I.

The feeling of vulnerability slowly overtook Michael as he treaded softly down the darkened hallway. He had just left his own room, horrified at the prospect that there was something going on that was far beyond him. He was also coming to grips with the fact that his roommate was more than likely dead. But why? What killed his roommate? Furthermore, where the hell was everyone?

After the episode in his own room, he was reluctant to venture into any other room, for fear of witnessing, or at least hearing another gruesome death. The one exception was the room to which he had the key for: 431. He had found it in his closet along with a small note.

It seemed that the power always went out at the most critical time it was needed. This time was no exception. The darkness loomed over Michael creating an air of fear and intensity that he couldn't shake. Michael swore that the shadows themselves were alive, waiting for him to drop his guard once so they could swallow him up in their dark evil. He knew his imagination was soaring, probably making the situation much worse than what it was. Still, with everything that had happened, he couldn't be too careful.

When he finally arrived at the room, he was glad that he hadn't run into any more unexpected trouble, but he figured it was only a matter of time. Glancing to the left and right, Michael then inspected the door.

There were no special markings on it, no cryptic messages engraved mysteriously, no signs of bleeding (Michael figured that in a situation like this, it would be one of the obvious occurrences), no nothing.

Michael pulled the key out of his pocket and looked at it, as if it would give him some glimpse into the room. The numbers 431 were scratched into the key, but there was nothing else the key showed him as he turned it over in his hands.

Everything in his body was screaming at him not to go into the room. Something just felt wrong. However, logically, he knew there was no where else to go, at least not at this point. It seemed as though everything had been turned upside down in a fraction of a second, and now wasn't the time for him to sit and shiver in a corner. But why him? What exactly was he supposed to do?

As Michael ran through the events of the evening in his mind, he saw no previous indication of anything like this happening. He simply woke up, talked to Todd and showered. Brent, his roommate who had probably met some horrible fate, was gone already when Michael got back from the shower. Michael went to the security office, sitting in for stupid Lisa, who had once again, gotten her schedule confused. It was then that strange things began to happen, but what was it that triggered the occurrences?

Maybe the answer to that was in this room, 431. But what made this room so special? Why is it that every other door was locked, but he was left a key to this one? These questions ran through Michael's mind as he turned the key, unlatching the bolt.

He stuck the key back in his pocket, suddenly feeling a crumpled piece of paper in his pocket. The phone number! Michael remembered it as he fished it out of his pocket. Smoothing out the crumpled piece of paper, he read the number again, and pulled out his phone. He typed the number in quickly. 452-555-0931.

He waited before pressing the talk button. It was strange enough that monsters were randomly appearing that seemed to have the worst intentions in mind. But now, messages were being left seemingly for him? It was strange, but he figured the answer to that and all his questions would be found out in due time.

He pressed talk, but nothing happened.

"Of course not. I don't have any service," Michael muttered. What was he thinking? Well, maybe since other weird things were going on, the phone would actually work for this number and call up someone who could help. Yeah, right.

Michael decided to store the number instead, so he wouldn't forget to use it, just in case his service returned. As soon as he saved the number, the phone vibrated as if someone was calling. He studied the screen to see if anything had changed. The words "Looking for Service" still blared out at him, meaning that no one was calling him.

Well, at least it was the strange occurrence he was looking for. He looked at the phone and it stopped vibrating.

"Weird," trying to come up with yet another explanation, he shoved the phone back in his pocket, content to leave it alone for now. It began to vibrate softly in his pocket, then much harder.

Michael was about to pull it out when he saw the monster lumbering toward him. It was the same creature from earlier, or at least one that looked similar. It moved purposefully, shuffling down the hallway, as if directed by some higher power to accomplish some task.

He regarded the creature with an interested disgust this time. Earlier, he was too scared to leave his eyes on the monster for a fraction of a second, but now the monster seemed to be less threatening.

It looked as though a thick skin had somehow grown over its upper body and wrapped it up, with the exception of its mouth. The monster writhed within the biological trap, looking as though it was trying to free itself.

Deciding that he couldn't avoid a confrontation, Michael quickly aimed his gun at it, hoping that it would be smart enough to be scared off by the threat of being shot. Again, logic took over, telling him that if it was a monster, then it would not be coerced by conventional weapons.

It was much easier this time to squeeze the trigger. Michael shot a few rounds into the monster, the bullets sounding like they were sinking into wet meat. After six rounds, the monster fell forward wiggling spastically on the ground until it wallowed in its own pool of blood.

Michael turned his nose up at the sight of the creature finally lying still. He noticed that his phone began to vibrate more softly until it stopped, in time with the creature's death.

