There Was a Lion and a Lamb Here (They're Gone Now)
By: Komo Pineconeseed
Disclaimer: Twilight is the copyright of Stephenie Meyer and Little, Brown and Company. Silent Hill is the copyright of Konami, Team Silent, Toyama Keiichiro, and Yamaoka Akira. I own neither Twilight nor Silent Hill.
Updated Warnings: Major spoilers for Silent Hill 1, 2, and 3. Minor spoilers for Twilight, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn. Out of character. Some parts of this story may be considered violent or cruel.
Rating for Overall Story: M for Mature for Possible Language, Violence, Religious Themes (SH's Cult Themes), and Sexuality.
Rating for this Chapter: M for Mature for Language, Violence, and a tiny bit of Sexuality (but only if you squint and tilt your head).
Genre: General/Horror (Yes, I changed the genre.)
Special Thanks to: Falron13, who pretty much single-handedly revived this story.
Chapter 3
"Bella, how was school today?" asked Charlie.
I was about to say "fine". It was a knee-jerk reaction, and my adrenaline was preventing me from thinking too clearly. But somehow, I managed to squeak out "I didn't go to school today."
Charlie had looked up by now, and was looking at me oddly. "But you're wearing your backpack, Bells."
"Am I?"
That earned me a seriously concerned look. Think quickly,Bella.
"Er, what I meant to say, yeah, I am. I'm feeling a little bit sick today, so I didn't go to school. I think I'm coming down with a cold. I just came down to get my math textbook. We have a Trig quiz next Monday."
Charlie seemed to buy my lie, which to be honest, was surprising because I was not a good liar and he was the police chief. He walked past me. "Since you're sick, how about I prepare dinner tonight?"
Despite feeling a panic attack might still occur, I smirked. "Depends, are you doing to the cooking or is someone else?" Charlie smiled back.
"Just go upstairs and rest up, Bells."
A thought occurred to me. "Actually, before I go, do you mind if I get your office and cell phone numbers?" Just because Silent Hill's phone line occasionally goes dead doesn't mean that the phone numbers might not come in handy later.
Charlie gave me his numbers, and I went up the stairs. I threw open the door to my bedroom, and looked out the window. It was slightly misting and still raining. I sat down on my bed and shivered, although not from the cold. My backpack, heavy due to the handgun ammo, landed with a thud.
There were dogs, corpses, grey children with knives, weird pterodactyl flying things…
Deep breaths. Deep calming breaths.
In and out. In and out.
A half hour of deep breathing later, I felt like I had my emotions under control again.
"Bella! Dinner's ready!" Charlie's deep voices echoed up the staircase. I was about to turn to leave my bedroom when my eyes landed on my bedroom dresser. There, lying on top, was the stun gun that Charlie got me.
Well, I was not about to make the same mistake twice. I was going to be taking it everywhere I go now.
I walked downstairs and into the kitchen. There were two burgers on plates, but I don't remember buying patty ingredients. I took a quick peek into the trashcan as Charlie was fetching silverware. As I suspected, Charlie didn't make dinner, but went out to Konami Burger and bought some food. We ate in near companionable silence if it weren't for Charlie's occasional sighs. I was tempted to ask him what was wrong, but I was too exhausted from today's events to voice my concern. I also contemplated being honest and telling him what I experienced today; that I found Jacob Black and learned that he was looking for his father. I kept my mouth shut, however, because I feared that Charlie would suspect I was also tripping on White Claudia. Dinner ended when I cleaned up the plates and washed them.
That weekend passed without incident, especially after the super exciting Friday I had. My ankle had miraculously completely healed. Charlie was frequently called away most of the weekend. I de-stressed by cleaning the house, studying for my Trig quiz, and writing my mother an outright lie of an email about how safe and happy I was. I considered exploring the town, but after the Friday incident, I was honestly too scared.
It constantly rained over the weekend, but the fog never became thicker than a gentle mist. Still, I tossed and turned in my sleep. My dreams were haunted with a heavily fogging town, endless running, the scent of rotting meat, and the sound of children giggling barely audible over radio static.
The following Monday started normally. I woke up, showered, and came down the stairs. Charlie had already left, so I stuffed my face with toast alone. I packed my bag with all my school supplies, map, flashlight, stun gun, and handgun ammo. I got into my truck, which turned on this time, and drove to South Silent Hill. People greeted me in the parking lot, and I greeted them back even though I didn't know their names. The first couple of classes came and went. I felt like I aced my Trig quiz. When we were let out of Spanish, however, the air felt crisper, and swirling bits of white drifted down.
It was snowing.
The only time I saw snow in Silent Hill was when…
"Wow," Mike said, interrupting my thoughts. "It's snowing."
"Oh no," I groaned.
He looked surprised. "Don't you like snow?"
Not anymore.
"I'll meet you in the cafeteria, okay?" Mike nodded and started preparing a snowball to throw at Eric.
I got in line to get food and just got a cup ramen. I wanted something hot. When I went to sit down with Mike and the others, I froze when I saw the Cullen table. Edward was back.
I was struck with the urge to play sick. It wouldn't be too unbelievable, as I was "sick" on Friday.
No. I wouldn't do that. I've let this town push me around far too much. I was going to Biology, I was sitting next to the asshole, and if he didn't like it, he'd just have to suck it.
I ate my cup noodles with an angry expression and went to the Biology classroom early. Mr. Banner was distributing microscopes and slides, and I offered to help him to take my mind off things. Slowly, the other students filtered into the room. I took my seat when more than half the class arrived, and was doodling absentmindedly on my notebook when I got the feeling I was being watched.
"Hello."
I looked up. Standing in front of me was Edward Cullen. He was smiling today, and he didn't look quite as ragged as the last time I saw him. In fact, he looked quite beautiful.
"Hello," I greeted back. Didn't hurt to be polite.
"My name is Edward Cullen," he continued, "I apologize for my rudeness last time. You're Bella Swan?"
Now this was odd. He was being perfectly polite, a complete 180 from last time.
"Yes, I am. It's nice to meet you."
