DAVID―AFTERNOON
The car was almost on empty.
David watched the road with one eye and the gas gauge with the other. Two weeks ago, Bill Materson called him with news―a missing persons. Missing persons cases were usually a lot of fun, and David was just waiting for another assignment.
He also couldn't shake off this dream he had had a few days ago. In the dream, he was running from something―something fast. Where ever he was was drenched in this thick fog, snow or something was falling all around him. The thing caught up with him and just dug him into the ground. After that, David had woken up and was virtually covered in his own sweat. Whether it had been a nightmare or a premonition was uncertain, especially where he was going.
The missing persons was in Silent Hill, a resort town on the southern edge of Toluca Lake. There was also small island in Toluca that had a couple of historic landmarks on it, but they weren't exactly important. Silent Hill had long since been abandoned after some kind of witch burning about a dozen years ago or something. The place was still a spook spot for teenagers and criminals. Not many people came back from Silent Hill. It wasn't something that David particularly daunted upon, but it did concern him now.
"Maybe the cops set up a barricade or something and I can't even get in," David said to himself. It was likely, Officer Bennet might even be there.
Brahms motorcycle cop Cybil Bennet. David had done an interview with her after she'd chased a kidnapper into Silent Hill. She'd kind of pushed him off, but had saved him an interview after she was off duty. David had had a kind of "crush", if an adult could call it that, on her ever since.
The turn off.
The next left and he would be in Silent Hill. He turned the steering wheel and the car followed suit. He kept on for the next few miles.
Damn. He was right.
The police had barricaded of the route to Silent Hill. David stopped the car and got out.
"Excuse me sir, you have to get back in your car and return home," the closest police officer to him said.
"My name is David Oliver, I'm with the Toronto Times."
"I'm sorry sir. I know you must have driven a long way to get here, but you have to return home."
"Christ. I drive here and spend over a hundred American dollars and I'm told to go home? Bill Materson of the Ashfield Chronicle called me."
"Mr. Materson should keep to his own business," a voice called from behind him. David turned around to see a man, about his height, standing next to a Toluca County police car, "name's Gucci, Tom Gucci."
"David Oliver. You're with Toluca County police?"
"That's right. Hell of a lot closer than Toronto."
"I used to be from around here. Listen, you know a Brahms Police officer named Cybil Bennet?"
Gucci took a hard look at him, "Officer Bennet died some years back."
David couldn't believe it. Cybil had seemed competent enough to keep her fine looking ass out the fire, what killed her?
"That's unfortunate. Listen, can I use a phone?" David asked Gucci.
"Sure. Who're you calling?"
"Bill."
Gucci reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a cell phone, "Here."
David dialed the number that Bill had given during that call a couple of weeks ago. A female voice answered, "Ashfield Chronicle, how may we help you?"
"I need to talk to Bill Materson."
"Who should I say is calling?"
"Dave Oliver."
"Hold on a minute sir."
There was a long moment of silence, and then Bill's gruff voice came over, "Davey boy! What the hell do you want?"
"That Silent Hill thing you gave me a couple of weeks ago."
"Oh! The cops cordoned off the area a few days ago. I couldn't get a hold of you to tell you."
"I've been on the road for a few days."
"Yeah. Maybe Toronto ain't exactly the place for you."
"I've been saying that for days now. Listen. I'm coming up there. You gonna be at work or home?"
"Home. The apartment complex across from the Chronicle."
"Okay, hold on," he covered the speaker with his hand, "How far from here is Ashfield?" he asked Gucci.
"'Bout half a day's drive. You can camp out here if you need to."
He uncovered the speaker, "What about tomorrow? I don't have any gas."
"Okay. I'll still be at home. See ya then."
"Bye Bill." he hung up the phone. David handed the phone back to Gucci.
"You can't go past the police line. I'll be back in the morning to pick you up."
"Thank you officer," David said in his sincerest voice, and then sat down in the driver's seat of his car. Gucci went back to his own and pulled out, driving away.
Fuck, thought David as he started to nod asleep.
DAVID―EVENING
Something jolted David awake.
For a moment, he thought he had been hit, but remembered he was at the barricade to Silent Hill. Something was wrong though…
The cop cars that were in front of him were gone now. Not only that, but David's own SUV lights were on when he remembered shutting the engine off. David got out of his SUV and walked forward a little. A handgun was on the ground in front of the SUV, the headlights were almost centering on it, "Okay, creepy as hell."
David picked the gun up and checked it for ammo like Cybil had taught him years ago. He'd had no formal training in way of guns, but Cybil had told him that some of the basic ways to ready one. He slid the clip of the weapon back in, pulling back the slide and chambering a bullet. He checked to see if the safety was off. It was.
One last look around and he ventured forward, towards the Silent Hill city limits. David kept the gun in a ready position, holding it with two hands and keeping it close to his right shoulder.
This is goddamn bullshit… he thought as he moved on.
There was a sign to his right as he walked forward. It read: SILENT HILL FAST ROAD TO HELL. Wait, that didn't seem right. Fast road to Hell? He took a more careful look at the sign. HILL FAST ROAD TO REDEMPTION. It hadn't said thata minute ago. ENT HILL SLOW ROAD TO FREEDOM, FAST ROAD TO DEATH.
"Wait a goddamn minute here…" David said to himself. The sign was changing every time he read it.
This ain't fuckin' natural… What the hell is going on here?
Whatever it was, cops had gone missing, somebody started his car without starting the engine, and it felt as if somebody was watching him everywhere he went since he had woken up.
David continued walking, coming to the rest stop that was just before the city limits. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary here, but after that sign thing, he wanted to be sure.
David walked inside the rest stop building, keeping the weapon pointed forward. As he stepped inside the Men's Room, he stopped, he could smell something lingering from the room. The smell was making him want to gag. He walked toward the stalls, opening the first one. Nothing was inside stall number one. He checked the next one, nothing. The third and final stall wouldn't open. David kicked at it. It opened after the third kick, and a strong smell flew out the stall at him. He had to hold his nose to keep from smell it, and he ran for the urinal closest to him to puke. After a few minutes, he took another look in stall three. Whatever made that horrid shit-smell was nowhere to be seen, and stall three was the cleanest in the room. Holy shit… I puke because it's normal.Figured. He'd somehow become used to the strangeness of the place in less than fifteen minutes.
