SILENT HILL- Accessory To Evil
Noah and Estelle ran through the winding maze, the mirrors along the wall making surreal pictures
out of the two forms moving quickly along. The rumbling died down, as Estelle stopped in front of
a door. She grabbed Noah's hand and made him stop too, opening the door as Noah followed without
question. Inside it was like a small office, with filing cabinets along the walls in a 'C' shape.
In face the only space the filing cabinets left was filled by a large computer desk. The monitor that
sat atop it was dark, yet the lights on the computer itself were glowing solid green.
"Can we use this?" Noah asked excitedly, moving over to it. His hand brushed by the mouse accidentally
as his hand tapped at the keyboard, causing the screen to light up. Noah saw there were a few programs
open, one of them seeming to control the haunted house's door locks. "The exit's locked, isn't it."
Estelle said worridly, as Noah checked through the listing of doors. "Yep." Noah sighed, looking for a way
to override it. "Shit this is no good, I'm not much for computers Estelle." Noah explained, as almost everything
he tried to do with the sysytem asked for a password. He could spend a solid week in here and not crack a single one
of them. "Does it give any clues?" Estelle questioned, looking over Noah's shoulder at the screen.
"Clues for what?" Noah asked dumbly, searching through everything the computer would let him access.
"For the passwords, idiot." Estelle shot back, raising her voice a little. "Most systems let you leave hints for
the password in case you forget it, didn't you know that?" Estelle lectured, as Noah began to try random passwords.
"So much for me doing so well, huh?" Noah grumbled, not at all understanding why she'd said that if she still
thought he was such an idiot. "Sorry." Estelle said simply, as Noah kept trying password after password.
After five wrong passwords a message popped up, asking if he'd lost or forgotten his password and if he'd
like to use the password recovery. Noah clicked on the yes button, bringing up another screen that posed a question.
'One pink one white, be it wrong or right the white rule supreme while the pink only bleed.' Noah smirked a bit,
knowing the answer already. He typed 'Robbie-Kun' into the password box, frowning in surprise as the lost password
box came up again. And the same damn clue. "What the hell.." Noah growled, scratching his head. Estelle
leaned even closer, then turned to Noah. "You didn't use any spaces did you?" She accused, as Noah began
to feel frustrated. 'No I didn't, ok?" He snapped, trying just 'Robbie'. Still wrong. "Puncuation or characters? Anything
that's not a number or letter?" Estelle asked again, as Noah was about to repeat his answer. "No dashes, got it."
Noah said suddenly, sounding quite enbarrased. Without the dash mark RobbieKun worked just fine and he chose
the option to unlock all the doors, just to be on the safe side. A live feed from cameras showed various areas of the
haunted house as the doors all unlocked. Noah grunted as he stood up, the shotgun feeling heavy in his hand as Estelle
led the way back into the winding mirror halls. She always seemd to know just where she was going everytime they met,
it was amazing to Noah that she could see everything about the town so well. He didn't know why, but somehow his
grief for James had been extremely short lived. Could it be some part of him had wanted to kill James, and knew
all along what kind of person he really was? Or had the town of Silent Hill just made him that used to making
balck or white decisions based on nothing more than a gut instinct.
For whatever the reason it was sitting lighter on Noah's conscience than he thought it should, and that worried him.
Further down the way Estelle led him along, there was a door thankfully marked 'EXIT' in big red lettering.
An electric sign above the door confirmed that it was indeed the way out. Only when Noah grabbed the handle and pulled,
the door wouldn't budge. "How the...but I saw the bloody thing unlock! You did too, right?"
Noah asked frantically of Estelle, who rasied an eyebrow and sighed as she turned away from him in annoyance.
Noah was a lot more frustrated now, and kicked the door hard even though his feet were as banged up as the rest of him.
"GAHHHH!!" Noah shouted in pain, holding his ankle as the impact of the heavy door sent shockwaves through his many wounds.
"We have to try again." Estelle stated matter of factly, starting back down the hall without him. Noah walked after her,
about to point out that this was the only exit the computer had shown and if it wasn't unlocked going back to the computer wouldn't
solve anything. Then he rembered, about nothing being what it seemed and physics not applying to this place. Estelle seemed to
pick up on his thoughts, and smiled over her shoulder at him. Noah nodded shyly, realizing he'd caught himself
just in time.
The two of them reached the computer room again, the door easily opening inward. Only Noah could
have sworn the door had swung out when they'd entered just a few minutes ago. "Uh oh.." Noah blurted out,
his stomach lurching as he got the feeling this place was about to change like the others had.
The computer screen flashed a warning message stating that the cameras were having problems and that
the stream video drivers had to be recalibrated manaully. None of the keys Noah pressed did anything,
and the computer kept asking for a removeable video source to perform the calibration tests.
Noah recalled the web camera he'd found, taking it out and uncoiling the USB cable as Estelle held out her hand.
He rasied an eyebrow at her, putting the cord in her hand as she ran it to the back of the computer and connected it
for him. Noah still could make no sense of what had gone wrong. The cameras malfunctioning should have had nothing
to do with the doors, unless the system was programmed to lock down if even the slightest thing went wrong.
It was pretty heavy and complex security for a simple and generally low-tech haunted house, at any rate.
Noah set the camera atop the monitor, as a small window opened up. There were controls for brightness and contrast,
that sort of thing. Noah fiddled with them, watching the small video window as it showed the image of him with Estelle
standing behind his chair with improving clarity. Noah felt strange, almost sleepy as he brought the camera into
better focus. The video window skipped as lines of static went across it, and Noah saw the picture of his head
shake and convulse momentarily. Suddenly he couldn't take his eyes off the screen, his head began to swim
and he felt dizzy as the image changed. It wasn't the room they were in anymore, the video now showed the first
stretch of the mirror hall with James' body still laying there.
