I blame this all on SaddenedSoul. ... 'Cause I CAN! Bwahaha!
No, seriously, this is something I've concocted in my head for a while. And I have this weird feeling I'm going to be hated after this...so, might as well try it!
Now, to the reviewers of Room of Angel.
Gaia Faye: I actually responded to your review on my Xanga account. I might copy it and paste it below the chapter. Thanks for the review though and thank you for updating Impaired.
SaddenedSoul: Thanks again. I'm still not over the fact I freaked people out. I was planning on making it worse, but I didn't now how that would settle on people.
Sammie: Thank you. I'm glad it was sad in a 'twisted and disturbed way.' I actually didn't plan for it to come out the way it did, but right then, I was ready to end the story. ... Okthnxbaibai.
Super b-chan: Thank you.
Warnings: Angst, spoilers, my errors, a Walter dummy (I'm gonna steal it, I swear...), and other crap like that. Also, there are two original characters, but they have to be in there to make the story go the way I want it to. ...We just can't have Cynthia or Richard coming back from the pits of Hell...
Henry, Eileen and other references and characters to SILENT HILL is owned by Konami. You wouldn't want me to own it, because it would be so screwed up it's not even funny. It probably wouldn't be that scary either, seeing that I'm having a hard time with it. I fought my first ghost though::points to Victim 13:
Also, the title is inspired by Coldplay's song. I don't know if I'll put lyrics or not; probably not. But, they own the song. It's own their newest album, which I recommend. The first chapter is actually a line from the song. Hey! That's what I'll do!
-
The Hardest Part
Chapter One: Strangest Start
-
It had been easy enough to do... at least, in his mind when he had derived the strange concept. He would just waltz in, give her the flowers, and be on his merry way... sort of. He shuddered at the bittersweet thought of seeing her again now that it was all over. The psycho in the coat had failed... and surely, he wouldn't try to kill them for his corrupted 'Mother' again. They had eluded him several times until he faced the man in the final battle that determined whether she would see another day or be churned between the sharp steel blades in the vat of crimson where her body would be blended into the bloody mixture. However, he had been quick enough to stop Walter, and thus, they escaped, never looking back to that awful place where they had seen their ultimate nightmares...
Well... he had at least gazed back to the gray complex before heading toward St. Jerome's Hospital with his slightly sore arm. And as he remembered staring back at South Ashfield Heights, he could recall the tranquil feeling coldly slipping up his aching spine once more despite what he gone through. The Hell he had endured because of Walter Sullivan would forever taint his memories and soul, and yet, here he was, feeling the same placid ambiance that had accompanied the structure since the first day he had laid his emerald eyes on it. It was like a mother's embrace, trying to lull him to a deathly sleep with a false angelic lullaby that he was all too familiar with. It was so deliriously tempting... But he resisted the urge to rush back into Room 302, knowing full well that he wasn't ready to deal with packing his few possessions just yet. Not yet... at least, until he had seen her...
Now, he stood in front of her door, trembling slightly with apprehension and excitement. Beyond the tall wooden rectangle was a woman who, before all of the previous events, barely acknowledged him. Then, unwillingly, they walked the fine line between death and life together, holding hands and cautiously treading through the corruption that laid waste to familiar sights... such as their apartment building. But, that when in the past now, and Henry Townshend could deal with the problem that laid ahead... just beyond the door... all he had to do was embrace the opportunity.
He hadn't even knocked, which he cursed himself mentally for after he had proceeded inward into Eileen's hospital room. He turned his shaded gaze towards her as she raised her head to see who had entered before giving him a warm smile. He couldn't seem to return it, but did make up for it by showing her the flowers in his hand. They weren't extravagant or fancy in any way, but when he had bought them, he thought they were better than any expensive bouquet of roses could be. He had scoured the whole stuffy flower shop for them... since they had been his mother's favorites...
His traitorous mind flashed an image of Walter's insane grin, but he quelled the fear that accompanied it before Eileen could notice his change of disposition and question the cause of it.
He was afraid that she would show a face of disgust at how meager the bundle was, but never did the sneer he was so sure he would receive ever appear. Instead, a grateful and welcoming smile took its horrid place and Henry exhaled happily. She softly whispered her gratitude as she took the bunch of light-colored flowers and stared at him for a moment, her look of appreciation shining in the sunlit room.
