chapter 14: nowhere
"Harry…?"
He opened his eyes, finding himself propped on a hospital bed. Lisa was in a chair in front of him, twisting her hands nervously. He noticed that the walls were decrepit and covered in blood and rust- a bad sign.
"Lisa? What happened…? Where's Alessa and Dahlia?" He asked, suddenly remembering the confrontation in the amusement park.
She brought a finger to her lips, speaking more softly.
"Harry, listen. Something you said before…its been bothering me. I just cant get it out of my head."
Harry leaned forward, confused at her sudden change in mood.
He asked, "What is it?"
She looked down to the ground, her eyes searching.
"Alright, I went to look in the basement, even though I was scared as hell. Like you said there were all these creepy rooms, but nothing really unusual down there. But while I was down there I got this weird feeling."
"What do you mean?" He interrupted.
"Like…Like I'd been there before." She said, locking eyes with him. She looked pale and worried, like a frightened animal.
"It's almost like something happened, but I cant quite remember somehow. What was it?"
She shook her head, her voice now trembling.
"Harry…Help me…I'm so scared, I cant take this."
She grabbed her head, shaking it back and forth as if trying to remember. He tried to comfort her.
"Relax, it's only a temporary thing. You must be in shock from when you were knocked out."
He leaned forward, trying to lighten his tone.
"Don't fret about it, you'll remember after a while."
She swatted his hand away, standing up quickly.
"No! You don't understand!" She said, her voice suddenly very angry. She stormed out from the exam room, never even looking back.
"Wait! Where are you going?!"
She didn't respond, and he was suddenly alone.
"Lisa…"
He felt slight vibrations under his feet, and just then realized the horrible, grinding sound that was invading his eardrums.
"Damn! What's that?"
He looked around, trying to find the source of the noise. Finally he was looking at the floor.
"That sound…From down there…It's coming from the basement…"
There was now only one door in the examination room, the one Lisa had escaped from, and so he followed her. It opened to a single metal pathway that extended into darkness.
The grinding noise became louder, and he looked down only to be faced with more abysmal darkness. Even though his flashlight was on, he could still only see the path he was walking on.
"This isn't the hospital…Where am I?"
He kept moving forward, an old brass service elevator coming into view. He was still several feet away when the doors slides open, seeming to beckon him.
"I'm being summoned…"
He started moving forward again, this time much slower.
"What happened in this town…? What could possibly be making things like this? I have a feeling if I take the elevator down, I'll find it…
…Cheryl…"
The elevator stopped at the destination, whatever it may be, and the doors proceeded to open again. The room ahead was dark, but he spied several doors down the corridor, where it sharply turned left. The rumbling had stopped, which he was thankful for.
He stepped from the elevator, the laughter of a child making him jump out of his skin. He saw an apparition of a young Alessa skipping down the hallway, vanishing as she reached him.
He regained his posture, starting to jiggle some of the doorknobs that he passed, all of which were either jammed or broken.
The first one that opened was a sight that shocked him as he found himself right back at the Green Lion, Dahlia's antique shop. He didn't bother to rummage through the junk, but instead turned to a massive grandfather clock.
He noticed that one of the hands was a key, and he smashed the glass faceplate of the antiquity to reach it. A strange word, Ophiel, was carved into the handle. He stuck it in his pocket, leaving the familiar territory.
Back in the demented hall, he finished checking the doors down the corridor, all but two jammed. One was locked, the word Ophiel embossed in bronze underneath the knob. The other door opened, leading to a long staircase downward.
"Great, basements are fun…"
He decided to go ahead and check the dark recesses of the basement before moving on by unlocking the door, so he took each step carefully until he was faced with the door at the bottom.
He was unusually nervous, previous areas he had explored had made him more cautious before entering a new room. Especially when Silent Hill had manifested into the horrible Otherworld. It opened without sound, this room also making him stop in disbelief.
By some cruel joke, he was back at Midwich, standing in one of the classrooms. The room was clear aside from a single desk placed neatly in the center of the room. It was the same one that had the nasty writing carved into it.
"Alessa…"
He saw another door at the end of the ominous classroom, and he hurried over to it. Locked.
He checked the desk before he left, this time finding it completely empty. Before he could place his hand on the doorknob, he heard chanting of children. He looked back, suddenly in a different place and time.
He saw children, all girls and all wearing the same navy blue school dress, were tossing paper and notebooks at one particular girl with short black hair. She looked to be maybe six years old.