He didn't bother to check the Women's Room, in the off chance that somebody would find him (though the honest to God chances of thatwere slim to none). He left the rest stop building. Outside something had changed. A blue car was sitting in the parking space nearest the rest stop building. David hadn't heard any car nor had anyone come into the rest stop building. Maybe he just hadn't noticed it when he arrived a few minutes ago, but he was sure that the parking spots were all empty when he got there… He checked the car. No keys, but there was a map of Silent Hill in the passenger seat. He took it, folded it, and put it in his back left jeans pocket. He checked in the glove compartment, nothing but a flashlight. He grabbed the flashlight, chances were that Silent Hill had been devoid of power for the last forty or fifty years.
David spotted a small set of wooden stairs about twenty feet away. He walked toward them, again keeping the gun ready near his shoulder. He walked down the stairs and into the forest just outside of town. He was in the city limits now. He walked forward, nearing a small graveyard. Next to the graveyard was a house or a church, and a small man made pond. David looked at several of the gravestones.
RICHARD BACHMAN-DAVID SLOGGAN-HARRY MORRIS-MARY SUNDERLAND
Not many of those names sounded familiar. David continued on, walking through the other gate and into another part of the woods. He heard a loud noise up ahead, growing in loudness as he got closer and closer. When he got to where it seem the sound originated from, it stopped.
Creepy as hell…
The body of a man was on the ground in front of him. From the looks of it, the guy had been chewed on or something. That weird noise was still coming from somewhere around the corpse. David kneeled down next to the corpse, checking the wounds.
Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Had David heard the massive foot steps, he wouldn't have cared. It was the scraping noise that scared the hell out of him. David looked up at―
―at the large person walking toward him, dragging a great big knife.
He, at least it looked like a he, was at least seven feet tall, muscular, and looked to be covered in blood. He was wearing a butcher's apron, it looked like, and had on his head a helmet that was pyramid shaped in design and looked as painful to wear as it would have been for David to lift. The guy had some kind of twisted familiarity to him, as if David had seen him before and in a similar setting, but David had never been in a place so foggy and dark that this couldn't be more false.
The red pyramid headed guy took his knife by both hands and lifted it, swinging it over his head and onto the corpse in front of David. The knife cut the corpse from the right shoulder down to the waist, neatly bisecting it. Oh shit, David thought as he fell backwards in both shock and reflex. Pyramid Head's knife was stuck to the ground, and the corpse. Pyramid Head struggled in lifting it up, which he did. He swung it down again and David scrambled backwards, trying to get away from the big butcher.
The gun! shouted something in the back of David's mind, but that didn't resonate very well against his survival instincts, which told him to get the hell away from this guy. David scrambled up, running at the same time. He ran back to the cemetery house.
"What the hell…" he gasped, out of breath. A big gate was stopping him from entering the cemetery grounds. It was different from the gate that was there about twenty minutes ago. It was fifty feet high, looked to be covered in flesh.
"Shit…" Pyramid Head was almost close to him. David looked hurriedly back and forth, the scraping coming closer and closer by the second. Think goddamn it, think!
Seconds passed. Nothing. The scraping grew distant, Pyramid Head was gone. David gasped for breath every second or two.
"Fuck…" Whatever the hell was going on in Silent Hill had just drug him into it; and though his common sense told him to leave, he didn't want to. Something weirder than a Stephen King novel was happening here, and he wanted to be the first reporter to know the whole story.
ELIZABETH―EVENING
Elizabeth Johnston knew the streets of Silent Hill like the back of her hand. Unfortunately, that didn't include when some strange-ass creature was bearing down on her.
It was big, probably seven-foot-three or something. And it was weird looking. It had a face that looked like some kind of insect/dog hybrid. It had six arms, three on each side. It was also chasing Elizabeth.
Elizabeth ran down Katz and took the corner onto Lindsey. She couldn't see past the fog, which limited her vision to about a half foot. She tripped on a manhole cover that was partially open. The creature was almost on her. She pulled the pepper spray out of her pocket and waited for it to chomp on her. She was scared for her life.
Nothing happened.
Elizabeth looked back.
There was nothing there.
She looked around at the fog-drenched city she was standing in. She didn't know what the hell had happened to Silent Hill, but whatever it was was creeping the hell out of her.
Elizabeth and her family had migrated to Toluca County when she was three, so this was the only place she ever remembered living in. They lived in Brahms, not twenty minutes walk from Silent Hill. When she was five, she and her friend Billy snuck into the town by hopping a disregarded barricade. They looked around Silent Hill for what must have been hours before the cops found them.
Of course, she and Billy didn't exactly want to talk much when the cops did find them.
Ten or so minutes before the cops found them, some guy wandered into the town and told them to follow him. Elizabeth and Billy weren't exactly stupid and didn't talk to the guy, but they followed him, keeping a few feet behind. The guy seemed really weird. First, he started talking about how he could see monsters, which Elizabeth and Billy couldn't see. Then he pulled out a knife and started to swing it at nothing but the air. Billy and Elizabeth obviously stepped back even farther after that. Then the guy found one of those mine shafts that was abandoned after the Civil War. He jumped down inside of it.
Seemed that he was right about the monsters.
"No!" Elizabeth muttered to herself, "I don't wanna think about that now. Right now, I gotta find a way outta this place."
Elizabeth walked toward a house that was thirty or so feet in front of her. She walked up to the window and looked inside. Nothing. Nobody.
"Excuse me, miss," the guy's voice scared the living hell out of her, she almost jumped out of her skin, which now seemed possible in Silent Hill given the thing that was just chasing her.
Elizabeth turned around and saw a guy who looked to be in his mid-to-late-thirties standing behind her. He was wearing a Colts sweater and blue jeans. He had a Jack Daniels Beer hat turned backwards on his head. He had a moustache, partial beard, and creeped the hell out of her.
"Sorry," she said, trying not to sound scared, "were you talking to me?" that was a dumb question to ask, there were no other people, let alone teenage girls, around them.
"Yes, I was. Do you happen to know where I can find a Heather Coleman?"
"No, never heard of her."
"Dammit. Thanks," the guy just wandered off. Oblivious to the fog around him.
Creepy, she thought, I get chased by some fucking insect/dog and he asks me if I've seen someone.
Elizabeth sat down on the porch to the house. She hugged her legs to her chest and just sat there. It was colder than the depths of Hell (Elizabeth didn't quite understand that sentiment, because people usually associated firewith Hell, and fire was hot).