"Guess I'll have to find a new place to live, huh?" said Eileen with a soft hint of humor.
Henry had no real idea what to say to this woman that made his voice constrict in his throat and his forehead sweat in nervousness. He had no thought as to why she might had even had a reason to go back and live at South Ashfield. His mind tried and tried again to reasonably find the right words to say, but it gave up and Henry nodded once before leaving the question to dwell in the rampart of his mentality.
Afterwards, the nurse came in with Eileen's dinner, which would be her last meal at St. Jerome's before returning back to South Ashfield to pack and search for a new place to stay. The nurse had made a 'boyfriend/girlfriend' comment as she set the tray of hospital food down, at which Henry blushed and Eileen laughed before saying that they weren't together. The nurse had glanced over at Henry's standing form and noticed a hurt expression crossing his face before it formed back into its former stoic self. She was about to say something to her patient, but then decided against it and promptly walked out of the sunset-colored room, her heels tapping loudly against the tiled floor.
After eating and a pleasant conversation about the different apartment complexes present in Ashfield, Eileen had gathered her purse and anything else of hers to take back to Room 303 while Henry stood outside and waited for her to walk out of the room so he could drive her back. While he patiently stood there, watching doctors and nurses pass by him, along with a few patients and visitors, Eileen's nurse had seen him and walked over to him.
"A 'La Belle Dame sans Merci,' huh?" (1)
Henry had emitted a curious sound deep in this throat and was about to flusteredly ask her what she meant, but she had left as quickly as she came, leaving behind her distinct taps on the floor and ebony hair that moved along with her in a quickly-done braid. He watched her leave, his mind scratching at its ends to figure out why she had made the comment. She rounded the corner, leaving him alone in quiet, bland hallway. The only sound that he could hear was the hum from the overhead lights.
Eileen had walked out suddenly from her room with a smile on her lovely face. She touched Henry's shoulder lightly before saying she was ready to go. He nodded, turning away from the direction the nurse had gone to follow Eileen towards the elevators...
-
That had been a year ago... and Henry had never figured out what that nurse had meant.
He pondered it several times, and in the end, he could only guess that she had figured out that Henry had feelings for his neighbor that Eileen was oblivious to. But even if that was the case, Eileen still did acknowledge him as nothing more than a friend. She probably never would, by the way she acted around him...
She had moved to a complex that was only a few blocks away from South Ashfield, which for some reason unknown even to himself, Henry stayed at. He had decided to give it a week when Eileen had returned from the hospital to see if anything was going to happen and Eileen even stayed for the frightening week to see if Walter decided he wasn't through with the Twenty-one Sacraments. They had decided that the second Henry would wake up to see his apartment room the same as it was when he had first moved in, he would call Eileen to make sure nothing had happened overnight. She would report with a relieved voice that nothing unusual or suspicious was heard or seen and after the week was up, Henry made the somewhat reluctant decision to stay within Room 302. She hadn't even tried to talk him out of it and he felt pained that she wouldn't give it fighting chance to try and change his mind. Instead, she just left the day after the week was up to her new housing and Henry was alone once again.
However, a young college student attending Pleasant River named Haley Oren moved into Room 303 two weeks after Eileen had ungraciously left and Henry found her to be surprisingly interesting. She was going into creative writing and journalism, which reminded him much of Joseph but then he learned she didn't have much of an interest for the journalism part. She also liked most of the same music he did and even found herself immersed in a joy for photography much like he was, but she mainly stuck with artwork since half the time her photos came out too dark or too light.
They had even made a 'tradition' to go eat at Ruby Tuesday's and catch a late night movie after she completed an extensive project or term paper for college. When he had told this to Eileen, she teased him about going after younger women and he icily retorted with the fact that Haley was only three years younger than the giggling brunette was. Eileen shut up abruptly afterwards but then her attention quietly heading towards the new man at her office building...