The view zoomed in on him, as he sat up with a sudden burst of energy. His whole body twitched and shook,
as he picked up the great knife and stood straight again. His head still gone, Noah watched as the demon
he'd once called his only friend bumped into walls repeatedly. Each time he did this he stood still for a second,
as if he were confused. He would then lumber on down the hall until he ran into another wall, stopping in confusion
and repeating the process again. After Noah watched James' do this for what seemed to be hours, he saw
James raise the great knife and point it straight up at the camera. Right at him, Noah realized.
Symbolic of what Noah had feared ever since he'd come upon those childish pictures.
James truly was dead, if not physically at least the man that had been his friend was long gone. He was a monster now,
and as such inspired more fear and sadness in Noah's heart then all the things he'd seen before all put together.
James seemed to gain a better sense of direction, strutting off to make good his silent threat on Noah and bumping only
into walls that hugged the corners as he turned them.
"He's coming straight for us, he wants my blood now." Noah whispered in fear, as he only then became aware
that Estelle had been talking the entire time. "Noah! Get UP! We have to get out of here!"
She was screaming now, pulling at his shoulders as she looked around the room.
The walls were becoming eeriely translucent, as pictures began appearing on them.
It looekd as if someone had snuck in and set up projectors that now cast macabre images on the walls.
There was a clunky sound like metal being bent, as the images all repeated the moment Noah had blown
James' head apart. All from different angles, some closer or further away than others. Each time they recycled,
James' face looked more and more frightened, almost innocent even though Noah was sure James had been
sporting that sickening leer until the very last moment. The images were slowly altering Noah's face too,
making him look a little more murderous and bloodthristy every time he pulled the trigger. Noah knew it
was bullshit, knew it was James. He was sorely pissed now, trying to stall Noah with guilt and confusion while
he made his way to the computer room. That gargantuan sword no doubt in his hand.
Still even knowing that, Noah couldn't move. At last Estelle pulled him bodily out of the chair,
slapping him hard across the face until his pupils widened and he acknowledged reality again. "Come on."
He said defiantly, grabbing her hand as he began to hear a high pitched buzzing. As soon as he and Estelle
were back in the mirror hall, they saw a red light that washed over everything as it approached.
"You can't let that touch you!" Estelle warned, as Noah hadn't planned
on getting too close fomr the moment he saw it. Anything that sounded like that in this town was generally a bad thing.
The buzzing got louder, making their ears ring as they ran back to the exit. Miraculously it opened this time, clearing the
way to the front steps Noah had come up when he'd entered the house. 'Oh give me a fucking break!" Noah cursed,
as the red light was out there too. Now it was coming in at them from the direction of the merry go round, and the
hallway they'd just run down was now safe. "This place makes my head hurt, shit." Noah griped, as he and Estelle
ran back down the mirror hall. The red light was reflected in the mirrors, amplfying it's intensity and making it seem
closer than it actually was. Up ahead was the door that had led out of the room with the collapsing ceiling, and Noah
now hurled it open as his only escape route and ran through it with Estelle keeping on his heels. The entire next room
was upside down now, so that the floor was whole and the ceiling contained the gap. Noah realized right away what
that entailed and grabbed Estelle by the shoulder, throwing them both to the floor.
Not a full second later the spiked ceiling originally intended as a harmless gag crashed through the floor again falling back out of the
black hole it had been swallowed up by and plummeting down into another. Noah helped Estelle as they both scrammbled to their feet,
Estelle not saying a word about it one way or the other as they continued to run. The red light was catching up, moving
slighty faster than them and not nearly so easily exhausted. The walls began swimming red, mixing with the red glow
behind Noah and Estelle as it was becoming extremely hard to see even with the flashlight.
The next room held a frightening change, as the obese man who had been hanging from the rope with a huge gash
along his chest now seemed to be trapped inside the bleeding walls. His form surfaced every so often, his face letting
loose with horrible cries and a look of absolute horror before the house consumed his body once more.
Noah grimaced as he ran past, watching as Estelle looked back over her shoulder at the poor soul.
The man that had been sitting in the chair facing the window had also changed, as he now tried desperatly to
walk with his body jittering and twitching in a way that made Noah's skin crawl. He had a thought, that perhaps
it really had been the only thing he could have done to kill James before he'd killed Estelle, perhaps both of them.
It seemed painfully ironic that the man in the chair he'd mistaken for James had lost his head the very instant
Noah had touched him. Fate, possibly. Noah still didn't like it, but he liked what James was now even less.
And no two ways about it James was going to being after him, and him alone. As if to illustrate that fact
upon reaching the first room where the announcer had bid Noah to come in and have fun. James was waiting for him.
The great knife rasied high and pointed at Noah in the form of a challenge. James must not have bothered to retrieve
his head, as he stood there with his ragged stump of a neck quivering. It almost seemed to excite at the thought of
crossing swords with Noah, as James took a step forward. Noah shook his head, hyperventialting as Estelle eyed him.
She was worried, worried that Noah couldn't handle seeing his friend this way and having to fight against him.
Noah picked up on her concerns, dashing them away as he tossed the shotgun to her and took the bow from his
shoulder. He drew as she gripped the heavy weapon, her small hands operating the gun quite well.
They both walked straight ahead, Estelle firing shot after shot into James chest as Noah shot arrows continuously.
