Chapter Six: Dementia Subterrae

The door opened right into the living room. Julia stepped in and shed her pack with a practiced ease, locking the door with one hand but keeping her eyes forward. There was a black leather couch sitting in the center of the room, a smaller pine TV stand with an older looking TV and cable box on top of it. A light beige coffee table sat between them, still littered with soda cans and magazines. A brown leather recliner sat next to couch, ripped and worn from age with tape on the arms and still in the reclined position.

She stepped into the master bedroom, nothing moving in there. The layout was typical, the colors subdued and unremarkable. When she came to the two last rooms side by side she stopped. The one on the right, that was her room. She just knew, it had to be. The one on the left…she put away her gun and stepped into her old room. It had been converted into a half office, half storage space. Well maybe converted wasn't the right word, it was empty when they moved in, there was nothing to convert.

The Stegmans seemed to have only one child, a young boy. His room on the left was filled with cartoon posters and toys scattered all along the floor. She went back to the living room and through the sliding glass door into their backyard, keeping hear ears open. The grass had grown wild, climbing along the wooden fence that marked Stegman territory. There wasn't much back here but a barbeque and a gnarled, twisting tree that had branches going well over the fence. It was kind of sinister looking, but she put it out of her mind for now.

Over the next two days she learned a lot about the family that lived there. Art worked for the only cab company in the town, she didn't think there would be enough business here to keep it going long but they didn't seem to be worried about money. Vanessa Stegman spent her day taking care of their son, she couldn't find his name mentioned anywhere. It seemed like a happy household, was such a shame they whatever atrocity happened to them happened. There was nothing that mentioned previous owners of the house, no old deeds, no property tax records. There wasn't even a mention of anything wrong with the house or things they might have found buried in the backyard.

The second day she tackled the storage room. It was mostly junk that Mrs. Stegman thought was an eyesore according to her diary, but some of it apparently held great sentimental value to Mr. Stegman. Julia had cleared a path to the closet where she found a metal detector partially hidden under some musty jackets hanging down. It seemed to still be pretty new, if a little dusty. To her surprise when he hit the switched it chirped, waiting for her to point it. Leading around the room, it gave off a satisfactory electronic wail when it passed over something metal.

Julia went outside and started sweeping the lawn as if she were looking for mines. Almost immediately it went off, she retrieved a small gardening shovel and dug up something shiny, a soda can slip. Chuckling to herself, she returned to the search, casually moving the detector back and forth. When she came directly in front of that old tree it went off again, something unsettling about that she couldn't quite put her finger on. She had to go pretty deep this time, but the shovel hit something hard about a foot down. She pulled out of the earth a small wooden box with a brass latch and hinges, stained dark with moisture and dirt.

The had one thing in it, a white loop of some kind. It took her a moment to realize that it was a patient band. The ink on the lettering was badly faded, but she could easily make out "STORMSON, ALEX #73432 BROOKHAVEN MENTAL HOSPITAL"

Julia blinked in disbelief. Her brother had been admitted there? It was such a creepy building, even in the daylight, she shuddered to think of what it would be like in the other place. It was still afternoon, she had plenty of time before nightfall to get in and find out what she could, hopefully being out of there quickly. There was no telling what exactly was waiting for her there, but she knew a hospital would have records of all of the patients, if she could only find where they kept their files she would find something on what happened to Jon…Alex. What disturbed her most was the question if he was admitted after what happened to their parents or before?

Brushing these things out of her mind, she gathered what she needed. Snatching a small satchel from the storage room, she poured her entire stock of bullets inside and slung it on her arm. The other clips were loaded, ready in her pockets, the trusty tire iron she fit into the side of her gun harness, it rested against her torso snugly. It was time to get going, she found herself wanting to stay a little longer. There was no reason to, besides wanting to be as far away from that building as possible and knowing that it was her next destination. There wasn't a choice, she left her old house and went back the way she came.

Brookhaven towered over her as she walked up its steps. It wasn't just the way it looked, it was the feeling like the building itself was watching her every move. The doorknobs on the main set of doors had been removed, she went inside and it felt like she was being swallowed. There was so little light coming in from the outside, there must have been something blocking the few windows on the first floor.

There was a visitor's directory on the wall by the doors, she had to turn on her gun light to see it properly. Most of the rooms were unmarked, it merely had some key points for the general public to go to. That wouldn't help her find much but it was a start. The second and third floors seem to be where the patients were kept, the first floor administration. There were two elevators in the building, she didn't feel comfortable using either one. Even assuming they were in perfect condition, and she doubted anyone was around to keep them in top shape, placing her life in the hands of anything in Silent Hill just seemed like a bad idea.

