I do not own Silent Hill. It belongs to Konami.

CHAPTER 04 – FIRST FORGIVER

As they left the residential area of Silent Hill and entered downtown, Mary couldn't avoid noticing the darkened sky and the creepy atmosphere looming all over the town. She knew it was mirroring Josh's current feelings towards Alex and figured out changing it wouldn't be an easy task. She could just hope his state of mind wouldn't materialize itself into the shape of any monsters as none of them had weapons on them.

"Aunt Mary," Josh called, the woman looking down at him. "You said back there you died long ago. How did it happened?" he asked, still rancorous, nonetheless curious about the situation.

His aunt frowned a bit. Eventually he would have brought out that question, so she was prepared. Even so, bringing such sore memories back was never a pleasant thing. She took a deep breath.

"I was very ill, and the man I loved put an end to my suffering." She sadly spoke.

Josh found himself surprised. He had heard it right? A trusted one took out her life? Just like Alex did to him.

"So that means you were killed by..." he said, widened eyes to her.

"Yes, he was my husband." She nodded.

"So everything going on now, it happened before?" he asked, getting more surprised.

"Exactly. Even if he just wanted to finish my pain, I still got angry with him at first. Just like you, I couldn't accept it, I wanted him to pay for that, even if he was already suffering a great deal from his deed. Only later, when I understood his motive, I brought myself to forgive him."

"But if you've already forgiven him, why are you still here? Shouldn't you be resting in peace then?" he questioned, recalling Ernest's words.

"...When I came to realize, his suffering was already unbearable. Before I could finally forgive him, he..." Mary paused a little, feeling an urge to cry, although managing to recompose herself. "He took his own life out of despair. I never wished for that to happen. And because of it, I'm truly regretful."

The boy's face displayed a shocked expression. She really wasn't kidding when she said she understood what he was feeling.

She proceeded. "Because of that, my own soul filled up with guilt. I may have forgiven him, but I couldn't forgive myself for my mistake, so my soul can't rest in peace. Until I do, I'm bound to this town. That's why I'm trying to keep you from committing the same mistake." She explained, hoping it might convince her nephew.

Josh couldn't help but sympathize with his aunt. Her words rang so deep within that even him, despite being a 9-years-old, could understand some of her feelings. He felt genuinely sorry for her. Maybe she was right, maybe he should stop this vengeance issue...

'No, no,' a voice inside his mind denied. 'You can't forgive Alex. Not after what he did. Your aunt's husband regretted killing. Alex didn't. He must be right now receiving all the attention you're supposed to get.' Josh didn't know exactly whose voice was that, yet it sounded really convincing. 'And more, she had pushed too far. You don't need to kill Alex, but make him suffer enough to atone for your death.' It continued.

The voice was right, he deserved to have his vengeance.

"Are we there yet?" the boy said, just shoving off what his aunt told him and deciding to stick to his decision.

Mary sighed. For a moment, she thought she could convince him, however as previously stated, it wouldn't be an easy task.

"It's right there." She pointed at a lodging complex in front of them. It was surrounded by walls, with a parking lot at front and multiple doors leading to the guest rooms. At the entrance, a sign read 'Riverside Motel'. Luckily Josh was too young to understand what people normally did in those places.

As they entered, they headed straight to the room labeled 500. The boy couldn't explain, but he felt an eerie sensation while approaching the door, just like the one he felt in the amusement park's merry-go-round. He wasn't willing to go in there; even so did it anyway when Mary opened the door.

The room was dark, still a figure could be distinguished inside it. Slowly his eyes got used to the darkness, so he could see its features. Soon he wished he hadn't: on the floor, its blood long coagulated, lay a dead creature, so horrifying it was hard even to describe it. It looked like a bulky teethed-head, fused to the wall, with some tentacles hanging on the sides. Before Josh asked what the heck was that, he heard Mary's voice.

"Hello, Richard." She greeted, gazing up at the ceiling. The boy noticed it and gazed up too. To his surprise, there was a man hanging by the neck from there. And more surprisingly, he lowered his head towards them.

"Hello, Mary," he greeted back, noticing Josh with her. "Who's the boy?"

"Another one who had the same fate as us, unfortunately. This is my nephew, Joshua." She introduced.

