Ch.1

'Here we go again,' Mayra thought bitterly as she sank to her knees.

It was time to pray again...for the SIXTH time today.

"...the great and the small, and they were judged according to their deeds." Christabella droned on.

'You seriously think that praying does any good? Then why are the windows still dark? Why can I still hear screams of agony?'

She was the only one not blinded by convection and false hope. There was no chance of being 'saved' in Silent Hill. They were all damned, no matter how hard they prayed and repented for their sins.

'Am I REALLY the only one who knows this is pointless?' Mayra still couldn't get used to the fact that Christabella had all of these idiots under her spell. As long as she told them that there was just a miniscule shred of hope; that one day the darkness would dissapear and they would all be showered in a holy golden light and rewarded for their faith, these people would follow her right off the edge of a fucking cliff.

Mayra would rather be burning in Hell right now; that's how much she hated living in this church. She had no friends; only acquaintances. Her parents were dead; just two of the many victims of the 'darkness'. After such a devastating loss, Mayra came to the conclusion that there were only two possibilities; either there was no God (who would take away the parents of an innocent eight-year old child?) or that this 'God' was a sick bastard who enjoyed causing his creations pain and watching them suffer beneath his ultimately superior power.

This secret perspective left her without anyone she could talk to or actually trust. At seventeen years of age, one would think she'd have warmed up to the lifestyle, but she didn't. This life was all she knew. Yet she still longed for a different life; one in which she could be free and not have to pray every few hours to a God that never responded. She was told when it was safe to go outside, when to pray, when to eat and just how much she could eat because she had to share with the others. This place just flat-out fucking SUCKED.

The only thing she actually enjoyed and was allowed to do on her own time was draw. It was her only escape from this imprisonment. She could draw whatever she wished, or so she thought. Over the years, she would draw the people of the church and buildings around the town of Silent Hill. But once she drew each and every one multiple times and at every possible angle, she grew bored.

But one day Mayra lost track of time as she was sketching an old, weathered eagle statue and stayed outside of the sanctuary too late. Before even the thought of checking the time had crossed her mind, the sirens began to blare and nearly deafen her as the darkness swallowed the sky. She gathered up her sketches and pencils frantically; the dread in the air weighed so heavily that it strained her lungs. Then she heard a scraping sound...it was like steel being dragged across concrete. The racket raked across her eardrums, almost making her drop her supplies to cover her ears. She watched in utter horror, yet fascination, as a enormous creature rounded the corner of the school building to her right. He must have been seven to eight feet high, with a huge, reddish, Pyramid-shaped helmet encasing his head (or maybe it was his head?). His well-muscled body was horrifically scarred and his skin was discolored with blood stains. It took Mayra a moment to realize that the source of the ear-splitting sound wasn't the monster himself, but from the ridiculously HUGE knife he drug behind him.

'Oh my God, that blade must weigh a ton! How is he even managing to drag that?' She marveled silently.

She stood frozen in awe and watched as the monster slowly lumbered towards her.

"Come on! We have to get out of here! The Red Pyramid is coming!!!" Someone screamed at her.

Mayra didn't move. She couldn't.

"Let's GO!!!" Someone grabbed her by her shoulders roughly and half-dragged her back into the church.

Almost immediately after the encounter, when she stopped shaking and the monster still fresh in her mind, she began to eagerly sketch his form. The beast seemingly came to life on the off-white paper, as if it were about to peel of the page and attack.

' The Red Pyramid...' She contemplated. 'I think I'll just call you Pyramid Head.'

Several hours passed as she put her heart and soul into recreating the demon. Something about him...maybe it was how humanoid he looked, or the mysterious helmet that hid a possible face...whatever it was, it thrilled her artistic side.

When Mayra was carefully finishing up the details of his helmet, someone passing by gasped in horror.

"No! No!" Some ugly old woman with tattered clothes shrieked. She snatched the paper from right under her pencil and crumpled it up.

"What the Hell's your problem?!!!" Mayra shrilled. "That's my artwork!"

"No!" The old woman hissed. "Tis the Devil's work!" She threw the mashed picture onto the floor and stomped it into the ground, as if she were putting out a fire.

A blazing sun of fury rose in Mayra's chest. She choked back an insult that would make Satan cringe.

'That's the final fucking straw.'

Right then and there, she made a deadly decision.

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That night when she was absolutely sure that all the others were asleep, Mayra silently uncrumpled her drawing and contemplated what it was about Pyramid Head that inspired her so. This creature fascinated her on levels that were beyond even her understanding. But why?

All of the other monsters terrified her. The small gray child-like creatures with dark, gaping mouths that screamed in agony, the zombie-like nurses with distorted faces and rusty scalpels, the faceless, armless entities that spewed acid from their chests, she was terribly afraid of all of them.

But Pyramid Head...somehow he was different. Perhaps it was because he looked more human than the rest?

His upper body was obviously that of a man, except for his head. She remembered how he kept his head mostly bowed and his back bent inwards as he walked. That helmet looked like it was made of solid steel or some other heavy material.

'He looked like he was in a lot of pain. Does he even have a head under that helmet?' She wondered.

When she was younger, she'd ask Christabella about the creatures who ran amok in the town. What they were, what they ate, and how dangerous each kind was. But Christabella's answers were too complicated for Mayra to really understand. She thought about asking her about Pyramid Head now that she was older and might be able to comprehend her explanations, but changed her mind after remembering how the old woman reacted to a simple drawing of the monster.

'What was her problem, anyways? It's just a picture.' Mayra silently scoffed.

She tossed uncomfortably in her small pallet on the floor.

'Look at me...sleeping on the floor. Hiding in a church...eating only enough to prevent starvation. Hardly getting to go outside...Shit, I can't even draw what I want to anymore. Why...Why the Hell am I staying HERE???' She was struck with sudden realization.

'I may not have anywhere else to go, but...I'd rather be dead than living here my whole life.'

She slowly sat up and glanced around the dark building. No one else was up. She only heard the quiet and steady breathing of her sleeping church members. Silently, she crawled out of her pallet and walked across the room to her pile of clothes. She picked up a few outfits, putting one on and cramming the rest into her cloth bag, along with her pencils and loose leaf paper. She took one last look at her drawing of Pyramid Head.

'I'll be seeing you soon. I sure as Hell hope you don't mind company.'

She knew that he'd kill her if he had the chance, but at this point, she didn't care. It was better than being stuck here where she had to keep to herself and always share what little food she had.

She cautiously padded to the huge doors and carefully creaked one of them open, her heart nervously hammering against her chest.

"Fuck this place..." The whispered bitterly under her breath.

She quietly closed the door behind her and ran off into the darkness.