Silent Hill: Static
Chapter One
It was a few days ago, somewhere in the middle of August or October. I can’t quite remember exactly. I received a letter in the mail from home, asking me to come back to my hometown of Shelton, Virginia. It seems one of my friends, Isaac, had gone missing. Don’t get me wrong, the guy’s like my brother but I’m halfway across the country, California, to be exact. Why write and ask me to fly all the way there? Coming to defeat I picked up the phone and dialed my old home number to ask what was going on, but instead got a message telling me that the number had been disconnected. Puzzled, I dialed the numbers of my friends; Tristan, Branden, Akacia, Amanda but I still got nothing at all, just the same message over and over. After several tries, getting the repetitive messages I got through, but I only got the eerie sounds of white noise and garbled words. As I went to hang up, convinced it was a technical error, I heard something incredibly chilling; a human scream on the other line, then silence. I tried the number again but go the same “sorry” message.
That’s what compelled me to come back home to Shelton. The town itself is nice. It’s small but not too small, not too big either. It was by the bay, so it rained quite a bit, and fog wasn’t something out of the blue either. The town also sat next to some forestland, which gave you the feeling of being isolated. The people were also quite nice, minus the homeless people that drifted into town and the occasional none too intelligent adolescent. I wanted to find out what was going on and perhaps to locate my missing friend Isaac as well.
The highway was unusually empty tonight, a thick, almost unreal fog hung over the road. I had a difficult time seeing in front of me, and the high beams only made it worse. Driving down the highway was interesting to say the least.
“This fog is insane,” I said to myself, “I can barely see worth sh*t.”
The asphalt was one of the few things I could actually see in the thick fog. On the right side of the road was the guardrail, shielding drivers from driving down a one hundred foot drop to the rocks below and the bay next to it. On the left was a plain, possibly a farm but I couldn’t tell with the fog hanging over the road. As I drove down the road I reached a break in the guardrail where a driveway started, and in the distance I could see the building for Dells Farm Supply; with several families that raised livestock like horses, pigs and chickens the supply store stayed in business and did quite well when I was growing up. Those thoughts started to make me feel more at home, like I was missing something and coming back was reminding me of what it was.
With a sigh I snapped out of the nostalgic trip to memory lane and as soon as I did a dark, quickly moving shape darted in front of my car, and I had to slam on the brakes, ending up slamming into whatever it was, judging by the force it exerted as its body was hurled against the hood of the car. Shaken up, I opened the door and stepped out of my vehicle. The temperature difference from the warm car and the crisp fog made my bare arms break out in goose bumps. I reached inside, grabbing for black hooded sweatshirt and slipped it on over my black ‘Fullmetal Alchemist’ t-shirt.
“Hello?” I called into the empty fog, “Is anyone there?” There was no response to my question, just the same eerie silence broken only by the idling of my cars engine. From the driveway leading to the Farm Suppliers main building, I saw the shape of the creature that darted in front of me. It was stumbling away from me, awkwardly shambling up the hill. I closed the car door, the sound making a dull thump as I followed the creature’s path; it didn’t seem to matter that the car was parked in the middle of the road since the last car was about eight hours behind me. Every car seemed to avoid this road, this place. Why? It seemed weird.
I didn’t seem to have a chance of catching up to it, so I picked up the pace, breaking out in to a short jog, reaching the base of it. Quickly, I made my way up the hill, reaching the top of the hill before stepping through the half rusted fence and observing the old forklifts that have been unattended for ages, the rolled up fencing that was starting to rust and the stack of empty wooden pallets; all of which were fading in and out of view due to the rolling fog and ominous silence.
The silence was broken by rigorous scraping sounds, bumps, and other small and haunting noises. At this point I had been a bit nervous. Why wasn’t anyone here? Why did everything look like it was abandoned and in such disrepair? It didn’t make sense at all. At least not yet.
Gathering my courage I made my way further inside the complex, walking through a large opening which I assumed was used to move freight in and out of the warehouse next to the store. Stepping inside I bent over and picked up a loose rusted pipe from the cold and damp cement. The cold, hard metal tubing in my hand felt very reassuring as I continued into the dark shell of a store. Out of the corner of my eye I swear I saw it again; the shadowy figure of what a presumed to be a man, perhaps a thief, inside the Farm Suppliers main building. Taking a deep breath I started walking inside, looking around at the old bales of hay stacked to the roof, old boxes of salt licks for horses that had long since gone bad and parts for tractor engines. After a few minutes it became hard to see where I was going, but in the dim light I was able to find a clip on flashlight, which, to my surprise and relief worked, shining a bright and momentarily reassuring light into the dark and dank building. Finally, I found the man in question – if you could even call it human. He was completely nude, his skin shiny and wet.
