"Gray…what just happened? What…"
"Please…" Gray whispered. "Please, Julia, just…just give me some time."
Slowly, Gray stood up and began walking down the hall. He went slowly, his feet
dragging on the floor as he left the bloodstained hammer behind. He monster was
actually mashed out of shape by Gray's blows – its head seemed to have caved in on the
rest of its body.
"Gray, wait!" Julia cried. She went over the monster and ran to him. "Where do
you think you can go?"
"It…doesn't matter anymore," Gray said. His hair was matted and sweaty, and it
obscured his eyes as he turned to Julia.
He grasped the handle of the nearest door.
"All I ever wanted…was to atone. That's why…that's why I'm here." He looked
up at Julia. "Julia…I am so sorry for all the trouble."
He opened to the door and closed it behind him. Julia ran to it and tried it, but it
had suddenly locked. She stared at the door.
"Gray…what did you see?" Thoughtfully, she turned toward the bloated demon.
"Did you see something that I didn't?
"What did you see…?"
-------------------------------------------------------
He was walking down another hall.
This one was sparse and silent, and appeared to be made out of concrete. A place
like this didn't belong in any school, but Gray knew. He had left the school a long time
ago. This…this was the true form of Silent Hill.
Finally, he came to another door. Instead of opening it, he stopped at this one.
"Why were you still here?" he whispered to himself. "Of all places, why here? I
thought you were gone for good…I thought that I could finally be alone…"
The door swung open by itself. Gray's eyes widened at what he saw inside.
There was a woman in there, standing with her back to him. She seemed to be
staring into a deep hole in the steel-grated floor. She was wearing a pair of jeans and
what looked like a white sweater, with short black hair hanging over her neck. Her head
was bowed down as she stood on the edge of the platform.
Gray took a step toward the woman.
"You…you look like…"
Suddenly, a blurred form reached up and pulled the woman into the hole. Gray
screamed as she was pulled with such force that the hole caved in and lost its shape,
almost as if it had fallen in with her.
Slowly, Gray walked over to the edge of the pit. He stared down – the dark
stretched as far as the eye could see, and it didn't look like there was any end in sight. He
closed his eyes…and jumped.
He landed on what felt like concrete, though for all he knew he could have simply
tripped off the curb. He wasn't even bruised. The place was almost completely dark, and
it took a while for his eyes to adjust. When they finally did, he found himself in a small,
square concrete room. It was completely plain except for a few more bottles tossed in a
corner, which Gray viewed with disgust. There was yet another door to his left. Gray
opened it and stepped through.
The din that greeted him in the next hall was so deafening that for a moment Gray
was sure that his eardrums had been blown. Like the last room, this one was so dark that
he couldn't even see what was making the myriad of screams, howls, and slobbering that
came from every direction. When his eyes cleared and he was sure he hadn't gone deaf,
he looked around.
He was in a long, very narrow hall flanked with two long cages to either side.
The cages were absolutely packed with Paperfaces and Cadaver Babies. They were
responsible for the horrible racket that was echoing through the whole room. They
reached through the bars, attempting to pull Gray in, but the distance was just beyond
their reach to grab. Gray walked slowly through the hall, ignoring the screams and
sometimes getting his legs pricked by the claws of the Cadaver Babies. But as soon as he
reached a steel door that marked the end of the hall, all the screaming stopped.
Gray looked over his shoulder to see what they were doing. His eyes still held
that dead, haunted look as they passed over the demons. They were all standing perfectly
still with their arms at their sides, quivering slightly as if they were anticipating
something.
"You all look the same to me," Gray said to the monsters. Then he pulled open
the door and walked into the final room.
It was wide, and seemed to be made of stone, but the walls were lined with what
looked like veined and pulsating flesh. There were a number of large square holes carved
into the tops of the high walls, as if something lived there. In the center of the room, the
woman Gray saw was being mangled horribly by another demon.
"Leave her alone!" Gray screamed. He raised the pistol, but the monster jumped
out of the way with odd grace, leaving the woman apparently dead in the center. Gray
ran over and felt her hand, and noticed it was hard and cool to the touch. She was just a
doll.
Slowly, Gray stood up and faced the beast that was watching him.
It was wearing an apron made of some canvas-like material, and tough
engineering gloves. It had no face to speak of – the front of its head was smoothly,
utterly blank. Gray spotted a piece of paper crumpled at his feet and picked it up. There
was a large smile face drawn on it.
The watercolors on the desk.
The strange Paperface actually lifting the paper, as if to get a better look.
"It was you…" Gray said to it. "You're the gatekeeper of Silent Hill…your name
is Valtiel, isn't it…?"
The creature's head suddenly began to twitch rapidly. Gray raised the gun.
"I'll kill you here."
Valtiel gave a burping sound that was oddly like a laugh, then jumped onto one of
the walls. It clung there like some kind of insect. Gray raised the pistol at it, but it
jumped all the way to the next wall.
As Gray turned around, Valtiel jumped off and began to dash at him with
incredible speed. Gray jumped out the way as Valtiel smashed the stone floor with one
downward punch. The gatekeeper possessed no weapons but its strength and speed were
incredible. If even one of those punched connected Gray would be killed, and fast.
