Silent Tale

Silent Tale

Papyrus pulled out his map in what felt like the millionth time. Using his flashlight he slowly scanned the map and then at the edge of the cliff he was standing on. There was suppose to be a street that led directly to the park, but it was cut off.

The tall monster eyed the empty chasm warily. This was the fifth time he had to change directions because of this! There was nothing but fog and darkness near the bottom from what little he could see. It was a good thing that he was aware of his surroundings or he would've fallen off for sure. This wasn't the first time his crazy attention to details saved him.

He turned around and retraced his steps. He'll have to find another way to the park. Again. He frowned when he saw how far away his destination was now that he had to change directions. He needed to be more careful not to take a wrong turn or fall off some cliff.

He pocketed the map but left the flashlight on as he opened a can of peaches with his knife. He started to drink the fruit down while walking, determined to do both at the same time. He needed enough energy if he was going to find Serif.

Once he was finished with the fruit he discarded the can in a nearby trash bin. He didn't know how long he had walked but it must've been at least thirty minutes before he noticed that the sun was up. Well, he couldn't see the sun but the lighting was much better than the pitch black darkness from before.

He was about to turn off his flashlight when he heard footsteps behind him. Turning around he thought he saw a figure dart behind a building, but he could've just imagined it. Still, he found himself pulling out his knife, better to be safe than sorry.

Feeling his frame tense, Papyrus forced himself to loosen up, not enough to relax entirely, but enough to seem calm. Pretending to be oblivious might deceive his foe into thinking he had let his guard down.

The morning air seemed to make the mist more clear, something the tall skeleton was very gracious for. Finally turning off his flashlight, he made a left at the end of the street. A few more blocks and he was that much closer to finding-

'What was that...?!' Papyrus froze and tightened his weapon, straining to hear the noise.

There it was again. A loud bang that seemed to echo over long distances. It sounded familiar, like something he's heard before, but can't quite put his finger on...

Two more bangs echoed out and he realized that it was coming from somewhere near this vicinity. Curious, he tried to pinpoint the source of the noise, but everything was deathly silent. Once he determined that the noise would not repeat itself he began walking forward. Not even five seconds later, and he felt a body slam into his.

The lithe monster gasped in shock as he felt the wind get knocked out of his nonexistent lungs. Still he wasn't surprised for long, and used the momentum of his fall to reach out and grab the body that pushed him, and flipped it beneath him. Without even realizing it, he already pulled out his knife and raised it, sharp tip pointed downward; ready to stab.

"O-ow! Hey! What the hell?!"

Shocked, Papyrus froze, knife poised midair.

Feeling the body thrashing beneath him, he unconsiously tightened his grip on the strangers throat until they started gasping for breath. Blinking innocently down at the human male he was currently strangling, Papyrus quickly loosened his hold and pulled away as if he was burned.

"Oh! I am truly sorry! I t-thought you were something else!" Papyrus stammered. When the human continued coughing, he then asked, quietly. "Are you alright...?"

The human put up a finger. "... J-just g-g-give me a m-moment.." He managed to wheeze out.

Papyrus stood awkwardly as the quiet air was broken by the human's frantic breathing. After three minutes of this the human finally stopped, rubbing his sore throat as he shakily stood up.

"Heh... You've got one hell of a grip." He looked curiously at the skeleton. "So... What and who are you exactly?"

The young monster beamed. "Papyrus the Skeleton! Pleased to meet you!" He gave a tentative smile. "I'm a monster." He added hurriedly when he still saw the blank look the other was giving him.

The humans' eyes brightened. "Oh! A monster! I've heard of you guys! I thought you only stayed in your town..?"

"Not many of us feel comfortable enough to explore outside our borders." Papyrus quickly interrupted. " I don't think this place is too far from my home town. Although I'm not so sure at the moment..."

The human nodded. "Yeah, same here. I have no clue where we are. I mean this place isn't even suppose to be here!"

The tall skeleton frowned in confusion, so the human explained.

"Most of my family live in the north, so I often visit them and see how they're doing. I've been traveling along these roads for fifteen years now. I've memorized every twist and turn. And i can assure you, that this town was never here before."

Papyrus felt his soul turn cold. "W-what... " He cleared his throat. "What do you mean? How can a town just...?" He gestured the air around them, trying to find the right words.

The human sighed in frustration. "I'm saying that in all my years in this forest I have never seen or heard of this 'Silent Hill. There isn't even suppose to be a town for hundreds of miles! Well, except for maybe your monster town."

He took a deep breath. "Trust me... I know these roads like the back of my hand. This place was NEVER here before." He dropped his voice to a whisper. "I visited my cousin who just gave birth a month ago and this place was all trees and wildlife..."

The tall monster bit his tongue to keep himself from whimpering. "B-but... If what you say is t-true... Then why does this place look like it has been abandoned for years!" He pointed at a nearby building. "An entire town cannot have been built in a month!" He paused. "Well, maybe they can, but, that doesn't explain why everything here is practically falling apart! Why build an entire settlement just to leave it?"