Before today, Elizabeth probably wouldn't have thought something like this could have happened, or even existed. She was sitting down at her desk in Richmond High School in Brahms. She was thinking about calling Billy, who had just recently been admitted to the mental institute in Ashfield after having strange delusions. Kristen, one of the girls she absolutely loathed because of her impulsively preppy attitude, had walked up to her and asked her to do something.
Sounded easy enough. Elizabeth had stayed there plenty of times before when she wanted to get away from the continuing feud of her parents and paycheck money. But when she got to Silent Hill, several things went wrong. One, the cops had barricaded off every entrance into town, meaning that she'd have to hop a fence that wasn'ton the Toluca Lake side of town. Two, the cops were continually checkingthe fences that weren't on the Toluca Lake side of town, so she had to hop one when they weren't looking. And last but, oh so not least, some weird-ass fog had settled over the town that apparently couldn't be seen from outside the city limits. Now, had the fog been on the interior of the town, Elizabeth could understand not seeing it. But it had started fucking with her vision the second she got down from the fence that she hopped to get into town.
Back to the present, Elizabeth stood up again. At some point the goose bumps on her arms had gone away, so she wasn't cold anymore. Not that the cold bothered her, but there was something about this cold. It hit her almost immediately after the fog hit her when she jumped the fence.
"When I get out of here, the secondthat Kristen calls me "John-Girl", I'm gonna punch her."
DAVID―EVENING
David sat down on a bench the second he found one. Pyramid Head was gone with absolutely notraces of even existing. Whatever Pyramid Head was, he had a goddamn triangular helmet on, would it be that easy for him to disappear? Apparently.
David smacked himself with the handgrip of the gun a few times. He couldn't believe what he had seen back there. Pyramid Head, the flesh-gate, the Sign-That-Wouldn't-Stop-Changing, the missing cops.
Speaking of missing cops…
What the hell happened to Cybil? Something here, in Silent Hill? Hell, maybe it was just some normal punk with a gun or with a Molotov Cocktail or something, it didn't haveto be something in Silent Hill.
David stood up. He squinted to look at the street sign not four feet away. It said Lindsey street. He started toward it and turned onto the street. He didn't go about ten feet before he collided with a teenaged girl. They both fell in opposite directions, like something you'd see on a damn sitcom when people run into each other. David instinctively stood up and offered her a hand.
"You okay?" he asked.
"Other than being literally hit on by somebody, yeah," she said as she took his hand and stood up.
"I'm Dave, who are you?"
"Elizabeth. Or, my incredibly hated nickname is "John-Girl", but I suggest you don't call me that."
"Okay. Fair enough. What are you doing here?"
"Pissing off a classmate. You?"
"Looking for somebody."
"You a cop?"
"No, I'm a reporter. From Canada."
"Canada? I knew the local news guys were pussies, but I didn't think they'd bring in somebody from Canada. People around here hate Canadians as much as they do the French."
That kind of hit him close to home. But then he remembered that whenever somebody had to place blame on something, they chose Canada or France.
"Funny," he said, "Canadians usually blame the Americans."
On that, she laughed. This Elizabeth girl seemed like somebody who was easily humored.
They started walking down Lindsey, the way Elizabeth was going in the first place.
"So, pissing off a classmate. That something that teenage girls do often?"
"Only me."
"Why?"
"Because I'm usually the odd person out."
"Sad."
"Why's that?"
"Because, you seem like a normal girl."
"That's because I am a normal girl. I think, I don't know, does wearing skirts or ass-loads of make-up make somebody a normal girl? Because if so, then I'm not a normal girl."
"Oh."
"Do you have a daughter?"
"Never been married. At least to a person, anyway. People say I'm married to my work."
"Everybody says that to people over thirty."
"You mean, everybody your age?"
"To me, that's usually everybody. So, who's the missing person?"
"Bob Johnston."
She stopped after that. David stopped to. She had a look of concern on her face.
"What's the matter?" he asked.
"Bob Johnston is my dad."
That made the "John-Girl" nickname clear, but wouldn't she know if her own father was missing? How long had she been in Silent Hill?
"How long has he been missing?" she asked.
"My friend at the Ashfield Chronicle called me up about it a couple of weeks ago, then I hit the road to come here."
"But, I saw him before I went to school today. He was fine, at home, in Brahms."
That didn't make any sense.
"Could it have been another Bob Johnston?"
"No. My family is the only one with the name 'Johnston' in Toluca County."
"Maybe an out-of-towner?"
David himself knew thatcouldn't be it. Out-of-towners usually went unidentified, and usually were never reported missing.
"I don't know. Maybe I should give my house a call."
She pulled a cell phone out of her pants pocket and dialed her home number. Seconds later, Elizabeth pulled the phone away from her ear and looked at the display. Something was wrong.
"What is it?"
"No signal. Just this strange noise."
It was then that David had heard the shuffling of feet not five feet away from where they were standing. The problem, it was coming from all directions. Elizabeth must have heard it too, because she put her phone down and was looking from side to side, just like he was. David pulled the gun out from his belt where he stuck it earlier. Elizabeth must have been surprised to see it, she looked at it in shock. David brought the gun up to his shoulder in a readying position. The static that was coming from Elizabeth's phone had gotten loud enough that David could hear it.
Then the creature came into view.
It was Elizabeth's height, maybe an inch taller. Its head, if one could call it that, was shaking violently from side to side, and looked like a small stub. It had one arm, but that one arm was as long as two of them stuck together end to end. Its height was actually closer to David's own, now that he could see it clearly, the creature was hunched over. Its arm was dragging behind it. It opened its "mouth" if one could call it that, as it was about an inch wide, and let out an earsplitting scream that made David and Elizabeth cover their ears.
David let go of his head and started to shoot at it. He put bullets into its chest, each opening a hole that started to close about as soon as it opened. Oh shit, he thought as the creature let out another of its screams. He kept firing the gun at it until the clip went empty.
Oh fuck.
"Time to run," he said, grabbing Elizabeth's hand and pulling her along with him.
ELIZABETH―EVENING
"Okay, okay, stop…" Elizabeth said, out of breath from running so damn much. She fell to her knees kept puffing out breaths every second or so. David also tried catching his breath.
"You don't have anymore bullets for that thing?"
"No."
"Damn."