James didn't move, as each wound produced a low groaning from inside his neck. He wasn't going to fight, only block
the way until the red light destroyed all three of them. Noah saw that James was biding his time, hearing the buzzing
of the red illumination grow closer once again. Noah began to run, as Estelle fired faster. James sensed his rival coming,
and brought the great knife down hard no more than three inches in front of Noah's head. Noah nimbly ran straight up the
knife's dull side, kicking into James as he jumped over. Something awful and slimy shot out from the top of James' neck,
as Noah looked down and saw that his neck had somehow mutated into a giant mouth devoid of any teeth. In fact it
looked quite like an overgrown and overused labia, slobbering all over his leg as it pulled him closer. Estelle ran by,
looking back as Noah's hands clawed the carpeted floor. James rasied the great knife once more, as Estelle turned back
from the doorway and fired three times into his hand. Two of James' fingers fell to the floor, as his groaning became louder.
The red light was right behind them now, Noah saw the glow wash against the greasy meat that had somehow replaced
James' skin and struggled harder. Taking two arrows from his quiver Noah stabbed at whatever James' neck had become,
lodging one inside the mouth. He twisted it cruelly, grinning as the arrowhead tore through muscle and flesh. The great knife now
fell from James' hand, crushing his severed fingers as his damaged hand could no longer hold it. He fell over, stiill pulling Noah
to him but weak enough now that Noah struggled free with Estelle grabbing both his hands and helping him to his feet.
The red light seemed harmless to James, who basked in it and watched as Noah and Estelle fled. Suddenly there were planks
instead of cement under their feet. They were on the roller coaster tracks, Noah realized with a shock. It had happened again,
the damn alternate world was making everything crazy so that simply running towards a place didn't mean you got there.
The red light seemed to be gone, as Noah stopped and doubled over huffing and breathing hard. Estelle stopepd also,
leaning her side against him with a sigh as she panted. "I know it's a silly question but, think we're safe?" Noah put forth,
not sure how much of it was actually a joke. His body was inevitably going to give out on him, and soon. He wanted nothing more
than to hear her tell him that they were ok now and that he could rest. To his surprise, Estelle answered with a 'maybe'.
Better than nothing Noah thought, as they caught their breath and continued walking. Noah slung the bow over his shoulder again,
as Estelle handed the shotgun back to him. He gave it a full reload, and then turned to her with a quizzical look. "What happened
to the handgun I gave you?" Noah asked, wondering why she hadn't used it on James instead of just standing there while he
had almost killed her. Estelle shook her head, smiling in spite of herself as she looked down. "You mean you haven't figured it out?
I told you already I'm a part of this town Noah, I don't have the free will to turn around and blast some psychopath just because
my life is in danger."
Noah frowned, not understanding her point. "You mean you have no free will? Then how come you could help
me with James like that? You shot him up pretty good just then." Estelle sighed, hugging her arms around herself.
"That's because you were there, and you willed me to do it." She replied sadly, still refusing to look up.
They walked along the tracks together like that, until Noah could no longer hold it in.
"I willed you to do it? What, like just because I wanted you to come with me and not die
you suddenly got all GI jane with my shotgun? Bullshit, that can't be all it was." Estelle turned spitefully to him, frowning as if
he'd just insulted her. "How many fucking times do I have to say it? I am a part of this town Noah! No different from anything
else you see around here, I'm part of the trial. Just another little test for you to pass." Noah thought about her words,
trying to imagine how it could be possible. That would make Estelle no different from his father attacking him in a Robbie suit,
or the gut wrenching monster that symbolized his stepmom. Symbolized...Noah smirked, stopping and taking Estelle's hand in his
own.
"But that can't be true." Noah said, his voice deepening and indicating his sarcasm had stepped aside for something truly
important . "Oh? And why is that?" Estelle said with a laugh, humoring him. "Because everything I've encoutered so far,
all those little tests as you call them have all been some part of me manifested in the physical world." Estelle's mouth opened slightly,
as if she wanted to say something to that but couldn't. Noah continued his speech, noting Estelle's silence.
"But I've never met anyone like you before, Estelle. Not in my past when I lived here, not in the hell that I've been living since
this town took my parents. Not ever. You don't fit into my memories anywhere, Estelle. I never even dreamed of a woman like you.
I never would've dared to." Estelle turned away from him, withdrawing her hand forcefully from his. "Yes I do, Noah. We never met, but.."
Noah shook his head, standing his ground beside her. "No you don't." He argued, sliding the quiver of arrows further onto his shoulder.
"You told me, that the cult from this town took you away from your family and made you a prisoner here when you were fifteen.
If that's true then even though I did live here at one point, you couldn't possibly have done anything that.." Estelle cut him off,
turning sadly to face him as she touched his cheek. "Your father, was murdered." She stated plainly, running her fingernails along
his face as she slid her hand away from it. "And I saw it, I was there. I was there because the person who shot him was
my brother. He was a part of the cult too, I was never taken away from my family Noah. The cult is my family, my brothers
and sisters, my mother and my cousins. It's been in our family for generations and, I'm just as bad as they are Noah. I'm
just as responsible."
Noah's face turned red, as anger filled him from head to toe. Estelle wasn't done, and began to walk again
as she went on. "Do you know what it feels like? To watch so many die, to see so many lives destroyed and corrupted by
such a pure evil? To see it and be powerless to stop any of it, and to know that the ones doing those terrible things are
the only people you've ever had in your life?! You think I'm pretty and you think I'm innocent, and you want to play the hero
and rescue me from this town but..You're wrong about me Noah! I would love to go away with you and be free from all of this
horror, to know a life that doesn't make me feel so dirty, and polluted. But it's just a dream! And, people as bad as me don't
get to have dreams..."
