SILENT HILL- Bathtub
Noah tried to stand up and face the advacning monster, but simply couldn't. He could barely even lift the shotgun now,
it felt as if it were bolted to the floor. He pulled the trigger twice, as the kick from the discharge sent it flying out of
his hand. The creepy pig actually stopped, crying out in pain as it bled from it's stomach. From several places the shotgun
had torn through it. Noah was shocked that the gun had done so much damage, or any for that matter. After all he'd
seen Estelle shoot the handgun with his own eyes, even if she wasn't a good shot she'd been too close not to hit it.
Yet the shotgun had done the damage Noah would have expected it to do normally, which made no sense.
He felt his strength come back slowly, as the pig made a gurgling sound and slumped to the floor.
It's forklike bloodsucker was still protruding from Noah's wrist, he pulled it out and threw it spitefully at the
defeated creature as he tried again to stand, sucessfully this time. "What the fuck...I saw you shoot it.."
Noah questioned, looking over at Estelle. She was gawking down at the fallen monster, shaking her head
as she suddenly gave it a hard kick in the face. Noah walked over to her, his eyes glaring first at the pig and making
sure it was dead. His glare then switched to Estelle, as Noah grabbed her hand and wrestled the handgun from her.
"No! Don't!" Estelle shouted at him, giving him a frightened look as he ejected the clip from her gun. He eyed the bullets
suspiciously, locking his eyes on Estelle's face as he slapped the clip back into the gun and leveled it at her chest.
"Noah...?" Estelle whimpered, seeming so scared that her eyes would have been wide. Noah pulled the trigger,
feeling a lump in his throat as the shot rang out. He fired twice more, gritting his teeth angrily as he felt ready to cry himself.
Estelle slid slowly to the floor, her head hung low as her hands covered her face. She made sobbing sounds as if she really were
crying, Noah wouldn't have doubted it a bit. Except that it was now clear Estelle was very good at acting, and was hiding a lot more
than Noah had ever expected. He let the gun's clip slide out, tucking the handgun in the back of his pants as he crouched down
in front of Estelle, who remained curled up against the wall sobbing softly. Noah remained silent, taking the bullets from the
magazine one by one and letting them clatter to the floor. He reached into his pocket, opening a box of bullets from his supply
and refilling the clip, taking the gun from his pants and sliding the clip back into it. The gun stayed in his hand this time as
Noah looked sadly at Estelle, crouching lower and taking her hands away from her face. "I think you better start explaning."
Noah ordered, not in a forceful or threatening tone but plain and serious, imparting that the matter needed immediate attention.
Estelle slowly raised her head, she looked almost like a small animal cornered by a larger predator. "Just shoot me already."
She insisted, not moving an inch. Noah was rather surprised at her, was that really what she wanted?
"I'm not gonna shoot you." Noah refused, taking a deep breath as he placed the gun on the floor beside Estelle.
"But I am going to have to ask you to explain this." Noah continued, keeping his voice low and grave. It wasn't as if he
wasn't angry or anything, hell he was more than angry he was furious with her. But that didn't necesarily mean anything
had to be done about it right now, and killing her would deny him the answers she obviously held.
"I'm not explaining anything so you might as well do it Noah, if you even have the balls." Estelle spat back at him,
still refusing to move. "I think after all this I've at least earned a little fucking cooperation from you!" Noah shouted,
losing his composure as he stood up and began pacing with frustration. Estelle fliched at his harsh words, but remained
curled up against the doorway. "You don't need me to figure it out, you're smart enough by yourself." Estelle offered,
turning her head away from him. Noah glared at her, wanting to wring her neck until she talked. But that was
the old Noah, the one who'd been throwing his life away all this time, the one who'd forced a frienship out of James
and started this whole mess in Silent HIll to begin with. The foolish person he really was still wanted to get Estelle out of here.