“Umm hello? Are you all right? I hit you with my car… do you need a doctor?” I asked. When I got closer, I knew something was wrong but the gut wrenching sensation as the man turned around to display his face, or lack thereof. Its disfigured arms protruded from its chest and long, sickle like claws on its hands exposed themselves as it lunged right at me. The sound that came next was not of the creatures, but my own scream as I jumped out of its path, moving out of the way. Luckily its claws barley missed my collarbone, when I looked again; blood was trickling down my chest.
Before I knew it, the creature charged again. Sheer terror surged through my veins, my mind racing. Was this a dream? What the hell as that? This time I was prepared, and I swung the pipe in my hands with full force, smashing its remarkably soft skull, hearing the sound of its flesh cracking and squishing under the blunt force trauma, it’s blood gushing out as it flopped on the floor like a fish out of water, screaming even though the sound was muffled. Still pretty freaked out, I slammed the pipe on the body at least eight times before I was sure it was dead, and even then I was still trembling.
Wiping the blood from my chest, I hurried to my car, running out of the building and getting down the hill, only to find my car in ruin; the windshield shattered, tires shredded, the hood ripped open and the engine destroyed.
“What the…hell?!” I asked in a state of shock.
There were deep claw marks; scrapes in some places, deep gouges in others, the most affected areas being the hood, doors and even parts of the pavement. Whatever I had just killed in that store could have destroyed my car, and if that’s true, does that mean there are more of them? I sure as hell didn’t want to find out. After making a makeshift bandage out of paper towels and duct tape from my glove compartment, I headed down the middle of the fog filled road, carrying my backpack on my back and my new trusty pipe in my right hand. I wanted to find out what was going on, and what that thing was. Normally I would have turned around, but it seemed like fate that I returned home. It was like something was making me stay, some unseen force whose power was way beyond the scope of my comprehension.
As I walked the fog seemed to thicken and thin at random, but for now there wasn’t an immediate threat, so I rested my trusted pipe on my shoulder. After a few minutes of descending the foggy hill I reached a familiar sight; the last intersection leading out of town. To the left was Arcadia Road, to the right was Ridge Road and straight ahead was Cascade Road. The gas station that sat on the right side of the road, right before Ridge Road, was in a desperate state of disrepair. The windows were broken and boarded up, the glass door shattered and several cracks in the cement wall. Curious, I walked across the street, trying to be as attentive as I could for any monsters, or whatever that was and approached the building. The dead silence chilled me to the bone more than the cold air ever could.
Caution got the better of me as I hurried away, trying not to run but not wanting to dawdle; good thing I had, for I sure didn’t want to tangle with the creature inside. I slowed my pace after a while, about a minute or two, passing the gas station at the top of the hill; when gas prices soared a few years ago, the three stations on this hill were in constant competition. If one had unleaded regular for 3.98 per gallon the other would have it for 3.79 and vice versa. On the other side of the road sat the Red Apple grocery store. When I was a kid I would walk here to buy sodas and snacks all the time, especially on the way to work or to the mall sixty miles away, and across from that was the house that my old girlfriend Akacia lived in; she had stayed behind when we all went our separate ways when her father had passed away and her brothers moved out of town, leaving the seventeen year old girl to care for her mother. Since she wasn’t much of a phone person I usually instant messaged her or sent her messages on Myspace.com to let her know I was still alive.
I decided I could afford a detour, crossing the abandoned parking lot; the few cars in the lot were either rusted or just dilapidated. Only a few were intact, but the doors were stuck so I couldn’t open them at all, so I gave up trying. The inside of the store, from what I could see was an inky black. As I stared into it, a chill went down my spine, like someone or something was watching me. I reached her mailbox, the red flag signaling outgoing mail rusted in an upright position. The shrubs around the fence were overgrown, even more so since my last visit about three or four months ago, when everything seemed halfway normal around here. With a deep breath, I prepared myself for what may happen, but little did I know what was in store for me.
This was one hell of a homecoming.
