Disclaimer: You know the drill. Silent Hill and all recognizable characters and settings belong to the dark gods at Konami, who've given us so many great games. Alessa's parents in this AU are mine, but I doubt anyone else would want them. ;)

I know what you're all thinking about this update: it's about damn time! I couldn't agree more. I really lost my way as a writer for a while, but from now on, I'm definitely going to do my best not to let it happen again. Of course, having a beta who tells me to quit slacking off and get to work helps quite a bit. Thanks Lea-Lynn!

Since the first chapter, my plans for this story have grown. Expect to see the Order make its presence known at some point in the story, as well as a cameo appearance by two very beloved SH characters. As for Alessa's situation, it will be fully explained later on in the story.

Chapter 3 - Midnight Ponderings

It was a quarter past midnight. The lights were out in the spacious home that served as the Summers' residence. Alessa's parents had retired to their room, leaving their daughter to do the same.

Alessa sat on her bed with her legs folded. The lights and the TV were off; she didn't feel like watching or playing anything right now. Unfortunately, she couldn't get to sleep either. Too much was on her mind. So she opted to simply sit there, staring at nothing in particular. She didn't mind the near pitch black darkness – it gave her a chance to think; to focus her thoughts on what was bothering her without any distractions.

She was still thinking about that incident from the afternoon. She had had a conversation with her mother about it, but she had avoided the details. The conversation revolved around Alessa's missing cell phone, which Alessa excused away as leaving it behind in the car. Her mother knew something was wrong, Alessa was sure of it; but she hadn't probed deeper into what happened. Her timidity and evasive attitude showed the other woman something had happened at the mall; at least, Alessa thought so. But if her mother picked up on her nervousness, she kept it quietly to herself. She was content to let Alessa come to her.

Of course, if her mother had gone outside and checked her car anyway despite her wishes, then she already knew Alessa's cell phone was missing. In which case, it wouldn't be long before Alessa heard about it. Still, being grilled about a cell phone was nothing compared to what she would get if she told her parents the truth. Alessa knew she had to tell them, but she was very uncertain as to how to do so. She thought about not telling them entirely, but she knew this was something she needed to clear up.

There was no telling how it would go. Would her parents even believe her? There were only two options, really. Either they would be amazed at the sheer coincidence, or else, they would think their little girl had finally snapped.

Maybe she had. It would certainly be about time, after everything she'd been through.

Alessa frowned to herself. She wasn't crazy and she knew she wasn't imagining things. That unsettling encounter in the mall had really happened, leaving her with a stack of question she wasn't sure she was ready to address. It may have been just a regular person who bore an uncanny resemblance to her, but something told her this person was her double; her other self. She wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly feeling uneasy about the situation. She had done the right thing not telling anyone about what happened, right? She needed time to process and come up with a plan. Besides, this had nothing to do with them. It was her double she encountered, and chances were that it would never happen again. So why did she feel so guilty about the lie? She supposed it was just her conscience bothering her, because she rarely lied to them about anything. She knew she had to tell them, it was just a matter of how. Although even if they doubted her, she knew that she was right. She took comfort in that: in knowing that her senses were still as active as ever.

The cell phone was another issue. Dropping it had been a huge error on her part. All her info was on there, and her parents' numbers too. Their numbers were unlisted for a reason. They also made sure not to advertise the location where they lived. She knew all too well the types of people that were out there loose in the world, many of them hiding under the guise of some benevolent cause.

Was her double one of them? She certainly hoped not, but there was no rule that said your double had to be exactly like you. And then there was Alessa's own past. She had renounced the destructive force in her home town long ago, after it annihilated her life. What if her other self had not?

What if said double picked up her cell phone? Alessa was almost certain she had – it's what she would have done in the exact same situation. Hell, it was what anyone would have done were they confronted with such a bizarre occurrence. On first glance, it seemed like a relatively harmless possibility. But what if it wasn't?

