Chapter Text
The small screen gently reflected off of her eyes, highlighting a moisture waxed over her gaze.
A flip phone, opened to a saved contact and an address.
My name is Maelle.
Maelle stood at the back of the empty bus, knuckles turning white from how harshly she gripped the pole.
I am an orphan.
She could sit, but she didn’t want to get too comfortable. Her eyelids were cold and heavy, threatening to fall if she did anything but stand upright. The only other thing that kept her alert was the awkwardness from an unspoken conversation, settled between her and the bus driver.
But I did have an older brother.
Maelle cringed slightly when flipping the phone shut. Jarred from the silence with the resounding ‘snap!’ It found its way home in her jacket pocket before Maelle’s attention was brought to the window. She straightened up in anticipation while watching the trees fly past, swaying with each familiar turn in the road.
The bag on her shoulder sprouted a dull ache, as if it had grown heavier in the moments Maelle’s heart rate spiked. She couldn’t pinpoint whether she felt nervous or excited. Nestled in what was unmistakably dread. Nausea scratched at the back of her throat, heart sinking to make a home in the pit of her stomach thus her face ran cold. Pale, devoid of color.
Maelle did not want to spend another moment in a dark room. In a hollow home devoid of life.
The bus screeches and begins to slow. Silent Hill was quite the walk away from the bus station itself, and Maelle’s eagerness to get going shows as she stumbles up to the doors before they can even reach a full stop.
Yet it feels like she’s doing something wrong, like she has already done something wrong.
“Have a good day, little miss.”
Maelle’s heart leapt back up into actions, forcefully pulled from her thoughts and instinctively turning to look at the driver. She was already half way down the steps, legs carrying her even when her mind was buried elsewhere.
It takes a moment for the polite smile to reach her face. She lifted her hand to wave a small goodbye, before wordlessly taking her first steps on the wet concrete.
And he messaged me to meet him today.
Maelle’s breath fell heavy. It really has been a while since she’s been out, and she’s certain that the cold humidity that accompanied the heavy fog is contributing to her sore throat.
She had walked along the sidewalk until she reached a side trail. From smooth pavement to wet terrain, Maelle trudged though puddles a few times when mud accumulated upon her shoes. She would wipe them off in the grass beside her, but that just caused more mud build up. Much to Maelle’s annoyance.
Her reflection dissolved through the ripples and murky water each time she stepped into one, each time her socks felt more damp.
She cannot help but flick open the phone again, despite having read the address so many times that it’s probably been etched into her brain by now. Her eyebrows furrow, taking on a look of concern. Her service really isn’t doing so well.
Isn’t this place a vacation town? Calls should go in and out of here fine.
Not that she would know, she’s never been.
A dissatisfied hum leaves Maelle’s lips and she surrenders the flip phone back into her pocket. Her steps slow, her breathing turned from labored to shallow. Each inhale proved more of a struggle than the last, before Maelle halted completely, just before uneven terrain turned back to concrete and paved sidewalks.
She just needed a moment to catch her breath, but it also came off as a rather unflattering reminder of how much activity she lacked in the past-…
Maelle checked her flip phone again, but with a huff of frustration her only choice seemed to be continuing on. It was easier with a sidewalk to stick to, but it did not remedy her shortness of breath or aching legs.
Maelle checked the flip phone again, this time watching it intently as she lifted it up. The appearance of buildings became more frequent, and still nothing. With a bit of tunnel vision, Maelle only really bothered to look up on occasion. She knew where to go already, her feet carried her on naturally.
She just didn't want to miss a potential message…
There’s a spike of worry in Maelle’s chest when she looks up again.
Then another glance upward, something unsettling began to take root. Maelle squinted, trying to make out any shapes in the fog, to no avail. She suddenly felt out of place. She can’t help but pay more mind to her footsteps and breathing. Her existence sticks out like a sore thumb, she is not supposed to be here. Her presence feels wrong.
This town was empty, aside from Maelle. Her footsteps disturb a silence that’s been settled long before her arrival. The air felt tainted with her breath, the town shied away from her sight.
She shouldn’t be here.
Maelle rationalized that the feeling is normal, she just isn’t used to feeling like this when she is alone.
There is a comfort in her solitude, and though she is granted that now, the displacement rips her away from such. There is nothing else for her to do but continue forward.
So that’s what she will do. Even if it disturbs the town's own seclusion. Disrupting each other, in a way.
