Gray wasn't particularly surprised to discover that the school had the same layout
as his. However, the place was filthy and abandoned, as if decades had passed without
anyone ever visiting. Brown bottles lay broken and glittering in the corners, and smaller,
cylindrical pill bottles were in the rubble.
"Well," he said, "at least we won't need a map. This is my school."
"That must mean that you're the one the town wants," Julia said. "I at least know
enough about the game to know what Silent Hill does. But…why is it here?"
"I'm not entirely sure," he said. "Maybe…and I say maybe…Silent Hill was real
all along. Maybe it exists deep within the pits of hell, just waiting to arise for the right
person. Perhaps one of the makers of the game knew this, or maybe the town even
decided to pay him a visit. I'm not sure."
"But then why…"
"Let's go," Gray interrupted. He crumpled up the paper and threw it on the
ground. "If we want to get out of here we can't wait for anything."
They were currently in a decrepit foyer area, with two long halls splitting off to
the left and right on the foyer. Gray took the hall to the right.
"Where to you think we should go?" Julia asked.
"Well, I guess that a big room would be our best bet," he said. "I don't really
want to know what Silent Hill can do to a cafeteria, so the auditorium is first."
Squish…squish…
"Not again…" Gray sighed. He pulled Julia into one of the alcoves where the
classroom doors rested. "Be quiet."
Slowly, the Paperface came into view, clutching its knife. It momentarily glanced
at the alcove, then walked on. Gray came out of hiding and shot it in the back of the
head. Without a sound, it fell.
"You're getting used to this, aren't you?" Julia said. She glanced down at the
knife. "I wouldn't be able to do that…those monsters look too much like people for me
to kill them."
Gray didn't respond, he just scoffed. He walked two more doors down and tried a
large set of double doors. "Good, it's open."
He swung then open and they looked inside. The large auditorium, like the rest of
the school, was falling apart – the seats were either dismembered or wholly gone, and
water dripped from the ceiling out of nasty, broken pipes. However, one light was still
on – and it was illuminating something on the stage. Gray ran over to it and saw what the
thing was. It was another message:
ROOM 1134
"I guess that's where we need to…" He trailed off as more writing appeared on
the paper.
RUN AWAY
"Run away…?" Gray said. This time, the words SCREAMED across the paper.
RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY! RUN
AWAY! RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY!
Gray could now hear something – some thick, inhuman slurping sound coming
from backstage.
He turned to Julia, who was still in the doorway. "Run!!" he screamed. "Go! Go!
GO!!!"
Eyes wide, Julia exited the room. Gray sprinted across the auditorium, sparing
one look back to see that countless slithering line of blood were chasing him at incredible
speed. The blood had already devoured half of the auditorium. Running as fast as he
could, Gray leaped through the doors just before they slammed shut.
"Gray, what was that?" Julia asked in hushed tones.
"A warning," Gray panted. "This town isn't playing with us anymore. It means
to kill us right here. And that means it can spring these little traps on us no matter where
we are."
"Did you find anything on that stage?"
"Yeah. It told me to go to room 1134. It also warned me about what just
happened in there."
"The message warned you?"
"Uh-huh. Whoever's doing this might be a resident of this town, for all I know."
He kicked one of the brown bottles out of the way.
"What are those?" Julia asked.
"Not a clue," Gray answered quickly. "Come on, 1134 is on the third floor.
We'll take the stairs. Elevators are bad news in Silent Hill, believe me."
Gray led Julia down the halls, taking a left, then a right. Through it all Julia saw
numerous bottles – they were scattered everywhere, and some were shattered. Also, the
place stank. It smelled like rubbing alcohol.
"Here we are." Gray pushed open another door. Inside the stairwell there were no
bottles – only a dimly flickering light at the very top of the steps. Julia had a moment to
wonder how this place still had electricity before Gray started climbing the steps.
Halfway up the third floor, he stared at the light and wondered the same thing.
The light flickered. Suddenly there was a figure standing there – something that
was too blurry to make out.
Flicker.
It was gone.
Flicker. It was standing there again, only this time it seemed to be much more in
focus. Gray recognized it and his eyes widened in horror.
Julia heard Gray whisper something that sounded like "Pier" before it happened.
Flicker.
