SILENT HILL-SIGHT
Noah slowly lowered himself into the room's single chair, the gun loose in his grip and pointed at the floor.
"What the....I don't understand this....I don't understand this place at all..." He groaned, crouching with his elbows
resting on his legs. His palms supported his head as he stared at the floor. The girl slowly approached him, her light
steps making almost no sound at all. Noah didn't move, he doubted the girl was of any danger to him. He didn't
really care even if she was, he was tired of everything. With James gone he might just as well die in this
terrible place, It didn't matter to him. "That's what I'm trying to help you do, to understand this place." The girl said,
sitting on the gurney facing away from him. "I don't need any help from a blind girl, thanks." Noah spit out harshly,
glaring up at her. Curiosity kept his gaze there, as he wondered why she always did that. "I'm sorry, that was very rude."
he apologized, crossing his arms in front of him and tilting his head to the side. The girl said nothing, so Noah kept talking.
"What's your name?" He asked her, putting the gun on the floor between his feet as a truce. "Estelle.." She said eagerly, as if she'd
been waiting for him to ask that. Noah nodded, pursing his lips. "That's a pretty name.." He complimented honestly.
"Stop it." The girl said, cutting him to the quick. "I'm sorry.." Noah apologized again, raising an eyebrow in surprise.
"It's not your fault I'm ugly." The girl replied smartly, her head moving slowly from the left to the right as if she were seeing
something he couldn't and watching it move. "What did you mean, about not seeing with your eyes in this town?"
Noah questioned, genuinely interested. Estelle didn't act like someone who couldn't see anything, that was for damn sure.
Normally he wouldn't have even entertained such a notion, but then normally he wouldn't buy into any of the things he'd
been experiencing since he'd hit the town border. As if he'd just had the greatest idea ever, Noah fished the map out of his pocket
along with the marker. Estelle heard the rustle of paper and perked her head up, standing and walking over to him with graceful ease.
Noah made a clicking sound with his tongue, plotting out where he ought to go next. The police station still seemed his best bet,
and he circled it on the map. "You won't find him there." Estelle pointed out, making Noah jump a little. Now she was behind him and
looking over his shoulder. Looking over his shoulder, Noah couldn't shake the irony of that phrase being applied to someone like Estelle.
"How did you know I was looking for someone?" Noah inquired, suspicious of her all over again. As he bent down to grip the gun, her
delicate fingers slipped the marker and map from his hand. "No one comes to this town unless they're looking for someone." Estelle answered,
smiling childishly as she drew on his map with the marker. "I think you should give those back to me." Noah insisted, raising his voice but not the
gun. She was such a mysterious person, how did she know all this? Was the town really speaking to her somehow? "James is there." Estelle
put forth as a reply, handing Noah the map and placing the marker in his breast pocket. She knew he had one? Even more unsettling was
the sketch of a school she had drawn on the map. "But you're blind.." Noah said dumbly, staring at her in wonderment.
The cute little smile returned to Estelle's face, both warm and playful. "You don't listen very well Noah." She chided, tracing her finger
down from his breast pocket and tapping his chest gently. "You have to open this, to find the way out." Noah took a stood up, stepping back and
feeling a little scared. "No good has ever come from me doing that." Noah shot back, turning away from her. "Did you see James? Are you sure
that's where he went?" He asked Estelle, examining the map. She'd drawn the school down in a blank southeast corner. "Yes I'm sure."
She said sadly, taking a few steps after Noah. "He got lost, they always get lost.." Her words held a sort of crypitc eerieness, and Noah
couldn't resist. "They? Who are all these others you keep mentioning?" He asked, turning back to Estelle. "Other people? Like me?"
Estelle shook her head, looking at the floor. "Not like you Noah, none of them were like you. That's why they got lost."
Noah gave a sigh, frustrated. She had saved him, for sure. He would have died if not for her. And he somehow trusted that she spoke truth,
after all if this place were set in any kind of realistic properties she would not be able to do and know the things she did.
Noah moved towards Estelle, putting his hands on her shoulders and blinking as she quickly turned her face away.
"Ok Estelle what's going on, can you tell me?" He pleaded, softening his voice so she wouldn't be frightened.
