Disclaimer: Silent Hill, and all characters within that franchise, belongs to Konami. I own nothing but this particular plot and my original characters, whom you should easily be able to spot. I am making no money off of this story.
A/N: This story is set very shortly after Silent Hill 4: The Room—the ending of which will be obvious further into chapter one. Just to prevent confusion, my main character's name is Henrietta, which will frequently be shortened to "Henri". This is not to be confused with "Henry" as in Henry Townshend. This story is rated M for future content, including violence, potentially disturbing content, and a small amount of inexplicit M/F sexual content.
Beware spoilers for SHs 1-4.
I do not accept flames, but constructive criticism is greatly appreciated. This is my first story, so please be honest.
Also, the separation of paragraphs by FBFBFB indicates the beginning or end of a flash back.
Chapter One: The Metamorphosis of Room 302
Henrietta Sunderland was becoming more and more agitated as the car took her closer and closer to South Ashfield Heights Apartment building. Never the less, she maintained her resolve to reach the town by nightfall. It was a journey she had taken many times in the past, but is was one she usually looked forward to. However, the circumstances forbade such a thing.
Although it was the middle of summer, the weather seemed to be taking on an uncomfortable change as she approached the bustling town. Well, the usually bustling town…but it seemed to be unusually quite now. Instead of the warm, balmy air she was expecting as she drove through South Ashfield, the air was strangely cold. That itself would not have been so disturbing, where it not for the blanketing fog that seemed to have consumed the town. It was a phenomenon she had never experienced before.
Combined with the unnatural quiet, the stillness in the fog and the chill in the air, Henri could feel herself becoming more paranoid. At the same time, she felt silly for having such a ridiculous feeling. South Ashfield was South Ashfield, after all, and nothing strange ever happened in her home town.
With this in mind, she steeled herself to concentrate solely on driving, as it was quickly becoming more difficult with the gathering fog. Having taken her mind off the supernatural, Henri began to realize just how ridiculous the fog really was. She could barely see 20 ft in front of her, although she could still make out the street lights flickering by as she passed. She was also vaguely aware of the cars driving in the opposite direction past her as their headlights pierced the fog.
She was extremely happy to see the looming figure of South Ashfield Heights Apartment in the distance. She steered herself into the turning lane, and took a left into the parking lot. She was extremely surprised to notice that the lights of the parking lot were not on. In the extremely limited evening light, Henri managed to find a parking spot near the front of the apartment office. After she exited her car, she chanced to look up into the apartments' windows, and a part of her mind noted that the inside of the building looked strangely dark for only 8:00 at night.
She locked the car door behind her, and walked towards the front door of her grandfather's office. However…she was in for yet another shock this night. Her grandfather never closed up the office before midnight, and yet, there before her, the office was dark. Henri looked for a sign to indicated why this might be so, but there was none to be seen. Now starting to get worried, Henri approached the doors cautiously. She hesitantly took hold of one of the handles and pulled. The door opened easily enough, and she stepped inside the office. Searching the wall, she soon found the light switch. As the light flickered on, she looked around the apartment office to find that nothing seemed askew--except for the indubitable fact that there was no sign of her grandfather, Frank Sunderland.
She was about to pick up the telephone and call her grandfather's apartment, when she looked up and noticed something very strange. The apartment keys her grandfather usually kept by the desk during the day where gone. If they were gone, Henri supposed that meant that her grandfather had gone up to bed, as strange as that seemed. He always took the keys up with him, in case someone broke into the office at night. But why would a night owl like Frank Sunderland go to bed this early in the evening? Why was the front door unlocked?
Shaking her head, Henri picked up the phone and dialed her grandfather's extension. The phone rang…and rang…and rang. Henri felt her heart beat faster as her grandfather failed to pick up the phone. Quickly replacing the phone, she dug into her pockets and pulled out her copy of the apartment building's entrance key, and crossed the office to the door connecting to the actual apartments. Opening the door, she was unnerved to see that the usually steady, warm light that illuminated the courtyard that separated the office from the apartments was as faint as the lights had been in the parking lot. She crossed the courtyard at a very quick pace, reaching the first floor entrance very quickly.
Unlocking the door, she stepped into the lobby, flinching as the overhead light flickered on and off. Listening closely, Henri was again confused to note that the usually noisy apartment tenants were strangely quiet…silent, actually.
"What is happening here?" Henri asked herself out loud, trying to comfort herself by breaking the disquieting silence. It was like the entire population was gone—no laughing children, no arguing parents, no blaring TVs. As she walked on, she thought that her mother was right to beg her to check on her grandfather…
FBFBFB
Henrietta Sunderland was an undergraduate student of Toxicology at Pleasant River University in the nearby town of Pleasant River. School was out for the summer, but Henri lived alone in a dorm on campus while she took summer classes and worked in a local laboratory, mostly preparing chemicals for experimentation.
