SILENT HILL- Wilted
"So what exactly does this mean?" Noah asked cluelessly, as Estelle walked nervously ahead of him. The hallway
wasn't even a hallway anymore, it fact it closely ressembled a gigantic heart valve pumping hard to deliver blood.
It literally swam through cracks in the walls, converging at large pulsating sacs on the ceilng or gurneys
half stuck in the walls just like the car he'd seen. "What, you mean the otherworld?" Estelle replied, walking faster
as she took quick glances behind her. "Yeah." Noah agreed, shining the flashlight to illuminate the path ahead of them.
"I mean those craven nurses were after me before any of this happened, and I killed some 'thing' right out in the parking lot."
Estelle sighed irritably, shaking her head. "You don't yet understand what this place is, do you. The otherworld suddenly
appearing like this is actually good, it means the town is trying harder to keep you here." Noah raised his eyebrows,
unable to look away from his gruesome surroundings. "You mean it's pulling out all the stops because we're closer to getting out?"
Estelle nodded, stopping at a small door close to the end of the hallway. "That's right, it's going to keep changing however it needs
to in order to keep you from escaping." Estelle explained, opening the door as Noah shined the flashlight into the next room.
"You mean 'us' right?" Noah corrected, looking over Estelle's shoulder as they left the hallway. "Us?" Estelle said cynically.
"Yeah, we're getting out of here. Both of us." Noah assured her, putting a hand on her arm. "You're too close." Estelle warned,
quickly moving away from him. The room was filled with corpses, not all of them whole either. They were piled up on either side
of him and Estelle, blocking any doors that might have led elsewhere. "Looks like a dead end." Noah stated, spotting a tall
soda machine at the far end of the room. He was hesitant to investigate, it was right below the window where a corpse hung.
It vibrated and shook wildly, apparentely held in place by all the barbed wire wrapped around it. "Would I lead you to a dead end?"
Estelle bitched, walking over to the soda machine as if the animated cadaver didn't bother her at all. "Well you sure hate me enough
to do it, I guess." Noah sulked under his breath, keeping his distance as he followed her. "You really have to stop trying to see like
you normally would around here, Noah." Estelle lectured, tilting her head as she regarded the large vending machine.
"So then you do like me right?" Noah joked, wishing he hadn't as Estelle let out another irritated sigh. "Got any money?" Estelle asked,
turning to him. Noah stuck his hand into the pockets of his jeans, coming up with five quarters. He held them out to Estelle,
who moved behind him and pushed him gently towards the vending machine. "Oh come on..." Noah griped,
stepping up to the machine and dropping a quarter into the coin slot. It clinked around inside the machine, making a faint noise
as it came to rest somewhere. Nothing happened.
"Ok.." Noah said, putting in another quarter. Still nothing. Three quarters later, Noah was out of change with nothing to show for it.
He noticed there was a slot for bills also, and recalled the money he'd found in the gas station. They were pretty wrinkled by now,
Noah had to flatten them against the soda machine as best he could. The first dollar bill had no effect on anything, as Noah looked
back at Estelle who seemd to be anxiously waiting for something to happen. The other bills, two more ones a five and a ten, produced
no results. "Ahhhhhhh!" Noah growled, kicking the machine angrily. "Don't be dumb, They'll hear!" Estelle chided him, slapping his
bandaged shoulder. Noah hissed as pain shot all through him, realizing she was right yet wishing she'd picked a less sensitive target.
Noah thought for a second, trying to fight what his eyes saw and use what he knew about where they were. It could've essentially
been considered a mirror town of sorts, reflecting everything about you back in your face a hundred and one different ways.
Now if Estelle was right, and everything around them was somehow borne from his own soul then the answer would have to do with
some undesireable part of him. Noah had an idea, turning to Estelle who was already trying to refuse whatever he might ask of her.
"Estelle, do you think I'm a selfish man?" He inquired, looking solemnly at her eyes as the question took her by surprise.
"I..I don't...." Estelle answered, bewildered at the suddeness of Noah's words. He nodded, quickly turning back to the machine.
She would know if he really were or not, and though Noah had always thought himself a selfish person perhaps that was an illusion.
