Okay! This chapter may have taken a while, and if it did, then sorry I made you wait. Over the past few days I was playing the first Silent Hill. I ended up beating 2-4 before I even got past the elementary school in the first. I know, I should be ashamed. But at least I finally beat it! Silent Hill one is now my favorite, and Lisa's now my favorite character.

Enough about pointless things. Thanks to everyone who reviewed and is reading this story. Hope you like the chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Silent Hill.

Chapter Four: Conceded Delusions for a Broken Mind

A young woman sat in a wooden chair. Her hands were folded on her lap. Her white long sleeve shirt was buttoned and looked like it had been ironed. She had a skirt that stopped just above the ankles with white tights covering what would be exposed. Her long brown hair flowed down around her shoulders and her lips parted in a flashy smile.

Then a man was standing in an entirely different environment. It was a dark hallway. One could make out one or two doors before darkness covered everything. The man had short black hair and was wearing what a hospital would issue its patients. Only his mouth was visible and parts of the hair. The rest of the face couldn't be seen He was standing close to the light, and then was suddenly far away. He appeared in different places in that hallway without moving.

The image was gone and replaced with blackness. One blue word that had the picture quality of a classic soundless black and white movie appeared. It skipped and parts disappeared every now and then. It was like watching a movie with only one word. The word was "Brook".

That scenario was replaced with the woman from earlier still sitting in the chair, but she was shaking her head violently in every direction it could bend. Low growling sounds erupted from her voice every now and then. The image skipped and suddenly the woman was standing next to one of the four cement walls with green mold and slime that was her room. She was now moving her head back and forward to bang it on the cement.

The picture with the word "Brook" appeared again, but only for a few seconds.

The man from the hallway was now on a steel table. Only his mouth could be seen once again. Only this time the line of vision stopped just below the nose instead of the face being covered by shadows. He was shaking violently. A nurse whose eyes were cast in shadow moved a switch upward. The man stopped shaking. He suddenly smiled. The switch was thrown down again, and he started to shake.

The word "Brook" appeared again for a second before being replaced with the man shaking again. The word "Brook" appeared again. These two images alternated continually. They got faster and faster. Eventually, they settled on the word and white noise slowly grew louder. The noise was almost unbearable, and then-

Ericka opened her eyes halfway. A sudden pain coursing through her head made her shut them again. She managed to work them open again and saw a figure standing in front of her. As her spinning vision stopped and the world came back into focus, Ericka saw who was standing there.

"Are you okay?" asked Stacy. She actually looked concerned. "I came in this restaurant looking for food. Who would've guessed I'd find you in the freezer? What were you doing in here anyway?"

The girl was rambling again. This was something Ericka did not want to deal with while she had a headache as bad as this one. She shielded her eyes with one hand while she fixed her hair behind her ear with the other. Stacy stared at her with disgust.

"Are you trying to say that your hair is prettier?" scoffed Stacy. Ericka moved her hand away from her eyes to stare in confusion.

"What?" she asked.

"You heard me," snarled Stacy. "I get it know," she folded her arms across her stomach. "You're another of the stuck up type. You think that you are so…great. Well guess what? Your not! Your hair may be smoother but I have the looks! Guys aren't gonna go for a girl who's as ugly as you, no matter how fine her hair is,"

"What are you talking about?" Ericka just woke up from whatever happened to her, which she would love to spend a little time to think about, when this girl had to start something like this?

"Shut up!" yelled Stacy. She stomped her foot on the ground like a three year old whose mother refused him candy. "I don't care what everyone else says! I'm not as bad looking as you!" Stacy turned on her heel and stormed out of the room. There was the sound of a door slamming, and then Ericka realized she was alone.

It took her a while to remember everything that had happened before she woke up. She was locked in a room filled with pouring blood and bodies that didn't know what being dead meant. How the hell did everything empty out of the freezer? There weren't even traces of blood on her cloths. And what was up with what she saw when she was passed out?

Ericka shook her head. She had to concentrate on why she was in this godforsaken town. She had to find her parents. Ericka sighed and picked up the pipe next to her on the ground. It was when she stood up that a small frightened gasp escaped her throat.

