Epilogue

Harry Mason felt the constant ebb of pain. And that was enough to tell him that he was alive. He had survived the nightmare of Silent Hill once again. But where was he?

He didn't want to open his eyes. In the darkness, he could imagine that he was actually lying in bed, having awoken from a terrible dream, and that nothing had been real. He hadn't been nearly killed by Claudia Wolf's pet monster. He wasn't whisked to the hospital by Henry Townsend. He didn't awake in Brookhaven Hospital to find the horrors of Silent Hill were once again running rampant and had called him back. And Heather was never dragged back to that hellish nightmare.

But no matter how much Harry wanted the nightmare to be nothing more than a fleeting part of his subconscious, he knew that it had all been real. Even the final battle with Samael. The battle where he had been severely wounded.

Harry chanced opening his eyes a crack and was met with the harsh white glare of a fluorescent light. There was white everywhere—the lights, walls, sheets—all of it a gleaming, sanitary white. Harry opened his eyes fully, fighting against the sting of the glaring luminescence, and the white was replaced by a figure leaning over him.

"Dad?"

Harry's eyes adjusted and the figure came into focus. First, the messy, unstructured dirty blond hair, hazel eyes, fair skin, freckles. It all came together to form the familiar visage of his daughter.

"Heather?" Harry reflexively voiced. Then he said more definitely, "Heather. You're okay."

Heather's eyes brimmed with tears as she joyfully gazed into her father's eyes. "I was going to say the same to you." She took his hand in hers as the tears tumbled down her cheeks. Unlike when she found him in their apartment, Harry's hands were warm. "I thought I had lost you. Again."

"I don't die easily," Harry croaked. He laughed then fell into a slight coughing spell, which only worsened the pain.

"You're going to have to take it easy, Mr. Mason," Tina stepped into the room dressed in her nurse outfit. She flashed a brilliant smile at both Heather and Harry. "I'm glad to see you're awake finally. I was beginning to worry."

"Please don't tell me you brought me to Brookhaven," Harry said as he glanced about the room.

"With Killian gone and all that horror defeated, Brookhaven is actually a good hospital. And I'm taking care of you, so you don't have to worry about any crazy nurses trying to stab you in your sleep."

Tina crossed the room and grabbed Harry's chart from the foot of the bed. She gave it a cursory glance then met Harry's and Heather's gaze. "Looks like you're recovering nicely. The wound in your chest was pretty serious, but it wasn't too deep. You had to get a few stitches and you're probably going to be sore for a few weeks too. Otherwise, you're okay."

"What about you?" Harry asked.

Tina's expression softened a bit. "I'm okay. I can't believe everything that I saw. It seems like everyday, I'm trying to rationalize everything that happened, but I can't. And then there's Henry and Christine. They're both gone. I always think that there's something we could've done so they could be here too."

Harry replied, "We did the best that we could. And that's all that we could do." He wanted to say more, but there was nothing more to say. He too wished that he could have saved Henry and Christine, but both of them were gone. Henry saved his life and Harry felt like he cheated Henry because he couldn't save his. Henry was simply gone without a trace, lost in the depths of Silent Hill. And Christine had sacrificed herself so they could defeat Samael. She too was trapped within the nightmare of Silent Hill. Harry was content to assume they weren't dead, but being alive in Silent Hill was worse than death, which didn't make him feel any better.

It would take some time for him to recover, he knew that, but Harry wasn't going to sit idly by while they were somewhere out there. But he couldn't tell Tina that. She would want to go with him, and she had already seen enough horror to last her two lifetimes. And he definitely couldn't tell Heather. The look in her eyes when she saw him awaken was a blessing, but he didn't want to put her through that again. She would object to him venturing out again after being nearly killed. Still, it was something he would have to do.

"Dad, Cybil and Douglas were here for awhile. They went to go grab something to eat. They've been here since you were first admitted."

Harry suddenly felt alarmed. "How long?"

Heather looked at Tina, who nodded, a gesture that told Heather to go ahead and tell him.

"Almost three weeks. Some of what happened has been in the papers, but all the attention died down last week sometime. Several of Michael and Trey's classmates were victims, but they haven't found their bodies at all. They've attributed it to a college prank or something lame like that."

"So they're covering it up?" Harry flatly asked. But what did he expect? Unless they experienced it, no one would believe even a fraction of what they went through.

"Michael and Trey stayed for a while too. But they had to go back to school and pack up fro graduation. They got to leave early."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "What are they planning on doing?"

Heather felt her heart skip a beat. There's no way her father had already figured what they planned on doing. Maybe he hadn't been sleep and had heard them talking. Whatever that case was, there was no sense in lying.

"They're going to find Henry," she answered, hoping that Tina heard as well.

Tina moved closer to the bed. "They know where he is?"

"I don't know."

"Well, Henry was a photographer. And I'm pretty sure he does work around here. Maybe you can find an address or something."

"Great idea," Heather said. But as she started to stand up, Harry placed a hand on hers.

"Heather, I know what you're planning on doing."

Tina looked from Harry to Heather. Heather couldn't keep her eyes locked with her father. It only took a few seconds for Tina to figure out what was going on.

"You're going to help them find Henry, aren't you?" Tina asked.

Heather slipped from her father's grasp and stood at the end of the bed. "This entire thing is my responsibility. I don't know what happened to Henry or what's going on. Maybe it's nothing and he's doing just fine. But now that I know you're okay, I can't sit here without knowing that it's really all over."

"I can't bare to lose you again," Harry said, his voice merely a whisper.

"You're not going to lose me. But this is something that I have to do. I didn't tell Michael and Trey I was going with them, but I won't take no for an answer. And I won't let you stop me. I almost lost you and everybody else because I couldn't finish this before. This time, I'm going to make sure this ends."

Harry wanted to argue. He wanted to hold her tight and never let her go. He wanted to hold her hand and walk back to their apartment and never face anything else evil again. But deep down, he knew that none of those things were feasible. The evil was still out there. And though it was hard to admit, Heather was connected to it. She would be the only one who could stop it.

"Heather," Harry weakly said.

Heather frowned. "If I say any longer, I'll start to cry again. I'm leaving."

"Tell me you'll be back."

"I can't do that."

Harry felt his heart break into a thousand pieces as Heather opened the door and turned to leave. At the last moment, she turned back to Harry and Tina.

"I can tell you that I love you. Dad."

Without waiting for a response, Heather turned and left Henry and Tina alone. She prayed that she was making the right decision. In the end, regardless of the outcome, she had to face whatever lay before her without hesitation. And fortunately for her, she had friends that would be right there with her.

Notes:

This story overlaps with Silent Hill: Lost Souls.

To everyone that kept up with this story from beginning to end, thank you so much. All of you really helped keep me going, battling through work and writer's block. I hope that this story was as fun for you to read as it was to write. I loved getting all of your reviews and hearing what you thought about the different aspects of the chapters. Please, keep reviewing for other folks the way you did for me.