Amidst the fog, a man’s sarcastic voice and loud clapping can be heard, followed by a weary groan and irritated growl.


“Bravo, bravo! Look at what a great job you did, moron! You managed to crash the car, all the way in the middle of nowhere, and now we’re lost!”


Thank you so much for your help! You’ve done so much for use! Now how the hell are we supposed to get into the fucking town?!”


Viktor slaps the tired deputy across the back roughly, and when he turns around, shoots him a dirty look. Not being able to do or even say anything without starting a fight, Alex can only stand by and watch as the antics continue. The mention of the car crash makes him shake with rage, remembering what his companion did to his own car beforehand.


Suppressing his urge to yell, he opts to “tap” the taller man on the shoulder instead, but just a little too hard. “And remember what you did to my car?”


“What are you trying to accuse me of ? I never did anything to your car!” And for the strangest reason, the hard jab didn’t set him off, as it would in most cases.


Looking utterly oblivious to what he just said, Viktor stares at him with that one eye of his, and all of a sudden, becomes strangely quiet. His cheeks begin to flush red at the sight of it, and he can feel that scream rising up in his throat. And for whatever reason it is, he laughs, laughs like it was all a harmless joke, and that does it.


“You totalled it! You totalled my car! You crashed it so badly it doesn’t even look like a car any more! And you actually think it’s funny?!”


“Give me a break, will you? I couldn’t see well with all this fog around. It’s just so thick now, you see?”


Slapping his forehead soundly, Alex stomps off on his own, cursing under his breath. Behind his back, he can still hear that obnoxious laughter and accompanying expressions of one worn-down and most likely irritated deputy sheriff who probably doesn’t even know which way he’s going or why he’s even going in the direction he’s going in.


“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.”


“Tell me what?”


“That it was because of the fog.”


“The fog. Right, the fog. Whatever you say, DC...”


“For the last time already, that’s not my name...”


“Oh, shut up.”


Why the hell did he come, anyways? It didn’t have anything to do with him, but apparently, he thought it’d be fun, and decided to tag along. But instead of being on his best behavior, he does his worst, and now he manages to get a cop, of all people, to come along, and not even for a good reason. All because he just had to show off how great a driver he was.


“Wait till the sheriff hears about what you did.”


“It was an accident. I didn’t do it on purpose.”


Then again, the more the merrier, right?


“Do me a favor, both of you and please... Shut up!”


Actually, no, but it’s just how things are.


Within his pocket, his hand clutches at the crumpled letter tightly in the grip of his sweating hand, and all matter of thoughts about it start racing in his mind.


“Our ‘special place’...”


Mary, his wife, wanted to meet him again in their ‘special place’, in Silent Hill. But it’s already been so long since they were last together, so it’s strange that she’d write to him now.


“So she’s waiting for me in our ‘special place’...”


And the reason they hadn’t been together for so long, and the reason that she never wrote to him for so long, is because she’s dead, and for three years already. But how is it that she could write to him now? Dead people don’t write letters, so can it be that she’s still alive?


Those two in the back already know about his reason for the trip, and they must think him crazy. But even if it means having to go through so much trouble just to see whether she’s there or not would be worth it, just to put aside any doubts about it, right?


Behind him, he hears Viktor screaming at his back. His patience wanes. “Hey, you!”


“What is it now?!” Practically snarling, he turns around, almost frothing at the mouth.


“Wait a second! You aren’t about to ditch us, are you?”


“I wish I could, but I can’t, can I?!”


Things grow quiet again, he takes out the letter, and reads it over again.