The human nodded. "You're right. Everything here looks like its been abandoned for years, not a month. Even the newspapers scattered around here had dates going back as far as the eighties."

Papyrus was surprised. He didn't even think to read the papers lying around. A small part of him wanted to scream at the human. Scream at him and call him a liar, but a large part of him knew that it wasn't the humans fault. Besides, everything he said so far was true. What would the human gain from lying?

But even so Papyrus still felt dread and fear overcome his soul. A town appearing out of nowhere? Never before has he heard of something like this happening before. He couldn't help but feel that the situation was more complicated than that.

"So, not trying to be nosy or anything but how did you end up here?" The human asked.

Papyrus opened his mouth to reply but quickly shut it. He didn't know how to answer that question without making himself sound insane. "Truthfully." He slowly replied after a beat. "I don't know. All I remember is waking up in the middle of the road..."

"Well, what was the last thing you remember?"

Papyrus glanced blankly at the man with an expression that sent chills up his spine. "... I remember feeling angry.."

The human shivered slightly. "O-oh... Well that's kind of surprising."

"Really?" Papyrus asked, curious. "How so?"

"I remember everything perfectly. You remembered my cousin gave birth a month ago, right? Well. I decided to go visit her to see how she was holding up, so I get in my car and start to drive. After an hour of driving I start to see fog. Normally I wouldn't think twice about this because it was early in the morning and thats normally what happens here. But then it starts getting so foggy to the point where I can't see what's in front of me! And just as I turn on my headlights I see a person standing in the middle of the road."

He paused for a moment and when Papyrus didn't react the human continued. "It was too late to slow down so I swerve to the side and ran straight into a tree. I must've passed out for quite some time because the sun was already up. At least I thought it was, hard to tell with all this mist..."

Papyrus took a deep breath as the human trailed off. Honestly, he was slightly concerned that he couldn't remember how he got here, but perhaps it was for the better. He didn't like the feeling of anger and to remember that emotion previous of him coming here, then he shouldn't let it bother hi-!

Papyrus saw a small shadow dart forward. Pushing the human aside, he threw his knife like a kunai, hearing a small squeak of pain from the creature he just hit dead on.

"Oh shi-! W-what the hell was t-that!?" The man exclaimed once he got off from the ground.

Papyrus blushed slightly. "I apologize for pushing you but that creature was heading straight for you. I'll try to warn you next time."

The human shook his head. "No need to apologize when you were just trying to help. I, uh, appreciate your concern." He paused for a bit. "Name's Henry, by the way, Henry Storm. Forgot to tell you before..."

Papyrus nodded. "That's a nice name." He commented, before focusing his attention to his kill. It appeared to be some type of scorpion, although perhaps they didn't grow this big, or bleed blood. This one also didn't appear to have eyes. Bending down he swiftly pulled his weapon out, watching blood pool freely from the open wound. Henry gave a hiss of disgust.

"Ugh. Does it smell like that cause it's dead?!"

Papyrus shrugged, not really knowing how to answer that. "Scorpions do not grow this big... Right?" He asked instead.

The brunette considered that for a moment. "I don't think so? I mean I've seen some pretty big insects, but not this big." He paused. "Do ya think they're more out there?"

The tall monster opened his mouth to answer but closed it when he heard scuttering noises. The two shared brief alarmed looks before quietly sprinting behind a nearby dead tree. A few seconds later three large scorpions crawled forth, screeching quietly. One of them turned its head sharply and opened its mouth, revealing two sharped fangs. It tilted its head a few more times before moving forward, disappearing back into the fog.

The two watched for a while longer before letting out sighs of relief. Papyrus was the first to move, going back to the direction of the park with Henry right behind him. The human didn't question where they were going, seemingly content that they were moving.

The park was a few miles away and they weren't going as fast as he wanted to go but it was a small price to pay for their safety. Still he found himself continuously looking over his shoulder, feeling like something other than the scorpions were following them; but other than the human he saw nothing.

Taking another left turn they were about to walk past an alleyway, when a foul odor seemed to surround the air around them. Papyrus covered his 'nose' with his red sleeves, which did nothing but smudge his face further, while the human blanched silently, face turning a bit green.

Putting his back flat against the building, the tall monster scooted close to the edge and peered over. It was difficult to see so he squinted his eyes, trying to adjust his sight to the darkness. After a few seconds he was able to see clearly, not really surprised at what he was witnessing.

A few yards into the alley there were at least ten more scorpions, feasting on three human bodies. Two were little girls and the last was an adult whose gender he couldn't quite guess. By the looks of their relatively clean clothes he could tell that these humans were freshly killed. The scorpions weren't about to move anytime soon.

Turning around he stepped back and allowed Henry a turn to see. He made sure to let the human know to keep quiet and once he understood he took a peek. The young man looked away faster than Papyrus did and stumbled backwards, face deathly pale.

Papyrus glanced nonchalantly at the human before quietly stepping forward. The mutated animals were too busy gorging themselves on their meal to notice the two slink past the entrance.