"Ok Estelle, then I'll talk." Noah stated, leaning against a wall and kicking the dead pig away from him as he opened
another health drink. "You just tell me if I'm right or wrong, got it?" Noah asked, taking a sip of the overly sweet juice
and nearly choking. Estelle said nothing, but sat up and little and turned her head back to him. Noah took it as the closest
to a yes he would get from her, and began the telling of his theory. The radio was silent once again, so it was safe to
take a break. "First of all, I would assume that those blanks have been in that handgun since you found me in the hospital,
since you wouldn't have put them in while I was gone and you had only the gun to defend yourself with. I was so drugged up
that I wouldn't notice the bullets were all duds as long as they were in the gun, right?" Noah looked over at
Estelle, who gazed back at him with shut eyes and nodded once. Noah nodded back, continuing as he drank.
"But then why would you try and give that gun back to me right before we got seperated? That would leave you
with no weapons at all, and in a place like this I find it hard to believe you'd be quite that generous. Unless, you
had nothing to fear from all these damned monsters. They won't attack you if you're not with me, will they?"
Noah stopped again, watching Estelle as she shook her head slowly. Noah nodded, his mind working hard to
unravel all the events and make sense of them. "So then, when I found you with James about to make sushi out of you
that was a setup wasn't it? He wants to kill me, not you. But James sure seemed serious enough about it,
which makes no sense. Unless someone else is pulling his strings and yours too. That about the size and shape?"
Noah asked, as Estelle nodded again. She coughed dryly, swallowing as she took deep breaths. Noah walked over to her,
dropping a health drink in her lap. Estelle looked up at him in shock, but Noah was already walking away as he continued
his rant. "Ok so that would bring us to why someone would set something like that up, why make it look like James
was going to kill you? Was it just to see how I'd react? To see if I'd even bother to stop him from gutting you like a fish?"
Estelle nodded again, whispering a soft 'yes' as she opened the health drink and gulped some down.
Noah's eyes widened, he wasn't expecting that to be the way of it at all. It posed too many things that Noah didn't
see as being possible. Unless, yes of course this whole thing was all about him somehow. Noah had no clue what
made him so special as to put him in the center of all the cloak and dagger buisiness, but it was apparently true.
"Ok, so." Noah continued, pacing slowly. "It's all about me then, the same person who put blanks in my gun while I was out
staged that whole thing with James, because I know by now it wasn't you who did that, it was someone else who didn't want you
having access to a weapon. And why lead me to James? So I'd blow his head off? That doesn't fit, but it doesn't make any sense to go
through all that trouble just to see what I'd do. Not a damn bit of sense. But...Maybe my reaction wasn't the point at all, maybe the
important thing was what James would do.." Noah stopped in midsentence, turning back to Estelle and raising an eyebrow as she
nodded again. Noah's heartbeat sped up a little, as he realized just how far this whole thing was reaching.
He kept voiceing his ideas as he pondered, eyes wide with disbelief. "Right, so someone actually wanted James to see me save
you, and confront him over it. The way he remembers me, I never would've done it. I would have stood there and let him
chop you up..Christ I'm such a bastard...So now James knows that I've been rethinking things with him and me,
and probably knows I can't pretend I'm like him anymore. But that still doesn't explain why someone would want him after me,
what do they want me to do? What do they think I'm going to do when I meet him again?" Estelle stood up slowly,
breaking her silence as she picked up the handgun. "Just what you did do Noah, blow his head off. You said yourself
there's someone pulling his strings." Noah turned to stare at Estelle in shock, briefly eyeing the gun in her hand.
She wouldn't shoot, Noah couldn't believe she'd kill him. At least not yet. "And yours." Noah corrected, meeting her invisible
gaze as he continued. "But let's get back to you, Estelle. If James was supossed to see me turn his back on him,
then you were supossed to do nothing, you were supossed to let me stop him instead. And even if you wanted to you couldn't
have shot him, your gun was full of blanks. You needed me and my weapons to come bursting in before you could
get away from him and lead me here, which leaves us with two questions. Why does someone want
James and I to go at it, and where are you leading me. Because it's obvious you are leading me
through all this, whether it's of your own free will or not. My money's on not." Noah tilted his head to the side,
as Estelle looked down in shame. "You're right, heh, of course you would be.." Estelle confessed, standing in
front of Noah as she stared at the floor. "What am I right about?" Noah begged, stepping closer to Estelle
as she sighed sadly. "Come on Estelle, damnit I can't get us out of here unless you tell me what you know."
