Chapter Seven

'Daddy doesn't love Mommy.'

Peering through bedroom keyhole, Kyle's lips curled into a frown as he backed off and allowed Keith to take a look. True enough, the two were shouting at each other again. Daddy always looked so angry whenever he came back from work, and they had seen him hit Mommy so often now. Tonight however, Mommy was fighting back.

For all the good it would have done her, it would have been better if she had just shut up.

'But why?' Keith asked. 'Did Mommy do something bad?'

Kyle nodded slightly. 'Why else would he be mad? Daddy's always mad for good reasons.'

Keith didn't believe that. They were four, then. As much as Kyle seemed to be Daddy's favorite, Keith was closest to his mother. He didn't remember much about her now, except the fact that she had such sad eyes…

The last time he had seen them, they had been dead eyes, staring lifelessly at the ceiling with blood gushing out of her throat.

And Kyle had been the one with the knife.

On the same night, he had taken his own life. He died at the age of 14.

-

'But he didn't truly die then.'

Walking down the darkened streets alone, Keith started quickening his pace when he heard guttural, growling sound approaching him from the shadows behind him, drawing closer and closer. He could feel them eyeing him with hungry eyes, though it wasn't so much hunger as it was hatred. Pure and simple, they wanted him dead.

'Kyle has been alive all this while, here in Silent Hill. Home.'

He broke into a run.

And they gave chase.

'He's been waiting for me. He wants me dead.'

Were these things conjured up by Kyle too? As he turned at the first corner down the street into a back alley, he caught a glimpse of them, but kept on running before he could actually see them for what they were. Words could not accurately describe what they were- faceless demons cloaked in fog, taking on the shapes of humans, dogs, trees, insects, whatever form the shadows allowed them to take. Were they living things? Were they even real?

His answer came when the first one caught up with him.

He felt a sharp jolt of pain run up his left leg, and he realized that whatever the fucker was, it had bitten him, with rows of sharp teeth, not enough to cut clean through, but enough to draw blood.

They were playing with him. They wanted him to scream. They wanted him to bleed. They wanted him to hurt.

And when they were done with all that, they wanted him to die.

He was not going to give them that satisfaction. Fighting the pain, he ran faster, his grip on the iron pipe tightening- ready to use it as a weapon if ever he needed to.

-

Claire could see buildings in the distance- that meant the town was close by. That meant that she could get help- that fucker wouldn't dare do anything in public. Her shoulder was bleeding badly, and she the loss of blood was beginning to take its toll on her.

Behind her, the murderer followed her silently, walking, taking his time. He knew full well that she wouldn't be able to escape anyway. This town was on his side.

And it was her enemy now.

The seemingly normal town Claire had driven into earlier this morning was no longer there as the uphill road led her back to a dead town, silent, dark and devoid of life. There were no moving cars, no people, no birds, cats or dogs even. There was only her, the shadows-

And the killer.

She desperately ran towards the first building, but found that the door was sealed shut with plywood boards. The neighboring one was held tightly shut. The other one was locked. And so was the next, and the next, and the next…

And just as she was about to give up, the last door at the end of the street turned out to be the one she was looking for. She let herself in and slammed the door shut behind her, leaving her in total darkness. She leaned against the door, crying, panting with exhaustion.

Silence.

Sobbing now, she sat down on the floor, unable to see anything around her. She still kept her back pressed against the door, half-expecting the killer to find her at any given second.

Minutes passed by and still nothing happened.

Then her phone started ringing.

She almost jumped with surprise. Quickly drawing it from her pocket, she held it in front of her, the white light from the screen lighting her face. The number wasn't from her phone book, but she froze when she realized almost instantly, that she knew who it belonged to.

'No.'

Slowly, almost fearfully, she brought the phone to her ears before answering.

"H..hello?" she croaked.

'Hello, baby. Miss me?'

And, upon recognizing the voice, she screamed and tossed the phone halfway across the room.

"You're dead! You're fucking dead!" she shrieked.

And that was when the lights in the room went on.

There were clocks on the wall. Hundreds of them, possibly more, in all shapes and sizes. They covered all the walls surrounding her, staring at her like a hundred evil grinning faces.

They struck three at the same time.

Claire's screams were drowned out by the noise the clocks were making.

Meanwhile, across the street, the killer grinned in the darkness.

-

Claire wasn't answering her phone. Groaning with frustration, Leo pocketed his handphone before he started pacing back and forth in the darkness, wondering what to do next. He was back at the graveyard, and there was no sign of Claire or Keith. Without the flashlight, he felt…uncomfortable. No, he wasn't about to admit to being afraid. He wasn't afraid of the dark, but it wouldn't hurt just to have at least some light.

He cursed himself for deciding to split up with Claire. He cursed himself even more for leaving Sean alone in the car. He felt like screaming inside, but there was no time for grief. Not now. Not when the lives of his two other friends were in danger. Saving them came first.

'If they're still alive.'

He pushed the thought to the back of his mind.

"Looking for someone?"

Leo almost shouted with surprise as he whirled around, backing off from the voice of the woman behind him.

It was a girl, a teenager from the looks of it. She had short black hair with dark brown eyes. She wore a white sweater, which made her stand out so much in the darkness that Leo had to wonder how she got here.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she gasped. "I didn't mean to scare you."

Leo managed a smile. "I wasn't scared," he said. "What's a girl like you doing out here at a time like this, anyway?"

The girl looked down for a while. When it became obvious that she wasn't going to answer the question, Leo smiled apologetically. She had probably just lost someone dear to her. There was a kind of sadness in her eyes…Leo was sure he'd seen it somewhere before. Her eyes reminded him of Claire's. Right before…

"Forget it. You don't have to answer that question. But yeah, I'm looking for someone. Two people, actually. A guy and a girl-

"Everyone comes here looking for someone," the girl interrupted. "In the end, no one leaves." A grave look appeared in her eyes when she added, "Listen, there's something…wrong with this town. You should probably turn around and leave."

Leo's eyes narrowed. "What's that supposed to mean?" he asked. "The town was normal enough just now. I even booked a room at the hotel."

The girl's eyes widened with surprise. "But…" Then, a look of understanding appeared on her face. With it, came the look of grave concern. "Look, it won't…it won't be like…that when you go back there. It'll be…changed."

"Changed?"

She looked down guiltily, falling silent yet again.

Feeling annoyed now, Leo sighed and asked, "Have you seen anyone else pass through here?"

Hesitantly, the girl nodded. She pointed off into the darkness, where another path seemed to lead into the woods. "There," she said. "She went that way. But…I wouldn't go after her if I were you. She's…"

But Leo was already running off. Not even a thank you.

The girl sighed sadly. Turning around, she sat down, leaning back against a tombstone.

"Like me."

Behind her, the name on the tombstone read: 'ANGELA OROSCO.'

-