As John took the captain's chair, Henry joined Eileen at the aft railing. They stood looking out over the fog-shrouded lake as the hotel faded into the distance and the fog closed around the little boat. Soon, they could see nothing but fog...even the water beneath them was barely visible. The only noise was the noise of the boat engines.

"Now I see what the map meant. It is like being caught between heaven and earth," Eileen said.

"Heaven and hell."

They stood side by side, just the two of them in the fog.

"Henry, I..."

"What is it?"

"I'm not sure what we're going to find at that island," she said, watching the spray from the boat's engines, "but I have this feeling that it's going to be the end of all of this, one way or another."

Henry nodded. "Same here. It's a relief."

"Yeah."

"Eileen, I want you to know that whatever happens..."

Eileen put her arms around Henry. "Sssh. I know. We can't think like that."

"No," Henry said, and pulled away. He took her hands in his. They were warm in the cool lake air. "This is important, too important." He took a deep breath. "I'm not very good at this."

She smiled up at him.

"I want you to know...how important you are to me, and how great this past month has been. I'm sorry that I can't be what you need..."

Eileen bit her lip to keep from interrupting.

"...but if you'll let me try, I'll do everything I can for you."

She smiled up at him.

"I have no complaints, Henry, except that you don't give yourself enough credit."

Just then, John cried out, "Island ho!" Henry squeezed Eileen's hands, and they went forward to look.

The island loomed in front of them. It was covered with trees, and they couldn't tell how far it extended. A small dock appeared, and as they neared it, they saw a little rowboat tied to it, rocking with the waves.

"Someone's here," Eileen said.

Henry jumped onto the dock, and tied up the rope that John threw to him. As they walked down the dock, he bent down and peered into the rowboat.

"It hasn't been here long," he said. "There are no dead leaves, nothing."

They proceeded up a little path, which wound around and around the island. It seemed that the island was shaped all as one very tall hill, and the path spiraled around. For a long, long time, they hiked, gradually moving higher and higher on the hill...and gradually becoming tenser and tenser as they neared the top.

Then, the path ended at a clearing. It was a large, round area, surrounded by tall pine trees that grew regularly around it like sentinels. In the center was a large emblem, and at the other end was a small rustic building.

John moved toward the center of the clearing, and looked down at the symbol. It was several feet across, round, with three circles around the middle.

"This is definitely not good," he said.

Just then, they heard a noise in the building.

"Who are you, and what do you want?" a voice called from within.

"I'm Detective John Orosco, of the Ashfield Police Department. We're not here to harm you."

"...Orosco?"

"John Orosco."

A tall man came out of the door, with a rifle in his hands. He wore a green military jacket and jeans, and his blond hair fell across his forehead. He seemed young, but his face was careworn, and his eyes held suspicion.

John's hand had been in his coat pocket, but he lifted both arms up, hands empty, as he walked slowly forward.

The gun went down. The blond man let out his breath, and looked at John intently for a moment. "That's why you look familiar. You're here about your sister."

"Yes!"

"I'm sorry," the man said. "I thought you were here to..." He walked forward and held out his hand. "I'm James Sunderland."

John nodded. "This is Henry Townshend, and I think you know Eileen Galvin," he said. James looked fit and healthy, but...that must be the haunted look that Frank was talking about, Eileen thought. He looked pale, preoccupied, as if something was eating away at him.

"Leenie? Is that you?" James peered at her closely. Eileen blushed slightly at his old nickname for her.

"Yep, James, it's really me."

James took her by the shoulders and looked her up and down. "Little Leenie. It's been a long time…you've grown up." He grinned, and some of the strain fell from his face. He looked almost like the James she remembered.

"And you look just the same," she said.

His grin faltered just a little. "Yeah."

James put his arm around her shoulders. "Eileen and I go back a long way. I remember her when she was little…last time I saw her, she was just a scrawny kid."

Eileen stuck an elbow into his ribs, and James laughed. "And you were always the same," she said. "Cocky as ever."

Henry stepped across Eileen and extended his hand stiffly to James. They shook.

"James."

"Henry."

Henry's jaw was set. James looked faintly amused.

"I understand why you're here, John," he said. "But why are you two here?"

"Do you mind if we go inside?" Eileen asked. "It's kinda chilly out here."

James hesitated. "Uh...well, the place is really a mess..."

There was a noise in the trees. They froze, and all four raised their guns. They exchanged a few self-conscious glances.

