Crawling Through the Darkness

[Renata Lennon]

@Of Little Talks & Renata Lennon

Merely saying the name sends shivers down a spine.

A small town in Maine with a dark past

and an even darker purpose.

Silent Hill.

People come in.

No one ever returns.​

 

[Renata Lennon]

A tall pillar of smoke rose from her red vehicle. Elaena attempted to fan away the smoke and pulled up the hood of the car to try to see what was wrong. But she was no mechanic. Thinking she was beaten, Elaena grunted in frustration. The fog was incredibly thick which caused her car to give out. She looked around to get her bearings. She had ended up on a street. Knowing her car couldn't possibly take her anymore farther, she opened the glove compartment, taking out her ID, in case she needed it, a small umbrella, for some kind of weapon, and a small flashlight that doubled as a keychain. The flashlight wouldn't turn on as the batteries were dead. "Ah, bugger!" Sighing, she attached the flashlight keychain to a belt loop and slipped her ID in one of her pockets. The black umbrella lengthened with a push of the button and she wielded it with both of her hands.


The road was long and thick fog made it difficult for her to see where she was actually going. By the time she had seen a sign of where she was, her breath was heavy and her legs were tired of moving. The big letters made it easy to see despite the fog.


"Silent Hill..."

 

[Of Little Talks]

Endless pine and spruce trees dot thickly around Nora as she travels through the forest. Countless days of her youth was hosted in various portions of the forest behind her home, but never has Nora wandered on this unmarked land. Sunlight weakly beams through the still leaves and branches which grew more and more bare as she kept following a path her instincts conjured upon.


Nora had found herself in her home town, or more along the lines of home city, earlier that day. An itching feeling calling her to the forest she forgot about while she was away strongly pulled her in. Her hands grip loosely around a thin but top heavy wooden plank she used as a child for her juvenile imaginative games. This wasn't an act upon nostalgia but rather an act of protection. Which Nora strongly felt she needed.


Fog thickens and the trees around her scatter away with each step. A rugged sidewalk formulates in front of her eyes, and her hard soled shoes click on the chipped cement. Cautiously she approaches a pillar of smoke that smears and camouflages in the eerie fog. Bright red contrasts with the greyness of the atmosphere. It almost hurts Nora's eyes. A bright red car and a female her age appear in front of her, and in front of a large sign with chipped paint that states;


"Silent Hill..."

 

[Renata Lennon]

Noticing the approaching footfalls, Elaena, on her guard, turned and lifted up her umbrella to strike whatever had come to do whatever to her. The umbrella swung back down when she realized it was merely a woman. She looked her age too. Elaena, at first, had a shocked expression, but then gave the stranger a big smile. "Oh! Uh... Hello! Are you from here? My car broke down, like, a mile and a half from here. And I'm just lost..." She pushed the umbrella down to its original diminutive size and hung the tie on the end of the umbrella on her right wrist. "It's really foggy around here too. I'm so glad I found that sign, I would've been lost without it!" Noticing she'd been rambling on for too long, Elaena apologized. "Sorry if I talked too much, I'm happy that I found another person."

 

[Of Little Talks]

A small shape resembling an O, followed by a couple of raised eye brow blinking forms on Nora's face. She was startled to find a town at the end of her forest, and the fact that another human, a young woman such as herself, discovered the inauspicious settlement at the same time. Gawking for a little while she finally snaps out of her thoughts.


"O-oh yes, I'm also lost..." She notes that the lady intended on using the umbrella in means of self defence. She smiles lightly at that and turns the plank idly in her hands. "I've never heard of this place," Nora inspects the sign that stands in the swirling heavy mist. "Silent Hill, that doesn't ring any bells, so I'm just as lost as you. I'm afraid I wandered too far, and followed an unmarked path in the forest behind us." Her head nods towards the direction of the dense forest. Nora frowns lightly glancing back at the forest. It appeared foreign to her now. As if it changed its appearance behind her back.

 

[Renata Lennon]

Once hearing the woman's story, Elaena felt a little disappointment, but she was mostly glad that she had a companion. She wouldn't be the only one lost at Silent Hill. Elaena gave her a large smile then looked down the path that went into Silent Hill. "This is unfortunate. At least, we're not alone. Ah, and, by any chance, did you also happen to bring or run into any AA batteries. My flashlight--" Elaena turned to her side to show her. "--works, but it's out of juice." Noticing she hadn't given her name before asking, Elaena apologized. "I'm sorry, it's really rude for me to run my mouth or ask anything of you before I give out my name." She gave the stranger her ID and held out her hand to shake. "Elaena Glenn. I'm a journalist from just a really small town. I'm originally from England though as you can prolly tell. Pleasure to meet you."