He didn't return my greeting, which was odd, but before I could think more about it, Mr. Banner started class. He explained that we were doing a lab today in pairs. There were prepared whitefish blastula and onion root tip slides. We were to identify cells of each stage of mitosis and to sketch them. We were then to count the number of cells in each stage of mitosis and calculate the average amount of time cells spend in each stage.
"Alright-y then, get started," Mr. Banner said cheerfully.
"Ladies first?" Cullen smiled at me. I tried to smile back, but I suspect it must have come out strained. I grabbed the onion root tip slide and placed it on the microscope stage.
Having done this lab already in Arizona, I was familiar with how to work the microscope. My tried and true method of "find something at the lowest magnification, go to a higher magnification, and then look around wildly" had not failed me yet.
I looked and copied down my five sketches of interphase, prophase, metaphase, anaphase, and telophase, and then sat up to give my seat to Cullen. When moving behind me to get the microscope, he placed his hands on my shoulders. I would have balked at the invasion of personal space had I not been distracted by the temperature of his hands. They were so cold that I could feel the temperature through my cardigan. Had he participated in the snowball fights during lunch? I admit, I didn't watch the snowball fights. The snow reminded me of…
I shuddered for reasons unrelated to the cold. Or Edward Cullen's proximity.
We continued switching seats to count how many cells were in each phase, and then repeated the who procedure for the whitefish blastula slide. Every single time we switched seats, he touched my shoulders or arms, and every single time, his hands were freezing.
It was utterly bizarre.
Despite being partially distracted, we still finished the lab before everyone else. I thought we would just sit silently, thinking to ourselves, but Cullen had a different idea.
"How do you feel about the snow?"
"It's a new, but expected experience." There, that's a good neutral answer.
Cullen chortled. The sound was deep and husky. "Well of course, you are from Arizona."
"Yes. It's a beautiful state. It's very brown and earthy. And during twilight, the cacti make a gorgeous silhouette against a red sky."
Cullen smiled a crooked smile. "It sounds like an amazing sight."
"It is."
The conversation lulled. The groups around us were starting to finish, and their excited chatter made our silence awkward. I stumbled around for a conversation starter.
"I like your contacts."
"What?" He appeared startled.
"Your contacts. They're a nice color. Gold suits you more than black."
The way Cullen was staring at me was making me self-conscious. Maybe another topic change is needed?
"So, I heard from my dad that your family recently moved to Silent Hill. Where did you live previously?"
"Alaska. And we didn't move that recently. We've been around for a few years now."
"A few years, huh? Then, you'd know all about the secrets around here, huh?"
Cullen chuckled again and smiled his an admitted gorgeous smile. "We've only lived here for a few years, Bella."
"Yes, that that's forever compared to my handful of weeks. Plus, this place is so small, and everyone knows everyone else."
"It's always the small towns that have the most frightening of secrets," Edward said cryptically.
Bingo. What could this town be hiding that caused it to go foggy and utterly terrifying?
"Oh, like what kind of secrets?" I smiled sweetly. You could catch more flies with honey than with vinegar, right? But before Cullen had a chance to reply, Mr. Banner called the class back together again. He went over the slides we had just seen, and recapped the location of the chromosomes during the mitosis phases. He also mentioned something about a genetics lab in a couple of days. I tried to appear attentive, but my thoughts were unmanageable.
What did Cullen mean by "it's always the small towns that have the most frightening of secrets?" Was he aware that the town sometimes takes on the form of something from a survival horror game?
When the bell rang, Edward Cullen jumped out of his seat and rushed out the door, just like last time. I didn't let it get to me this time, however.
After Biology came Phys Ed. I think for the very first time in my life, I made a serious effort in PE. I got my ankle bitten because I was weak and clumsy. I had to change that.
When I walked out of PE, sore and battered, the snow storm had seriously picked up. The clumps of snowflakes were as large as swan feathers, and the mist became thicker. All the students, myself included, were rushing to their cars in an attempt to get home before visibility dropped to a dangerous level. There was a mini-traffic jam at the exit of the parking lot. I waved to Jessica while I waited in line. She lived in one of the apartment complexes in South Silent Hill, and she could just walk home.
After a few moments of waiting, I turned left onto Munsen Street and then left again onto Nathan Avenue. It was the long drive next to the ocean in the snow. I was worried about the traction of my tires, so I took it really slowly. I waved to Angela as she passed me on her way home. I must have been passed by half of the student population before I turned onto Bachman Road.
The drive seemed like the same old drive home until I was about to cross Bradbury Street. The engine started making a god-awful noise. The whole truck felt like it was hiccupping. The truck was slowing down before it stopped working right after I crossed the street. I sighed as I leaned my forehead against the steering wheel. This is what I get for driving a really old truck. It was getting really cold by now, and the snow was coming down harder.
I put my backpack on and shut the door behind me. I was lucky in that there were no other cars around, so my truck wasn't blocking anyone. I pulled out my map, and I noticed there was an auto parts dealer three blocks away. I walked over, but when I got there, nobody was present. The door was jammed.
The fog was starting to get thicker, and I decided to head back to my truck. As I was walking back down Bachman Road however, the road stopped. It was like I was walking toward the edge of the world. I couldn't get back. Hadn't something like this happen before? I took out my stun gun as I heard radio static. I made a ran for it when I heard the sound of barking dogs drawing nearer.
I made my way back to the house on Levin Street, the one with the doghouse and the Health Drink. As luck would have it, the door was unlocked, and I went inside. As I approached the back door, I remembered that the door teleported me back home where things were normal and sane. Would it do the same thing again?
I went to open the back door. Thankfully, it was still unlocked.
As I stepped out, I noticed that I did not teleport home. I had entered, what I'm assuming to be, the backyard patio. I took another step forward, and I noticed that the sky was becoming dark unnaturally quickly. In less than five seconds, it was night. I reached into my backpack and pulled out my flashlight. I gripped my stun gun harder as I ran to the elementary school. That's where I had previously suspected Billy Black to be, despite how illogical it was. And if I could find Billy, I could find Jacob.
There was blood seeping out of some of the houses as I ran through the streets, that were devoid of people but not creatures. The night was so dark and none of the street lamps were turned on. I could hardly see more than five feet in front of me. Monsters jumped at me from all sides, but I managed to avoid them. I eventually made it to the middle school.