"The phone reacts to monsters?" he said pulling out the phone briefly. "Weird."

Putting the phone back in his pocket and gun in hand, Michael turned his attention back to the door, opened it, and stepped into the room.

Michael wasn't surprised at the condition of the normally clean dorm room. The furniture was overturned and the personality of the room was gone, replaced by a chilling evil at sent shivers up Michael's spine. The carpet and walls looked wet with unidentifiable stains, and the curtains were drawn, immersing the room in darkness.

He ventured farther into the room, weary of the common hiding places for monsters, like the closet and under the bed. It seemed almost childish to think that way, but then again, children accept what they see with their eyes, not what society tells them they should and should not see. Obviously, this was a time to take it back and use the raw interpretation of a child to hopefully get through this situation.

The light fell on a book that was lying on an overturned chair, almost as if it had been placed there for Michael to find. He glanced around, unsure if he should even read it or not. He stepped close, but stayed far enough away to move quickly if the book suddenly attacked him. It was a silly idea, but then again, there were monsters running around in the hallway, a book could be just as deadly.

Michael shook his head in spite of himself and leaned over the book, shining the light on the pages.

There was only one page with writing on it.

THE DAY OF RECKONING HAS ARRIVED. YOUR RETURN IS INEVITABLE, AND WE SHALL CELEBRATE THE REBIRTH OF PARADISE.

"What is this?" Michael said. He wondered if this was actually from someone in the dorms, or if it was another strange item placed there for him to find. He glanced around for any thing else that immediately caught his eye. Only spilled white powder on the ground. He followed the trail to a small bag that lay in perfect condition on the ground.

"What in the world?" Michael said as he picked up the small bag. The first thing he thought of was cocaine, or some other narcotic. Then his mind flashed to the other local drug he had heard of, White Claudia. He was sure that some of the students had gotten a hold of it, but for what? When Michael read about it, it was only used in some kind of cult ritual or something.

He couldn't be sure though. Maybe he would be able to get someone to take a look at it, if he ever found anyone else.

He also noticed a strange symbol on the floor, which Michael immediately related to the powder and the strange note.

"There's something going on here," Michael deduced. He studied the symbol for a few moments before hearing the click of the door being bolted. Michael immediately ran to the door turning the knob forcefully but to no avail. He looked for the lock, which was supposed to be on the inside, but there was nothing there. Michael didn't recall seeing any kind of bolt outside the door when he came in either.

"Let me out!" he yelled. Someone had obviously locked him inside of the room, and he was determined to find out who. He banged on the door only a few more times, realizing that he may be attracting more monsters with all of his noise.

He then remembered a trick his friends would do, just to be daring. There were windows on either side of the room, opposite the door. It was the same for every room, so the windows were right next to each other. If the window next door was open, he could easily slip into the next room. Only problem was that Michael was afraid of heights.

He crossed over to the window, which opened with ease. Reaching out, without looking down, he pushed the other window. To his surprise, it slid open.

Sweat began to form on Michael's hands as he realized what he had to do. But he would only be outside of the room for maybe two seconds before he was inside again. Surely, he could do that. He had overcome much larger challenges during his stay here—surely this obstacle wouldn't get the better of him.

Leaning out of the window, he kept his eyes looking toward his goal—the other window. A slight push opened the window fully. Michael was glad that someone had left it open. When he got ready to make the move, his eyes automatically shot downward. Michael was dizzied by the height and had to steady himself.

An immediate fear gripped him, setting his nerves on edge. His knees threatened to stop functioning and sweat threatened to pour down his back.

A small breath was all he needed. Michael swung around the small part of the wall, and grasped into the other room.

A scream suddenly rang out, which scared Michael. He lost his balance slightly, and grasped onto the window ledge. His phone was vibrating hard, further distracting him. Just like he thought, he was probably stepping into some kind of trap. Still, he couldn't bear the thought of turning back...not now.

Reeling from the fact that he was so close to falling, he pulled himself into the room, falling onto the floor.

Michael recovered quickly, remembering that a scream had rang out. He looked up to see Stacy Aspen pinned against the wall, a large figure holding her two feet off the ground by her throat.

Michael scrambled to his feet and pulled out his gun. "Let her go!" He suddenly realized how stupid he sounded. Like this big monster would actually drop her and surrender. He figured it was just one of those automatic lines that people used in situations like these. Well, situations something like this.