"Please?" He added, as she shyly turned to him. "How can you do that?" She hissed at him, sounding angry.
"How can I do what?" Noah asked back, utterly confused by her. Estelle backed away from his touch, retreating
to her spot near the wall. "You ask me to help you see, you want to understand what happenes here..." She said spitefully,
as Noah followed her over to the wall. "Well I need to know, if you can tell me. I think it would help me figure all this out."
He explained, not knowing what else to say. "But you do see, me. You look at me like that even though I'm...Just who are you anyway?!"
She screeched at him, waving a hand warning him to stay back. "I thought you already knew?" Noah reminded her, scratching his head.
Something was wrong, suddenly she seemed just as confused as he was. "Look. Estelle.." He started, making sure to keep his voice soft
and unthreatening. "Don't talk to me! Just shut up you liar!" She snapped at him, pressing herself against the wall.
Noah rolled his eyes, giving up on trying to get her talking about it. He went to the medical cabinet, opening it and filling every pocket he had
with supplies. "What are you doing?" Estelle asked from her corner, running her fingers along the wall. "Thank you for showing me where the school
is Estelle, I think I'll be able to make it there ok." Noah answered, not really meaning to leave. "You're really going?" She said in disbelief, sounding
afraid. "I have to, James is my best friend." Noah confirmed, finding the small bottle he'd picked up in the gas station hiding in his back pocket.
"Wonder if this stuff is any good..." He pondered, twisting off the cap as he sat in the chair. Whatever Estelle had given him for the pain was
wearing off, it wouldn't hurt to get a little nourishment before he set out again. "I'm a prisoner here..." Estelle whispered, sounding as if
she were about to cry. "A prisoner?" Noah repeated, not wanting to disrupt her sudden urge to talk with any stupid questions.
Estelle nodded slowly, rocking herself from side to side again and resting her head against the wall. "When I was a little girl.." Estelle continued,
her voice becoming unusually sad. "My mother found out that I, you know...That I saw, things. She was so afraid, said I had the devil inside
me. I ran away, late at night when she was asleep. I thought it would be ok if I went to church, the priest was always so nice. He used to smile
at me after service was done, and tell me I was beautiful. He said that I was a blessing from God, that I was special...He.."
Estelle sank almost to her knees, stopping as Noah's arm caught her. "Go on.." He said, helping her stand again. She shivered at his touch,
tensing up as his hand held hers. "He was there that night, when I ran away..." Estelle kept going, holding Noah's hand as tight as she dared to,
turning her face to him. "He and some others, old people who'd been here a long long time. They were doing something in the church, something
bad...I caught them, they thought I did, that I would tell...So they put me here.." Noah's gaze softened, as he began to understand why
Estelle had managed to stay here without being attacked. "When he said you were special, the priest I mean. He was right wasn't he?"
Noah ventured, leading Estelle by the hand as they both sat on the gurney. She only nodded, leaning towards him ever so slightly.
"He said, that I could see what was inside other people, see their heart...And it's true, I can. They wanted me because of that. They told me
that I would be spared, that God would forgive me if I did what they told me to do..." Some kind of religious cult? Noah's thought process was already
running away with him, analyzing and drawing conclusions, finding the right pieces to fit together. In theory it could explain a lot of things but,
only if whatever rituals were performed around these parts actually worked. Could that be it? Were the strange glowing marks he'd seen here
and inside that taxi, and all of this craziness part of something a lot worse? "This town, it's not.." Noah started to ask, feeling Estelle's grip tighten
on his hand as she cut him off in midsentence. "It shows you." She said, sounding a little less distrught. As if being able to talk to him
about it somehow helped. "It shows you, what?" Noah asked, waiting for Estelle to finish the sentence. "You." She answered simplly, touching his cheek
with her free hand. "And this." She went on, brushing her hand over his chest. "It shows you, you?" Noah recited, realizing he'd misunderstood her.
Estelle nodded, resting her head lightly against Noah's chest. "And...this?" Noah questioned, taking their intertwined hands and placing it over her heart.
