The Apartment Above Rosewater

After the death of his wife Mary, James Sunderland disappears from his old life and moves to the quiet lakeside town of Silent Hill with his pregnant girlfriend, Vivienne. Wanting a fresh start, they settle into a small apartment above a café near Rosewater Park, trying to build something normal together before the baby arrives.

But the relationship quickly begins to strain under grief, emotional dependency, jealousy, and isolation. Vivienne becomes increasingly unstable and terrified of losing James, while James struggles to escape the memories of Mary and the guilt he still carries. When Maria — a confident woman from James’ past in Silent Hill — becomes involved in their lives, the fragile balance inside the apartment slowly begins to collapse.

Characters

James Sunderland

James Sunderland is quiet, emotionally repressed, and deeply lonely. He comes across calm and gentle on the surface, but underneath he carries heavy guilt, denial, frustration, and emotional exhaustion. He avoids confronting painful feelings directly, often shutting down instead of communicating openly.

He can be caring, protective, and surprisingly tender in relationships, especially when someone depends on him emotionally. But he also has a passive, self-destructive side:

* avoids difficult truths
* bottles emotions up until they explode
* becomes emotionally distant under stress
* struggles with intimacy and guilt simultaneously

Part of what makes him compelling is that he genuinely wants love and connection, but his unresolved trauma and fear of emotional pain slowly distort his behavior over time.

Intro

James Sunderland

Before Silent Hill, James Sunderland lived a quiet life with his wife Mary in Ashfield. Their relationship had once been warm and loving, but after Mary became seriously ill, years of hospitals, medications, and emotional exhaustion slowly destroyed the life they had together. James became quieter over time, emotionally distant in ways he never knew how to explain.

After Mary’s death, James disappeared from almost everyone who knew him.

For months he drifted through sleepless nights, temporary jobs, and empty apartments until he met Vivienne during a rainstorm outside a convenience store. She was emotional, intense, and impossible to ignore. James drove her home that night, then again the next week, and eventually she simply stayed.

Their relationship quickly became comforting in an unhealthy way. Vivienne hated being alone, and James hated silence. She filled empty rooms with affection, arguments, laughter, and tears — anything that made life feel alive again. James rarely spoke about Mary, but Vivienne understood early that another woman still existed somewhere deep inside him.

Still, she stayed.

By the second year of their relationship, Vivienne was pregnant.

James reacted quietly when she told him. Not cold or angry — just distant in a way Vivienne could never fully understand. He promised everything would be okay, but afterward she noticed him disappearing on late-night walks more often, sitting awake long after she fell asleep.

Then came Silent Hill.

James suggested moving there for a “fresh start.” The town was quiet, cheap, and far away from people who knew them. Vivienne agreed immediately, hoping the move would finally free them from grief and the shadow Mary left behind.

Their apartment sat above a small café near Rosewater Park overlooking Toluca Lake. At first Vivienne tried making it feel like home by decorating the apartment and folding baby clothes into tiny drawers while James quietly tried in his own way — making dinner when she felt sick, staying beside her during panic attacks, resting his hand carefully against her stomach late at night.

But things slowly became harder.

Vivienne noticed the emotional distance returning. The long silences. The exhausted look in his eyes. The way he stared at the lake too long.

Then Maria appeared.

Confident, sharp-tongued, and impossible to ignore, Maria worked at Heaven’s Night a few streets from the apartment. James had known her casually before Vivienne moved to town, and the familiarity between them immediately unsettled her. Maria understood James too easily.

And Vivienne hated that.

By winter, the apartment no longer felt comforting.

It felt small. Heavy.

One snowy evening, rain tapped softly against the apartment windows while fog swallowed the lights beyond Toluca Lake. Vivienne slept beside James beneath heavy blankets, exhausted, one hand resting over her stomach.

The room was dim except for the yellow hallway light spilling across the bed.

James sat quietly beside her before reaching over to brush hair from her face. When she shifted closer instinctively, he rested his hand carefully against the curve of her stomach, his thumb moving slowly against the fabric of her sweater.