Chapter Five: An Alternate Abyss (Part One)
"I'm dreaming…I'm in a dream…"
Only moments had passed since Leah had awoken but it now felt like an eternity as she took in her surroundings. All around her was a changed place, someplace different from where she had fallen unconscious.
Yet, it was the very same swimming pool within the very same middle school.
The pool's water was still a deep, murky brown and stale but now it was as though the brown muck from the water had splashed upon every square inch of the room. The small white ceramic tiles that composed the pool's floor were brown, corroded and dirty. The walls were fixed with spatters and cobwebs of brown, caked on crust. The two windows, which Leah had almost missed, were now pitch black and speckled with rust. She forced herself up and winced, as every step seemed to echo within her sore skull and make it throb with pain. Slowly she approached the window, one hand out to touch what seemed like fantasy and make it into reality. Her hand brushed against the window's pane. It was rough and craggy like the side of a rock, but at the same time it's physical appearance was pure, smoothed black.
Splash.
Leah felt her body give a little jump with her heart. Her head pounded unkindly from the little surprise and her eyes scanned the room fearfully and slow. Apart of her wanted to shut them tight like a child would and curl up and hide until it all "went away." An even bigger part of her didn't want to know just exactly what had made the splash.
Leah clutched the stick in her hand and the flashlight as well, briefly remembering just how thankful she'd been when she had realized that the stick and the flashlight were still with her. She stepped towards the pool and as she did she heard a brief scuffling of footsteps coming from the bleachers that were posted above the pool, in an alcove, guarded by a rusted metal railing. The railing didn't exactly look like it'd have stopped anyone from going over. In fact, it looked more like it'd had given way if someone merely leaned on it. Even more odd, was that the bleachers themselves seemed to be composed of iron mesh fence. "Comfy…" she thought. The mere sight of something so twisted did nothing to make her feel comforted. In fact the whole place made her flesh writhe. It was as though someone had taken the poolroom and turned it inside out, exposing it's sick, diseased underside.
Then something caught her eye that made her blood freeze and her heart stop. Below the bleachers, on the sidewall of the pool was blood. Lots of blood.
Leah's chest tightened up and suddenly breathing became a great obstacle. Her legs didn't want to move though she mentally willed them to go over and check the hideous sight out. "No…no…no…no…" her mind repeated. Finally her legs moved, though at a slow, cautious pace.
The marks were a mad flurry of up and down movements with only a few streaked handprints visible. Leah felt dread carry her as she realized that she was looking at the sign of a struggle and a particularly violent one at that.
Splash.
Leah gave a loud gasp and turned slowly around, looking at the waters' edge. It bounced and rippled lightly. Something had disturbed it.
"The little girl…"
Realization claimed her. Why hadn't she thought of that before? If she was here, perhaps so was the little girl. Perhaps the handprints belonged to her. "That little bitch has the answers…I know it…" Leah thought acidly and despite the fear that was coursing through every inch of her body, she felt herself become considerably angry. Why wouldn't she just go away? If she had never followed the girl to begin with she may not have even been in this situation. "Well is that her fault or yours?" another side of her mind argued.
Splash.
It was closer this time.
Leah shone the light towards the pool, but to her surprise she found her hand was shaking beyond her control. The beam of light jiggled nervously up and down and she swallowed, forcing a lump of cold fear down her throat. "Something…in the pool…"
It didn't feel right. She pinned down what exactly had been plaguing her. The whole place didn't feel right. It was the feeling you get when you're alone but you know someone's gaze is burrowing into the back of your spine. "That feeling," she thought dreadfully. She momentarily closed her eyes, feeling the lump of fear turn to full on nauseating panic in her stomach.
"I'm in a dream…"
Splash.
Leah's eyes snapped open and looked down at the pool near her feet. Little droplets and speckles of blood dotted the dirty and abused tile beneath her by the pool's edge. Leah slowly dropped to her knees and set the flashlight aside. With no real conscious thought, just pure fear within her mind, she reached a hand out to touch the water's wavering surface. Her fingertips just skimmed below the water's surface before pulling back.
Her fingertips were coated in a thick sheen of red blood. A small droplet began to run in the crook between her index finger and middle finger.
Leah felt her last ounce of nerve shatter.
A heavy gasp of horror escaped her mouth and she seized her flashlight, scrambling back from the pool with no time to waste. Her heart hammered into her rib cage and getting ample amounts of air to her lungs seemed impossible. Her eyes were frozen to the surface of the pool of blood. It wavered and sloshed lazily against the sides. "Oh god…oh…oh…"
"I'm dreaming. I'm in a dream. I'm dreaming. I'm in a dream."
Leah closed her eyes and felt her body shudder before she fully came to realize that she was crying. Short quakes of sobs and broken breathing filled her ears. "I don't wanna be here…I don't wanna be alone…I didn't do anything…anything…didn't do it…I don't wanna be here. Dont', don't. Didn't do it…"
Her lips pulled back from her teeth as her face contorted with fear and pain.
"I don't wanna be alone…I can't…don't wanna…"
"Shhhhhhhh…"
The sound made Leah jump with a little whimper that was choked up by tears. She practically hugged the stick to her. Her poorly balanced hand, so overcome by shaking that was impossible to work her fingers to hold around the flashlight's base, raised a beam of light towards the doorway.
