Troy Abernathy

"The first step toward lasting change is recognizing the basic implausibility of a false belief. There is no such thing as "safe" in Silent Hill.
 * —Dr. Abernathy, banishing all chances of hope for a pair of teens."

Troy Abernathy is the false protagonist of Dying Inside, who throughout the course of the story develops into an antagonist. He also returns as a supporting character in Dead/Alive.

Troy is an ex-psychiatrist and noted author of self-help books. Called on to help a girl named Lynn DeAngelis suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, Troy decides the only way to pull the girl out of her illness is by taking her back to the place that instigated the trauma; the town of Silent Hill.

Background
Reputed throughout the field of psychiatry as being the one doctor capable of delivering results regardless of the case, Troy quits his practice shortly after his wife Julianna Abernathy committed suicide. Becoming an author by trade instead, Troy becomes a best-selling author of self-help books. His new career choice has earned him an eight-figure bank account, a medicine cabinet with enough prescription drugs to kill a thousand rock stars, and a new woman every night.

Feeling unfulfilled, Troy shows no hesitation when a former colleague contacts him for help on a particularly difficult case.

When and how he met Julianna, his late wife, is unknown. While married to her, Troy practiced on a pro-bono basis, and had earned the distinction of being one of the top ten EMDR and EP therapists in the country. Upon discovering that her ex-husband had been abusive towards her in an unspecified manner, Troy killed him. When Julianna learned of this, she killed herself.

Dying Inside
Troy is holding a signing for his latest book ''You're In Control! 10 Easy Life-lessons for Taking Control of YOUR Life!'', when he has a chance encounter with a young woman named Francesca. Troy sleeps with the woman, but is left feeling unfulfilled, and decides to return a call from a former co-worker regarding a difficult case, which has shown no signs of progress even after a year's time. Taking the patient, Lynn DeAngelis, under his care, he notes the same results as Phil, which is that nothing works. Obtaining temporary custody of his patient, Troy travels with her to Silent Hill, an abandoned town she had visited before entering her current mental state of paranoia.

Once in town, Troy begins to experience his own delusions, centered on his late wife, Julianna. She appears to him dressed as a nurse, and coaxes him into a chase through the streets of Silent Hill. The doctor, however, loses sight of his wife when he becomes surrounded by skinless, dog-like creatures. Fending them off with a pipe, the doctor makes his way back to Lynn, who is slowly regaining her former state of mind. She attempts to question Troy's motives for bringing her back to Silent Hill, but the doctor grabs her arm and flees the area with her, as more monsters begin to manifest from the dense fog enveloping the streets.

The pair enter a diner, where a little girl is seated. Troy doesn't believe the girl is real, but notices she bears a large wound on her abdomen. He comments on it, but the girl offers no indication that it actually hurts. Lynn, standing by the doctor, recognizes the girl from her first visit, and the girl finally takes notice of Lynn, and grows angry. The girl, Christabella, intends to punish Lynn for failing to return to her with the right person.



Lynn has other plans and tries to walk away from Christabella, but is attacked for her troubles. As this occurs, Troy is standing to the side, gripped in fear, when a familiar figure storms the diner and begins to fire off a shotgun. Calling out to Troy, the man tosses Troy a pistol, though Lynn takes it from him. The man, named Brett, and Lynn shoot a path out of the diner, allowing the trio a chance to flee. As they run, Troy tries to come to terms with being saved by Brett, a man who is dead, having been killed by Troy himself. Brett seems to have no knowledge of his death, and is even friendly towards to doctor, though the feelings aren't returned. When the man tries to introduce himself to Lynn, she and Troy notice the back of his skull is missing. Panicking, Troy punches Brett in the face and steals his shotgun and second pistol while he's down.