Henri was very content, as the graduate school she was hoping to attend had asked her back for another visit. Her job was interesting, her neighbors had invited her out to eat with them, and the summer was going well. Her TV had stopped working at some point during the summer, but she wasn't particularly fond of television anyway, so it was of little consequence. Henrietta was actually enjoying her life; until last night when her mother called her at one o'clock in the morning.
It was obvious that Jamie Sunderland was panicked, more so because she was actually conscious at this late hour, early riser that she was. She had apparently been sobbing, and her breath was coming in quick pants.
"Henri! Please! I can't get a hold of your grandfather! It has been weeks since he called me, he has never failed to call me for this long! I keep trying the apartment lines, but I never get an answer! Ohhh, ohhh…honey, please, please go see if he is alright! I am so worried, and I am stuck in Chicago…please go see him!"
Henrietta knew better than to argue the point, or be angry with her mother for making such a demand on such short notice. Jamie Sunderland was a single mother who traveled often for business. As it was, Henri was not exactly sure who her own father was, and Jamie had kept her own maiden name.
Jamie had always been something of a worry wart, but her paranoia had increased one hundred fold when her beloved twin brother James Sunderland had disappeared in the town of Silent Hill some years before. It had not helped her mother's nerves when she found out that Henri was going to be living in Pleasant River, the town to the immediate east of Silent Hill, and she was deathly afraid that yet another member of her family was going to disappear.
With this in mind, Henri had taken the rest of the week off, and, by 6:00 in the evening, was ready to drive to South Ashfield Heights, where her mother's father, Frank Sunderland, owned an apartment complex…
FBFBFB
Looking back, Henri wondered if her mother was doomed to be right. After all, it was painfully obvious that something very strange was happening in her grandfather's apartments. The first floor was completely silent.
Her grandfather's apartment was just to the right of the lobby entrance, in room 105. She stood nervously in front of her grandfather's door. She knocked on the door, but received no answer. She turned the knob, and was surprised to see that the door was unlocked. Henri hesitantly stepped into her grandfather's living room hall entrance. The living room lights were on, and the fan turned slowly on the ceiling. The room seemed in be in order. She checked the kitchen, laundry room, bathroom, and her grandfather's bedroom, but there was absolutely no sign of him anywhere.
Henri was finally starting to feel panic setting in. There seemed to be no explanation as to where or why her grandfather had gone, and yet there seemed to be no signs of any struggle in the apartment.
Mind in a daze, Henri exited her grandfather's apartment, and stood outside, gazing fixedly at the door. She was about to continue down the hall when she felt suddenly that she was not alone, and she could feel something watching her. Darting her eyes to the left, Henri saw a figure run quickly away from her view. "Hey! Come back here!" she yelled, quickly running after the retreating person.
The figure, which looked like a man, ran towards the lobby, and then up the stairs. She followed him, running all the way up the two flights of stairs towards the third floor. The man exited the stairway and ran out to the third floor hallway. She turned the corner past room 304, and saw that the man had stopped down the hall in front of room 302. He was staring at the door intently, but she couldn't see his face in the dim hallway.
"Excuse me, sir! Who are you?" Instead of answering her, the man opened the door to 302 and entered. Now uncertain what to do, Henri stood in the hallway in front of 303, and looked around.
The hallway atmosphere had seemed to take an even more unnerving turn when she stepped onto this floor. The lights did not flicker, but were extremely dim, and the air seemed strangely heavy.
This feeling grew as she approached apartment 302, where she knew Henry Townshend, a friend of her grandfather, lived. Although Henry was only about 28, he and her grandfather seemed to get along very well, and Henri knew that her grandfather had liked and trusted Henry enough to have told him about the mysterious disappearance of Henrietta's uncle James. Had that figure been Henry Townshend? But if it had been, why wouldn't he have answered her? After all, Henry knew her. Maybe… maybe Henry would know what was happening. Henri approached room 302, even as something in her mind told her to stay as far away from the apartment as she could.
She stood in front of room 302 uncertainly, and moved her hand towards the door. Suddenly, an overwhelming feeling of dread fell upon her, and she quickly gasped and stepped away from the door. She was about to turn around and leave the floor altogether when it occurred to her that doing so would do nothing to help her find her grandfather.
Summoning all of her courage, Henri ignored the horrible feeling that crept up on her as she approached the door, and slowly turned the knob. If Henry was in the apartment, she would apologize for entering without permission. If it was not Henry, then…she had a whole other host of problems to worry about.
