Forever
Chapter One -Alone Again
Blue sky to forever,
The green grass blows in the wind, dancing
It would be much better a sight with you, with me,
If you hadn't met me, I'd be fine on my own, baby,
I never felt so lonely, then you came along,
Akira Yamaoka & Melissa Williamson - You're not here.
Stanley stood outside of Goldwyn's car. There were two other doctors there as escorts; Dr Constance Gellar and Dr. Matthew Raimes. Dr. Gellar was Stanley's hypnotherapist and Dr. Raimes had supervised his ward. At the moment, the two doctors were trying to figure out why the car had stalled. The damn thing was working fine until they stopped at the top of the forest path to Toluca Lake. They had stopped to look around, and when they attempted to resaert the car, it wouldn't go.
The stuttering of the engine was starting to get to Stanley. He looked over at the doctors and shook his head. They had no idea what they were doing. They went to college, they had degrees and a high paying job, but the truth was that they were out of their depth here. He didn't know what it was that made him want to leave that place. Maybe it was the silence. It wasn't the silence he was used to, no, even the bird didn't sing here. There were no cicadas, no distant rumbling of passing traffic. It was as though they had drove through a barrier into another world. A world where noise was a sin. And the doctors were making a lot of it.
Sick of waiting, he bagan to walk towards the forest path. He paused at the top and looked down it. That's when he heard it. A noise, deep in the trees. It was unidentifiable, but a noise nonetheless. Without thinking, he ran. He ran until he was so far down the path that the sounds of the dead car's engine were completely drowned out. Silence. No noise, except the pounding of his own heart. No-what was that? He spun around. He could hear something, a sort of rustic creaking. Like a hinge in desperate need of some oil. And it was growing louder, and coming up behind him. Overcome with fear and panic, he ran. All of the way down the path, vaulting over a wooden fence at the bottom and stumbling over something hard.
Alex started to run. She had made it to the bottom of the forest path and found herself in a town. A town meant people, right? Then why was there nobody there?
"Hello?" She screamed. Her voice echoed off the empty buildings. It was an eerie sound. "Is anybody there? Please, I was in an accident!" She spun around a few times, so sure that someone was watching her. It was making her feel uneasy. She decided to keep moving. It was just her luck to crash in a ghost town. Her first priority was finding clothes; it was warm but far too chilly to wear a hospital gown that opened down the back. She thanked the Lord that she was wearing underwear.
The feeling of unease grew with every step that she took. She could feel the fear building up inside of her, it was not a pleasant feeling. She ducked inside a boutique, praying that they had something in her size. If she needed more reassurance that the town was empty, this shopped gave it to her. The floor was strewn with cardboard and clothes, and it was obvious that the place hadn't been dusted in a while. She browsed through the racks and pulled out a pair of jeans and a plainochre tank top before changing in one of the cubicles. She wasn't taking any chances.On the way out she managed to find a mahogany-coloured jean jacket and black sneakers in her size. But being fully-clothed still didn't make her feel at ease. Something wasn't right.
As she exited the shop, she noticed a newspaper lying beside a bin and strolled over to pick it up. She paused to wipe away some muck that was obscuring some writing on the bin. 'The town of Silent Hill asks you to help keep its streets clean'.
"That name," she muttered. There was no-one around to hear her. "Silent Hill." She had heard that name before, but she couldn't remember where. She bent down to pick up the paper and read the date. June 25th, 2006. Alex's heard skipped a beat. June 25th...that was the day that Zach died. But 2006? It was only 2003. She shook her head in disbelief. She must have been in a coma. That was it. But the newspaper could have been old. For all she knew, it could be 2008.
Afeeling of hopelessness consumed her, and she dropped the paper only to wander aimlessly up the road.She was lost. She was all alone, lost anddisorientatedin a ghost town, with no sense of time. Her best bet was to finda car and hope that she could find the keys. The first car she came across was a police car, and the door was open.
Jogging over to it she whispered a silent prayer that it would run, but she could find no keys. She sat in the drivers seat for a moment to regain her composure when she noticed a radio on the passenger seat. It was lying on top of a newspaper. She gently picked up the radio and turned it over a few times in her hand, trying to work out how to use it. She found a power button and flicked it on, but was greeted only by silence. She pressed in a button on the side and spoke into it.
"Hello? Can anybody hear me?" The radio replied with a buzz of static then fell silent again. It was working, but there was no-one around to pick up a signal. Alex sighed and turned to look at the newspaper. This one was different to the one she picked up before. The date was July 5th, 2006. Three years to the day of Zach's funeral, and of her failed suicide attempt.A chill ran up and down her spine again, as though whatever was sending it wanted to make sure that she felt it this time. She tore her eyes away from the date and began to read the headlines.
Orphanage closes as investigation continues.
Mayor resigns after 10 years.
Toluca Lake voted 'most beautiful landmark'.
There was nothing unusual about it; they were just typical community-based stories. She placed the paper back onto the passenger seat and stood up, clipping the radio to her belt. It was obvious that whoever owned the car wasn't coming back. Before leaving, she searched the glove box but only found an empty gun and a pocket light. Empty or not, she didn't have use for a weapon so she left it where it was, but took the pocket light.
Gazing around, she realised that she couldn't see much for the thick fog that seemed to engulf the small town. But she could see enough of a figure that stumbled through the fog to make her sprint towards it, shouting.
Stanley sat up, massaging the back of his head. He must have knocked himself unconcious when he fell over...a headstone. He groaned as he realised the stupidity of it all. He was in a graveyard, no wonder he got scared; those places freaked him out. But now he was alone. He slowly but steadily got to his feet, ignoring the slight pain where his ankle had bashed into the broken slab. A heavy fog covered the graveyard, making it seem more eerie than it should have. Composing himself, Stanley looked back towards the path that he came from. He could hear voices now, obviously belonging to his stupid doctors. He would rather be alone than stuck with a group of bumbling idiots. He could take care of himself, but there was no way that he could take care of three incompetent buffoons as well. So he started to run. But he didn't get far until he doubled over in pain. It was as though someone had stuck a white-hot knife through each of his temples. He couldn't see and the pain was unbearable.
A young girl stood in the graveyard. She must have only been in her early twenties. She wore a plain brown low-cut spaghetti-strapped dress under a dark denim jacket. On her feet she wore light-brown strappy sandals. They were designer, and Stanley knew this because he bough them for her.She turned around to look at him as he approached.
"I knew you'd follow me," she said. She was brunette, like her mother. Stanley took after their father with his dark-blonde locks. Her hair was pulled back into a loose pony tail and clipped up, and her bangs fell carelessly across her face.
"Did you?" The girl smiled.
"Of course. You think it's your job to protect me. You heard me talking about this place in my sleep, didn't you? And when I disappeared you figured this was where I would be."
Stanley blinked as the pain disappeared almost as suddenly as it had came. 'Not again', he thought. When he heard the voices behind him drawing closer, he pulled himself up again and ran out of the graveyard and into the town beyond.
AN - When stuff is in italics it's a flashback or a vision.
