Silent Hill Fan Fiction ❯ Silent Hill---Dreams of a Waking Mind ❯ Chapter 1---Welcome Back ( Chapter 1 )

 

 

Chapter 1

Welcome Back

 

 

“It was only a few weeks later, after those damned nightmares got worse. He went and had me committed to Haversham and Abernathy Mental Asylum,” Luna spit the words out with a vindictive tone, her voice a bittersweet vitriol. She traced the scar on the back of her right hand with the index finger of her left, “I'll never forgive him for not believing me.” Her words brimmed with unadulterated loathing.

 

The man driving the car, sitting beside her, just sighed a sigh of disappointment. He really wanted her to let it go. “Hating someone doesn't change anything. It only poisons your mind. You're not crazy, I know that and I believe you but…Those dreams of yours every time you've ever had one, you go psychotic, Luna.”

 

“…Those aren't dreams. They're nightmares. And anyone would go insane because of them. They are real. I know they are. How do you think I got this scar? I keep telling you!”

 

“It looks like something self-inflicted, Luna. Nobody believes you about those cuts you got, I'm sorry to say…Even I have a hard time believing some of the things you say…Besides, when was the last time you saw these demons?”

“I've already answered this question from you before: two years. And you and all those other doctors know damn well why. The instant I became too big of a problem to handle, you medicated me out of my damn head. That's kinda what you medical geniuses tend to do---drug the living fuck out of whatever it is you can't control.”

 

“Hey, hey, hey. Don't go and put me on trial here. You know that since you became my patient, I've always treated you fairly. And besides, I am the one who suggested this whole idea to the rest of `em that gets you out of the padded room and straightjacket, even if only temporarily.

 

“Yeah, well I'd rather you drugged the shit out of me.” Luna replied, solemnly bittersweet. She turned to look out of the passenger window at the passing scenery, just a blur of tree green and gray sky that meshed together at a fiery vermillion horizon.

 

“I don't think the orderly would be too happy about that.” The sun was on it's descent from its zenith and painted the sky with its brilliance. It didn't matter, everything was becoming dull, the scenery was beginning to bleed away all the color and contrast, seeping out of everything ever slowly as though from an unseen wound.

 

“Y'know something, of all the doctors I've had to deal with, I like you the most, Jason.”

 

“I know, you told me before.”

 

As the car continued up the small, two-lane road heading up the side of a tall hill, Jason began having a hard time seeing. Everything was becoming obscured with gray, the scenery, the road---everything---was gradually shrouding everything in its colorless realm. The fog was getting thicker.

 

“Is it always so hard to see on this road?”

 

“I wouldn't know, haven't been here in while, if you catch my drift.” Luna replied curtly.

 

“…” Looking over at Luna for a moment, Jason noticed her emotionless expression. Nothing. She had no real sentiment to speak of. Jason wasn't surprised at this. Ever since she'd been handed over to him for psychological review and counsel she'd been like this. For some odd reason, he hadn't witnessed any of her psychotic breakdowns himself but all the other doctors had. But ever since he'd had her as a patient, she seemed to be every bit as sane as any one of them.

 

As the fog began to thicken around the car, Jason turned on the fog lights, even then it was still tough to see down the road. The rest of the drive was an awkward, silent one. It was only about ten minutes after the silence started that the both of them felt an eerie chill crawl up their spines. For a short moment, the two exchanged glances of a similar nature. Glances of abnormality.

 

The drive continued on a cautious note. Their nervous apprehension, though, seemed misplaced as the rest of the drive was humdrum and ordinary, all but the misty gray fog. Then…

 

“You're not going to go willingly are you?” Jason asked out of the blue.

 

“…” Luna wasn't even going to dignify his question with an answer.