The double doors were unlocked, and I opened them with relative ease. The school itself seemed like a normal elementary school, except empty and dark. The floor tiles were colorful, and the whole place appeared much calmer than the dogs and madness outside the doors. To my front was another set of double doors, and on my right was a map to the school. I took the map and headed through the double doors.
None of the school's lights were on, and my flashlight only illuminated a small area in front of me. Still, I walked forward with only a slight amount of fear. The hallway was silent, lacking the sounds of monsters. My radio was similarly silent. Lockers lined the narrow hallway, and I turned to the left. The hall way had a small counter on the left. It looked like the school's reception area. On the counter were two books that were thrown around haphazardly, but nothing else were out of the ordinary. I picked a book up, and thumbed through it, before I dropped it with a scream.
There were words written in blood.
The blood was still slightly wet, and had smeared against the page it was pressed against. The scent of iron wafted up, and made me slightly nauseated. The words were difficult to make out, but I could still read them.
'10:00
'Alchemy laboratory,
'Titan in old man's palm.
'The future hidden in his fist.
'Exchange for King's water.'
There was another book in the reception area, and I picked it up with trembling hands. As I suspected when I flipped through the pages, there was another bloody message.
'12:00
'Darkness that brings the choking heat.
'Flames that render the silence awakening the hungry
'Beast. Open time's door to beckon prey.'
Great. The last thing I needed while being jumpy from adrenaline were cryptic messages. The fact the words were written in blood terrified me. What sort of maniac would do something like this? Especially in an elementary school! I readjusted my backpack to a more comfortable position, and gripped my stun gun tighter.
I left the reception room, walked back into the main hallway, and entered another door. It looked like an infirmary. Next to the door was a cabinet, which was pushed into the corner. I glanced up and saw two familiar bottles. Health Drink! Ugh. Just looking at the words made my ankle twinge in pain. Still, it had saved my life before, and I put both in my backpack. Looking around, the only other useful thing was a first aid kit. I pocketed it as well and then left.
I entered through the final set of doors and into what appeared to be courtyard. At first glance, I was unconcerned, but then I heard two sounds that nearly scared the shit out of me. The first was the familiar ringing of the radio static. The second…
…oh dear god, the giggling.
(There's no way those are legit elementary school students.)
(Why would they be here at this time of day?)
I saw that there was some unidentifiable movement off in the darkness. I was paying too close attention to the movement far away, that I screamed and tripped backward when two grey children were illuminated by my flashlight. They were carrying knives. I crawled backwards, but they were advancing too quickly. I remember the stabbing pain I felt the last time I saw those creatures. (Oh god. This can't happen again. I won't let it happen again.) I gripped my stun gun tightly, and with tears nearly blinding my vision, I thrust my right arm forward. There was the sound of live electricity for a moment, and the first monster lay in front of me, dead. Its corpse blocked the movement of the second one. My mind cleared in the moment of time it bought me. I anticipated its stabbing lunge and dodged it. The sound of the stun gun electrocuting the second monster was slightly muted by radio static, but the thump of a second body hitting the floor was unmistakably clear.
I was shaking, still on my ass in the blindingly dark courtyard. My radio was still ringing. However, a strange feeling was racing through me.
Laying in front of me, were two undisputable pieces of evidence that proved that these things weren't unbeatable. That I could protect myself. I could feel the beginnings of a psychotic smile appearing on my face. Tears were streaming down my face as I laughed. I wasn't going to die. I wasn't going to die.
I wasn't going to die.
I could still hear the radio static coming from my backpack and the faraway giggling sounds of another child as I got up and dusted myself off. This time, however, I was going to be on the offensive. I stalked through the courtyard, moved past the tall bushes, and found the final grey child. It charged at me, as if trying to give my waist a hug, but I jumped back, and zapped it before it could recover. Like the previous two, it collapsed on the ground. It twitched a little, but I stomped it, and it stopped moving. My radio stopped emitting static.
I could do this. I could do this! I wasn't going to die.
After calming down, I decided to explore the courtyard. It was large, and the middle of it was paved. I could imagine legit children play there during recess. There were hedges nearby, and at one corner of the courtyard was a large clock tower. Near the bottom of the clock tower was a small door, and over the small door was a small, oval indent. The door was locked, which was odd since the door had no keyhole, but I ignored it.
Aside from the three dead bodies, the courtyard seemed normal, albeit a tad dark and silent.
I exited the courtyard through a set of double doors, opposite of the double doors I entered in. I was only slightly startled when my radio started ringing again. The giggling alerted me to the type of creature I was going to run into, and I zapped the first child with ease. It fell to the ground, twitching. I moved to zap the second one, but for some reason, my stun gun stopped working. I hadn't moved my right arm nearly fast enough to consider it a punch. I tried to move away from the grey child, but I wasn't quick enough, and its knife swiped against my arm as I moved it back. I cringed at the sharp stinging sensation as my right arm was sliced open, and I nearly dropped my stun gun in pain. I turned tail and ran.
I ran through the school blindly, opening some doors, unlocking others, but mostly kicking jammed doors in frustration. There were more grey children lunging at me, but I was too angry or too crazy to pay much attention other than dodging them. I cradled my right arm during this entire exercise, and I finally entered a room that was enemy free. I glanced down at the laceration on my right arm. It was superficial, but blood had already dripped onto my torn blouse and cardigan. It didn't look like it was going to stop. I set my backpack to the floor, and dug around before I pulled out a Health Drink and the first aid kit I found. I took of my blouse and cardigan, sterilized the wound with some rubbing alcohol, dabbed it with a little gauze, and wrapped my arm as best I could with some of the bandages. I re-dressed and chugged a third of the Health Drink.
Second order of business was figuring out what went wrong with my stun gun. I kept pressing the button, but it still wouldn't work. Damn! Would Charlie have given me a defective item? There's no way; he's way too protective. He must've tested it a lot before giving it to me, especially in a town with a drug trafficking problem.
(Although, drug trafficking is the least of this town's worries. Just saying.)
Think, Bella, think! Why would the stun gun go dead?
Dead? Maybe, just maybe… the battery died? Could that be why Charlie gave me four extra batteries?
