I.

Heather stepped into the cool night air. In a way, she was relieved to be alone again, but deep inside, she didn't want to go another step without someone with her. When she thought about going back inside, an overwhelming sense of dread overtook her. Douglas...he was with her and now, he was stranded somewhere in this strange town. Her father, Harry Mason, had also been stuck down, a victim of the town he had escaped before. Every sane person she had come across was now missing or dead.

Tears stung her eyes again, thinking about everything that had happened to this point. She blamed herself, but then turned her anger to the one that caused all of this.

"Claudia," she said aloud. Heather could feel the anger building up inside of her again. On top of everything else, Claudia had somehow involved these other kids in her evil scheme of resurrection.

Heather turned back to the church door. Could she really trust them? After all, everyone she met in Silent Hill wasn't exactly someone that had all of their mental capabilities (i.e. they were crazy). If they weren't then Heather knew that they would need her help and that she would need their help eventually.

Heather took a breath and pushed the door back open stepping into the inviting light of the church.

II.

"What are we supposed to do now?" Trey asked. Michael stood in the isle, watching the fallen body of Father Tom who moments ago attacked Michael. Trey and Christine sat in the pews trying not to look at the horrific scene at the front of the church.

"I don't know," Michael quietly answered. He tried to keep his eyes from wandering to the altar at the front of the church, but his curiosity kept getting the better of him.

The macabre sight was nothing short of disgusting. One of the creatures familiar to Michael had been slain and placed on top of the altar. Black candles were placed around the mass as well a hefty amount of blood that trickled down and made small puddles around the altar.

"What was he doing?" Christine asked, looking at the altar as well.

"I don't know. He was ranting about some coming of a god and that these creatures were children of that god."

The church door opened cause the three of them to turn around, not knowing what to expect. When Heather appeared in the light, they were somewhat relieved, but puzzled.

"You came back?" Trey asked.

Heather ignored the question and closed the heavy wooden door behind her. "This place is dangerous. We should probably get out of here."

Michael paused for a moment. "I don't know...I feel like I was led here for a reason, like there's something that I'm supposed to find."

"Well, maybe you should find it before Tommy boy here wakes up and throws us into a pit of eternal fire and damnation," Trey replied. He stood and stepped into the isle. "It seems like a pretty big church."

"Don't get any crazy ideas about splitting up," Michael quickly said. "I've seen enough horror movies and played enough games to know that splitting up never turns out good. Even if you have to go to the bathroom, stay together."

Heather gave a half-smile. "That's probably the smartest thing I've heard all night."

Christine sighed. "I still don't know what's going on. What is with this place?"

Heather remembered that Christine had asked the same question earlier. As she thought about it, Heather realized that she was as much in the dark as they were. Everything was still so muddled and confusing. Still, they knew even less than she did.

"I don't know how this town got like this," Heather began. She stepped forward and sat down in a pew opposite Christine. "I've found several newspaper articles and journals that point to strange things happening here, but I'm still not sure where it began. The part that I do know is what happened twenty-four years ago."

Michael and Trey both moved to the pews and sat down, wanting to fully comprehend what Heather had to say.

"I was in this town twenty-four years ago...I was fourteen then..."

A sudden chill ran down Michael's back. In any other situation, he would have quickly retaliated with a joke. But he knew that Heather wasn't lying.

"Fourteen?" Christine repeated. "But how old—"

"I'm seventeen now."

The air seemed to get heavy and Michael knew that there was much more to Heather than he realized before. He caught the gaze of Trey and Christine and tried to read them. He wondered if they were going to accept what she was about to tell them. There was no way that her story would make sense with rational thought, but with everything that happened tonight, Heather's story would be the best explanation that they had.

"My mother wanted to resurrect a god here in this town. To do this, they needed a vessel...a virgin that the god could be born through. I was that vessel. Because of this, I had powers...abilities that the other children didn't have. My mother...she wanted to exploit those powers. I was almost killed in a fire when I was seven. I don't know what happened, but I know that it was my mother's doing. Even at that age, I knew that something was wrong. I did the only thing I could do—I divided myself. My father, Harry Mason, found me on the side of the road, as a baby. Because I was now split into two parts, my power couldn't be used by my mother and the town to resurrect their god. For seven years, I stayed in that hospital basement and for those same seven years I grew up with my father. But, I couldn't stay apart forever. I came back to Silent Hill with my father. He was able to confront my mother and stop the god from being born. It was then that I was reborn, given to him as a baby. Now, seventeen years later, the town that I thought I had escaped has called me back."

