Road to Hell
Shauna
My head was pounding and my immediate thought was to blame Sherry for making me drink again. She never got hangovers but I always did. I groaned feebly, groping blindly for my blanket and not finding it. An uneasy feeling came over me, bits and pieces of what had actually happened before I passed out coming back to me. I screwed my eyes tighter together, not wanting to open them and face reality.
"Shawnie? Where are you?"
"Here," my voice came out loud and clear, though my throat felt incredibly dry. I sat up, opening my eyes as I did so and facing up to the fact I wasn't in my bedroom or anywhere I recognised at all. I looked around for my twin, and my heart leaped into my mouth when I realized I couldn't see her. The fog was so thick...
"Shauna!"
I turned round, then turned again. It was impossible to place what direction the voice was coming from. Left, right... I had no idea. I turned again and again, my breathing now coming in sharp, short gasps. I stumbled blindly through the fog, my ears straining desperately for another shout but I couldn't hear a thing except my own rasping breath.
I choked back hysterical sobs as I walked, my arms stretched out in front of me. I could barely see my own hands, it was terrifying. I could have been anywhere and I'd have no idea. The fog just went on for ages, the ground under my feet turning from tarmac into loose dirt and grass. Slowly I started being able to see shadows form around me, the loose shapes of trees and shrubs closing in on me.
"Shauna, is that you?"
This time I could tell it was behind me, and when I looked I could see Sherry picking her way through the dense fog and forest. I sprinted to her, sobbing with relief as I drew her into a bone crushing hug. She hugged me back just as tightly, and I could feel her shaking violently. Sherry, who was so hard to scare, trembling with me as we stood in the thick fog in the middle of nowhere.
We both just sat on the forest floor, head in our hands for a few moments, composing ourselves and not saying a thing. How could we? What could possibly be said? Something was seriously wrong, and there was nothing to be done.
I was trying to think of what we could do to find our way back to the car when a loud scraping noise echoed through the fog. My heart seemed to stumble for a moment and the ground swayed underneath me. For a second I was sure I'd pass out, but Sherry grabbed my hand so tightly that I felt tied down to the ground, unable to just float away into a numb nothingness.
The sound came from behind us, a loud scraping noise that sent shivers down my spine. It was like nails being dragged down a chalkboard, but a hundred times louder, a hundred times worse. It came again, louder this time, setting my teeth on edge and without saying anything Sherry started to drag me away from it.
'It's probably just a car,' I thought to myself. 'A really old car.'
But then I remembered that Dodge was a really old car and had never made a noise like that. A noise that was following us, getting louder as the fog got thicker. We were making our way through the forest, struggling as the trees became more dense and harder to get past. We were as close to a run as we could get without our feet getting caught on roots and brambles.
The noise was so loud now it sounded like it was coming from everywhere.
"Just run!" Sherry screamed at me, dropping my hand as we started to sprint. I stumbled twice and fell, but picked myself up straight away to follow my sister’s shadow. My chest was aching from fear and from lack of breath, but the fear had filled me with adrenaline so I didn't- I couldn't- slow down.
I was just starting to think we'd be trapped like this forever when the fog thinned slightly. Sherry stopped running, standing as still as the trees except for her shoulder heaving with panting breaths. I stopped next to her and looked down. We were right at the top of a huge ravine, with only a small wooden bridge across it. It was so deep I couldn't see the bottom, and the thought of plummeting down into it, into that nothingness, made my stomach turn. The combination of the fear and the running and now this made me feel like I was about to throw up. But there wasn't time for that, because Sherry was already pushing me towards the bridge as the scraping noise drew closer still, loud enough to be coming from inside my own head.
I expected the bridge to sway like in the films, but there was no wind and the bridge was still except for the slight shakes of impact as our feet pounded across. We didn't dare look back until we'd reached the other side and collapsed into a heap together.
Back where we'd came from, a figure stood, wielding an impossibly large sword. The body and head looked out of proportion, but the fog made it hard to focus on it clearly. But what we could see was it lifting the sword, which scraped across the ground as he did so, the source of the noise we'd been hearing. Then he swung it down as if it weighed nothing at all and it sliced clean through the rope and wood holding up the bridge on that side.
The bridge crumbled away, falling into the dark depths of the ravine and Sherry let out a small whimper, clutching at me like she did when we were children. The figure didn't move after that, just stood there as the fog closed over it. But even when we couldn't see it anymore, I could still feel it watching us.
"Hey, Shauna. Look," after a minute of us checking ourselves over and finding only small scratches, Sherry pointed to something. The fog around us had cleared considerably, enough to now see the battered wooden sign in front of us.
"Welcome to Silent Hill," I read out loud, then glanced at my sister. She gave me a small, shaky smile then took my hand again. "Guess we might as well go see the locals, maybe they can help us out."
