Hello everyone,
Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it.
I took great pains to make sure the information within this story lines up properly with the cannon of the Silent Hill game universe. Granted many details surrounding the nature of the Silent Hill world are still hotly debated among devoted fans of the series. The basic understanding of the town and its haunted forms, as presented in this story, represents the most widely accepted view. However certain issues surrounding the specific nature of the "darkness" that haunts the land (where it came from why it's there) it's mechanics (how it works, what are the rules it operates by), the cult that operates within the town, and it's deity, are not openly addressed. This was done on purpose with the idea that "less is more." Spending too much time delving into the "how" and over explaining the details of the realm would just serve to "de-mystify" it.
With that said I will provide an insight into the story I have written. This will attempt to help answer and address lingering questions about the town and the characters in my story.
SIDENOTE: I incorporated a lot of symbolism in my story, via dialogue and description. Those familiar with Judeo/Christian theologies, might recognize some of the imagery and symbolism. Some of you may recognize the philosophical issues James contemplates and the internal dialogues he has with himself, they are well known iconic arguments of morality and truth, that philosophers and religious leaders have furiously batted around for centuries. And some of you may recognize the signs of psychological disorders and the tell tale signs of 'psychosis' inherent within James and many of the characters. Mental illness is a vastly growing epidemic in modern society, and it's vague inclusion seems wholly appropriate in my story.
Answers to common questions about the storyline.
Silent Hill is a fictional town, that exists somewhere in Maine (in consistency with the series canon). It houses roughly 30,000 residents, and though it's tourism has slowed down considerably over the years, it was once a well-traveled sleepy resort town. The place where the events of the Silent Hill games takes place is a type of dimension or spirit world that exists in two varying forms which can oscillate back and forth depending on the circumstance and the person experiencing it.
The primary form is the misty realm inhabited by spirits and is known as "Fog World or Other World". Fog World seems an eerie mirror reflection of the real town of Silent Hill, and though it isn't inherently evil or hostile it can still be quite dangerous to those who enter it unprepared. The secondary form is the insane horrifying realm known as "nowhere", or "nightmare world" and can best be described as a nightmare gone insane. This form of Silent Hill is exceedingly dangerous, and terrifying.
The place where James becomes lost in, and where almost the entirety of the story takes place, is this very same spirit realm where your memories, thoughts, feelings, regrets and guilt all come alive. Therefore this place will appear differently to each person. Those who enter the realm tainted by their own sins or holding on to intense pain and guilt will find themselves drowning in the dark hellish world that begins to surround them.
What they see and what happens to them is determined by the memories, feelings, regrets etc. that get reflected back. There are also some things that exist inside the realm that may actually call to people they have a knowledge of. The way I choose to interpret it within my story was that something inside the "Otherworld" remembered James and Mary because of their connection with the town so many years ago, and when James drove to the town in a psychotic episode thinking Mary may still be alive, the "Otherworld" opened up and swallowed him.
The tell-tale sign of being sucked into the haunted Silent Hill realm is the mist and fog. As far back as the history of the town goes, the mist and fog have always been a sign of the "other realm" and the natives always associated it with the spirits who live in the valley. In a sense they are the first sign that you could be in a really bad situation. So James entered into the alternate realm sometime either before pulling into the rest stop at the beginning or on the trail he walked to get into Silent Hill as the fog poured in around him.
As for Maria, she was basically a spirit or demon from the spirit realm who appeared in a form based on James's intense desire to see his wife again. In fact all the creatures and monsters James saw during the story were actually demons or spirits; they weren't illusions, they were very real but they simply assumed the form his mind, feelings and memories choose for him. In this case, Maria was given form based on James's idealized concept of how the perfect Mary would be... sexy, bold, aggressive, utterly worshipful of him etc...
Maria started off as a sweet innocent character in the story, but her personality later became warped by James's other memories of Mary -the one's he had twisted to sub-consciously justify his act of murder. His reinvention of truth painted his crime as something Mary had pushed him to, something that she actually wanted, and therefore it wasn't his fault. If you noticed, Maria became more and more sarcastic, possessive, and showed signs of passive aggression towards James as the story went along. This was also the result of his attempt to falsely view Mary as a hateful bitch that he had to hide away in the back bedroom. As a result Maria began to manifest those traits as a result.