And perhaps that was the other part of this town's power, showing you not only yourself but seperating the parts that are you from the
parts you have made to make being you easier and laying them all out for you. Noah took out his wallet, thumbing through it
until he found a fifty. It was the biggest single bill he had on him. "Less is more..." Noah mused, biting the tip of his thumb just enough
to bleed. Estelle gasped, watching him brush his thumb along the bill to make a red streak down the middle of it. Noah slipped
the fifty into the machine, holding his breath and hoping his idea was correct. There came a rattle, as if a can had been dislodged
inside the soda machine. Noah smiled just a bit, as Estelle came up beside his good arm and gave it a pat. "You're getting there." She
complimented, watching with him as the can fell down to the opening at the bottom. Noah saw it wasn't really a can at all, and picked it
up with a blank expresion on his face. It was a comendable work of origami, a piece of paper folded and creased to the exact shape of a soda can.
"Not with my eyes, right?" Noah recited, gazing over at Estelle knowingly. She nodded, her head titled slightly to the side as she let that
beautiful smile of hers shine. "Careful there, you're making the flashlight jealous." Noah quiped, unfolding the paper can.
HIs words promptly made the smile leave Estelle's face. as she turned sideways and watched him from over her shoulder.
Noah shook his head, wondering what he was doing so wrong with her. A compliment was just that, he wasn't proposing or anything.
What was with her anyway? Noah frowned in disappointment, as the unfolded paper had nothing but two small streaks of blood on it.
"So Estelle, why did you think I was stupid for opening that chest if the otherworld means we're progressing?" Noah came right out
with it, knowing she could practically read his thoughts anyway. There was no point in omission anymore.
"Because you should never, ever touch anything in this place without thinking first." Estelle shot back, sounding angry again.
"Right.." Noah nodded, not wanting to start an argument. He 'had' thought about it, and it had made sense to him. It seemed
to Noah that Estelle was giving him a lot of shit he didn't necesarily deserve, but as long as she'd been trapped here he supposed
her social skills had faded quite a bit. It wasn't her fault, they were both in a situation they'd rather not be and it was just too bad.
The sooner he could smarten up about the town's weird ways and get them out of here, the better he and Estelle would get along.
Thinking about his encounter with the chest made him think of something else, the numbers Estelle had discovered. If Noah had
really messed up all that bad back there, he would've gotten a lot worse from Estelle he was sure of that. That the otherworld was
necesary to find a way out of here meant that this room Estelle had led them to was the right place to be. Something was here, be it a key
to solving a riddle or a riddle to be solved. Whatever the next step was, it was in this room. "You're beginning to see. "Estelle encouraged,
her voice was soft and if Noah wasn't mistaken, a little proud of him. "Let's hope." Noah answered her, looking at the streaks of blood on the
paper he held. So he had proven, in an abstract and ludicrous way that he was not the selfish man he saw himself to be. An illusion
torn away, sugessting a reevaluation of the past. "Estelle, those numbers you found.." Noah began, as Estelle retrieved the map from
her pocket and handed it to him. He took it in one hand, pairing the scrap of paper next to it. It was a long shot, but he could see the
streaks of blood forming rudimentary numbers when combined with the roman numerals. The paper was fairly transparent, and as
he placed it over the part of his map the numbers were written on he saw that he was indeed right. The first streak of blood was positioned
over the first three, suggesting that they were actually one number, seven. The second streak formed a vertical line between the three and nine,
sugessting the first number was five and the last two lines when added to the streak of blood were the number three. That left only the X at the
end of the roman numeral nine. "X marks the spot.." Noah said softly, smiling a little as it clicked into his head what came next.
Estelle stood in place, watching Noah as he hit the coin return button on the soda machine. As he'd thought, the machine prompty gave him back
his five quarters. Only they had somehow been marred while inside the machine, each one bearing a series of lines depicting a different number.
He picked out one with a five marked into it's back, and another with a three. He put those two coins back into the machine, his mind making his
hands move before he could even think about doing it. A loud click resounded, and a horrible gutteral scream as if someone were being tortured.
Noah jumped back in shock, handing the map back to Estelle as he gripped the pickax tightly. "You keep it." Estelle refused, putting the map into
his back pocket as she stepped behind him. The soda machine's front suddenly swung open, a cadaver falling out and to Noah's feet. Beyond it,
somehow a door was inside the vending machine. Noah cocked an eyebrow, stepping carefully over the corpse as he took hold of the doorknob.
"You can take the gun too.." Estelle prodded, holding it out to him. Noah gave her a sour look, his eyes becoming steely and cold. "I told you
'we' are getting out of here. Both of us." Noah's voice boomed with a determination that seemed to shake Estelle somehow, as she stepped back
away from him. Her hands held the betretta as if it were precious, her blind eyes seeming to meet his as she bit her quivering lower lip.