Chapter One
It was a few days ago, somewhere in the middle of August or October. I can’t quite remember exactly. I received a letter in the mail from home, asking me to come back to my hometown of Shelton, Virginia. It seems one of my friends, Isaac, had gone missing. Don’t get me wrong, the guy’s like my brother but I’m halfway across the country, California, to be exact. Why write and ask me to fly all the way there? Coming to defeat I picked up the phone and dialed my old home number to ask what was going on, but instead got a message telling me that the number had been disconnected. Puzzled, I dialed the numbers of my friends; Tristan, Branden, Akacia, Amanda but I still got nothing at all, just the same message over and over. After several tries, getting the repetitive messages I got through, but I only got the eerie sounds of white noise and garbled words. As I went to hang up, convinced it was a technical error, I heard something incredibly chilling; a human scream on the other line, then silence. I tried the number again but go the same “sorry” message.
That’s what compelled me to come back home to Shelton. The town itself is nice. It’s small but not too small, not too big either. It was by the bay, so it rained quite a bit, and fog wasn’t something out of the blue either. The town also sat next to some forestland, which gave you the feeling of being isolated. The people were also quite nice, minus the homeless people that drifted into town and the occasional none too intelligent adolescent. I wanted to find out what was going on and perhaps to locate my missing friend Isaac as well.
The highway was unusually empty tonight, a thick, almost unreal fog hung over the road. I had a difficult time seeing in front of me, and the high beams only made it worse. Driving down the highway was interesting to say the least.
“This fog is insane,” I said to myself, “I can barely see worth sh*t.”
The asphalt was one of the few things I could actually see in the thick fog. On the right side of the road was the guardrail, shielding drivers from driving down a one hundred foot drop to the rocks below and the bay next to it. On the left was a plain, possibly a farm but I couldn’t tell with the fog hanging over the road. As I drove down the road I reached a break in the guardrail where a driveway started, and in the distance I could see the building for Dells Farm Supply; with several families that raised livestock like horses, pigs and chickens the supply store stayed in business and did quite well when I was growing up. Those thoughts started to make me feel more at home, like I was missing something and coming back was reminding me of what it was.
With a sigh I snapped out of the nostalgic trip to memory lane and as soon as I did a dark, quickly moving shape darted in front of my car, and I had to slam on the brakes, ending up slamming into whatever it was, judging by the force it exerted as its body was hurled against the hood of the car. Shaken up, I opened the door and stepped out of my vehicle. The temperature difference from the warm car and the crisp fog made my bare arms break out in goose bumps. I reached inside, grabbing for black hooded sweatshirt and slipped it on over my black ‘Fullmetal Alchemist’ t-shirt.
“Hello?” I called into the empty fog, “Is anyone there?” There was no response to my question, just the same eerie silence broken only by the idling of my cars engine. From the driveway leading to the Farm Suppliers main building, I saw the shape of the creature that darted in front of me. It was stumbling away from me, awkwardly shambling up the hill. I closed the car door, the sound making a dull thump as I followed the creature’s path; it didn’t seem to matter that the car was parked in the middle of the road since the last car was about eight hours behind me. Every car seemed to avoid this road, this place. Why? It seemed weird.
I didn’t seem to have a chance of catching up to it, so I picked up the pace, breaking out in to a short jog, reaching the base of it. Quickly, I made my way up the hill, reaching the top of the hill before stepping through the half rusted fence and observing the old forklifts that have been unattended for ages, the rolled up fencing that was starting to rust and the stack of empty wooden pallets; all of which were fading in and out of view due to the rolling fog and ominous silence.
The silence was broken by rigorous scraping sounds, bumps, and other small and haunting noises. At this point I had been a bit nervous. Why wasn’t anyone here? Why did everything look like it was abandoned and in such disrepair? It didn’t make sense at all. At least not yet.
Gathering my courage I made my way further inside the complex, walking through a large opening which I assumed was used to move freight in and out of the warehouse next to the store. Stepping inside I bent over and picked up a loose rusted pipe from the cold and damp cement. The cold, hard metal tubing in my hand felt very reassuring as I continued into the dark shell of a store. Out of the corner of my eye I swear I saw it again; the shadowy figure of what a presumed to be a man, perhaps a thief, inside the Farm Suppliers main building. Taking a deep breath I started walking inside, looking around at the old bales of hay stacked to the roof, old boxes of salt licks for horses that had long since gone bad and parts for tractor engines. After a few minutes it became hard to see where I was going, but in the dim light I was able to find a clip on flashlight, which, to my surprise and relief worked, shining a bright and momentarily reassuring light into the dark and dank building. Finally, I found the man in question – if you could even call it human. He was completely nude, his skin shiny and wet.
