Julianna Abernathy

"What's the matter, Troy? You used to love it when I put on this old thing.
 * —Julianna, as she manifests herself in a nurse costume before Troy."

Julianna Abernathy is a minor character from the comic Dying Inside, appearing in both Issue 1 and Issue 2 of the series. Before her death, she was married to psychiatrist and author Troy Abernathy.

Background
Before marrying Troy, Julianna was married to a man named Brett, who was abusive. The circumstances of their separation are unknown, as are the circumstances of her meeting Dr. Abernathy. What is known is that while the two were married, Julianna was very familiar with Phil, a colleague of Troy's, as well as several other doctors who were on good terms with Abernathy. It is implied that Julianna was involved in the medical field alongside her husband.

At an unknown point in her past, Julianna discovered that Troy killed Brett in order to avenge the misdeeds leveled against Julianna. When she learned of this, Julianna killed herself. After her death, Troy abandoned his psychiatric practice and began authoring self-help books.

Though Julianna offers no explicit answer for her suicide, she implies that the act of Troy murdering her ex-husband was too much for her, leading to her suicide. This is expounded upon by a conversation with Lynn DeAngelis, who reinforces the idea that Julianna couldn't stand living with a murderer, which made Troy no different from Brett.

Dying Inside
Julianna appears as a manifestation to Troy as he tries to escape the town of Silent Hill with Lynn DeAngelis. When she first appears, she's wearing a nurse's uniform with a scalpel sticking out of a large, bleeding wound in her neck. She complains to Troy that she has an itch on her neck that she just can't scratch and would like his help. Abernathy only stands there, frozen in place. Julianna believes he's confused by her attire and chides Abernathy, saying he rather enjoyed the outfit. Troy still fails to respond. Julianna runs off, telling Troy to give chase, which he does. He fails to catch up, however.

When the two meet again, Lynn and Troy have ducked into a clothing store, seeking shelter from the monsters of the town. Julianna, too, is inside. As she tries on clothes, she engages Troy in conversation regarding his apparent desire to help others. She begins to ridicule Troy for the way he's lived his life after her death, as though he was always seeking something more, something she finds ironic given his current occupation as a self-help guru. As she talks, she pulls out the scalpel still in her neck and asks Troy if maybe he wouldn't like her to tell him that everything is okay, or that it will all be alright. She begins to slash at him with the tool until Lynn bashes her in the head with a pipe.

As Julianna lies hunched over from the attack, Troy asks her why she killed herself. Rather than offer a straight answer, Julianna asks Troy about his previous encounter with a manifestation of her late ex-husband Brett. The manifestation had been missing the back of his skull, and Julianna wonders if that fact was bothering Troy. She then begins to compliment him on that piece of work, even if the execution of such was a little cowardly. Troy and Lynn then flee the clothing store.

Julianna Abernathy