The first thing in front of her was the reception, it seemed like a good place to start. The counter was about five feet high, a sign plastered to it reading "Brookhaven Hospital - The Sane Choice" The door to reception was locked so she had to push herself up onto the counter to get in. Funny, most of the doors she ran across so far were open as it was probably daytime when the town was abandoned. There was a large filing cabinet, she started flipping through them, mindful that she wanted to be out of here before dark. These were only schedules and brief notes of patients, most of them dated to have some kind of treatment or visitors coming in.

There was no way to tell how recent the dates where unless she could find the day everything stopped. Picking through the reception desk, she found a small calendar in one of the drawers. All of the days had been crossed off in the month of September up to the 12th, the year 1985. That was…what horrible thing had happened that day? It was probably something that was best not to be thought about, she concentrated on the task at hand. The appointments in all of the folders she found had happened or had been planned roughly a week from that day, these records were far too recent. If Jon was admitted before he left Silent Hill with her it would have been much earlier.

There was another room attached to this one, she entered a messy office room with three desks, all covered with papers. There was nothing useful here, they were just memos and reminders and notes on patients. Nothing was dated but she didn't think there would be anything on a patient from that far back just lying around. She unlocked the door on her way out and searched the rest of the floor, but other then the door with a code on it there was nothing to be found. Turned out there wasn't anything blocking the windows, there simply weren't any. On the plus side, nothing had tried to kill her yet. There was one stairwell, she didn't have much of a choice if she didn't want to use the elevator.

Heading up the stairs, each step echoing hollowly throughout the well. She wished somehow she had more hands to carry more flashlights, but she needed both for firing so the small beam would have to do. Coming up the second floor, she tried the door but there was something on the other side blocking her entrance. The handle turned, she could feel the door coming out ever so slightly, but there was no getting past whatever heavy object lay past her. Not searching the second floor bothered her since the file she was looking for could be anywhere, but she didn't have much of a choice. It might have to come down to taking the elevator if she couldn't dig up anything on the third floor.

She opened the door to the third floor and there was a creature passing by, dressed up in a blood stained nurse outfit, complete with conical hat. When it turned its head to look at her, the face seemed like it had been simply removed. In its right hand were two scalpels, poking out like spines. Julia was taken aback by the sheer sight of the thing, but when it took a step closer her body acted on its own accord. Her hands adjusted to its chest cavity and she drilled the nurse repeatedly at point blank range. It staggered back on and fell over, twitching, the scalpels scattering across the floor. Julia could have finished it off, but it was going to die soon and she heard voices coming from the left.

There was no light up here save her own, which partially worried her. She moved around the corner, there was a solid door that was slightly ajar, the sign next to it read "Special Treatment Rooms 1-4" The voices had stopped but coming from the number 1 door she heard a kind of grunt. Warily she crept up to the door and pushed it open. There was a scene in here, the remains of two twisted creatures lying on the floor, the combined pool of their blood stretching across most of the room. Against the back wall the man she had seen only days before was slumped down, sitting on the ground with his legs out in front of him. He looked years older, down trodden, sad.

"Chuck?" she called.

"Yeah, Julia, sure." he said, without looking up. "What'll they think of next?"

"Excuse me?"

His hand snapped up, pistol aimed directly at her. "Don't come a step closer."

"Whoa!" she exclaimed, centering her light on him. "Chuck, calm down, I'm not-"

"If you're the real Julia, put your gun down. I'll kill you where you stand, I've had the practice."

Thoughts ran through her head at a million miles a second. This could be a trick, but Silent Hill could have shown him things that would drive someone to insanity. She would never forgive herself for shooting a person, there was only one thing she could do.

"Okay, I'm doing it Chuck. There's no need to fire." She lowered her weapon to the floor and for the first time he raised his head to look at her.

"I don't know if I can trust you, but it would be better for you to leave. Even if you are real." he said matter of factly.

"Alright, I'm going. Goodbye Chuck." Julia slowly backed out of the room and shut the door. She shook the thoughts out of her head, saving them for later. Right now she had to focus, if he didn't want people around him it wouldn't be a good idea to push him. Especially when he had a gun.