"It's not my fight, Noah." She whispered, sounding as if she might cry. Noah let go of the door, walking after Estelle as she continued to back away.
"I'm falling in love with you..." He let the words come freely, she would know he was being truthful no matter what. The wailing, god awful sirens
began to sound again, as Estelle's form blurred and convulsed before Noah's eyes. His radio spat white noise laden with static as the entire room
seemed to change around him. Not quite drowned out by the firece sirens, Noah distinctly heard Estelle's reply. "Me too..." Her words struck him,
as he became so dizzy he had to sit down. The room was completely empty now, and Noah saw he was sitting on a floor of bleeding tissue.
"Oh Jesus!" He yelped, springing to his feet. The entire floor seemd to move, the blood flowing to a small window no more than a foot off the floor.
Shining the flashlight ahead of him, Noah went to it. It was a bit tricky to fit the pickax and his body out at the same time, but he managed.
Below him was nothing, utter darkness. The metal planking of the catwalk seemed suspended in midair by magic, tilting a little as Noah walked on it.
He could of sworn he heard whispers, and whirled around with the pickax held ready. The planking, was gone. The few feet he'd walked over
just a moment ago had vanished into thin air. "Christ, I hate this place.." Noah whispered, turning around and continuing forward.
He kept looking back from time to time, confirming that with every step he took the catwalk behind him vanished.
Moaning rose up from the void, raising the hairs on Noah's arms as he stopped dead in his tracks. There was something coming,
slowly dragging itself closer to him. It almost looked as if it were a woman, a fat naked woman with sizeable breasts. It was in such a position
that it lay on it's back, with legs straight out and folded up so that the kness were touching the bridge of it's nose. It moaned louder as it
approached, Noah was so scared he couldn't even turn the flashlight away to spare his eyes from the abberant creature. It dragged it's
body along with it's hands, as a single eye suddenly opened from between it's buttocks. It blinked rapidly, now almost close enough to touch.
If that thing he'd fought with outside the hospital was some sort of representaion of him as he'd come to suspect since he'd met Estelle,
then the disgusting beast he was now faced with was undoubtedly his stepmother.
"So what exactly does this mean?" Noah asked cluelessly, as Estelle walked nervously ahead of him. The hallway
wasn't even a hallway anymore, it fact it closely ressembled a gigantic heart valve pumping hard to deliver blood.
It literally swam through cracks in the walls, converging at large pulsating sacs on the ceilng or gurneys
half stuck in the walls just like the car he'd seen. "What, you mean the otherworld?" Estelle replied, walking faster
as she took quick glances behind her. "Yeah." Noah agreed, shining the flashlight to illuminate the path ahead of them.
"I mean those craven nurses were after me before any of this happened, and I killed some 'thing' right out in the parking lot."
Estelle sighed irritably, shaking her head. "You don't yet understand what this place is, do you. The otherworld suddenly
appearing like this is actually good, it means the town is trying harder to keep you here." Noah raised his eyebrows,
unable to look away from his gruesome surroundings. "You mean it's pulling out all the stops because we're closer to getting out?"
Estelle nodded, stopping at a small door close to the end of the hallway. "That's right, it's going to keep changing however it needs
to in order to keep you from escaping." Estelle explained, opening the door as Noah shined the flashlight into the next room.
"You mean 'us' right?" Noah corrected, looking over Estelle's shoulder as they left the hallway. "Us?" Estelle said cynically.
"Yeah, we're getting out of here. Both of us." Noah assured her, putting a hand on her arm. "You're too close." Estelle warned,
quickly moving away from him. The room was filled with corpses, not all of them whole either. They were piled up on either side
of him and Estelle, blocking any doors that might have led elsewhere. "Looks like a dead end." Noah stated, spotting a tall
soda machine at the far end of the room. He was hesitant to investigate, it was right below the window where a corpse hung.
It vibrated and shook wildly, apparentely held in place by all the barbed wire wrapped around it. "Would I lead you to a dead end?"
Estelle bitched, walking over to the soda machine as if the animated cadaver didn't bother her at all. "Well you sure hate me enough
to do it, I guess." Noah sulked under his breath, keeping his distance as he followed her. "You really have to stop trying to see like
you normally would around here, Noah." Estelle lectured, tilting her head as she regarded the large vending machine.