Her breasts were small, and in the surrealness of surviving battles with gruesome creatures only to talk philosophy with a cryptic blind woman he'd simply forgotten
she actually was a woman. Estelle shrieked, hurting Noah's ears almost as much as the earlier sirens. She let go of his hand, slapping him directly
across his cheek as she huddled herself to the edge of the gurney. Noah shot up, embarassed as he rubbed the mark on his face. It was still a damn sight
better than getting shot again, he reasoned. "I'm sorry Estelle, I didn't mean.." Noah had no words to explain the mistake, he was beginning to understand
his situation a little though. "Estelle.." Noah approached her again, gently this time. He took her hand and placed it his his, leaving his palm open
and placing his other hand on top of hers, trying to impart that he hadn't meant to touch her that way. "Why do you think I'm pretty?" She asked
abruptly, bringing her head up and looking straight at him even through closed eyes. Noah was taken off guard by that, not knowing what she meant.
"No one ever thinks that, they want me to help them. They're always scared and want to get out, to find their important person they lost. They get angry
because they don't understand, they think I'm crazy and, they leave me here..." Noah smiled just a bit, finding her incerdibly endearing.
"Estelle, this place.." Noah began, making a big squarish gesture with his hands even though she couldn't see. "I think this whole place, is crazy.
You.." He said, making sure to place his finger well above her chest as he pointed to her. " Are not crazy, ok?" He was using sign
language to communicate with a blind girl who could find his pockets in the dark better than he could, it was all so hysterical in the creepiest
of ways. Estelle let her smile come back, tilting her head as she closed her hand around his once more. "You'll go away Noah, I know you will."
She said sadly, looking down at her legs. "You're different, you can see. Maybe not all at once but you can." Noah returned her smile, feeling
strange. Smiling was something he never did, unless James managed to make him laugh. His whole life he'd remained shut off from virtually
everyone, finding it too painful to try and reach out to another person. And now, in this place that seemed to bare men's very souls to them
he had connected with someone without really even meaning to. "Why do you think they put me here, stupid?!" Estelle burst out at him again,
still holding his hand tightly. "I'm a part of it, part of all this! They find me and I try to help and they go away and get lost and I can never go anywhere
but here! Why aren't you going too? Why did you come here? Why do you...Think that I am pretty..." Estelle lowered her head, standing up as she let
Noah's hand go. "Why do you keep asking me that?" Noah returned, raising his voice in annoyance. "I saw what you felt Noah, you can't hide it. Not from me,
mother never could either, I could feel when she thought I was bad, evil.." Noah's eyes widened, as it dawned on him what Estelle was really asking him.
When he'd first seen her, it had caused shivering all along his body. Her eyes were stitched along the bottom, and she couldn't easily say what she really
meant to, but Noah had indeed found her quite beautiful when she'd first turned to him. Estelle must have felt that, the way she felt everything he had
been feeling. And it confused her, but why? Had she really been thought of as ugly for so long that now even she believed it? Noah wasn't sure how much
longer he could stand the immense contradictions of this place. Estelle had a gift, she saw people from the inside out. And even knowing what others
truly felt, she was still powerless to look inside her own heart the same way and find that it wasn't true. "Estelle, when you look around this place,
what can you see?" Noah asked her, taking a swig of the health drink at last. It wasn't terribly hard to get down, and had a sweet berry taste that
was rather pleasant. "See?" Estelle asked, touching her chest. "That's right." Noah nodded, glad that they were understanding each other better now.
She looked around a bit, placing her hands on the wall and feeling along it as if it were alive to her. "Can you see a way out of here?" Noah inquired,
drinking more and ripping open the package of jerky. Even though he'd hoped it wouldn't come to it he was finally just that hungry.
"I can see it." Estelle answered, moving along the wall, as if it were made of glass and she were looking through it. "Could you show me?"
Noah asked again, struggling to tear a shred of dried beef from the unappetizing mass. "I can draw it, let me see your map again?"
Estelle requested, moving towards him. Noah stood up, meeting her halfway and instead of the map he placed the health drink in her hand.
"You can have that, I already had enough." He offered, choking down a piece of stale salty beef. "Oh...thanks.." Estelle said humbly, a little
bewildered by Noah's gift. She put the bottle cautiously to her mouth and drank a little, licking her lips gingerly. "Not that great huh?" Noah
sympathized, smiling a little as Estelle's reaction to the taste made her mouth cringe slightly. "It's alright." She agreed, drinking a little more.