“Umm hello? Are you all right? I hit you with my car… do you need a doctor?” I asked. When I got closer, I knew something was wrong but the gut wrenching sensation as the man turned around to display his face, or lack thereof. Its disfigured arms protruded from its chest and long, sickle like claws on its hands exposed themselves as it lunged right at me. The sound that came next was not of the creatures, but my own scream as I jumped out of its path, moving out of the way. Luckily its claws barley missed my collarbone, when I looked again; blood was trickling down my chest.
Before I knew it, the creature charged again. Sheer terror surged through my veins, my mind racing. Was this a dream? What the hell as that? This time I was prepared, and I swung the pipe in my hands with full force, smashing its remarkably soft skull, hearing the sound of its flesh cracking and squishing under the blunt force trauma, it’s blood gushing out as it flopped on the floor like a fish out of water, screaming even though the sound was muffled. Still pretty freaked out, I slammed the pipe on the body at least eight times before I was sure it was dead, and even then I was still trembling.
Wiping the blood from my chest, I hurried to my car, running out of the building and getting down the hill, only to find my car in ruin; the windshield shattered, tires shredded, the hood ripped open and the engine destroyed.
“What the…hell?!” I asked in a state of shock.
There were deep claw marks; scrapes in some places, deep gouges in others, the most affected areas being the hood, doors and even parts of the pavement. Whatever I had just killed in that store could have destroyed my car, and if that’s true, does that mean there are more of them? I sure as hell didn’t want to find out. After making a makeshift bandage out of paper towels and duct tape from my glove compartment, I headed down the middle of the fog filled road, carrying my backpack on my back and my new trusty pipe in my right hand. I wanted to find out what was going on, and what that thing was. Normally I would have turned around, but it seemed like fate that I returned home. It was like something was making me stay, some unseen force whose power was way beyond the scope of my comprehension.
As I walked the fog seemed to thicken and thin at random, but for now there wasn’t an immediate threat, so I rested my trusted pipe on my shoulder. After a few minutes of descending the foggy hill I reached a familiar sight; the last intersection leading out of town. To the left was Arcadia Road, to the right was Ridge Road and straight ahead was Cascade Road. The gas station that sat on the right side of the road, right before Ridge Road, was in a desperate state of disrepair. The windows were broken and boarded up, the glass door shattered and several cracks in the cement wall. Curious, I walked across the street, trying to be as attentive as I could for any monsters, or whatever that was and approached the building. The dead silence chilled me to the bone more than the cold air ever could.
Caution got the better of me as I hurried away, trying not to run but not wanting to dawdle; good thing I had, for I sure didn’t want to tangle with the creature inside. I slowed my pace after a while, about a minute or two, passing the gas station at the top of the hill; when gas prices soared a few years ago, the three stations on this hill were in constant competition. If one had unleaded regular for 3.98 per gallon the other would have it for 3.79 and vice versa. On the other side of the road sat the Red Apple grocery store. When I was a kid I would walk here to buy sodas and snacks all the time, especially on the way to work or to the mall sixty miles away, and across from that was the house that my old girlfriend Akacia lived in; she had stayed behind when we all went our separate ways when her father had passed away and her brothers moved out of town, leaving the seventeen year old girl to care for her mother. Since she wasn’t much of a phone person I usually instant messaged her or sent her messages on Myspace.com to let her know I was still alive.
I decided I could afford a detour, crossing the abandoned parking lot; the few cars in the lot were either rusted or just dilapidated. Only a few were intact, but the doors were stuck so I couldn’t open them at all, so I gave up trying. The inside of the store, from what I could see was an inky black. As I stared into it, a chill went down my spine, like someone or something was watching me. I reached her mailbox, the red flag signaling outgoing mail rusted in an upright position. The shrubs around the fence were overgrown, even more so since my last visit about three or four months ago, when everything seemed halfway normal around here. With a deep breath, I prepared myself for what may happen, but little did I know what was in store for me.
This was one hell of a homecoming.