Hanging on the wall opposite the door to the freezer was what looked like a body bag. The zipper was as high up on the black bag as possible. Blood stains speckled the silver. Next to the bag was more writing in that black spray paint. Did that guy predict she would end up here? The writing was simple and to the point.

You've earned your prize.

And after the words was a small arrow pointing to the bag. It'll be a cold day in hell…thought Ericka at the idea of opening the bag. The bodies that had occupied the freezer were gone now. Ericka turned to leave.

Her first reaction was to head towards the door that lead to the ally. The lock was still broken. Guess everything wasn't the same as before. Ericka checked her belongings to make sure she had everything before reluctantly heading towards the main dining area. Considering the events of her last two trips to that place she wasn't exactly enthusiastic about this trip.

She carefully pushed open the door to the dining room. Ericka heaved a sigh of relief when she saw it was empty. The brunette walked towards the main entrance of the restaurant. The glass was still broken from when she'd shattered it. The brick wall that was there before had been replaced with a steel grate of types that would normally tell someone the place was closed.

Ericka tried lifting the grate, but nothing happened. It was locked in position. After a few seconds of searching, she found the padlock that held the grate to a stationary metal bar. Unless she had a key, there was no way she was getting out of this place. Ericka felt her stomach churn as she remembered the body bag. Maybe the key was inside and that was what the message had meant?

Ericka shook a little as she returned to the freezer. She quickly inspected it to be sure there was nothing inside except the bag. Ericka walked until she was directly in front of the bag. She reached a hand out to the zipper. Her stomach knotted as the zipper reluctantly moved downward. It became stuck on something about two inches away from where it had started.

The fear rising in her body made it increasingly difficult to pull the zipper down the rest of the ways. She inhaled deeply before slamming her eyes shut and forcing the bag open. Ericka gradually opened her eyes.

The only thing in the bag was a small silver key taped to the back. The college student laughed at herself a little. She'd been scared of a key? Shaking the embarrassment she felt for herself away, she grabbed the key and turned around.

The man from earlier was literally inches away from her face. After a smile and in breath that smelt horrible, he spoke. "Hello again Ericka," Ericka ran around him towards the dining room. She heard footsteps behind her, and that fueled her speed.

She stopped in front of the broken door and reached for the padlock. The key slid in easily, but wouldn't turn. "No," she whispered. "No!" she said again, this time in a yell. "Turn, damn it!" Ericka knew yelling at the lock wouldn't help things, but she wanted desperately to escape. She lost hope when she felt the hand clasp her arm.

"Come on, can't we talk?" asked the man. Ericka tried to position herself so she could hit him with the pipe. He raised a hand and caught the steel object just before it struck him. "Now that wouldn't have been nice, would it?" he said this as a question, but clearly didn't expect a response.

"Now then," said the man. "Let's talk a little. First off, my name is Jack. Your father and I are actually quite good friends," Ericka's eyes widened. She didn't want to believe him, but at this point any information on her parents would be great.

"You know my dad?" asked Ericka. Jack nodded.

"In fact, I was sent here to bring you to him. His request," Jack smiled again. Ericka's eyes narrowed.

"You're lying," she spat. Jack suddenly looked angry. He grabbed both of her arms and threw her to the floor. It didn't hurt much, but the pure shock of what he did allowed Ericka nothing more then the ability to stare at him. He sighed.

"I don't like having to do that," he said. He actually sounded like he regretted his actions. "The doctors always said it was that temper that kept me in there," suddenly Jack smiled and his eyes narrowed, giving him a menacing look. "That and they said I never cared after what I did…"

Ericka backed away on the carpeted floor. This was spiraling down in a negative direction fast. Ericka couldn't do much more than bark out the only thing in her head at the moment. "What did you do to my parents?"

"What?" Jack looked confused. "Oh! The Haldin's!" Why did he call them by there last name? "Who knows? Maybe I did something, maybe I didn't," Jack walked over to the padlock on the door. He turned the key that was still hanging in the lock with ease. The man lifted the grate blocking the exit and walked out. "I'll see you later, Ericka,"

Ericka sat on the floor for a few more seconds. When she was satisfied that he wasn't coming back, she pushed herself up. She stared at her arms where he had grabbed her. She rubbed them a little. His grip was cold. It felt like ice.