"So then you do like me right?" Noah joked, wishing he hadn't as Estelle let out another irritated sigh. "Got any money?" Estelle asked,
turning to him. Noah stuck his hand into the pockets of his jeans, coming up with five quarters. He held them out to Estelle,
who moved behind him and pushed him gently towards the vending machine. "Oh come on..." Noah griped,
stepping up to the machine and dropping a quarter into the coin slot. It clinked around inside the machine, making a faint noise
as it came to rest somewhere. Nothing happened.
"Ok.." Noah said, putting in another quarter. Still nothing. Three quarters later, Noah was out of change with nothing to show for it.
He noticed there was a slot for bills also, and recalled the money he'd found in the gas station. They were pretty wrinkled by now,
Noah had to flatten them against the soda machine as best he could. The first dollar bill had no effect on anything, as Noah looked
back at Estelle who seemd to be anxiously waiting for something to happen. The other bills, two more ones a five and a ten, produced
no results. "Ahhhhhhh!" Noah growled, kicking the machine angrily. "Don't be dumb, They'll hear!" Estelle chided him, slapping his
bandaged shoulder. Noah hissed as pain shot all through him, realizing she was right yet wishing she'd picked a less sensitive target.
Noah thought for a second, trying to fight what his eyes saw and use what he knew about where they were. It could've essentially
been considered a mirror town of sorts, reflecting everything about you back in your face a hundred and one different ways.
Now if Estelle was right, and everything around them was somehow borne from his own soul then the answer would have to do with
some undesireable part of him. Noah had an idea, turning to Estelle who was already trying to refuse whatever he might ask of her.
"Estelle, do you think I'm a selfish man?" He inquired, looking solemnly at her eyes as the question took her by surprise.
"I..I don't...." Estelle answered, bewildered at the suddeness of Noah's words. He nodded, quickly turning back to the machine.
She would know if he really were or not, and though Noah had always thought himself a selfish person perhaps that was an illusion.
And perhaps that was the other part of this town's power, showing you not only yourself but seperating the parts that are you from the
parts you have made to make being you easier and laying them all out for you. Noah took out his wallet, thumbing through it
until he found a fifty. It was the biggest single bill he had on him. "Less is more..." Noah mused, biting the tip of his thumb just enough
to bleed. Estelle gasped, watching him brush his thumb along the bill to make a red streak down the middle of it. Noah slipped
the fifty into the machine, holding his breath and hoping his idea was correct. There came a rattle, as if a can had been dislodged
inside the soda machine. Noah smiled just a bit, as Estelle came up beside his good arm and gave it a pat. "You're getting there." She
complimented, watching with him as the can fell down to the opening at the bottom. Noah saw it wasn't really a can at all, and picked it
up with a blank expresion on his face. It was a comendable work of origami, a piece of paper folded and creased to the exact shape of a soda can.
"Not with my eyes, right?" Noah recited, gazing over at Estelle knowingly. She nodded, her head titled slightly to the side as she let that
beautiful smile of hers shine. "Careful there, you're making the flashlight jealous." Noah quiped, unfolding the paper can.
HIs words promptly made the smile leave Estelle's face. as she turned sideways and watched him from over her shoulder.
Noah shook his head, wondering what he was doing so wrong with her. A compliment was just that, he wasn't proposing or anything.
What was with her anyway? Noah frowned in disappointment, as the unfolded paper had nothing but two small streaks of blood on it.
"So Estelle, why did you think I was stupid for opening that chest if the otherworld means we're progressing?" Noah came right out
with it, knowing she could practically read his thoughts anyway. There was no point in omission anymore.
"Because you should never, ever touch anything in this place without thinking first." Estelle shot back, sounding angry again.
"Right.." Noah nodded, not wanting to start an argument. He 'had' thought about it, and it had made sense to him. It seemed
to Noah that Estelle was giving him a lot of shit he didn't necesarily deserve, but as long as she'd been trapped here he supposed
her social skills had faded quite a bit. It wasn't her fault, they were both in a situation they'd rather not be and it was just too bad.
The sooner he could smarten up about the town's weird ways and get them out of here, the better he and Estelle would get along.
