"I'm going to be going away for a day or so. Yeah, my aunt. I never told
you where she lived, did I? Well, I'm going to make sure she's okay. Yeah.
Okay. Of course not! The place might even help. It has the history. Yeah,
okay. Okay. OKAY !
No, no no no. Okay, alright, fine! I get your point! Jeez, it's my aunt, alright? Look, I've gotta go. I'm almost there and it has started to rain. I need to keep my eyes on the road as it's going to get wet. Seeya."
He looked at his cell phone. Its buttons were the color of an apple rigged to a nuclear power plant. It bleeped annoyingly as a voice said "caller lost". He hit the end button and put the phone on the old tan leather passenger's seat. A streak of thunder flew across the sky in a blink, with thunder following behind it. Right on cue, the clouds unleashed their fury. It went from a slight drizzle to a flash flood in seconds. Neil turned a lever next to the wheel and the beat up windshield wipers went back and forth on the dirty glass like an insane pendulum. Even then, he could barely see ahead of him. A green sign popped up from the unknown. It said "Silent Hill: Next Exit".
Neil stayed on the outside lane, waiting for the turn-off. When it came, he took it. Another sign then came into view. It was a yellow and had two very curvy lines on it. His reflexes turned to jello as the turns came faster while the screaming water pellets lunged forth at the window. At least it wouldn't be so brown.
Then it came. The main road into Silent Hill. He was going very very fast, but he did not know it. Buldings suddenly flew past him at a frequency not unlike that of a strobe light. He noticed his speed finally and slammed the brakes. They screached to a halt on the wet pavement. He looked to his left and there, barely visible in the rain, was a red sign saying "CAFE 5TO2".
He grabbed a little dark green radio from one of his dusty old briefcases and put it in his pocket so that he would know when the rain might stop. He started to calculate how to get in the cafe as the rain poured down.. He looked at his car door, then at the handle, then the road and the sidewalk, then finally the enterance to the cafe. He breathed deeply. In his mind, the rain wasn't rain, but acid rain that he would have to blaze through to survive.
He breathed deeply again then said, "One.. Two.."
His finger twitched nervously.
"THREE!"
It, along with three other fingers and a thumb attached to a hand, went for the handle, quickly grabbing it and pulling back. Neil's right leg slammed on the door as it flew out to the side. He jumped out and unbuckled his seat in the same motion. The rain was pouring so hard and so fast that it stung. As soon as he was past the door and on the ground, his left leg reached around his back to push the car door back to its spot. It slammed and with the sound of reaffirmation, he bolted towards the door. He pushed the door and it opened easily. He turned around and closed it very quickly.
"Wow!" was the first thing that came out of his mouth. "The forecast didn't say anything about this kind of rain!"
His clothes were absolutely soaked and dripping with water, the little drops coming off every edge of his clothing. It made the marble floor very wet and slippery. As soon as his heart calmed down, he took a step forwards. It was a small cafe with a little bar table immediately in front of him, 4 or 5 stools lined up liked soldiers. To his left and right were 2 tables, each with 2 booths. Nobody was around anywhere. The only sound was that of the furious rain and thunder. He looked out the window and noticed there were no cars and no people. No hint of any population at all. Maybe everyone was just inside, seeking shelter from the storm, but even then -- It was very weird.
Then he heard a voice. It was a woman's voice with a hint of twang. "Caught in the rain too, eh stranger?"
He looked around and saw a smiling blond haired woman. Her hair was shoulder height. Her face was warm, sweet, inviting, but at the same time distant, cold, souless. She was hiding something. In the past, Neil used this ability in many advantageous ways. He hoped here that maybe they would gain him an advantage, because at once he knew she had something to do with it.
He didn't know what "it" was, but whatever "it" was, "it" caused that rain outside. He knew that in the back of his mind as an absolute truth. He smiled back at the woman.. Or rather, girl. She couldn't be any more than 16. He walked over to her booth. She was wearing a pale green shirt and blue overalls with a big white ribbon on her back. Definitely involved, he thought. Was she trying to fool him on some way?