After a few moments of examining the stun gun, I discovered the mechanism of changing the battery. I pressed the button, and to my delight, it lit up. I could smell the charged air. So, each battery only has 4 zaps? (And I just wasted one…)
Still, I didn't have time to mope. I had to move forward. I looked around the room I was in. It appeared to be a laboratory equipment room. Still, the shelf was oddly empty. There were only two bottles, and on each bottle's label was the printed word "Chemical". Well, that was helpful. Still, there was something handwritten underneath the print. Under the label on one bottle was "nitric acid" and on the other was "hydrochloric acid". I put both in my backpack. Perhaps I could throw them if I ran out of stun gun bullets?
I left the room, and returned to the hallway. Where should I go now? I've found no clue of Billy or Jacob Black so far in the school, and they were my sole reasons for coming here. Still, I haven't seen the whole school yet. Billy might not be in his wheelchair. Who's to say he wasn't tied up somewhere here, by the same freak who wrote in children's books with blood?
In fact, if I were a crazy person, where would I hide a middle aged, paraplegic Quileute man?
(Underneath the clock tower.)
It wasn't that outrageous a thought, all things considering. He'd be too big to fit in a locker, and I, er, a crazy person wouldn't hide him in a regular locked room because that'd be normal.
But the door to the clock tower was locked (which supported my theory). How would I get in? Perhaps I needed a key? But there was no keyhole! Maybe the indent above the door was the locking mechanism?
I had to find something that could fit in that indent. Yes, that's what I would do. There was a purpose to what I was doing. I was not crazy.
I entered the first unchecked room. It seemed innocuous at first, but then my flashlight illuminated something.
I screamed.
Up, on the blacktop of a chemistry room table, was a severed hand. The hand looked old and withered, and there was no blood seeping from the… amputated portion… but the flesh still seemed redder than what I would normally associate with an old relic.
(There's the slight chance that it's a plastic hand like a Halloween prop, but with what I have seen so far in this place… Let's just say that the implications hit me hard enough that I was reminded I had ramen for lunch.)
Was this done by the same lunatic who wrote in blood?
Oh god. This wasn't Billy's hand, was it? I started hyperventilating.
After a few moments of hyperventilation, I tried to calm down and look at the situation objectively. Think, Bella, think. I stared at the hand. It was grotesque, but I couldn't tear my eyes away from it. It was then I realized something. I could be having a racist moment, but the color of the skin was way too pale for it to have belonged to a Quileute. I clung to this thought with all of my faith, and the idea that it just couldn't be Billy's hand helped me calm down a long ways. It was then I noticed that the hand was holding something. I inched my way closer.
What if it jumped out and attacked me? Oh god, the hand just twitched. I whimpered.
When I was close enough to it, I saw that it was holding an oval shaped emblem with a silver crest on it. Eying it, the emblem was just the correct shape and size for it to fit on the indentation above the small door at the base of the clock tower. I needed that emblem, but how should I get it?
I avoided thinking of the obvious solution. I looked around the room, but there was nothing like a pair of tongs. I realized I had no other choice but… to reach out and take it with my hands. Oh god.
I moved my hand closer towards it, terrified it would reach up and grab me. My fear wasn't manifested, however, when I finally made contact with it. Somehow, that made it worse.
(Well, one thing was confirmed. It wasn't a fake plastic hand.)
I poked it a couple of times, and it remained stationary. I still could not stop thinking it would reach out and grab me. Still, poking it wouldn't get the emblem out. I grabbed the hand with both hands, and tried to pry the fingers off, but it seemed to have a death grip.
What was I going to do now? I was out of ideas. However, as I sat down on a stool, I heard a clicking sound coming from my backpack.
That's right! I had acid in my backpack! (I completely forgot about it after the debacle with the hand.)
I pulled out one of the bottles. Hydrochloric acid was strong enough to burn through human flesh. I knew the hydrochloric acid was concentrated as just the scent of it was burning my nostrils. I poured some of it onto the hand, and, as expected, there was a tell-tale sizzling sound, and some smoke arose. However, after I poked the hand with a pen from my bag, I still couldn't get the thing to let go. Maybe I didn't pour enough hydrochloric acid? I pour the rest of bottle onto the hand, but it still had no effect.
I was getting frustrated. How the hell was that acid not strong enough to do anything? The smell of it was so strong that I started coughing! Hydrochloric acid that concentrated had to have done something!
Maybe hydrochloric acid wasn't the trick, then? Nitric acid was another strong, corrosive acid from what I remember from AP Chemistry back in Phoenix. Maybe it'd do the trick? I poured a little of it onto the hand as well. At first, nothing happened, but after a few seconds, the liquid on the hand turned a reddish-orange, and the hand started dissolving away in smoke. The smell was so strong and choking that I had to leave the area for a few moments. After the smell partially dispersed, I grabbed the emblem by the edge, careful of potential acid spilled onto it. The silver crest sparkled under my flashlight.
I held the emblem in my left hand and my stun gun in the right as I slowly made my way back to the clock tower in the courtyard. I went up the small steps leading up to the door, and I placed the emblem into the indentation. It fit perfectly, and above me, the clock started chiming. I pulled on the door.
It was still locked.
What? Why would it still be locked? I put the key in! Sighing in frustration, I looked up. The clock read "10:00". How odd, it couldn't really be ten o'clock already? It didn't feel like I've been here for that long, but who knew if this time was even right.
Still, ten o'clock? That felt really familiar. Didn't I read something about that previously? Yes! It was written in the bloody message. I made my way back to the reception area, killing all the demon children I met on the way. I found the books still on the counter as I left them and opened to the passages I was looking for.
As expected, the first one talked about ten o'clock. But more surprisingly, it talked about an old man's palm and King's water. How bizarre. The silver emblem was held by an old shriveled hand. And regarding King's water… thinking back to AP Chemistry, when hydrochloric acid and nitric acid were mixed together, they formed a substance called aqua regia, Latin for "royal water", which was capable of dissolving gold and platinum. Was that what the message was talking about? Did this mean these bloody messages weren't crazy bullshit written by a crazy person, but clues of what to do?
Maybe, maybe not. But they were right that the emblem would make the clock turn 10:00. Would the next message be correct too? It talked about "opening time's door", which sounded like there was something else I had to do to open the clock tower door. Bought what could it have meant by "bringing heat"?