Elizabeth tried to stand up, but she just fell back down again.
Damn it, she thought, I decide to let some stupid bitch get to me with a stupid ass nickname, and I get caught in Shop of Horrors with a Canadian guy.
Well, she didn't know if he was Canadian, but it pretty much seemed so. And, as for the stupid bitch, Elizabeth was definitely gonna punch Kristen whether she called her "John-Girl" or not.
That was kind of funny. In movies, all the time, you see girls getting along with other girls and afraid to talk to boys. Elizabeth was just the opposite-she could talk to anyguy, but girls pretty much made her sick.
"You okay?" David asked her.
"Yeah."
She had caught her breath, and stood up. She remembered the house that the mustached guy found her at. They weren't that far from it.
"C'mon. There's a house a little bit away from here."
"You sure?" he asked.
"I know Silent Hill like I know my own house. It's just right over there," she pointed at it.
For the hundredth time since she got into town, she was pissed at herself for not bringing a sweater or a jacket. Just wearing blue jeans and a "Don't F*** With Me" T-Shirt (it was censored because her parents wouldn't let her buy the one that actually said 'Fuck') was kind of stupid. But she hadn't known that it would be this cold in town.
She started walking toward the house, David followed her.
The door to the house was unlocked, which seemed kind of strange. As they walked in, Elizabeth noticed something strange about the house. It seemed like it had been used recently, but that no human had used it. There were claw marks on the sofa that took up the wall of the room opposite the door. Next to that were stairs. There was a large hole in the wall of the kitchen.
"What happened here?" David asked as he walked past her.
"I don't know. When I looked inside here earlier, it didn't look like this."
"Well, we'll hole up here for a little while. There's bound to be some stuff we can use."
"Right."
Elizabeth started upstairs, feeling a little bit like a kid going into a haunted house.
This place is a haunted house, dumbass.That thought entered and exited her brain quickly.
There were three bedrooms upstairs. One looked to be for a seven year old boy, another for a pair of parents, and the last for a teenaged boy. Looking at the teenaged boy's room, it reminded her of her own.
"Wow, creepy."
Elizabeth had a little sister, but the little boy's room didn't look anything like it. And the parent's room didn't look like her parent's room. Why did this room look like hers?
Oh, well, might as well look for some clothes that fit me.
Now that a thought.
She started to dig through the dresser. She found a pair of pants that looked like they'd fit her, so she tried them on. Then she found a T-shirt that wasn't in sweat, like her own, and put it on. She took a look at herself in the mirror.
"Wow, I wonder if the guy that lived here looked like me."
"Elizabeth!" David called after her.
"Right," she said, then she yelled down at David, "be right down!"
Elizabeth walked over to the closet and opened it. Inside she found something she didn't expect, even from a teenaged boy.
A shotgun.
She, slowly, grabbed a jacket and put it on. Then she grabbed the shotgun. It was heavy, but she'd never held a gun before, so that was expected. Next to where it was was a box of shotgun shells. She picked them up and put them in the jacket pocket.
Well, I've got something to give to David. She was relieved at that.
"What took you so long?" David asked as she came down the stairs.
"Found somethin' for ya'!" Elizabeth practically shouted when she hit the last step.
When David took the shotgun, he looked like he'd found God or something. She pulled the shells out of the jacket pocket and handed them to him.
"Where'd you find this?"
"In a closet."
"Damn… C'mon, I found something on the table there," he pulled out a piece of paper.
"What?"
"We need to go to this hospital. It's called Brookhaven."
"I know where that is. We need to go west from here to get there."
David handed her the piece of paper. She read it.
Of course, if I hadn't told him about it, he would never have gone there. Please, help Stanley, Doctor Truman. Brookhaven is the best medical facility in all of Silent Hill. Please Doctor Truman, help our son.
That was it.
"Wow."
"Maybe this Stanley guy will know something. C'mon."
Elizabeth folded up the piece of paper and put it in the jacket pocket.
Was Stanley the little boy, or the teenaged boy? She wondered.
Whatever Stanley had done, she might be wearing his clothes.
STANLEY―EVENING
Stanley Coleman sat on a bench in Rosewater Park. He looked at the body lying in front of him.
It was the right thing to do…
Heather wasn't worthy of the happiness he found. But, she was his wife, she was the one he loved. No! She wasn't worth it. She was a whore, just like everyone else. Like his mother, his aunt, and everyone else.
"Why can't I decide?"
He took off his hat and threw it to the ground. He took another look at his wife's body. The knife in her torso was sticking straight up. He had used it to cut her across the most magnificent places. Across the breasts. Beside, under, and back around her vagina. Every place that he could have given her pleasure was desecrated and dismembered.
Of course, he had given her pleasure, even after killing her.
Stanley stood up, picking up his hat and walking off, leaving the corpse of his wife in the park. He started walking down Nathan Avenue. When he got to Pete's Bowl 'o' Rama, he looked down the street. He knew what was down there. First was a strip club called Heaven's Night, then there was Brookhaven.
Brookhaven, where he'd spent most of his teenage years.
Brookhaven, where he'd met Heather.
Brookhaven, where they told him he was insane for killing his little brother.
Brookhaven, where he found true happiness for the first time, killing Director Adams.
Brookhaven, where his wife told him he was insane.
Brookhaven, where he got the knife that he used to kill Heather.
He started walking toward it. It was calling him.
He remembered when he was admitted, all those years ago. He was put in a room, next to a little girl named Alessa. When the nurse, Heather, came to see him for the first time, he asked for clay. He made Heather a doll, she loved it. He made another for Alessa. Then, he made a doll for every nurse in the hospital. Director Adams had come into his room one day, and asked him why he made those dolls.
STANLEY'S MEMORY
"You know why you're here, are you looking for redemption by making them?"
"Redemption? Why would I want that? I like making dolls."
"But you murdered your brother."
"Murder? Is that what it's called when you try to relieve someone of pain?"
"You gave him pain, you know that?"
"What do you mean? He hated living, he'd said so himself. I just helped him go beyond, helped him get away from his pain."
"You separated every part of him. You took out his bones. I don't get how he was still alive when you took out his heart."
"I was helping him," I said, taking the sculpting knife in hand, "he wanted to get away from it all. Why doesn't anyone understand that?"
Director Adams took a step toward me. I pulled the knife to my side. I stood up.
