Crossing Into The Void

The Fog could do odd things to a person's head. It had a way of feeling never ending; hanging in the air like thick curtains ready to be thrown back to reveal a proscenium arch with some convoluted set. The Fog was like the place's own held breath, heavy with anticipation.

Enter Stage Left, if you please, an aging blue sedan with a missing hubcap and no license plate. It coasts a few yards before rolling to a stop on the middle of the bridge. A young man in his early twenties steps out, his hands twined in his thick, shaggy brown hair. A thick stubble, accompanied by heavy bags under his eyes, as well as a general unwashed quality to his tee shirt and Jeans give the sense that he has been driving for quite a while. He whispers "Son of a bitch" as he paces along the length of his car once, then twice, before reaching into the still-open car door and flipping on the hazard lights. Closing the door, he leans his back against it for a moment as if collecting himself, then walks to the trunk, unlocks it, and retrieves a gas can. With a resigned sigh, he begins to walk.

Zed didn't know how long he'd been on this Bridge. Time had a way of not existing here. He couldn't remember the direction from which he had come, nor could he remember if he'd actually had a destination in mind when he got here. In fact, the only thing he could remember was FOG.

He was deeply entrenched in his thoughts when a dingy blue sedan sputtered its way out of the Fog and onto the Bridge. He barely paid attention to it until a ragged-looking man stepped from the driver's side. He cocked his head sideways as the man paced alongside his vehicle, obviously trying to come to a solution to the problem of his stalled car. He seemed to find that solution when he went to his trunk and unlocked it, but Zed couldn't stifle the giggles when he retrieved a gas can from said trunk.

'Poor guy,' he thought to himself. 'There's nothing here but Bridge; no origin, no destination... if you want to go anywhere, your best bet is to jump over the railing.'

Zed decided he'd wait for the man to interact with him before offering any help; he was an asshole like that.

The man seemed to have a way of talking to himself. In the silence of The Fog, it wasn't difficult to overhear his muffled curses, mostly aimed at himself. For a time he walked awkwardly, as if his legs weren't quite used to walking lately. "Ok," he muttered as he trudged along, "All I've got to do is keep walking. Eventually, I'm bound to run into something. Unless, I guess, something runs into me." He checked over his shoulder before continuing. "Damn fog, someone's going to hit me, I know it. Figures, should have known I'd go out like this. No, no, All I've got to do is keep-"

With a small start, he realized that he wasn't alone. His eyes landed on Zed, and he quickly shut up, but gave no sign of embarrassment or any indication that he had just been prattling away to himself at all.

"Hey!" He called with a wave, approaching "Sorry! I'm a bit lost, could you help me out?"

Zed uncocked his head and grinned; it was a mischievous grin, one with no ill intent, but it still looked rather evil on his unshaven face. He pointed in both directions, and shrugged.

"I'm sorry, dude, but either way you go, you'll only ever see Bridge." He scratched his chin for a moment. "You ever play those creepy Silent Hill games? This place is like that, except there's no Pyramid Head here killing people off. I can't tell you how long I've been here, or even which direction I came from. I haven't seen a gas station since I got here."

Then he sighed. It was a longing sigh, like that of a hunter who has just lost visual contact with the prize winning buck of his dreams. "It feels like the only way to get off this Bridge is to jump."

The man couldn't believe what he was hearing. He grinned as if to play along with the joke "Oh no! The infamous Silent Hill Bridge. Well, yeah, looks like we're pretty well screwed then, huh?" He walked to the edge of the bridge, still smiling and took a look over the side, his free hand resting safely on the guard rail. "Can't see anything through this fog" he muttered in a conversational way. He cleared his throat and hocked a wad of spit over the side. There was a moment of silence as he stood looking over the edge, looking as if he was waiting to hear it splash into water, or, since there was no sound of water below, to pap against stone or foliage. With each moment, he lost a bit of his grin. When it was completely gone from his eyes, though a bit did still cling in his face as if hoping to regain its reason for being, he asked "So, you really don't remember how you got here?"

Zed watched with inexplicable glee as the man's smile slowly disappeared from his face. He shook his head slowly at the man's question.

"Unfortunately, no. I remember where I'm from, and that I was heading to a theme park, but as to how I got here? All that remains is Fog."

He, too, walked to the railing and peered over the edge. "I'm tempted to jump, m'self, but I have no idea where I would go, or even if I would survive the fall. Hell, how do I even know if jumping won't just deposit me back on this Bridge?" He sighed. "I feel trapped, yet free at the same time. Perhaps we're in Purgatory."

He turned to the man and offered his hand to him. "I realize I have failed to make an introduction. My name is Zed."

The man heaved a sigh that he exhaled through his teeth. All signs of a smile had disappeared. He glanced down at the gas can decided that he really wasn't about to get a chance to use it at the moment. "Purgatory sounds about right, I guess" he said, shaking his head as he set down the gas can and leaned with his back on the railing. "I get what you mean about feeling trapped. I always wondered what I'd do if I found myself in this situation. Now that I'm here I still don't know."

He turned to look at Zed and shook his hand. "Roger. It's nice to meet you. Oh, that's my name, not a confirmation."

"So... I'm surprised you managed to get your car here. I arrived on foot, my convertible was nowhere to be seen. How did you manage to get a sedan here?"

Zed paused and looked around for a bit. "I wish there were more people here... I've been lonely for... however long I've been here. Time doesn't really work here. Look." He held up his right arm, which had a watch on the wrist, and the hands on the watch were spinning wildly.