After searching the school for about a half hour, I was still not closer to finding what the message meant by "bringing heat". In the meantime, I must have run around the school at least twice, searched all the nooks and crannies, and zapped all of the demon children to death. There was still no sign of Billy or Jacob. I was running low on stun gun batteries, and to be honest, it was worrisome.
I sighed.
My previous statement might not had been completely true. I didn't search every nook and cranny… just the ones on the ground and second level floor.
Yes, I saw the stairs leading down the basement, and I had no taken them. I was about to earlier, but something stopped me. It was the sensation I was being watched. Still, I had hit a dead end.
I walked down the stairs, and ran into two possible doors to enter. I tried the one on the left, and it turned out to be jammed, which drastically narrowed my possibilities. I went to the one on the right and entered.
The boiler room was grimy compared to the rest of the school. The floor was covered in a fine layer of dirt, and the walls looked like they hadn't been painted over in a while. My flashlight illuminated the two giant, metallic boilers. On its own, the room would not have been more intimidating than anything else I had seen in this place. But I still couldn't help but feel I was being watched.
I moved quickly to the boiler on the right, the one with the giant button. I pushed the button, and the boilers came to life. The sound of rattling from the boilers echoed off all the walls, which created a disconcerting sound. I turned to leave when the sound of shifting paper caught my attention. It was a letter. I wouldn't have paid it much attention, except the letter was addressed to me. With trembling hands, I picked it up and read:
To Bella Swan:
This day has finally come.
That's right—the day when you and I officially met.
I was always thinking of you, here in this gloomy town.
I never even knew your name or face until today.
But now I know.
Seeing you was like a man seeing a meteor,
You've blinded me to the stars.
I can't live in this darkness without you.
You're the one I've been hunting for.
And haven't you been hunting for me too?
Oh, I love you, Bella.
You are my forever.
There was a signature at the bottom, but the words were smudged…
…
…
…
WHO WAS THIS PERSON? HOW DID HE/SHE/IT KNOW MY NAME? WHAT KIND OF A CREEP WOULD WRITE SOMETHING LIKE THIS?
…
…
…
Not going to lie, I dropped the letter faster than a hot potato and bolted out of the boiler room. I had to find Billy and get the fuck out of here.
I ran, mind numb with fright, back to the courtyard. I looked up at the clock, and sure enough, the hands pointed at midnight. I walked up the small stairs and pulled on the door.
It opened. The bloody message was right!
I peaked my head inside, and instead of a cramped, unconscious Quileute man like I was expecting, I found a ladder going down. I peered my flashlight into the depths, but I couldn't see the bottom.
I was starting to hyperventilate again.
Billy was at the bottom of this hole, wasn't he? I started to climb down. The ladder was long and it was slightly wet for some unknown god forsaken reason. I nearly slipped off of it several times. When I finally reached the bottom, there was a little hole near the bottom wall, large enough to fit a person crawling through it. I bent over and looked. It was a small tunnel, leading to another ladder. I got onto my hands and knees and started to crawl.
The tunnel was a tight fit, and I could barely squeeze through. The walls trapped my arms, so I couldn't move them back far, and the tunnel was so narrow, I could barely move my legs. (Oh god, oh god.) I could have sworn I was stuck several times. What made the journey most terrifying wasn't the cramping of the tunnel giving me claustrophobia, but rather the sound of a far off air siren. (Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. The last time I heard an air raid siren…)
I wiggled through the tunnel as fast I could. I thought it would never be over. The second I was out, I leaped onto the ladder and climbed as fast as I could. The air raid siren was getting louder. (The sound of metal against metal, the occupied gurney in the middle of the alleyway, the crucified corpse…)
The ladder ended, and I was at the top, pushing through the little door, and stumbled down the steps. I landed, almost face first, in what looked like a courtyard with the siren blaring at full sound.
Wait a second; was I still in the school?
(What the fuck.)
Suddenly, the siren stopped.
I walked forward and looked around. It definitely still looked like the school alright. That was odd. There wasn't another school built next to the elementary school.
I walked to the center of the courtyard and looked down.
There was a magic circle in the middle. It was huge, perhaps three yards in diameter, and it was drawn in blood. What hell was this thing doing here? My radio started ringing, and I saw two small grey figures advancing on me.
I gripped my stun gun tighter, readying myself for attack. I zapped the monsters to death, and I grimaced when I stomped them to death. After they died, I looked around, and I saw two sets of double doors, facing each other. I entered one and was unpleasantly surprised.
The spot of wall my flashlight illuminated looked old. It was also so dirty, it was brown. Also on the walls were streaks of what I assumed was rust. Sections of the walls looked bloody. But what was most frightening was the fact that there was no floor. The other school had a deceptively cheerful tile pattern. This school had no floor. Instead, it had a metal grating, which squeaked as I walked across it. The grating looked like the only thing preventing me from falling into the bottomless abyss below.
I looked up when my radio started emitting static. More demonic children were in the hall, and they advanced on me. As I only had one stun gun battery left, I ran.
Wandering around, I realized two things. First, this place had essentially the same structure as the other school. There were warped versions of classrooms where there were actual classrooms there. Second, there was still no sign of Billy or Jacob.
In despair, I had wandered up the stairs to the second floor of this other school. It was an odd experience since I had expected to be able to see the metal grating of the first floor through the second floor's grating, but I could not. Was that more or less frightening? I wandered around cautiously, scared the grating would break under my weight. I entered into a woman's bathroom. I didn't need to… er, void… anything, but I was getting desperate. It was late. I must have been here for (days, months, years) hours, and where else could you hide a person? (The clock tower was a bust.) There were three stalls in the bathroom— two smaller stalls and one handicap stall. I could see into the two smaller stalls since their doors were partially open, and both of them were empty. I then walked to the larger one. It's door was closed, and I tried to open it with my foot. It was locked. How odd. Was there someone trapped inside? I knocked on it hard several times, hoping it would shake off the latch. All of a sudden, I could hear someone knocking back from inside the stall.
There was someone locked inside! "Hang on a second," I called out, "I'll try and get you out."