"Why don't you people understand that?!" I dug the knife into Director Adams. He grasped my shoulder. I pulled the knife out of him, and stuck it into his chest. I didn't blink when I cut his eyes from his skull. I didn't feel it when they used tasers on me. I didn't know what was happening to my physical body, but I could feel my pain going away each and every time I put that knife into Director Adams. I could feel happiness. Alessa was standing there, watching. She knew what it felt like. She knew how happy I was.
STANLEY―EVENING
He snapped out of his memory. He had walked to Brookhaven and stopped in front of it. Of course. The damned place won't let him go. He walked inside of it, stopping right after the door closed behind him.
I don't have to stay here longer. Do I?
He didn't know. All he knew was that there was something left for him in this building, maybe something important, something related to Heather, but, he had just killed Heather. Didn't he? He certainly remembered killing Heather. He stuck his knife into her, the same knife he used years before to kill Director Adams. But why did he think that something relating to Heather was here, when he would have found it with her earlier, when she was with him.
But, if he had back here with Heather, why was he here again? And did he really kill Heather? He seemed to think that he had, but why would he do that? He loved Heather, or did he?
Stanley grabbed his head and sat down on his knees.
What the hell is happening to me? Did I or didn't I kill Heather?
Why don't you come ask me?
Who was this voice in his head?
It's me, Stanley.
Who?
Me, Stanley. Alessa.
What? Alessa? But she died. But she was in his head. But she was dead.
No, Stanley. I'm alive, inside of you. I loved you, Stanley, but you had feelings for Heather.
"You killed Heather?"
No, Stanley. You did. For me. She didn't love you, Stanley. I did. She wanted to leave you at Brookhaven. She hated you.
"But I loved her, she said she did too."
No, Stanley. She hated you. You're letting your insanity take over your brain. Let me help you, Stanley, let me help you like you did your brother.
"My brother? Stephen?"
Yes. You and I are the only ones that know you were helping him.
"But how could you know that?"
I've known that, Stanley. I've been with you for a long time. I've loved you for a long time. You don't have to tell me anything, Stanley. I know everything you've done to help mankind. Everything you've done to help the ones you love. You've done so much to help your family. Like when you helped your parents.
"My parents?" he couldn't really remember doing anything to help them.
Find me, Stanley. You know where I am.
"Room S4?"
Yes, Stanley. I'm there. Come to me, Stanley. Please.
"Yes, Alessa. I'll come to you."
He got up and walked to the stairs. S4 was on the third floor. He walked up the stairs, not stopping at all.
He got to the third floor.
He opened the door. In front of him, there was the door to the Mental Wing. He opened the door.
But it didn't follow suit.
Why?
"Open dammit!"
The door still didn't open.
Then he remembered, the door was code-locked.
What's wrong, Stanley?
"The door is locked, Alessa. I don't know the code."
Why would they lock me in here?
"They locked the door to the entire wing, I can't go to any of the rooms."
Hurry, Stanley. I need to get out of this room.
"I'll get you out of there, don't worry, Alessa."
He turned around and started back down the stairs. He would get Alessa out of that room, if it was the last thing he did.
ELIZABETH―TWELVE YEARS AGO
"C'mon, Lizzy!" Billy shouted out to her, "You're not scared, are ya?"
"No."
Elizabeth ran after Billy. She didn't want to be left behind. Billy stopped at a barricade.
"What'sa matter?" she asked.
"Nothin', just lookin' for cops."
Billy started to climb up the barricade. He stopped after he landed on the ground.
"Hurry up, Lizzy!"
"Keep your pants on!"
Elizabeth started to climb up the barricade. When she got to the other side, Billy started to run into the town.
God, can't he wait? I'm not a darn track runner like he is.
Well, Billy wasn't reallya track runner, but he probably would be one when he gets older. Right now, they were just starting kindergarten.
Silent Hill had a whole bunch of scary stories. People said there were ghosts, monsters, demons, even evil clowns. Apparently, people had read too many horror books.
Now, Billy and Elizabeth were going to Silent Hill to see if this was all true. Now, if it all wastrue, this would probably be the end of Elizabeth Johnston and Billy Harrison.
"Lizzy! Come here!"
Elizabeth ran to where Billy was, and saw what she didn't think could happen in any other town in the world―
―it was completely normal.
"Wow, Billy. There's nobody here."
"Yeah. Wonder where everybody went."
"There was a witch burning here about twenty years ago."
"But how could everybody die?"
"The fire got out of control?"
Billy continued forward, into Silent Hill.
ELIZABETH―THAT MORNING
Wonder how Billy's doing… Elizabeth thought.
She sat up from her desk and walked over to the chalkboard.
"Mrs. Wolff is probably gonna kick my ass for drawing on the chalkboard, but I don't care."
After about five minutes, the picture on the chalkboard was about as big as the chalkboard. Something was strange about it. It looked kind of insectoid, had a partial dog head, and had like, six arms.
What the hell is this thing?
She erased it and started back for her desk.
Billy Harrison, her childhood friend, had just been admitted to a psychiatric hospital in Ashfield, which was neighboring Silent Hill. Brahms was closer, but had no psychiatric hospital, and Silent Hill was off limits to anybody, even the cops wouldn't go in there. Unless somebody kidnapped somebody and took them into Silent Hill.
Billy had called her just the other day. He sounded weird.
"Liz, I need your help…"
"Billy? What happened to you? What do you need?"
"I need to get back to Silent Hill. Something strange is going on, I need to get there!"
"Whoa… Billy, calm down, okay. Lizzy's here. What happened? Why do you need to go back to Silent Hill?"
"Something is there, Liz, I need to go back there, I have to go back!"
"Billy, calm down, please? Calm down for Liz, okay?"
"Sorry, I just need a minute. I'm okay, really. But I have to go back to Silent Hill. My parents won't let me out of the house, I couldn't even go to school today."
"Well, maybe you should just stay inside. Get some sleep, okay Billy?"
"I can't sleep. Every time I try, I have strange nightmares about creatures that are seven feet tall. One of them had six arms, one had a huge sword or knife or something. Liz, I think Silent Hill did this to me."
"Have you been there recently?"
"No, not since we went there together years ago. What about you? Have you been there recently? Have you been having dreams?"
"I went there a few weeks ago, to get away from my parents arguing, but I didn't go into the town itself. And I don't think I've had any weird dreams about monsters or anything. Billy, how 'bout you ask your parents if you can come over to my place? We'll just stay up all night and watch zombie movies, like we used to."