"Yeah, I'm caught in it. Is this.. Usual for this time of the year? It's summer and well, truthfully it was only a 30 minute drive. When I left I -- " Then the girl interupted him as she put her slender right index and middle finger on his lips, politely hinting for him to shut up. . "Slow down there, tex. What's your name?" She said as she took her fingers off his lips.
"I'm Neil Spencer." He said, looking very awkward in the process.
The girl nodded slowly and smiled -- or was it a smirk? Neil couldn't tell. "I'm Laura." She said softly.
"Probably wondering what's going on here, eh?" She asked him. Neil nodded. "Yeah," said Neil. "I am. It really makes me wonder. It's raining like Hell, and there's nobody around. Do you.. Know what's going on?"
She shuffled her feet under the table, looked down at her seat, then looked back at Neil. "I have an idea." She said vaguely.
Neil's eyes squenched up a bit, analyzing her words. Then he noticed she was holding something -- an envelope and a teddy bear, with one plastic eye hanging out of its socket by a thread. "What's with the bear?" He asked her honestly. She suddenly looked very angry. "Oh right, figures! You're the same too, eh? Well, for your information, he happens to be MY teddy bear from when I was a child! Like you care!"
She stood up huffing, knocking a drink over onto the table. Neil's eyes widened as he looked gapingly at her. "I.. I didn't mean anything!" He said apoligetically. She became even more engraged. "YOU'RE JUST THE SAME, AREN'T YOU? YOU SEE MY BEAR, YOU SEE IT AND YOU THINK, "OH HOW DUMB AND CHILDISH!" WELL, YOU KNOW WHAT? I DON'T CARE! I'M GOING BACK TO MY HOTEL!"
She stormed out of the cafe and back into the rain. Neil tried to follow her, but she already disappeared into the cacophony of droplets. He stared blankly at the direction she had walked as the howling wind blew his hair and clothes. What was her problem? He shook his head and walked back inside, shaking his body like a dog might. Just then, he noticed she had dropped something. He picked it up. It was a piece of paper. Written in red ink was something that said, "I know what you want. It's on Nathan Avenue."
"Nathan Avenue?" Neil said to himself. He pulled out the broucher and looked at the map. Sure enough, there was Nathan avenue. What else was on it? The Silent Hill Historical Society building. He also noticed that there was something strange on his own map. A red marker had written on it and there was a line from the cafe to an elementary school. Written near the school's location was something that said, "The normal way is blocked off. Go through the sewers. The enterance is barred off and you'll have to go through the school to get there. You'll need a key though to get inside the school. It's right over here.."
Next to the "here" was another red line that went to a church. "Did Laura do this?" Neil asked himself. But it didn't matter to him. He wasn't going to go through all this to get to the historical society. He left the cafe and went into his car and tried to start it up. The engine wouldn't even rev. It was completely shot. He got out and popped open the front trunk. The engine wasn't just shot, it wasn't even there. He then got desperate and ran through the rain back the way he came from. He was blocked off! Where there should've been road, it was just a chasm! It was like a huge comet hit and went deep into the surface, hundreds of feet down. Neil began to panic. The strangeness was getting higher on his scale every second.
He searched the town for what seemed like forever. Every road out of the town was destroyed. Whatever he felt that was here --
It wanted him to stay.
What other choice did he have? He didn't know. He knew he couldn't escape until..
A red light.
Sleep.
-------------------------------
Everything was blurry. He knew it had been there, creeping around. He felt around on the ground. The freezing black steel felt him back. It felt right into him and out the other side, smashing into the wall. He pulled his hand away. It was still like this. He looked towards the window he remembered entering. He tried to pull it open, but it wouldn't budge. He looked at the other door which was the way he came in. He opened the door. Everything had changed. Had he done this before?
The walls were breathing, living, crying -- choking, spitting, biting and gnashing -- moaning, groaning, painful and vengeful - faces in the plastic. Faces with gaping holes. On the ceiling. So many grey, decomposed faces looking at him. Masks of death. Masks of guilt. Pain. Fear. Jealousy. What did they know, couldn't say. Couldn't know. So much pain. All at once. For so long the bodies had wept.
