Scott discovered his fiancé sitting alone in the kitchen, arms propped up on the table. She looked, well, Scott couldn't really describe it. But he knew right away that something was wrong.

He'd only met Cheryl several months ago, but they'd hit it off right away, and he had liked her immediately. He'd been attracted to her sweet personality, but right then he hadn't known that the girl had quite a temper on her. Despite this, however, he still loved her. Scott knew how Cheryl could get sometimes, had been witness to her mood swings plenty of times. But he had never seen her like this. She barely even seemed to notice as he walked in. She just continued to stare into space, completely ignoring his presence.

"Cheryl."

She didn't even bother to look up. "Cheryl," Scott tried again, getting exasperated, "I know you're upset, but you've got to get some sleep. This is about your friend, right?"

To his great surprise, Cheryl shook her head. It was then that Scott finally sussed it out.

"You had it again, didn't you?" he inquired, "The nightmare."

He watched as she slowly began to turn away from him, and he could see that she was visibly shaking. He walked over to her, trying to comfort her, but she pushed him away as soon as he got close. "Okay, okay," he started uneasily, "Why don't you just tell me what it was about?"

Cheryl hesitated. "No," she said awkwardly.

Scott was a patient man, and you really did have to be patient with a girl like Cheryl, but not being able to help her was beginning to get to him. "You can't just not tell me stuff like this. I need to know what's going on. What's the matter with you, Cheryl? I thought we agreed we'd never keep stuff like this secret from each other."

"They're just dreams," Cheryl said, sounding irritated, "So why do you need to know about them?"

"Because they're doing this to you," he said, throwing up his hands, "You're not the same person you used to be, Cheryl. What I mean to say is, lately, you've been acting strange. Different, is the right word, actually."

She looked like he'd just slapped her hard in the face. He felt a pang of guilt, seeing that look of hurt spread across her face, but at the same time he knew it had to be said. If she wanted him to help her, then they were going to have to be completely honest with each other. And that was exactly what he was doing right now. Being honest with her.

As he'd expected, she said nothing to this but her face reddened considerably and she looked away from him. He could see it in her eyes, he'd upset her more by saying that. Scott was beginning to take back what he had said when she suddenly spoke up.

"You wouldn't believe me," Cheryl started hoarsely, "if I told you."

Scott went and sat down beside her. "Try me," he replied softly.

She glanced at him nervously, and Scott knew at once that this was something serious. She'd never looked so reluctant to tell him something before. He was beginning to regret inquiring about it in the first place. What if it was something bad? Something that she'd done? He felt a knot tying in his stomach as she opened her mouth to speak.

"In this uh, nightmare," Cheryl started uncertainly, "I'm.. in this place I visited once. This is going to sound crazy.. but have you ever heard of a town called Silent Hill?"

Scott furrowed his brow, trying to remember. Silent Hill.. where had he heard that before? It was then that he remembered. Yes, he had heard of Silent Hill. Gary had been talking about it at work, just the other week. But what of it? And why was Cheryl asking him about this?

"Yeah," he answered her, "but what does this have to do—"

"It's a long story," Cheryl mumbled, "and no matter how I tell it, you're not going to believe me. I don't even think it's worth telling you. You'll probably just think I'm crazy."

Scott hadn't heard this long story yet so he couldn't really comment, but part of him hoped he'd be able to understand what she was about to tell him, because he didn't want to think she was crazy, of course he had no idea what was going on—yet.

"Cheryl," he started gently, "Please. Just tell me."

He waited for her to say something else. Cheryl glanced down at the table, heaving a sigh. "Okay," she began heavily, "There's a lot of stuff you don't know about me. I was going to tell you when we first met, but then I decided that maybe I shouldn't. You were the first decent guy I'd met in a long time, and I didn't want to screw up what we had together. You understand that, right?"

Scott was worried now, but he still nodded as she spoke. "Anyway," Cheryl went on, "Like I said, you're probably not going to believe me. But here goes.."

And she told him everything. Scott listened, wondering what he had gotten himself into as he did so. He listened to how her name had been Heather instead of Cheryl four months prior. He listened to how she had managed to fight off some cult named the Order, and how she had almost lost her life in Silent Hill. She also mentioned that her friend who had recently passed was involved with all of this, too. Well, that did explain why she had been looking so upset.

At the end of it, he simply drew breath, not being able to think of a single thing to say to her. He didn't know whether to believe her or not. It sounded completely ridiculous, really; the idea of a seventeen year old being able to fight off monsters, or whatever they were, and at the same time avoid being captured by some cult, sounded completely ludicrous. If Cheryl really had been through all of that, then how was she still alive? How did someone live through something like that?

"Wow," he breathed, still trying to think of something he could say to her which wouldn't make her think that he didn't believe her, "Cheryl.."

"I told you," she began shrilly, "I knew you wouldn't believe me!"

"I didn't say that," Scott said softly, but Cheryl stood up abruptly.

"You didn't need to," she replied with so much venom that he was taken aback, "The one person that I thought would believe me, and you think I'm crazy. Well, I'm not."

"I don't think you're crazy," Scott said truthfully, starting to rise from his seat, but Cheryl just started backing away from him as if she was afraid of him.

"You can believe what you want," she spat, "I didn't expect you to believe me. I don't know why I even bothered telling you. This is just.."