"Estelle, you said you could never leave here right? Why? All the creepy crawlers running around don't seem to fancy you much."
She looked down, at the floor once again, holding the health drink tightly with both hands. "The first time, anyone ever found me here he got
angry with me. I was being a bother to him, asking him to try and see and he just wouldn't..He told me I was stupid, that I was bad for being able to
see things and he couldn't. So he..." She held a finger to her eyes, touching them gently. "So he did that to your eyes,so you couldn't see them either?"
Noah concluded, frowning. It was a vicious thing to do, especially to a woman...That very instant Noah's own words brought back old memories,
his mother crying out as he pushed her. Walking away from her as she begged him not to. Had he really gotten any better at all since that day?
Wasn't he still sick? So Estelle had never been able to leave, because her gift was useless for seeing things outside of Silent Hill,
she'd obviously never even make it to the next town on her own with her eyes like that.
Noah hadn't believed Estelle when she'd said he was better than the others she'd met.
Not anymore he wagered, than she'd believe him if he'd have told her she was beautiful. But he hadn't said that, she'd seen it inside him somewhere.
She didn't have the luxary of not believing, which was Noah was sure why she had gotten so angry. He wanted to believe it though, that he'd come away
from being so volatile and unfeeling.
He wanted to believe that it had always been in him, and James had only released it. But then, Noah wanted to believe many things. Very few of them
would ever become truth. Even if that were the case, knowing her as he did now he couldn't just leave Estelle here. And she could see, perhaps better than
he could. He wouldn't have to lead her by the hand like some trashy blonde bimbo, or anything.
"So, you ready to help me get out of here then?" Noah asked stoutly,
picking up the gun. Estelle's mouth opened slightly, although she was speechless. Noah took her hand, grabbing the pocket flashlight with the other.
"We'll have to be each other's eyes for a bit ok?" He said, putting the flashlight in her hand. She only nodded, her smile speaking her happiness for her.
Noah slowly lowered himself into the room's single chair, the gun loose in his grip and pointed at the floor.
"What the....I don't understand this....I don't understand this place at all..." He groaned, crouching with his elbows
resting on his legs. His palms supported his head as he stared at the floor. The girl slowly approached him, her light
steps making almost no sound at all. Noah didn't move, he doubted the girl was of any danger to him. He didn't
really care even if she was, he was tired of everything. With James gone he might just as well die in this
terrible place, It didn't matter to him. "That's what I'm trying to help you do, to understand this place." The girl said,
sitting on the gurney facing away from him. "I don't need any help from a blind girl, thanks." Noah spit out harshly,
glaring up at her. Curiosity kept his gaze there, as he wondered why she always did that. "I'm sorry, that was very rude."
he apologized, crossing his arms in front of him and tilting his head to the side. The girl said nothing, so Noah kept talking.
"What's your name?" He asked her, putting the gun on the floor between his feet as a truce. "Estelle.." She said eagerly, as if she'd
been waiting for him to ask that. Noah nodded, pursing his lips. "That's a pretty name.." He complimented honestly.
"Stop it." The girl said, cutting him to the quick. "I'm sorry.." Noah apologized again, raising an eyebrow in surprise.
"It's not your fault I'm ugly." The girl replied smartly, her head moving slowly from the left to the right as if she were seeing
something he couldn't and watching it move. "What did you mean, about not seeing with your eyes in this town?"
Noah questioned, genuinely interested. Estelle didn't act like someone who couldn't see anything, that was for damn sure.
Normally he wouldn't have even entertained such a notion, but then normally he wouldn't buy into any of the things he'd
been experiencing since he'd hit the town border. As if he'd just had the greatest idea ever, Noah fished the map out of his pocket
along with the marker. Estelle heard the rustle of paper and perked her head up, standing and walking over to him with graceful ease.
Noah made a clicking sound with his tongue, plotting out where he ought to go next. The police station still seemed his best bet,
and he circled it on the map. "You won't find him there." Estelle pointed out, making Noah jump a little. Now she was behind him and
looking over his shoulder. Looking over his shoulder, Noah couldn't shake the irony of that phrase being applied to someone like Estelle.