They were screaming at her, calling her things like "witch" and "Thief" and "Demon". He couldn't believe it, and as soon as the little premonition started it was over, the classroom as silent as ever. He blinked, still contemplating if he had just seen the sight that had unfolded before him.
"She's trying to tell me something…"
He left the room, ascending much more quickly than coming down. He used the key of Ophiel, tossing it aside after opening the door.
There was another corridor, this one stretching about twelve feet ahead and ended abruptly to his right. There was a stone tablet mounted to the wall, something peculiar carved into it. He moved closer, using his flashlight to get a closer inspection.
The Grim Reapers List
Names engraved on a lithograph
The Grim Reapers List
Yes, the headcount is set
Young and old lined up in order of age
Then the pathway opens
Awaiting them the frenzied uproar
The feast of death!
Underneath was a list of people and their ages.
Lydia Findly- 35
Trevor F. White- 60
Albert Lords- 18
Roberta T. Morgan- 40
Edward Briggs- 24
Next to it was a door with a circular crest. The alphabet was embedded at the bottom, going around the length of it.
"I bet that list could help me with that"
He re-read it, seeing that the script mentioned a headcount in order of age had been set. If that was the case, then the order was Albert, Lydia, Edward, Roberta, and then Trevor. But how could he enter that into the prehistoric keyboard? What should he enter?
He finally decided to just type the first letter of each of their names, the code then being 'ALERT'. He tried it, and surprised even himself when the door unlocked.
"Not bad Harry…"
He saw it was a tiny storeroom, with double doors directly across from him. Seeing nothing of interest, he moved quickly toward the other doors, opening them to a fearful sight. He almost turned away, realizing it was the morgue.
All the containers were closed, but toward the back of the tomb were two gurneys, both home to a corpse under a thin white sheet. That's what had initially scared him. He did see, however, a key sitting on a table, and he snatched it up.
It had Hagith engraved on it, and he pocketed it before leaving. He was halfway across the storeroom when a soft, gentle voice from the corner startled him.
"Harry…"
He turned, seeing Lisa standing in the corner. She looked pale, and her eyes had lost some sort of light to them. She looked dead to be honest.
"Lisa, what's the matter with you?"
She just started nodding her head, looking as if dread and realization had set it.
"I get it now…" She whispered.
He muttered "What…?"
She looked back up at him, trying to give him a half smile that also lacked emotion.
"Why I'm still alive even though everyone else is dead…I'm not the only one who's still walking around…" He voice began to quiver toward the end.
"No…no it couldn't be…Not Lisa too…"
A single tear slid down her cheek.
"I'm…the same as them, I just hadn't noticed it before…"
"Lisa…" He said quietly, hoping to be able to tell her something comforting. What could he do? Silent Hill had already thrown more curves that defied the laws of reality, he couldn't possibly think of anything to help the poor, pitiful nurse.
"Stay by me Harry…please. I'm so scared. Help me…" She was sobbing now, both of them already knowing that he couldn't stay with her, especially now.
She began walking toward him, extending her arms as if to hug him.
"Save me from them…Please…Harry…"
She started crying out loud, Harry backing away slowly in horror. He pushed her away, Lisa stumbling and stopping at the back wall, looking off into another time and place.
She kept her eyes locked on him, a slight smile at the corner of her mouth as a blood drop slid smoothly from the top of her head down by her eye, under her nose, and dripping off her lip.
She started staggering toward him again, trying to keep a smile even though her eyes showed she was in extreme pain. More blood began to pour from her head and face, seemingly every pore starting to burst and bleed and it had soon covered her face and drenched her white blouse.
Harry finally felt the door behind him, not able to take his eyes away as this woman he had sat and talked and felt comfortable to be with was dying before him, still sobbing and reaching out for his help.
He opened the door and quickly exited the room, hearing her bang on the door repeated times as he barricaded it, feeling his own emotions running high until finally it all stop, and it was quiet again. He slid to his knees, his face burrowed in his hands.
"Lisa…"
He couldn't believe it, the only person he'd met in the hellish world, and she was now gone. He opened the door, peeking in. He saw no trace of the nurse, only a diary lying open on the floor. He walked over to it, seeing her name on the cover.
Asked doctor Kaufmann to let me quite being in charge of that patient. It's too weird. Still alive, but with wounds that wont heal.
Told the doctor I quit. I won't work at that hospital anymore. The room is filled with insects, even with the windows and doors shut.
Feeling bad. Need to throw up. Nothing comes out, vomiting only bile. Blood and pus flow from the bathroom faucet. I try to stop it, but it won't turn off.
Need Drug.
It ended suddenly. He left the parchment there, pondering the thoughts of her last entry.