I heard a low, painful groan from inside the stall and what sounded like something falling into the toilet bowl with a splash.
Was someone actually using the toilet? (Who would use a toilet here? There was grating on the floor and grime on the walls.)Maybe, I shouldn't be here? I walked away to resume my search of the Blacks, and right when I was about to walk out the door of the bathroom, I heard a creaking sound behind me. I turned around to see the door to the handicap stall was open.
I waited for someone to step out, but after a few moments of (terrifying) waiting, nobody appeared. I creeped cautiously to the stall, my hand gripped tightly on the stun gun. I entered the stall, and looked in the direction of the toilet.
Oh my god.
There was nobody inside the stall. Instead, there was… blood… blood… everywhere! There was so much blood that the toilet was a bright red. There was blood smeared against the wall behind the toilet. There was blood dripping from the rim of the toilet and onto the metal grating below. There was so much blood that it was dripping into the abyss below. From my viewpoint, I could see the toilet bowl was filled with what looked like… mutilated flesh. The flesh was still twitching, forming ripples on the surface of the red water.
I bolted from that stall and from that bathroom, and, in my panic, ran face first into the wall facing the door of the bathroom. A little of the grime from the wall rubbed onto my lips, and I tasted excess calcium and iron. I dry heaved and coughed.
I looked around. I was in a hallway and was facing two bathrooms. One was the women's bathroom. I still hadn't checked the men's room.
I walked towards the male bathroom stiffly. My left arm gripped my right elbow tightly, and I was ready to run on a moment's notice. The male bathroom appeared nearly identical with the female bathroom, only mirrored and with a few urinals lining the walls. The stalls were closed, and I was not about to knock on any of them. I glanced underneath the cracks of the stall doors, and I couldn't see anything resembling a tied-up person.
I walked up to handicap stall. Its door was closed, and then it started to creak open. I stared in horror to what was directly in front of me.
I've seen this before. Just a few seconds before I was killed by those children in the alleyway.
A crucified person was suspended in midair with barbed wire in front of me. It looked like it had all of its skin torn off, and each muscle fiber appeared brown against the fresh blood dripping from the lacerations all over its body. The arms were stretched as far apart as possible, and from what I could see of its face, the emotion was a painful grimace.
There were messages written in the stall behind the person. They all read the same thing.
Run away, Bella!
But I stood in front of the corpse, mesmerized. I think this place had officially broken what was left of my sanity because there was only one thing that held my attention. The handgun lodged in the body's mouth. (It looked like the person committed suicide by shooting his own brains out, and then some sicko strung him up in a bathroom stall to rot.)
Still, there was a handgun. You didn't think… someone would mind if I took it, did you?
With a crazy smile on my face, I reached forward for the gun. Even if the body came to life once I took it, I would at least have a gun to defend myself with. So, with more courage that I thought I still had, plucked it right out of thing.
Nothing happened.
I left the bathroom and returned to the hallway. I put my stun gun back into my backpack, held up my new gun, and pulled the trigger. Or rather, I tried to pull the trigger. I carefully maneuvered the gun in my hands. Oh, its safety was still on. (How did that person in the bathroom stall commit suicide if the gun's safety was on?) I undid the mechanism, held the gun up, and fired. The recoil made me stumble a little bit, and I couldn't see if I hit anything since my flashlight didn't illuminate that far, but I was so happy.
I had a gun, now. I could protect myself from a distance in this fucking mad house.
Wandered around some more, I realized some of the doors were locked and others were jammed. I went searching for keys, but I couldn't find any. I also still hadn't found any signs of Jacob or Billy.
…
…
…
I gave up. It was time to call it quits. I came to Midwich on a whim. On a hunch that papers from Billy said "To the school". I thought it seemed ridiculous that he meant Midwich Elementary. It was time to go to Silent Hill High.
I walked downstairs to where the front door was located in the other school. When I pulled on the double doors, however, they were locked. They were locked!
All right, Bella. Calm down. Stop panicking.
I returned to the courtyard, so I could go through the door and the claustrophobic tunnel to the other school. I walked past the giant magic circle drawn onto the pavement and to the clock tower. That door was locked too.
Too late.
I panicked.
After moving through the school aimlessly, I entered what my map labeled as "the library reserve". In reality, there was only empty book shelves lined up against the walls, and the center of the room was empty aside from a desk. Chains were hanging from the ceiling, and I weaved through them, as if in a dream.
(More like a nightmare.)
I glanced at the desk in the center of the room. There was a book and a key on it. I looked at the label on the key. It read "Boiler Room". The book was also opened on the desk, and it read:
CHAPTER 4
MANIFESTATIONS OF DELUSIONS
Poltergeists are among these. Negative emotions, like fear, worry, or stress, manifest into external energy with physical effects. Nightmares have been shown to trigger them in some cases. However, such phenomena doesn't appear to happen to just anyone. Although it's not clear way, adolescents, especially girls, are prone to such occurrences.
The chapter continued, but I wasn't interested in reading it. I decided to go the boiler room, mainly since there was nowhere else to go, and I had a key. On my way there, I started thinking…
Adolescent girls, huh? Was someone trying to tell me something?
(But Jacob had seen them too. It's not just me.)
I was tempted to write this off as more cryptic bullshit, but the last bloody messages I attempted to write off as bullshit turned out to helpful, although still cryptic.
To be honest, prior to arriving at Silent Hill, I hadn't experienced anything truly stressful. Sure, my parents divorced, but nothing really stressed me out. I managed to avoid the drama of middle school by keeping to myself, and high school only provided school work stress. I worried about tests and little else.
(I ran across another mutilated grey child. I walked up to it, shot it to death, and squished it under my heel.)
When I arrived here, there was stress about living in a new place and meeting new people, but Charlie was accommodating, and all of the guys at school weren't bad. There was nothing that caused me fear or worry.
(Edward Cullen.)
I arrived at what would have been the boiler room door in the other school and frowned at it. How odd. Why did I think of him all of a sudden? To channel my frustration into something more productive, I tried to open the door. As I suspected, it was locked. I unlocked it with my key and walked inside.
It was a large, dark room. The metal grating that provided me something to walk on only went a few feet forward before it stopped. There was a ladder at the end of walkway. I walked to the edge and looked down. I couldn't see the bottom. Still, I decided to go down the ladder anyways.