Once they were safetly on the other side they power walked away from the human feasting ground, stopping only when they couldn't smell the scorpions anymore.

Their journey was taking much longer than Papyrus expected. They ran into two dead ends and another abyss, which made the monster and human groan in frustration. Hours passed before they realized they were walking in circles, so they took a different route. The pair were backtracking more than actually moving foreward at this point.

It also didn't help that they would run into different but familiar enemies on the way. So far Papyrus had to kill three hooked creatures and four mutated dogs. And although the human had a small gun, he found himself just standing in the sidelines, watching the lithe skeleton impressively take down his enemies. He still had his gun out, fully loaded and gripped steadily, just in case his monster ally was overpowered. Thankfully, it seemed that Papyrus had no problem taking down these two specific foes. Well, at least that's how it seemed for Henry.

They later found out that the scorpions were quite easy to avoid if they just held still (The lack of eyes should've made that painfully obvious). Still, the eight-legged animal was not to be underestimated, since they seemed to sense when their next meal would arrive.

They spent many hours traveling like this, and pretty soon it was starting to get dark. After the human let out his tenth yawn, Papyrus thought it was probably best to find a place to rest.

"Hey, Henry?" Papyrus whispered.

"Hmm?" The human responded drowsily.

"Why don't we find a place to rest? We can continue in the morning, when we can see much better."

"Sure." Henry responded shortly. "So, where should we go?"

Papyrus looked swiftly around, while continuing to walk. Other than a few closed up shops there didn't seem to be anywhere they could reside safely. He pulled out his map, found the spot they were on, and quietly read the nearest shops.

"There's an apartment not far from here." He stated. "We could try there."

"Alright." The human nodded. "That seems like the best plan."

The two walked in comfortable silence until they found the apartment. It was rather tall compared to the other buildings, maybe three or four stories high.

The tall skeleton looked at the double doors and smiled. "The entrance isn't boarded shut! It'll be much easier to-"

Before he could finish the human pulled out his gun and fired it at the doorknob on the left, blasting it until wood splintered off. Papyrus yelped and covered his head when the same bangs from before echoed around his skull. The tall skeleton grabbed the humans hand, making him stop shooting, and looked at his companion with confusion clear in his eyes.

"What? We have to get in somehow! This'll be much easier to open now!" Henry explained, gesturing at the battered door.

Papyrus looked at the door then back at the human. He then silently walked to the entrance and turned the knob. The human blushed when the door opened without resistance.

"O-oh..." He stammered quietly, face as red as a tomato. "I-it, uh... It wasn't even locked..."

"No it wasn't."

"Well!" The human said cheerfully. "Don't I feel like an idiot!"

Papyrus frowned. "No need to be like that, it was an honest mistake."

"Yeah, except now I feel like a total moron. Heh. Glad it's just the two of us, so no one will laugh at me." The human adjusted his shirt awkwardly.

The skeleton nodded slowly, still not understanding that logic and merely went inside.

He turned on his flashlight and the two could see the inside of the lobby with several overturned furniture. Not knowing which rooms they wanted to stay in they decided to just walk around and study their surroundings.

Deciding against taking the elevator they used the stairs instead, though that didn't lessen Papyrus' paranoia.

The second floor had a dead body nailed to the ceiling in the middle of the hallway, making Papyrus blink and the human throw up out a nearby window. The pair immediately passed it and continued on to the third floor, which reeked of urine and other body wastes. Hissing under his teeth, Papyrus was about to suggest going back into the lobby and staying there for the night when he saw a door at the end of the hallway. All the other doors were either broken or hanging loosely but not closed like this one.

Bracing himself Papyrus opened the door and flashed his light, quickly scanning the room for any threats. This small white room was pleasantly empty with two twin beds laying next to each other and only a nightstand between them. There was an empty bookshelf to the right of the door which he quickly dismissed. His eyes roamed to the ceiling (just in case) but other than an empty cobweb there didn't seem to anything interesting. The human glanced around as well and put his gun away once he deemed it safe.

"There doesn't seem to be anything wrong in this room." Henry stated and smiled brightly at his monster friend. "What do ya think? Should we stay here?"

"Uh... Sure." Papyrus said with a nod. He couldn't quite get over the fact that this was too good to be true. After all, what were the chances of finding a perfectly stable room with two beds in it?! Still, Papyrus kept his mouth shut. It wasn't like they had a lot of options at the moment.

Papyrus locked the door from the inside, but just in case the two worked together to slide the bookshelf in front of the door. That way if anything wanted to get in they'd have to push the shelf out of the way which would most likely wake them up.

Henry chose the bed on the right so Papyrus went over to his bed and warily sat down. He carefully took off his backpack and slid it under the bed. He put his knife under the pillow, not knowing if he'll need it or not. By the time he made himself comfortable on the bed, he could already hear the humans light snoring. Smiling softly, he internally wished his friend good night and closed his eyes.

He fell asleep with a delicate hand under his pillow, tracing the familiar edges of the knife's cold exterior.