Noah was beside himself, feeling all the most powerful of human emotions all at once.
He hated it, hated that she'd been born into such a sinister group and been made to witness so much of their doing.
Yes he hated, with all his heart he hated whatever cult had killed his father, and countless others besides.
He held nothing but spite and contempt for everything an order like that stood for, and would like nothing better than
to kill every last one of them with his bare hands and damn the consequences on his soul. But not Estelle, he didn't
hate her one bit. perhaps he should have, perhaps it was wrong to exclude her from her family's deeds. But he just didn't
believe, he couldn't believe she had done anything bad of her own free will.
The little time they'd spent, the talks they had even though
she always ended up yelling and calling him an idiot. He loved it. The way she would be so distant towards him one minute,
and then see something wonderful inside him and become so warm. She made him feel like something wonderful truly was
inside him, he believed it more and more everytime they met. Estelle had been a part of something awful, and still was.
But rather than making him hate her fot it, it only made his will to save her more intense. He would not, no matter what
they came up against he absolutely would not leave her here to suffer all the more. This was the end. He was going to end
all this for her, and for himself as well. Noah looked tenderly at Estelle's pale complexion, turning to her as his hand touched her
waist. She jumped in surprise, raising a hand to stop him but it was too late. His lips met hers, and for the smallest fraction
of a second she melted into him. Realaxing her body as she fed off his kiss.
That one moment seemed to stretch into eternity.
An eternity in which Estelle was at last granted a dream, a dream where she was embraced and loved, respected and honored
despite the wickedness that plauged her very existance. In the next instant, it all faded away as Estelle brought her hand
soundly smakcing across Noah's already swollen jaw. His nostrils hissed as pain encompassed his head, but he held the kiss.
She slapped him again, harder this time and still he refused to let go of her warm lips. She punched his gut, throwing her
fists against his chest time and again, and Noah took every blow as his lips still touched hers. She finally bit his lip, bleeding it
as she backed away from him scowling. "You..You are the stupidest, most foolish self deluded damned idiot I have ever..!"
Estelle was screaming at the top of her lungs, as Noah only stood before her and shut out all the pain. "If you're right,
and you're nothing but another part of this town. No dreams, no hope, a slave to other people's will. Than my will is to
escape here with you, and to never leave your side." Noah spoke out in a strong voice, the aching pain making him
brave.
As Estelle opened her mouth to argue, Noah cut her off. "If you truly are a prisoner of this town like you say, you have
to do it. You have to bend to my will, right?" Estelle looked scornfully at Noah, putting a hand to her lips as they remained
slightly open. "And if I'm not? If this girl you foolishly allow yourself to love is actually real? " Estelle countered,
breathing hard and trying to forget what he'd just done. "Then I'll set you free of this place." Noah vowed, turning away
and walking down the tracks without her. "After that, if you don't choose to stay with me of your own free will that's just my
hard luck, and you better not feel any guilt over it understand?" Noah shouted over his shoulder, as Estelle shed one single tear.
She'd never met such a foolish and pathetic man, someome so hungry for another person, even the slightest bit of
intimacy that he would risk his life unnecesarily for woman he barely knew.A woman who was involved with the murder
of his father. He should have hated her, it was against everything Estelle knew of other people to not be hated for something
so heinous. What was it that made him act that way, just what the hell was driving that man?
Instead of asking any of these questions, Estelle followed Noah. After a few minutes of walking in silence they came across
a booth set aside from the tracks. Inside there were more health drinks, and another first aid kit which Estelle used to change
the dressing on Noah's numerous wounds in total silence. As the two came out of the booth, a roller coaster car came to a stop
right beside them. Noah's radio was picking up static, so he and Estelle both thought another route would be best.
Noah looked down, checking the new bandage on his ankle for tightness and caught a glimpse of James right below him.
He was scaling the side of the roller coaster tracks, the creepy stump of his neck now more elongated as sentient
worm-like creatures had replaced his lost fingers. The great knife clung inexplicably to his back, as he spotted
Noah also and cimbled faster. Noah picked Estelle up, ignoring her protests as he sat her down in the car before taking
two arrows and shooting them into James' ever growing neck. He only roared and moved faster, almost at the top now.
Noah jumped into the roller coaster beside Estelle, the safety belts coming to life and fastening around them as
the car sped off. The ride became increasingly odd, the car still falling downwards even as the track ahead of them
formed a steep incline. Likewise when the track seemed to dip down into a plummet the car continued to move
upwards. Estelle clung to Noah's arm very unromantically, never shutting up about what a stupid idea it was to
get into the car and running instead of facing James right then and there. "Just think of it as a blind date."
Noah said assuringly, receiving a kick in the knee for his lame joke. Without any warning at all, the car
flew abruptly from the track, falling so fast that neither Noah nor Estelle had the breath to even scream.
The car found solid matter on what seemed to be a row of parked cars, spilling over on it's side as it hit the ground
and releasing it's passengers from the safety belts as the static died away. Noah climbed out, relatively unhurt.
Estelle was also fine and refused Noah's hand to help her out of the car, insisting she could pull herself free
without any help from such a moronic person as him. Noah spied a piece of paper that had appeared in the
crash landed roller coaster, bending over the side and plucking the paper from underneath the seat.
It was a map, Noah saw. The title read 'OLD SILENT HILL' and the large building that stood ahead of him
and Estelle was undoubtedly Midwich Elementary School.
