How We Got Here - Resident Evil 1

13

Jill looked around the dark and dingy shed, her eyes trailing up and down the shelves of garden tools and supplies. In front of her were double doors, probably leading to the garden, but what intrigued her more was the small, nearly-hidden door down a rickety staircase.

Jill trailed down the creaky steps and pushed open the small door, revealing a cobblestone path outside. She stepped outside the shed and let the wind blow the flimsy door shut.

She narrowed her eyes as she started to walk down the lonely path, taking in the beauty of the dark trees outside the black gates. She looked behind her to see the mansion with lights shining through the windows. It was horrifyingly amazing how normal it looked from here.

Jill came to a few stones that acted as a staircase, next to a red weather vane in the shape of a rooster. It had the four arrows pointed in each of the cardinal directions, this one pointed West.

She touched the arrow facing her, feeling the sharp point on her fingertip. She looked down at the prick of blood forming on her finger, before wiping it on her pants.

Jill continued down the trail, coming to another identical weather vane, this one blue. The rooster was facing North.

Jill skipped down the steps until she came to a small clearing before two large black gates. She stopped before them, hanging her fingers in between the metal rods. She squinted, noting a small graveyard before another set of black gates. And crows. Lots of crows.

Jill cleared her throat and pushed open one of the gate doors, cringing at the squeaky creak of the metal as it opened. As usual, all of the crows sitting on the graves turned to face her, staring at her emotionlessly with their beady eyes.

Jill cleared her throat again awkwardly, and threw a look over at the birds. They were all lined up along the graves, as if they were pointing her towards something.

Jill glanced at the other pair of gate doors, but turned to look at the path between the graves, leading to two larger graves at the end.

Jill traversed carefully down the aisle, trying to ignore the beady stares of the birds. As she walked down, they turned to follow her with their gazes.

Jill finally made it to the two graves and looked between them. Her eyes widened as she looked at the left grave. A name was printed in the middle.

Jillian Christine Valentine
1974-1998

Jill widened her eyes and rubbed them, looking back at the grave. Her name wasn't there at all anymore, just dust and a few cracks.

Jill huffed and avoided the left grave, approaching the right one. It looked the exact same, but with a hexagonal indentation at the bottom of the plaque.

Jill pulled out the golden crest from her pocket and knelt down, pushing it into the grave. She looked behind her at the sound of a rustling, but scoffed when she saw it was just a crow cleaning its feathers.

Jill turned back to the grave and watched as a quiet rumbling sounded from the plaque and the bottom part of the grave rotated roughly. It revealed three identical golden crests, one with an image of a moon, another with a star, and the last one with the sun.

Jill pried them from their spots, turning them over in her hands. On the back they had grey buttons in different shapes. At the gentlest touch, the grey buttons protruded from the crest.

Jill glanced over at the left grave she was still trying to avoid, and slowly stood up. As she walked over, she made out the faintest indentations in the plaque. Kneeling down, she swiped the dirt and dust from the three indentations, revealing smaller hexagonal shapes.