Estelle looked up suddenly, as Noah's sentence made her jump. "Why are you still worried about me?!" Estelle
screamed loudly, sounding as confused and she did sorrowful. "You tell me first." Noah insisted, folding his arms
over each other as he leaned against the wall and waited. Estelle scowled at him, tightening her hand around the handgun.
Noah saw it but didn't move, she wasn't going to shoot him. She wasn't even here of her own free will and there
had to be someone she wanted to shoot a lot more than some sap who'd been suckered into coming here. Most likely
the same person that was to blame for both their situations. Noah pursed his lips impatiently, as Estelle's face quivered
with a nervous facial tick. Noah found it strangely attractive, the quirk distracting him for a moment as Estelle began to
speak. "I can't tell you much, Noah." She said shakily, as if she were struggling with something within herself.
"But to answer your questions, James is out of control. Even 'he' doesn't have any power over him anymore.
What you saw was real Noah, James would have killled me. And that would have been fine for 'him' too,
I wasn't even supossed to get this far." Noah cringed at the angst and sadness in Estelle's voice, as she came clean with
him for the first time. "And as for where we're going, I was put here to make sure you didn't get yourself killed
before you met James, before you had a chance to kill James for him. It's funny, even 'he' never thought you'd
run from James. He had high hopes you'd kill him right off, and then he wouldn't need either of us anymore."
Noah stepped closer, until he was toe to toe with Estelle. "Why does he need me though? What the hell is
so special to James about me? He never liked me, even when I was a sorry jackass just like him! What could
I possibly do to him that this guy who's using the both of you can't just as well do himself?!"
Noah realized full well he was freaking out on Estelle, but he couldn't help it. That one part of all this didn't fit
in anywhere. He was not special, at all. This 'him' whoever he was must have made some kind of mistake.
"I can't tell you anymore Noah, I mean...I don't know anymore than that.." Estelle looked apologetic as she
continued to look at the floor. Noah sighed, looking at her even though she refused to look at him.
"Here." He said, putting his arms around her waist. Estelle began to protest about being hugged, but Noah
had already snuck the box of handgun bullets into her back pocket and withdrawn his arms.
"Let's find a way out of here." Noah said kindly, smiling genuinely and kissing her cheek before turning
around and walking down the hallway. Estelle whimpered a compliant before following, as once again Noah
had her completely baffled. "Noah.." She called softly, as he examined the blood covered books strewn
all over the reception desk. "What is it?" Noah said without looking up, absorbed in his search for clues.
The only two books he hadn't skimmed through or deemed useless yet were collections of fairy tales,
dark and gothic tales in the same taste as the really old grimm fairy tales where the villian always meets
the most horrible end imaginable. One of the collections was authored by a 'Leonard Woof' while the other
was by a fellow named 'Leonard Whine'. Noah suspected the clue lay somewhere with the similar names,
and browsed the tales. In one book, a story about a little girl who's parents were eaten by the proverbial
thing under the bed was incomplete. The last two pages had been ripped out, leaving only a small ragged piece
with the letter 'L.'. Noah took a look at the other book, finding a tale of another little girl who was eaten by a
mysterious ghoul living under her parent's bed. The last few pages of it were also torn out, only one small piece of
the text remained and had only a single letter on it, 'W.'. "Tricky little bastards.." Noah said sarcastically,
placing the two books closer together so that the two ripped sections were side by side. 'L.W.', being the initials
of both authors. It was cute in it's own pointless way, but didn't provide anything Noah could use.
"Noah.." Estelle called again, coming up behind him. "What is it Estelle, I'm trying to think." Noah replied,
studying the books closely. His gaze slowly panned around the room as he searched with the flashlight.
