fight was about school, if I recall correctly.

"Jean, he can't go to that school anymore. First of all its damn embarrassing, and second he's too goddamn dumb too understand any of the material!" I recall my mother saying in the kitchen as I hid behind the stairs listening.

"What the hell is going on with you Lisa, you used to love that boy, love him like you should, like a mother, now you don't care for him anymore, you treat him like a piece of crap and its not right!" My father yelled back in an effort to defend me.

"Your right I do because that is exactly what he is. He's one of God's little mistakes and I won't bear it any longer!"

"One God's mistakes, oh please Lisa don't bring God into this. With the way you live your life you're surely going to go to hell.:

"Heh, me! I'm not going to go to hell. I'm a good Christian, at least I've been trying to do the right thing, while you sit on your ass and act as if he's normal!"

"A good Christian? How do you even have the courage to call yourself that? God hates sinners like you Lisa. The boy is one of God's creations and God doesn't make mistakes. Just because he made a mistake with you doesn't mean he made a mistake with Darren." My father said, this extremely upset my mother and she said, before leaving the room,

"You bastard, you'll see in the end." She walked passed me and stopped. I could see that she was angry, extremely angry. Her face always turned an intense crimson color and her hands contorted when she was really angry. She said something, or more accurately, tried to say something but her anger made it absolute impossible before her. Her hand raised and traveled through the air desperate to hit my face. I ducked and her hand missed me and went smashing into the wall, her nails digging out chips of paint. This really pissed her off, she was a freak about the condition of her house and always got angry at the smallest things, tiny crumbs on the counter, barely unnoticeable fingerprints on the wall, a few strands of hair in the bathtub, you name it.

I started to crawl up the stairs, still facing my mother. I only got about one stair up when she grabbed my head and slammed it into the stair. She then started punching me, she wasn't very good at it though. Instead of hard and steady blows I was pelted by a hurricane of slicings and cuts by her nails. This type of pain is the worst. My face was cut open, she ripped through my clothes, digging at my body with her long nails. I spared a look at her face, a monster was my first thought. Her eyes were distorted as was her mouth and nose. Her skin was stretched in its last extremity and her eyebrows were nearing the top of her head. She continued and no one came to help not even my father, he was too afraid of her. And the one time he did dare to interfere he was killed. I loved him very much, much more than your average son would love his father. What's surprising is at that time I hated everyone, all humans, I found them disgusting and dirty creatures, inferior to every other living thing. But him, he was different. He wasn't a human, he was a god to me.

"Hey Darren, whatcha' doing !" A happy voice said in my ear. It was Kara. She sprang up on the bed next to me.

"Oh just thinking." I replied rather dully.

"Thinking, you've been doing an awful lot of that lately haven't you? What are you thinking about now?" he said smiling as she twirled a curl of brighten golden hair in-between her fingers.

"Not much, my family." I said as I turned towards her.

"Your family? You haven't told me much them. Do you miss them?" She asked me sounding worried and concerned. How cute, I thought. This girl is something else, I'll tell you that.

"No not much, only my little sister." I said, Addie appearing in my mind, wearing the costume she had to wear in the play she didn't even get to go to.

"Mmm, you never told me you had a little sister, tell me about her please!" She asked me laughing. God she's cute.

"All right, she's about four years younger than me and absolutely beautiful, just like you. I feel bad though because the last time I saw her she was really disappointed because I was supposed to take her to a school play but that night I got into a fight walking home to pick her and she missed out." I said in practically one breath.

"Ohhhh, how cute." she said frowning. That made me sad, having to think about Addie again, not knowing what she's doing right now or what she's like. I miss her so much.

"Yea." I said staring at the wall blankly. A few moments passed in silence. Then Kara grabbed my hand and pulled me off the bed, I nearly fell over too.

"I know, c'mon let's go down to the park, it's a beautiful day and it will be terrible if we just let it fade away." She said as she dragged me into the other room and out the apartment.

The park was only about a ten minutes walk away and we started down the street. A lot of people were out surprisingly. Kara was right, it was an absolute brilliant day out. The sun was high in the bright blue sky, a nice comfortable cool breeze was blowing about, and the fresh smell of lake water and flowers filled the air.

When we got there we found a small secluded spot just near the water's edge. Kara had a small blanket with her and she spread it out over the grass. It was a pink cloth with small white flowers on it, they, in the most part, resembled iris's. She sat down and motioned for me to do the same. She was beautiful today. She was wearing a white blouse and brownish color blouse which descended down near her ankles. Her golden hair blew in the wind and her ever changing green eyes penetrated deep into mine.

The park was filled with people. Families out enjoying the weekend day. Couples out enjoying the lovely scenery. Kids swimming in the water. People fishing. Everything was completely normal. A small boy was playing with his dog. A golden retriever. He threw a Frisbee and the dog ran down the small hill towards the lake after it. He jumped in the air in an attempt to snatch it but failed and he went head first into the water while the Frisbee landed some two feet in front off him. His head popped out of the water and he swam towards the Frisbee.