Searching the rest of the floor that didn't involve going past the corpse in by the stairs, she found nothing useful. There was a janitor's room full of cleaning supplies, an elevator and another short hallway past that completely blocked by debris. There was nowhere else to go but the other direction from the stairs, she wasn't crazy about the idea but there might be something she couldn't afford to overlook here.

She tiptoed carefully around the dead nurse creature, eyeing it in case it tried to make a sudden move. There was a door almost identical to the one she had seen on the first floor which required a number code, but this one was open already. The mechanism that forced to door to close when there was no one pushing it out was broken and lying on the floor. Julia slipped past the door and could see why this part of the building had been sealed off, a long row of patients' cells stretched down the entire floor. They were marked so casually, S1, S2 and so on, if fit the mood of the building to reduce people to numbers.

Reaching for the first door, she swung it open quickly, ready for anything. Except what came at her she wasn't ready for, a burst of light flooding in from large windows. After moving around in the gloom this much, even the fragile glow that made its way past the fog was enough to make her squint. Julia hurried inside, not wanting to be caught off guard.

The cell was somewhat cramped, a light brown dresser under the windows straight forward, a sterile looking bed taking up the space between right wall and the dresser. The windows turned out not to be glass at all but a thick and very clear plastic, iron bars just past the window the weren't quite wide enough for someone to fit through. The wooden dresser was dilapidated had no sharp corners, the bed made of a hard plastic instead of metal, the sheets and pillow see through and seemed to tear a little when she merely pulled on them. It would be difficult to commit suicide in here she noted, then wondered why she was noting such a thing.

There was nothing but clothes in the dresser, nothing under the bed, nothing carved into the furniture. Reluctantly she left, it would have been nice to take a break in the light for a little while, but she didn't have all day. Checking door handles again, it was three doors before she found another open one. Almost identical to the first, this one had a frameless mirror hanging above the bed, a notepad and pencil on the dresser. When she walked over to see what was written, her reflection in the mirror caused a jolt of momentary panic. Julia took a breath tried to calm her jumpy nerves, reading the small pad.

It appeared to be pure gibberish, or at least a code she couldn't make heads or tails of. It looked like what would happen if a doctor wrote their signature and stretched it out into entire lines, it resembled some kind of lettering but only vaguely. Perhaps that was it, this patient was trying to practice his forgery. She turned to go when something in the mirror caught her eye. It wasn't the motion again, it was the lack of motion.

Looking right at it, the mirror didn't show her looking right at it, it showed her from a profile view, as if she was facing the direction she had come in, facing the windows. Julia waved a hand in front of her face, but still the image did not change. Only her head and most of her shoulders were in the snapshot, seemingly frozen in time.

Slowly, the Julia in the mirror began to turn to face her. Gasping, the real one backed up against the wall, pointing the gun at the insanity in front of her. A slow smile crept upon the mirror Julia's face, not disappearing when something foul came from behind her. A yellowish, fetid hand came up and rested on the mirror's shoulder, its browned and cracked fingers nails gripping her sweater. It looked like something that had been rotting in a swamp for weeks. Another hand came up, this one holding a wavy bladed dagger of silvery metal. Still the mirror Julia did nothing but smile as the knife steadily drew back like a catapult.

It shot forward suddenly, burying deep into the other Julia's neck. The one backed up again the wall, scared out of her mind, saw the tip of the blade emerge from the esophagus a split second before the mirror shattered at that exactly point, as if it had been hit there. She saw her broken reflection in what was left, eyes open wide and breathing almost a pant. She had the .45 out in front of her in case anything was planning on coming out of the pieces, even if it was shaking, but nothing did. Gradually the fear subsided and her breaths returned to normal. She seriously considering getting the hell out of there for now, but there was still a lot of time to kill and Brookhaven wasn't going to get any less creepy.

When she exit the cell she expected something horrible to be waiting for her, but the hallway was just as empty as it was when she went in, the swirling clouds of dust the only sign that anything else was there. Taking a few moments to collect herself, she started checking doorknobs again. Why was she doing this again? Because Alex might have stayed in one of these rooms, perhaps he left something behind. Julia's pulse instantly quickened when she found another open door at S12, dread stealing over her. Who knew just finding an open door could be so nerve wracking? Bracing herself she swept into the room.

There were no monsters or mirrors in here, this room a carbon copy of the other two. The only difference from the basic model this time was a blue telephone. It looked very old, the circular dialing mechanism's number pad fading and yellow with age. On impulse she picked it up to see if there was a dial tone, but there was nothing. When she set it back down, the bell on the back went BRRRRING! and Julia nearly jumped out of her skin. She should have seen it coming but she didn't. The phone continued to blare loudly while she looked out the window, there was nothing to see but mist. If someone was watching her, it had to be from the inside of the building.