Now they weep no more. Cold hand. Death. Death upon him. He could feel it. It was like a burning freeze. But it couldn't be death. It was in his stomach.
----------------------------
Neil squenched his eyes and then opened them. He was on the ground, but where? His glasses were off of his face. He felt around and found them, put them back on.
The world came back into focus again. Relief again. He stood up on the grey concrete and looked around. He wasn't at the obliterated road from before. The church was right in front of him that was on his map.
He rubbed his head with the palm of his left hand. "I was dreaming that...." he said. He told himself that because he had just woken up. That's what people usually do to know what's a dream and what's for real. Neil didn't know if he had really woken up. Everything had been so surreal. Was it really real? He pondered that thought for a moment or two. Was he still in his old bed in his apartment? He had to be. This couldn't be for real, but it was. It had to be.
Or maybe.. It was.. A dream come to life?
"That's insane!" He said to himself.
((...but maybe... it is? Perhaps I really am going insane...))
He walked stumblefooted into the Church. The huge enterance doors creaked in a very deep pitch and slammed behind him as soon as he entered the building. The slamming doors startled him and he instinctually snapped his head backwards to look at the doors. As soon as he calmed down, he looked down the isle of wooden booths.
At the end, praying to an alter, was a little girl. He walked closer to get a better look. She looked somewhere around 8 or 9 years old, she had long, black hair and was wearing dark orange robes. It was strange that her robes were orange as everything else had a brown or grey tint to it.
"Hello?" He asked to the girl to see if she would respond. The girl took a deep breath and then began to chant in a whisper. Neil frowned. Maybe she was deaf. Just to be sure, he said hello again, this time in a louder voice. The girl stopped her prayer and sighed frustratingly.
"Wanderer, if you choose to interupt my prayer, it had better be very important for I am losing my patience. Can you not at least have the common decency to wait until I am done?" She asked in an almost monotone voice.
"I'm sorry. I just ---"
Neil was going to continue talking, but the girl got up. Her robes flowed majestically as she turned to face him. She gasped quietly at the sight of him. "It's you!" she said.
"Huh?" said Neil. "What...."
"You! I've been awaiting you. I know what you seek and I will gladly help you with a key, but first pray and come sit with me!" Said the girl.
"I.. I don't even know your name!" Said Neil as he was trying to compose himself.
The girl nodded and said "I am Cindy, a priestess. Well, rather a priestess in training. I know your name, but that is not relevant at the time."
Neil shrugged and sat down on a chair next to Cindy. "So -- Cindy..."
Cindy smiled as he said her name. "Yes?"
"You said you would help me?" He asked her.
"Indeed I will, traveler! But first, I must tell you of a grave danger... Of the red robed succubus Imara."
"Imara?" He said to himself.
"Imara is a terrible demon whose sole purpose is to constantly torture any unbelievers of the religion she is a part of! She takes charge in hunting for poor souls everyday, her terrible form floating in the fog. She has no face, but she is all in red, and that is what I must warn you of. When you turn one's eyes to the red, she will have you. Her horrible demons will appear and she will put you under her spell, thrusting you into a world of her own hellish fantasies where all the other souls reside! She will tempt you will lustful sins beyond reckoning! This is what you must be weary of, kind person! But do not lose faith within yourself for you shall be tormented not if you follow my instructions!"
Neil continued to watch Cindy as she pulled a white vial from a cabinet.
"This shall hold back Imara and her demons!"
Cindy handed the white vial to Neil. He took a closer look at it and saw that it really wasn't a white vial, but it did contain a white liquid.
"It takes months to produce this formula. I knew of your arrival ahead of time, so I began the work."
Neil stared at the vial for a moment or two. "Cindy -- What.. Is this?"
"It is the Holy Liquid which subsumes within it the spirit of the martyr St. Claudia! Her blessed holiness will cleanse your aura from Imara. Go on, drink it."
"But.. Why.. Why should I believe you? This place is so screwed up -"
" --please do not swear in the church--"
" -- that I don't know what to believe anymore!"
"What additional preference do you veritably have? You know what this town is capable of and it will get even more iniquitous than the present. You know what it will be like. You've seen it, albeit not in conscious condition."