Hell, her name was written on the back of her cell phone. Maybe not her full name, but how common was a name like hers in this city? There couldn't be too many of them. How hard could it be to track her down using her phone number, especially if her double had the access to some helpful sources? With the resources of the Order at her disposal, her alternate could track her down in no time.

But the Order didn't exist in this place…

Did it?

Alessa shook away the paranoid thoughts. Now she was just getting silly. She didn't have a great impression of the girl, but from what she saw, she didn't look like anything more than a normal teen. She'd had some bad luck in her life…very bad luck…but there was no way she could be this unlucky.

Right?

Alessa sighed, lying down sideways on her bed. She was so confused. She didn't know whether to be excited she had met an exact duplicate of herself or terrified at what that duplicate could be. Her father would know. He could look up info on anybody. But Alessa wasn't sure how he would react to this. She had lied to him, after all, just as she lied to her mother.

"God, I'm paranoid," the raven-haired woman muttered. She was making this incredibly huge deal over someone she didn't even know. But was it warranted here?

Alessa tried to focus on the other side of the coin. She was only looking at the negative; the dangers that this person being her alternate could bring. What about the positives?

She assumed that her double was malevolent, or at the very least, not to be trusted. But the opposite could just as easily be true. This…mirror image could turn out to be a lot like her. She could share her values, her goals, her love of books and taste in movies and video games…

…And her hatred of the Order, if it ever existed here.

Alessa stared down at her right arm. The skin was fine now – all nice and healed, if a little pale. It wasn't always so. She remembered a time when it was charred and grotesque, the victim of a despicable crime that should never have been allowed to happen. Not a day went by that she wasn't reminded of it in one form or another. The flicker of the stove lighting up, the mention of a house fire on the news…every time she saw something relating to fire, she remembered the way the flames had ravaged her body.

She had tried to talk to people about it, of course. Nobody ever really understood. How could they? As much as they loved her, the fact remained her parents hadn't experienced what she had. And burn victims usually healed to some degree. They received treatments, came out with some scars, and then they moved on with their lives. They didn't languish in a coma with their skin blackened to a crisp while no one so much as gave them a pain killer.

Her thoughts turned to what the other girl's life might have been like. Had she gotten the same raw deal as her? Alessa wondered. Had she felt the same agony inflicted on her body as the Order put her through one horror after another? And what about her parents? Were they the same on this place, or was it possible she had ended up being raised by someone else?

Were they even alive?

A shudder ran through her as she thought of what it would have been like to end up in Dahlia's care. Her blood almost chilled at the thought. Regardless of whatever happened or didn't happen to her parents on this world, she prayed her double had been lucky enough not to end up in that twisted old hag's supervision. Nobody deserved that type of punishment.

So many questions…and only one way to get the answers for them.

Alessa wasn't a cruel person. She prayed with all of her heart that her double had been able to avoid that hell.

But if she hadn't…

If she hadn't, Alessa realized, then she may have finally found the one person in the world who could truly understand what she'd been through.

Yes, this could be a blessing in disguise. Here she was assuming that her double's appearance had some malevolent purpose to it, when the opposite could just as easily be true. This could be one of the best things that ever happened to her.

Alessa marveled at her sudden change in thinking. How had she gone from dreading what her double represented to wanting to meet her in the span of a few minutes? Yet she could not deny that it was true. She wanted to meet this girl, more than she had ever wanted to meet anyone before.

There was just one thing she had to do first.

Alessa stood up from the bed and headed for her parents' room. She knew she had to tell them what happened, without wasting any more time. It was the only way to clear her mind and allow her to get some sleep tonight. And perhaps in the morning, they could give her some advice on what to do, because she sure didn't know how to go about tracking down this girl. Yet it was something she wanted to do. She was sure of it now.

It was a quarter past midnight. The lights were out at the modest apartment that Harry and Heather Morris called home. Both Harry and his daughter had gone to bed for the evening. Being considerably older in age, Harry surrendered quickly to the day's exhaustion and was enjoying a peaceful, dreamless slumber.