It was standing right in front of him.
Gray screamed and jumped back, slamming into the wall. As soon as he did, it
was gone.
"What's wrong?" Julia said as she ran over to Gray.
"Didn't…didn't you see it?" Gray gasped.
"I didn't see anything…"
"Then that means that I must be…"
Gray cut off the sentence and stood up. "Never mind," he muttered. "We still
have somewhere to go."
They climbed the stairs and opened the door. In the halls there were even more
bottles – it was difficult to walk without stepping on one. Gray led her down the
hallways rather uneventfully until they stopped at one last door. Above it were the
numbers 1134.
"This is it," Gray said. He reached for the knob…
…but the knob started to turn on its own.
Gray's eyes widened as he pulled Julia back into another alcove, putting his hand
over her mouth to muffle her scream. After he was sure she'd be quiet, he released his
grip as they watched what had come out.
It was a Paperface, but it looked a lot different from the ones they had seen so far.
For one thing, it didn't have a knife. It was instead wearing what looked like a pair of
tough engineer gloves. It also had some sort of apron on its body, and looked a lot more
muscular than other Paperfaces. Like the other, it glanced at the alcove and actually
lifted the paper on its face a bit to get a better look, then moved on.
Gray got ready and whipped around the corned to blow the monster away – but it
was gone.
Gray lowered the pistol. "What just happened?" he said thoughtfully. "Monsters
shouldn't even have the brains to open doors…"
"Well, at least it went away," Julia said. She opened the door and went inside.
1134 seemed like a normal classroom. There were a set of watercolors and a
glass of water on one of the desks, showing that the place was an art room. The teachers
desk was vacant save for a small pad of paper on the desk.
"This place looks safe," Gray said. "Let's rest here for a while."
"Good idea," Julia agreed. She went over to the teacher's desk and picked up the
paper. There was something written on it:
(Mary said that that boy – Douglas Grayson I think his name was? – has been
acting much more aggressive around other children lately. He is usually calm, but in the
past day he has seemed especially snappish and irritable. Due to his antisocial behavior
and high levels of stress, I'm worried that this may end in violence. Of course, I don't
think he can be entirely blamed, especially after)
There the message abruptly stopped. Julia looked up and noticed that there was
also something written on the board:
DO YOU REALLY KNOW WHY YOU'RE HERE? OR ARE YOU JUST LYING TO
YOURSELF?
THE NEXT DOOR WILL SEE WHETHER OR NOT YOU CAN SURVIVE YOUR
OWN MIND. SUCCEED, AND YOU WILL HAVE TAKEN ONE STEP CLOSER TO
REDEMPTION.
THE TRUTH CAN ONLY BE LEARNED BY GOING FORWARD.
"Not this again," Gray said, reading the message. Who could be writing these?
Well, whatever." He sat down at the teacher's desk and, finding a pen in one of the
drawers, began tapping it on the desk.
"Gray…" Julia asked. "You don't have many friends, do you?"
"I don't have any, if it's any of your business," Gray said harshly.
"But why?"
Tap…tap…
"You really want to know? I'll tell you. To be honest, I don't like people.
People in general, that is to say. I hate all of their little faults, their constant complaining
and their bleeding hearts. Every time I look in the paper I see something else that makes
me sick. We're all just one big bowling ball rolling down into hell."
"We're not all like that, you know."
"I don't really care. It's always better to live on your own. Every time you try to
get to know someone, their faults turn around and slap you in the face. I've never run
into a situation that I couldn't pull through alone. Everyone betrays. Even the ones that
you thought were close to you."
Tap…tap..
"Like who?"
"Well, for one, my-"
THWACK!
Though Gray's expression didn't change, he had suddenly brought down the pen
hard enough to pierce the desk. It stood up like that, all on its own.
"It's none of your business," Gray said coolly. He got up and began to leave.
Julia followed.
"Gray…wait…!"
She screamed when they entered the hallway.
The floor had changed into metal grating, and the walls had become bloody, with
teddy bears and bottles staked or glued to the walls. There was an inhuman shrieking and
some horrible muttering in the background. The hall had straightened out somehow – it
only ran one way in either direction out of sight.