 

[Of Little Talks]

Nora reads the ID and nods just noticing her new companion's accent. "I'm Nora, Nora Clarity, pleased to meet you," she introduces, feeling a slight ray of friendliness which eases her mind a little. She gives off a polite faint smile which contrasts greatly with Elaena's large friendly one. "I come from a city about an hour away on foot." She reads the ID once more than hands it back to Elaena. "England seems much more interesting than that city though," she admits not feeling any pride for her hometown whatsoever. It all seemed so grey, but England always sounded fancy and colourful to Nora.


Rummaging around her jacket pockets, Nora ventures her fingers around to see if she might have the requested batteries or a device that carried it. Her fingers brush up against a radio, a small walkie talkie shaped one and extra batteries clipped onto it.


"What a coincidence, I do happen to have extra batteries. And a hand held radio too. The speakers in my car weren't working when I drove to my home town," she explains as she hands the batteries to her partner, "so I brought this as a substitute."

 

[Renata Lennon]

Once Nora handed back her ID, Elaena slid it back into her right pocket. Immediately upon Nora bringing up the subject of England and boring towns, Elaena had something to say. "Yes, being in England was amazing. I was born in London, but we left when I was thirteen. Since then, I've been trapped in a small little town. I was just getting out when my car broke down over there." Elaena sighed.


She perked up again when Nora brought out the batteries that she needed for her flashlight, but she knew she probably shouldn't take them. Elaena shook her head and closed Nora's hand around the batteries. "No, a radio is much more useful than a flashlight. You should probably keep those. Thank you very much though." Elaena's head turned to the direction of Silent Hill than back to her companion with a smile. "Alright then... I guess there's nowhere else to go, but there."

 

[Of Little Talks]

Slipping the batteries to save for another time, Nora then looks off into the distance shrouded in fog. Almost unnoticeable she nods in agreement, Nora takes a steps forward to venture out with her new partner. She wasn't quite sure why she decided to follow Eleana, but decided that she trusted her, and wouldn't mind an adventure. That was the reasoning behind her actions to proceed in the forest to begin with.


"Should we look for some help? Maybe a map of the town?" she brings up. Living in a large city all her life, she knew to always bring a map with her. It is almost too easy to get lost and wind up searching for a phone booth to call someone for help. Nora feels as though the town does not have any working pay phones, it feels as if the town is nonactive, abandoned. She would be shocked to see anyone else strolling through the streets. "Maybe if we venture far enough we will find a town hall of some sorts."

 

[Renata Lennon]

Thinking of Nora as a friend already, Elaena set down the distance to Silent HIll, already optimistic because she'd found a companion. The entire town appeared completely blanketed by this mystifying fog. She hadn't even seen the fog from where her car stood, dead. And then all of a sudden, the mist had appeared, blocking her line of sight. But Elaena had no time to think about that; they needed immediate assistance.


"Sorry, I didn't bring a map. ...I didn't know that this town existed until a couple minutes ago. When I wanted to leave my home, I only packed the necessities and fled. We shan't worry. There's bound to be some help around here... right?" As she let her eyes wander around her surroundings, Elaena felt a chill creep down her spine. Silent Hill felt abandoned. Dead. It was like no living being had stood here for a long time. Elaena knew where the town got its name from. "It's no wonder why it's named Silent Hill." Elaena joked. She agreed with Nora to finding the Town Hall.


Around the corner, she found a street sign. The way she had come from was Nathan Avenue and left was Sanders Street. Not having a map, Elaena had no idea where to go. "Do you have any idea where to go?"

 

[Of Little Talks]

Nora glimpses up at the street signs but looks away puzzled. "I'm afraid I've never heard or been in this town despite being rather close to it. Even looking at these signs don't help, considering we don't know which street leads to where," she glumly states. "This town can't be that big though," Nora smiles, "it's rare that big areas become so silent," she says continuing Ealena's earlier joke, her smile falters not long after, "since it's so small I'm not sure if there even is a town hall. Maybe we can find an alternative. "


Nora couldn't shake off the unsettling loneliness lurking in the air. Even though she knows that Eleana is with her, she feels as if the town is too empty. So empty, that is starts to combine with an unnerving feeling that someone is watching them, or someone will pop out of the mist and attack them. At this, Nora clutches her board, tensing up as anxiety floods her chest and stomach.