Tears rolled down her cheeks, and a moment later she ran into the bedroom. All Scott could do was stand there helplessly, unable to think of anything he could say or do to help. He wasn't sure how he felt about what Cheryl had just told him; he eventually decided that he would try to get some sleep, and go over what she had said in the morning.

As soon as he walked into the bedroom, Cheryl turned to glare at him. "I don't think I can sleep in the same bed as you, if you don't believe me," she said viciously, and grabbed a spare duvet before heading for the door.

Scott tried to stop her, "Cheryl, please don't do this. Let me sleep on the couch."

Cheryl just pushed past him without a word, and slammed the door behind her. Scott leaned up against the door and listened. As he'd expected, he could hear sobbing on the other side.

Hours later, Cheryl began to stir. Her eyes cracked open, and she struggled to sit up, propping her back up against the arm of the couch. Her head was pounding; it was like she'd just woken up after a night of heavy drinking. She started to remember what had gone on last night with Scott, and suddenly felt a tremendous amount of guilt.

She hadn't meant to talk to him like that. At the time, she'd thought that he didn't believe her. Yet she hadn't even given him the chance to tell her what he thought about it. Cheryl hoped that she hadn't driven him away, that he would give her the chance to explain herself. Groaning, she got slowly to her feet, and rubbed her eyes. It must have been around ten o'clock, which meant that Scott was probably still around. She knew it was his day off, and also knew that he liked to sleep in on his days off. She walked slowly over to the bedroom and tentatively put her hand on the door knob. "Scott?" she started uncertainly, hating herself for the way she had acted before. To her surprise the door was slightly ajar, and so she pushed it open, revealing an empty bed. Cheryl's heart sank. Scott was gone.

She immediately grabbed the phone and punched in his cell phone number. However, after a while it became clear that he wasn't going to pick up. "Damnit," Cheryl growled, throwing the phone onto the couch. She automatically assumed that he had gone over to Darryl's, and decided to try there first. She had to find out what he really thought about all this. She couldn't stand not knowing how he felt about it.

After dressing quickly, Cheryl grabbed her jacket and left, determined to find him.

000

"Alessa? Don't you dare speak of her? She's ruined us. Do you have any idea how much damage she has done? Thanks to her, the remaining members of the Order have all scattered. They don't believe in our cause anymore. Not to mention we lost a loyal member, Claudia Wolf. If you have come here to talk to me about her, then you can leave right now."

"But I have news," the other man said, "I've seen her. I've talked to her."

"You are a disgrace. Why would you associate with her? She should be put to death for the sins she has committed. If it were up to me, I would have her castrated. She has ruined everything. And to think, all those years we spent planning this, planning the birth of God, and it was all for nothing."

"You've got to listen to me," the other man said, sounding exasperated, "What I am about to tell you has remained a secret for several years. Claudia Wolf told me something in confidence."

The smaller man, who sported short dark hair though he was noticeably balding, looked up at the other man and scowled. "Well? What is it?" he asked, his patience with this other man wearing thin.

The other man cleared his throat. "Claudia was willing to do whatever it took to make sure that the girl, Alessa, birthed God like she had always meant to. After a failed attempt seventeen years prior, Claudia believed she could, or would, get it right that time. However, as we both know, she unfortunately failed during her attempt."

There was a brief silence. The smaller man frowned. "What are you trying to tell me? Could you please make your point quickly before I lose my patience with you?"

"Claudia told me something, a month before she died," the other man explained, "She explained to me that even if they failed this time, Alessa would eventually return to Silent Hill, no matter what happened."

The smaller man wasn't following. "I still don't understand."

"Though the young woman has tried to move on with her life, her past will come back to haunt her, and soon. Claudia told me that she would grow steadily weaker, as her true self would eventually begin to take her over, or possess her for a better word."

"How do you know this?" the smaller man asked.

"I told you, I've seen her. I delivered some bad news to her, which is bound to have caused an impact on her. Not only that, but from what I can tell, she is already quite weak. She'll return, and very soon, trust me."

"But what are we meant to do when she does?" the smaller man asked, feeling exasperated, "She didn't birth God. Infact, she killed God."

"Revenge," the other man said pointedly, "for all that she has put us through. Try to find the remaining members of the Order, and tell them what's happening. I'm sure they'd like to see the witch burn for what she's done to us."

The smaller man understood completely now. A cynical smile played on his lips. "For once, Morris, you have proven your worth. I'm impressed with you."

"Oh yes, I forgot to tell you," Morris went on, "I managed to get to that Detective. I was forced to pose as his brother. You won't need to worry about him trying to get in our way—again."

The smaller man clapped his hands in delight, "Ah, I remember him. He was the one Claudia ordered to find Alessa, wasn't he?"

Morris nodded. "Indeed," he said simply.

The smaller man's smile vanished. "That stupid wench ruined everything. Once she arrives at Silent Hill, we will make sure that she suffers immensely."

Morris smiled and nodded along with him.

"Morris," the smaller man said suddenly, "Try to round up members of the Order. Tell them about this, and tell them to wait for me at Silent Hill."

"Of course," Morris drawled, bowing his head. "I'll get right onto it."

He left shortly after, and the smaller man simply laughed to himself, an insane smile lighting up his face. Alessa Gillespie would finally get what she deserved.