Silent Hill: Spiritual Dissonance
Chapter 3
By John Priest
The unexpected wail catches John off guard, his primal reactions stirring inside. He starts to run towards the sound, but his encounter with The Inflamed Lady has left him cautious to unforeseen events, causing him to momentarily hesitate. A second grave cry brings John into action, deciding not to ignore someone who may be in danger. The woman's screams echo throughout the empty, ghost-like hallways of Midwich University. Each individual shriek of terror reeks of the gravest of fears, as if whoever is being assaulted is being immolated alive. As the screams continue, they accumulate on top of John's composure. Goose bumps arising on his arms as he faces the force of the shrieks. John tries to track down the source of the wails, following how loud the sound becomes, but his efforts are impeded by the sheer mass of the hallways themselves.
Then, the wails stop. John's body is overcome with dread, the ghastly realization that he is too late, accompanied by the hollowing absence of body heat. His hands clench in anger, his self-control barely able to contain the massive self-depreciation inside him. Thoughts arise on how he let the past control the present, condemning an innocent woman to death because he could not get past his encounter with The Inflamed Lady. He walks past a set of stairs, his eyes devoid of emotion. Across from an office he slumps to the floor, his back against the adjacent wall. His head falls back, hitting the brick behind him. He closes his eyes and takes in a deep breath, exhaling slowly before stopping all of a sudden: His ears are once more greeted with the shrill wail of the unknown woman.
His body is rejuvenated by this sound, his mind filled with a single emotion: Hope. He springs up from his spot, hearing the scream emanate from the office nearby. He dashes forth towards the door knob, taking a hold of it and throwing it open in one swift movement. Upon crossing through the door's threshold, John is greeted by a nauseatingly horrific site: A creature of organic composition is on top of a screaming woman, lashing out at her face with three whip-like tongues, apparently trying to rip off her clothing with a large third arm, located exactly on the crotch area. His stomach lurches at the site of this attempted defilement, but he forces it under control through his will power.
Grasping the handle of his shovel firmly, John charges towards the foul beast.
The creature barely notices John coming towards it, turning its head to hear John say "Get off her!" and slam the flat side of his shovel right into its head, forcing the creature off of the unknown woman, whom quickly crawls away and huddles herself beside a coach.
John makes sure she is in a safe location before directing his attention back onto The Dark Desire, which has scrambled back to its feet, launching its tendril-like tongues at John. He rolls to his right, dodging most of the tongues but still getting lashed across his cheek, causing him to grimace as the sharp pain embeds itself into his nerves.
Forgoing attention to his injury, John rushes at the beast, swinging his shovel with tremendous force. He manages to strike another blow upon The Dark Desire, sending it to the ground as he prepares another. The creature goes limp, having been brought down by John's assault. But as he nears the baleful apparition, it twists its head in an inhuman three-sixty degree angle and opens its maw, its tongues jutting out towards John. The three whip-like tongues wrap themselves around his neck, constricting his larynx, leaving him unable to breathe. He falls to his knees, gasping for air. Realizing how crucial his next action will be, John thrusts the pointed-end of his shovel towards the beast's throat, embedding it into the creature and killing it.
John falls onto his back as he forcefully removes the now lifeless tongues from around his throat, visibly disgusted as their slime leaves its mark on his throat. He coughs as the pressure is alleviated, taking a few moments to regain his composure as he takes in several deep breaths of air. With his need for air sated, he looks towards the spot he last saw the woman at, seeing her huddled in a ball next to the couch. He slowly gets back onto his feet, standing up and brushing himself off. He cautiously prods the corpse of The Dark Desire, fearing that it may have another trick up its sleeve, but it remains limp in response to his inspection. Satisfied with the result, he places the shovel on the nearby desk.
He slowly, yet surely approaches the woman in the corner of the office.
"Miss…are you alright?" questions John as he inches his way towards her, but she doesn't reply, seemingly ignoring him.
He manages to get close to her without any surprises; she just cradles herself in the shape of a ball, clearly traumatized by the past event. Worried that she may be hurt, her reaches out for her, his hand getting closer to her shoulder "Miss…can you-" is all he can say before she suddenly, without warning, grabs his arm and charges her head into his stomach, forcing the air out of him and knocking him onto his back.
He manages to get back up, but she yells "NOO, NOT AGAIN!" before slapping him on his injured cheek and running off.
All John can do in reaction is rub his cheek, cough a bit, and wonder what caused her to get so riled up? A bit disappointed in that he doesn't have a fellow person to talk to, John gets back up on his feet and sighs. Things certainly aren't going his way currently, making him wonder if perhaps he's died and gone to hell. He shakes off that notion, assuring himself that if he was in hell, it'd be worse than a few random, albeit odd events.
Not sure on what to do, he decides to go back and inspect the creature he just killed. Kneeing down to get a good look at it, John notices how, even in death, the skin of this creature pulsates in a sickening manner. Accompanying the torso is three individual arms, each one covered in a type of mucous-like substance. Below the arms lay the legs which, for some odd reason, are not covered in the substance which coats the arms and tongues. Lastly, the head is devoid of any openings outside of its gaping maw.
Just then, he hears a dog's yelp, as if the dog was being maimed right next to him. He stands back up, looking behind him and noticing that the seat cushions of the second couch are protruding awkwardly. He approaches the couch cautiously, reaching for one of the pillows and picking it up, unearthing a grisly sight: The corpse of a headless dog, maggots swimming in the rotten tissue like children in an open pool. John can barely stop himself from throwing up, disgusted by the rotten quagmire laid before his eyes. He backs away before the stench can further blast itself into his nose, covering it with his arm in an attempt to block out the putrid stench.
As he backs away, he notices a barrel sticking out of the stump of the animal carcasses neck. Disgusted by the thought, but still curious, he reaches for the barrel. He can swear he could hear demented laughter as he does so, as if someone or something was seeing how the events were unfolding and laughing at the situation John has found himself in. Trying his best to ignore the slight paranoia, he grabs hold of the barrel and pulls it out, confirming his suspicions: A hand gun was lodged inside of the dead, decaying canine carcass. Confused, yet not surprised due to the nature of how he found his shovel, John checks the gun. The gun is fully loaded, seemingly intact but still putting off a stench akin to the corpse it was previously in.
As he checks the gun, he feels an eerie sense of dread creep up on him from behind, causing him to quickly turn and point the gun ahead of him. All that greets him is the empty air itself. He tries to re-locate the corpse of the creature he killed recently, but it has disappeared. Not even the stains on the carpet are there anymore, as if something had come along and erased the event itself. Lowering the gun, he wipes his brow with his hand, a cold sweat having accumulated on it. Unsure of what to do next, John grabs his shovel and places the handgun in his pocket. With that done, he sets off to find the unknown woman, hoping to try and explain to her that he is not a threat.