Squish…squish…
She turned to the left and saw a horrible monster coming towards them. It was
white and festering, with only a vague lump for a head and bloody, oozing sores all over
its flesh. It was also grotesquely fat, almost taking up the whole hallway. It gave off a
stench that made her retch – it smelled like fermented wine and ancient whisky combined
with the rotting smell of the grave. As she looked, it began to build up speed as it came
at them.
"Gray, let's run." No response. "Gray?"
She turned around and saw that Gray was having what looked like some sort of
seizure. His eyes weren't rolling up; they just stayed fixated on the monster and wide
open. They also looked like they were brimming with tears. He was making some sort
of gagging sound too.
"Ma…ma…"
"Yes, it's a monster, now let's get OUT OF HERE!" Julia smacked him across the
face; the sound stopped and he nodded. They began to run, the monster breaking into an
incredibly fast sprint for its size.
The run down that hall seemed to last forever. The teddy bears stared at them
blankly; the doors offered no refuge. The monster's slavering howls grew closer.
Finally, Julia's worst fear came true: They hit a dead end.
Julia scrabbled on the wall for purchase as Gray blankly stared at the beast that
was rapidly approaching. They were all going to die…
Screech. Screech.
What was that sound? Like a rusted wheel turning, or maybe a valve…
Suddenly, the grate that the monster was standing on collapsed. It fell, but it got
wedged between the walls – it was too fat. As Julia marveled at this, Gray soundlessly
stepped over the struggling demon and opened a door.
"Gray?"
Gray came out, dragging a sledgehammer that may have been used for
construction. His eyes were dreadful – they were dead and blank like a drug addict's.
"Gray…?"
He dragged the hammer with one arm behind him as it thumped on the grates.
Then he raised it and snarled:
"What…will it take…for you to STAY DEAD!?"
He brought the hammer down and it smashed into the monster's head. It uttered a
high, womanlike scream as he kept bringing down the hammer, screaming the words like
chant.
"What will it TAKE? What will it TAKE? What the hell will it TAKE!?"
Eventually, the hammer stopped falling. The monster was clearly dead – its blood
was spattered all over Gray's clothes. Gray stared at it for a long time. Then he dropped
the hammer and fell down to the ground, sobbing.
"What will it take…what will it take…"
as his. However, the place was filthy and abandoned, as if decades had passed without
anyone ever visiting. Brown bottles lay broken and glittering in the corners, and smaller,
cylindrical pill bottles were in the rubble.
"Well," he said, "at least we won't need a map. This is my school."
"That must mean that you're the one the town wants," Julia said. "I at least know
enough about the game to know what Silent Hill does. But…why is it here?"
"I'm not entirely sure," he said. "Maybe…and I say maybe…Silent Hill was real
all along. Maybe it exists deep within the pits of hell, just waiting to arise for the right
person. Perhaps one of the makers of the game knew this, or maybe the town even
decided to pay him a visit. I'm not sure."
"But then why…"
"Let's go," Gray interrupted. He crumpled up the paper and threw it on the
ground. "If we want to get out of here we can't wait for anything."
They were currently in a decrepit foyer area, with two long halls splitting off to
the left and right on the foyer. Gray took the hall to the right.
"Where to you think we should go?" Julia asked.
"Well, I guess that a big room would be our best bet," he said. "I don't really
want to know what Silent Hill can do to a cafeteria, so the auditorium is first."
Squish…squish…
"Not again…" Gray sighed. He pulled Julia into one of the alcoves where the
classroom doors rested. "Be quiet."
Slowly, the Paperface came into view, clutching its knife. It momentarily glanced
at the alcove, then walked on. Gray came out of hiding and shot it in the back of the
head. Without a sound, it fell.
"You're getting used to this, aren't you?" Julia said. She glanced down at the
knife. "I wouldn't be able to do that…those monsters look too much like people for me
to kill them."
Gray didn't respond, he just scoffed. He walked two more doors down and tried a
large set of double doors. "Good, it's open."
He swung then open and they looked inside. The large auditorium, like the rest of
the school, was falling apart – the seats were either dismembered or wholly gone, and
water dripped from the ceiling out of nasty, broken pipes. However, one light was still
on – and it was illuminating something on the stage. Gray ran over to it and saw what the
thing was. It was another message:
ROOM 1134
"I guess that's where we need to…" He trailed off as more writing appeared on
the paper.
