Chapter Text
Tyres raced along the asphalted route, lined by tall trees that framed the overcast sky. Not your typical weather for a leisurely drive but then nothing felt typical… nor leisurely.
Tree after tree shot by the tinted windows of the black SUV that whined and roared under the hood. Its mettle was being put to task as its speed was pushed far beyond city limits. No, nothing was typical about this drive.
This was a race against time. A crisis. One fuelled by parental panic and carnal rage.
The car’s interior was filled with nothing but the shuddering breath of its male driver. The driver’s chest heaved with each sharp intake of air. Addled with adrenaline. The shakes writhed through his body, making his teeth chatter with no real outlet… aside from the gas pedal. He gripped the steer wheel without mercy as his bloodstained and bruised knuckles whitened.
His eyes fixated on the road ahead until he didn’t… as his reflection in the rearview mirror caught his attention.
For a brief moment, his eyes connected with pale blue eyes that reflected back at him. Framed by white lashes and alabaster skin. An albino whose face was marred by massive scar, rendering his emotions permanently stoic but his eyes held a burning fire instead.
Within that fire raged a caustic mix of emotions with fury at centre stage
The man who intensely stares back at him was Oscar James Sunderland. A man who shook with adrenaline and broke speed laws like a mad man.
He also had blood splatter on his milky white skin…
Oscar harshly wiped his cheek on the cuff of his sleeve. Desperately trying to get it off as his attention returned to the road but he merely served to smear it further as it stained his cheek.
He angrily huffed to himself, a fruitless endeavour as a second glance noted that he also had bloodstains on his clothes.
“Damn it…” He cursed to himself, knowing help… if any, would be wary of him.
Although perhaps he should be wary instead.
As the route he sped along was to Silent Hill, a town that he hadn’t been back to in seventeen years. It was the first time he’ll be coming to town by himself and there was no telling as to what awaits him there.
Whether it be manifestations that would lead him astray or abject horrors that want him dead. He had some expectation of what the town may have instore for him, even if they weren’t for him. It was due to the fact that this wasn’t Oscar’s first time coming to town nor his second; in actual fact it would be his third time setting foot into town… but this nightmare will be his alone.
Although in truth, he had already been living it without the town’s assistance after all, having your entire family ripped away is a nightmare in its own right. Ripped away by a crash that stole his wife and baby girl…
Only to just find out that they are in Silent Hill all along, kept by the town’s cult, taken in a crisis… in their moment of weakness, when Oscar wasn’t able to protect them. It was The Order’s only chance to take back what was theirs…
…the mother of god; his wife; Heather Mason.
The albino was her best friend turned sweetheart on a date that turned into a revenge trip from hell. Who knew the town of nightmares could be a matchmaker, serving to bond them through trauma, hardship and codependency.
As after her father was slain, Oscar was all she had left.
They left that town together with living proof that history had repeated itself, as that day took a life and birthed life; a reincarnation of Alessa. A baby that cried her first breath of life in the remains of a dead god.
The child that they raised together, knowing no one else should. Their daughter that they named; Harper.
Who was now in the Order’s clutches, kidnapped in Oscar’s absence, adding salt to the freshly de-scabbed wound.
Adding more fuel to his fiery ire as he pressed down on the gas pedal in earnest, hurtling down a ceaseless road at breakneck speeds. In a moment of clarity, a thought; why do the roads leading into Silent Hill feel so long?
Maybe it was the anxiety, panic and rage clouding his perception of time and distance but everything beyond the security of his car, began to look the same. In his subconscious, he could have sworn he already saw that cluster of trees… that road sign with no change in distance some time ago, hell… he was starting to believe that his on-board navigation hadn’t moved in a some while. It was as if the road became a treadmill of dread and hopelessness, forcing him into an endless loop of ever-wondering if he’ll ever be fast enough.
Although in the face of an emergency, the power of teleportation would still not be fast enough in his mind.
The albino hummed in rumination, as he scrutinised the road ahead, unable to decipher whether his mind was playing tricks on him or the town was. Antagonising him from beyond its boundary was certainly a possibility as it happened to Heather but in the schemes of Silent Hill; Oscar was a nobody to it, it was unlikely that its powers would go out of its way for him. However, in another thought of the same vein, perhaps this was its way of keeping him at bay; by throwing him into limbo’s passage of never arriving…
…to make sure he was too late.
Before despair could sink its talons in, the welcome sign for Silent Hill came into view. It finally allowed the man to breathe a sigh of relief only to be caught in his throat… as with the sign rolled in the fog. The white wisps reached out from the white void, enveloping the vehicle into the fold as it sped over the town’s limits. It bestowed the most intrepid relief, in one hand he was where he needed to be but in the other… his family was still so far out of reach.
Oscar heaved a melancholic sigh at the realisation that the worst had yet to come.
The fog grew increasingly thick creating an impenetrable wall around the car as its headlights reflected off the churning haze. It forced Oscar to ease up on the acceleration and slow down, something he was reluctant to do but it was better than crashing. Visibility beyond the hood of his car was nonexistent as the albino stared out of the window before him, trying to spot any markers that would direct him to where he needed to be.
However, no amount of studying his surroundings proved useful, forcing the driver to rely on the on-board navigation. Oscar glanced down at the screen to get some idea of where he was but with each flit on the eyes from the screen to the road ahead, his frustration with it grew. He couldn’t make heads or tails of his location, the screen appeared to have locked up.
Oscar reached a hand out to the console, he pressed a touch screen button to reset the screen but no response.
“Are you kidding me?!” He cursed under his breath, trying the buttons again before he whacked it out of anger. “Damn it… “
The albino shook his head, his lips pursed as he tried to calm himself, to figure out what to do next. He sighed in utter defeat as he knew he'd have to stop and walk at this point but he really wanted to get as close to Lakeside as possible. The albino’s shoulders lowered, deflated, the idea of walking around completely lost was not on his agenda as he began to look around for a safe space to park.
It was then the sound of a horn blared from the white mist and so too blinding light that erupted from nowhere. The abrupt light caused Oscar to instinctively shield his eyes, the harsh bright lights hurt his eyes, however in doing so he knocked the steering wheel. The sudden movement caused the car to jerk to the side, then spin wildly out of control as the tail of the car whipped from side to side.
Oscar’s ears were filled with the sounds of skidding tyres and the destructive screeching of twisting metal…
Then there was silence…
…and his world fell dark.