((the dreams...))
"How do you know who I am?" asked Neil.
"It was fortold by Gyromancy." said Cindy.
"Listen, Cindy... I don't really know if I should. I appreciate your care, or whatever it is, but I don't even know what your purpose is in this.. 'Thing'. I don't know what's going on and I sure as hell don't feel like I should be taking your orders!"
"If you disedirate the key, you will imbibe the liquid. It's for your own good. Do you want the key or not?"
"Yes, I do.. But.."
"Drink it then!"
"I don't.."
"Please, Neil. I only want what's best for you."
Neil sighed and looked down at his feet in thought. After a minute of contemplation, he looked back up at Cindy and said, "Fine. I'll do it."
Neil grabbed the cork that closed the vial and consumed the substance. A strange chill went up his spine and into his head.
"Good. Good. That's it." Said Cindy as she patted Neil on the back. Neil gave a slight burp.
"Excuse me!" he said, embaressed.
"No problem at all." Cindy said happily.
Then there was a unearthly moan that shook the walls of the church. Cindy began to breathe very quickly as another ghastly moan erupted from outside. Then it came. It slid right through the walls. Cindy screamed.
"IMARA! HOW DID SHE..?!"
Imara face was covered in a strange fleshy plastic material and wore a red skirt and shirt with chains hanging down from the waist. It floated like a ghost towards the Cindy and Neil. It made a flicking motion with its left hand (which consisted of a thumb and one huge finger that looked that four normal fingers welded together) and Cindy went flying into a booth, knocking her out.
"Cindy!" screamed Neil. She was out for the count.
Then the demon came for Neil and drew out its fleshy wings. Imara put out its left hand in a vertical position towards him. He turned blue and crumpled to the ground.
The last thing he remembered before going into blackness were...
Sirens. Distant sirens.
----------------------------
He opened his eyes. It was very, very cold and smelled of rotted flesh. He looked around and then screamed for dear life. The church was now like from his nightmares. The floors had turned into metal grating and the walls had becomed a dark shade of brown and yellow.
The liquid had not saved him from Imara's Hell. In fact, he felt as if somehow..
It had caused it.
No, no no no. Okay, alright, fine! I get your point! Jeez, it's my aunt, alright? Look, I've gotta go. I'm almost there and it has started to rain. I need to keep my eyes on the road as it's going to get wet. Seeya."
He looked at his cell phone. Its buttons were the color of an apple rigged to a nuclear power plant. It bleeped annoyingly as a voice said "caller lost". He hit the end button and put the phone on the old tan leather passenger's seat. A streak of thunder flew across the sky in a blink, with thunder following behind it. Right on cue, the clouds unleashed their fury. It went from a slight drizzle to a flash flood in seconds. Neil turned a lever next to the wheel and the beat up windshield wipers went back and forth on the dirty glass like an insane pendulum. Even then, he could barely see ahead of him. A green sign popped up from the unknown. It said "Silent Hill: Next Exit".
Neil stayed on the outside lane, waiting for the turn-off. When it came, he took it. Another sign then came into view. It was a yellow and had two very curvy lines on it. His reflexes turned to jello as the turns came faster while the screaming water pellets lunged forth at the window. At least it wouldn't be so brown.
Then it came. The main road into Silent Hill. He was going very very fast, but he did not know it. Buldings suddenly flew past him at a frequency not unlike that of a strobe light. He noticed his speed finally and slammed the brakes. They screached to a halt on the wet pavement. He looked to his left and there, barely visible in the rain, was a red sign saying "CAFE 5TO2".
He grabbed a little dark green radio from one of his dusty old briefcases and put it in his pocket so that he would know when the rain might stop. He started to calculate how to get in the cafe as the rain poured down.. He looked at his car door, then at the handle, then the road and the sidewalk, then finally the enterance to the cafe. He breathed deeply. In his mind, the rain wasn't rain, but acid rain that he would have to blaze through to survive.
He breathed deeply again then said, "One.. Two.."
His finger twitched nervously.
"THREE!"