Maybe Maelle was also expecting to see people here. Logically a cause for concern, surely she had not stepped foot at an abandoned town? It wasn’t like she planned to speak with anyone, she was here to see, and find, Verso. Otherwise she doesn’t exactly excel at conversations with others. Yet there’s a sense of unease that clings to the lack of life.
Maelle’s eyes settled ahead, a strip of shopping areas and restaurants wasn’t too far away. Briefly, her mind wandered to what she might order at the cafe. Verso used to eat there every morning when he was in town, Maelle didn’t understand how he never got sick of it.
The sidewalks are clear, granting Maelle a straight forward path. It lacks the traffic this street normally carries. It was always a given, something to prepare for.
When she first received his message, she couldn’t help but smile when she saw the address. Familiarity had graced her eyes for the first time in a while, and along with it the comfort of a meal with family.
She’ll have to look at the menu, maybe he has some recommendations since he was so adamant on eating there.
Her stomach clawed at her the more Maelle let the food noise seep into her mind, an urgent reminder that easily shattered the illusion of comfortable hunger an impatient child feels just before dinner time. A jab to the brain, the pounding and sudden wave of dizziness that made Maelle's nails dig into the palms of her hands.
Maelle pressed her limbs closer to her torso. She didn’t recall when the flip phone made its way into her pocket, the next phase of its endless rotation, only made clear when she had one hand to pick at the skin of the other. Scraping, then picking.
Maelle remembered that she used to feed the birds here, with Verso. She would ask to pick some bread from his sandwich, and he would chastise her by holding it up and away. Complaining that she should have ordered the birds their own sandwich.
He always gave in, though. The birds would settle comfortably near their feet, not to be touched. But they were coddled and spoiled by the town to be (practically) flightless and well fed. Maelle would always joke that they were too fat to migrate.
There are no birds here now though, just moldy pastries that sit in the display window.
Maelle’s shoes scraped against the pavement as she wobbled to a halt. She is thankful she cannot see the way her face drops, dusty and stained with smudges along the glass. She leaned forward, the palm of her hand pressing against the wood framing the door. Damp and weak.
The rusted door handle was no better, Maelle’s skin instantly tainted by the build up from neglect as she grabbed, and pulled. Her arm tensed and strained, but it didn’t budge.
A frustrated huff pressed past her lips, just as the movement of a figure impossible to miss amongst the stillness.
Maelle pressed her face up against the door glass, as quickly as her heart had drooped it shot up again. In moments her energy was suddenly replenished, and she tugged on the door again.
“Verso-” Maelle gritted her teeth as a cough cut into her speech. Irritation sunk its claws into the back of her throat and with it, a burning itch. She inhaled abruptly, just for the cold air to contrast sharply.
Maelle pulled again, leaning her body back and jolting with each tug in hopes that whatever weight she had would get the door open. Dizziness and exhaustion are swept away in just a few moments by adrenaline alone.
“Verso wait!” Her words come out clearer this time, but still with a slight waver from the door giving way. Sending the small girl stumbling back a few feet, but she just as quickly regained her balance.
“Verso I’m here-!” Her calls were desperate, muffled by the deteriorating cafe walls when she flung herself inside. The floorboards creak from beneath her, and her shoes slammed carelessly against the floor. The backrest from the chairs jam into her side, some knock over, but Maelle cannot bring herself to do anything more than recover from the stumble.
Maelle pressed her palm against the front counter to prevent herself from slamming into that as well, pushing herself from its surface and scurrying around it- towards the back area where she saw the figure run off to.
A high pitched shrill assaulted her ears, then silence.
Maelle’s steps fall in closer with each other before she can reach the kitchen, and once she came to a stop she dared not move. In the silence, that stagnant air settled upon her, dust gently drifting in the air.
There’s a lack of light beyond the kitchen window, dark forms and vague shapes is just about the only thing she can make out at first. Though the longer she stares, the more she’s sure she can distinguish the sink, counters, and maybe even the oven.
Maelle squints, and the edges of her vision fuzz a bit. Her heart is loud in her ears, chest squeezed by some invisible force trying to keep her as still as possible. Her breathing is contained, only able to get just enough air into her lungs to keep her silent, but not without discomfort.
Maelle’s foot shifts forward at the same time metal scrapes against the floor. She quickly pivoted, breath catching in her throat to refrain from a gasp.