RUN AWAY
"Run away…?" Gray said. This time, the words SCREAMED across the paper.
RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY! RUN
AWAY! RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY!
Gray could now hear something – some thick, inhuman slurping sound coming
from backstage.
He turned to Julia, who was still in the doorway. "Run!!" he screamed. "Go! Go!
GO!!!"
Eyes wide, Julia exited the room. Gray sprinted across the auditorium, sparing
one look back to see that countless slithering line of blood were chasing him at incredible
speed. The blood had already devoured half of the auditorium. Running as fast as he
could, Gray leaped through the doors just before they slammed shut.
"Gray, what was that?" Julia asked in hushed tones.
"A warning," Gray panted. "This town isn't playing with us anymore. It means
to kill us right here. And that means it can spring these little traps on us no matter where
we are."
"Did you find anything on that stage?"
"Yeah. It told me to go to room 1134. It also warned me about what just
happened in there."
"The message warned you?"
"Uh-huh. Whoever's doing this might be a resident of this town, for all I know."
He kicked one of the brown bottles out of the way.
"What are those?" Julia asked.
"Not a clue," Gray answered quickly. "Come on, 1134 is on the third floor.
We'll take the stairs. Elevators are bad news in Silent Hill, believe me."
Gray led Julia down the halls, taking a left, then a right. Through it all Julia saw
numerous bottles – they were scattered everywhere, and some were shattered. Also, the
place stank. It smelled like rubbing alcohol.
"Here we are." Gray pushed open another door. Inside the stairwell there were no
bottles – only a dimly flickering light at the very top of the steps. Julia had a moment to
wonder how this place still had electricity before Gray started climbing the steps.
Halfway up the third floor, he stared at the light and wondered the same thing.
The light flickered. Suddenly there was a figure standing there – something that
was too blurry to make out.
Flicker.
It was gone.
Flicker. It was standing there again, only this time it seemed to be much more in
focus. Gray recognized it and his eyes widened in horror.
Julia heard Gray whisper something that sounded like "Pier" before it happened.
Flicker.
It was standing right in front of him.
Gray screamed and jumped back, slamming into the wall. As soon as he did, it
was gone.
"What's wrong?" Julia said as she ran over to Gray.
"Didn't…didn't you see it?" Gray gasped.
"I didn't see anything…"
"Then that means that I must be…"
Gray cut off the sentence and stood up. "Never mind," he muttered. "We still
have somewhere to go."
They climbed the stairs and opened the door. In the halls there were even more
bottles – it was difficult to walk without stepping on one. Gray led her down the
hallways rather uneventfully until they stopped at one last door. Above it were the
numbers 1134.
"This is it," Gray said. He reached for the knob…
…but the knob started to turn on its own.
Gray's eyes widened as he pulled Julia back into another alcove, putting his hand
over her mouth to muffle her scream. After he was sure she'd be quiet, he released his
grip as they watched what had come out.
It was a Paperface, but it looked a lot different from the ones they had seen so far.
For one thing, it didn't have a knife. It was instead wearing what looked like a pair of
tough engineer gloves. It also had some sort of apron on its body, and looked a lot more
muscular than other Paperfaces. Like the other, it glanced at the alcove and actually
lifted the paper on its face a bit to get a better look, then moved on.
Gray got ready and whipped around the corned to blow the monster away – but it
was gone.
Gray lowered the pistol. "What just happened?" he said thoughtfully. "Monsters
shouldn't even have the brains to open doors…"
"Well, at least it went away," Julia said. She opened the door and went inside.
1134 seemed like a normal classroom. There were a set of watercolors and a
glass of water on one of the desks, showing that the place was an art room. The teachers
desk was vacant save for a small pad of paper on the desk.
"This place looks safe," Gray said. "Let's rest here for a while."
"Good idea," Julia agreed. She went over to the teacher's desk and picked up the
paper. There was something written on it:
(Mary said that that boy – Douglas Grayson I think his name was? – has been
acting much more aggressive around other children lately. He is usually calm, but in the
past day he has seemed especially snappish and irritable. Due to his antisocial behavior
and high levels of stress, I'm worried that this may end in violence. Of course, I don't
think he can be entirely blamed, especially after)
There the message abruptly stopped. Julia looked up and noticed that there was
also something written on the board:
DO YOU REALLY KNOW WHY YOU'RE HERE? OR ARE YOU JUST LYING TO
YOURSELF?