A fisherman on a dock only a few feet away struggled as his pole was being bent over by a tugging fish in the water. He yelled at his buddy to come and help him. His friend was sitting in a fold up lawn chair sipping on a beer. When he saw the pole he hopped up excitedly and ran to help his friend. The tow of them had trouble getting the fish in. When it finally came up from the water they yelled in delight. It was massive, almost a foot long rock bass. They ran up their dock, the fishy still dangling on the line, flipping out wildly. They shouted for a camera in the direction of their cottage.

A couple just a few feet from us started to kiss. I instantly looked away out to the deep waters. A small mist was out in the middle of the lake and started to come closer to us. It gave the scene unparalleled brilliance, like it was taken straight out of a painting. I looked over at Kara, she was looking out at the lake as well, a sad smile on her face. She was upset by something.

"What's wrong?" I asked her. She looked at me and sighed.

"Oh, its nothing." She said as she grabbed my hand and lifted me to my feet along with her, her happy smile and pretty giggles returning.

"C'mon!" She said, "Let's go swimming!" She took off her blouse and skirt revealing a bikini. She came prepared, I didn't.

"I've got nothing to wear though." I said. She looked at me and laughed.

"Oh well, just come in in your boxers and shirt." She said right before she ran down to water's edge. She knew I didn't like taking my shirt off, but how? I never told her before. I took my pants off and put them down on the blankets upon her clothes. I walked down slowly and took my place beside her. She look dishearten.

"Oh, it's really cold." She said as she shivered. She put her foot in and yanked it out.

"Oh, come on, you're the one that wanted to go in." I said playfully. She looked at me and then grabbed my hand.

"Wait a minute, you might want to take that off." She said pointing at my chest. The necklace, the one with the heart on it. I started wearing it after that night constantly, I don't know why though. But this is the first time I wore it over my shirt instead of under it.

"Wait, is that a heart Darren?" She said laughing. My face turned red.

"Yes, it is." I said. She looked at me like she never did before. Her eyes changed color and she became terrifically pretty.

"Why are you wearing a heart on your chest Darren?" She said playfully. My face turned even redder, she noticed and seemed to be enjoying taunting me.

"I don't know, I found it my pocket the night we left Mansfield. That night at the hospital I found in my pants pocket." I said lost in thought as I remembered that day.

"Oooh, is that your girlfriend's?" She asked me lost in laughter. I never once had a girlfriend.

"No, I never had a girlfriend. Strange thing is, that previous night, before we left I mean. I had a dream and in it some man was wearing this." I said as I turned the golden pendant around in my hand.

"All right," she said as if she didn't believe me. "Hey, is that real gold?" Her eyes glowed with happiness as the locket glimmered in the sunlight. I never really bothered to check before. I never even thought of it before now.

"Ummm, I wouldn't know." I said not really caring, I mean if it was gold why would I care. She took the locket out of my hand as a breeze of cool air swept across the lake. The little kids in the water were splashing about and tiny droplets of water got caught in the wind and hit me in the face.

"It is!" She half screamed. "Almost pure too!"

"Wow, I guess I never bothered to check." I said to her. She didn't even hear me. She was too busy fussing over the locket. I could see the look of happiness in her face and my heart skipped a beat.

"You know what," I said as I took the chain off of me and put in her hand, "Here, it's yours." She nearly burst with happiness as she squealed and hugged me.

"Aww, thank you so much Darren!" She said in my ear.

"One condition though."

"Oh, and just what is that?" She asked playfully.

"You have to promise not to sell it." I said.

"Oh really. Don't worry I won't sell it Darren. I love it too much." She said as she ran over to the our stuff and stuffed it under everything. I don't know why but for some reason I felt that that pendant must have some deep significance.

She rushed back over towards me, stopping just before the water. She was still afraid of the coldness.

"Aren't you going to go in?" I said playing with her. She didn't look to happy though.

"No it's too cold." she said sadly.

"Oh, you know what?" I asked.

"And just what is that.?" she asked, some happiness returning. I

I didn't answer her. I grabbed her hand and ran into the water, pulling her in behind me. She cried out in shock and then started to laugh.

"Darren!" She said in a make-believe angry voice. She splashed water in my face and I returned the favor.

We sat there in the water for hours until dusk, about a foot away from the shore, the water up to our chests. The sunset was perfect from this view. The entire other side of the lake could be seen, the old homes, and the hills. Perfect setting. The sun was beginning to settle, slowly fading away behind the blue hills. The sky filled up with an orange and purple paint, I looked over at Kara. She was looking at the sunset, her face was covered in a happy and dazed look. Her skin was becoming a grayish blue as the sun set. The orange and purple gave way to grays and blues. Scattered lights in the sky appeared the more the sun went down. The moon appeared and the last of the sun vanished. The water lapped up against the rocks as Kara shivered and grabbed my hand, motioning for me to get up. We dried ourselves and got dressed and walked back to the apartment, deep in conversation. She was extremely happy as was I.

When we got back to our room she collapsed on her bed deep in sleep. I smiled as sat down next to her and pushed her hair out of her face. She's absolutely beautiful. I walked into my room, undressed and hopped under the covers. I fell asleep instantly and had wonderful dreams about the time at the park with Kara.

I awoke sometime during the night and ventured to my window and peered out into the dark town. The streets were empty and the only light came from the streetlights which cast a haunting glow on everything. I sighed, my breath leaving a mist on the window, and went back to bed. Not even remembering this in the morning.