Dying Inside

Issue 1

A film student returns from a filming trip in the abandoned town of Silent Hill and is suffering from delusions. Sought out by a colleague for help, a psychiatrist takes the girl back to Silent Hill, hoping it will shake the girl from her condition. Both the student and doctor disappear, but the girl's footage falls into the hands of a punk rocker and her gang of friends. The group heads to Silent Hill, though they have little clue as to what waits for them there.

Issue 2

Recognizing the girl in white, Lynn decides to simply walk out of Silent Hill and leave the abandoned town behind. Christabella finds this hilarious. She has no intention of allowing Lynn to escape and sends a tentacled mouth to attack Lynn. She then berates Lynn, asking how she made it through the real world as long as she did. The mouths continue to nip at Lynn, all while Christabella reprimands her for returning with Abernathy, who she sees as unfit for her purposes.

Growing bored with the situation, and disappointed that the footage Lynn shot has disappeared, Christabella orders the mouths to kill her when a man enters the room and begins to fire a shotgun at the mouths. Troy recognizes the man immediately as Brett, his late wife's ex-husband. Brett tosses Troy a pistol, but Lynn intercepts it. She fires a bullet into Christabella's eye, though it does little except leave the her with a hole in her face and her hair aflame. The trio waste no time in shooting their way out of the diner and onto the streets of Silent Hill.

Troy doesn't understand why Brett is helping him. Brett is equally confused, not understanding why Troy is unsettled by his offer of help. At this point, however, both Lynn and Troy notice the back of Brett's skull is missing, a detail the man seems unaware of. He simply continues the conversation, telling Abernathy he'll be there to back him up, just as Troy was there for Brett. Brett attempts to introduce himself to Lynn, but Abernathy refuses to allow it, punching Brett in the face and knocking him down, stealing his pistol and ammo in the process. Abernathy and Lynn flee from Brett, who is dumbfounded by Troy's attitude.

As the pair runs, Lynn questions Troy about Brett's identity and Troy's reason for bringing her back to Silent Hill. Troy explains Brett's relationship with his wife and that he brought Lynn back to Silent Hill to try and help her. Having sought refuge inside of a clothing store, the pair are surprised by the manifestation of Abernathy's dead wife, Julianna. Trying on lingerie, Julianna commends Troy for his helpful attitude, saying it would make any wife proud. She then berates him for being unsatisfied with his life and all the trappings it brought him. She asks him what it is he really wants, if it's acceptance from his dead wife he seeks. She tells him everything is okay, proceeding to attack him with the scalpel she used to kill herself with.

Lynn tries to help Troy and bashes Julianna in the head with a pipe, though it appears to have little effect. As Julianna sits in front of the pair, hunched over from the blow, Troy asks about her suicide and what compelled her to do it. Not addressing the question, Julianna asks about Troy's previous encounter with Brett, asking if Brett's head had been bothering him. She explains that Troy jumped Brett from behind and killed him. Refusing to listen anymore, Troy walks away and drags Lynn with him.

Lynn refuses to travel with a murderer, but Troy's patience has reached its limit and he slaps her, which he regrets immediately. Lynn calls him a monster, and he tries to walk away, but the pair stands surrounded by monsters. The pair stay together a while longer, fighting their way to a footbridge leading out of Silent Hill. The bridge, however, is incomplete and Christabella, with Brett in tow, blocks their way forward. The manifestation of Brett was supposed to have been under Christabella's control from the start, she explains, but got away from her. Having corrected that imbalance, Brett transforms and begins to attack Lynn and Troy. Their weapons, gifts from Brett, are now useless. As the monstrous Brett begins to attack Lynn, Troy offers himself into Christabella's services, in exchange for Lynn's safety. Christabella explains she already has him at her mercy, but Troy explains that, as a psychiatrist, he holds in his mind the sins, dreams, and nightmares of hundreds of people. Hearing this, Christabella accepts the deal with no hesitation and allows Lynn to leave. Outside of town, Lynn is able to hitch a ride away from Silent Hill. Back in town, Christabella looks to the sky and tells Troy she can feel people watching. She advises him to smile for the camera while he still has a face.

The scene pans out into a TV screen, with Raymond Foch, his brother Oliver, his girlfriend Lauryn and their friend Hogg all watching; the group was reviewing the footage Lynn shot in Silent Hill, which Raymond stole when he was employed at the hospital she was committed to. He wanted to show his friends the tape, because its contents was slowly changing and he wanted to be sure they saw what he did. Lauryn decides the group should head to Silent Hill and investigate things for themselves.