Heather was not. She tossed and turned on her bed, trying repeatedly to settle into a comfortable position. It was no use – something was off tonight. The bed that was usually so comfy felt hard and lumpy, as if the mattress springs were poking into her back. She rolled to the side again, only to swear an annoyed curse when her hand met the wall on her right.

When Heather and her father first moved into this apartment, Harry offered to let his daughter have the larger bedroom. Harry knew that his little girl was growing up and would soon need her space as she entered the age of adolescence. To his surprise, Heather would have none of it. Harry tried several times to convince her to take the larger room, but Heather refused each and every time.

At the time, she thought nothing of it. Her dad worked so hard to make sure she had a decent life; he deserved to have the bigger room. But every so often, on nights like this, she sometimes wished she had just taken the large room when she had the chance. Maybe then she wouldn't feel so confined in her own bed.

She knew of course, that the problem wasn't her room. It wasn't with her bed either. No, the problem was with her.

She had tried everything to take her mind off what happened that morning at the mall. Watching TV, reading, playing some board games with her dad; she even tried going out with him for ice cream. Nothing worked. No matter what she did, she just couldn't get over the embarrassing incident with that mysterious girl.

And it was embarrassing. Why did she have to do the first thing that came to mind like that? She must have looked like a psycho to the other girl; like some stalker looking to kidnap their unknowing victim. God, what was wrong with her? Once again, she'd let her stubbornness get in the way of her better judgment.

She'd tried looking up the girl online. Contrary to what she'd told her father, Heather wasn't that averse to the idea of finding this 'Alessa'. If it were anyone else she would have just forgotten about the incident and be done with it, but a person who looked just like her? And who sparked some kind of instinct inside her? This was just too interesting to pass up. She hadn't gone far, though. The early results weren't encouraging, but Heather knew she could find this person given enough time. Yet for some reason she didn't understand, she was also a little hesitant to do so. It boggled her, that she could be so intrigued by this mystery girl, yet at the same time, be the slightest bit reluctant to find her.

Heather wondered why she was taking an interest in this girl. What was the connection there? And there was a connection here, she was sure of it. The only question was what.

Again shifting positions on the bed, she turned her thoughts to the mysterious beauty's name, so elegant in its simplicity. Alessa…what a pretty name, she thought. It was simple and understated, but exquisite; not at all plain. She wished she had a name like that, as opposed to the more forgettable one she had chosen years prior.

"Alessa," Heather whispered aloud. She had never heard it before, and yet the name rolled off the tip of her tongue with surprising familiarity. She almost didn't care about the girl's last name. Something about that first name, Alessa, sparked a vague feeling in Heather's mind that she couldn't quite pinpoint.

What was her life like? The curious brunette wondered. Where did she live? What was she like? What about her family? Did she have both a mom and a dad, or just one caring father like Heather? For that matter, did she even live with her parents, or was she taken care of by another family member?

Most perplexing of all, why did she look so much like her?

Heather sighed. She knew what she had to do. There was so much she didn't know, so much she wanted to know, and only one way to find out.

There was just one thing she had to do first.

Heather got up off her bed and headed for her father's room. This late at night, she was sure she would be disturbing him. Then again, it was Harry who often told her not to hesitate to come to him when she had a problem. They had learned that lesson well early on in Heather's high school years.

The younger Morris didn't bother knocking on the door before she opened it. One of the benefits of having a father who never dated was that Heather never had to worry about Harry bringing home any friends, which meant she never had to fear interrupting something private at times like this.

"Dad?" Heather called out softly. Harry was sound asleep, snoring softly into his pillow. He didn't stir, so Heather tried again, much louder this time.

"Dad!"

This one did the trick. Harry startled awake almost immediately, grumbling to himself as he realized what, or rather who, had woken him.

"Heather?" Harry mumbled, squinting at her blurry features. He took a look at the clock on the nightstand. "It's one a.m."

"I know, Dad. I need to talk to you."

"Can't it wait?" Harry asked, tiredly rubbing his eyes.

"Dad, it's important," Heather insisted. As he expected, Harry stared at her for a moment before his face softened.

"Okay. Come here," he said, patting a spot next to him on the bed.