Noah and Estelle ran through the winding maze, the mirrors along the wall making surreal pictures
out of the two forms moving quickly along. The rumbling died down, as Estelle stopped in front of
a door. She grabbed Noah's hand and made him stop too, opening the door as Noah followed without
question. Inside it was like a small office, with filing cabinets along the walls in a 'C' shape.
In face the only space the filing cabinets left was filled by a large computer desk. The monitor that
sat atop it was dark, yet the lights on the computer itself were glowing solid green.
"Can we use this?" Noah asked excitedly, moving over to it. His hand brushed by the mouse accidentally
as his hand tapped at the keyboard, causing the screen to light up. Noah saw there were a few programs
open, one of them seeming to control the haunted house's door locks. "The exit's locked, isn't it."
Estelle said worridly, as Noah checked through the listing of doors. "Yep." Noah sighed, looking for a way
to override it. "Shit this is no good, I'm not much for computers Estelle." Noah explained, as almost everything
he tried to do with the sysytem asked for a password. He could spend a solid week in here and not crack a single one
of them. "Does it give any clues?" Estelle questioned, looking over Noah's shoulder at the screen.
"Clues for what?" Noah asked dumbly, searching through everything the computer would let him access.
"For the passwords, idiot." Estelle shot back, raising her voice a little. "Most systems let you leave hints for
the password in case you forget it, didn't you know that?" Estelle lectured, as Noah began to try random passwords.
"So much for me doing so well, huh?" Noah grumbled, not at all understanding why she'd said that if she still
thought he was such an idiot. "Sorry." Estelle said simply, as Noah kept trying password after password.
After five wrong passwords a message popped up, asking if he'd lost or forgotten his password and if he'd
like to use the password recovery. Noah clicked on the yes button, bringing up another screen that posed a question.
'One pink one white, be it wrong or right the white rule supreme while the pink only bleed.' Noah smirked a bit,
knowing the answer already. He typed 'Robbie-Kun' into the password box, frowning in surprise as the lost password
box came up again. And the same damn clue. "What the hell.." Noah growled, scratching his head. Estelle
leaned even closer, then turned to Noah. "You didn't use any spaces did you?" She accused, as Noah began
to feel frustrated. 'No I didn't, ok?" He snapped, trying just 'Robbie'. Still wrong. "Puncuation or characters? Anything
that's not a number or letter?" Estelle asked again, as Noah was about to repeat his answer. "No dashes, got it."
Noah said suddenly, sounding quite enbarrased. Without the dash mark RobbieKun worked just fine and he chose
the option to unlock all the doors, just to be on the safe side. A live feed from cameras showed various areas of the
haunted house as the doors all unlocked. Noah grunted as he stood up, the shotgun feeling heavy in his hand as Estelle
led the way back into the winding mirror halls. She always seemd to know just where she was going everytime they met,
it was amazing to Noah that she could see everything about the town so well. He didn't know why, but somehow his
grief for James had been extremely short lived. Could it be some part of him had wanted to kill James, and knew
all along what kind of person he really was? Or had the town of Silent Hill just made him that used to making
balck or white decisions based on nothing more than a gut instinct.
For whatever the reason it was sitting lighter on Noah's conscience than he thought it should, and that worried him.
Further down the way Estelle led him along, there was a door thankfully marked 'EXIT' in big red lettering.
An electric sign above the door confirmed that it was indeed the way out. Only when Noah grabbed the handle and pulled,
the door wouldn't budge. "How the...but I saw the bloody thing unlock! You did too, right?"
Noah asked frantically of Estelle, who rasied an eyebrow and sighed as she turned away from him in annoyance.
Noah was a lot more frustrated now, and kicked the door hard even though his feet were as banged up as the rest of him.
"GAHHHH!!" Noah shouted in pain, holding his ankle as the impact of the heavy door sent shockwaves through his many wounds.
"We have to try again." Estelle stated matter of factly, starting back down the hall without him. Noah walked after her,
about to point out that this was the only exit the computer had shown and if it wasn't unlocked going back to the computer wouldn't
solve anything. Then he rembered, about nothing being what it seemed and physics not applying to this place. Estelle seemed to
pick up on his thoughts, and smiled over her shoulder at him. Noah nodded shyly, realizing he'd caught himself
just in time.
The two of them reached the computer room again, the door easily opening inward. Only Noah could
have sworn the door had swung out when they'd entered just a few minutes ago. "Uh oh.." Noah blurted out,
his stomach lurching as he got the feeling this place was about to change like the others had.
The computer screen flashed a warning message stating that the cameras were having problems and that
the stream video drivers had to be recalibrated manaully. None of the keys Noah pressed did anything,
and the computer kept asking for a removeable video source to perform the calibration tests.
Noah recalled the web camera he'd found, taking it out and uncoiling the USB cable as Estelle held out her hand.
He rasied an eyebrow at her, putting the cord in her hand as she ran it to the back of the computer and connected it
for him. Noah still could make no sense of what had gone wrong. The cameras malfunctioning should have had nothing
to do with the doors, unless the system was programmed to lock down if even the slightest thing went wrong.
It was pretty heavy and complex security for a simple and generally low-tech haunted house, at any rate.
Noah set the camera atop the monitor, as a small window opened up. There were controls for brightness and contrast,
that sort of thing. Noah fiddled with them, watching the small video window as it showed the image of him with Estelle
standing behind his chair with improving clarity. Noah felt strange, almost sleepy as he brought the camera into
better focus. The video window skipped as lines of static went across it, and Noah saw the picture of his head
shake and convulse momentarily. Suddenly he couldn't take his eyes off the screen, his head began to swim
and he felt dizzy as the image changed. It wasn't the room they were in anymore, the video now showed the first
stretch of the mirror hall with James' body still laying there.