"Nice to meet you, Joshua. The name's Richard Grady". His appearance was of a middle-aged man, wearing glasses and a suit, thin brown hair, with mustache and beard.

"Uh nice to meet you too," the boy said, his voice faulting a little. Naturally he was perplexed at the sight of a hanged man chatting like nothing was happening. "Sir, are you okay up there?"

Richard chuckled at the remark. "I'm perfectly fine here, Joshua. After all, I passed away long time ago."

Of course, at this point, that kind of revelation wouldn't have impressed Josh anymore.

"So you're dead too, like me and Aunt Mary?" the boy asked, although the answer was quite obvious. Mary however answered for the older man anyway.

"Exactly. And that's the reason why I came here," she said, turning to the hanged man. "Richard, would you mind telling him how did you end up there?"

"I'd be glad to. I've been here for so long, any distraction is certainly welcome..." he paused for a bit and resumed. "I used to have a typical life: wife, son, job... until my beloved Helen started getting delirious. She spoke of devils, people living inside the mirrors, stuff like that. I could handle it, but when she attempted to kill our son, I had no choice except sending her to a sanitarium. I hoped she would get better, but quite the opposite happened: she got more and more insane. Raising alone a child and losing my wife like that was taking its toll on me. One day, returning from my visit to the sanitarium, I concluded I simply couldn't take it anymore, thus I hanged myself in this very room you stand right now." Richard painfully closed his eyes, before continuing to talk.

"After my death, I believed I could finally have some peace of mind. However, as I came to know later, my son felt responsible for my death, and because of that, my soul remained bound to this town. Eventually, he returned to Silent Hill and that would have been my chance of telling him to not blame himself, that I had forgiven him. But his feelings of guilt were simply too strong, what led to the creation of the monster you see right there." Josh's eyes darted to the aforementioned monster, which he had almost forgotten about, with everything going on.

"But you did manage to tell him you had forgiven him, right?" Mary asked.

"I did, but the problem was that I couldn't forgive myself. As I also came to know later, that my son had lived a wretched existence after my death, culminating in becoming a murderer. Newspapers even gave him a name: 'The Butcher'." The word 'murderer' seemed to have shocked Josh a little, a hint of dread coming to his face; he continued to listen nevertheless. "All because there was no one left to take care of him. All because I had chosen the easier path and abandoned him..." the hanged man sadly admitted.

"Now until I can atone for this guilt, I shall remain here, in this very same room, in this very same position it all started. I can only wait for the day I can truly forgive myself for what my son had gone through." He finished.

Mary had already heard his story many times, however she still frowned at that. His past and hers differentiated in some aspects, but they all shared the same reason for being here: an overwhelming feeling of guilt for what they did to their loved ones. A feeling they hoped they could atone for, in the purgatory named Silent Hill.

Josh now had a thoughtful expression, as he was processing what's been told. His aunt noticed it and decided it was time to talk to him, alone. "Thanks, Richard. I sincerely hope you reach your peace someday." She parted.

"Thank you. So do you, Mary." He replied, staring at their retreating backs. Next, both aunt and nephew left the room.

As they walked to the exit, the boy pondered in his mind: Mr. Grady just reinforced what his aunt had told him. Perhaps forgiving would be for the best. What if he ended up feeling the same guilt for hurting his brother? Would he become indefinitely bound to this town like him? He seemed to be here for a really long time...

'Bullshit!' shouted that same unknown voice in his mind. 'That man talked of forgiveness, but there was actually nothing to forgive. His son was never to blame, he had nothing to do with what happened to that old man. On the other side, Alex did. He was the one who killed you. You can't compare Alex to that man's son.' The voice argued.

Whoever that voice belonged to, it was right once again, his vengeance was rightful.

"Josh," she called, breaking him from his inner talk. "Are you ready to forgive your brother now, after all Robert had said?" she calmly asked.

The boy frowned, still resented with his sad fate. "No, I'm still angry with him. He must pay."

After all it had been told, his mind didn't change. She sighed, although not in defeat. Her resources hadn't been exhausted yet.

"All right, sweetie. Let's go somewhere else, okay?" she said, taking him to meet the next forgiver.

I'm considering SH2 'In Water' ending as canon in this fanfic.

Who's the next earthbound soul they will meet? Find it on the next chapter.

Please review and tell me what you thought of it so far.