"My mom won't let me leave. My dad won't even talk to me. And I don't think I could watch a zombie movie without thinking about those things in my nightmares. Could you try to come over here? My parents will let me see people, they just won't let me leave."
"I'll try. Bye, Billy. I'll try coming over tomorrow."
"Thank you, Liz. Bye."
She did go to Billy's house, but nobody was there, not even Billy.
She looked up at the chalkboard. The drawing came back. That was weird. She was sure she erased it. Did she? Elizabeth took a long look at it.
Six arms. Just like Billy's nightmare thing.
She was sure that it didn't have a big sword or knife, but it did have six arms. Was whatever happened to Billy, happening to her? What didhappen to Billy? What had Silent Hill done to him?
"Hey, John-Girl."
Elizabeth looked up and saw Kristen Navarro standing in the doorway. Kristen was a typical movie blonde. Short skirt, lots of make-up, trying to show a small hint her breasts off to every guy she thinks is hot. She made Elizabeth sick. And she kept calling her "John-Girl", just because her last name was Johnston.
"What, Kristen? Here to bitch at me because I don't act like you and your prissy friends?"
"Well, now that you mention it, maybe I will. But I did want to tell you that my "prissy" friends and I found out that you've been to Silent Hill."
"What of it? I was five."
"We alsoheard that there are ghosts in Silent Hill."
"There aren't any ghosts in Silent Hill."
"Oh yeah? Is that why your boyfriend Billy is in a nut house?"
Elizabeth went defensive on that.
"Don't talk about Billy like that! I don't know what's wrong with him, but don't about him like that!"
"Oooooh! So you care about the nut job."
Elizabeth was ready to punch Kristen.
"Billy's been my friend for as long as I can remember, so stop talking about him like that. I don't care if you call him my boyfriend, but stop talking about him like he's nuts, okay, Kristen?"
"Fine, John-Girl, but I'll tell ya what. Go spend a day at Silent Hill and bring back proofthat there aren't any ghosts, and I'll stop talking about how your boyfriend Billy is nuts. Not like it matters though, everybody in school knows he's crazy."
Suddenly, it felt like a big hand was crushing Elizabeth. Everybodyin the school knows that Billy's in a mental building? God, could this week get weirder?
"Okay, Kristen. I'll do it. I'll go to Silent Hill tonight, right after school. But I want you to keep your word. When I come back, you need to shut the fuck up about Billy, got that?"
"Fine. But I think you should change that whenyou come back to ifyou come back."
Elizabeth spent the rest of the day hearing people try to whisper things about Billy. She heard it all from "That's the girl who likes the nutcase!" "She's dating a nut? Wow, guess you just don't know people, huh? I would have figured her for a normal girl."It got tiresome, but that was just what everygirl did when they heard a piece of gossip. Well, every girl except Elizabeth.
Every girl on Earth should be shown what it's like to have a friend in a nut house, then maybe they'll shut up about me and Billy.
Maybe.
BILLY―AROUND MIDNIGHT
Billy Harrison was bored.
He sat in his nicely padded room, in his nicely tight straight jacket. All because people thought he was insane.
Damn them all. Damn all of them. Damn my parents. Damn the doctors. Damn Lizzy―. No, don't damn Lizzy.
Lizzy was the only one that actually wanted to help Billy.
"William."
The voice came from the door. He stood up. It was Doctor Muldoon.
"What do you want?"
"I'd like to talk to you, William."
"I don't want to talk. Especially not to you."
"I'm coming in, William. Please, talk with me."
The door opened. Muldoon walked in. Billy sat back down on the nicely padded floor. Muldoon sat down in front of him.
"How are you, William?"
"As good as anybody who was accused of being insane can be. We've talked for two days straight, you knowI'm not insane. Let me out of here. Lizzy probably thinks I'm dead now."
"Lizzy… You've mentioned her before. Who is she?"
Billy found himself drawn into talking with Muldoon.
"She's my friend. She's the only person who wanted to help me after I started having these nightmares."
"That's not true. I wanted to help you. Your parents wanted to help you."
"My parents locked me in my bedroom. And all you'vedone is lock me in here and pretend to actually give a shit what I do and don't say. Lizzy is the only one who wanted to help me, and I miss her."
"We could arrange for her to visit you. What is her full name?"
"Elizabeth Kara Johnston. Just like it says on my list of contacts that my parents gave you."
"We'll call her up now," he retrieved a cell phone from his pocket. He flipped over a few papers on his clipboard and started scanning for Lizzy's phone number. He dialed it, "Hello, Mrs. Johnston? My name is Herman Muldoon, I'm a psychiatrist. No, no, I'm not calling to ask if your daughter is crazy. I would like to ask if your daughter could come here, to Ashfield, to see William Harrison. Which daughter? Oh, yes, Elizabeth. Oh, really? I'm sorry. Thank you," he put the phone back in his pocket.
"Well? Is she coming?"
"Elizabeth hasn't come home from school yet. No one has seen her since this morning."
"What? What could have happened?!" Billy stood up, Muldoon waved his hands in a sit down motion.
"Please, William, sit down."
"I don't want to sit down! I want to know what the hell happened to Lizzy!" Muldoon stood up, he put his hands on Billy's shoulders.
"Please, William, calm down. I'm sure she'll be back tomorrow, and we'll try again. All right?"
Billy knew where she was. He could feel it. Silent Hill.
"You need to let me out of this place, now."
"William, you know we can't do that."
"No, dammit! I know where she is! She's in Silent Hill! Whatever is happening to me must have started happening to her…you have to let me go there, now!"
"William, no one is in Silent Hill. It has been barricaded off and no one could get in."
"It was barricaded twelve years ago and we still got in then, I need to go there! Whatever is happening to us can be solved there!"
"William, I can't let you go."
Billy noticed the door was still open. He formulated a plan.
"Then get the fuck out of my way."
Billy head butted Muldoon. He ran. People got out of his way. Suddenly, arms grabbed him, just in front of the door. Dammit!
"Let me go!" the arms wouldn't let go.
"Let me go, dammit!"
"Son, I'm not letting you go until you calm down."
He did. He looked at the man who was holding him.
"You Billy Harrison?"
"Yeah, and I need to go to―"
"Silent Hill."
Billy was shocked that the man knew where he needed to go.