"How did you know I was looking for someone?" Noah inquired, suspicious of her all over again. As he bent down to grip the gun, her
delicate fingers slipped the marker and map from his hand. "No one comes to this town unless they're looking for someone." Estelle answered,
smiling childishly as she drew on his map with the marker. "I think you should give those back to me." Noah insisted, raising his voice but not the
gun. She was such a mysterious person, how did she know all this? Was the town really speaking to her somehow? "James is there." Estelle
put forth as a reply, handing Noah the map and placing the marker in his breast pocket. She knew he had one? Even more unsettling was
the sketch of a school she had drawn on the map. "But you're blind.." Noah said dumbly, staring at her in wonderment.
The cute little smile returned to Estelle's face, both warm and playful. "You don't listen very well Noah." She chided, tracing her finger
down from his breast pocket and tapping his chest gently. "You have to open this, to find the way out." Noah took a stood up, stepping back and
feeling a little scared. "No good has ever come from me doing that." Noah shot back, turning away from her. "Did you see James? Are you sure
that's where he went?" He asked Estelle, examining the map. She'd drawn the school down in a blank southeast corner. "Yes I'm sure."
She said sadly, taking a few steps after Noah. "He got lost, they always get lost.." Her words held a sort of crypitc eerieness, and Noah
couldn't resist. "They? Who are all these others you keep mentioning?" He asked, turning back to Estelle. "Other people? Like me?"
Estelle shook her head, looking at the floor. "Not like you Noah, none of them were like you. That's why they got lost."
Noah gave a sigh, frustrated. She had saved him, for sure. He would have died if not for her. And he somehow trusted that she spoke truth,
after all if this place were set in any kind of realistic properties she would not be able to do and know the things she did.
Noah moved towards Estelle, putting his hands on her shoulders and blinking as she quickly turned her face away.
"Ok Estelle what's going on, can you tell me?" He pleaded, softening his voice so she wouldn't be frightened.
"Please?" He added, as she shyly turned to him. "How can you do that?" She hissed at him, sounding angry.
"How can I do what?" Noah asked back, utterly confused by her. Estelle backed away from his touch, retreating
to her spot near the wall. "You ask me to help you see, you want to understand what happenes here..." She said spitefully,
as Noah followed her over to the wall. "Well I need to know, if you can tell me. I think it would help me figure all this out."
He explained, not knowing what else to say. "But you do see, me. You look at me like that even though I'm...Just who are you anyway?!"
She screeched at him, waving a hand warning him to stay back. "I thought you already knew?" Noah reminded her, scratching his head.
Something was wrong, suddenly she seemed just as confused as he was. "Look. Estelle.." He started, making sure to keep his voice soft
and unthreatening. "Don't talk to me! Just shut up you liar!" She snapped at him, pressing herself against the wall.
Noah rolled his eyes, giving up on trying to get her talking about it. He went to the medical cabinet, opening it and filling every pocket he had
with supplies. "What are you doing?" Estelle asked from her corner, running her fingers along the wall. "Thank you for showing me where the school
is Estelle, I think I'll be able to make it there ok." Noah answered, not really meaning to leave. "You're really going?" She said in disbelief, sounding
afraid. "I have to, James is my best friend." Noah confirmed, finding the small bottle he'd picked up in the gas station hiding in his back pocket.
"Wonder if this stuff is any good..." He pondered, twisting off the cap as he sat in the chair. Whatever Estelle had given him for the pain was
wearing off, it wouldn't hurt to get a little nourishment before he set out again. "I'm a prisoner here..." Estelle whispered, sounding as if
she were about to cry. "A prisoner?" Noah repeated, not wanting to disrupt her sudden urge to talk with any stupid questions.
Estelle nodded slowly, rocking herself from side to side again and resting her head against the wall. "When I was a little girl.." Estelle continued,
her voice becoming unusually sad. "My mother found out that I, you know...That I saw, things. She was so afraid, said I had the devil inside
me. I ran away, late at night when she was asleep. I thought it would be ok if I went to church, the priest was always so nice. He used to smile
at me after service was done, and tell me I was beautiful. He said that I was a blessing from God, that I was special...He.."
