The Great Laura Debate! Who really is Laura from Silent Hill 2?

[geeksicle]

The fact that she's a real live little girl makes me more interested, to be honest. If she was just a creation of the town, I think the story surrounding her would be pretty basic. But knowing she's real raises a lot of questions for me. Why was she in hospital when Mary was there? The fact that she had time to develop such a relationship with Mary indicates that it was more than having a broken arm set or a tonsillectomy or something. And she's fairly well dressed and seems healthy and clean, so I'll assume she isn't a street kid but has parents/guardians - where are they? Did this 8 year old child manage to get away from her guardians and travel to another town unnoticed by anyone? Are they on holiday in Silent Hill and simply seeing a nice, quaint little town that they're happy to let their child roam unattended? I realise I'll probably never get answers to any of that, and that it's probably not really important to the story anyway, but I can't help but wonder.