Ericka walked out of the restaurant and had only gone a couple of feet when she saw the blood trail continue again. She smiled faintly at the first stroke of good luck she'd had in a while. Ericka ran down the street, following the blood. The odds of this being the same trail were slim, but she couldn't chance not following it.

It was a few minutes later when she came up on a large one floored building. The trail led in, so Ericka opened the front door. It was a dusty arcade crowded with old game machines. She had only walked in a few feet when she heard a voice.

"What the hell are you doing here?" the voice was cold. The old woman from the ally way outside of the boutique was walking towards her. When Ericka thought about it, she looked a lot like the woman from that weird dream she'd had. The main difference was that her hair was done up. "Veronica, you are pathetic,"

"My name is Ericka," she said. This woman had issues. How did she go from the caring woman in the ally to this just after being pushed?

"Shut the fu…" The woman stopped and her head dropped down. After a few seconds, she lifted it again. She was crying. "Emily, I'm so sorry!" cried the woman. She ran up and hugged her. "I know I was a bad mother! I didn't want to! They made me do it! They said I was unfit to be…Please forgive me!"

Ericka pried her off and stepped back. "What are you talking about?" Ericka asked. This really made know sense. "I don't know what…" Ericka stopped. Her head was hurting. It was almost impossible to concentrate. The splitting pain made her drop to her knees.

Everything was spinning. Ericka started to feel really sick. Her vision blurred, and she fell onto her back. She saw the woman standing above her. Ericka thought she saw three of the woman and could've sworn she'd heard the name "Ericka" call out to her, and then she blacked out.

Ericka woke up in the nightmare world again. She pried herself off of the sticky red floor and stood up to look at her surroundings. Every game had suddenly turned itself on. Not a single one had an image that it should've though. Everything depicted a morbid image as bad as the one before it. Some had children being literally ripped apart while others had a man who continually stabbed a woman who appeared to have died quite a while ago.

That wasn't even half of the things that made this place hell. Large spikes on one wall had large chunks of human flesh and muscle tissue torn up in them. The crane machine held bones with chunks of greenish rotting meat on them. In the center of the entire place was a black wheelchair with leather restraints. There was a box in the middle of the chair with a lock on it.

Ericka immediately ran towards the emergency exit. This place scared the hell out of her. Ericka felt any hope of getting out of this arcade slip away when she got closer to the door. It had a chain running through its handle that stopped it from opening. Another lock held the chain tightly in its position. A small tag was positioned under it.

Shoot out for the Key!

Ericka stared at the sign for a couple of seconds before looking for some kind of game involving guns. In the farthest corner possible from the door, Ericka found a small indoor shooting game. It was designed like a gallery and probably worked off of lasers or something.

Ericka saw one of the red start buttons flashing, and pushed it. She grabbed the shotgun-shaped weapon and aimed down the gallery. She felt herself shake when she saw what she was to be aiming at. Six dismembered human heads impaled on short metal rods appeared in front of her.

Why not? She thought to herself. Because this town isn't screwed up enough as it is, I have to shoot at human heads…

Ericka saw a glint of gold in the mouth of one of the things. She aimed at the head, and pulled the trigger. Ericka toppled backwards from the recoil. This was an actual shotgun. Because she hadn't expected that, she only hit the left ear of her target. A loud high pitched scream erupted from the head.

Ericka stared in shock as the severed head screamed in pain. Panic struck Ericka. She didn't know what to do. Confused, she aimed the shotgun at the screaming head for the second time. This time her shot was dead on. The head erupted in a mass of blood and internal organs.

She slammed her eyes shut as a part of it splattered across her shirt. Slowly she opened them and looked at the mess in front of her. The blood covered the shooting range and a small key was now shining on the ground. Ericka went to grab it when a small screen lowered itself in front of the remaining heads. There was a small countdown, and then whatever was to be displayed on the screen began.

