Chapter Three
Your Rain
…...
On the sidewalk of the city are my screams just a whisper
Busy people going nowhere see me soak in the rain
No compassion, nothing matters, my resistance is waiting
Like a flower in the basement waiting for a lonely death
…...
One month later
The old house at 21 West Pyramid Drive was nearly empty as the movers loaded the last of the Sunderland's belongings into the truck. Rebecca stood outside and tightly clutched her teddy bear Winslow as she looked up to the window of her bedroom.
"I miss Rosewood already. I don't have any friends in Charleston."
Molly knelt beside her daughter and put her hand on her shoulder. "I know moving's hard. I had to make a big change when I was about your age. But you'll make new friends just like I did. And you got everyone's e-mail, right?"
Rebecca nodded, afraid that speaking would open the floodgates for her tears.
"Good. That means you can still talk to them all the time."
"Molly, Rebecca," Seth called to his two favorite women from the curb in the driver's seat of their red Suburban.
The two of them quickly got up and got into the van. Molly looked one last time at the house that held so many memories. It was the house where Seth had carried her through the doorway after they returned form their honeymoon. It was where they had brought Rebecca home to the first time. It was in that back yard that the black lab Shadow was buried, along with countless goldfish.
"Seth," Molly said quietly, "Tell me we'll be okay in Charleston."
Seth looked lovingly at his wife. "I trust the new instructor at the YMCA MMA school, we trained together. I'm taking the old lead instructor's place at the dojang in Charleston, and I can sell my paintings just as easily in South Carolina as I can in Maryland."
"New scenery to paint, right?"
"Exactly. And you successfully transferred your CPA office. We found a good school for Rebecca, and she's got both of our social skills combined. I'm sure she'll be the new popular kid in no time."
Molly smiled and looked behind her at Rebecca who was buckled up still clutching Winslow. "It's not safe for her here, anyway."
"I know," Seth agreed.
Molly continued smiling. "I think our lives are about to change completely."
Seth's cell phone rang as he was Molly was speaking. Seth looked at the ID. "It's James." Seth answered with a frustrated role of his eyes. "Hello?"
"Hey, bro. Listen, have you guys left yet?"
"No, we're still in Rosewood, but we're in the car about to take off, why?"
"I know you think I'm crazy 'cause of the whole Silent Hill thing, but you have to trust me on this. On your way through Virginia, do whatever you can not to pass too close to that town."
Seth sighed. "What the hell are you talking about, James."
"Hi Uncle James!" Rebecca shouted from the back seat.
"Yeah, bro, tell her I said hi. Listen, that monster she dreams about is in Silent Hill. You can't go anywhere near that town or you'll never be rid of him, okay? It's a fucked up place, trust me."
"Okay, yeah, avoid Silent Hill. Got it. See ya, bro."
Seth hung up the phone and put it back in his shirt pocket. Seth turned his head around to face the back seat. "Rebecca, James says hi." He turned back to Molly. "Molly, look at the map and see if you can plan a rout around Silent Hill so we don't pass close by it. My brother is paranoid."
"It isn't on the map since the roads got blocked off," Molly answered, "but you can tell where it is if you know where to look. It's in the middle of this forest here." She pointed at the place on the map. "So," she reasoned, still pointing on the map, "All we have to do is take this exit here and keep on that interstate until we get into North Carolina and then get back on our original rout."
"Sounds like a plan to me."
Seth started the engine and shifted the car into drive. Seth sighed. "Time to start life over."
The old house went out of sight as they turned out of the culdesac and away from their old life. Molly was right. Their lives were about to change completely.