The view zoomed in on him, as he sat up with a sudden burst of energy. His whole body twitched and shook,
as he picked up the great knife and stood straight again. His head still gone, Noah watched as the demon
he'd once called his only friend bumped into walls repeatedly. Each time he did this he stood still for a second,
as if he were confused. He would then lumber on down the hall until he ran into another wall, stopping in confusion
and repeating the process again. After Noah watched James' do this for what seemed to be hours, he saw
James raise the great knife and point it straight up at the camera. Right at him, Noah realized.
Symbolic of what Noah had feared ever since he'd come upon those childish pictures.
James truly was dead, if not physically at least the man that had been his friend was long gone. He was a monster now,
and as such inspired more fear and sadness in Noah's heart then all the things he'd seen before all put together.
James seemed to gain a better sense of direction, strutting off to make good his silent threat on Noah and bumping only
into walls that hugged the corners as he turned them.
"He's coming straight for us, he wants my blood now." Noah whispered in fear, as he only then became aware
that Estelle had been talking the entire time. "Noah! Get UP! We have to get out of here!"
She was screaming now, pulling at his shoulders as she looked around the room.
The walls were becoming eeriely translucent, as pictures began appearing on them.
It looekd as if someone had snuck in and set up projectors that now cast macabre images on the walls.
There was a clunky sound like metal being bent, as the images all repeated the moment Noah had blown
James' head apart. All from different angles, some closer or further away than others. Each time they recycled,
James' face looked more and more frightened, almost innocent even though Noah was sure James had been
sporting that sickening leer until the very last moment. The images were slowly altering Noah's face too,
making him look a little more murderous and bloodthristy every time he pulled the trigger. Noah knew it
was bullshit, knew it was James. He was sorely pissed now, trying to stall Noah with guilt and confusion while
he made his way to the computer room. That gargantuan sword no doubt in his hand.
Still even knowing that, Noah couldn't move. At last Estelle pulled him bodily out of the chair,
slapping him hard across the face until his pupils widened and he acknowledged reality again. "Come on."
He said defiantly, grabbing her hand as he began to hear a high pitched buzzing. As soon as he and Estelle
were back in the mirror hall, they saw a red light that washed over everything as it approached.
"You can't let that touch you!" Estelle warned, as Noah hadn't planned
on getting too close fomr the moment he saw it. Anything that sounded like that in this town was generally a bad thing.
The buzzing got louder, making their ears ring as they ran back to the exit. Miraculously it opened this time, clearing the
way to the front steps Noah had come up when he'd entered the house. 'Oh give me a fucking break!" Noah cursed,
as the red light was out there too. Now it was coming in at them from the direction of the merry go round, and the
hallway they'd just run down was now safe. "This place makes my head hurt, shit." Noah griped, as he and Estelle
ran back down the mirror hall. The red light was reflected in the mirrors, amplfying it's intensity and making it seem
closer than it actually was. Up ahead was the door that had led out of the room with the collapsing ceiling, and Noah
now hurled it open as his only escape route and ran through it with Estelle keeping on his heels. The entire next room
was upside down now, so that the floor was whole and the ceiling contained the gap. Noah realized right away what
that entailed and grabbed Estelle by the shoulder, throwing them both to the floor.
Not a full second later the spiked ceiling originally intended as a harmless gag crashed through the floor again falling back out of the
black hole it had been swallowed up by and plummeting down into another. Noah helped Estelle as they both scrammbled to their feet,
Estelle not saying a word about it one way or the other as they continued to run. The red light was catching up, moving
slighty faster than them and not nearly so easily exhausted. The walls began swimming red, mixing with the red glow
behind Noah and Estelle as it was becoming extremely hard to see even with the flashlight.
The next room held a frightening change, as the obese man who had been hanging from the rope with a huge gash
along his chest now seemed to be trapped inside the bleeding walls. His form surfaced every so often, his face letting
loose with horrible cries and a look of absolute horror before the house consumed his body once more.
Noah grimaced as he ran past, watching as Estelle looked back over her shoulder at the poor soul.
The man that had been sitting in the chair facing the window had also changed, as he now tried desperatly to
walk with his body jittering and twitching in a way that made Noah's skin crawl. He had a thought, that perhaps
it really had been the only thing he could have done to kill James before he'd killed Estelle, perhaps both of them.
It seemed painfully ironic that the man in the chair he'd mistaken for James had lost his head the very instant
Noah had touched him. Fate, possibly. Noah still didn't like it, but he liked what James was now even less.
And no two ways about it James was going to being after him, and him alone. As if to illustrate that fact
upon reaching the first room where the announcer had bid Noah to come in and have fun. James was waiting for him.
The great knife rasied high and pointed at Noah in the form of a challenge. James must not have bothered to retrieve
his head, as he stood there with his ragged stump of a neck quivering. It almost seemed to excite at the thought of
crossing swords with Noah, as James took a step forward. Noah shook his head, hyperventialting as Estelle eyed him.
She was worried, worried that Noah couldn't handle seeing his friend this way and having to fight against him.
Noah picked up on her concerns, dashing them away as he tossed the shotgun to her and took the bow from his
shoulder. He drew as she gripped the heavy weapon, her small hands operating the gun quite well.
They both walked straight ahead, Estelle firing shot after shot into James chest as Noah shot arrows continuously.