Thinking about his encounter with the chest made him think of something else, the numbers Estelle had discovered. If Noah had
really messed up all that bad back there, he would've gotten a lot worse from Estelle he was sure of that. That the otherworld was
necesary to find a way out of here meant that this room Estelle had led them to was the right place to be. Something was here, be it a key
to solving a riddle or a riddle to be solved. Whatever the next step was, it was in this room. "You're beginning to see. "Estelle encouraged,
her voice was soft and if Noah wasn't mistaken, a little proud of him. "Let's hope." Noah answered her, looking at the streaks of blood on the
paper he held. So he had proven, in an abstract and ludicrous way that he was not the selfish man he saw himself to be. An illusion
torn away, sugessting a reevaluation of the past. "Estelle, those numbers you found.." Noah began, as Estelle retrieved the map from
her pocket and handed it to him. He took it in one hand, pairing the scrap of paper next to it. It was a long shot, but he could see the
streaks of blood forming rudimentary numbers when combined with the roman numerals. The paper was fairly transparent, and as
he placed it over the part of his map the numbers were written on he saw that he was indeed right. The first streak of blood was positioned
over the first three, suggesting that they were actually one number, seven. The second streak formed a vertical line between the three and nine,
sugessting the first number was five and the last two lines when added to the streak of blood were the number three. That left only the X at the
end of the roman numeral nine. "X marks the spot.." Noah said softly, smiling a little as it clicked into his head what came next.
Estelle stood in place, watching Noah as he hit the coin return button on the soda machine. As he'd thought, the machine prompty gave him back
his five quarters. Only they had somehow been marred while inside the machine, each one bearing a series of lines depicting a different number.
He picked out one with a five marked into it's back, and another with a three. He put those two coins back into the machine, his mind making his
hands move before he could even think about doing it. A loud click resounded, and a horrible gutteral scream as if someone were being tortured.
Noah jumped back in shock, handing the map back to Estelle as he gripped the pickax tightly. "You keep it." Estelle refused, putting the map into
his back pocket as she stepped behind him. The soda machine's front suddenly swung open, a cadaver falling out and to Noah's feet. Beyond it,
somehow a door was inside the vending machine. Noah cocked an eyebrow, stepping carefully over the corpse as he took hold of the doorknob.
"You can take the gun too.." Estelle prodded, holding it out to him. Noah gave her a sour look, his eyes becoming steely and cold. "I told you
'we' are getting out of here. Both of us." Noah's voice boomed with a determination that seemed to shake Estelle somehow, as she stepped back
away from him. Her hands held the betretta as if it were precious, her blind eyes seeming to meet his as she bit her quivering lower lip.
"It's not my fight, Noah." She whispered, sounding as if she might cry. Noah let go of the door, walking after Estelle as she continued to back away.
"I'm falling in love with you..." He let the words come freely, she would know he was being truthful no matter what. The wailing, god awful sirens
began to sound again, as Estelle's form blurred and convulsed before Noah's eyes. His radio spat white noise laden with static as the entire room
seemed to change around him. Not quite drowned out by the firece sirens, Noah distinctly heard Estelle's reply. "Me too..." Her words struck him,
as he became so dizzy he had to sit down. The room was completely empty now, and Noah saw he was sitting on a floor of bleeding tissue.
"Oh Jesus!" He yelped, springing to his feet. The entire floor seemd to move, the blood flowing to a small window no more than a foot off the floor.
Shining the flashlight ahead of him, Noah went to it. It was a bit tricky to fit the pickax and his body out at the same time, but he managed.
Below him was nothing, utter darkness. The metal planking of the catwalk seemed suspended in midair by magic, tilting a little as Noah walked on it.
He could of sworn he heard whispers, and whirled around with the pickax held ready. The planking, was gone. The few feet he'd walked over
just a moment ago had vanished into thin air. "Christ, I hate this place.." Noah whispered, turning around and continuing forward.
He kept looking back from time to time, confirming that with every step he took the catwalk behind him vanished.
Moaning rose up from the void, raising the hairs on Noah's arms as he stopped dead in his tracks. There was something coming,
slowly dragging itself closer to him. It almost looked as if it were a woman, a fat naked woman with sizeable breasts. It was in such a position
that it lay on it's back, with legs straight out and folded up so that the kness were touching the bridge of it's nose. It moaned louder as it
approached, Noah was so scared he couldn't even turn the flashlight away to spare his eyes from the abberant creature. It dragged it's
body along with it's hands, as a single eye suddenly opened from between it's buttocks. It blinked rapidly, now almost close enough to touch.
If that thing he'd fought with outside the hospital was some sort of representaion of him as he'd come to suspect since he'd met Estelle,
then the disgusting beast he was now faced with was undoubtedly his stepmother.