Issue 3

Lauryn LaRoache and her friends are standing around a dilapidated playground, viewing the footage shot of Silent Hill by Lynn DeAngelis, which Raymond Foch (known as Clown) had stolen from the hospital the girl was committed to when he was employed there. Lauryn stands relatively unimpressed by the theatrics present on the tape, but is confident that their journey won't be a waste. Scrawled all about the town are snippets of graffiti, which Lauryn, with help from a book she bought off of the internet, is sure will bring them untold fortune. Their plan, explains Clown, is to copy the writings in the town and append them to incomplete passages in the book Lauryn has, and sell them to superstitious multi-millionaires.

As he explains the plan, Clown loses his footing on a slide ladder and falls. A member of the group Lauryn has brought with her begins to heckle Clown over his clumsiness, which causes a heavy-set young man named Hogg to jump to Clown's defense by nailing the offender in his stomach. The altercation is broken up, and the ostracized youth heads off on his own. As he walks the streets of Silent Hill, Christabella finds him and, with the aid of several creatures, kills him.

After the boy's death, Lauryn enters into a hallucination. Seated at a large desk, A man cast in shadow holds a file, containing information on Lauryn. Seated across from the stranger, Lauryn is forced to sit and listen to the man as he begins reveal some of Lauryn's darker secrets, such as her feeling of responsibility for the murder of her sister. She tries to leave, but the man stops her, saying she really shouldn't have made the trip to Silent Hill. He offers an analysis of her personality, calling her a skeptic of the afterlife. The man, too, felt that way. He only wishes to help Lauryn, and shows her what he truly is, and what she may become. A he finishes speaking, massive tentacles begin to sprout from his chest, and start to engulf the girl. Before any harm comes to her, she finds the hallucination broken, and she is standing in a shopping center.

As she regains her senses, Oliver Foch (known as Payne), grabs hold of her, asking if she's alright. She tells him she's just seeing things that aren't there, a notion he offers little advice on. Knowing Lauryn's alright, he begins to press her about another matter; the pair are seeing each other in an intimate manner, but Lauryn is dating Payne's brother, Clown. He wants to know if she's told Clown about them yet, to which she replies her and Payne's relationship was never meant to be serious. Before she can say anything more, Clown interrupts, yelling that he's found something. The group, smaller now that the original group had broken into four teams, gathers around an old phonograph, which begins playing classic country music, a favorite of Lauryn's. Lauryn shows Clown her appreciation, while Payne looks on, troubled.

As they listen, Hogg grabs a chainsaw and begins to play around with it. As he does so, monsters begin to crash through the glass ceiling of the shopping center. Forced to defend themselves, Clown grabs a knife, while Payne begins to employ a pitchfork against the creatures. Hogg is able to create a safezone around the group with his chainsaw, while Lauryn attempts to use a spell from her book, but is unable to do so before she is carried away by a creature.

Though Lauryn is gone, the remaining three are able to fight their way free of the shopping center, and into the presence of Christabella and more monsters. Christabella informs the men that they won't be going anywhere, and the rest of their friends stand in similar situations. Christabella begins to deliver a speech to Clown and his friends, but is interrupted by a book smacking her in the head. Turning, Christabella looks to Lauryn and offers a welcome to her big sister.

 Issue 4

Lauryn, having made her way back to her group of friends, stands before Christabella with her black book in hand. As the girl begins to recite passages from the book, Christabella bursts into flames. Yelling and cursing her sister, Christabella doesn't maintain the charade for long, revealing that Lauryn's attempt at destroying her had failed. Christabella explains that she's been in Silent Hill too long for such a spell to effect her. Lauryn refuses to remain in her sister's presence any longer and orders her friends to run. As they run, Christabella only laughs, telling her sister that she can run, but she has little choice but to fulfill her role in Christabella's plan, but since they are family, Lauryn is given a five minute head start.

As Lauryn and her party flee Christabella's wrath, another group fights off creatures in Silent Hill's subway system. Succeeding in dragging a morbidly obese monster to its death, the remaining survivors begin to celebrate, when Troy Abernathy, now enthralled to Christabella, makes himself known. He kills a girl, apologizing as he does so. He explains to the final survivor that, in his position as a servant of Christabella's, Troy needs to choose his battles carefully. Abernathy then advises his victim to hold still, because he's about to experience a great deal of pain.

