Chapter 15: Sweet Dreams of Bitter Hell
By X-treme X-taggano (backfire@subdimension.com)

It was a while before I had regained consciousness . . . at least, it seemed like it. I slowly opened my eyes, only to realizing that it made little difference to improve my vision. It was still pitch black. I wanted to turn my flashlight back on and find out where I had ended up, but I had too much on my mind. I realized that now reality had become hell . . . that there was no turning back.

No returning to the real world.

And as that reality started to sink in on me, I began quivering with fear. I was stranded here in hell. I couldn't go back . . . and that thought absolutely terrified me. All I prayed for was that Cheryl could be saved from the same fate I was already suffering.

I reached for the flashlight with my right hand and found the switch. I flipped it on and my surroundings were suddenly illuminated. Rain was still falling from the sky . . . and I was standing next to some sort of carousal. The floor beneath me was still made of chain links that were suspended over a huge black void. It took me almost no time at all to realize I had gone all the way to the center of the of the carnival. I looked around, realizing that the rides were still fully operational. I could only see two of them, but they were running just fine. The rides were all destroyed with age, however. The paint was coming off and the various animals the children ride on were falling apart. Lighthearted carnival music was blaring from the ride next to me . . . which didn't seem to fit the current situation at all. This was a carnival . . . but certainly wasn't the type one would take their children to.

I looked closer at the carousal, however. I gasped, realizing that there were children riding it. But they were all dead. I couldn't get a very good glimpse at them, but all I could see was the blood running down their faces and their completely decadent stare.

Horrible . . .

I looked passed all the rides into the darkness. I noticed a yellow snack bar near it and a barbed wire fence nearby . . . covered with blood. No surprise there. I looked away from it, however, and slowly started to notice the outline of something else in the distance. Maybe it was another ride or something . . . but whatever it was, it stuck out. I started to walk towards it, trying to forget about the dead children on the ride. As I slowly approached it, I realized it was a much larger ride then any of the others. As I closed in on it, I started to see the outline of a fence and some stairs leading up.

Another carousal!

It was larger then the other one I had seen. I ran up to it as quickly as I could. It seemed significant somehow. It was this feeling that this was where I was supposed to go. That was definitely what I felt as I stood in front of the gate and opened it up. To my left was the operators both. No one was inside, however. I guessed this was a free ride for me. I climbed the stairs and stepped onto the metal floor. A fairly normal circus attraction . . . compared to the rest of them, at least. I looked at each model horse, making sure there were no dead children riding them.

I suddenly leapt back as I realized someone was riding it. I looked into the darkness. Whoever it was certainly seemed dead. But then again, truth is more than meets the eye . . . a lesson I've learned by this encounter. I walked up to the figure slowly. I suddenly screamed as I realized who it was.

Cybil.

She stared into the sky with a vacant look. I was convinced she was dead for a moment . . . but then her head moved. She looked in my general direction, although it seemed she was staring at something behind me . . . like she couldn't focus on me. She slowly got to her feet, still seeming very distant. She started to stagger towards me, and for a minute, I wondered if she was seriously wounded.

I gasped as I realized her eyes were blood red.

She was infested. She was fucking infested. That was all there was to it. There was nothing I could do about it. As she continued to stumble my way, I felt an empty feeling in my gut . . . like I had lost everything. I didn't know if I could save her now . . . but that wasn't the only thing that was important. I didn't know if I could save myself.

Cybil then pulled out her gun and pointed it at me.

I dived out of the way of the bullet, but she didn't stop. She fired three more rounds at me. My pulse was racing as I started to hide behind the various animals on the carousal. I started to breathe heavily . . . because I didn't want to kill Cybil, but I didn't want to die either. Maybe Cybil was already dead. Maybe killing her would be . . . a favor, perhaps. Or maybe she was doing this against her will.

No matter what the case was, I had to survive. I reached into my pocket, hoping to find my gun. I groaned heavily, realizing what had to be done. I loved Cybil, yes . . . but I loved Cheryl more. I searched through my pocket with my hand, but didn't find anything it.

I suddenly took my hand out. Something was burning me! I stared at my index finger, realizing there was some red substance spilled on it.. I wiped it off on my jacket quickly. What did this come from? I reached into my pocket, searching for the the source of this liquid.

I found a water bottle in my pocket.

It was that drug Kaufmann had been hiding! Maybe I could knock Cybil out with this . . . maybe long enough to save her. I took a quick peek towards her and was greeted promptly with a bullet flying my direction. I quickly pulled back. I listened carefully, realizing Cybil was reloading her gun. Now was my chance . . . I had to use this.

I dove out from behind my cover and flung the substance out on her. I heard her scream as she held her stomach. She started to fall slowly after she dropped her weapon on the floor. She then moaned and collapsed.

