Chapter 13: Nightmare World

"Whoa, this place is terrifying!" Eddie murmured, hiding behind his brother and shaking fearfully.

The lobby of Brookhaven Hospital was dark, and believe me when I say, it was really dark. It was like you couldn't see a thing. But it was just like any other hospital. Beds and gurneys sitting in the hallways, multiple doors leading here and there. The only differences were that some of them were locked and others were shut so tight that no one could open them at all.

I need a flashlight...

"This is a bad idea." I groaned. "Hospitals are never a good thing."

Manny turned to give me a strange look. "Then why did you come up with it then?"

"Because I thought this was a different building," I answered truthfully.

Just as Manny was about to reply, Buck spoke up, interrupting our conversation. "Well since we're new here, we might as well check out reception."

Thanks a lot, Buck.

Despite our growing suspicions, we all agreed and only a small group of us went in; Me, Sid, Granny, the possums and Buck himself. The reception did not have a big space, the walls were a greyish-white and to our right, was a green shelf with tons of books placed neatly upon it. However to the left, a small brownish desk stood waiting for us, crowded with a series of hospital notes and procedures, one of the former appearing in a glossy red with a strange black symbol on it. The only thing that caught my eye though, was a flashlight. Finally!

"Yes!" I grinned as I picked it up and tied it around my backpack strap, switching it on as I did so. "Now things should be a lot better."

Sid was scanning through a doctors' journal with confusion and interest, staring at the writing. "Hey, I think you should take a look at this."

He handed me the journal and I quickly flicked through the pages, stopping as soon as I reached the tenth page. "What the hell is this?"

"The potential for this illness exists in all people and, under the right circumstances, any man or woman would be driven, like him, to the 'other side'.

The 'other side' perhaps may not be the best way to phrase it. After all, there is no wall between here and there. It lies on the borders where reality and unreality intersect. It is a place both close and distant.

Some say it isn't even an illness. I cannot agree with them. I'm a doctor, not a philosopher or even a psychiatrist.

But sometimes I have to ask myself this question. It's true that to us, his imaginings are nothing but the inventions of a busy mind. But to him, there simply is no other reality.

Furthermore, he is happy there.

So why, I ask myself, why in the name of healing him must we drag him painfully into the world of our own reality?

I got the key from Joseph. It's probably the key to that box."

After reading that passage, I slammed the book shut and handed it back to Sid. "A key to that box? I wonder what he meant by that?"

"I'm wondering the same thing..." Sid replied, nodding as if he understood.

Hearing this, Buck and Granny came over to see what was going on. They too seemed creeped out by the journals and procedures they read. Like I said before, this was a creepy hospital.

"I don't know why we came into a horrible place like this, I'm outta here!" Granny declared, pointing her walking stick at the rest of us to show that she meant business.

We all agreed and one by one, we exited the reception. For some reason I couldn't help but feel that something was behind that piece of paper with the symbol, almost like it had a meaning to something. The rumours of Silent Hill being something different than a peaceful resort town suddenly came into my head, which prompted a horrible realisation to hit me.

What if...those rumours are true? Are we...in Silent Hill...?

"Hey Megan, you coming?" Louis asked, snapping me back to reality. "We're gonna head up to the second floor."

I quickly shook my head, blinking a couple of times and nodded. "Yeah, I'm coming."

Please don't let anything disturbing occur...

After that, we began the journey up to the second floor of Brookhaven Hospital. The plan was to head into any rooms that we could find, see if there was anything useful and fight any of those monsters from before if they decided to show up. Once we managed to get in, the radio immediately blurred to life with static, giving us the impression that we weren't alone.

"Okay guys, I'll try and deal with this. If I get into trouble, do what you can to help, alright?" I said, with concern lacing my tone. They nodded to say that they understood and I clutched my pistol tightly.

Two sets of footsteps increased in volume as I cautiously walked down the hallway, aiming my pistol into the darkness, bracing myself for what was about to come. A distorted feminine cry echoed, indicating that it's owner wanted only thing; to murder everything and everyone that it could see. Keeping my finger carefully placed on the trigger, I took a deep breath and quickly looked back at the Herd. To make things worse, they were absolutely terrified.

"Megan, look out!" Peaches screamed.

Hearing this, I turned back round in a flash, only to be knocked to the ground with a steel pipe. Letting out a groan of pain, I struggled to get back up and in the process, managed to get a good look at my assailant. Honestly, the only way I could describe her was grotesque. Her white dress was covered in dirt and dry blood as was her pale skin. The top she wore was unbuttoned half-way, similar to how Maria's clean red top was. But her skirt was really short that seeing her outfit made me uncomfortable and want to scream "Put something non-revealing on!". Even worse, she had no eyes, no nose, no mouth, no hair, nothing. Just a crooked face with no features.

Heh, kinda reminds me of the Slenderman...

I instantly fired two bullets at her, making her lose her balance, stumble slightly and yell out in pain. Taking advantage, I fired again. "C'mon, c'mon!"

But still, she wouldn't go down. Growing more and more frustrated, I pulled the trigger again, pumping five or seven bullets into the nurse. This time she did fall down, giving me the chance to finish her off. Which I did so.

Just as I was about to reload my pistol, the second nurse delivered a brutal blow with her weapon, sending me flying until I hit the ground.

Ah, f*ck!

The nurse let out her distorted cry and lunged towards me, intending to finish me off. I braced myself for the blow, but it never came. Thanks to Manny.

"Oh no, you don't!"

He instantly whacked my second assailant brutally with his trunk, making her hit the nearest wall hard. Just as he did this, I managed to reload my pistol and aimed it at her, firing one bullet to end her life. The static then faded away from the radio, resulting in blissful silence. I rubbed my head in pain, groaning as I did so.

Diego quickly ran over and held out a paw to me, indicating that he wanted to help me up. "You okay kid?"

"Yeah, I guess so," I answered as I accepted it.

Let's hope our trip through here gets better...

Just as I was about to thank Manny for what he did, a loud siren echoed all around us. I felt a powerful sensation of pain start to throb in my head, making horrifying visions flash in front of my eyes. I saw the creepy man in the blue coat grin evilly. He held a bloodied knife and looked at me as if I was his next target. My vision then began to slowly glow a bright red, sending more pain throbbing through my head.

Unable to fight it any longer, I let out a blood-curling scream and collapsed to my knees, cupping my hands against my temple. The Herd didn't know what to do, as they too began to become affected by the shades of horror.

"What do we do?!"

"Guys, we have a kid that's in pain right now!"

The last thing that I heard was Ellie, Peaches and Shira scream out my name, before I fell into the darkness, unconscious.

When am I going to wake up...?