James didn't move, as each wound produced a low groaning from inside his neck. He wasn't going to fight, only block
the way until the red light destroyed all three of them. Noah saw that James was biding his time, hearing the buzzing
of the red illumination grow closer once again. Noah began to run, as Estelle fired faster. James sensed his rival coming,
and brought the great knife down hard no more than three inches in front of Noah's head. Noah nimbly ran straight up the
knife's dull side, kicking into James as he jumped over. Something awful and slimy shot out from the top of James' neck,
as Noah looked down and saw that his neck had somehow mutated into a giant mouth devoid of any teeth. In fact it
looked quite like an overgrown and overused labia, slobbering all over his leg as it pulled him closer. Estelle ran by,
looking back as Noah's hands clawed the carpeted floor. James rasied the great knife once more, as Estelle turned back
from the doorway and fired three times into his hand. Two of James' fingers fell to the floor, as his groaning became louder.
The red light was right behind them now, Noah saw the glow wash against the greasy meat that had somehow replaced
James' skin and struggled harder. Taking two arrows from his quiver Noah stabbed at whatever James' neck had become,
lodging one inside the mouth. He twisted it cruelly, grinning as the arrowhead tore through muscle and flesh. The great knife now
fell from James' hand, crushing his severed fingers as his damaged hand could no longer hold it. He fell over, stiill pulling Noah
to him but weak enough now that Noah struggled free with Estelle grabbing both his hands and helping him to his feet.
The red light seemed harmless to James, who basked in it and watched as Noah and Estelle fled. Suddenly there were planks
instead of cement under their feet. They were on the roller coaster tracks, Noah realized with a shock. It had happened again,
the damn alternate world was making everything crazy so that simply running towards a place didn't mean you got there.
The red light seemed to be gone, as Noah stopped and doubled over huffing and breathing hard. Estelle stopepd also,
leaning her side against him with a sigh as she panted. "I know it's a silly question but, think we're safe?" Noah put forth,
not sure how much of it was actually a joke. His body was inevitably going to give out on him, and soon. He wanted nothing more
than to hear her tell him that they were ok now and that he could rest. To his surprise, Estelle answered with a 'maybe'.
Better than nothing Noah thought, as they caught their breath and continued walking. Noah slung the bow over his shoulder again,
as Estelle handed the shotgun back to him. He gave it a full reload, and then turned to her with a quizzical look. "What happened
to the handgun I gave you?" Noah asked, wondering why she hadn't used it on James instead of just standing there while he
had almost killed her. Estelle shook her head, smiling in spite of herself as she looked down. "You mean you haven't figured it out?
I told you already I'm a part of this town Noah, I don't have the free will to turn around and blast some psychopath just because
my life is in danger."
Noah frowned, not understanding her point. "You mean you have no free will? Then how come you could help
me with James like that? You shot him up pretty good just then." Estelle sighed, hugging her arms around herself.
"That's because you were there, and you willed me to do it." She replied sadly, still refusing to look up.
They walked along the tracks together like that, until Noah could no longer hold it in.
"I willed you to do it? What, like just because I wanted you to come with me and not die
you suddenly got all GI jane with my shotgun? Bullshit, that can't be all it was." Estelle turned spitefully to him, frowning as if
he'd just insulted her. "How many fucking times do I have to say it? I am a part of this town Noah! No different from anything
else you see around here, I'm part of the trial. Just another little test for you to pass." Noah thought about her words,
trying to imagine how it could be possible. That would make Estelle no different from his father attacking him in a Robbie suit,
or the gut wrenching monster that symbolized his stepmom. Symbolized...Noah smirked, stopping and taking Estelle's hand in his
own.
"But that can't be true." Noah said, his voice deepening and indicating his sarcasm had stepped aside for something truly
important . "Oh? And why is that?" Estelle said with a laugh, humoring him. "Because everything I've encoutered so far,
all those little tests as you call them have all been some part of me manifested in the physical world." Estelle's mouth opened slightly,
as if she wanted to say something to that but couldn't. Noah continued his speech, noting Estelle's silence.
"But I've never met anyone like you before, Estelle. Not in my past when I lived here, not in the hell that I've been living since
this town took my parents. Not ever. You don't fit into my memories anywhere, Estelle. I never even dreamed of a woman like you.
I never would've dared to." Estelle turned away from him, withdrawing her hand forcefully from his. "Yes I do, Noah. We never met, but.."
Noah shook his head, standing his ground beside her. "No you don't." He argued, sliding the quiver of arrows further onto his shoulder.
"You told me, that the cult from this town took you away from your family and made you a prisoner here when you were fifteen.
If that's true then even though I did live here at one point, you couldn't possibly have done anything that.." Estelle cut him off,
turning sadly to face him as she touched his cheek. "Your father, was murdered." She stated plainly, running her fingernails along
his face as she slid her hand away from it. "And I saw it, I was there. I was there because the person who shot him was
my brother. He was a part of the cult too, I was never taken away from my family Noah. The cult is my family, my brothers
and sisters, my mother and my cousins. It's been in our family for generations and, I'm just as bad as they are Noah. I'm
just as responsible."
Noah's face turned red, as anger filled him from head to toe. Estelle wasn't done, and began to walk again
as she went on. "Do you know what it feels like? To watch so many die, to see so many lives destroyed and corrupted by
such a pure evil? To see it and be powerless to stop any of it, and to know that the ones doing those terrible things are
the only people you've ever had in your life?! You think I'm pretty and you think I'm innocent, and you want to play the hero
and rescue me from this town but..You're wrong about me Noah! I would love to go away with you and be free from all of this
horror, to know a life that doesn't make me feel so dirty, and polluted. But it's just a dream! And, people as bad as me don't
get to have dreams..."
