Rachel Aine

Rachel Aine is the main character of the fanfic Silent Hill: Embers that's still in progress. (Link will be added soon)

Backstory
Born in Silent Hill, Rachel was abandoned by her family when she was still a baby. The reasons where left unknown, but it’s possible that her parents had monetary problems and wasn’t able to raise her. After being left, she was raised in the Wish House Orphanage, a small house for children in the outskirts of the town. Even though the orphanage was operated by The Order, Rachel never really listed to their teachings, what resulted her to often be punished and treated as a disobedient child.

During the fall of 2004, a fire unexpectedly started in the orphanage for unknown reasons, killing dozens of children and workers. By luck, Rachel, along with other 5 children were able to escape alive, but the deep burn scars were left forever in her body.

After being hospitalized for about half an year in the Alchemilla Hospital, she was adopted by Jack and Alice Aine, a middle-class family that lived in Portland. Rachel then moved with the family, leaving behind her hometown and blocking some of the worst memories of her past in order to establish a normal, decent life.

Everything went well in her life until she met her childhood best friend again during 2007, whom was adopted by a family short before the fire that destroyed the orphanage happened, her name Katherine Grace Cain. Kate, as Rachel liked to call her, was the definition of a perfect girl: pure, sweet, kind and helpful. Everyone loved her as whole. But at the same time, she was extremely naive, causing Rachel to treat her a a little sister and protect her from everyone in the hope that the younger girl would eventually start seeing the evil part of the world. But she did knew it.

In later 2007, Elizabeth Cain, Kate’s adoptive mother passed out from a lung cancer, leaving the young teenager and her husband Joseph behind. The event made the man lose sanity, and he started spending his nights out at a bar, and coming back home completely drunk. In those nights, he eventually beat Kate, but things started getting worse when he was fired from his job as a clerk, and all the frustration consuming him made him abuse Katherine both sexually and physically, but, scared, she never told anyone about it, and did the best she could to hide the bruises.

During 2010, at a afternoon that Rachel was spending with Kate, she noticed various injuries on the young blondie’s skin, and, worried about the girl, pressured her to tell the truth. Katherine gave away, telling her everything.

Taken by anger, Rachel promised that her friend wouldn’t have to endure that suffering anymore, and that she’d do something for them to live together. Knowing that Jack had a gun inside a safe in their apartment, the young women discovered the combination, taking the weapon to herself, determinate to kill Joseph.

It was late night when Rachel followed him to the bar where he went every night of the year. She waited for the man to get out and walk back home in his drunk state and reach the small house where he now lived with Kate. Sneaking inside, right behind him, the brunette trowed him down into the ground of the living room, taking the revolver out of her coat before shot. Once, twice, but no success. Her aim was really terrible. Before she could notice, the little blonde was screaming in panic, trowing herself in front of Rachel in a desperate attempt of making her stop, but it was in vain.

Before Rachel could notice, blood was splattered through the ground, and Kate tightly held her hands around her own neck as the crimson liquid gushed down. The order brunette was astonished before running away back home. Somehow, the police never found out she was the one who murdered Kate.

Repressing the memories of that night, Rachel lived her life the same way as before, acting like if nothing had ever happened. But her family suspected that something wasn’t right.

During the summer of 2011, Jack and Alice Aine decided to go to a nearby city together, spend some time as a couple like they hadn’t done since a long time, but halfway, they lost control of the car that slipped down a hill, killing them both with an after explosion,

Devastated, Rachel decided that it was time for her to live alone, far from the old memories, and then moves to a small apartment in Ashfield. Having no more goal in life, the women works at many part time jobs in order to sustain herself and life with a minimum amount of comfort and security for the next 3 years.

It is June 2014 when Rachel starts having recurrent nightmares and flashbacks from things that happened in her past, in special, the night of the fire, and the punishments in the orphanage. After two months of being tormented by these memories, the women decides that the best thing to do would be visiting the remnants of the institute, and gather her memories together once again.

Entering Silent Hill
Getting there, nothing seems specially weird about it, just a burned house with graves outside. Written in the tombstones, many familiar names and others not that much. Not being able to remember anything really important, Rachel reluctantly walks back to her car after spending a entire day around the allotment. It was time to find a hotel in the nearby city: Silent Hill, her hometown. As far as she knew, it used to be a beautiful resort town near Toluca lake, of course, she also heard about weird things going around there, be she was too skeptical to believe in such things.

Turning the car’s key, everything seemed well until there was a explosion noise in the back. The coal smoke could be seen, flying up, blending with the heavy fog that covered the forest. Quickly, Rachel ran out of the car, hiding behind a tree before the blaze consumed the iron structure of the car. Checking her phone, there was not even a sight of signal. Her only option would be walk to get help.

A hospital could be seen from far away, and, after a long walk, she finally reached it, getting inside by the front door. Unfortunately, there wasn’t even a single person inside there. Only the eerie air and a darkness that was faintly broken by some windows.

<p style="color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:'HelveticaNeue',HelveticaNeue,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;line-height:19px;">Time passed as she searched around the building, with no success. Frustrated, the women walked towards the door from where she came from, but it didn’t opened. She was trapped.

<p style="color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:'HelveticaNeue',HelveticaNeue,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;line-height:19px;">Sudden childish screams and cries could be heard from afar in the long dark corridor. The black light turned into blazing red, illuminating the place with a burning blast, consuming the hospital’s entrance and dancing around Rachel’s body. Then, suddenly, it was gone, leaving behind the a burned place, with rusted metal floor and crimson splatters spread everywhere. The far away screams had stopped, but the crying didn’t ceased, it actually seemed even louder.

<p style="color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:'HelveticaNeue',HelveticaNeue,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;line-height:19px;">The nightmare had begun, and now it was time for her to pay for her sins.

Otherworld Theme
<p style="color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:'HelveticaNeue',HelveticaNeue,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;line-height:19px;">Fire. The transition happens with the screams and cries of children echoing through the place while flames burn everything around Rachel. The otherworld has burned walls, rusted metal ground and smoke covering part of the visibility. Childish cries get lauder depending of the area.

<p style="color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:'HelveticaNeue',HelveticaNeue,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;line-height:19px;">The otherworld shift is triggered by flashbacks, items belonging to Rachel’s past. Also, little before the transformation happen, she can feel her scars burning and itching.

<p style="color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:'HelveticaNeue',HelveticaNeue,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;line-height:19px;">Note → for Rachel, the fog that covers Silent Hill is not actually just fog, it’s ashes. This causes her to feel nauseated by the city’s smell and even more uncomfortable when in the middle of the streets.

Personality
Under construction