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Lisa was nervous, and it was understandable. It was cold and dark. She was attempting again to leave the hospital grounds. And Cynthia was there, wearing her cardigan.
“Uh, is it okay?” she asked, idly rubbing her arms. She’d only tried this once, and she’d only gone because there was a chance someone else was in danger. This time they were just leaving to…well, to look around.
The other woman nodded, adjusting the sweater. “Fits almost perfectly… We must be the same sizes, Lisa.” She smiled, and Lisa looked down, away, a little embarrassed.
She’d met the other woman unexpectedly in the lobby of the hospital, dazed, a little confused, and most defiantly not where she’d been before. Lisa was able to learn her name, Cynthia, where she’d been moments before, a Subway in Ashfield, and that she too was a ghost. While neither of them had been eager to discuss how they had died, Lisa had the impression that Cynthia had died more violently than she had.
She had visited a few times since then, each one only staying for a short while before leaving. Lisa didn’t blame her, the hospital wasn’t exactly… warm and welcoming, but she always felt a strange sadness when Cynthia would leave. Something that was stronger somehow than when anyone else left her alone in the place.
This time, however, when Cynthia had showed up, she’d wanted to look around.
“Never been to Silent Hill, never got a chance to go as a kid. But I always heard about this great amusement park it had. You ever go there Lisa?” she’d asked, several minutes before.
“No, never…never had the chance. Moved here and started work right away. Never really got a day off, actually.” She’d replied, and Cynthia’s eyes widened.
“So, you’ve never explored? Come on then, there’s got to be a way for you to leave this dreary place, right?”
“Uhm, well, maybe. If you were wearing my cardigan, I might be able to leave the area? You’d have to keep it on though, otherwise I’d get send back here…without my sweater.” Lisa had replied, a little hesitantly. She wasn’t that sure if she wanted to go out and explore! They were more likely to run into monsters than anything else, and she’d rather not demonstrate to Cynthia how good she was with a scalpel.
Cynthia hadn’t hesitated though, reaching out and tugging at the garment. “Come on then! Let’s give this a try.”
Lisa reluctantly had pulled off her protective cardigan, feeling the chill seeping in as she passed it over, and now they were both standing outside, watching the snow fall.
“Ready?” Cynthia asked, and Lisa contemplated saying no, no ‘I’m not ready please lets go back inside I don’t want to leave’, before nodding. Cynthia pushed open the gate and stepped out onto the street, and Lisa followed.
There had been a slight tug of resistance, like she’d walked through a gust of warm air, and then she was standing outside with Cynthia.
“Well, now you know that you can leave that place,” Cynthia said with a smile, and Lisa nodded, a little unnerved by being out of the hospital grounds. At least this time it was only foggy with the snow falling instead of the darkness that seemed to consume everything that you weren’t looking at.
“So, you wanted to look around the Amusement Park, right?” Lisa asked, shivering. It was even colder outside of the hospital, and she wasn’t sure if she was going to be very fun to be around.
Noticing this, Cynthia frowned a little. “Yeah, but why don’t we find you a coat or something. You’re sure you can’t put your sweater back on?”
Lisa nodded. “Yeah. I’m not sure why or how, but if you take it off, then…” she shrugged, and let Cynthia take the lead. Maybe they could find a shop that still had clothing that was intact.
They started to walk, looking for a clothing store. The first one they found, Cynthia poked her head inside, before declaring that it wouldn’t work. Walking past, Lisa looked in and couldn’t see anything wrong with it.
‘Well, if Cynthia thinks it’s not worth it, then it probably isn’t.’ she thought to herself, walking a little ways behind the Latina. It was then that something in one of the alley ways crashed down, creating a loud clatter that prompted Lisa to jump forward, and grab Cynthia’s hand. She’d pulled herself closer to the other woman before she realized what she’d done.
“Ah! O-oh, I’m sorry Cynthia…” Lisa said, blushing. She tried to pull her hand away, but Cynthia tightened her grip.
“It’s okay. I jumped too.” Cynthia smiled at her, and Lisa wasn’t sure she could go any redder. “Come on, I think I see a place where we can find you a jacket or something.”
Lisa let herself be pulled towards a store, noting how close they were to the amusement park now, and only released Cynthia’s hand once they were in the shop. It looked like the stock inside was in fairly good condition, and Cynthia waved Lisa over to the sweaters.
“Here, let’s take a look here. I’m sure we’ll find something that’ll look good on you.” She said as she started looking through the racks.
“Yeah. Hopefully something warm as well. Don’t you find it freezing?” Lisa asked, pulling out, and then putting back, a shirt that was more dish rag than shirt.
“Hm?” Cynthia pulled out a deep blue sweater, something with a heavy knit, and passed it to Lisa. “No, not really. It’s actually pretty nice here. Come on, try it on!”
Lisa took the sweater and pulled it on over her head. The minute she had it pulled down, she felt the chill ease. With a small laugh, she looked up, beaming at Cynthia. “Oh, this is wonderful! Does it look okay though?”
The other woman was looking at her, staring, and Lisa found her smile fading a little. Was something wrong? Finally, Cynthia shook herself a little, and nodded. “It looks great on you! Did you want to grab a few more things, while we’re in here? You must get pretty sick and tired of only wearing that uniform.”
