Disclaimer: Silent Hill owns to Konami.
AN: This is a fic that I came up with last Thursday and posted on LiveJournal. This isn't supposed to be a completely serious fic, so if some of the characters seem out-of-character, it's meant to be that way. But hey, even Dahlia has to have her fun. And little Alessa's spot on, I think. So's Claudia, for that matter. Any mispellings between her and Claudia are intentional. These are seven and five year olds talking, after all.
As always, read and review. Don't forget, reviews feed the author. And he could stand to eat something besides pasta now and then. ;)
Miscommunications
"No, he's not."
"Yes he is."
"Alessa, he is not."
"But he has a red helmet."
Dahlia Gillespie sighed, with the patience of someone barely holding onto their sanity. "Alessa, the Executioner is not the Red god because he has a red helmet," she explained.
"But he's the Red Devil! And all those servants wear red hoods, just like the helmet."
"Alessa, Jimmy Stone is the Red Devil. And those servants are just people in costumes. The fact that they wear red hoods during their ceremonies does not in any way imply that the Executioner is the Red god."
"Nuh-uh, that's not what I heard," the girl protested.
"Alessa, take my word for it. The Executioner is not the Red god."
"Then why does he have those people dressing up like him? And why does he glow red?" the little girl inquired sharply.
Dahlia glared at her. "Alessa, where did you learn this from?"
"From Claudia. She knows everything," Alessa piped up proudly.
Dahlia came to a decision. Before Alessa was even aware, Dahlia took her hand and dragged her out the front door.
Dahlia knocked on the door. Moments later, Leonard Wolf answered.
"What have you been teaching my daughter?" she pushed her way into the house.
"Dahlia...what a pleasure to see you."
"Answer me!" Dahlia demanded. "Where is that little brat of yours?" she asked, looking around the house.
"Claudia? What did she do now?"
"She's been tarnishing our faith. Don't play dumb. You know what she did," Dahlia responded nastily.
"What are you babbling about, woman?"
"Alessa thinks the Executioner is the Red god. Where would she get an idea like that?"
Leonard looked at the little girl standing behind Dahlia, trembling like she was a sculpture made of Jell-O. "I don't know. You know children. They never memorize the scriptures we teach to them," he said casually.
"Oh really? I have a different theory. Alessa told me what Claudia said to here. And I can only imagine where she such a ludicrous idea from," Dahlia stated with her arms crossed.
She caught sight of Leonard snickering. "It's not funny! This is a blasphemous tarnishing of our teachings and rituals."
"Dahlia, it's a simple miscommunication. She'll grow out of it," Leonard answered.
"Where is your Bible?" Dahlia questioned suddenly.
"What?"
"Where is it? I'm going to show her once and for that there is no truth to this absolute foolishness!" Dahlia stated resolutely. She started rummaging among the drawers in the living room.
"Hey! Stay out of there!"
Dahlia ignored Leonard's protests, searching wildly around the room for any sign of the Order's Bible. By now Claudia had come down from the second floor and joined Alessa in the living room, looking on while their parents bickered. Dahlia searched the drawers one by one, from top to bottom, searching inside and around the study for that telltale book. Finally she opened the top drawer of one of the smaller cabinets. A gaggle of pictures greeted her inside. Her eyes went wide when she noticed the pictures staring up at her. She picked up a few of them staring at the images with gaping eyes and mouth.
"What is this?" she asked in a horrified voice. She knew what they were, of course, but the truth of Father Leonard having these images was too horrifying to contemplate.
One of the pictures fell out the drawer. Out of curiosity, Alessa bent to pick it up, curious about what her mommy had seen.
"Alessa! Don't touch that!" Dahlia said aghast, snatching the picture out of Alessa's hand before she could see its contents. She filed it away for later study, and turned to glare at Leonard with fiery eyes.
"Heretic! This is what you do in your spare time? Look at these perverse photographs while all the while teaching us about piety and righteousness?!" Dahlia demanded, holding the photographs in a death grip. Was that...Sara Beth Mackerson? Sister Sara Beth Mackerson, with three kids and a marriage of her own?
Leonard growled something about how that was none of her business, and how it didn't interfere with his work as a priest. The children weren't listening. They were staring at their parents arguing with a somewhat bored, somewhat amused expression.
"Claudia? Why did you tell me the Executioner was the Red god?"
"I wanted to see if you would believe it," the blonde little girl shrugged.
"You shouldn't have told me that if it wasn't true," Alessa chastised.
"I thought it would be fun. I shouldn't have done that. Daddy says I'll go to Hell if I lie a lot."
Alessa nodded. "Mommy says I'll go to Hell a lot too."
"Claudia?" she spoke after a moment. "Do you know anyone who won't go to Hell?"
Claudia shook her head. "No." She thought about it some more. "Sarah Mandelbaum. But she eats paste."
"Mrs. Gordon?" Alessa asked.
"Daddy says she's a...a...a...prostaitute," Claudia answered.
"Vincent Millerman?"
Claudia shook her head. "He eats worms. And he's always pulling on girls' hair. I think he's got cooties," she answered seriously.
The two turned to watch their parents' continued fighting. Finally Leonard had had enough of Dahlia's infuriated tirades. He took her by the arm and roughly shoved her towards the front door.
"Get out of my house, woman! If this is how you're going to act, then you are no longer welcome in my sermons!"
"Fine by us. I wouldn't want to be a follower sitting there with a pervert anyway. There are better priests than you, Father Leonard. Take my word for it," Dahlia retorted. "Come along, Alessa."
"Yes, go on ahead. And take your brat with you!" Leonard yelled back scornfully. Alessa dutifully followed her mother, not wanting to get in between the two adults' arguing any further.
"Come along, Claudia," Leonard turned towards his daughter, once the other two had left. He guided her towards the kitchen.
The two Gillespie women walked in silence, neither one quite sure what to make of the strange encounter at Leonard's house. They had gone there to sort an argument of their own. Instead they'd left there dazed and confused, Dahlia by what she'd discovered, Alessa by the craziness of it all.
Dahlia kept her eyes narrowed, looking darkly at the ground. Well, that went well, she thought sourly.
Alessa kept herself quiet, knowing her mother was probably still very angry with Father Leonard. Dahlia didn't like it when things didn't go her way. She hoped Claudia didn't get in trouble for causing this. It wasn't her fault she wanted to have some fun. That didn't seem very likely, though. Leonard didn't seem particularly angry at her, only annoyed at Dahlia for bursting into his private things. She wished she could see whatever it was that was on those photos.
Finally Alessa couldn't resist asking the question that had been plaguing her all this week. She was embarrassed to have to ask this, but she really needed to know for clarity's sake.
"Mommy?"
Dahlia turned to her.
"Who's Jujibara?"
Dahlia brought her face into her hands and let out a groan.
The End.
(Maybe)