Believing they've lost Christabella, Lauryn, Clown, Payne, and Hogg take a few minutes to catch their breaths and brainstorm a plan. During the conflict with Lauryn's sister, Payne suffered a wound to his leg, having to rely on Hogg to move about, while Clown questions Lauryn on her relation to the girl tormenting them. Lauryn claims to be as confused about the situation as Clown, but Hogg is distraught over the lost monetary opportunity. Lauryn tells Hogg to drop the subject, and the group of friends head into a sporting goods store. As Clown and Hogg load up on weapons, Payne pulls Lauryn aside, and informs her that Clown may know about their relationship. Rather than pay him heed, Lauryn issues a rally call, telling everyone it's time for them to move forward.

As they exit the store, Lauryn attempts to reach her friends in the subway on their cellphones. Dr. Abernathy is the one to answer the call, however. He tells Lauryn a trip to the subway station would be a waste, but if she insists on the journey, a mop and shovel would be good tools to bring with. He does, however, assure the girl that her friends at Midwich Elementary School and Silent Hill's lighthouse may still have a chance at survival. He also informs Lauryn that she'll face a difficult choice ahead of her, and if she'd like to schedule an appointment to speak, she'd be welcome to. Rather than listen to the doctor further, Lauryn throws her phone at the concrete in frustration.

As she does so, two boys manifest before Lauryn and she is drawn into a flashback. She finds herself standing in the bustling streets of Silent Hill with Christabella at her side and two boys before her claiming to be friends of Christabella's. They try to coax the younger girl into following them to their mother, with whom they claim to be engaged in an argument with. Lauryn, viewing herself as a thirteen year-old again, tells her sister to go ahead, as having the girl gone will make it easier to speak to a boy she has a crush on. Christabella walks off with the boys and is never seen again. Shortly after, she was abducted by unknown assailants and gruesomely murdered, as were the two boys.

Lauryn is able to break free of the illusion and kill the manifestation of the two boys, with help from Hogg and his chainsaw. Exiting the shopping center, Hogg hops on a motorcycle and decides to investigate the lighthouse, while Clown orders Payne and Lauryn to climb into a car with him so they can check out Midwich Elementary. Lauryn tries to convince the group to stay together, but Clown has no further patience and demands an reason for why they shouldn't split up. When Lauryn offers none, the friends part ways.

As Clown and his crew make their way to the school, they fall under the attack of a large, winged creature. The creature lands on the roof of the car and tries to get in, but Payne fires a shotgun into the roof and hits the creature. The creature, however, is undeterred and tries to attack the teens through the windshield of the car. Seeing no other option, Lauryn rams the car into a tree, killing the creature. As she steps out of the wreckage, Lauryn sees the brothers are still alive, though unconscious. At that moment, Christabella materializes behind her sister. Lauryn asks the girl if she's really her sister, to which Christabella only replies "kind of". Still searching for understanding, Lauryn asks why all of these things have befallen her, and Christabella begins to rattle off a series of rules, though to what they apply to is not explicitly stated.

Christabella tells her sister that their goal lies in a nearby hospital, but Lauryn reaches into a backpack and pulls out her book of spells. Christabella is initially unimpressed, expecting the same sort of spellwork out of Lauryn. However, before arriving in Silent Hill, Lauryn had placed an enchantment on all of her friends, allowing her to raise them as zombie slaves in the event of their deaths. With only a few words, numerous thralls begin to materialize around Lauryn. As she stands among her servants, Lauryn advises Christabella to refrain from killing anymore of her friends, since doing so would only add to her undead army.

 Issue 5

Lauryn orders her thralls to rip Christabella's monsters apart, much to the younger girl's horror. As her thralls continue to massacre Christabella's monsters, Lauryn mentally recaps the situation that brought her to Silent Hill in the first place. While she does so, Clown and Payne begin to regain consciousness and grow horrified at the scene before them. Before the brothers can even move, more monsters begin to descend on them, causing Lauryn to lose focus on the battle with her sister. Fearing for Clown and Payne, Lauryn grabs Christabella by the hair and demands she call the monsters off. The monsters, however, don't belong to her.