 

“Well, then…We have a couple of days before the procession. I hope you'll have changed your mind by then. After all, he was your brother, Luna.” He had a somewhat downcast and disappointed look upon his countenance. He was always hoping that Luna would be above the hatred she always had festered within her for her brother. Every interview, she would always somehow wind up talking about how much she loathed her brother. It was like a carbuncle that increasingly infected her thoughts further every time she dwelled on it. But how could she not hate him. He'd betrayed her trust and that thought had had five long years to grow and fester within her. That memory had utterly devastated her entire mind, her life was never the same.

 

In addition to that, Luna always wondered how he could've done that to his own little sister. Ever since their parents had died, Sam had cared for her as if he were the father. He had taken on two roles in the family and he did that just fine. He had been the best father she'd ever had. He'd always done his best to make sure that she was content. But after all the trust and faith she'd put into him he went and fed her to the wolves. For that Luna hated his guts. Even those few times in the beginning when Sam came and visited her at the institution she wouldn't so much as turn a glance his way.

 

Jason was busy thinking about things, which is not smart to do while driving a car, and thinking about how he might get Luna to go to the funeral without some sort of hassle. It seemed, to him, that it would look good to the other doctors on the council. That, with her good behavior for some time now, could expedite her incarceration drastically. Those doctors who outright abhor her couldn't say much about her then, no matter how much they didn't like her. He seemed to genuinely want to help her out of that pit that she'd stumbled into, after all a sane person had no place in a mental hospital.

 

After what had seemed like an eternity of silence and noiselessness, the solemn atmosphere was broken by Luna's words. The car had just passed the welcome sign along the side of the foggy road. It was still visible to passersby. A freezing chill ran down Luna's spine like a snake bringing on gooseflesh and causing her hair on her neck to stand on end, “I would have never thought, I'd return to this godforsaken, hellish place.”

 

“What?” Jason hadn't caught what Luna had said. He'd been too busy trying to drive through the ever thickening fog.

 

“Welcome to Silent Hill.”

 

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Silent Hill was an average hilltop, isolated kind of town with one of those everyone knows everyone, tightly-knit communities. It hadn't taken very long for word of Sam Cevras' gruesome death to reach every ear in the town. He was a rare upstanding, good Samaritan kind of person who was always able to lend a helping hand to whomever might need it. The murder itself, though very horrifying, wasn't as shocking as the details of the murder. Some people wondered why the local journalist would even consider putting the details in the paper.

 

“…As much as you hate him, I think you might be interested in the details pertaining to how he was killed.”

 

“You think so?” She asked in a sarcastic tone of voice, “As sacrilegious as this may sound: shock me.”

 

“How cold-hearted of you. Anyway, it was a rather gruesome death, I heard. His, uh, his eyes were ripped from their sockets. And for some reason, they—”

“His heart? It was torn from his chest right?” Luna asked, surprising Jason with her reply.

 

“Yeah,” Jason replied solemnly, “I just heard about the details before we left. Apparently it's the same as what---” He trailed off, “Well, the police are concerned about your well-being as well and were wanting to put you under some kind of protection and ask you some questions.” Gazing over at Luna for a brief moment, he noted the confused expression he saw upon her visage.

 

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The sun was setting on the quaint little town of Silent Hill as Jason and Luna drove into it. For some reason the fog was somewhat dissipated around the town itself, only little wisps and curls of it here and there low to the ground. They felt as though all eyes turned on them as they cruised down the streets, as if everyone were giving them some kind of suspicious and distrusting looks. It had them feeling quite uncomfortable.

 

Before anything else, Jason and Luna first checked into the local inn and dropped off their bags. The Lakeview Hotel was exactly what its name implied. It was a rather luxurious hotel where most of its rooms had a nice view of the picturesque Toluca Lake. The main lobby of the hotel was grand with a ceiling that rose over thirty feet high at the apex of a curved dome. From that apex, depending upon an adamant steel chain, was a magnificent crystal chandelier. With all the lights shining upon it and filtering though the beautifully crafted crystal pieces, it looked like a great spectrum of magnificence suspended in the air.

 

They both had separate rooms, of course, across the hallway from the other so Jason escorted Luna to her lake view villa. He made sure she settled herself in comfortably and decided to settle himself in his own room.