When Maria was first created, most likely as James was walking towards the town, her new form completely consumed whatever she once was (demon spirit, ghost etc). Therefore she only had memories and understandings that the "idealized version of Mary" would have, because of this she had no knowledge of anything outside of being Maria. It's possible she may have been the consciousness that had remembered James and summoned him here in the first place, for the purpose of becoming his "perfect Mary". Of course Maria would have no knowledge of this because becoming Maria would completely consume and overwrite whatever she once was.
During the story Maria spent much of her time away from James, struggling to understand everything about the realm and her true nature. I know I didn't explore much of this, but I didn't want to reveal too much about the ending. For those unfamiliar with the story, it would loose it's effect and shock value if I had dropped continuous hints and revelations throughout. Plus I wanted it to be Mary and James's story, so I focused everything entirely from his perspective. That's why I choose to keep Maria's self exploration and keep the nature of her existence a secret till the end.
By the time the ending began, Maria had nearly gained a full knowledge about what was really going on and about her true nature. In the end Maria was consumed by her obsessive desire for James and wanted him for herself. The only way she would get that was if she kept James from leaving the realm and the only way to do that was to keep him confused and in denial, and not let him reconcile with Mary's spirit. When James ultimately rejected her, the final stage of her personality was revealed, she became enraged and violent (just as James envisioned Mary being), and morphed into a demonic form and tried to kill him.
Maria was a tragic figure, but not one that was innocent or blameless. She was a willing participant in tormenting James, and she worked continuously to confuse him and keep him from defeating the darkness in Silent Hill. Though James killed her, he didn't hate her. He just realized that she had become dangerous and would never willingly permit him to leave the "Otherworld". Despite her pleadings and her intense desire for him to love her, he had to make the nightmare end.
I didn't expressly tell you in the story, but Laura is a runaway from a foster home. In my story, Laura had met Mary and James during a prolonged stay at the same hospital Mary was being treated at. But James doesn't remember her, because of his psychotic state and the darkness fogging his mind.
Eddie the young guy that James killed in the prison, was running from the cops after he shot someone. He was working as a janitor in the same elementary school Laura attended. He was hiding at the school where he worked when Laura found him . When he told her he was going to runaway, Laura suggested that they both should go to Silent Hill, because that's where she thought Mary had gone.
Eddie also had an unknown but strong connection with Silent Hill, and he became trapped in the "Otherworld" too. Laura was also drawn into the spirit realm because of her connection to Mary and James, and her association with Eddie (they both drove there together). However, Eddies Silent Hill was far different than Laura's. Eddie was tormented by demons and monsters just like James and Angela, but Laura experienced a fairly pleasant and warm version of Silent Hill because of her innocence and pure heart. Which is why she's often confused by James when he asks her why she's alone, and how come she's not afraid of the dark. Laura never saw the twisted demonic things that the others did. Instead Laura was led on a constant wild-goose chase brought to life from her desire to find Mary, because that's what she desperately wanted deep inside.
In my story, the character Ernest was once a man who lived in the real town of Silent Hill. He was a Pastor who developed a violent temper after his wife died for some unknown reason. Then a few years later his daughter died in a tragic accident falling from the attic window in their house. It was widely whispered that Ernest's temper was responsible for both deaths. Following his daughters death, Ernest began to unravel and began to isolate himself within his house, locking himself inside the second story study for weeks at a time. There he slowly went insane, and something inside of the "Otherworld" began to call to him. Rather than face his demons, and confront the truth of what he had done, he like James choose suicide. Only in his case there wasn't someone else there to step in and intervene for him.
Mary, was real. James had summoned her spirit when he entered the Otherworld. She followed his call and remembered his promise to take her back (to Silent Hill) again. And she waited for him in the Otherworld's Lakeview Hotel, but Maria and the darkness kept her hidden until James was able to overcome both. In the end Mary was able to tell James everything she had wanted to say, and James was able to reconcile with her and thus let go, which is what ultimately freed him from the Otherworld.
In the end Mary proved that James's perceptions of her were wrong. That she wasn't hateful, vindictive, or some kind of monster. That everything that James had convinced himself about her to make him feel justified in murdering her was flawed. That she was only angry and hurt because of her fear of dying and the way James withdrew from her the sicker she got. At the end she didn't care that he had murdered her, she was going to die soon enough anyway. She was only hurt because his act of violence against her was the ultimate rejection. The one thing that said more than anything else could "I hate you! I want you out of my way! I want my life back!".
But Mary ultimately forgave him, and took pity of his plight and suffering. His journey to get to her showed Mary how much he truly loved her, and how sorry he was for betraying her.