The pale skinned figure, turned toward Michael. His eyes looked painfully sewn shut, fresh blood still seeping from the holes. Its nose was cut off, exposing a bloody, dark sinus area. The mouth appeared to have the lips and cheeks cut away by a blunt object. The skin was ragged and loose handing over his exposed, sharp teeth.

Michael's eyes surveyed the thing's exposed arms as his flashlight danced over the scene. The veins on the arms were transparent as he could see dark blood pumping furiously. The veins were raised above the skin though, almost appearing that the creature's skin was inside out.

Michael stepped forward, hoping to not give away his own fear. He immediately took careful aim and fired, hitting the monster in the arm.

Stacy screamed again, clenching her eyes shut. Michael shot off two more rounds, hitting his target in the leg and once in the midsection. It grunted and then hurled Stacy across the room. He was barely able to break her fall as they both tumbled back and hit the floor. Michael and Stacy both scrambled to their feet to catch a glimpse of the creature retreating, closing the door behind it.

Michael and Stacy were breathing hard, then finally looked at each other.

"Are you okay?" Michael asked. He then cursed himself for another one of those unnecessary, automatic lines that people use in critical situations.

Stacy nodded, obviously shaken by her encounter. She looked around the room for some sign of the rest of the people that were previously in the room, but all she could find was splatters of blood and other unidentifiable chunks of what appeared to be human parts.

Her eyes finally returned to Michael, who was still looking at her for some sort of response.

"I—I think so," her voice was light and shaky, betraying her fear and confusion. "What—what was that—that thing?"

Michael stood letting his flashlight dance around the room. "I really don't know. Everything's gone crazy—"

Stacy looked at him as if he had just spoken in another language. "What?" her voice was high pitched and ragged.

Michael sighed and turned to her, making eye contact. "I don't know what any of this is. I was sitting in the security office when this creature appeared. Next thing I knew, I had this gun and other weird stuff started happening."

Stacy seemed to accept his answer, even though she couldn't believe how easily he had drove the monster away with no sort of surprise. She stood, and rubbed her arms.

"Were you here with anyone else?"

Stacy looked at him, her eyes instantly welling up with tears. Her voice came out as a hoarse whisper, "They're all dead."

Michael felt uneasy all of the sudden. It was like those three words carried the weight of the world. Hearing that other people were being victimized by whatever was going on was disturbing, making Michael think that somehow, everyone except the two of them may have been victimized.

"Look, I know you don't know me all that well, but maybe we should stick together. You're the first normal person I've seen since all this started."

"You're Mike, right?"

He nodded. "We're in the same Anthropology class."

Stacy nodded quickly, recognizing him. Never in a million years did she think that the kid who sat two seats down from her in class would now be saving her from a monster. "Is there a way out of here?"

"I don't know. Maybe if we get out of here, we can figure something out," Michael replied. He walked toward the door when Stacy rushed up behind him.

"Are you going to go out there?" the words rushed from her mouth in disbelief. Her hands grasped his arm reflexively in an effort to keep him there.

Michael tried to be reassuring. "There's no where else to go. Plus, that thing may be on its way back soon."

Stacy's mind vividly recalled the rough, pulsating skin of the creature, the cold grip, the hot, rancid breath—it was something that she didn't want to experience again.

Michael nodded to her to make sure she was okay with leaving the room. Stacy nodded back in reply as Michael opened the door slowly.

His eyes scanned the hallway before venturing out with Stacy gripping his shoulder almost too tightly. Michael hoped that they would make it out of the school, which seemed to have turned into a haven for various monstrosities.

Again, his mind wandered to why everything had been turned up-side down. And somehow, he knew that eventually, they would come face-to-face with the cause of all the trouble. A sudden feeling of dread over took Michael as he led Stacy through the dark, foreboding hallway.

Notes:

Silent Hill belongs to Konami. All other characters are fictional.

I want to thank everyone for the awesome reviews for both of the chapters. School has calmed down a bit, getting past mid-terms and all. I hope you enjoyed the third chapter.

Elvenmagyk1978: I hope you like the new chapter!

Quezacotl1: I appreciate the review. Hopefully, this new chapter keeps the scares coming.

Rodarian: The characters will definitely have their individual focus. And eventually they will find each other, for better or worse. Thank you for the review!

Zero: Drunk girls definitely can be scary at times...glad you liked the chapter!

Kaworu85: I appreciate the advertisement for my story and you are right, people usually do base whether a story is good or not based on the number of reviews. I'm glad that the stories are to your liking. Let me know what you think of this chapter

Wrath: Yes, the story does occur during/after Silent Hill 3. Judging from Heather's appearance, you can tell that something went wrong. That will probably be covered in the next chapter though.