The air in 302 was even heavier than in the hallway. The only light available was coming from the hall, and Henri really couldn't see anything. Fumbling around on the wall, she finally found the switch, and flicked it on. Any sense of relief she might have felt with finding a working light was quickly squashed when her eyes adjusted, however.
She gasped in absolute horror as she took in the room before her. The living room was splattered in blood and something that looked suspiciously like rust. The ceiling fan had fallen onto the coffee table in front of the dead television. The blood was flung at impossible angles on even the ceiling—everything was covered in the scarlet liquid, and the metallic smell of iron hung in the air. Even the furniture was covered.
Jerking her head away from the sight, she looked towards the kitchen, and was in for just as bad a sight. It too was covered in blood. The sink faucet was dripping a steady steam of red liquid. In front of the refrigerator was a pool of blood, and the horrible smell coming from it warned Henri not to even think of opening it.
She was about to leave the kitchen when something caught her eye. In the corner of the living room, there appeared to be a hole chiseled into the wall. Walking cautiously over to the hole, Henrietta noticed that there was something poking out of it. Eyes narrowed, Henri pulled that "something" the rest of the way out of the wall.
It proved to be a stuffed Robby the Rabbit, the strangely disturbing mascot of Lakeside Amusement Park. What made this particular toy so unnerving, however, was the fact that it was covered in blood. She carefully placed the toy on the end table next to Henry's couch.
She had just turned around to explore the rest of the apartment when she heard a soft "thump" behind her. Slowly turning around, Henrietta noticed that the ruined toy had somehow fallen off of the table. This was not as disturbing as the fact that it had managed to land upright, and almost seemed to be pointing one paw towards—she looked behind her—the room Henri knew to be the laundry room. Frowning, Henri looked back towards the rabbit.
Her heart skipped a beat when she saw that it was still sitting on the table next to the couch.
Rubbing her eyes, thinking she must be tired, Henri backed away from the living room, soon bumping into a wall. Turning her head, she saw that she had reached the hallway leading to the rest of the apartment.
Cautiously looking around the corner, Henri sighted the rooms that she was sure would be Henry's bedroom and bathroom. Was the figure in one of those, then? He certainly did not seem to be here. Now, however, Henri was starting to believe that she did not want to meet this man after all, if he had so casually walked into this room of horrors.
A terrible thought occurred to her. What if Henry was dead? What if the figure she had been following had killed him? What if he had done the same to the rest of the tenants…to her grandfather?
Her grandfather…like it or not, she had to find him. Even if this man was a sociopath, Henri couldn't chance leaving without knowing what happened to Frank Sunderland and his good friend, Henry Townshend.
Her mind finally determined to go forward, Henri walked down the hallway, and finally noticed something which, in her state of near panic, she had missed before. At the end of the hallway, between the two doors, there was a great hole in the wall. She approached it cautiously, and looked inside.
There was nothing of particular interest in the room, except for an unsetting, large metallic cross lying against the wall. Scattered about the floor beneath it was a pool of black feathers. More interestingly, something seemed to be written in blood on the wall behind the cross:
" '11/21'" Henri said to herself, "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
She was about to wander farther into the once hidden room when she heard a door shut behind her. She spun around but found no one. The sound seemed to have come from the door on the right side of the hallway. She tentatively grabbed hold of the handle and turned the knob. This was the bathroom, and it was an absolute mess.
The mirror across from her was smashed to pieces and blood streaked these walls also. However, the most significant damage appeared to have been done to the wall across from the door. It looked as if a gigantic hole had been smashed into the wall, and then had been calked over, blocking it off. However, that was it. There was no one besides herself in the room. At least that's what she thought.
Looking up into what remained of the mirror, Henrietta gave a startled gasp. There was a dark reflection in the area behind her. Whirling around, Henri suddenly felt more relief than she ever had in her life. "Henry!" she gasped. Indeed, Henry Townshend stood behind her, looking as handsome as ever.
He wasvery close to her, and had a strange, slightly distant look in his green eyes, his dark brown hair falling over his face. His expression soon changed to one of quiet delight, however.
"Henrietta Sunderland! How are you?" he asked, his eyescrinkeling briefly in what appeared to be happiness. It was the most emotion Henrietta had ever seen from the normally quiet, withdrawn man. So happy to see a living human, and her friend Henry in particular, Henrietta almost forgot why she was here.
"Oh! I'm sorry to barge in on you like this, Henry, but I am really worried. Have you seen my grandfather around here? I went to his apartment, but no one was there, and he has not answered his phone in over a week!" her face scrunched up slightly for a moment. "And what exactly is happening here? Where are all of the tenants, what happened to your home?" she continued on, her words coming faster as the situation started to close in on her.