When Haley had first moved in, Henry was desperate for someone to talk to since Eileen was back to her usual social self. He struggled to tell her how easily she was brushing off Walter and what he had put them through, but Eileen just told him to enjoy life because he never knew when a psycho in a coat would come after him. So, taking her advice and armed with a few homemade meals and a determination to find someone to replace Eileen's absence, he introduced himself to her. She had smiled when he presented his house-warming gift and mannerly invited him into her apartment. To his liking, the blood that once stained the floor was no longer there which made the room seem... stunningly normal after the hideous occurrences that had happened there.
They had talked for a while about different topics, such as Frank's strange demeanor, Ashfield as a whole, her college... And after five minutes of conversing with her, he found her to be much like him when he was her age; shy, sensitive, and brilliant. And with that realization, he came to trust her more than Eileen at times...
But despite how close the two had gotten, he had never told her about Walter Sullivan. That was left between him and Eileen Galvin.
Having only met Eileen twice in the year she had lived at South Ashfield, Haley begged Henry to marry Eileen repeatedly, telling him anxiously and all-knowingly that he was so head-over-heels for her that he couldn't see straight at times. While he would blush and stammer whenever she brought it up, he would leisurely tell her that she was too young to understand the 'special' bond between them, but deep down, he knew she was right. Henry had fallen for Eileen during their gruesome journey through the gorse darkness and death of Walter's distorted concoction, but he was so shy... he couldn't even mutter a word to Eileen about love.
Besides, she was seeing someone now... it didn't matter anymore whether he felt undying love or consumable hatred for her. She was out of reach... she loved someone else and he knew that as if it were a heavy burden. He was second best, second-rate... second everything on Eileen's list of important people, in which everyone but him was number one.
He told himself this false fact over and over again that soon he even began to live by it. He deduced that he was nothing more than a protector and friend to Eileen, and that he could never he embrace her lovingly or hold her hand as they walked down the street... or share sweet, passionate kisses. Henry looked back on what he could have had and everyday, he cursed himself for not getting to her before this new man did. Henry hadn't even met him and yet Eileen talked about as if he were the perfect man for her... and each mention of him tore Henry's heart in two... This mystery man was so much greater than the brunet was and Henry wondered whether he should strive for Eileen's affection... but he knew he had nothing to fight back with. This new man was financially stable, powerful, and gentlemanly. He had two things Henry did not have... no, three; he had Eileen.
-
"He'll marry her, you know..."
"I know..."
Haley was sitting on the leather couch of Room 302, finishing the remnants of the chocolate ice cream cone she and Henry had gone for prior to her statement. Before she struck up the conversation, she had fallen on her hands and knees after volleyball practice was over to pathetically plead for him to take her to the store for chocolate ice cream since she was too tired to drive. This lasted several minutes until he aversely gave in to her obnoxious begging when she slyly threatened to call Eileen and tell her of his hidden affection. Now, much to his dislike, she was bringing up the man Henry was greatly envious of...
"You aren't even gonna try, are you?" she scoffed offensively when he put up no defense against her reasoning. There was a bit of wavering hope in her inquiring voice, but both dismissed it entirely when he shrugged his shoulders carelessly. "Why should I?" he protested timidly as he spooned the ice cream into a pale porcelain bowl. When she didn't say anything back, he stole a bite from the carton, savoring the cold treat as it melted in his heated mouth. He waited, and Henry was thankful for the silence she had let slip between them before she broke it by standing up and stomping furiously to the island with her hands gripping her hips tightly.
"You love her!" she yelled angrily as she threw up her arms to accentuate her emotional bout, at which he barely reacted to. This wasn't unusual behavior from her; she had a shorter than average fuse that lit at the most trivial of things and Henry found himself being the helpless victim almost everytime her fury dispersed. The best remedy to her outrage was to be quiet and not contradict her on anything... but that hardly seemed to work effectively this time around...
Haley, who was mad enough as it was, huffed at his unresponsiveness and reached out to snatch his small carton of ice cream so she could act out her revenge on him. He was too slow to protect it and as he stared in disbelief at her cruelty, she stole his spoon too. He watched her silently as she finished of the pint swiftly without brain freeze before throwing away the container and carelessly tossing the metal spoon in the sink, where it clattered loudly against the glass he had used earlier.
