The first light of morning was spreading across the sky when a silver Jeep made its way quickly down a narrow trail. Rose was at the wheel, her hands clenching it firmly. In the backseat, Sharon sat in silence, her young face showing signs of fear and worry. They were headed to a mysterious place known as Silent Hill.
Every so often, Rose would steal a glance at the rearview mirror. A police motorcycle was stubbornly tailing them. The officer on the bike, a woman, had seen Rose driving erratically earlier and was suspicious of her intentions. She had been trailing them closely ever since.
Determined to avoid any confrontation, Rose pushed down harder on the gas pedal.
Before long, they came upon a wire fence that stretched across the road, a clear barrier to Silent Hill. There was no visible way around it.
"Sharon, make sure your seatbelt is on," Rose instructed with a calm she didn't feel.
Crash!
With that, she stepped on the gas, and the Jeep crashed through the fence with a thunderous noise.
"Mommy!" Sharon's voice was filled with terror.
The Jeep kept moving, seemingly unfazed by the collision with the fence, while the sound of the police siren continued to wail in the distance.
Rose let out a breath of relief. At this rate, the policewoman wouldn't be able to catch them before they made it to Silent Hill.
Then, an unsettling noise started coming from the car radio.
Crackle, crackle, crackle.
Rose's brow furrowed in annoyance as she tried to turn off the radio, but it wouldn't stop. It just kept crackling.
Crackle, crackle, screech.
The sound became sharper, more grating. Sharon in the backseat seemed to be in agony, her face twisted in distress as she clutched her ears.
"Ah, ah, ah—"
Sharon's screams filled the car as she tried to block out the noise, and Rose desperately jabbed at the radio buttons.
"Don't worry, it's just the radio acting up, I'll get it turned off!" Rose attempted to soothe her daughter.
"Mommy—" Sharon's cries were piercing, the noise clearly too much for her.
In her frantic attempt to silence the radio, Rose's attention was momentarily drawn away from the road. That's when she saw a figure slowly emerging and walking right in front of their speeding vehicle.
It was a girl, about the same age as Sharon, who appeared out of nowhere. Rose, caught off guard by the sudden sight, yanked the steering wheel to the side. The ground beneath them seemed to turn to ice, the Jeep lost its grip, spinning wildly before slamming into a guardrail. The impact was severe, and Rose's head struck the steering wheel with force.
Time passed, though Rose couldn't tell how long she'd been out. When she came to, the sky was bright above her, and the air was filled with what looked like snowflakes gently falling.
But that didn't make sense. It wasn't winter. Why would it be snowing?
Rose shook off the confusion; her priority was Sharon's safety.
"Sharon~!" she called out, her voice laced with pain as she held her throbbing head.
She turned to check the backseat, her heart dropping when she saw it was empty.
"Sharon~!" she cried out again, panic rising in her voice.
She fumbled with the car door, pushed it open, and staggered out, beginning to search around the wrecked vehicle.
"Sharon~!" she called out yet again.
Her car was stuck in the middle of the road, refusing to start. With the pain from the crash slowing her down, she could only manage a limping walk.
"Is anyone there? Please, we need help!" she shouted as she moved forward.
The air was not only filled with the falling 'snowflakes' but also a dense fog that cloaked her surroundings, making it hard to see anything beyond a few feet. She wandered, hoping desperately for someone to come by and offer assistance.
"There's been an accident, please, someone come quickly!" she called out, her voice growing stronger as she began to jog, despite her injuries.
But as she continued, she realized the silence was complete; there was no sign of anyone else. She stopped, out of breath, and whispered softly, "Sharon!"
Then, one of the 'snowflakes' landed on her cheek, and she noticed something strange—it wasn't cold as snow should be, but oddly warm.
Curious, she reached up and touched the flake on her face, then looked at her fingers. It wasn't snow at all, but a fine, light black ash.
"Ashes?" Rose murmured to herself, a sense of dread settling in as she stared at the black ash in her hand.
The substance that was gently descending from the sky wasn't snow at all, but rather ashes. Rose didn't allow herself to dwell on this unsettling discovery for long; she had to keep moving. Her determination to find Sharon drove her forward until she came upon a sign that declared: "Welcome to Silent Hill."
She glanced back, taking in the strange and unsettling atmosphere that seemed to envelop the place. Despite the eerie feeling it gave her, Rose's resolve to find her daughter was unwavering, and she pressed on into the town.
***
Shortly after Rose had moved on, a grand figure made its descent from the sky. It was a majestic flaming dragon, and its rider was a man.
The dragon was Igris, landed gracefully upon the ashen terrain.
During their journey, Jon had commanded Igris to eliminate numerous creatures, yet he hadn't received any notifications about accruing penalty points. This indicated that these monsters were not real beings but an illusional creatures with some reality, devoid of life and sin.
Jon dismounted from Igris, plucking a piece of ash from the air and examining it closely.
"So, this is the real world of Silent Hill," Jon said to himself, his voice low.
In the context of the movie, Silent Hill's real world and its Darkness world alternated like day and night, but only at specific times. This was different from the real world's transition into the Darkness, which was more interconnected.
With a swift motion, Jon summoned Igris back and turned his attention to a silver Jeep parked nearby—it was likely the one Rose had been driving.
"It seems I'm a step too late," Jon remarked with a hint of disappointment. He approached the vehicle.
"Alohomora~!" Jon chanted softly, wielding his wand. The car unlocked with a click, and he opened the back door to discover a painting inside.
The painting was unsettling, featuring a dark, almost abyssal background and depicting a school with children visible in the windows, their expressions suggesting they were trapped and desperate to escape.
Jon took the painting, his mind set on making his way toward Silent Hill.
He, too, paused at the sign that welcomed visitors to Silent Hill. Driven by either curiosity or another unknown motive, Jon pulled out his gun and took aim at the sign.
Bang!
A burst of blue light shot from the gun, and the sign shattered into fragments.
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