The front of the cafe was still empty, the only signs of life being from when Maelle barreled through all the tables. Even the door was still. The fog remained adrift outside, and aside from that nothing moved.
Maelle’s vision suddenly whipped upwards against her own accord. Whiplash was quick to disorient her along with the air squeezed out of her lungs, forced out in the form of a pathetic wheeze.
Alarm surged through her, her chest constricted with something hard. Warmth pressed up against her jacket, heat weaving its way through the cotton. Maelle’s legs kicked aimlessly at the air, torso twisting like a cat angling to land on its feet mid-air. Her hands instinctively flew up to try and pry whatever it was off of her, only to immediately jerk them away.
When she realized she was grabbing at hot metal, the heat felt more suffocating than before. Beginning to irritate her skin through her clothing, almost scalding.
A sharp pain stabbed through her back as it hit the edge of the kitchen window, spit flying from her mouth and head bobbing backwards from the impact. Her eyes, glossed briefly with pain, meeting the kitchen window and the darkness within.
The metal extended from the black, uneven and twisted in crumpled up shapes that resemble knots entrenched in thin rods. Each bend emitting a glow from the heat, of which had no obvious origin.
Darkness blanketed most of Maelle’s vision as she was dragged through the kitchen window, screaming with what leeway she was given to do so.
Her eyes were still maladjusted to the dark, yet sound and feeling still registered secondary. Nothing compared to the fear that flooded her mind. What sounded like kitchen utensils clattered to the ground upon the impact of Maelle’s body against various appliances. Though she couldn’t be sure.
The kitchen window didn’t provide her much light from the outside, but it was better than nothing at all.
The subtle red glow from the metal was difficult to see, and the only light she could rely on were the places the metal was hottest. Maelle’s shoes pressed against the floor, nails catching on the grout between the tiles. Maelle could feel sweat building up on her face, a flush of hot air hitting her in a form of desecration. It surrounded her like a bubble, robbing the discomfort of humidity in replacement for air she couldn't breathe. Suffocating and trying to snuff her out like a candle beneath a cup.
Maelle’s fingertips grazed something sharp while she fought to cling to the floor, and in an act of desperation she grabbed hold. She fumbled the blade in her hands until she was able to grip its handle.
Metal creaking and scraping against itself was very audible now, vibrating through her ears until it reached her jaw with a dull ache. The combination of intense heat and screeching that pierced through her eardrums would normally have her scratching at her skin in irritation, as if she could peel away all her senses with it.
Maelle jammed the knife against her jacket, just along the edges of where she felt the metal gripped her. Her hand tightened into a fist around the handle, pushing the blade against her clothing and growing frustrated when it slid along the fabric from her force instead of cutting through it. Fighting against her jacket where the blade had been dulled, grunting in a mixture of effort and fear.
Hope surged through her when she could hear it begin to rip.
Maelle freed her other hand from the floor with newfound vigor to pull some of the jacket bits taut. Her heart pounded in her chest when tugged along the floor with more ease, but she didn’t stop. Not until Maelle could hear the jacket continue to rip without the influence of a knife.
Maelle began to squirm again, flailing in a complete void while her mind tried despterately to fill in the blanks of what her eyes could not receive. The smell of cloth being seared into the metal made it difficult for her to breathe but worked in her favor. The rods twisted, and the fabric pulled taut finally gave way from the tension.
Maelle crawled, kicking her legs frantically against the floor.
The light from the kitchen window gently outlined a door handle on the other side of the room, and Maelle didn’t waste any time scrambling to it. Pushing herself to her feet, though not without blunder. Her body slammed into it the same time she turned the knob, flinging herself outside into welcoming air that contrasted the prior heat.
Maelle gasped as if actually escaping suffocation. Lungs ached and rattled against her ribs as she fought her coughs with large inhales. Red locks fell in front of her face as she hunched over, vision doubling briefly. Her hand pressed against a nearby dumpster for a moment to push herself further upright, blood smearing against it.
She didn’t stop moving, even if it was slow. Her head turned, catching sight of her brother turning a corner so quickly he tilted to the side. She was almost certain he would have fallen over, but he successfully disappeared behind the wall.
“Vers-” Maelle’s voice cracked, and she intentionally cursed herself for how uneven and shaken up it was.