"I'm officer Tom Gucci. I'm investigating a series of missing persons cases in the county and Elizabeth Johnston and her father have been reported missing."
"What?"
"Elizabeth was reported missing this morning and her father was reported missing about two weeks ago."
"But, her dad answered the phone when I called two days ago. Please, let me help you find them."
"I'm willing to do that. I need somebody who knows Silent Hill and you are the only one who isn'ta missing person that does. I'm gonna have somebody let you out of that jacket and we can leave right away."
"Thank you."
One of the attendees walked over to Billy. At first, he had taken a slightly defensive position, then let the attendee take the straight jacket off of him. It felt good to be out of that goddamn thing.
"Okay, Billy, can I call you Billy?"
"Yeah."
"Where is the first place that Elizabeth would go in Silent Hill?"
"Brookhaven. We spent a lot of time in Brookhaven."
"All right. Let's go."
Gucci led Billy out to his car. The moon was brighter than he remembered, but he hadn't left that hospital for two days.
Lizzy, I hope you're okay. I hope those nightmares didn't get the better of you, like they did me.
Maybe he was crazy, but right now, he needed to help Lizzy.
DAVID―AROUND MIDNIGHT
Elizabeth was sick.
David held her in his arms while he looked for a notfilth covered room in Brookhaven hospital. She had started to walk funny, and then just fell down. David checked her forehead, she had a fever like none he had ever seen.
Teenagers. They don't give a damn about the adults they scare when they get sick.
She had been telling him about when she was here twelve years ago, with her friend Billy. David remembered reading a local newspaper when he stopped for a bite to eat in Brahms yesterday about a teenaged boy named William Harrison who had been admitted to Ashfield Psychiatric Retreat, just near the Hope House on the outskirts of Ashfield. A second Hope House was on the outskirts of Silent Hill, but David didn't have any intentions of going there.
"Finally, damn," he had found a room, labeled S4 on the third floor. It looked like a little girl's bedroom, which would probably suit Elizabeth just fine. He set her down on the bed and sat down in a chair next to her.
For a few minutes, Elizabeth just laid there, looking like a sleeping baby. She finally woke up. She opened her eyes slowly, as if she didn't want to come out of her twenty minute coma. She slowly sat up.
"What happened?"
"You fell down. I carried you up three stories and put you in this bed."
"Thanks. I guess this place just kinda got to me."
David rigged the shotgun to a belt that he found in the house and had it slung over his shoulder. He pulled it off and set it down.
"I'm sorry if I scared you."
"Naw, it's okay. I just didn't think a small kid like you'd be so damn heavy."
Elizabeth started to laugh. When she stopped, she looked around the room.
"Creepy."
"What?"
"Somebody must have moved in here in the last twelve years, this stuff wasn't in anyroom of this place."
"Wow."
She started to stand up, but David stopped her.
You just fell down and now you want to get up and walk around? Jesus, the girl's nuts.
"You should stay here. I'll look around the hospital for any signs of anybody being here recently, okay?"
"Yeah. Fine. I'll stay here and be a good girl. Just don't leave me here if you find anything you wanna check out. And if you find anything on my dad, even though I knowwhere he is, tell me."
"Yes ma'am."
David stood up and left. He closed the door and started walking back toward the stairs to go back to the first floor.
"Ahh!"
David turned around at the noise. Could something have gotten Elizabeth? No. There weren't any monsters in here that he could see, and he spent twenty minutes looking through every room in the building to find one to put her in. But then he heard a shuffling noise, like somebody dragging one of their feet. Or both of their feet.
He checked the handgun again, making sure the bullets he found were in it, and aimed it back towards room S4. Out of the darkness of the hallway, he saw a woman walking towards him.
Hope she's okay.
He lowered the gun and walked toward her. She was carrying something in her right hand.
Another person in this city that's completely devoid of any kind of life other than monsters?
Why did it seem hard to believe?
The woman reinforced that feeling. She started smacking at him with the pipe that she had in her right hand. David looked at her face―
―If you could call it a face. It was covered in bandages, which made David wonder how she could see him. Then he heard another one. Coming from behind him. The one in front of him was dressed like a nurse, and it-not she-wouldn't stop hitting him with that goddamn pipe. After a few swings, it knocked David to the ground. He kicked at its legs and then pointed the handgun at it. He fired at its head.
The first three bullets didn't do anything.
He fired at the neck.
It went down.
David stood up and aimed at the second one. But noticed that not only was there a second Nurse, but also a third, and a fourth, and a fifth, and even a sixth.
"Oh, shit."
He took aim and fired at them.
ELIZABETH―AROUND MIDNIGHT
Elizabeth almost jumped out of the bed when she first heard the shots. David?Was he okay? She considered peeking out the door, but if he was shooting at a monster, she didn't want to distract him. And if he was shooting at another person, she didn't want to become the next victim.
After five or so minutes, the shots stopped. David shouted at her through the door.
"Elizabeth?"
"I'm here. You okay?"
"Yeah. Stay in there."
"Okay."
Thank God. He was safe.
I don't think God is the one you should be thanking. What the hell? Where did that come from?
Hello? Echo? Luke, I am your father?
I'm not as stupid as your inner monologue, Elizabeth.
Who the hell are you and what the hell are you doing in my head?
I'm sure you remember me, don't you, Elizabeth?
Well, I don't know. Are you my dad? My mom? My little sister? My aunt Hilga? Who the hell are you?
It's me, Elizabeth. It's Alessa.
Alessa?
Elizabeth remembered that name. When she and Billy had checked out Silent Hill when they were kids, Alessa was the name of a little girl they had met there. She was about the same age. She could remember when they met her, outside of the Lake Side Amusement Park.
ELIZABETH'S MEMORY
I walked over to the little girl in front of me.
"Who are you?"
"I'm Alessa."
"I'm Elizabeth, but you can call me Lizzy. This is my friend Billy."
"Hi."
"Where are you two from?"
"Well, I'm from Brahms, and Lizzy moved to Brahms from Portland a couple of years ago. Where are you from?"
"Here. I was born in the hospital on this side of town, Alchemillia."
"What are you doing here? And where's your parents?"
"I come here all the time. And I don't know where my parents are."
"That's sad, right, Billy?"
"Yeah."
She was kind of scared of us, I didn't understand why, and I still don't.