Against the left wall was a filing cabinet, the small drawers akin to the ones found in libraries that contained
records of all the books. Also like those, the drawers all had two letters printed on the front to show which records
were kept in what drawer. Amusingly and coming as no surprise to him at this point, one of the drawers
was labeled 'L-W', a sorrid mismatch since there were two drawers labeled 'K-M' and 'S-W'.
"Noah!" Estelle demanded impatiently, slapping him on the back as he pulled open the 'L-W' drawer.
"What is it Estelle?!" Noah said irritably, turning to face her. "I have to pee, can you please hurry up?"
She said, blushing slightly as she looked away from him. Noah raised an eyebrow, expecting anything
but such a normal request from her. Before he could answer her, a childlike hand covered in dirt and blood
sprang forth from the opened drawer and slashed Noah bewteen his shoulder blades with a straight razor.
"Mother...Fucker!" Noah yelled in pain, one hand going back to the wound as the other raised his shotgun.
He whirled around and took a deafening shot at the hand as it swiftly pulled the drawer shut behind it.
Noah had missed, the damned thing had gotten away clean. Children's laughter echoed through the empty hall as
Noah thankfully found the wound wasn't very deep. "Oh God you..! Come out here and try that again you
miserable dirty bitch!" Noah shouted at the top of his lungs, punching against the filing cabinet as Estelle
sighed impatiently. Of course, Noah realized how foolish he'd been to open that one in the first place. If you were
looking for L or W you wouldn't open a drawer with both letters, it had been the lamest of tricks.
"When I find the little shit that comes up with these fucking booby traps, I swear to God.." Noah grumbled,
pulling open the drawer marked 'K-M' as he held his shotgun mere inches from it. He wasn't going to get caught
by another trap if he could help it. The drawer opened without incident, and inside there was nothing but a large screw.
Opening the 'S-W' drawer produced a small brass key, and Noah pocketed both items.
"I have to pee as well, dear." Noah bitterly answered Estelle at last,
muttering as he tried the key on the locked door at the nearer end of the hallway. It clicked and opened
with a hair raising creak, and beyond almost too conveniently were the restrooms.
Noah exchanged a slight smile of relief with Estelle, as they headed to their respetive bathrooms.
Noah opened the door, stepped inside and gasped as a fierece wind blew into his face. He wasn't in a bathroom
at all, he was on the roof. The very edge of the roof to be exact, where some pipe or plumbing must have been
stopped up because Noah was now standing in no less than 2 feet of water. Dirty water, to be precise. Most likely
toilet water. He gulped in disgust as a sokaed envelope floated by, surrounded by several mounds of something
Noah wasn't about to inspect for anything. Oddly, the envelope although empty had a woman's name he couldn't
quite make out written on the front. Noah quickly opened the door again, stepping inside and preparing for the worst.
It actually seemed to be a bathroom this time, even though technically he should have just stepped out of the bathroom
and back into the hallway. It looked more like the bathroom of a fancy hotel room though, with a large bathtub/shower
behind him and a mirror that sat atop a cosmetics table. Noah stood facing the toilet, unzipping cautiously
as he took a look at the mirror. The face of his old friend and current rival, James Sunderland leered hauntingly
back at him, startling him almost as completely as the toilet seat which fell a half second later with the weight of an
anvil. Noah jumped back, tucking his manhood away possesively and slipped on the floor that was now slick with
the same disgustingly filthy brown water he'd seen on the roof. Noah flailed as he backpeddled clumsily, falling
into the bathtub and hitting his head on the hard porcelin. The momentary dizziness only added to his rising fear
as the bathtub quickly filled with blood raining down from the showerhead. Noah tried to call out to Estelle, tried
to scream, and tried to pull himself from the bathtub as he began to drown. He failed on all counts, as his breath
came in weakening bubble streams. As his consciousness faded, the same thought of throughly killing whoever
planned these mockingly cruel events resurfaced in his mind, as he briefly saw James with a new, disfigured
and puss covered head standing over the tub. The last image Noah caught was the great knife bearing down on him.