Wanting very much to not pick up the phone, the loud sound would probably attract things and she was curious. She picked up the receiver almost unwillingly.

"Hello?" she said.

"Let me hear you speaking just for me." said the scratchy male voice on the other side.

"What? Who is this?"

"I am the Crimson One. The lies and mist are not they but I."

"What the hell?"

"You are Julia Stormson are you not?"

"I'm…how did you know that?"

"You seek a lesser radiance, a walking sorrow…"

"I'm just looking for anything I can find on my brother, what's it to you?"

"You must descend under the earth to find the darkest of secrets, but beware. When the gate is open the angel walks, darkness and truths are what calls him."

"I don't understand, I have to go to the basement? What is this angel?"

"Do not face him. You will find answers Julia Stormson, but questions as well. Heed my warning, when the time comes to flee, flee you must."

The phone shorted out and went dead. She listened for a second for anything else, but put it back. That man…he talked like Nobody almost, but the voice was much different. Maybe he was trying to help her without showing it by coming up with a silly voice? No, that didn't sound like something he'd do. But what to do now? Was there any way she could trust some voice on the other end of a dead phone that was probably stalking her? It could be a trap, but why would a human want to lead her to an ambush? None of the monsters so far had been capable of speech, the only other two people she had met helped her. Well, at least the first time.

It was worth a shot, she decided. Anything that would help her get out of here faster, at least if it was an ambush she would have seen it coming. Heading back down the hall, she hit the stairwell, moving as quietly as possible. She waited tensely for something to jump out at her on the way down, but nothing happened. She couldn't tell what was worse, encounters with monsters or the constant terror of them.

When she reached the basement she could see light coming from under the door. Julia clicked hers off and opened the door as softly as she could. The basement was well lit for some reason, the hall in front of her going forward then left at 90 degrees, a door on the right corner. Slowly she slid down the left side, keeping an eye on the door before peeking around the corner. The hall continued some thirty feet and made another left, a door straight ahead and another one to its right. Julia looked at the small sign on the door closest to her, it read "ELECTRICAL ROOM". Ignoring it, she went down the hall to the corner again, peering just past the edge.

The hall ended quickly from there, an elevator on the left and a fourth door on the right directly across from it. There didn't seem to be anything down here, at least not in the hallway. Realizing how taut her muscles were, she forced herself to loosen up a bit while she read the signs. Boiler room, pump room, ah, behind her was the storeroom. Images of horrible things lurking behind the door danced in her head, she pushed them away and opened the door, .45 leading the way.

Inside was a mess, shelves and cabinets lining the walls stacked high with boxes of files. There was a mess of broken furniture all about and dozens of pages scattered along the floor. There was a solitary ceiling lamp hanging down that kept blinking and going out for a second, then remaining lit for a few more before repeating the cycle. She left the door open, she wanted the extra light and to see if the mystery caller would come knocking.

Unlike the police room which was somewhat organized, this place was an absolute catastrophe. The boxes didn't seem to be in any order whatsoever, they dated back thirty, fifty and even a hundred years back. Some of the pages were so delicate they seemed ready to disintegrate in her hand, the smell of musty old paper almost suffocating. Julia did her best, this was where she would get some answers.

She was aware that hours passed while she searched, but it was all worth it when she found the file "STORMSON, ALEX" Julia let out a relieved sigh and hunkered down on the floor, reading intently. It seemed Alex was admitted at just seven years old, due to problems at home. He suffered from violent dreams and was beginning to act out in real life. Just when it was getting interesting, from somewhere far off she heard a long, wailing siren.

"Oh no…" was all she could say before the lights around her began to dim. She could have sworn she felt the slightest tremor run through the floor, before the light went out even. Julia shoved the file into her coat and picked up her pistol, standing up and waiting for the room to become completely black. Hastily she switched on the light and examined her new surroundings.

The basement had been replaced with concrete and chain link corridors, she seemed to not be in a room anymore but in intersection of paths. It didn't matter how many ways there were to go, she didn't know which way was out. Panic set in, she fought it and decided to start going forward, eventually she would find something.

It wasn't long before she heard some kind of scraping coming from the distance and getting closer. She listened intently, it was almost as if someone was dragging something metal across the steely floor…