ELIZABETH―AROUND MIDNIGHT
I was scared of making friends, Elizabeth.
Why?
I tried making friends once, but my parents locked me in Brookhaven. In room S4. Twenty years ago.
What? But, you were five when Billy and I met you.
No, Elizabeth. I don't know how old I am, or even where I am right now. What you're hearing in your head is just your memory of me.
Do you have anything to do with what's happening to Billy?
I'm sorry that it is happening to him. My influence was never meant to leave Silent Hill.
Why? What do you want from people?
I want friends. And I want Stanley to come back to me.
Stanley? The boy that lived in the house on Lindsey?
Stanley is not a boy anymore. He's a man. And I'm not the little five year old that you and Billy met twelve years ago.
So what, you're a teenager like me?
No. I'm something more.
Elizabeth woke up from what seemed to be a dream. She sat up. The room looked different somehow. There was more red, well, more like the room was coveredin red. Like somebody had bled all over the walls and it dried up quickly. Then there was the smell.
The place smelled like a dead body.
Elizabeth stood up an walked to the door. She grabbed the door handle, to which it didn't feel like.
It felt like a human heart. And it was beating.
Her hand suddenly jolted away from the door handle/heart. What the hell?She reached for it again, still feeling the beating heart. She tried to imagine that it was a normal door handle and turned it. She opened the door. She walked out of the room and into the hallway. The hallway had changed as well. Changed from a normal hallway to one that looked like it was made out of intestines or blood veins.
"Holy shit."
Brookhaven had changed into something else. It was still shaped like Brookhaven, but didn't look remotely anything like it.
"That's it. When I get out of here, I'm gonna join Billy in that nut house."
BILLY―BETWEEN TWLEVE-THIRTY AND ONE
Billy woke up from his sleep in Gucci's car. Gucci wasn't in the car, he was checking out an SUV at one of the entrances to Silent Hill. Billy got out of the car and walked over to the barricade.
Billy…
Who?
Billy…
What the hell?
Billy…I need you.
"Billy."
Billy snapped out of his delirium. Gucci was standing next to him, gun drawn.
"You okay?"
"Yeah. C'mon. If we go in through here, we can make it to Brookhaven in a little under an hour."
"You sure that's where she'll be?"
"Yeah."
Gucci started into the town. Billy followed him. The town looked exactly like it did when he and Lizzy checked it out twelve years ago. How had people gone missing in this place? Lizzy knew how to get out of Silent Hill, why would she be missing? And if she came here for her dad, who hadn't been missing for as long as Gucci said, she would have found him by now and gotten him out of here, wouldn't she?
There were too many questions about this place. Too many weird things.
"So, why did your parents drop you off in Ashfield?" Gucci asked.
"Because of my dreams. I had strange dreams about monsters and demons. They thought I was crazy. Then I heard this strange voice in my head, telling me that I needed to go to Silent Hill."
"And you called your friend Elizabeth two days ago?"
"Yeah. She said she was gonna come over to help me, but my parents moved me to Ashfield before then. I didn't get to even say good-bye to her."
"You two were close?"
"If you could call it that. We had been friends since she moved to Brahms, but I didn't carry it any farther than that. Neither did she."
"But you care about her a lot."
"Yeah. She always helped with things. We didn't get to see each other as much during high school, but we still talked on the phone or when we did see each other."
"She sounds like a good person."
"She wa―isa good person. I hope we find her."
"So do I, Bill."
Billy walked up to the rest house that he and Gucci had come to. It looked okay, well, not okay, but it looked like it had twelve years ago. And a quick check in both the Men's Room and the Women's Room revealed that Lizzy wasn't in either of them.
"Billy!" Gucci called him from outside.
Billy walked out and found Gucci digging through a blue car that was parked next to it.
"What?"
"I think this car belonged to one of the missing persons, a James Sunderland. That name mean anything to you?"
"No."
"It's got a letter from his wife, dated October seventh, 2001. The car looks like it's been here for about that long but, the guy was reported missing last week."
"So, the car's been here for six years but the guy hasn't been?"
"That's what it looks like."
"Wow, call in CSI."
Gucci laughed at that. Billy looked at the tunnel to Old Silent Hill. It had been blocked off twelve years ago, but had a big hole through it now. Gucci looked over at it too.
"Think they went over down there?"
"No. Lizzy'd be at Brookhaven, if she's still in town."
That Billy was sure of. Lizzy'd be at Brookhaven. If she's still in town. Lizzy, be in town. Billy started toward the stairs that would take them through the forest on the outskirts of the town.
Who's in my head?
Nothing.
I know you're still there.
Still nothing.
Billy almost tripped on a twig.
"Goddammit!"
"What?"
"Stepped on a twig."
Gucci opened the gate that was ahead of them. The Graveyard. Billy knew that nobody of massive importance had been buried here since the early eighties, and that he and Lizzy had been inside the small church that was dominating one corner of the yard, right next to the manmade marsh.
Billy continued walking onward toward the other gate. Gucci followed him.
"Billy, you ever hear of a little girl named Alessa Gillespie?"
"I met a little girl named Alessa twelve years ago, with Lizzy."
"That's impossible, she died when she was seven."
"But, I know we met her. She said her named was Alessa, I remember that."
"Well, nobody else named their kid Alessa, so maybe it was the same girl."
Alessa was dead? That's impossible. But impossible things seemed more and more possible since the dreams that he'd had. Soon, they had gotten into the South Vale part of Silent Hill. Billy looked around. The town looked exactly as it had twelve years ago.
Except for the fog. That was new.
Billy took a step forward, the fog didn't allow him to see the flowershop that he knew was ahead of him.
"Billy, what the hell is wrong with this picture?"
"Fog. Lots and lots of fog."
"This place didn't look foggy from outside."
"No it didn't," Billy turned to Gucci, "Brookhaven is on the west side of town, we're on the east."
A noise. Billy turned his head slowly. It was coming closer. Gucci heard it too.
"What the hell is that?"
The creature came closer to them. It was only all of nine feet tall and had a muscular body. It didn't look like the insect creature from Billy's dreams, but it was just as scary. Its features were obscured by the fog, but Billy could see it all too clearly. It had a name, unlike all the other creatures he had seen in his nightmares. Its name was Lucifer. It had said it clearly.
"Gucci?"
"Yeah?"
"You got bullets in that gun?"
"Yeah."
"Shoot the fuckin' thing."