Noah tried to stand up and face the advacning monster, but simply couldn't. He could barely even lift the shotgun now,
it felt as if it were bolted to the floor. He pulled the trigger twice, as the kick from the discharge sent it flying out of
his hand. The creepy pig actually stopped, crying out in pain as it bled from it's stomach. From several places the shotgun
had torn through it. Noah was shocked that the gun had done so much damage, or any for that matter. After all he'd
seen Estelle shoot the handgun with his own eyes, even if she wasn't a good shot she'd been too close not to hit it.
Yet the shotgun had done the damage Noah would have expected it to do normally, which made no sense.
He felt his strength come back slowly, as the pig made a gurgling sound and slumped to the floor.
It's forklike bloodsucker was still protruding from Noah's wrist, he pulled it out and threw it spitefully at the
defeated creature as he tried again to stand, sucessfully this time. "What the fuck...I saw you shoot it.."
Noah questioned, looking over at Estelle. She was gawking down at the fallen monster, shaking her head
as she suddenly gave it a hard kick in the face. Noah walked over to her, his eyes glaring first at the pig and making
sure it was dead. His glare then switched to Estelle, as Noah grabbed her hand and wrestled the handgun from her.
"No! Don't!" Estelle shouted at him, giving him a frightened look as he ejected the clip from her gun. He eyed the bullets
suspiciously, locking his eyes on Estelle's face as he slapped the clip back into the gun and leveled it at her chest.
"Noah...?" Estelle whimpered, seeming so scared that her eyes would have been wide. Noah pulled the trigger,
feeling a lump in his throat as the shot rang out. He fired twice more, gritting his teeth angrily as he felt ready to cry himself.
Estelle slid slowly to the floor, her head hung low as her hands covered her face. She made sobbing sounds as if she really were
crying, Noah wouldn't have doubted it a bit. Except that it was now clear Estelle was very good at acting, and was hiding a lot more
than Noah had ever expected. He let the gun's clip slide out, tucking the handgun in the back of his pants as he crouched down
in front of Estelle, who remained curled up against the wall sobbing softly. Noah remained silent, taking the bullets from the
magazine one by one and letting them clatter to the floor. He reached into his pocket, opening a box of bullets from his supply
and refilling the clip, taking the gun from his pants and sliding the clip back into it. The gun stayed in his hand this time as
Noah looked sadly at Estelle, crouching lower and taking her hands away from her face. "I think you better start explaning."
Noah ordered, not in a forceful or threatening tone but plain and serious, imparting that the matter needed immediate attention.
Estelle slowly raised her head, she looked almost like a small animal cornered by a larger predator. "Just shoot me already."
She insisted, not moving an inch. Noah was rather surprised at her, was that really what she wanted?
"I'm not gonna shoot you." Noah refused, taking a deep breath as he placed the gun on the floor beside Estelle.
"But I am going to have to ask you to explain this." Noah continued, keeping his voice low and grave. It wasn't as if he
wasn't angry or anything, hell he was more than angry he was furious with her. But that didn't necesarily mean anything
had to be done about it right now, and killing her would deny him the answers she obviously held.
"I'm not explaining anything so you might as well do it Noah, if you even have the balls." Estelle spat back at him,
still refusing to move. "I think after all this I've at least earned a little fucking cooperation from you!" Noah shouted,
losing his composure as he stood up and began pacing with frustration. Estelle fliched at his harsh words, but remained
curled up against the doorway. "You don't need me to figure it out, you're smart enough by yourself." Estelle offered,
turning her head away from him. Noah glared at her, wanting to wring her neck until she talked. But that was
the old Noah, the one who'd been throwing his life away all this time, the one who'd forced a frienship out of James
and started this whole mess in Silent HIll to begin with. The foolish person he really was still wanted to get Estelle out of here.