"You know not to mess with me," she said to his dazed expression as she wiped her chin with the sleeve of her indigo sweatshirt. After the dumb look on Henry's face wore off, he noticed her somewhat delicate hands were back on her lithe hips and he chuckled slightly when he heard her heavy dialect come through her fury. Haley absolutely hated for someone to pester her about her accent and Henry used that to his advantage often. It was always his 'counter-attack,' as she had called it...
"I hear your accceeennnt..." he playfully sung, smiling mockingly and laughing as she impishly attacked his shoulder.
"Bastard..." she muttered as his laughter rang through the room and annoyed her.
"Hey, I'm older than you!" he chuckled as he rubbed his shoulder softly before pointing at her fist which was still raised to attack. "You can't hit me..."
"No wonder Eileen won't date you... Old man."
"...Shut up..."
-
End of Chapter One
-
(1): 'La Belle Dame sans Merci'- The Beautiful Lady without Pity. It's a poem based on the story of a knight falling in love with an Elven woman and is enslaved for seven years before he breaks her spell. She doesn't love him, though.
Please excuse this horrible chapter... I'm having brain problems... .
As for Haley Oren... Like her? Hate her? I tend to like her.
This next bit is to Gaia Faye:
From: Gaia Faye ( http/ )
I actually couldn't see a bit of slash in this.
That's what I meant for it to be; Non-slash.
Your version of the Holy Mother... creeped me out. As did the children under the water wheel. Heebie jeebies, man.
Woo-hoo! I scared somebody! .. I feels special.When you talk about what made Walter choose each Sacrament, you forget to mention Jasper. But you also don't always pick a trait that associates them with their respective themes.
... I did, didn't I... I couldn't think one up for Jasper, anyway. I didn't realize that I didn't do it right...Though Walter torturing Henry explains why Henry's body was so disfigured when it was found, I don't understand why Walter prolonged Henry's death. Was it necessary for Henry's will to be broken? And if Walter does revere him, would he really take such pleasure in it instead of just solemnly doing a duty?
:blinks at deepness: Wow... Good questions. Yah, I guess in a way, it was. Walter is, to me, unpredictable. Though he quickly did away with other victims, I feel that he would spend more time on Henry for the 'trouble' he caused. Henry wouldn't go peacefully, so b/c Walter had to go through a lot, he made Henry go through a more extreme punishment. I guess... I really just did it b/c that was the idea in my mind. I actually wanted for Walter to cut open Henry's chest and sort of play with his heart, but that would have been extreme.
I would guess that the 'revere' thing comes from Henry's ability to defy odds. The way Henry kept most of his sanity probably intrigued Walter. Basically the 'duty' part, I guess is the fact that he DID finish the 21 Sacraments.
(I really have no idea what I'm saying...)
I don't think the Order meant to kill the children in the tower. I think there's a memo in the game that says that the moisture in the air or something actually warped the doors so that they couldn't get some of the cells open anymore. So I don't think it has anything to do with the children being corrupt. If you'd like to say differently in your story, make it clear whether Walter just doesn't care about them or thinks they deserve it because they wouldn't accept the cult's teachings.
This is one of those moments where I hide b/c I'm too scared to play the game farther than I have. :shudders: I really didn't realize I had it the way I did. I sorta of figured that I had it where if a child died by some unknown cause, they would be thrown down the waterwheel to conceal what happened. I sorta don't remember how I had it. O.oI'm also not sure why Walter would leave the apartment (his mother's side) so quickly just to make sure that Henry's ghost was around. Or why the Holy Mother decided to adopt a new son and kill her old one.
... I have no idea. It seemed like a good idea. I sorta hoped that the story would make it seem that after a while, Walter noticed that he hadn't seen Henry's ghost around and the last place he thought of was Room 302. :shrugs: Why would she take Henry as her son and kill her other one? Your guess is as good as mine. I actually did not intend for Henry to be the new 'son.' He was just supposed to be trapped in the Holy Mother's song. Walter's fate was originally to be trapped, too... but I don't know... The killing thing just seemed a bit more... unexpected.This is fairly well written, with just some spelling errors here and there. I would also tell you to be more careful with your word choices, but I suppose that's really more about personal preference than anything else.
... That's what my teacher says about my wording.
I feel like I'm saying a lot of negative things, but I assure you that I did like this.
-
.