Lisa contemplated it for a moment, before shaking her head. “No…not right now. Maybe on the way back from the park?”
The feeling of dread and fear that Lisa had felt as they stepped away from the hospital had faded, and as they left the clothing shop together, Lisa reached out and took Cynthia’s hand again as they walked. It felt nice, holding another person’s hand like that, and Cynthia didn’t pull away, which felt even nicer.
Cynthia did most of the talking as they walked, telling stories and jokes as they side-stepped craters and debris in the street, which was nice because Lisa didn’t have much to talk about. As they started to get closer to the amusement park, the snow that was falling started to slow and the fog lessened.
They had fallen into a comfortable silence when they reached the gates, and Lisa stepped forwards to push them open. It took her a few moments, but she eventually managed to open them up wide enough for the both of them to pass through.
They walked through into the entrance, and Lisa frowned a little. It didn’t look like the park was in the otherworld, but it was dingy, and obviously in disrepair. She’d been hoping that it would have looked a little nicer, more like the brochure that she’d seen once.
“Sorry…it doesn’t look like any rides are going to be working.” Lisa apologized, and Cynthia lightly smacked her on the shoulder for it.
“Don’t apologize, you didn’t do this, did you? Besides, it’s much more fun to run around and look at all the behind the scenes stuff. Where do you want to look first?”
Lisa shrugged at the question. “Uhm, I’m not sure…what about…that way?” She pointed to the door that lead to the central area of the park, signs for the various vendors hung up.
“Sure.” Still holding hands, they walked into the vendor and shopping area, which was as uninteresting as the entrance. Lisa looked around, a little dismayed.
Since Cynthia hadn’t been there before, she’s been hoping it would have been, well, at least a bit nicer looking?
The two of them wandered, looking into shop windows at the discoloured merchandise, when Cynthia did a little half-jump of joy.
“Yes! Perfect. Lisa, quick, let’s go through this gate.” Cynthia said, tugging lightly on Lisa’s hand until Lisa started to walk with her.
“Why, what’s over here?” the nurse asked, a little confused. Didn’t Cynthia say she’d never been there before?
They went through the gate, and Lisa let Cynthia pull her along until they stopped in front of…
“The ‘Love Tunnel’.” Lisa read the ride’s name out loud, before looking to Cynthia. “Uhm…?” Was Cynthia trying to say what Lisa was hoping she was.
“Heh…” Cynthia released Lisa’s hand, to her disappointment, and took a step back. “Well, you see, I was lying, earlier. I have actually been tot his park before, a few times actually. I knew that you didn’t really want to come out here and explore, so…I had to make up an excuse.”
“So…you wanted to come here? That’s why you wanted to take me out of the hospital…to bring me to this ride?” Lisa asked, butterflies in her stomach coming to life again. Last time she’d felt like this, she’d…well, she’d been with Cynthia as well.
“Yeah. I mean, I’m sure it’s a mess on the inside, but it’s the thought that counts right?” Cynthia said, holding out her hand, a ting of pink on her cheeks.
Lisa looked at Cynthia and her hand for a moment, before taking it. “Right.” Lisa replied, excitement bubbling up inside of her.
They stepped into the ruined ride, the water long drained away, and let the darkness inside envelope them. After a few moments, Lisa’s eyes adjusted and they started to walk through it.
There was a moment of silence, before Cynthia started to laugh. “Oh man…what was I thinking? God, this place was a lot cooler and romantic when it was operational,” she said, and Lisa chuckled.
“I’m sure… It’s a little dated now, but I-?!“ Lisa jumped a little as Cynthia reached up with her free hand and tucked a couple strands of Lisa’s hair behind her ear.
“…Sorry,” Cynthia whispered, moving herself closer to Lisa who had frozen into place. “but you’re just so beautiful.” Lisa was about to ask Cynthia what she was doing, when Cynthia leaned forwards and pressed her lips to Lisa’s.
It took her a moment to process what Cynthia was doing, but before she could do anything, Cynthia pulled away. It was hard for Lisa to read Cynthia’s expression in the darkness, but she felt as if she’d done something…wrong.
“…Sorry about that. I should have known…” Cynthia said softly, and moved to walk out of the ride.
But Lisa reached out and grabbed her arm. “Why are you sorry!? I..uhm…I enjoyed that…” She whispered the last part, before she leaned forwards and brushed her lips against Cynthia’s.
Cynthia responded by pulling Lisa into a big hug, and the pair of them giggled at each other in the darkness.
Finally, Lisa reached for Cynthia’s hand, and they clambered out of the dark and abandoned ride. Lisa knew she had smears of Cynthia’s lipstick on her face, and looking over at Cynthia, she could see bright red lipstick marks on her face as well.
“Should we head back?” She asked as she have Cynthia a hand getting back onto the park grounds.
“Sure, why not. Maybe we can stop at that clothing store again. I’m sure you’d love to be in something other than that uniform.” Cynthia replied, and Lisa nodded.
“Yeah, I’d like that.” She said, lips tingling as she smiled.
Cynthia was wearing her sweater, she’d just been kissed inside of an abandoned tunnel of love, and Lisa wasn’t nervous anymore.