It, along with three other fingers and a thumb attached to a hand, went for the handle, quickly grabbing it and pulling back. Neil's right leg slammed on the door as it flew out to the side. He jumped out and unbuckled his seat in the same motion. The rain was pouring so hard and so fast that it stung. As soon as he was past the door and on the ground, his left leg reached around his back to push the car door back to its spot. It slammed and with the sound of reaffirmation, he bolted towards the door. He pushed the door and it opened easily. He turned around and closed it very quickly.
"Wow!" was the first thing that came out of his mouth. "The forecast didn't say anything about this kind of rain!"
His clothes were absolutely soaked and dripping with water, the little drops coming off every edge of his clothing. It made the marble floor very wet and slippery. As soon as his heart calmed down, he took a step forwards. It was a small cafe with a little bar table immediately in front of him, 4 or 5 stools lined up liked soldiers. To his left and right were 2 tables, each with 2 booths. Nobody was around anywhere. The only sound was that of the furious rain and thunder. He looked out the window and noticed there were no cars and no people. No hint of any population at all. Maybe everyone was just inside, seeking shelter from the storm, but even then -- It was very weird.
Then he heard a voice. It was a woman's voice with a hint of twang. "Caught in the rain too, eh stranger?"
He looked around and saw a smiling blond haired woman. Her hair was shoulder height. Her face was warm, sweet, inviting, but at the same time distant, cold, souless. She was hiding something. In the past, Neil used this ability in many advantageous ways. He hoped here that maybe they would gain him an advantage, because at once he knew she had something to do with it.
He didn't know what "it" was, but whatever "it" was, "it" caused that rain outside. He knew that in the back of his mind as an absolute truth. He smiled back at the woman.. Or rather, girl. She couldn't be any more than 16. He walked over to her booth. She was wearing a pale green shirt and blue overalls with a big white ribbon on her back. Definitely involved, he thought. Was she trying to fool him on some way?
"Yeah, I'm caught in it. Is this.. Usual for this time of the year? It's summer and well, truthfully it was only a 30 minute drive. When I left I -- " Then the girl interupted him as she put her slender right index and middle finger on his lips, politely hinting for him to shut up. . "Slow down there, tex. What's your name?" She said as she took her fingers off his lips.
"I'm Neil Spencer." He said, looking very awkward in the process.
The girl nodded slowly and smiled -- or was it a smirk? Neil couldn't tell. "I'm Laura." She said softly.
"Probably wondering what's going on here, eh?" She asked him. Neil nodded. "Yeah," said Neil. "I am. It really makes me wonder. It's raining like Hell, and there's nobody around. Do you.. Know what's going on?"
She shuffled her feet under the table, looked down at her seat, then looked back at Neil. "I have an idea." She said vaguely.
Neil's eyes squenched up a bit, analyzing her words. Then he noticed she was holding something -- an envelope and a teddy bear, with one plastic eye hanging out of its socket by a thread. "What's with the bear?" He asked her honestly. She suddenly looked very angry. "Oh right, figures! You're the same too, eh? Well, for your information, he happens to be MY teddy bear from when I was a child! Like you care!"
She stood up huffing, knocking a drink over onto the table. Neil's eyes widened as he looked gapingly at her. "I.. I didn't mean anything!" He said apoligetically. She became even more engraged. "YOU'RE JUST THE SAME, AREN'T YOU? YOU SEE MY BEAR, YOU SEE IT AND YOU THINK, "OH HOW DUMB AND CHILDISH!" WELL, YOU KNOW WHAT? I DON'T CARE! I'M GOING BACK TO MY HOTEL!"
She stormed out of the cafe and back into the rain. Neil tried to follow her, but she already disappeared into the cacophony of droplets. He stared blankly at the direction she had walked as the howling wind blew his hair and clothes. What was her problem? He shook his head and walked back inside, shaking his body like a dog might. Just then, he noticed she had dropped something. He picked it up. It was a piece of paper. Written in red ink was something that said, "I know what you want. It's on Nathan Avenue."