It wasn't like I had any other way to go.
After what felt like climbing down the ladder for a few minutes, I finally reached the bottom. My ladder actually stopped roughly 5 feet before it reached the floor, and I jumped off of it. I appeared to be in a ceiling-less room with actual cement on the ground. There were holes in the walls, but they were incredibly long, and my flashlight couldn't illuminate that far. I was about to enter one randomly when I heard it.
The sound of radio static and rattling chains.
I turned around. "Hello?" I asked into the cold darkness, although I was not truly expecting a response. The sounds of rattling chains appeared behind me.
I turned around again, and I saw what appeared to be giant, horse-sized worm behind me. It was incredibly long too, and it looked pinkish-grey when illuminated by my flashlight. Its head was shaped… well, like a man's penis, and it actually opened its mouth vertically and roared at me. The worm's breath smelled slightly sweet and salty.
It made a lunging motion at me, but I dodged it, and it slithered past me and into one of the holes. The rattling chains left with it, but my radio kept emitting static. I stared at the hole it left in.
I started to hear rattling behind me again and turned around. There it was again. Its vertical slit opened to roar at me, but this time I was ready, and I shot it three times in the mouth. My gun emitted an empty clicking noise, informing me that I was out of ammo, but the giant worm had already closed its blood-soaked mouth. (With its mouth closed, it really looked like a man's penis passing blood.) It slithered past me, as if trying to knock me down, but it was slow, and I dodged it successfully despite tripping and falling onto the ground.
While it was gone, I reached into my backpack to get some of the handgun ammo. It turned out the ammunition I picked up in the alley way on Friday actually matched my gun.
Thank goodness for small mercies.
The worm showed up again, and I got up and ran away from it. I tried to climb up the ladder, but the bottom was too high up. Still, the worm was slow, and I managed to run circles around it. It snaked away, and I finally managed to get my gun reloaded.
The sound of rattling chains appeared behind me again, and I shot the worm several more times when it opened its vertical slit. All of a sudden, it made an unearthly shriek and folded in on itself. It fell to the ground, blood gushing from its head. My radio stopped emitting static. It appeared dead. The silence didn't last long, however, when another sound started.
It was an air siren.
All of a sudden, I started experiencing a mind-crushing headache. The pain was so sharp; it felt like my eyes were getting stabbed. I could feel the back of my head throbbing, and each tiny bit of movement made it feel like the veins in my head were constricting. I grabbed my hair and screamed. Tears started streaming down my eyes, and I remember feeling a falling sensation…
…
…
…
…
…
…The first thing I felt was a hard, cold sensation on the left side of my body. Something was scrapping against my cheek. My eyes opened slowly. I was lying on the ground. I tried to push myself onto my feet, and I was successful despite the feeling my body felt like lead. My head still was aching, and I clutched at my forehead, although the sensation was a dull pain now.
Looking around, I could see two gigantic boilers and dirty walls. It appeared to be the boiler room of the first school. I felt no sensation of being watched now, which I was thankful for.
My gun was lying on the ground, next to where I was. I bent over to pick it up and noticed there was an oddly shaped key next to it. I looked at the key. There was a weirdly drawn oval on the handle. I took it anyways and left the room.
It appeared I was in the first school I entered. The floor was an actual solid floor that had colorful tiles. There were blue and pink lockers lined up against the walls. The school was dark and quiet, but there was no sense of danger.
I walked to the entrance of the school and pushed the door open. My radio was silent, and there was no sign of dogs or pterodactyls. I walked about a block away from the school when I realized the darkness wasn't oppressive because there were street lights on. I decided it was safe enough to put my gun back into my backpack.
While the streets were quiet, it wasn't the dead-sort of silence I now recognized accompanied the weird nightmarish side of Silent Hill. I walked over to where my truck was and managed to get in and turn the engine on. Oh thank god.
I drove home without incident. It only took a minute since I was a couple of blocks away from home. Killing the engine and walking up to the front door, I felt relief flood my system. Home. Warmth. Safety. That relief was destroyed when I opened the door, however.
Apparently, Charlie was home, and he had been waiting up for me.
"Bella, where have you been? It's ten o'clock!" Charlie asked with a stern frown on his face. I walked past him in the small hallway and looked at the clock sitting on top of the fireplace.
Well, would you look at that. Ten o'clock sharp. Now where have I seen that before?
"Bella!"
Oh, that's right, Charlie still wanted an answer. To be honest, I was so emotionally exhausted that I had no idea what to say to him.
"You weren't," Charlie took a breath here, "doing anything illegal, were you?"
Uhhh… I killed lots of demon children and a giant penis-shaped worm. I also fired a firearm that I didn't have a license for, but that was in self-defense.
"Um, no?"
Charlie snorted out his nose and closed his eyes.
"Bella, where were you?" He asked again.
Think, Bella!
"I was… uh… out exploring the town!" That answer wasn't actually a lie.
"Out exploring the town," Charlie repeated with a flat tone. He looked totally unimpressed.
"Um, yes. Specifically, the area near Midwich Elementary School. I fell over a few times. That's why I'm so covered in grime. Haha, clumsy me!"
All right, so maybe my delivery was a tad too cheerful and fake.
"Why Midwich? Why now? Why didn't you leave me a note? You know people are turning up missing, Bella!"
Oh my god. I just realized something. Charlie was giving me the third degree because he was worried! He worried because he cared. Renee… she never did anything like this.
I think that train of thought my have shown on my face, because Charlie was looking concerned at me now. I went up and hugged him.
"Thanks, Dad. Thank you for caring."
Charlie deflated. He reached his arms and hugged me back. "I was just really worried Bella. There have been so many people who have gone missing, and I couldn't bear it if you were next." His voice was so soft, I wouldn't have heard a word if he wasn't talking into my ear. I squeezed harder.
As Charlie moved to break the hug, he took a closer look at me and turned angry again.
"Bella, have you been shooting up PTV? Is that why you were out so late?"
What?
Charlie grabbed my right arm. I had bandaged it up after that grey child had sliced it open.
"If I were to unwrap these bandages, would I find track marks?"