He raised the pistol at Valtiel and fired, but it jumped up again and this time stood
on the ceiling, its arms crossed calmly as if it were simply waiting for the bus to come
instead of dodging bullets. A growth on the back of its head pulsed and opened
rhythmically as it waited for Gray's next move.
"Stay STILL, goddamn you!" Gray snarled. He raised the gun again and fired off
another shot. Valtiel ran on the ceiling, and dropped down…
…right behind Gray.
As he turned around, Valtiel's putrid hands close around Gray's neck and began
to squeeze, choking him. It could easily squeeze harder and send his head rocketing into
the ceiling like a party favor, but apparently it wanted to toy with him instead.
Gray was beginning to lose consciousness. Its skin was almost impervious to
bullets, and he only had two bullets left in the clip. What could he do to get out of
this…?
Suddenly, he knew the answer. With every bit of his remaining strength, he
reached over and jammed the barrel of the gun into the growth on the back of Valtiel's
head. Its grip loosened in surprise.
Gray promptly fired two rounds into the hole. Screaming, it dropped him and
retreated to the other side of the room, massaging its head fiercely. As Gray watched this
oddly human act in utter confusion, Valtiel scurried up the wall and disappeared into one
of the holes.
Gray sighed and got another clip out of his backpack. As he reloaded the pistol,
he noticed more writing on the far wall:
YOU KNOW WHY YOU'RE HERE
"Yes," he said softly. There was no longer any use in denying it.
THIS TOWN IS SUPPOSED TO SERVE THE FORCES OF GOD.
HOWEVER, SOME LOWER POWER HAS CAUSED THIS.
AS A SERVANT OF GOD, I CANNOT ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN. THE GIRL
WAS CALLED TO HELP YOU LEARN THE TRUTH.
NOW THAT YOU KNOW THE TRUTH, THERE IS NO MORE GOING FORWARD.
THE ONLY PATH REMAINING LEADS TO SALVATION…OR DAMNATION.
WHICH ONE IT IS…IS UP TO YOU.
There was suddenly the screeching of rusty valves as a part of the wall lifted.
Behind it was a door.
YOU HAVE PROVED YOUR STRENGTH…NOW PROVE THAT YOUR MIND
CAN WITHSTAND SILENT HILL.
MAY THE GRACE OF GOD SHOW PITY ON YOUR SOUL.
After reading this, Gray put his hand on the doorhandle.
"Valtiel…could you have been…?"
He pushed these thoughts aside…and stepped through.
"Please…" Gray whispered. "Please, Julia, just…just give me some time."
Slowly, Gray stood up and began walking down the hall. He went slowly, his feet
dragging on the floor as he left the bloodstained hammer behind. He monster was
actually mashed out of shape by Gray's blows – its head seemed to have caved in on the
rest of its body.
"Gray, wait!" Julia cried. She went over the monster and ran to him. "Where do
you think you can go?"
"It…doesn't matter anymore," Gray said. His hair was matted and sweaty, and it
obscured his eyes as he turned to Julia.
He grasped the handle of the nearest door.
"All I ever wanted…was to atone. That's why…that's why I'm here." He looked
up at Julia. "Julia…I am so sorry for all the trouble."
He opened to the door and closed it behind him. Julia ran to it and tried it, but it
had suddenly locked. She stared at the door.
"Gray…what did you see?" Thoughtfully, she turned toward the bloated demon.
"Did you see something that I didn't?
"What did you see…?"
-------------------------------------------------------
He was walking down another hall.
This one was sparse and silent, and appeared to be made out of concrete. A place
like this didn't belong in any school, but Gray knew. He had left the school a long time
ago. This…this was the true form of Silent Hill.
Finally, he came to another door. Instead of opening it, he stopped at this one.
"Why were you still here?" he whispered to himself. "Of all places, why here? I
thought you were gone for good…I thought that I could finally be alone…"
The door swung open by itself. Gray's eyes widened at what he saw inside.
There was a woman in there, standing with her back to him. She seemed to be
staring into a deep hole in the steel-grated floor. She was wearing a pair of jeans and
what looked like a white sweater, with short black hair hanging over her neck. Her head
was bowed down as she stood on the edge of the platform.
Gray took a step toward the woman.
"You…you look like…"
Suddenly, a blurred form reached up and pulled the woman into the hole. Gray
screamed as she was pulled with such force that the hole caved in and lost its shape,
almost as if it had fallen in with her.
Slowly, Gray walked over to the edge of the pit. He stared down – the dark
stretched as far as the eye could see, and it didn't look like there was any end in sight. He
closed his eyes…and jumped.
He landed on what felt like concrete, though for all he knew he could have simply
tripped off the curb. He wasn't even bruised. The place was almost completely dark, and
it took a while for his eyes to adjust. When they finally did, he found himself in a small,
square concrete room. It was completely plain except for a few more bottles tossed in a
corner, which Gray viewed with disgust. There was yet another door to his left. Gray
opened it and stepped through.