"Nathan Avenue?" Neil said to himself. He pulled out the broucher and looked at the map. Sure enough, there was Nathan avenue. What else was on it? The Silent Hill Historical Society building. He also noticed that there was something strange on his own map. A red marker had written on it and there was a line from the cafe to an elementary school. Written near the school's location was something that said, "The normal way is blocked off. Go through the sewers. The enterance is barred off and you'll have to go through the school to get there. You'll need a key though to get inside the school. It's right over here.."
Next to the "here" was another red line that went to a church. "Did Laura do this?" Neil asked himself. But it didn't matter to him. He wasn't going to go through all this to get to the historical society. He left the cafe and went into his car and tried to start it up. The engine wouldn't even rev. It was completely shot. He got out and popped open the front trunk. The engine wasn't just shot, it wasn't even there. He then got desperate and ran through the rain back the way he came from. He was blocked off! Where there should've been road, it was just a chasm! It was like a huge comet hit and went deep into the surface, hundreds of feet down. Neil began to panic. The strangeness was getting higher on his scale every second.
He searched the town for what seemed like forever. Every road out of the town was destroyed. Whatever he felt that was here --
It wanted him to stay.
What other choice did he have? He didn't know. He knew he couldn't escape until..
A red light.
Sleep.
-------------------------------
Everything was blurry. He knew it had been there, creeping around. He felt around on the ground. The freezing black steel felt him back. It felt right into him and out the other side, smashing into the wall. He pulled his hand away. It was still like this. He looked towards the window he remembered entering. He tried to pull it open, but it wouldn't budge. He looked at the other door which was the way he came in. He opened the door. Everything had changed. Had he done this before?
The walls were breathing, living, crying -- choking, spitting, biting and gnashing -- moaning, groaning, painful and vengeful - faces in the plastic. Faces with gaping holes. On the ceiling. So many grey, decomposed faces looking at him. Masks of death. Masks of guilt. Pain. Fear. Jealousy. What did they know, couldn't say. Couldn't know. So much pain. All at once. For so long the bodies had wept.
Now they weep no more. Cold hand. Death. Death upon him. He could feel it. It was like a burning freeze. But it couldn't be death. It was in his stomach.
----------------------------
Neil squenched his eyes and then opened them. He was on the ground, but where? His glasses were off of his face. He felt around and found them, put them back on.
The world came back into focus again. Relief again. He stood up on the grey concrete and looked around. He wasn't at the obliterated road from before. The church was right in front of him that was on his map.
He rubbed his head with the palm of his left hand. "I was dreaming that...." he said. He told himself that because he had just woken up. That's what people usually do to know what's a dream and what's for real. Neil didn't know if he had really woken up. Everything had been so surreal. Was it really real? He pondered that thought for a moment or two. Was he still in his old bed in his apartment? He had to be. This couldn't be for real, but it was. It had to be.
Or maybe.. It was.. A dream come to life?
"That's insane!" He said to himself.
((...but maybe... it is? Perhaps I really am going insane...))
He walked stumblefooted into the Church. The huge enterance doors creaked in a very deep pitch and slammed behind him as soon as he entered the building. The slamming doors startled him and he instinctually snapped his head backwards to look at the doors. As soon as he calmed down, he looked down the isle of wooden booths.
At the end, praying to an alter, was a little girl. He walked closer to get a better look. She looked somewhere around 8 or 9 years old, she had long, black hair and was wearing dark orange robes. It was strange that her robes were orange as everything else had a brown or grey tint to it.
"Hello?" He asked to the girl to see if she would respond. The girl took a deep breath and then began to chant in a whisper. Neil frowned. Maybe she was deaf. Just to be sure, he said hello again, this time in a louder voice. The girl stopped her prayer and sighed frustratingly.
"Wanderer, if you choose to interupt my prayer, it had better be very important for I am losing my patience. Can you not at least have the common decency to wait until I am done?" She asked in an almost monotone voice.
"I'm sorry. I just ---"
Neil was going to continue talking, but the girl got up. Her robes flowed majestically as she turned to face him. She gasped quietly at the sight of him. "It's you!" she said.
"Huh?" said Neil. "What...."
"You! I've been awaiting you. I know what you seek and I will gladly help you with a key, but first pray and come sit with me!" Said the girl.
