I.
When the holy man gazes upon the wicked, the path to darkness will open.
The words of the riddle came back to Michael immediately. He followed the gaze of the empty sockets to a picture on the wall. However, the picture was simply of a hotel by a large lake. Michael couldn't discern anything wicked from the painting.
He looked around for another picture that could possibly depict something wicked going on. As he looked at the paintings, he realized he had to alter his thinking just a bit. The things they considered wicked, like worshipping a demon eye that floated in the sky, may not be exactly wicked in terms of the riddle.
"Do you guys see any painting or anything that could be considered wicked?" Michael asked still gazing around the room.
"I see someone that could be considered mean," Trey said, looking right at Heather.
Heather sighed. "Don't talk to me."
"In this warped place, there's no telling what is actually wicked," Christine mentioned.
Trey shrugged. "Well, let's just look for some crosses or pictures of angels or something good. That's probably what they're talking about."
"What about that large picture over there?" Christine pointed to an overly large painting depicting an audience around a poor, charred soul tied to a stake.
Trey rolled his eyes. "A picture of sadistic, ignorant settlers burning people at the stake was no where in the riddle."
Christine blew off Trey's sarcastic comment. "It's not just the picture, Trey," Christine walked over to the picture and kneeled, examining the area below it. "Right here, it looks like something was dragged behind this picture."
Heather was impressed, but suddenly suspicious. Christine had never shown herself to be quick on her feet thus far, and yet, she seemed to be quite clever and pretty stable considering the circumstances. Heather shook her head, accusing herself of being too suspicious, but in a place like this, was there really someone she could trust?
"Well, we still have the problem of the priest. He doesn't exactly have eyes to gaze upon the wicked," Trey said, then stopped. "The eyes, the eyes that we found earlier...Mike, give them to me."
"I'm glad you're volunteering to put those things in, because I wasn't even going to touch them," Michael reached in his bag and pulled out the cold, hard eyes and handed them to Trey.
He walked over and stepped up on the platform, took one eye, and carefully pushed it into the empty socket. Trey was immediately put off by the way they pushed in. Even though it was a statue, the unmistakable resistance felt like muscle and flesh resisting the replacement of the eyes.
His stomach turned, but he didn't let his expression betray how he felt. If Trey didn't do this, then he knew that they might be stuck in this horrific nightmare.
"Did it fit?" Michael asked, unable to see past Trey's head.
"Yeah," he replied, pushing the other one in, his stomach turning once again. "Okay, now we need to rotate him so he faces the painting. Mike, can you help me?"
Michael moved next to Trey and grabbed a hold of the immobile priest's lags. He and Trey grunted as the rotated the statue to the right.
The statue seemed immobile at first, but then it responded to Michael and Trey's grunts and pushing.
"I think you're good right there," Christine said.
Trey and Michael exhaled loudly.
"Whew. This thing is heavy," Trey wiped away the small beads of sweat that had formed on his forehead. He was relieved though, because it meant that it really was a statue, despite the fleshy eyes now settled in its head.
"Dead weight," Michael said, suddenly aware of the double meaning of his words. They quickly stood, hoping for some effect to occur.
Christine gasped and the others turned toward her.
"What's wrong?" Michael asked.
Christine's face had paled as her eyes were transfixed on the statue priest's face. Heather, Trey, and Michael turned to see what had taken the blood from Christine's face.
Even though it was a statue, streams of crimson tears poured down his face and began to pool on the floor. The mouth opened and a horrendous scream sounded, the sound reverberated through the gallery.
The sound escalated causing the four bewildered teens to cover their ears and close their eyes, hoping that somehow the screaming would stop.
"Shut up!" Heather screamed.
As suddenly as the screaming began, it ended, leaving behind a pounding silence. The teens looked at each other, trying to find answers in each other, but knowing that none of them could answer for the strange occurrence.
Another loud noise snapped their heads in the direction of the large painting. It scrolled into the ceiling, leaving behind a dark doorway.
"A secret door?" Trey quietly said, more for his own confirmation than anything else.
"I don't know about this," Christine hesitantly said. She still regarded the unmoving statue of the priest with trepidation. There was no way that he was still alive, but the scream was so real.
"We have to find the silent bell," Michael said looking at the map, making a red annotation of the secret door and the mysterious statue. "This is the only way it could be."
Michael tried to take his focus off the priest...especially since the priest had attacked Michael, probably with the intent of killing him. Whatever entity he was loyal to had obviously betrayed him. Served him right.
"Still," Christine continued to argue.
"Standing here is getting us nowhere," Heather said. She began to walk toward the door. Trey reached and softly touched her arm. Heather was surprised but then angered. She snatched her arm away, trying to hide the hint of gratitude for the innocent gesture.
"Sorry. Just, if we're going to go, then we should go together," he said.
