1 Present Day

Leonard watched as his hometown disappeared with each mile taken. The soft music did very little to settle his nerves. The blonde girl in the driver's seat seemed to enjoy the sounds that filled the small vehicle. Leonard looked out the cracked window, then he looked at the young blonde behind the wheel of the old car. As his focus once again went to the window, he sighed, "I, I can't do this, Annette." The blonde-haired man swallowed the lump in his throat to calm his racing thoughts.

"Why, Leonard? Why are you saying this now?" The blonde grasped to the worn-out leather steering wheel cover with a sigh.

Lavender eyes looked away from bright blue eyes that radiated sadness. "I realize the truth. I can't leave Silent Hill. This place will continue to call me back. I'm not part of your world. I'm not human anymore. I died in 1918; my father drowned me in the bathtub. The visions are all making sense. I didn't see it until you showed up, and me surviving the events of being burnt alive. Don't you see, Annette? If I were human, that alone would have killed me. I wouldn't be sitting here in this car with you. Instead of being a memory, or a bad dream to you, I am back to normal as if the events never took place."

Leonard looked away from her. "I don't belong in your world. I belong here. This is my home. Your world and mine world are realms that should never coexist."

She smiled, trying to hide the discomfort of what was about to part from her lips. "I'll live here, with you, then." Annette's attempts to hide her fear had fallen short for every word she spoke. She choked on. The worries of them having to come to pass caused her heart to beat uneasy why? Why did her fear have to show now, now of all times, she sighed?

Leonard shook his head. "No, Annette, if you did, you would throw your life away. If you believe nothing that I have said in the past week. I implore you to believe me when I say this. There are men out there that can give you the life you have always dreamt of. If you run into those few that wish you harm, they won't finish their task. My purpose in this life now is to keep you safe from monsters such as myself and towns such as Silent Hill. No matter how hard I try to come up with an answer for writing that letter. I can't think of one explanation."

Annette could feel her heart getting ripped from her chest. Many questions filled the young girl's thoughts. Did I say something back at the apartment to bring this change? He promised he would come back with me. Did I say something to draw him away? With those questions buzzing in her head, many like them swirled. Tears made their way down her cheeks. "Fine. If it has to be this way, I don't care. Do what you have to do." Her eyes never leaving the steering wheel.

Leonard looked at her; her words had two different meanings to him. Both meanings were accurate. Her words also hurt him. But he knew they were both making the right decision. He knew if he were to go with her, she could never maintain her innocence. He was the executioner of Silent Hill, a mere apparition. No matter how much it pained him to admit to himself. He knew of her tears, she shed in the seat beside him. She had done that a lot because of him in the previous week. He knew this was the fact he could never be a decent lover to Annette Ashford. He looked away from her. Opening his door as he hid his tears, placing one foot outside of the car.

Annette stopped him. "Why would your father kill you like that, in cold blood even? I can't understand. What way did you wrong him to deserve that kind of punishment? No one deserves that kind of treatment, not even you."

Annette now looked at the man in her passenger seat. For the first time in their conversation. "Annette, I was dying anyway. It was going to happen within the year. Life didn't seem like a promise that I was going to get. I was sick of influenza. Coming from a poor family and treatment being very limited to those who could afford to undergo it. It wouldn't have helped, for I was at the highest stages of it. My father hated me. We would often get into altercations because of the harsh treatments he would deal with my mother. She was a righteous woman. I wasn't righteous by any means. Yet, I had kept my foul language to myself, for my mother. I believed there was a God, as I still do. Though I never went to church, I will always remember the stories she would speak of while she nursed me. I never got to tell her the way the stories had inspired me to keep fighting. When most days, I wanted to give up. I could never blame her for the situation I have found myself in. She did her part. This is my battle. I know I am to blame for my current situation. I was reborn here in Silent Hill out of anger towards my father. While he held me under the water. Vengeance was all I could think about, that and not being able to give my mother one last farewell. Or give her another embrace. Much less letting her know I appreciated all that she had done for me. All those feelings came with me here. Blinding me of human emotions as I took the role of the executioner with open arms and no regrets." Leonard's gazes glued to the young woman beside him.

Annette's focus went back to the steering wheel. She smiled. "Your mother. She must have been special to you. She seemed like a gentlewoman who would want better for you, not something like this."

Leonard smiled, looking at her. "You remind me of her a lot. Therefore I couldn't live with myself if you were to lose your innocence because of me. That is something that I am not willing to sacrifice, not even for our happiness."

Annette thought with a smile. "I understand why you are the way you are. But with or without you, Leo, my innocence will remain the same. I will not let you perish. If I did that, then where would my consciousness lie? I wouldn't be so innocent if I left here and knew that in a town called Silent Hill. A man would roam around and me not trying to help him. Where would my innocence be in that scenario?"

Leonard looked at her before sighing. He chuckled a little. "I respect your decision, Annette. Struggling with inner demons and what is right." For the first time in his life, he felt he was in a losing battle. A cool breeze blew in his face.

"Then go with what is good. What would your mom say seeing you right now? It would crush her to see what you have become. Don't let a memory hold you back and blind you any longer from what you can see is there. Your dad is dead Lele, let him go. You got your revenge." Annette watched as Leonard smiled. Sitting back in his seat, shutting the door, resting his arm on the door, looking out the window.

With a chuckle, he looked at her. "You have used my manipulation against me. I'm impressed. Let's go. I am your puppet to play with the strings anyway you please." Leonard smiled, and Annette looked out the windshield. Smiling as they started their journey home.