For the first few seconds, only the word 'Brook' appeared. Then it faded away and the woman from her dream and from earlier was sitting in the wooden chair again. The image flickered and she was suddenly hitting her head repeatedly on the cement wall over and over.

The word 'Brook' appeared again. It faded back to the woman who was in the chair again. The screen skipped again and she was suddenly holding her bangs up. It was as if the screen was a mirror and she was staring intently into it. A large red gash where she had been banging her head was bleeding. On her wrist was a hospital band. All Ericka could make out was what she assumed to be half of a hospital name and then half of an actual name.

Alchemil-

Stephani-

Suddenly the woman was back in the chair in a hospital gown. Her head started to shake violently in multiple directions. Suddenly the word 'Brook' flashed again, and then the screen was covered with static and white noise filled the room.

Ericka jumped over the barrier that would normally prevent people from walking right up to the targets. She grabbed the key out of the pool of blood and other unpleasant things. When she stood up, she couldn't help but look behind the screen.

All of the heads were gone. Only trails of blood and slime were left on the sharp spikes. Ericka backed away quickly from the scene. She jumped over the barrier again and then remembered the shotgun. The chain that was holding it had long ago broken, so this gun was hers for the taking. Ericka slid the pipe next to the gun and picked up the shotgun.

Ericka went towards the emergency exit door with the key in hand. It didn't fit in the padlock. Ericka gave the door a kick out of aggravation. There was a loud bang as if someone hit the door back. Ericka jumped backwards. She hadn't expected that. But maybe there was someone trapped on the other side? Whether there was or wasn't, that was her only means of getting out of this bizarre arcade.

She turned towards the wheelchair positioned in the middle of the room. The key fit in the box easily. In a few seconds, she'd opened it. Inside were two sheets of paper that looked like maps and another key. There was also a box of ammo for both the shotgun and handgun. Ericka reached for them, then remembered the limited amount of space her jeans had.

Cursing, she turned to look for something to hold things in as she walked. There was a counter were kids might have exchanged tickets for prizes. Now the counter was empty save for the blood spatters. Ericka looked behind the counter.

"Yes," she whispered to herself with enthusiasm when she found something. A black bag that looked almost like a fanny pack was tossed next to some hats displaying the name of the arcade. From the handful of quarters she pulled out of it, Ericka assumed employees had used it to give change. That didn't matter. This was perfect for holding ammo and the maps.

Ericka picked both boxes up and placed them in the bag that was now attached firmly to her hip. So what if it was ugly as sin with a burn mark? How she looked wasn't on the top of her list. Ericka unfolded the maps. One showed her position, the arcade, and connected to the other map nicely to tell her how to find that hospital.

Her finger traced the street names searching for a building with 'alchemil-' in it. She found it on the bottom of the page. Alchemilla Hospital. Looked like that was were she could go next. She didn't know why, but it just felt like the right thing to do. Ericka stuffed the maps into the pack and pocketed the key. She walked over to the exit door. Relief swept over her when the padlock and chains fell off. She pushed the door open, and it slammed shut behind her.

The hallway she was in seemed…well…alive. There was a faint orange glow over the usual wallpaper of this hell, and everything seemed to have a pulse. Her vision even shook a little on every, without any other way to say it, heartbeat. She hadn't gone far when she saw six bodies standing in contorted positions.

The heads on five of them were hanging loosely and covered with blood. The sixth didn't have a head. Part of its spinal column stuck out of the rotting flesh. They all had shirts that advertised the name of the arcade. Chunks of rotted skin dripped off the bodies and an overpowering odor wafted over her. It looked like Ericka just found the arcade staff.

Each held up its own weapon. Some made Ericka more scared then others. There was no way she could fight them. There was too little a gap between them and the door, shotgun or not. Ericka turned to run back through the door when she saw that it was gone. Ericka was trapped.

Finally! That is the longest time I've taken to update this. Sorry it took this long. If you stuck by and waited, I thank you. Not many people seem to be reading this…maybe it's my summary? Doesn't matter. As long as people like it, I'll keep it up. Please review! Please?