Estelle sank almost to her knees, stopping as Noah's arm caught her. "Go on.." He said, helping her stand again. She shivered at his touch,
tensing up as his hand held hers. "He was there that night, when I ran away..." Estelle kept going, holding Noah's hand as tight as she dared to,
turning her face to him. "He and some others, old people who'd been here a long long time. They were doing something in the church, something
bad...I caught them, they thought I did, that I would tell...So they put me here.." Noah's gaze softened, as he began to understand why
Estelle had managed to stay here without being attacked. "When he said you were special, the priest I mean. He was right wasn't he?"
Noah ventured, leading Estelle by the hand as they both sat on the gurney. She only nodded, leaning towards him ever so slightly.
"He said, that I could see what was inside other people, see their heart...And it's true, I can. They wanted me because of that. They told me
that I would be spared, that God would forgive me if I did what they told me to do..." Some kind of religious cult? Noah's thought process was already
running away with him, analyzing and drawing conclusions, finding the right pieces to fit together. In theory it could explain a lot of things but,
only if whatever rituals were performed around these parts actually worked. Could that be it? Were the strange glowing marks he'd seen here
and inside that taxi, and all of this craziness part of something a lot worse? "This town, it's not.." Noah started to ask, feeling Estelle's grip tighten
on his hand as she cut him off in midsentence. "It shows you." She said, sounding a little less distrught. As if being able to talk to him
about it somehow helped. "It shows you, what?" Noah asked, waiting for Estelle to finish the sentence. "You." She answered simplly, touching his cheek
with her free hand. "And this." She went on, brushing her hand over his chest. "It shows you, you?" Noah recited, realizing he'd misunderstood her.
Estelle nodded, resting her head lightly against Noah's chest. "And...this?" Noah questioned, taking their intertwined hands and placing it over her heart.
Her breasts were small, and in the surrealness of surviving battles with gruesome creatures only to talk philosophy with a cryptic blind woman he'd simply forgotten
she actually was a woman. Estelle shrieked, hurting Noah's ears almost as much as the earlier sirens. She let go of his hand, slapping him directly
across his cheek as she huddled herself to the edge of the gurney. Noah shot up, embarassed as he rubbed the mark on his face. It was still a damn sight
better than getting shot again, he reasoned. "I'm sorry Estelle, I didn't mean.." Noah had no words to explain the mistake, he was beginning to understand
his situation a little though. "Estelle.." Noah approached her again, gently this time. He took her hand and placed it his his, leaving his palm open
and placing his other hand on top of hers, trying to impart that he hadn't meant to touch her that way. "Why do you think I'm pretty?" She asked
abruptly, bringing her head up and looking straight at him even through closed eyes. Noah was taken off guard by that, not knowing what she meant.
"No one ever thinks that, they want me to help them. They're always scared and want to get out, to find their important person they lost. They get angry
because they don't understand, they think I'm crazy and, they leave me here..." Noah smiled just a bit, finding her incerdibly endearing.
"Estelle, this place.." Noah began, making a big squarish gesture with his hands even though she couldn't see. "I think this whole place, is crazy.
You.." He said, making sure to place his finger well above her chest as he pointed to her. " Are not crazy, ok?" He was using sign
language to communicate with a blind girl who could find his pockets in the dark better than he could, it was all so hysterical in the creepiest
of ways. Estelle let her smile come back, tilting her head as she closed her hand around his once more. "You'll go away Noah, I know you will."
She said sadly, looking down at her legs. "You're different, you can see. Maybe not all at once but you can." Noah returned her smile, feeling
strange. Smiling was something he never did, unless James managed to make him laugh. His whole life he'd remained shut off from virtually
everyone, finding it too painful to try and reach out to another person. And now, in this place that seemed to bare men's very souls to them
he had connected with someone without really even meaning to. "Why do you think they put me here, stupid?!" Estelle burst out at him again,
still holding his hand tightly. "I'm a part of it, part of all this! They find me and I try to help and they go away and get lost and I can never go anywhere
but here! Why aren't you going too? Why did you come here? Why do you...Think that I am pretty..." Estelle lowered her head, standing up as she let
Noah's hand go. "Why do you keep asking me that?" Noah returned, raising his voice in annoyance. "I saw what you felt Noah, you can't hide it. Not from me,
mother never could either, I could feel when she thought I was bad, evil.." Noah's eyes widened, as it dawned on him what Estelle was really asking him.