Heather ended the story. The silence of the church was suddenly more menacing than any monster they had encountered tonight.

"Heather," Michael said placing a hand on her shoulder. She quickly stood and moved into the aisle.

"I don't want you to feel sorry for me," Heather focused her gaze on the three teens.

Michael shied away from her gaze as if she was talking directly to him. He shifted to look at Father Tom, but the spot where he was laying was empty.

Michael quickly stood but only caught a glimpse of the man as the door to the right of the altar closed.

"It's the priest! He's getting away!" Michael exclaimed. He took off after the escaping clergyman, Trey, Christine, and Heather on his heels.

Michael dashed through the door and stopped. Trey, Christine, and Heather followed suit. They found themselves in a short hallway with three doors, two on the right and one on the left. At the end of the hallway, a set of stairs led to an even darker hallway.

"Did you see where he went?" Trey whispered.

Michael shook his head. He suddenly felt as though they were being led into a dangerous situation. He held his breath for a moment, listening for any type of sound that would let them know where the priest had gone. He heard nothing.

"Let's check this first door," Michael suggested. He put his hand on the knob and looked back at the other three. Trey had his wooden plank ready to swing on anything that might appear. Christine lingered in the back, without any sort of weapon. Heather was right next to Michael with her gun pointed at the door.

Michael exhaled wondering what he was going to find behind this door. Was it going to be a dead body? Maybe another creature? Or maybe some kind of dangerous trap?

He turned the knob slowly, the gun in his right hand pointed into the darkness.

III.

"Those meddling heathens!" Tom cursed aloud as he dashed through the dark hallway. Not only did they disrupt his offering to his god, but they had turned the mother of god against him.

His footsteps were quick and light, uncharacteristic for a man of his statue. He was stocky and had a slight limp, only noticeable when he moved too fast. Still he had outrun his younger pursuers and for this, he was thankful.

He turned right down a short hallway and pulled out his set of keys. Fumbling with them, he finally opened the door. He didn't notice a key fall off the key chain, nor did he hear it clatter to the floor.

The darkness of the room swallowed him as the door closed behind him.

IV.

Much to everyone's relief, they found themselves in what looked like the bedroom of the priest. It was a plain room with bare walls and a bare wood floor. A single bed was against the wall opposite the door, neatly made with crisp white sheets and a white pillow.

To their immediate left was a large bookcase that took up a majority of the wall. All kinds of books lined the shelves in no particular order. Most of the books looked like old texts with tattered spines and yellow pages.

A desk was next to the closet. The desk was also bare. A notepad was placed neatly on the left side of the desktop with a pencil next to it. Two books were stacked on top of one another in the middle and a strange coin the size of a quarter sat on the right side.

"Is this the priest's room?" Christine asked. She was the last one to enter, closing the door behind her.

Michael looked through the books on the bookshelf. Books on religion, as well as several local texts were on the shelf. As Michael skimmed, he began to notice books on witchcraft and other types of worship.

"What a strange book collection. Especially in a church," Michael commented. He took a look and noticed a sheet of paper sticking out of a book. Carefully taking it out, he unfolded the piece of paper.

"Find something?" Trey asked as he peered over Michael's shoulder.

"I don't know," Michael slowly said. "The first part is all smudged, but the rest says, '...ring the silent bell in the darkness...the light shall reveal the passage to...'"

"That's it?" Trey asked.

"That's all it says," Michael replied.

"Something about it sounds creepy," Christine added as she tried to look out the window. "This fog isn't helping either." She turned away from the window, missing the fleeting shadow that dashed by. She took a seat at the desk, trying to find something that would be of help.

"Ring the silent bell?" Heather quietly repeated.