Heather suddenly realized how they were relying on her. She was the most experienced of the group in terms of the circumstances going on, and her rough demeanor was probably interpreted as confidence in the face of adversity. Even though the three teens she had joined up with seemed just as determined as her, she realized that they were probably just as disoriented and anxious as she first was.
Michael nodded as he took the lead with Heather, letting the beam from his flashlight pierce the darkness. Trey and Christine followed closely behind almost too closely. However, Michael didn't mind the extra sense of security.
II.
The narrow beam of light revealed a short hallway then a narrow spiral staircase, which ascended into more darkness. Their footsteps were the only sound as they carefully climbed the stairs. The silence was appreciated, but at the same time, it gave a feeling of something waiting to surprise them.
Reaching the top, Michael shined his flashlight around the room. A large, tarnished gold bell sat in the middle of the room, a rope snaking around it. Other than that, the room with sloping walls and a high ceiling was empty.
"Is this the bell?" Christine asked.
Michael walked over to it, the beam of light narrowing to fully illuminate the bell, leaving the rest of the room in an ominous darkness. He turned to the others then turned back to the bell and picked up the rope.
Ring the silent bell in the darkness...the light shall reveal the passage to...
The piece of a riddle they had found earlier again came back to Michael's mind. Could this really be the silent bell? It didn't make sense, since bells weren't exactly silent. A large bell like this would surely make a lot of noise, possibly attracting unwanted attention.
He hesitated for a moment, not sure if he really wanted to ring the bell.
"What's wrong?" Heather asked.
Michael shook his head. "Nothing," he quickly pulled the rope taut and felt something hit the inside of the bell. What scared him most was the resulting flash of light that illuminated the room and the lack of sound that he expected.
Blinking a few times, his eyes adjusted to the darkness broken only by the flashlight, which seemed inadequate compared to the bright flash.
"What was that?" Christine asked.
Michael looked at the others, then let his eyes fall on the back wall. "Look," was all he could say.
The others turned to the wall and saw what Michael saw.
An indescribable picture formed in front of them, somehow alive with its glowing green outlines. It writhed and moved sinfully along the wall, reminding Michael of a pit of snakes, searching for a way out of a deep pit, each one on its own mission.
For a moment, Michael couldn't focus. The idea of the moving image still stood out, but as he looked at it longer, the image finally stated to make sense.
It was a group of naked people, dancing with their hands extended into the air. However, the moving people didn't exactly look right. They were morphing back and forth into indescribable creatures, one of which Michael was the first creature that Michael saw. The dancing townspeople weren't what bothered him though. It was the large eye that seemed to peer right through them.
"Heather," the gravelly whisper was closer than any of them expected.
Trey reached toward the wall and hit a switch, which illuminated the room. The strange depiction disappeared, but the disturbing image stayed in Michael's mid until he saw Heather grasping her head. She fell to one knee.
"Heather?" Michael rushed to her side.
"Get—out—of—my—head!" she shouted through gritted teeth.
"What's wrong, Heather?" Christine stood behind Trey as he kneeled next to Michael.
Suddenly, he room began to wave as if it was simply an illusion that was slowly vanishing. From them, a layer of corrosion, blood, and rush spread out, enveloping the room like a quick spreading cancer.
The floor turned from wood rusted metal grates; the walls into what resembled rotting flesh; the bell into a pulsating, unknown shape. Heather continued to clench her head as the horror finished its spread.
The pounding in her head slowly subsided and she looked around, seeing the frightening, yet familiar degradation of the environment.
Michael and the others looked around at the now permanent condition of the room.
"What in the hell happened?" Trey whispered.
Heather groggily stood, holding her head. "No," she moaned. She knew that somehow, she was still connected to Claudia and the demon Samael. If she hoped to save Douglas, Michael, Christine, and Trey, then they would have to hunt down Claudia, whatever she might be now.
Notes:
Skittlefratz: Thanks for the compliments. Hopefully, Heather's presence in the story will be less annoying and make more sense. I wanted to try to make that solid connection with everything that was going on in Silent Hill and draw Heather's character out a bit more. Hopefully, this chapter shows some of her importance in the story.
Shortey: It's been updated! Hope you like this chapter as well.
Cat: My ever-faithful reader...hope this answers the question of Father Tom...
SlapDash: Well, it seems that Trey's analysis of the eyes wasn't exactly correct...
Fallen Angel-2099: Let me know how you like this chapter!
Kawaru85: I'll make sure to throw some more suspense scenes in there as well as the action. The monster that attacked them was a new, unique monster. Most of the creatures that show up will be unique to the story. They may also be a variation of some older monsters from the series. Let me know if the description of them is not clear or something.
Rodarian: This should clear up what Father Tom sees...now we have to worry about what the foursome sees...