1Chapter 1: The Perceived Nadir

I just wish somebody would call.

Why won't anyone just pick up their phone and call me?

I'm so alone.

I hate it!

I don't want to be alone!

I won't be alone...

A life surrounded by people who called themselves her friends. Yet, amidst this crowd, Rosaline always felt alone. Nothing could quite fill this void within herself. Her friends, who she either kept at arm's length or drew in so close, they pushed her away. Her family, who did all they could to fix whatever it was they thought was wrong with her. Not even her lovers, whom she had all kinds of; caring, sweet, gentle, abrasive, abusive, and downright psychotic. None of them satiated the emptiness.

She laid there, on the floor of her apartment, South Ashfield Heights Apartments suite 202. It had been days since anybody even tried to contact her. The community college had finished the spring semester several weeks ago, so her 'friends' didn't really see the need to talk to her; they didn't have any papers that they needed her to write. As for her family, they were the reason she moved to South Ashfield in the first place. They were always trying to force one medication or another down her throat, and she finally had enough. So, there she lay, wanting somebody to reach out to her. No, wanting somebody to want to reach out to her. She only left her apartment when she absolutely had to buy food or other such necessities. She didn't even know how long she had lain there. It could have been mere minutes, whole days, or even a lifetime. But it didn't matter to her, the loneliness made time obsolete. There were instances when her body reminded her that it was a living thing in need of sustenance and other such natural function. But she ignored it completely, or at least to the point were she wouldn't mess her living room.

Her mind only seemed to fill with reasons she thought nobody wanted to talk to her. All reasons which at first seemed illogical, but she managed to rationalize them with the reasoning of a wounded animal. A puppy that had been kicked one too many times, and decided to lay in the corner and await the inevitable. All this burden upon her spirit seemed unbearable. It seemed as though her mind was finally about to give way underneath this, when she was startled.

Rosaline picked up her phone.

She was met only with static.

Rosaline began to cry. She felt pathetic for being so excited at the prospect of human contact. The sudden realization that she was desperate to be reached for was crushing. She decided that was it, she was finally going to-

The phone rang again. She didn't pick it up so quickly this time. She thought for a second, Is somebody trying to mess with me? It was no big secret with her 'friends' that she wanted attention, so she figured somebody might be fucking around with her head. In spite of this, she picked up her phone again.

Nothing. Not even static.

Goddamn it! Why in the hell wou- She suddenly realized that the phone made no sound whatsoever. Even if somebody was messing with her, the phone would have sounded a hiss from the current passing through it. Her anger was replaced with curiosity. All the rumors and ghost stories about her building began to flood back to her. The ones about the killer who was born and abandoned as a baby in the same complex as hers. How, after they caught him he killed himself in prison by stabbing a spoon into his neck, severing his carotid artery and bled himself to death. And how even that didn't seem to stop his murderous thirst. Then she remembered the eccentric painter who lived in her apartment before her, and was put a little more at ease. She decided to wait, so that the next time the phone rang, she might gain a little insight as to her current predicament.

One hour passed.

Then two.

Then three.

Rosaline was beginning to doze off when the phone rang. Drowsy and surprised, she picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

Nothing. But the electric hiss was there.

"Hello? I'm starting to get irate at this crap! Hello?"

"Rosaline?" She knew the voice right away. Vincent, that slippery fish. They grew up together in her hometown. Though he never managed to help with the void, she still tried her best to keep him around. She even managed to convince him to move to South Ashfield around the same time she did. But he lived over on the west end, clear across town. He did call every once in a while, but it seemed that he wasn't really interested in how she was doing, so long as she was 'okay'. Occasionally, if she acted like she wasn't okay, she could convince him to come and visit her. She thought he felt obligated, but at least she could depend on him to call every once in a while. "Rosey, thank God, I never thought I'd find a working phone in this town."

She could hear it in his voice, even though he tried to hide it. Anxiety of some kind, but she couldn't quite place it. Distress maybe. "Vincent, what's up, it's been a whi-"

"Rosey, you gotta help me. There's something wrong here, in this town. I don't know what the hell it is, but I can't find anybody. And what I did find... Rosey, I nee-."

A shot of static, then a voice on the other end. It sounded like her father, but different, more commanding. Her father never really took to much of an interest in her, except when she was being 'weird'. But this voice had a type of... power behind it. She could barely make out the words through the static- or was it background noise? She couldn't tell. "Go to him. He came to you, now do the same for him, or it'll be your fault. You've failed him before, Rosaline. Don't let it happen again."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"This town, Rose. It's like something out of a bad movie or video game. I can't explain it Rosey. I just... I need your help. Please, Rosey."

He wasn't trying to hide it anymore, and she knew right then what it was.

Fear.

"Just tell me where you are, Vince. I'll go. As soon as I can, I'll go."

"In the town, across the lake from Lakeside Amusement Park."

That couldn't be, she thought. He'd have had to drive right past this area to get there. Why wouldn't he drop in for a visit?

"You mean...Silent Hill?"