"Ok Estelle, then I'll talk." Noah stated, leaning against a wall and kicking the dead pig away from him as he opened
another health drink. "You just tell me if I'm right or wrong, got it?" Noah asked, taking a sip of the overly sweet juice
and nearly choking. Estelle said nothing, but sat up and little and turned her head back to him. Noah took it as the closest
to a yes he would get from her, and began the telling of his theory. The radio was silent once again, so it was safe to
take a break. "First of all, I would assume that those blanks have been in that handgun since you found me in the hospital,
since you wouldn't have put them in while I was gone and you had only the gun to defend yourself with. I was so drugged up
that I wouldn't notice the bullets were all duds as long as they were in the gun, right?" Noah looked over at
Estelle, who gazed back at him with shut eyes and nodded once. Noah nodded back, continuing as he drank.
"But then why would you try and give that gun back to me right before we got seperated? That would leave you
with no weapons at all, and in a place like this I find it hard to believe you'd be quite that generous. Unless, you
had nothing to fear from all these damned monsters. They won't attack you if you're not with me, will they?"
Noah stopped again, watching Estelle as she shook her head slowly. Noah nodded, his mind working hard to
unravel all the events and make sense of them. "So then, when I found you with James about to make sushi out of you
that was a setup wasn't it? He wants to kill me, not you. But James sure seemed serious enough about it,
which makes no sense. Unless someone else is pulling his strings and yours too. That about the size and shape?"
Noah asked, as Estelle nodded again. She coughed dryly, swallowing as she took deep breaths. Noah walked over to her,
dropping a health drink in her lap. Estelle looked up at him in shock, but Noah was already walking away as he continued
his rant. "Ok so that would bring us to why someone would set something like that up, why make it look like James
was going to kill you? Was it just to see how I'd react? To see if I'd even bother to stop him from gutting you like a fish?"
Estelle nodded again, whispering a soft 'yes' as she opened the health drink and gulped some down.
Noah's eyes widened, he wasn't expecting that to be the way of it at all. It posed too many things that Noah didn't
see as being possible. Unless, yes of course this whole thing was all about him somehow. Noah had no clue what
made him so special as to put him in the center of all the cloak and dagger buisiness, but it was apparently true.
"Ok, so." Noah continued, pacing slowly. "It's all about me then, the same person who put blanks in my gun while I was out
staged that whole thing with James, because I know by now it wasn't you who did that, it was someone else who didn't want you
having access to a weapon. And why lead me to James? So I'd blow his head off? That doesn't fit, but it doesn't make any sense to go
through all that trouble just to see what I'd do. Not a damn bit of sense. But...Maybe my reaction wasn't the point at all, maybe the
important thing was what James would do.." Noah stopped in midsentence, turning back to Estelle and raising an eyebrow as she
nodded again. Noah's heartbeat sped up a little, as he realized just how far this whole thing was reaching.
He kept voiceing his ideas as he pondered, eyes wide with disbelief. "Right, so someone actually wanted James to see me save
you, and confront him over it. The way he remembers me, I never would've done it. I would have stood there and let him
chop you up..Christ I'm such a bastard...So now James knows that I've been rethinking things with him and me,
and probably knows I can't pretend I'm like him anymore. But that still doesn't explain why someone would want him after me,
what do they want me to do? What do they think I'm going to do when I meet him again?" Estelle stood up slowly,
breaking her silence as she picked up the handgun. "Just what you did do Noah, blow his head off. You said yourself
there's someone pulling his strings." Noah turned to stare at Estelle in shock, briefly eyeing the gun in her hand.
She wouldn't shoot, Noah couldn't believe she'd kill him. At least not yet. "And yours." Noah corrected, meeting her invisible
gaze as he continued. "But let's get back to you, Estelle. If James was supossed to see me turn his back on him,
then you were supossed to do nothing, you were supossed to let me stop him instead. And even if you wanted to you couldn't
have shot him, your gun was full of blanks. You needed me and my weapons to come bursting in before you could
get away from him and lead me here, which leaves us with two questions. Why does someone want
James and I to go at it, and where are you leading me. Because it's obvious you are leading me
through all this, whether it's of your own free will or not. My money's on not." Noah tilted his head to the side,
as Estelle looked down in shame. "You're right, heh, of course you would be.." Estelle confessed, standing in
front of Noah as she stared at the floor. "What am I right about?" Noah begged, stepping closer to Estelle
as she sighed sadly. "Come on Estelle, damnit I can't get us out of here unless you tell me what you know."