Noah was beside himself, feeling all the most powerful of human emotions all at once.
He hated it, hated that she'd been born into such a sinister group and been made to witness so much of their doing.
Yes he hated, with all his heart he hated whatever cult had killed his father, and countless others besides.
He held nothing but spite and contempt for everything an order like that stood for, and would like nothing better than
to kill every last one of them with his bare hands and damn the consequences on his soul. But not Estelle, he didn't
hate her one bit. perhaps he should have, perhaps it was wrong to exclude her from her family's deeds. But he just didn't
believe, he couldn't believe she had done anything bad of her own free will.
The little time they'd spent, the talks they had even though
she always ended up yelling and calling him an idiot. He loved it. The way she would be so distant towards him one minute,
and then see something wonderful inside him and become so warm. She made him feel like something wonderful truly was
inside him, he believed it more and more everytime they met. Estelle had been a part of something awful, and still was.
But rather than making him hate her fot it, it only made his will to save her more intense. He would not, no matter what
they came up against he absolutely would not leave her here to suffer all the more. This was the end. He was going to end
all this for her, and for himself as well. Noah looked tenderly at Estelle's pale complexion, turning to her as his hand touched her
waist. She jumped in surprise, raising a hand to stop him but it was too late. His lips met hers, and for the smallest fraction
of a second she melted into him. Realaxing her body as she fed off his kiss.
That one moment seemed to stretch into eternity.
An eternity in which Estelle was at last granted a dream, a dream where she was embraced and loved, respected and honored
despite the wickedness that plauged her very existance. In the next instant, it all faded away as Estelle brought her hand
soundly smakcing across Noah's already swollen jaw. His nostrils hissed as pain encompassed his head, but he held the kiss.
She slapped him again, harder this time and still he refused to let go of her warm lips. She punched his gut, throwing her
fists against his chest time and again, and Noah took every blow as his lips still touched hers. She finally bit his lip, bleeding it
as she backed away from him scowling. "You..You are the stupidest, most foolish self deluded damned idiot I have ever..!"
Estelle was screaming at the top of her lungs, as Noah only stood before her and shut out all the pain. "If you're right,
and you're nothing but another part of this town. No dreams, no hope, a slave to other people's will. Than my will is to
escape here with you, and to never leave your side." Noah spoke out in a strong voice, the aching pain making him
brave.
As Estelle opened her mouth to argue, Noah cut her off. "If you truly are a prisoner of this town like you say, you have
to do it. You have to bend to my will, right?" Estelle looked scornfully at Noah, putting a hand to her lips as they remained
slightly open. "And if I'm not? If this girl you foolishly allow yourself to love is actually real? " Estelle countered,
breathing hard and trying to forget what he'd just done. "Then I'll set you free of this place." Noah vowed, turning away
and walking down the tracks without her. "After that, if you don't choose to stay with me of your own free will that's just my
hard luck, and you better not feel any guilt over it understand?" Noah shouted over his shoulder, as Estelle shed one single tear.
She'd never met such a foolish and pathetic man, someome so hungry for another person, even the slightest bit of
intimacy that he would risk his life unnecesarily for woman he barely knew.A woman who was involved with the murder
of his father. He should have hated her, it was against everything Estelle knew of other people to not be hated for something
so heinous. What was it that made him act that way, just what the hell was driving that man?
Instead of asking any of these questions, Estelle followed Noah. After a few minutes of walking in silence they came across
a booth set aside from the tracks. Inside there were more health drinks, and another first aid kit which Estelle used to change
the dressing on Noah's numerous wounds in total silence. As the two came out of the booth, a roller coaster car came to a stop
right beside them. Noah's radio was picking up static, so he and Estelle both thought another route would be best.
Noah looked down, checking the new bandage on his ankle for tightness and caught a glimpse of James right below him.
He was scaling the side of the roller coaster tracks, the creepy stump of his neck now more elongated as sentient
worm-like creatures had replaced his lost fingers. The great knife clung inexplicably to his back, as he spotted
Noah also and cimbled faster. Noah picked Estelle up, ignoring her protests as he sat her down in the car before taking
two arrows and shooting them into James' ever growing neck. He only roared and moved faster, almost at the top now.
Noah jumped into the roller coaster beside Estelle, the safety belts coming to life and fastening around them as
the car sped off. The ride became increasingly odd, the car still falling downwards even as the track ahead of them
formed a steep incline. Likewise when the track seemed to dip down into a plummet the car continued to move
upwards. Estelle clung to Noah's arm very unromantically, never shutting up about what a stupid idea it was to
get into the car and running instead of facing James right then and there. "Just think of it as a blind date."
Noah said assuringly, receiving a kick in the knee for his lame joke. Without any warning at all, the car
flew abruptly from the track, falling so fast that neither Noah nor Estelle had the breath to even scream.
The car found solid matter on what seemed to be a row of parked cars, spilling over on it's side as it hit the ground
and releasing it's passengers from the safety belts as the static died away. Noah climbed out, relatively unhurt.
Estelle was also fine and refused Noah's hand to help her out of the car, insisting she could pull herself free
without any help from such a moronic person as him. Noah spied a piece of paper that had appeared in the
crash landed roller coaster, bending over the side and plucking the paper from underneath the seat.
It was a map, Noah saw. The title read 'OLD SILENT HILL' and the large building that stood ahead of him
and Estelle was undoubtedly Midwich Elementary School.