THE NEXT DOOR WILL SEE WHETHER OR NOT YOU CAN SURVIVE YOUR
OWN MIND. SUCCEED, AND YOU WILL HAVE TAKEN ONE STEP CLOSER TO
REDEMPTION.
THE TRUTH CAN ONLY BE LEARNED BY GOING FORWARD.
"Not this again," Gray said, reading the message. Who could be writing these?
Well, whatever." He sat down at the teacher's desk and, finding a pen in one of the
drawers, began tapping it on the desk.
"Gray…" Julia asked. "You don't have many friends, do you?"
"I don't have any, if it's any of your business," Gray said harshly.
"But why?"
Tap…tap…
"You really want to know? I'll tell you. To be honest, I don't like people.
People in general, that is to say. I hate all of their little faults, their constant complaining
and their bleeding hearts. Every time I look in the paper I see something else that makes
me sick. We're all just one big bowling ball rolling down into hell."
"We're not all like that, you know."
"I don't really care. It's always better to live on your own. Every time you try to
get to know someone, their faults turn around and slap you in the face. I've never run
into a situation that I couldn't pull through alone. Everyone betrays. Even the ones that
you thought were close to you."
Tap…tap..
"Like who?"
"Well, for one, my-"
THWACK!
Though Gray's expression didn't change, he had suddenly brought down the pen
hard enough to pierce the desk. It stood up like that, all on its own.
"It's none of your business," Gray said coolly. He got up and began to leave.
Julia followed.
"Gray…wait…!"
She screamed when they entered the hallway.
The floor had changed into metal grating, and the walls had become bloody, with
teddy bears and bottles staked or glued to the walls. There was an inhuman shrieking and
some horrible muttering in the background. The hall had straightened out somehow – it
only ran one way in either direction out of sight.
Squish…squish…
She turned to the left and saw a horrible monster coming towards them. It was
white and festering, with only a vague lump for a head and bloody, oozing sores all over
its flesh. It was also grotesquely fat, almost taking up the whole hallway. It gave off a
stench that made her retch – it smelled like fermented wine and ancient whisky combined
with the rotting smell of the grave. As she looked, it began to build up speed as it came
at them.
"Gray, let's run." No response. "Gray?"
She turned around and saw that Gray was having what looked like some sort of
seizure. His eyes weren't rolling up; they just stayed fixated on the monster and wide
open. They also looked like they were brimming with tears. He was making some sort
of gagging sound too.
"Ma…ma…"
"Yes, it's a monster, now let's get OUT OF HERE!" Julia smacked him across the
face; the sound stopped and he nodded. They began to run, the monster breaking into an
incredibly fast sprint for its size.
The run down that hall seemed to last forever. The teddy bears stared at them
blankly; the doors offered no refuge. The monster's slavering howls grew closer.
Finally, Julia's worst fear came true: They hit a dead end.
Julia scrabbled on the wall for purchase as Gray blankly stared at the beast that
was rapidly approaching. They were all going to die…
Screech. Screech.
What was that sound? Like a rusted wheel turning, or maybe a valve…
Suddenly, the grate that the monster was standing on collapsed. It fell, but it got
wedged between the walls – it was too fat. As Julia marveled at this, Gray soundlessly
stepped over the struggling demon and opened a door.
"Gray?"
Gray came out, dragging a sledgehammer that may have been used for
construction. His eyes were dreadful – they were dead and blank like a drug addict's.
"Gray…?"
He dragged the hammer with one arm behind him as it thumped on the grates.
Then he raised it and snarled:
"What…will it take…for you to STAY DEAD!?"
He brought the hammer down and it smashed into the monster's head. It uttered a
high, womanlike scream as he kept bringing down the hammer, screaming the words like
chant.
"What will it TAKE? What will it TAKE? What the hell will it TAKE!?"
Eventually, the hammer stopped falling. The monster was clearly dead – its blood
was spattered all over Gray's clothes. Gray stared at it for a long time. Then he dropped
the hammer and fell down to the ground, sobbing.
"What will it take…what will it take…"