"H-Harry . . ."

I then noticed a parasite on her back. It started to come off . . . and tried to slither away. I ran up to it and stomped on it. It's thick, black blood flew everywhere. I growled at it. Good riddance, you piece of shit. I looked away from the parasite and ran to Cybil's side.

"Cybil!" I yelled, shaking her body. "Snap out of it! Wake up!"

I held her close to my body, weeping openly. I pleaded for her to wake up . . . but she didn't. I ran my fingers through her hair as I called her name again. Was she dead? Had I killed her? Not just a human being . . . she was my friend. And her she was, bleeding in my arms. I hung my head. I had lost . . .

"Cybil, I'm sorry!" I started to plea. "I didn't mean to! I could never hurt you . . . " I closed my eyes again, trying to hold back my tears, but they kept coming. I was worthless . . . useless. I couldn't defend the people loved . . . I couldn't even find my own god damned daughter.

I stared at her longer. I suddenly noticed how she moved a bit. I looked into her closed eyes again.

"Cybil?!" I asked.

I stared at her face hoping something would happen. I then realized her eyes were slowly opening. "H-Harry?" she asked.

And an overwhelming amount of joy rushed through my body. I held her so close I was afraid I might suffocate her she was still alive. I kept telling her I was sorry over and over again and continued to soak her shirt with my own tears.

I pulled her away from me for a moment to let her breathe. "Harry . . . you're all right . . ." she said weakly.

"Me?!" I gasped. "But what about you?"

Cybil looked at the floor. "I . . . I don't know what happened," she explained. "I felt like I was in a void . . . almost like I had gone to hell." She stared into my eyes. "D-did I die?"

I smiled, more tears running down my face. "Oh, no . . ." I said, embracing her again. "No . . . I didn't let you."

I helped her to her feet. She was able to walk just fine. It was a good thing I had used that drug on her. I didn't know what it was, but it had extracted the demon from her and she was doing all right. Thank God for that. We started to walk towards the exit, ready to find out what forces were doing this to me . . .

To put an end to this nightmare.

"Harry . . . " Cybil asked, standing to me. "Why did they take your daughter?"

I looked back at her. "I don't know . . . but . . ." I paused. This was something I had never told anyone else . . . but I figured I needed to tell someone or I would lose my sanity. "Cheryl isn't my real daughter."

Cybil gasped. "Not you're real daughter?" she asked.

I shook my head. "No . . . she's not. I actually haven't told her yet," I admitted. "You see, my wife and I were driving home from our vacation. We then saw something on the side of the road. It was a little girl." I smiled, remembering how happy I was to find her there.

Cybil continued to walk by my side. "Go on . . ." she said.

"Well, we didn't have any kids of our own and my wife was sick. She was infected by some sort of plague that she caught in this town . . . and she wasn't getting any better," I explained. "So we brought her in."

Cybil looked ahead once again. "So that means . . ."

I nodded my head. "There's probably some connection between Cheryl and this town."

"So what are you going to do?" Cybil asked me.

I looked ahead, more determined then ever. "Cheryl's my daughter. Nothing will change that. I don't care if I found her or if she was my own daughter . . ." I clenched my fists. "I'll find her no matter what."

We both stepped off of the carousal and back into the amusement park. I left with that feeling in my gut . . . like I had done the right thing. I would save Cheryl. I had gone through hell to find her . . . and I wasn't about to stop now.

I suddenly noticed a figure standing in the distance. Cybil suddenly took a step back. "Harry, there's someone there . . ." she gasped.

But I knew exactly who it was and I wasn't afraid. Cybil started to draw her gun, but I raised my hand.

"Don't shoot her," I explained. "Stay here . . . I don't want you getting hurt."

Cybil nodded uneasily as I looked away from her and started to approach the figure. I felt almost as if I were in a trance . . . slowly walking towards her. I knew my purpose . . . and hers.

Alessa.

"I figured you show up here," I said to her, still a fair distance away. "Hold it right there . . . I don't know what you're doing and I don't care. All I ask of you is this . . . give me back my daughter."

Alessa stared at me. She did remind me an awful lot of Cheryl . . . but older. Alessa stood there, a blank look remaining on her face. I was getting impatient and started to walk towards her.

But she slowly raised her hand. I gasped as some force knocked me on my back. I looked up, realizing she was still standing there, perfectly still. I got back to my feet and started to run towards her. But I ran into something that I couldn't see with my eyes. I looked in front of me, realizing there was nothing that was holding me back. What did I just run into?

The girl smiled and started to walk away. I growled as I raised my hand, but nothing came out of my mouth. I had to stop her. She was the one I needed in order to stop all this.