Harry sat up and straightened himself as Heather took a seat next to him. The young woman briefly felt her face warm as she caught sight of Harry's muscular chest with only a hint of excess weight. For a fifty year old guy, Harry wasn't in bad shape. He rarely wore much to bed, just a pair of boxer shorts and a thin undershirt sometimes. He had foregone the latter tonight, leaving Heather with a close up view of his bare torso.

Heather didn't mind – she wasn't one of those teenagers who fretted about their parents' physical appearance. Her father was a handsome man and she was quite willing to acknowledge that, albeit with the occasional blush. The only thing was, it did make her wonder about her father's reluctance to date. It wasn't like she was eight years old anymore, she was nineteen and perfectly capable of taking care of herself. Why was he so afraid to approach women when he had such good looks? It had to be more than simple shyness.

"So, what do you have to tell me?" Harry asked his daughter.

"Okay," Heather began leisurely. "I did some thinking and I realized that you were right. This afternoon I mean, when we talked about what happened at the mall."

Harry's interest suddenly peaked. "Really?"

"Yeah. I realized that you were right, I am interested in meeting this girl. There's something there I'm not quite sure of, and I want to know more about what it is."

"I'm glad you realize that," Harry nodded. "Is there anything else?"

"Yeah. I, uh, I'm sorry for being so stubborn earlier. I was just weirded out by what happened," Heather said.

"It's okay. Who wouldn't be?" Harry replied, softly patting her shoulder. "Besides, you weren't really stubborn. Just a little…persistent."

"Oh, is that what you call it?"

"Yep. My persistent, thick-headed little girl," Harry stated.

"Gee, thanks Dad," Heather answered sarcastically, though she had to smile at that.

"What are you going to do?" Harry asked, referring to Alessa.

Heather shrugged. "I'll figure it out later. Right now, I just want to get some sleep."

"Okay. Goodnight Heather," Harry gave his daughter a warm hug.

"Goodnight Dad," Heather said back, thankful to have such a caring person in her life.

With Heather gone back to her own room, Harry tried to settle back into a state of unconsciousness. For a while he simply lay there with his eyes open, staring at the bedroom door. Heather was a good kid. She was smart and kind and generous, with a bit of a sharp tongue that made for some very amusing moments at times. When Harry's wife passed away sixteen years ago, he wasn't sure he was up to the challenge of raising a child by himself, especially a daughter. Yet he had to admit, Heather had turned out pretty well.

If only Jodie had been there to see it…

Suddenly, for some reason he couldn't quite explain, he found himself wishing he had chosen not to isolate himself for Heather's sake. He may have done an adequate job of proving his daughter with the love and support she needed, but there was no denying Heather could have used a mother in her life. Someone to hold her and love her the way only a mother could. As close as he and Heather were, there were some things a father and daughter just couldn't talk about as openly as a girl could with her mother.

Jodie wouldn't have wanted him to cling to the past. She would have wanted him to move on with his life, to find happiness not in spite of Heather, but because of her. So why hadn't he?

But even as he pondered that question, he already knew the answer.

Because of Heather.

Everything he did was in Heather's best interests. Her safety and well-being came first, even at the expense of his personal life. That was what a father did, and Harry considered himself to be a good one.

Smart, kind, generous…those were some of the terms he thought of to describe his precious little girl. And yet, he could not help but wonder. How would she react if she ever uncovered some of the things he had kept from her? He knew she would be shocked. The real question was, would she be thankful for everything Harry had done for her, or would she be angry and resentful that her father kept such an important secret from her? Harry preferred to think it would be the former, but he couldn't rule out the latter possibility.

That scared him more than anything. And as he lay back against his pillow, trying to drift back into sleep, Harry Morris couldn't help but wish he had someone else to share this burden with.

Miles apart from each other, two teenage girls laid asleep on their beds, deep in blissful slumber. Their rest was a dreamless one, their subconscious minds too anxious about the day's events to yield to the illusions that came so naturally. Neither had any idea how much their lives were about to change.