Silent Hill: Spiritual Dissonance
Chapter 1
By John Priest
The night passes as dawn's light breaks through its shroud. John awakens shortly after this has occurred, being accustomed to waking up on his own. Though disoriented momentarily due to a long rest, the fog clouding his mind soon dissipates as he goes to the bathroom and splashes hot water onto his face. He takes his time as he puts on his clothing, trying to watch some T.V. as he does so, but only receiving static on the set. Since it was working fine last night, this perplexes John. But he just shrugs it off and gathers his things, distancing the issue far from his mind as he leaves. Upon opening the door to the outside, he is hit with a full visual blast of mist. He struggles out into the open, trying hard to see through the thick haze but finding his efforts to be impeded by the shear mass of the fog. He takes a moment to gather his thoughts before settling on trying to make his way through the mist, slowly yet surely, in order to get to the receptionist.
The first thing he notices as he further strays from his temporary abode is that the water in the pool has disappeared. As he comes closer to inspect this mysterious phenomenon, he is pushed into the pool by some invisible force and lands stomach first on the concrete of the pool's floor. It takes him a moment to pull himself together before flipping over to his back and looking at where he used to be, trying to see who or what may have pushed him "Hello, is anyone there?".
But no one responds, his words echoing out into the open air as he lies there. He motions to stand, but his hand hits something metallic. He looks behind him to see what it is, coming across the head of a shovel. Bewildered by this, he grabs hold of it and grasps the accompanying handle of the shovel. Using it as a tool, he helps himself up and further ponders why the shovel was inside the pool. Could the shovel been thrown in here by some misbegotten child? Did the handyman forget it after cleaning the pool?
Unconcerned with what exactly occurred, John decides to take hold of the shovel and bring it to the receptionist. With the shovel in hand, John climbs out of the pool and heads toward the exit. Once pass the gate, John makes his way towards the back entrance to the receptionist. On his way, he notices how the area is eerily quiet. No crickets chirping, no birds singing, not even the occasional sounds of motorists passing by are heard. Just silence, as if someone had sucked the life out of the land. When he arrives at the door, he knocks to be courteous but as his knuckles strike the door, it opens with a creek.
"Hello? Sir, are you in here?" says John as he slowly moves through the threshold of the door, but no one responds.
He notices a faint glow of light in the corner of his right eye, emanating from underneath a blanket near the cash register. He hesitates for a moment, unsure of what to do since he may be committing theft, but he proceeds anyway. He finds a flashlight, similar to the one a fireman would use.
As he clips it onto the front pocket of his jacket, his ears pick up soft footsteps creeping behind him and he turns around, noticing a faint shadow move out of his sight. He starts to utter out a soft hello, but is stopped when he hears laughter from behind. He turns around in a sharp motion, but once more finds nothing. Not even with the help of his new flashlight could he find anything. It's as if someone is playing a joke on him, constantly toying with his mind. He moves to the main area of the reception office, trying to see if there was some hidden speaker but he finds nothing. His elbows are racked with goose bumps as he stands alone inside the office, feeling on-edge due to the dreadful ambiance. The silent atmosphere is broken at once by a sorrowful sobbing, John moving his head towards the sound as it permeates throughout the seemingly vacant office.
He cautiously makes his way towards the door to the management, unsure of what may await him. His experience so far has led him to doubt his very senses, but he has hope that he may find another soul in this empty place. As he opens the door, the sobbing becomes more audible. When he looks inside, his heart warms up when he sees another human being: a sobbing young woman.
"Ms. Are you okay?" questions John as he walks towards her, but he stops when he notices the temperature rising drastically.
He starts to ask another question, but stops, stepping backwards when he notices the woman's hair beginning to fall off in clumps. She rises as if she was nothing more than a puppet, the strings being all that support her. As she twists around inhumanly, her bones crack like leaves under a boot, her sobbing becoming shriller and shriller as each movement racks her body with unimaginable torment.
John's eyes open in shock as the woman's skin darkens to a charcoal black, all possible fat melting off in a disgusting miasma. The stench of the dissipating fat causes his stomach to lurch suddenly, sickening John as he continues to back away, stupefied. Suddenly, The Inflamed Lady lets out a horrendous shriek and hurls out a stream of flames at John, who barely manages to dodge the stream, hurling himself to the right, through the door, and back into the reception office. He scrambles to stand as he hears the creature move towards him. His heart pounds within his chest at the sudden intrusion of violence, but he manages to keep a clear mind and focuses on tactics. Once he's on his legs, he closes the door before The Inflamed Lady could get close enough, hiding to the right of the door with shovel in hand. It is not long before flames burst through the door, the creature limping rapidly through the threshold of the door. John slams the shovel's head right into the creatures face, throwing it onto its back and scattering pieces of skin across the floor. Reacting swiftly, John takes the shovel and slams the sharp end onto the neck of The Inflamed Lady, decapitating the creature and ending the threat to his well-being.
All John can do for a short period of time is look at the remains of the abnormal beast. How its expression is mired in pain, its body a visual testament to the torment it felt in existence itself. Seeing no further reason to inspect them, he leaves the remains behind, venturing further into the office to see if anything may be there. It is behind the desk that he catches sight of a grisly scene: The remains of what seems to be the receptionist who he last saw a night ago, torn apart by something sharp and the insides charred throughout his body. John notices a map on the man's person, but hesitates due to a fear of disrespecting the dead. In the end, he decides to take the map, opening it up to see "Midwich University" circled. Confused, John places the map in his left pocket and leaves the area. Heading towards the parking lot, he hopes to escape this nightmare.