The din that greeted him in the next hall was so deafening that for a moment Gray
was sure that his eardrums had been blown. Like the last room, this one was so dark that
he couldn't even see what was making the myriad of screams, howls, and slobbering that
came from every direction. When his eyes cleared and he was sure he hadn't gone deaf,
he looked around.
He was in a long, very narrow hall flanked with two long cages to either side.
The cages were absolutely packed with Paperfaces and Cadaver Babies. They were
responsible for the horrible racket that was echoing through the whole room. They
reached through the bars, attempting to pull Gray in, but the distance was just beyond
their reach to grab. Gray walked slowly through the hall, ignoring the screams and
sometimes getting his legs pricked by the claws of the Cadaver Babies. But as soon as he
reached a steel door that marked the end of the hall, all the screaming stopped.
Gray looked over his shoulder to see what they were doing. His eyes still held
that dead, haunted look as they passed over the demons. They were all standing perfectly
still with their arms at their sides, quivering slightly as if they were anticipating
something.
"You all look the same to me," Gray said to the monsters. Then he pulled open
the door and walked into the final room.
It was wide, and seemed to be made of stone, but the walls were lined with what
looked like veined and pulsating flesh. There were a number of large square holes carved
into the tops of the high walls, as if something lived there. In the center of the room, the
woman Gray saw was being mangled horribly by another demon.
"Leave her alone!" Gray screamed. He raised the pistol, but the monster jumped
out of the way with odd grace, leaving the woman apparently dead in the center. Gray
ran over and felt her hand, and noticed it was hard and cool to the touch. She was just a
doll.
Slowly, Gray stood up and faced the beast that was watching him.
It was wearing an apron made of some canvas-like material, and tough
engineering gloves. It had no face to speak of – the front of its head was smoothly,
utterly blank. Gray spotted a piece of paper crumpled at his feet and picked it up. There
was a large smile face drawn on it.
The watercolors on the desk.
The strange Paperface actually lifting the paper, as if to get a better look.
"It was you…" Gray said to it. "You're the gatekeeper of Silent Hill…your name
is Valtiel, isn't it…?"
The creature's head suddenly began to twitch rapidly. Gray raised the gun.
"I'll kill you here."
Valtiel gave a burping sound that was oddly like a laugh, then jumped onto one of
the walls. It clung there like some kind of insect. Gray raised the pistol at it, but it
jumped all the way to the next wall.
As Gray turned around, Valtiel jumped off and began to dash at him with
incredible speed. Gray jumped out the way as Valtiel smashed the stone floor with one
downward punch. The gatekeeper possessed no weapons but its strength and speed were
incredible. If even one of those punched connected Gray would be killed, and fast.
He raised the pistol at Valtiel and fired, but it jumped up again and this time stood
on the ceiling, its arms crossed calmly as if it were simply waiting for the bus to come
instead of dodging bullets. A growth on the back of its head pulsed and opened
rhythmically as it waited for Gray's next move.
"Stay STILL, goddamn you!" Gray snarled. He raised the gun again and fired off
another shot. Valtiel ran on the ceiling, and dropped down…
…right behind Gray.
As he turned around, Valtiel's putrid hands close around Gray's neck and began
to squeeze, choking him. It could easily squeeze harder and send his head rocketing into
the ceiling like a party favor, but apparently it wanted to toy with him instead.
Gray was beginning to lose consciousness. Its skin was almost impervious to
bullets, and he only had two bullets left in the clip. What could he do to get out of
this…?
Suddenly, he knew the answer. With every bit of his remaining strength, he
reached over and jammed the barrel of the gun into the growth on the back of Valtiel's
head. Its grip loosened in surprise.
Gray promptly fired two rounds into the hole. Screaming, it dropped him and
retreated to the other side of the room, massaging its head fiercely. As Gray watched this
oddly human act in utter confusion, Valtiel scurried up the wall and disappeared into one
of the holes.
Gray sighed and got another clip out of his backpack. As he reloaded the pistol,
he noticed more writing on the far wall:
YOU KNOW WHY YOU'RE HERE
"Yes," he said softly. There was no longer any use in denying it.
THIS TOWN IS SUPPOSED TO SERVE THE FORCES OF GOD.
HOWEVER, SOME LOWER POWER HAS CAUSED THIS.
AS A SERVANT OF GOD, I CANNOT ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN. THE GIRL
WAS CALLED TO HELP YOU LEARN THE TRUTH.
NOW THAT YOU KNOW THE TRUTH, THERE IS NO MORE GOING FORWARD.
THE ONLY PATH REMAINING LEADS TO SALVATION…OR DAMNATION.
WHICH ONE IT IS…IS UP TO YOU.
There was suddenly the screeching of rusty valves as a part of the wall lifted.
Behind it was a door.
YOU HAVE PROVED YOUR STRENGTH…NOW PROVE THAT YOUR MIND
CAN WITHSTAND SILENT HILL.
MAY THE GRACE OF GOD SHOW PITY ON YOUR SOUL.
After reading this, Gray put his hand on the doorhandle.
"Valtiel…could you have been…?"
He pushed these thoughts aside…and stepped through.