"I.. I don't even know your name!" Said Neil as he was trying to compose himself.
The girl nodded and said "I am Cindy, a priestess. Well, rather a priestess in training. I know your name, but that is not relevant at the time."
Neil shrugged and sat down on a chair next to Cindy. "So -- Cindy..."
Cindy smiled as he said her name. "Yes?"
"You said you would help me?" He asked her.
"Indeed I will, traveler! But first, I must tell you of a grave danger... Of the red robed succubus Imara."
"Imara?" He said to himself.
"Imara is a terrible demon whose sole purpose is to constantly torture any unbelievers of the religion she is a part of! She takes charge in hunting for poor souls everyday, her terrible form floating in the fog. She has no face, but she is all in red, and that is what I must warn you of. When you turn one's eyes to the red, she will have you. Her horrible demons will appear and she will put you under her spell, thrusting you into a world of her own hellish fantasies where all the other souls reside! She will tempt you will lustful sins beyond reckoning! This is what you must be weary of, kind person! But do not lose faith within yourself for you shall be tormented not if you follow my instructions!"
Neil continued to watch Cindy as she pulled a white vial from a cabinet.
"This shall hold back Imara and her demons!"
Cindy handed the white vial to Neil. He took a closer look at it and saw that it really wasn't a white vial, but it did contain a white liquid.
"It takes months to produce this formula. I knew of your arrival ahead of time, so I began the work."
Neil stared at the vial for a moment or two. "Cindy -- What.. Is this?"
"It is the Holy Liquid which subsumes within it the spirit of the martyr St. Claudia! Her blessed holiness will cleanse your aura from Imara. Go on, drink it."
"But.. Why.. Why should I believe you? This place is so screwed up -"
" --please do not swear in the church--"
" -- that I don't know what to believe anymore!"
"What additional preference do you veritably have? You know what this town is capable of and it will get even more iniquitous than the present. You know what it will be like. You've seen it, albeit not in conscious condition."
((the dreams...))
"How do you know who I am?" asked Neil.
"It was fortold by Gyromancy." said Cindy.
"Listen, Cindy... I don't really know if I should. I appreciate your care, or whatever it is, but I don't even know what your purpose is in this.. 'Thing'. I don't know what's going on and I sure as hell don't feel like I should be taking your orders!"
"If you disedirate the key, you will imbibe the liquid. It's for your own good. Do you want the key or not?"
"Yes, I do.. But.."
"Drink it then!"
"I don't.."
"Please, Neil. I only want what's best for you."
Neil sighed and looked down at his feet in thought. After a minute of contemplation, he looked back up at Cindy and said, "Fine. I'll do it."
Neil grabbed the cork that closed the vial and consumed the substance. A strange chill went up his spine and into his head.
"Good. Good. That's it." Said Cindy as she patted Neil on the back. Neil gave a slight burp.
"Excuse me!" he said, embaressed.
"No problem at all." Cindy said happily.
Then there was a unearthly moan that shook the walls of the church. Cindy began to breathe very quickly as another ghastly moan erupted from outside. Then it came. It slid right through the walls. Cindy screamed.
"IMARA! HOW DID SHE..?!"
Imara face was covered in a strange fleshy plastic material and wore a red skirt and shirt with chains hanging down from the waist. It floated like a ghost towards the Cindy and Neil. It made a flicking motion with its left hand (which consisted of a thumb and one huge finger that looked that four normal fingers welded together) and Cindy went flying into a booth, knocking her out.
"Cindy!" screamed Neil. She was out for the count.
Then the demon came for Neil and drew out its fleshy wings. Imara put out its left hand in a vertical position towards him. He turned blue and crumpled to the ground.
The last thing he remembered before going into blackness were...
Sirens. Distant sirens.
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He opened his eyes. It was very, very cold and smelled of rotted flesh. He looked around and then screamed for dear life. The church was now like from his nightmares. The floors had turned into metal grating and the walls had becomed a dark shade of brown and yellow.
The liquid had not saved him from Imara's Hell. In fact, he felt as if somehow..
It had caused it.