"Hey, I was looking through this notebook and found a sketch of the church!" Christine excitedly said. Michael, Heather, and Trey crossed the room and surrounded the desk. It looks like there are three rooms on the second floor and a bell tower. There's also another door off of the main part of the church. It should be opposite of the door we came in. It's a single room, but it looks kind of big."

Michael grabbed the notebook and pencil and put them both in his backpack. "Is there anything else?" Michael asked.

"Well, this weird coin," Christine pointed out.

"I've never seen a coin like that," Trey mentioned as he picked it up. He turned it over in his hands, analyzing the stars scattered in the center and the strange language encircling them.

"Bring it," Heather quickly said.

"You think we should? I mean, what if it has a curse on it or something?" Trey raised his eyebrows, giving Heather a genuine expression of concern.

"A curse should be the last thing you're worried about at this point."

Michael grabbed the coin and put it in his pocket.

Christine struggled with the drawers of the desk, but then she saw that there was a keyhole in the desk. "These drawers are locked," she mentioned. She searched for a key on the desktop but didn't find one.

"Here, pry them open with this," Michael handed her the screwdriver he had picked up from the security office earlier in the evening.

In almost no time, Christine had the drawers open. "Bullets?" she asked.

"Glad I grabbed that screwdriver," Michael said as he took the bullets and passed them to Heather.

"Thanks," she said, putting them in her pocket.

They also found a piece of wire that Heather again advised them to take with them.

"You're quite the packrat," Trey said to Heather.

Heather ignored the comment. "We should probably check that other door."

Everyone agreed, almost reluctant to leave the safety of the bedroom. They searched for a little more and found nothing but a journal from the priest. They elected to read it later and quickly left the room.

They got to the door and tried to turn the knob, but the door was locked.

"This sucks," Trey said.

"The priest probably has a set of keys. If we find him, then we'll be able to unlock this door," Heather said.

"Well, there were two more rooms on this floor, then three more on the second floor," Michael said as he looked at the map. "He couldn't have gotten too far...there's only one entrance."

Michael folded the map and moved back into the other hallway followed by his companions. They checked the other two rooms on the first floor. One was a janitor's closet full of brooms and mops but nothing useful. The other room was the bathroom, which Michael did not go into.

On the second floor, two of the doors seemed to have broken knobs. "That's really weird," Michael mentioned. "At the school, there were a lot of door knobs that were suddenly broken as well."

Before they got to the last door, Heather spotted the key on the floor. "This might open that door downstairs."

They began to head toward the stairs when Michael stopped. "We didn't check that last room."

"Do you think it's safe?" Trey asked, the fear in his voice more evident than before.

"We don't know what's in there. We might as well," Michael said.

"Look, let's just not waste time," Heather stated. She wanted to get out of the church as soon as possible to find Doug, but she thought that she would be able to find something else to help her before that.

Michael went to the door, suddenly feeling like something was going to happen. He could feel something in the air. Something heavy. Something stifling. Something evil. He shook off the feeling and opened the door.

The room was dark, too dark. Michael took his flashlight out and shined it into the room. The soft white light fell on the same wood floor that the rest of the church had, but the light glanced off a table leg. Michael stepped farther in the room, followed by the rest.

"This room is too dark," Christine mentioned. Trey could feel her edging closer and closer to him.

Michael walked over to the table, his steps slowing down as the contents of the table came into focus.

"Oh my," Christine said.

On the table sat two eyes that looked as though they had been freshly pulled from a living creature.

The eyes stared at the teens as they moved toward the table.

Michael shined the light on the wall behind the table.

THE PRIEST IS WATCHING YOU.

Notes:

Rodarian: Yes, they definitely will be taking a wonderful tour of the scenic and ever-so-menacing town of Silent Hill. I hope to include some familiar hot spots as well.

Crimson Alessa: Thank you for the compliments. Hopefully, Christine is a little more likeable in this chapter.

Cat: When I post, it won't let me make the cute cat face you have 

Anyways, I'm glad that you like the story. I hope that the amusement park will be just as scary as what we've seen in SH3.

Kronos106: I appreciate the review. The monster that Michael fought against wasn't Pyramid Head, but I have a feeling that he may be showing up soon...