Even though I didn't like the idea of it at all, I guided Sherry down the small dirt path that was leading us to Silent Hill.
"Shawnie? Where are you?"
"Here," my voice came out loud and clear, though my throat felt incredibly dry. I sat up, opening my eyes as I did so and facing up to the fact I wasn't in my bedroom or anywhere I recognised at all. I looked around for my twin, and my heart leaped into my mouth when I realized I couldn't see her. The fog was so thick...
"Shauna!"
I turned round, then turned again. It was impossible to place what direction the voice was coming from. Left, right... I had no idea. I turned again and again, my breathing now coming in sharp, short gasps. I stumbled blindly through the fog, my ears straining desperately for another shout but I couldn't hear a thing except my own rasping breath.
I choked back hysterical sobs as I walked, my arms stretched out in front of me. I could barely see my own hands, it was terrifying. I could have been anywhere and I'd have no idea. The fog just went on for ages, the ground under my feet turning from tarmac into loose dirt and grass. Slowly I started being able to see shadows form around me, the loose shapes of trees and shrubs closing in on me.
"Shauna, is that you?"
This time I could tell it was behind me, and when I looked I could see Sherry picking her way through the dense fog and forest. I sprinted to her, sobbing with relief as I drew her into a bone crushing hug. She hugged me back just as tightly, and I could feel her shaking violently. Sherry, who was so hard to scare, trembling with me as we stood in the thick fog in the middle of nowhere.
We both just sat on the forest floor, head in our hands for a few moments, composing ourselves and not saying a thing. How could we? What could possibly be said? Something was seriously wrong, and there was nothing to be done.
I was trying to think of what we could do to find our way back to the car when a loud scraping noise echoed through the fog. My heart seemed to stumble for a moment and the ground swayed underneath me. For a second I was sure I'd pass out, but Sherry grabbed my hand so tightly that I felt tied down to the ground, unable to just float away into a numb nothingness.
The sound came from behind us, a loud scraping noise that sent shivers down my spine. It was like nails being dragged down a chalkboard, but a hundred times louder, a hundred times worse. It came again, louder this time, setting my teeth on edge and without saying anything Sherry started to drag me away from it.
'It's probably just a car,' I thought to myself. 'A really old car.'
But then I remembered that Dodge was a really old car and had never made a noise like that. A noise that was following us, getting louder as the fog got thicker. We were making our way through the forest, struggling as the trees became more dense and harder to get past. We were as close to a run as we could get without our feet getting caught on roots and brambles.
The noise was so loud now it sounded like it was coming from everywhere.
"Just run!" Sherry screamed at me, dropping my hand as we started to sprint. I stumbled twice and fell, but picked myself up straight away to follow my sister’s shadow. My chest was aching from fear and from lack of breath, but the fear had filled me with adrenaline so I didn't- I couldn't- slow down.
I was just starting to think we'd be trapped like this forever when the fog thinned slightly. Sherry stopped running, standing as still as the trees except for her shoulder heaving with panting breaths. I stopped next to her and looked down. We were right at the top of a huge ravine, with only a small wooden bridge across it. It was so deep I couldn't see the bottom, and the thought of plummeting down into it, into that nothingness, made my stomach turn. The combination of the fear and the running and now this made me feel like I was about to throw up. But there wasn't time for that, because Sherry was already pushing me towards the bridge as the scraping noise drew closer still, loud enough to be coming from inside my own head.
I expected the bridge to sway like in the films, but there was no wind and the bridge was still except for the slight shakes of impact as our feet pounded across. We didn't dare look back until we'd reached the other side and collapsed into a heap together.
Back where we'd came from, a figure stood, wielding an impossibly large sword. The body and head looked out of proportion, but the fog made it hard to focus on it clearly. But what we could see was it lifting the sword, which scraped across the ground as he did so, the source of the noise we'd been hearing. Then he swung it down as if it weighed nothing at all and it sliced clean through the rope and wood holding up the bridge on that side.
The bridge crumbled away, falling into the dark depths of the ravine and Sherry let out a small whimper, clutching at me like she did when we were children. The figure didn't move after that, just stood there as the fog closed over it. But even when we couldn't see it anymore, I could still feel it watching us.
"Hey, Shauna. Look," after a minute of us checking ourselves over and finding only small scratches, Sherry pointed to something. The fog around us had cleared considerably, enough to now see the battered wooden sign in front of us.
"Welcome to Silent Hill," I read out loud, then glanced at my sister. She gave me a small, shaky smile then took my hand again. "Guess we might as well go see the locals, maybe they can help us out."
Even though I didn't like the idea of it at all, I guided Sherry down the small dirt path that was leading us to Silent Hill.