It was a sad tale, but it was no telling how much time Cheryl had left. He had to find her. He left the storeroom and searched this corridor, seeing a door marked with PHALEG and another marked with HAGITH.
He used the key he'd found in the morgue, the door opening into a small patient room. There was a TV/VCR and a newspaper, both sitting on a table. On top was a thick book, already opened to a page.
White Claudia
Perennial herb found near water. Reaches heights of ten to fifteen inches. Oblong leaves, white blossoms. Seeds contain hallucinogen. This hallucinogenic effect was key in ancient religious ceremonies.
He moved it aside, thinking that White Claudia was the drug from Alchemilla more than likely. The newspaper had a couple of interesting articles.
Investigation stalled! PTV dealers still at large
Suspicious deaths continue in Silent Hill. Like the anit-drug mayor, a narcotics officer (Thomas Gucci) dies of sudden heart failure. Unknown origin.
The next read:
Devastating fire strikes Old Silent Hill
Fire broke out in town, destroyed six homes. Charred body of Alessa Gillespie (7) rescued by a lone truck driver and picked up at the front of the child's home. Cause of fire currently under investigation. Source shows the antiquated boiler in the Gillespie home malfunctioned and caused the blaze.
He saw the videotape on top of the TV, and inserted it into the VCR. After a few moments the screen lit up, and he could now see Lisa's image, her head hung low as she sat at a meeting table. The camera was focused right on her, and she began speaking to an unseen figure.
"What is it? Still has an unusually high fever. Eyes don't open. Getting a pulse, but just barely breathing. Her skin is all charred! Even when I change the bandages the blood and pus just start oozing through! Why?! What is keeping that child alive? I…can't stand it any longer… I won't tell a soul, promise. So please…"
He saw next to where the tape had set was the key of Phaleg. He picked it up then left the confined space.
He used the key, the door opening to the long stretch of hallway in resembling the one from the basement of Alchemilla, with the rooms full of weird shit.
The first two doors on either side were locked, and he moved to the next set. One was jammed, but the other opened. He froze, his eyes moving around the floor and walls slowly. Graffiti was everywhere, written in thick black marker.
It consisted of different doodles and child drawings, most of it illegible. Crying directed to his attention to under a desk in the corner of the room, seeing Alessa huddled up and sobbing into her knees.
She was sad and alone, and she disappeared soon after he saw her, leaving behind another key. He moved over and picked it up, seeing the word Araton carved on to it. He stuck it in his pocket-
-and saw the figure of Alessa scribbling on the wall, her movements fast and inhuman. She turned and looked directly at Harry, then just vanished.
He left the suddenly creepy room, and saw the door next down the hall was ARATON. He unlocked it using the key, stepping into a secret meeting from the past, back in the small room they kept Alessa in.
There were four figures, all of them transparent, standing around the bed. Alessa was under the sheets, bloodstains dotting it.
"Everything is going according to plan, sheltered in the womb." He heard Dahlia, not realizing it was her at first. She looked drastically younger, at the least five years.
"But it isn't done yet…" A foreign doctor standing at the head of the bed replied, a light accent to his tone.
"Half the soul is lost, that's why the seed lies dormant." He heard the voice of Kaufmann say, sounding younger himself.
"And what soul remains captured in that husk is buried deep down in the subconscious." Replied the second doctor, standing at the foot of the bed.
"Are you saying it wont work?! That wasn't our agreement!" Kaufmann barked, turning to Dahlia.
"No no no, these are just stalling tactics. If we lend a hand, we will be able to get power. Never fear, the promise shall not be broken!" She replied back to him, her voice trying to sound convincing.
"But," the first doctor started, "the power we could draw now would be very weak; almost nothing…unless. We must get the other half of the soul."
There was a silence, everyone eyeing Dahlia. She looked up, noticing, and said
"We'll use a summoning spell! Hearing this child's pain, it's sure to come."
There was a sort of silent agreement. Kaufmann said solemnly
"But that will take time…"
And with that, they all disappeared. He spotted a tiny silver key next to her picture, and picked it up. It was unlabeled, but he kept it anyway, and then left the chamber.
The last two doors came into view from the darkness, and he tried the one on the left. It opened into a deteriorated kitchen, with a giant freezer directly ahead. He saw nothing of use on the counters, and was startled by a banging inside the freezer.
He stared at it a moment and whatever it was inside started moving around again, thrusting so hard the entire freezer started rocking. The door to it flung open, and a tentacle came snaking out, wrapping quickly around his ankle.