 

“Goodnight, Luna.”

 

“Goodnight.”

 

“Oh, I almost forgot,” Jason stopped just before exiting the threshold of the room door, “I'll be banging at your door around ten, so try to be ready by then, alright? We've got a really long day ahead of us. And maybe, if there's time, maybe you could show me around town, let me know what's good around here.”

 

“If I didn't know better, doctor, I'd say you're asking me out.” Luna put on a coy smirk.

“Oh, no, of course not, Luna,” Jason replied in a sarcastic manner and just before closing the door quipped, “You're too ugly.”

 

WHACK! A toothbrush hit the door with great velocity. “WHY, I never!” She grunted and, after a few seconds, continued getting ready for sleep. It was ten o'clock by the little alarm clock on the nightstand.

 

After she had completely undressed, Luna stood and looked at herself in the full-size mirror in her room. Her thighs, back, stomach, arms, and chest---her whole body was covered in scars, attained through the same manner as the one on the back of her hand she'd gotten all those years ago. During the five years between now and then, she'd received all of these scars. The doctors would never believe what she said about them. They just upped the dosage of her mind-numbing psychotics. Even so, she continued to produce more and more lacerations despite the fact that she had no possible way to cut herself.

 

She changed into her pajamas.

 

As Luna was just about to lie in the bed she remembered something. Medication that Jason had given to her. He trusted her to take them as prescribed. That's how much trust he was putting in her as a friend. Standing before the bathroom sink, she glared long and hard at the little orange bottle filled with tiny white tablets. She sighed and then threw the bottle in the trash can and went to sleep.

 

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Luna was awoken by a constant dripping noise. The night had been so eerily silent that she could clearly hear the consistent dripping which, on any normal night, would be practically inaudible. Sitting up, half awake, her eyes wandered down to the alarm clock standing on the nightstand. The digital display read:

 

4:48

 

Groggy and still not completely conscious, Luna got out of the bed and walked into the bathroom with uneven, unsteady steps. Out of the corner of her eye she could see her silhouette in the mirror mimic her movements. She turned and fully faced her reflection in the mirror above the sink. It was dark but she could make out her messy, disheveled hair and her half-open eyes. She could even make out the scarlet colour of her pajamas which hung slightly over her shoulder because she'd left the top button open. There was a long scar wrought diagonally across the base of her neck and shoulder across her clavicle. She turned the faucet knob until the water droplets ceased to flow and then promptly returned to her bed to sleep.

 

Just as Luna laid her head back down on the soft, comfortable pillow the most blood-curdling, inhuman wails began echoing in her room and if she'd walked outside she might've realized it was only in her room, resonating off the walls. As the screams died down a few moments later a whisper of a voice, incorporeal and disembodied, began to speak, seemingly in one spot and then coming from another, giving Luna the feeling of being surrounded by its presence.

 

“Ah, so you've---“

 

“returned---“

 

“---little one.”

 

“Wha--? Who are you?” Luna had gotten out of her bed and stood frozen at its side, forcing the question from her frozen lungs.

 

“Who?”

 

“It is not---”

 

“something you must---”

 

“know right---”

 

“---now.”

 

“…Then why the hell are you tormenting me?!” Luna demanded as she slowly began to regain her courage. Suddenly she froze as she felt something rest itself on her shoulder and something wrapped around her waist. She began to notice the world around her change. It started from the bed and began to spread out like some infectious disease of rust and ruination.

 

The floor, which had been white carpet, was no longer---it had become a blood stained cement with patches of metal grating spread out at random, here and there. The bed she had just been lying on was no a cold metal platform, a dais, with a disheveled white sheet spread sloppily across it---the sheet itself was stained with blotches and smears of crimson. The redwood nightstand next to the bed rotted as the infection spread across it and the clock and lamp that stood upon it rusted and eroded into a state of decrepitude like everything else. Luna tried to back away from the infection but that feeling of something around her body wouldn't let her, she could only cry as she watched the room rot.

