Years had passed since James Sunderland left Silent Hill, vowing never to return. He had done his best to start over, a quiet life weighed down by memories that seemed more like faded scars than wounds still open. He had managed to put some distance between himself and the horrors of that place, but the memories of his late wife, Mary, and her final wishes still haunted him. One of those wishes, he had managed to fulfill: he had taken in Laura, the young girl Mary had befriended while they were both in the hospital. Laura, an orphan with no family of her own, had been like a daughter to Mary—and now, out of both love and guilt, James had tried to be there for her, to give her the family she never had.

Laura had grown up with the same fierce independence he remembered from their first meeting, stubborn and full of life. She was no longer a little girl, but a young woman finding her way in the world, trying to escape the shadows of her past. But recently, Laura had started to drift, slipping out of reach. She would disappear for days, offering no explanation, returning with a hardened look that James didn’t recognize. Then, without warning, she vanished altogether. Days stretched into weeks without word, and his worry twisted into fear.

It wasn’t until James found her diary, filled with references to Silent Hill—the place she swore she didn’t remember, the town she had insisted she never wanted to talk about—that his dread turned to horror. As he read, he felt the familiar, suffocating pull of Silent Hill, as if the town had reached out and taken her. He knew what it meant: Laura, once an innocent child shielded from the town’s darkness, was no longer untouched. She was vulnerable now, drawn into the same shadows he had barely escaped. Silent Hill had decided she belonged there, and it wouldn’t let her leave without a fight.

James didn’t hesitate. This time, he would go back.