Lauryn orders her thralls to protect Clown and Payne, but Christabella's monsters refuse to let the thralls pass. Christabella uses the boys as leverage against her, blackmailing her into her services. Angry but seeing no other choice, Lauryn agrees and Christabella orders her monsters to dispatch of the interloping creatures. It is at this point that Christabella reveals the true reason for luring Lauryn back to Silent Hill. Christabella is locked in a struggle for control of the town, and Lauryn will help her tip the scales in her favor. If she does so, Christabella will allow Payne and Clown to live.

Hogg, having reached Silent Hill's lighthouse, rushes to the top of the structure, only to find his friends dead. Standing among the corpses is Troy Abernathy, though he assures Hogg that he had no hand in their deaths. Hogg is still cautious, however, and readies his shotgun as he asks Abernathy if they were going to be fighting; Abernathy, however, has other things in mind.

Lauryn, following Christabella's orders, explores the depths of Brookhaven Hospital with her thralls, searching for the individual with whom Christabella competes with for control of Silent Hill. As they walk, Lauryn's friends try to reassure her that they don't mind being undead and that they even enjoy their newly gained strengths. One, however, claims that the remnants of those who've been born and died in Silent Hill are in their minds, laughing. In anger, the thrall punches a brick wall, revealing a room beyond. In this room, Lauryn comes upon a sealed door and a pair eight-digit numbers, which she calls an equation of some kind. As she works on solving the puzzle, a symbol begins to form on the floor beneath Lauryn's thralls. Lauryn notices too late, and is unable to warn her friends before they burst into flames. From out of the carnage steps Whately, the man responsible Silent Hill's current state.

Payne and Clown remain in the wreckage of their vehicle, talking to one another. Payne begins to apologize for seeing Lauryn on the side, but Clown cuts him off, saying he isn't angry because now the situation has evolved beyond either of them. Payne attempts to defend himself, saying but Clown quips back that she never told him. Payne, still defensive, says that Lauryn may say it to Clown, but she doesn't mean it, and Clown agrees, because Lauryn is dying inside. Clown says the girl is unable to stand both men loving her, but she doesn't want to hurt either of them, just herself. At that moment, Christabella rips the hood off of what is left of the car, and asks Payne and Clown to be of assistance to her. She has a wayward servant that she wants to teach a lesson to.

[1]

Whatley with an army of Pyramid Heads behind him.

Events shift to Brookhaven, and Whately passes judgement on Lauryn for Christabella's behavior. Before the girl can make use of her black book, Whately uses his magical prowess and ignites the book as Lauryn holds it. As Whately prepares to level punishment against Lauryn, Dr. Abernathy and Hogg arrive and are prepared to defend the young woman. Troy offers witty banter to the enigmatic Whately and offers Hogg the opportunity to deal with Whately. Whately begins to grow indignant in the face of his present situation, but Hogg shoots him in the stomach with his shotgun before the man can react.

As Whately falls, a monster spawns from his corpse and hordes of the creatures begin to descend on Lauryn, Troy, and Hogg. Abernathy tasks Lauryn with opening the sealed door and awakening the patient inside, who is generating the darkness in Silent Hill, he also advises her to raise the remainder of her friends. As Lauryn prepares to open the door, Christabella appears and tries to strongarm Lauryn into helping her regain control of Abernathy so he can dispatch of the sleeping patient, giving Christabella complete control of Silent Hill. As leverage, Christabella displays Payne and Clown, suspended from the ceiling of the room they all stand in.

Lauryn loses control of herself and calls her sister a murdering psycho, who wants nothing but power and control; Christabella tells Lauryn that she is no different. This sparks a though in Lauryn, who is now able to control the forces at work in Silent Hill. The young woman banishes the monsters attacking her thralls, as well as her thralls. In doing so, the images of Clown and Payne vanish as well, having been illusions. With no monsters to follow her commands and her powers severely limited, Christabella is left in the care of Dr. Abernathy.

Clown and Payne find themselves standing outside of Silent Hill, with Lauryn standing before them. Clown is relieved to see her and tell her it's time for them to head home, but Lauryn insists she is home, and Hogg has decided to stay in Silent Hill as well. She pinches each boy’s cheek and heads back into town, leaving them on the outskirts, confused.

Lauryn now stands in the center of Silent Hill, saying that it exists as a quiet little place where time seems to have stopped and people are happy to greet you. The mists have begun to lift, and Lauryn can finally see the sun again. She gives an open invitation to visitors, saying she'll always be there, and Silent Hill is in for a beautiful day.