 

The walls transmuted into rusted metal grating and the windows were now smeared with blood and god knows what else. Through he grating, the plumbing in the walls was visible---the pipes were affected as well. Fresh flowing blood was leaking from them at the top of the wall, where it met the ceiling and dripped all over the grating.

 

As the lamp had been infected by the malignant scourge, the bulb that was screwed into it had broken so the room had now become veiled in a foreboding darkness. With the light went the noises, all the noises one might hear on any normal night. This didn't mean that she'd lost her hearing nor did it mean the noises had ceased to exist, for just outside the gross, blood-smeared window, crickets were chirping, dogs were howling and the breeze rustled the leaves of the plant.

 

Why, then did the noises not reach her ears? Luna didn't have long to ponder this predicament because there came a sound that did reach her ears, clearly and loudly. The moans, disturbingly full of pleasure yet tormented and wrought with pain, came from all around her, resounding through the darkness. She turned her head in every direction, peering into the effulgent darkness for any signs of what might've made that sound. She cringed when a droplet of blood fell on her head. It availed her to nothing to look for the monster for it was much too dark for her to even see her own hands in front of her face.

 

Luna turned in the direction of where she remembered the door to be. Through the walls of grated metal, between the pipes, she saw a little sliver of light peeking through Though only small, it seemed so bright in the blackness that was everywhere. She wiped the tears from her face and tried to stop the tears form flowing further. That little ray of light shining in the dark helped to instill hope in her that she might be able to escape this place, whatever it may be. She'd neglected one thing though--- After seeing the light, she'd somehow forgotten about the unearthly moans in the daze of the moment. She got on her hands and knees so she could feel out the area around her, then she began to crawl towards the light.

 

In the darkness, Luna had failed to notice that, as she was crawling, she was over a rather large hole. Her hands were just past the far end and her knees were at the close end. Her whole body was over the hole. The moans instantly grew louder the instant she was over the hole. Hands revealed themselves from the darkness below, rotten and putrid, and grabbed onto Luna---her clothes, legs, arms, whatever their gangrenous, groping fingers could snatch---and they clenched tightly. Luna found herself failing to scream. She opened her mouth but the suddenness of this had paralyzed her voice in fear and surprise. She wanted to scream as the groping hands grabbed at her all over but she couldn't. She wanted scream as they tugged her to the floor but she couldn't. She wanted to scream as the broken, jagged fingernails ripped through her cotton pajamas and dug into her flesh. She couldn't scream at all.

 

As the hands were restraining the terrified Luna, the bodies they were attached to revealed themselves from the pitch black. They were faceless creatures with a human form---faceless, save for a mouth lined with crooked, misshaped fangs and tongues coated with a thick saliva. Before she'd even realized it, one of those faceless creatures had sunken its teeth into her shoulder.

 

The sensation of unbearable pain hit Luna like a freight train as the other creatures followed the example of the first. As if the pain wasn't enough torture and torment, the creatures licked at the open wounds, lapping up her gushing crimson blood. Somehow she managed to find the will, and the voice, to scream as pain took over and the fear subsided. She screamed like she never knew she could.

 

The cannibalistic monsters began to pull Luna down through the hole in the grated metal floor. Down into the darkness below, further and further away from that little light--- further form the hope she'd invested in it. She screamed.

 

“Jason! Somebody! PLEASE! HELP ME!”

 

For an instant, a short moment, standing at the edge of the hole, Luna saw someone--- she saw a silhouette, a shadow of a man contrasting the light shining behind him. She blinked. The man was gone as if he'd never been there. Down, down, and down further still into the darkness and away from hope, one word---one name--- one memory played in her mind.

 

`Sam?'

 

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“…The truth that could set souls free

Is buried within sweet pandemonium

Concealed by disbelief

The riddle stays veiled in sweet pandemonium…”

-Sweet Pandemonium-

---HIM---