Fleeing Brett, Lynn demands to know Troy's connection to him, but Troy only replies that Brett was his wife's ex. As the monsters of the town become too much for the pair to handle, they seek shelter in a clothing store, but are in the company of Julianna once again. She begins to mock Troy and the path his life has taken and then attacks him before being hit in the face with a pipe by Lynn. As Julianna lays bleeding, Troy asks her about her suicide. Julianna offers no answer, but rather asks about Brett and the gaping wound in his head. Troy refuses to listen to his deceased wife further and leaves the store, with Lynn tentatively following behind him. She reaches the conclusion that Troy had killed Brett, and refuses to travel further with the doctor. Reaching the end of his patience, Troy hits Lynn, but regrets it immediately. Lynn calls him a monster, and Troy tries to walk away, but the pair are forced to continue together in light of the monstrous horde surrounding them.

Fighting their way to a bridge out of town, their escape route is cut off by the appearance of Christabella, with Brett in tow. The girl explains that Brett was meant to be under her control from the start, at which point the man transforms and attacks Lynn and Troy. The two attempt to fire their weapons at him, but as the guns were given to them by Brett, they have since become useless. Lynn is overpowered by Brett's strength, leading Troy to sacrifice his life in return for Lynn's safety, offering Christabella every maligned thought from every patient he's ever had as a trade. Christabella accepts, and begins to mutilate the doctor.

As Lauryn LaRoache explores Silent Hill with a few of her friends, the girl is drawn into an hallucinatory conversation with the doctor. Presenting Lauryn with a file on her background, Troy offers a therapist's opinion on the girl's personality and situation, explaining that, like himself, Lauryn didn't believe in anything beyond the physical world. Since his arrival in Silent Hill, Troy has changed his view of the world, and offers Lauryn a glimpse of what he has become. As tentacles creep out of his abdomen, the vision comes to an end.

Later, as the groups of Lauryn's friends delve deeper into Silent Hill, Troy, under Christabella's direction, is dispatched to Silent Hill's subway system to deal with one of the groups of Lauryn friends. There, he introduces himself to two teens who have survived Christabella's monsters. The pair had thought themselves safe, but Troy dispels that thought with his presence. As he kills one of the survivors, he explains to the other that, while he'd rather not be doing this task, Troy is in no position to argue. He then kills the other survivor. When Lauryn attempts to reach her friends via cellphone, Troy answers the call and tells Lauryn a visit to the subway system would be wasted. He adds that, if she intended on making the trip anyway, a mop and shovel would be advisable.

Having separated from his friends, Hogg investigate Silent Hill's lighthouse in order to check on another group of his friends. Hogg arrives and finds the group sent to the lighthouse has been slain. Standing in the center of the gore is Troy, who Hogg believes has killed his friends. Troy, however, assures the shotgun-wielding youth he had no part in their deaths. Hogg is still suspicious, and is prepared to fight Troy, though Troy has another idea in mind. When Lauryn enters Brookhaven Hospital and is confronted by the enigmatic Whately, Troy and Hogg arrive in order to distract the otherworldly stranger while Lauryn attempts to end the madness gripping Silent Hill.

Lauryn emerges victorious, and places her sister Christabella in Troy's care.

Dead/Alive
Troy Abernathy appears in Issue 1 after Christabella wakes up from her dream about Silent Hill. He drives her to school, which she views as unbearably happy and asinine. After it is over, he walks her home. On the way, Christabella spots the dead body of a monster left by Lauryn, as a warning not to attack tourists; however, Troy pulls her away before she can get a good look. That night, Christabella looks out the window to see Silent Hill morphing to the Otherworld, much to her delight. Seeing Troy unconscious and bound to the wall via tentacles, she escapes.

In Issue 2, Troy appears with tentacles emerging from his chest after Kenneth Carter and Lenora discover Jessica Aldrich dead. Lenora is curious about his being there, as she thought that everything relating to Lauryn had been wiped out. Troy then demands that Kenneth be killed, after which, a group of Pyramid Heads attack. Christabella then states that Troy is dead, and uses her powers to make Troy explode, killing him once and for all.

Troy Abernathy