"Shhhhhhhh…"
Leah swallowed many times, more sobs heaving in her chest before slowly standing. Though paralyzed with fear, her mind still managed to produce one thought: "Safe…"
The sound didn't strike her as otherworldly or even threatening. It was one she'd heard before, many times before. She gave a deep sniffle and tried to think. Where…? Where had it been? Her mind remembered driving, late night with only the blackness on the outside road as her companion. She remembered feeling the smooth, little bumps of the road beneath her car. The feel of the strong leather steering wheel beneath her palms, slightly sweaty from gripping it so hard. Reaching out to turn a dial.
"Radio…" she muttered, licking her lips and coming back to reality. To her surprise, she had moved from her spot on the floor to the doorway, now facing into the dark locker room. The noise became louder and more prominent and Leah found herself jogging towards it, not looking into the hellish decorating of the locker room for fear that her legs would lose confidence and she'd be so overcome by fear that she'd just shut down.
"Shhhhhhh…"
Leah brought herself to stand in front of a long, narrow locker. Conveniently its door had been left slightly ajar. Leah managed to spare two fingers from the stick and grip the handle with them enough to quickly yank it open.
Inside, among a haven of rust shavings and what looked like mineral growth in the locker, was a small, rectangular copper shaded radio. At its right end was a small, cloth knitted handle, which looked more like a string with a clip on the end. The opposite end had a small antenna that hung loosely and Leah briefly thought it broken. She grabbed the radio, slipping her flashlight back into the loop of her pants. She picked it up and her eyes began to scan its golden brown surface. Her fingers fiddled with the small tuning dial on it's side but the only thing she succeeded in doing was making it louder. She winced slightly and turned the dial but the volume didn't adjust properly. She cursed very softly under her breath and began to work with the antenna. "Come on," she muttered frustrated, forgetting her tears and even the mounting fear that had consumed her moments ago. Finally she turned to just hitting the square box of static against her hand a couple of times.
"It's broken," she said, crest-fallen. Leah readied to throw the radio back into the stingy locker until a noise perked the sense of her ears.
Shuffling. It was the deliberate shuffling of long, slow, and drawn out footsteps. Leah held her breath and turned slowly, the beam of the flashlight following. The spotlight dawned on its horrible feature and Leah felt her skin prickle with goose bumps.
Leah's mind went blank for no words could describe the nightmarish abomination in front of her. Her eyes scanned it over in horror and yet seemed to draw back to its head. It was a body of a human: Arms, waist, legs but all wrong. The head was a jumbled mass of flesh, pretzeled into a sickly grotesque sort of heart shape. For what she supposed could've been its eyes (had it truly been human) were gaping, open mouths turned sideways. It's entire body was twisted around in a bizarre fashion as if someone had taken it with their hands and wrung it around similarly to the way one wrings the water out of cloth. It's hip was twisted so that the right leg crossed over and became it's left. The left circled around back and became the right and it walked with a macabre shuffle as though it was struggling with itself. Its arms were twisted in a similar fashion though the arms themselves looked boneless, waggling like snakes in a slow, sickly manner. A heavy membrane coated the under arm across the armpit and to the side of it's body, making it so that its arms couldn't stretch far. The hands were curved into talons of skin. Each wrist was adorned with iron chains, the right wrist's chains longer than the left so that they dragged and shuffled against the floor's surface. With each, mangled step the hellish being took the radio grew louder until it was almost deafening.
Leah stepped back until her backside connected with the solid paneling of the lockers behind her. The thing shook its head slowly from side to side as if pitying her for stepping into its path. It then began to amble towards her with renewed vigor. A hand swiped out as best as it could in it's mangled position and Leah screamed, feeling her body jump with her heart. Instinct took over and she jabbed the pointed end of the stick at the figure, wincing as she felt the end make a soft impact with the thing's flesh. The thing gave out a sound that sounded like a garbled scream except that it was muffled as though invisible hands were over its mouths. Leah momentarily felt a pang of hideous guilt. She had never killed anything in her life, save maybe an ant. A small tear slipped down her face but she stepped forward and struck again, hearing a sick rip of flesh. Her hands controlled themselves as she gave a direct following jab. Blood speckled to the floor like raindrops and she stabbed again, thrusting her hips into it. There was a clatter as her flashlight fell to the floor and the lack of light caused Leah's stabs to become more frenzied. Before she knew it the thing was bleeding from deep holes within it's body where chunks of flesh and inner organ had been punched in from the stick. Leah stared and the creature slowly dropped to its knees then seemed to crumple up into a pile of beaten skin. Leah stepped back and felt her grip on the stick loosen just slightly. Her eyes could not rip themselves from the mess that lie at her feet. Leah observed that the thing, now still and soundless, was bleeding out. A pool of crimson liquid flowed steadily towards her boots. She stepped back allowing her eyes a few more moments of stare time before looking down at her hands. In her left was the stick with its end painted in gore. Her right hand was clutching the radio, which was now silent. Leah shivered and looked the radio over once more before pocketing it. If it were doing what she thought it was, which was picking up signals from any creatures nearby, it'd be more than useful. Leah knelt down and scooped up her flashlight, once again slipping it securely into the loophole. She gave the creature one final glance and frowned before whispering, "I'm sorry…" and heading out of the locker room.
A/N: This chapter came out to be so horribly long that for the reader's eyes' sake…I chopped it in half. So I apologize. Thanks for the reviews you guys. All of you, Wrath, Crapmonger, Ice and Rodarian. I hope you keep reading because it's only going to get better as from Chapter 6 it's starts building up to the good stuff (aka Leah's reason for being brought to Silent Hill).