Out of the trees came a tall white-haired figure, barreling toward the group as if shot out of a cannon. On his heels was a little blond-haired girl.

James hesitated for a moment, and peered at them closely. Then, he dropped his gun, and ran toward the tall man. They embraced, and Eileen saw the resemblance between Frank and his son for the first time in years.

"Dad!" James' voice broke over the word.

"My boy...my boy..." Frank sobbed.

Laura was standing several feet away, glaring at them. Eileen went over to her and bent down to her.

"Something wrong, Laura?"

"He hurt Mary. I hoped that he was dead."

"Were you really hoping that?"

Laura looked sheepish. "No, not really. But I wanted him to hurt like I did."

"Look at him. What do you see?"

Laura put her head on one side, and looked closely for a moment or two. "I think he's been hurting. A lot."

"I think you're right," Eileen said.

At that moment, James pushed his father back. Both men's eyes were red. "Dad..." he said. "I...I can't."

"You can't what, Jim? What is it?" Frank sounded panicked.

James turned away. "Dad...I'm so ashamed."

"Why, my boy? What do you have to be ashamed about? You took such good care of her..."

A look of pain crossed James' face. "Yeah," he said ruefully. "I took really good care of her." He held his father at arm's length.

"Dad, I killed her. I killed my Mary."

Everyone was still. Then Frank spoke gently. He removed James' hands from his shoulders.

"Jim...my boy...you've been under a lot of strain. You've been here for years by yourself..."

James shook his head vigorously. "No, Dad, it's true. That's why I left. I ran away." He lowered his head, took a deep breath, and looked his father straight in the eye.

"You remember, what it took out of her…how long she..."

The pain was still very fresh for him. It was written all over his face.

"It was killing me, too. I couldn't see her in such pain. I didn't know what to do, didn't know how I could let her suffer like that, didn't know what I was going to do. I took her pillow and..."

Frank said nothing, but his eyes were very wide.

"After, I put her in the car and drove here, to Silent Hill. By the time I got here, I'd forgotten everything, everything that I'd done. I thought that she'd been dead for three years, and that she'd called me here. I wandered around for hours through the monsters and everything until I found out what had really happened. The town tormented me, made me pay for what I'd done over and over and over, and it was never enough. I killed her, Dad, and I'll never be done paying for it."

Frank looked stunned. Henry and John glanced at each other, unable to believe what they'd just heard. Eileen was frozen.

"It's true. He killed her. He took her away from me!"

Laura ran over to James and started kicking him in the shins. James made no move to stop her; he stood with his head down, not looking at anyone. Frank bent down to her, but she pushed him away and kept kicking.

"He never loved her! He never came to see her! Then she went away, and he killed her!"

Tears rolled down James' face. He bent down to Laura, and grasped her fists in his hands to stop her flailing.

"Laura...please…"

"You evil man! I hate you! I wish you were dead!"

"Sometimes, I wish that too," James said quietly.

Laura stopped thrashing, confused.

He sighed, and looked her in the eye. "I don't want to do this, but I don't know any other way, Laura." He stood up slowly. "Please, come inside."

He took Laura's hand, and they followed him to the house. Eileen's hand sought Henry's, and he squeezed it reassuringly.

The front of the house was much larger on the inside than it looked from the outside. It was clean and tidy. A set of chairs and a sofa surrounded a fireplace on the right side, in which a small fire crackled. On the left was a spacious kitchen, with an ancient large wooden table in its middle. A hallway led down the center of the house, to additional rooms in the back. Eileen saw a shotgun leaning against the wall inside the door, along with a long piece of steel pipe, a chainsaw, and a few other weaponlike objects.

James put his rifle down on the kitchen table. He turned to the hallway.

"We have company," he called.

Down the hall came a slim woman in a skirt and sweater. Her brown hair was fastened in a bun at the back of her head, and she was drying her hands on a towel.

Frank gave a strangled gasp. Laura streaked forward down the hallway.

"Mary! Mary! You're here! You're here!"

The woman smiled, and embraced the girl wrapped around her knees.

"Laura, I didn't think I'd ever see you again," she said, bending down and kissing the girl on the head. She stood up. "Frank, it's good to see you."

Frank closed his mouth and recovered his voice. "Mary..."

James moved to stand beside his wife. He put his arm around her shoulders. "I guess we have some explaining to do," he said.