Suddenly, I noticed something glowing in my coat pocket. I quickly reached into it and pulled out . . . the Flauros! The pyramid shaped object shined brightly and started to float out of my hand into the sky. Alessa suddenly turned around and stared at the object with pure horror.

And then a beam of light shot out of the Flauros, striking her to the ground. I heard her scream in agony . . . and then she quivered as she lay helpless on the floor.

I approached her slowly. "Where's Cheryl?!" I demanded. "What the hell have you done with her?!"

As Alessa continued to try and speak, I noticed another figured emerging from the darkness. The person started to approach Alessa, who was helplessly lying on the floor.

I gasped, realizing it was Dahlia.

"Well well . . . we meet at last, Alessa," she said to the girl. "So you thought you could escape this time."

Alessa gasped as she stared up at Dahlia. "M-mama!" she yelped.

Mama? Could Dahlia be Alessa's . . . mother? How could that be? Alessa was surely no more than fourteen years old and Dahlia was well past sixty.

Dahlia smiled. "You've been a ghastly little pest, haven't you Alessa? Conjuring up this whole world with your dark half . . . very impressive," she explained.

Conjuring this hell? But this felt too real. Maybe it was at one time, but had spread over into the real world. That was what I had guessed Alessa was using to spread the infection into the real world.

"You thought that just because you contained half of the dark soul that you could keep your free will? I bet you didn't count on me using the Flauros now, did you?" Dahlia continued. "All I had to do was use this to tap into the other side of town. I just had to get this close to you . . . and it's all because of him . . . your father."

"Father?!" I yelled. "What the hell are you talking about?!"

Dahlia smiled. "All I needed was him to get you trapped in a corner and then capture you. It was all quite the plan, was it not?" she explained. She then looked at me.

"Plan?!" I asked. "Where am I?"

"This is a conjured world Alessa was using to hide from me," Dahlia said. "You see, the followers of Samael and I knew that our God's soul was locked away within this city. So we decided to conjure that soul into a child so that we could control him. But that child, Alessa, was a lot more trouble then we could have ever suspected. We couldn't talk her into our plans . . . so we locked her in her room and burned my house down."

"You burned down the house?!" I asked, almost screaming. "What kind of sick fuck are you?!"

"One who needed to have her cult's plan moving forward," she sneered. "Alessa was left unconscious . . . but all at once, her power flared. The dark soul within her was complete. I needed her power now . . . but my daughter was smarted then I would have guessed. She created this world to hide from me. I guess you were lucky to find her, eh?" She laughed.

"Lucky?" I asked. "So that cult was yours . . . you were the one burned down half the city! Just so you can try and turn the world into a living hell?"

Dahlia's smile left her face promptly. "You say that as if it were all easy! Conjuring a child so that she would help us control the world . . . all hard work," she said, trying to convince me that her intentions were honorable. "The only reason Alessa was created was so we could control the dark soul. She has no other point in life!"

Dahlia had control over the cult . . . that was for sure. I was starting to think, in fact, that maybe the cult had a big influence on the rest of the city. But how could they? What could possibly make so many people . . .

Then it hit me. Drugs. No doubt in my mind . . . Dahlia was part of the drug dealing, and her cult made their money through them. Kaufmann had played a big part in the drug dealing, that was for sure. So maybe Kaufmann was part of the cult himself. He was, after all, head of the hospital staff . . .

Which could help them hide Alessa in the basement.

I started to feel ill as it started to make sense. Alessa was being hidden in the basement of Kaufmann's hospital. Alessa had to be kept alive in secret so they could continue their dirty work in controlling Samael. These were sick people who had the whole town in the palm of their hand . . . and no one knew about it.

"All I had to do was get the Flauros close enough to her so I could capture her," Dahlia continued. "But my daughter here was able to sense my presence in her world. So I had to bring someone who she loved into the conjured world and get close enough to her."

And it all made sense. Dahlia had been using me to capture Alessa this whole time. She wasn't the villain . . . I was. I had the one hope of finding my daughter and Dahlia used that to her advantage. Alessa was using this hell of a world to scare me . . . to keep me from finding her. And everything here had been what I was afraid of. Afraid of being alone . . . afraid of death . . . afraid of . . . of . . .

Hell.

But why did Dahlia mention that I was someone Alessa loved? I had never met Alessa before . . . I hadn't even seen her before. There was something deeper going on that I wasn't aware of. Something I had to find out in order to leave this conjured world.

Dahlia looked at Alessa. "He doesn't get it. Well, it's almost time," she said distantly. "Let's go home now, okay sweety?"

I leapt back as a huge void started to open up around then and they disappeared into it. I felt myself going with them . . . leaving Alessa's nightmare. All the world started to blacken out around me. I started to panic as my world crumbled apart around me.

And like I was awaking from a dream, the world slowly came back to me.

I woke up in the dark hospital with Lisa hovering over me.