Still on the high of adrenaline, though fleeting, Maelle pushed herself off of the dumpster and pushed to quicken her pace. Rounding the corner in a similar manner to Verso just a moment ago, though dangerously close to taking a tumble herself as black spots dotted her vision.
The man was now stopped, running a hand through light brown hair. Messy but almost lay intentionally, if not for bits of frizz and loose strands.
His head whipped around to face Maelle.
That wasn’t Verso.
“Oh thank god- Do you know if there’s some sort of evacuation I might have missed or something?... I went into work and none of my students showed up so I-” His shoulders relaxed slightly, but not completely. He waved his hands about to accompany his anxious ramblings, but forfeit eye contact in the process.
Maelle took a step back with wide eyes, grappling with her new reality and now shattered belief that this man had been her brother. He had told her to meet at the cafe, and now wasn’t there. Had that thing gotten to him?
No, no, certainly not. She decided.
“Hey, hey. What’s wrong?”
Maelle lifted her gaze from where it had sunk to the ground, meeting the man’s soft brown eyes. He looked a bit surprised, yet his expression quickly twisted in worry once he registered what he was looking at. His tone was gentle and laced with concern, matching his expression.
Her breath hitched and fell heavier than she had realized. Both hands now gripping the kitchen knife as a form of comfort, the blade pointed downward with no actual intention of use.
“Sorry I- Ah, come on let’s sit.”
Maelle closed her eyes, bobbing her head in a pathetic nod as she held back her tears. She let her shoulder hit the wall, unresponsive to the dull pain, before gradually sliding down into a sitting position on the ground.
The man set his bag aside before joining her a comfortable distance away, legs crossed and arms resting on his knees while staring off into the empty streets blanketed by thick fog. Though his glances towards Maelle and her hands were not lost on her, she appreciated the silence he offered.
Humiliation coursed through Maelle. This was not what she had planned for, she was supposed to meet with Verso at the cafe. Yet he hadn’t shown. Now Maelle is stuck here with a stranger for longer than she intended. She only went over passing conversations in her head. Small talk before she could politely excuse herself to go meet up with her brother.
The silence had to be broken eventually, but before Maelle could conjure up an excuse to leave, the man spoke up.
“Do you go to school here?”
Maelle felt strangely relieved.
“No.” She muttered, thankful she had at least been given enough time to even out her breathing before he asked. Even if it was still labored. The dizziness that felt like it was closing in on her slowly began to shift into something more manageable, and her vision now more clear. As long as she didn’t turn her head too quickly, that is.
A moment or two passed, and Maelle almost convinced herself it was her turn to speak again, but the man spoke.
“Ah, so are you on break? Wherever you're from.”
“...Isn’t it a weekend?” Maelle looked at him, a smile beginning to tug at her lips. The man, however, wore a perplexed look.
“Sorry, can you repeat that?”
…
“I said, ‘Isn't it a weekend?” Maelle spoke louder, her voice strained. “You know, you said none of your students showed up so-” She paused, but a moment's hesitation was enough for her to cut in again.
“I was messing with you.” Another uncomfortable beat passed between them. Each second that ticked by made her feel more out of place than the last. Maybe she had forgotten how to have a conversation after all.
Then he laughed, dry, but a laugh nonetheless.
“Yeah, yeah I got that.” He said with a smile, shaking his head. He shifted, tugging at the bag he set aside earlier. Maelle tilted her head, eyes lingering on the prosthetic arm he used to help hoist it into his lap. Perhaps a little too long to be considered polite, but if the man noticed, he didn’t say anything.
“You know if it’s hurting to talk, I have a notebook.” He began, unzipping the bag.
“My throat isn’t that sore.” It was, and Maelle’s words came out more defensive than she intended. She watched the man pause as her words reached his ears, delayed but reactive.
“Sorry if that's- No, I overstepped. I’m sorry.” He zipped up his bag again in defeat, before thankfully, steering towards a conversation she rehearsed many times.
“My name is Gustave, you are…?”
“My name is Maelle.”
“That’s a lovely name,” Gustave smiles before his expression darkens. “Maelle, I don’t feel too comfortable leaving you alone here…” He trailed off, searching Maelle’s eyes as he spoke. Clearly knowing more than he initially let on. Or was that why he looked frantic earlier? “Do you have parents nearby? Or anyone I can walk you to?”
“I am an orphan.”
…
“But I do have an older brother.”