That's right. There weren't just missing people's cases here, there was also a drug problem!
"No, Dad. You would not find track marks. I'm not doing drugs! I've only been here a week! And even if I was, you'd find track marks on my left arm since I'm so incredibly right-handed!"
I held up my unblemished left arm for him to see. Charlie still remained unconvinced. I sighed. Guilty until proven innocent today.
I started unwrapping the bandages on my right arm, and showed Charlie my right forearm.
"It's an old knife wound. Also, before you accuse me of being suicidal, let me tell you I got this wound a week and a half ago when I was trying to open one of Mom's packages with a box cutter."
I remembered that Health Drinks made the wounds appear much older than they actually were. It did so with my ankle. (Was it bad I was getting good at lying to my father?)
"Then why is your sleeve torn and bloody?"
"Uh, it's torn because it got caught in the door of my truck. I'm not sure why it's bloody. I did trip and fall a few times, so maybe there was blood on the ground?"
Charlie continued staring at me.
"Dad, if I really cut myself, wouldn't you see a new wound?"
He couldn't argue against that one, and now he just looked sad.
"I just decided to go exploring today, Dad. I didn't anticipate I would get home this late. I'm sorry."
I felt really bad lying to him. Charlie was angry because he cared. But if I told him the truth, he'd be convinced I was on drugs. Or rather, be more convinced than he already was.
Charlie sighed, but he seemed to believe me.
"All right, then, Bella. But tell me next time, all right?"
That I couldn't promise. There was nothing I knew of that could warn me 24 hours in advance when Silent Hill decided to go crazy.
"I'll do my best, Charlie, but I'm kind of forgetful. You know, being Renee's daughter and all."
He smiled sadly at that, and for the first time, a moment of uneasy silence passed between the two of us.
A though occurred to me. "What did you say I was abusing earlier? PTV? What's that?"
His smile grew happier, for some odd reason. "It's the official name for the hallucinogen White Claudia gets made into. White Claudia is actually the name of the plant, not the drug itself, but most everyone here calls it White Claudia."
"It can be shot up? I thought it was only smoked."
"White Claudia can be shot up, smoked, and snorted. It's a flexible drug."
We both snorted at the same time, and then looked at each other in shock.
"Well, looks like you're just as much my child as you are Renee's."
"That's what she would say too."
He smiled at me. It was the first genuine one tonight.
"Why don't you go upstairs and get cleaned up. I'll go and get us something to eat."
I was shocked. "You haven't eaten yet?"
"No, I was waiting for you."
Renee had never done anything like that. She had always eaten without me if I came home late.
I went upstairs and showered. The water was so hot, it was almost scalding. I stood under the shower for what felt like a lifetime. It felt good getting the grime off of me. After I dressed in fresh clothes, I went back downstairs, and Charlie… no, I shouldn't call him that, he deserved better… Dad had gotten delivery from Blue Catfish diner. We sat down to eat, and despite the lies I've told today, I didn't think I've ever felt as close to a parent as I did at that moment.
After we finished eating, I went to bed and Charlie went to catch up on work. I fell asleep quickly. I was completely exhausted. That didn't stop my nightmare filled with magic circles, severed hands, and bloody toilets, though.
The next morning, I opened my eyes to near darkness. There was barely any light since it was incredibly overcast and early. Getting up was super difficult after my incredibly stressful evening yesterday, to put it mildly. Still, I looked out the window, and I noticed that there was no fog outside. How weird, no fog in Silent Hill?
I took a shower and packed my backpack. I pondered if it would be a good idea to take an unregistered handgun to school. Yeah, that wouldn't go over well if I were found out. However, going anywhere unarmed in Silent Hill seemed like a suicidal idea now. I decided to take the handgun, but leave it in the car.
My stun gun only had one battery left. I needed to get another weapon. Perhaps a melee weapon would be good since it wouldn't need ammunition?
I went downstairs, and Charl—I meant, Dad had already left for work. I felt a tad lonely. I wanted to at least wish him a good day. I quickly grabbed a bowl of cereal and some orange juice from the cartoon. To kill two birds with one stone, I poured the orange juice in the cereal. It actually tasted… gross at first, but not that bad once I had gotten used to the taste.
I opened the front door, and noticed that there was ice on the roads. It looked like all the snow from yesterday melted and froze over again. Great. It would be embarrassing to survive monsters and then get killed by black ice. I was getting into the car when I noticed something reflect light. I took a closer look. There were snow chains on my tires.
Oh Dad. You must have woken up early to put them on. Thank you.
I got into the truck and turned the key in the ignition. The engine came to life. Thank goodness. Driving to school, I opened one of the windows and welcomed the blast of cold air into the cab. Going down Bachman Road, I could see the waves crashing against the shoreline. It looked dangerous and beautiful.
I turned onto the school parking lot and immediately noticed a Volvo. Huh. It must be Edward Cullen's.
Thinking Edward Cullen's name brought up an odd mixture of emotions in me. On one hand, I was flattered and embarrassed that such a gorgeous guy was talking to me. Sure, we were just lab partners, but in Phoenix, nobody higher on the social food chain talked to me. (Although, now that I thought about it, a lot of the students here were really nice to me even though they didn't have to be. It was really odd.) But on the other hand, there was something frightening about Edward Cullen. He made me nervous and not in the good way, and I just couldn't shake off this feeling that…
I got out of the car, still deep in thought, when I heard a curious noise.
It was a high sounding squeak. It sounded unlike anything I have heard previously in Silent Hill (which was saying a lot), and at first I couldn't place it. But it sounded like… car brakes.
I looked up and saw a van heading straight at me, sliding on black ice.
Public Service Announcement: In this chapter, Bella poured and almost touched strong acid without any safety equipment. However, dear readers, if you were to handle any type of acid of any concentration, please wear at least gloves and goggles prior to handling. Thank you!
A/N 1: I apologize for following so closely with Silent Hill 1's plot so far. Now that we're out of the elementary school, however things will start diverging.
A/N 2: Also, contrary to what has been shown so far, heavy amounts of snowfall is not related to the "turning of worlds", so to speak. That's just been a coincidence.
A/N 3: Remember the oddly shaped key. It'll come into play in the very far-off future.