Estelle looked up suddenly, as Noah's sentence made her jump. "Why are you still worried about me?!" Estelle
screamed loudly, sounding as confused and she did sorrowful. "You tell me first." Noah insisted, folding his arms
over each other as he leaned against the wall and waited. Estelle scowled at him, tightening her hand around the handgun.
Noah saw it but didn't move, she wasn't going to shoot him. She wasn't even here of her own free will and there
had to be someone she wanted to shoot a lot more than some sap who'd been suckered into coming here. Most likely
the same person that was to blame for both their situations. Noah pursed his lips impatiently, as Estelle's face quivered
with a nervous facial tick. Noah found it strangely attractive, the quirk distracting him for a moment as Estelle began to
speak. "I can't tell you much, Noah." She said shakily, as if she were struggling with something within herself.
"But to answer your questions, James is out of control. Even 'he' doesn't have any power over him anymore.
What you saw was real Noah, James would have killled me. And that would have been fine for 'him' too,
I wasn't even supossed to get this far." Noah cringed at the angst and sadness in Estelle's voice, as she came clean with
him for the first time. "And as for where we're going, I was put here to make sure you didn't get yourself killed
before you met James, before you had a chance to kill James for him. It's funny, even 'he' never thought you'd
run from James. He had high hopes you'd kill him right off, and then he wouldn't need either of us anymore."
Noah stepped closer, until he was toe to toe with Estelle. "Why does he need me though? What the hell is
so special to James about me? He never liked me, even when I was a sorry jackass just like him! What could
I possibly do to him that this guy who's using the both of you can't just as well do himself?!"
Noah realized full well he was freaking out on Estelle, but he couldn't help it. That one part of all this didn't fit
in anywhere. He was not special, at all. This 'him' whoever he was must have made some kind of mistake.
"I can't tell you anymore Noah, I mean...I don't know anymore than that.." Estelle looked apologetic as she
continued to look at the floor. Noah sighed, looking at her even though she refused to look at him.
"Here." He said, putting his arms around her waist. Estelle began to protest about being hugged, but Noah
had already snuck the box of handgun bullets into her back pocket and withdrawn his arms.
"Let's find a way out of here." Noah said kindly, smiling genuinely and kissing her cheek before turning
around and walking down the hallway. Estelle whimpered a compliant before following, as once again Noah
had her completely baffled. "Noah.." She called softly, as he examined the blood covered books strewn
all over the reception desk. "What is it?" Noah said without looking up, absorbed in his search for clues.
The only two books he hadn't skimmed through or deemed useless yet were collections of fairy tales,
dark and gothic tales in the same taste as the really old grimm fairy tales where the villian always meets
the most horrible end imaginable. One of the collections was authored by a 'Leonard Woof' while the other
was by a fellow named 'Leonard Whine'. Noah suspected the clue lay somewhere with the similar names,
and browsed the tales. In one book, a story about a little girl who's parents were eaten by the proverbial
thing under the bed was incomplete. The last two pages had been ripped out, leaving only a small ragged piece
with the letter 'L.'. Noah took a look at the other book, finding a tale of another little girl who was eaten by a
mysterious ghoul living under her parent's bed. The last few pages of it were also torn out, only one small piece of
the text remained and had only a single letter on it, 'W.'. "Tricky little bastards.." Noah said sarcastically,
placing the two books closer together so that the two ripped sections were side by side. 'L.W.', being the initials
of both authors. It was cute in it's own pointless way, but didn't provide anything Noah could use.
"Noah.." Estelle called again, coming up behind him. "What is it Estelle, I'm trying to think." Noah replied,
studying the books closely. His gaze slowly panned around the room as he searched with the flashlight.