It pulled him to the ground and instantly started dragging him toward the dark recess of the dank freezer. He let out a strangled cry, drawing the handgun and firing inside. He heard a high-pitched squeal, and dark blood spurted onto the tiled floor.
His flashlight started to flicker, and he was instantly terrified at the thought of it dying out. It began to slowly get continuously dimmer, and he fired toward the thick, red tentacle, the part wrapped around his ankle detaching from the rest.
It jerked back inside, and he scrambled to his feet and stumbled to the door. He heard it growl, and was out in a flash.
As he staggered into the corridor the radio started emitting white noise, and the flashlight died. He froze, looking down the hall.
He could barely make out a gurney against the wall about four feet away, everything else lost in darkness. He then heard something dreadful, something that made his stomach deflate and his heart sink.
The loud grinding sound of metal on metal. The giant knife wielded by…Pyramid Head. He inched over to the door across the hall, and was panic-stricken as the knob didn't even turn. It couldn't be possible! The flashlight came back on in a flash-
-and he saw the huge weapon being thrust in his direction. He ducked to the ground, slouching into the corner. The enormous blade sliced into the metal wall, and Harry open fired on the monster. It groaned a sound so grotesque it gave him the shivers.
It couldn't get the weapon from the wall, and it quickly closed the gap between them, grabbing Harry by the neck.
Its 'head' was inches from his, and the creature reeked of blood and death. He kicked its muscular chest, the blows actually making his toes throb.
He started to get blotches in his vision as Pyramid Head lifted him up against the wall, causing him to spit and cough. Finally his foot went up close to the throat of the monster, and the end of his shoe went through the bottom of the helmet with a sickening squish.
It dropped him, thick rivulets of black fluid oozing down the torso. He rattled the knob to the door again, reclaiming the handgun he had dropped previously.
The thing grabbed the handle of the giant blade again, this time pulling once more with much force, the sword coming out of the destroyed wall.
It swung the weapon around this time, Harry diving to the ground as it obliterated the door he had been trying to open. He was surprised, and horrified, when he realized it only let to a child's bedroom, probably Alessa's by the look of things.
He saw on the floor in front of him was a tiny box for personal items. Alessa's name was carved on it, and he quickly opened it. Inside was a blue gem, something that looked like a rare Channeling Stone he had read about during his investigations for new novel material, a legend going that it could absorb the souls of devils.
He snatched it up, the tiny jewel glowing brightly as the maniac Pyramid Head stepped closer.
"Its getting warmer…"
The monster stepped back, blue energy bolts flowing into it. He roared, a sound worse than death-
-and the creature was just gone, his weapon all that was left. He took in a deep breath, for the first time feeling truly safe that it was gone for good.
He tried lifting the Great Knife, but found it to be way to heavy. He explored the child's room some more, finding various things including a scattered deck of cards, collection of butterfly specimens, and coloring books.
"Poor kid…"
He saw her school outfit hanging on the wall, and he remembered the vivid flashback he had experienced in the classroom. There was a blue door opposite the one he had come through, and it was locked.
He tried the silver key, thankful that it unlocked. It opened to a quaint little corridor of an old house, the wooden floorboards creaking and moaning.
He saw a staircase going down and two doors up ahead. The figures of Alessa and Dahlia appeared the both of them apparently struggling. Dahlia had a hold of Alessa's wrists, trying to drag her toward the steps.
"Come! Come along!"
"No!"
She kept tugging at her, pulling hard at her small arms.
"No!" She cried, "I don't want to!"
"Do what mommy tells you now!"
Alessa pulled away, landing roughly on her bottom.
"I only want a teeny bit of your power, that's all!" Dahlia muttered, flustered and aggravated.
"No! I don't wanna do it!" She replied back, tears now streaming down her face.
Dahlia placed her hands on her hips, saying
"It will make everyone happy, and its for your own good too…"
The little girl smacked her knees with her hands, persisting to argue.
"Oh, but mommy I just want to be with you! Just two of us, please understand…"
Dahlia was already shaking her head, a disgusted look on her face.
"Maybe mommy has been wrong…There's no reason to wait, why didn't I see this before? 'Herein lies the mother's womb, containing the power to create life'…I could have done it all myself!"
Alessa looked confused, but ultimately was terrified at this new direction her mother was going.
"Mommy?"
Both apparitions disappeared, and he was left alone.
"This must be the Gillespie home…"
He checked both doors, finding both jammed. Only the long stretch of stairs remained, descending into darkness.
"I've come this far, I can't give up on Cheryl now…"
He checked to make sure the gun was loaded, and started the trip down to his destiny.