Radio static breaks the air that was so still, other than the scuffing of their own steps and the conversations. Scratchy white noise erupts from the pocket radio Nora had packed. "What the Hell...? I thought I shut this off," Nora mutters. Just as she looks down to inspect the gadget, she hears foot steps. Strides that drag bare feet across the bumpy paved road. A fleshy figure appears, skin covering it's body in an exoskeleton manner, violent tremors move the creature with every glided step closer to the pair of young women. With no facial features, other than a gaping mouth, the thing wasn't one to ally with. Nora grips her board. "What...what is that thing!?"


It wasn't human.

 

[Renata Lennon]

Elaena gave out a sigh of defeat. She tried to loosen up so that the tension between them wouldn't escalate. No matter how friendly and helpful Nora was, the bottom line was, Elaena didn't know her and had no idea of what she was capable of. And she hoped that Nora would think the same for her sake. They seemed to be both strangers to this quiet town and they would probably have to rely upon the help of anyone that would answer to their call. Friendly or malicious. "Yeah... maybe... But there should be someplace where people gather to in case of emergency. People could be there right now."


The chill that crawled down her vertebra when they had arrived and discovered that the town had been "abandoned" hadn't gone away. Elaena thought it would subside because someone else was with her. Elaena had spent most of her life in a small town and being a part of a small town was you always knew someone was watching you. And, man, did she feel like someone, or something, was. Her muscles stiffened as her body knew she was in danger and contemplated between running or fighting, more or so towards fighting because of Elaena's natural heroism.


The sudden static that broke through the silence made her body jump. Elaena couldn't even hear her companion as she was almost frozen in place. She'd never felt anything like this before, but her near fearlessness and over curiosity forced her to look. Feet were heard being dragged along the road, scratching each pebble in place. Elaena choose to see what it was and barely muffled her scream.


What was it? Her bravery and curiosity fought each other, not knowing whether to just fight with it or continue to wonder what it was. Elaena started to think of it as a subject than as a living being, but who wouldn't?


As it came closer, Elaena's muscles stiffed and her mind was settled on one thing; killing the bastard. She ran at it with the end of the umbrella horizontally and thankfully, the umbrella's full size helped it reach the creature first. It struck the creature right in the nose, making it stumble back. That wasn't good enough as the creature just shook it off and came at Elaena again. Once more, her umbrella hit it in the face. When it stumbled back, Elaena came right at it again wondering if she was being brave or just being a f**king idiot. The creature fell to the floor and she sure was going to make certain that it would not come right back up. She hit it again and again, her only weapon obviously breaking as it wasn't that strong as a bigger, proper umbrella. It was only until the thing bled that Elaena retreated.


Her heart was racing and she bent over panting, but Elaena was sure it was dead or more so fatally wounded.

 

[Of Little Talks]

Nora's body returns to homeostasis after the thing bleeds out in silence for at least a solid minute. A corpse lays in front of their feet, blood dripping from the end of her partner's umbrella. Dripping fresh blood, drop after drop repeats like a record player playing only one song floods Nora's ears. Splattering blood, a noise to alarmingly familiar to her. Red shades pour out into the pavement and pools around their shoes. The thick liquid is still warm, Nora can feel the heat from the sides of her feet. An iron stench snaps Nora out of her state.


"Y-your umbrella," she stammers to break the cruel silence, "I'm so sorry I couldn't help...I froze up," she mumbles through her sentence, finding that her words were falling out before she can even process them, "I should of helped...but, what was that thing? We aren't safe. Oh my God," she shakes her head and lightly pokes the expired body with her board. "We need to find help, and fast."


Fumes of blood sink into Nora's nostrils and fill her entire body, which feels so empty. Seeing the dead body for Nora triggered something in the back of her numb mind. Nora may not believe in fate or destiny, but if she did, she would believe that Silent Hill may have been calling out to her, perhaps this was her punishment for being so naive in the past.


For being so cruel.


Familiarity should not be the feeling she revives upon this monstrous being, but she must shake this feeling off for now. Her partner was recently engages in battle.


"Eleana!" she turns to her friend recovering from numbness, "I apologize deeply, I should of helped you, are you hurt? I didn't bring any medical supplies, I never knew this would happen," her eyes tear away from the dead monster, "if you have any in your car, we should go back and aid you if you got hurt..." she sighs lightly, "We best be on our guard, no matter what. I have a feeling that this wasn't the last one...this town isn't so silent after all."