When he'd first seen her, it had caused shivering all along his body. Her eyes were stitched along the bottom, and she couldn't easily say what she really
meant to, but Noah had indeed found her quite beautiful when she'd first turned to him. Estelle must have felt that, the way she felt everything he had
been feeling. And it confused her, but why? Had she really been thought of as ugly for so long that now even she believed it? Noah wasn't sure how much
longer he could stand the immense contradictions of this place. Estelle had a gift, she saw people from the inside out. And even knowing what others
truly felt, she was still powerless to look inside her own heart the same way and find that it wasn't true. "Estelle, when you look around this place,
what can you see?" Noah asked her, taking a swig of the health drink at last. It wasn't terribly hard to get down, and had a sweet berry taste that
was rather pleasant. "See?" Estelle asked, touching her chest. "That's right." Noah nodded, glad that they were understanding each other better now.
She looked around a bit, placing her hands on the wall and feeling along it as if it were alive to her. "Can you see a way out of here?" Noah inquired,
drinking more and ripping open the package of jerky. Even though he'd hoped it wouldn't come to it he was finally just that hungry.
"I can see it." Estelle answered, moving along the wall, as if it were made of glass and she were looking through it. "Could you show me?"
Noah asked again, struggling to tear a shred of dried beef from the unappetizing mass. "I can draw it, let me see your map again?"
Estelle requested, moving towards him. Noah stood up, meeting her halfway and instead of the map he placed the health drink in her hand.
"You can have that, I already had enough." He offered, choking down a piece of stale salty beef. "Oh...thanks.." Estelle said humbly, a little
bewildered by Noah's gift. She put the bottle cautiously to her mouth and drank a little, licking her lips gingerly. "Not that great huh?" Noah
sympathized, smiling a little as Estelle's reaction to the taste made her mouth cringe slightly. "It's alright." She agreed, drinking a little more.
"Estelle, you said you could never leave here right? Why? All the creepy crawlers running around don't seem to fancy you much."
She looked down, at the floor once again, holding the health drink tightly with both hands. "The first time, anyone ever found me here he got
angry with me. I was being a bother to him, asking him to try and see and he just wouldn't..He told me I was stupid, that I was bad for being able to
see things and he couldn't. So he..." She held a finger to her eyes, touching them gently. "So he did that to your eyes,so you couldn't see them either?"
Noah concluded, frowning. It was a vicious thing to do, especially to a woman...That very instant Noah's own words brought back old memories,
his mother crying out as he pushed her. Walking away from her as she begged him not to. Had he really gotten any better at all since that day?
Wasn't he still sick? So Estelle had never been able to leave, because her gift was useless for seeing things outside of Silent Hill,
she'd obviously never even make it to the next town on her own with her eyes like that.
Noah hadn't believed Estelle when she'd said he was better than the others she'd met.
Not anymore he wagered, than she'd believe him if he'd have told her she was beautiful. But he hadn't said that, she'd seen it inside him somewhere.
She didn't have the luxary of not believing, which was Noah was sure why she had gotten so angry. He wanted to believe it though, that he'd come away
from being so volatile and unfeeling.
He wanted to believe that it had always been in him, and James had only released it. But then, Noah wanted to believe many things. Very few of them
would ever become truth. Even if that were the case, knowing her as he did now he couldn't just leave Estelle here. And she could see, perhaps better than
he could. He wouldn't have to lead her by the hand like some trashy blonde bimbo, or anything.
"So, you ready to help me get out of here then?" Noah asked stoutly,
picking up the gun. Estelle's mouth opened slightly, although she was speechless. Noah took her hand, grabbing the pocket flashlight with the other.
"We'll have to be each other's eyes for a bit ok?" He said, putting the flashlight in her hand. She only nodded, her smile speaking her happiness for her.