Henry gave a hesitant smile, and raised his hands helplessly. "I don't really understand myself what has happened, Henri. When I woke up last week, every thing was like this, turned into a nightmare. I'm sorry, but I don't know what happened to Frank. I have not seen anyone all week, and I can't seem to leave this building," he finished, his husky voice taking on a note of sadness.
Distressed, Henrietta's shoulders slumped. "Really? I'm sorry, Henry. If I had known, I would have come sooner," Henrietta said, now feeling extremely hopeless. Where on earth were her grandfather and the other residents?
She was startled out of her misery by Henry, who placed his broad hand on her shoulder and smiled kindly down at her. "It's not your fault, Henri. No one could have stopped this, I think. But I have seen something very strange in my laundry room that might be of interest to you."
"Your laundry room?" Henri asked, "Something even stranger that the rest of the apartment?"
He nodded. "Yes. I have no idea what it is, but I have a feeling that it could give you some clue as to what happened to Frank."
Her attention was caught immediately. "Really?"
"Yeah," he said, "why don't we go check it out?" Henrietta nodded at once, and Henry led her to the laundry room near the front door.
The moment Henrietta stepped out of the bathroom, she was at once assaulted by the sudden chill in the atmosphere of 302. Was it just her imagination, or had the lights dimmed once again? In this surreal apartment, it was becoming difficult to tell the difference between the horrific run of her imagination and the terrifying transformation of Henry's home. Glancing at Henry just ahead of her, Henrietta wondered how the quiet young man had managed to keep his sanity all alone in this nightmare.
Henry had soon reached the door of the small room that served as his laundry and storage room, and held the door open for Henrietta. She thanked him quietly, and gazed about the room.
Just as in the rest of the apartment, the walls were spattered with blood. The front of the dryer was open, and it almost looked as if the entire structure was filled with blood. Where the hell had all of this blood come from? Henri was also surprised to see what looked to be a steel pipe sitting on top of the washer. Of course, nether the horrid state of the room or the unexplained pipe surprised Henrietta as much as the clearly defined hole in the wall next to the washer.
Staring at it incredulously, Henri noticed that the hole was surrounded by four placards, though what was on them was a mystery in the dim lighting. "Unbelievable. When did this show up? Who dug it? Do you know where it goes, Henry?" Henrietta asked, turning around to look at the man behind her.
Henry…didn't answer her. As a matter of fact, he did not look at her at all. He was staring intently down at his feet, gripping his hands into fists. He had a grimace on his face, and seemed to be struggling against something.
"Henry, are you okay? What's wrong?" Henri asked, concerned. Henry still did not answer. Inexplicably, Henri began to feel nervous. Something was defiantly off about Henry. She had never seen such a terrible scowl on his face before.
She was about to question Henry again, but a sudden noise behind her had her spinning around to look at the hole. Something that sounded very much like a distant screaming was coming from the opening:
"Hen…b…ful…Walt…! Henr…de…! RUN!" Her heart in her throat, Henrietta realized that the voice screaming in broken speech sounded very familiar.
"Grandpa! How…Henry…!" she swiveled around to question Henry, but stopped abruptly. While Henry had previously been standing at the door, he was now right behind her, looking down at her mournfully. He clutched the pipe that had been on the washer in his hands. But none of these things would have bothered her if not for the fact that, within the space of seconds, Henry Townshend had changed dramatically.
His once immaculate white shirt and undershirt were covered in blood, and his chest looked to have been riddled with bullets. A trickle of blood ran from a corner of his mouth, and his skin, once healthy and slightly tanned, was now ashen and gray.
Henrietta jumped back. "Henry…my god Henry! What happened to…" Henri stammered, terrified. Henry (or the being that was once Henry) continued to look back at her sadly. He slowly approached her, the pipe still in his hands, forcing her to move farther back, towards the hole.
When she could go no farther, he suddenly thrust the pipe at her. She closed her eyes tightly, bracing for the pain, but it never came. She slowly opened her eyes and realized that Henry was holding the pipe out in front of himself, waiting. Henrietta cautiously took hold of the pipe. When she did, he smiled almost fondly at her, and placed his cold hands on her shoulders.
She stared back at him, horribly fascinated. The once handsome, gentle young man almost looked like he was about to cry. Without further adieu, the creature wearing Henry Townshend's face pushed Henrietta into the hole.
As she began to slide down into the unfathomable darkness, the last thing she heard was a chocked "I'm so sorry…"
End Chapter One
So that's it for chapter one. A little slow, but this was the introductory chapter, so it couldn't be avoided. Please drop me a review and tell me what you think!