Against the left wall was a filing cabinet, the small drawers akin to the ones found in libraries that contained
records of all the books. Also like those, the drawers all had two letters printed on the front to show which records
were kept in what drawer. Amusingly and coming as no surprise to him at this point, one of the drawers
was labeled 'L-W', a sorrid mismatch since there were two drawers labeled 'K-M' and 'S-W'.
"Noah!" Estelle demanded impatiently, slapping him on the back as he pulled open the 'L-W' drawer.
"What is it Estelle?!" Noah said irritably, turning to face her. "I have to pee, can you please hurry up?"
She said, blushing slightly as she looked away from him. Noah raised an eyebrow, expecting anything
but such a normal request from her. Before he could answer her, a childlike hand covered in dirt and blood
sprang forth from the opened drawer and slashed Noah bewteen his shoulder blades with a straight razor.
"Mother...Fucker!" Noah yelled in pain, one hand going back to the wound as the other raised his shotgun.
He whirled around and took a deafening shot at the hand as it swiftly pulled the drawer shut behind it.
Noah had missed, the damned thing had gotten away clean. Children's laughter echoed through the empty hall as
Noah thankfully found the wound wasn't very deep. "Oh God you..! Come out here and try that again you
miserable dirty bitch!" Noah shouted at the top of his lungs, punching against the filing cabinet as Estelle
sighed impatiently. Of course, Noah realized how foolish he'd been to open that one in the first place. If you were
looking for L or W you wouldn't open a drawer with both letters, it had been the lamest of tricks.
"When I find the little shit that comes up with these fucking booby traps, I swear to God.." Noah grumbled,
pulling open the drawer marked 'K-M' as he held his shotgun mere inches from it. He wasn't going to get caught
by another trap if he could help it. The drawer opened without incident, and inside there was nothing but a large screw.
Opening the 'S-W' drawer produced a small brass key, and Noah pocketed both items.
"I have to pee as well, dear." Noah bitterly answered Estelle at last,
muttering as he tried the key on the locked door at the nearer end of the hallway. It clicked and opened
with a hair raising creak, and beyond almost too conveniently were the restrooms.
Noah exchanged a slight smile of relief with Estelle, as they headed to their respetive bathrooms.
Noah opened the door, stepped inside and gasped as a fierece wind blew into his face. He wasn't in a bathroom
at all, he was on the roof. The very edge of the roof to be exact, where some pipe or plumbing must have been
stopped up because Noah was now standing in no less than 2 feet of water. Dirty water, to be precise. Most likely
toilet water. He gulped in disgust as a sokaed envelope floated by, surrounded by several mounds of something
Noah wasn't about to inspect for anything. Oddly, the envelope although empty had a woman's name he couldn't
quite make out written on the front. Noah quickly opened the door again, stepping inside and preparing for the worst.
It actually seemed to be a bathroom this time, even though technically he should have just stepped out of the bathroom
and back into the hallway. It looked more like the bathroom of a fancy hotel room though, with a large bathtub/shower
behind him and a mirror that sat atop a cosmetics table. Noah stood facing the toilet, unzipping cautiously
as he took a look at the mirror. The face of his old friend and current rival, James Sunderland leered hauntingly
back at him, startling him almost as completely as the toilet seat which fell a half second later with the weight of an
anvil. Noah jumped back, tucking his manhood away possesively and slipped on the floor that was now slick with
the same disgustingly filthy brown water he'd seen on the roof. Noah flailed as he backpeddled clumsily, falling
into the bathtub and hitting his head on the hard porcelin. The momentary dizziness only added to his rising fear
as the bathtub quickly filled with blood raining down from the showerhead. Noah tried to call out to Estelle, tried
to scream, and tried to pull himself from the bathtub as he began to drown. He failed on all counts, as his breath
came in weakening bubble streams. As his consciousness faded, the same thought of throughly killing whoever
planned these mockingly cruel events resurfaced in his mind, as he briefly saw James with a new, disfigured
and puss covered head standing over the tub. The last image Noah caught was the great knife bearing down on him.