Silent Hill: The Inner Monster
Page 20
By John Priest (Efrit, Drake, Noctros, etc)
*Tai's Story*
"I...don't know...." trails off Tai as she grabs her head, her mind scattered as a result of the recent mental incident.
Jake gives a look of confusion mixed with frustration at Tai. He's getting tired of this little game she's playing, wishing that she'd be more clear and less hostile to him. But, it's clear to him, that for now, she'll remain untrusting of him. What causes him to vacillate though, is the thought of what might happen should she get in more trouble. But, he decides to leave this precarious woman to her own devices and try to find his own way out of this hell.
With this decision, firmly in mind, he sighs one last time and turns away, walking to the edge of the stage and jumping off.
This action surprises Tai "W-where are you going?" Stating in a timid tone, made more clear by the look in her achromatic colored eyes.
He proceeds to simply walk ahead, replying "I'm tired of your unyielding mistrust of me, when you're ready to trust me, then maybe we can talk" as he heads towards and through the main two auditorium doors, leaving an emotionally confused Tai, behind.
Silence, is the only thing accompanying her now. That, and the shroud of darkness around her. Tai feels a bit bad, was it really that bad to try and trust him? After all, he did save her from those possessed dolls. No....NO! Screams her sub-consciousness, she cannot trust him! He's a man, he would've likely had used her, had she trusted him. Just like how she trusted that one man, and in the end, she payed for it with the loss of her delicate innocence. As these bad memories rush back into her head, her face contorts into a spiteful grimace. Her body shakes with anger, resulting in her raising and slamming her foot down upon the stage's wooden floor, along with uttering out a gruff breathe of air.
The heat of her anger, causes her to stubbornly stomp her way across the stage and towards the Storage room to her right. She doesn't care if there is a dead body or a monster in there, she just wants to get out of that room. Once she's crossed through the storage's threshold and into the meager room, she closes the door behind her and tries to relax. He's gone now, she won't have to worry about being confronted by him any longer, she tells herself, but she knows she's lying to herself. She will see him again, and even if he's absent, she is still a tad bit worried that she was too unfriendly towards to him. These persistent thoughts, will true in a sort of form, are rather insignificant, for what happened to her, will never be forgotten nor forgiven.
Inside the small room, Tai takes a few breathes, closing her eyes and trying to calm down. Even if it is justified, she hates having to be reminded of that horrid incident. It only helps to hurt her more, especially since....since Kate's death. Upon remembering Kate, Tai can't help but come to tears. How her friend died saving her, how she always tried to protect her, even in the face of dread. That's when Tai finally crumples into a ball and starts to lightly cry. Her heart aches for her lost friend, who was like a mother to her. Even though she had a caring mother already, she loved Kate just as much. They were both inseparable, refusing to leave each other behind in any scenario. She was like Tai's balance to Tai's inner demons. Even when the darkest recesses of her mind managed to consume her, Kate was like that shining ray of light, breaking through the darkness and saving her from herself. Always smiling, always caring, Kate was like the incarnation of good to Tai.
Though she is veiled in tears, she can't help but smile as she starts to remember more memories of Kate. She remembers the time she first met Kate, how she was struggling to fit in Illinois. A Shy, northern girl like her, going to college in one of the middle states. At first, it was awkward for her, she'd try to make friends, but she'd end up doing something embarrassing and messing the attempt up. But one day, while she was shopping for groceries, she ended up short on cash. She forgot that she had used most of her money to pay the rent and as such, didn't really realize how low on money she'd be. As she was at the register, she tried looking for more money but she couldn't find any.
That's when from behind, she heard "Excuse me, ms." And turned around to come face to face, with a gentle expression.
She was sort of taken surprise, still shy from her recent move to Illinois, replying "Y-yes?".
What Kate did next, will never leave Tai's mind.
She opened her purse and gave her a hundred-dollar bill, saying " Here, I don't really need this, but you seem too"with a bright smile.
At first, she hesitated to take the money, but Kate urged her too and she payed for her groceries.
After she got her groceries into her car, Tai found the woman sitting on a bench and offered to take her home, which she graciously accepted. As she drove, they talked. Tai mostly talked, but Kate talked some too, preferring to listen and understand than chat though. When they finally got to Kate's apartment, they learned that they both live in the same complex. So, they both took their respective groceries and chatted as they walked into the building. After that, they both began to talk commonly, till they both grew to become friends, staying close to each others side. Oh, those days of innocence, those days of peace, cause Tai to once again cry, but this time, shed tears of joyful remembrance, instead of sorrow. These few moments of peace, calm her nerves. Putting her at ease and increasing the duration of her smile.
After several more peaceful moments of tranquility, Tai stands back up and uses her left hand to wipe away the remaining tears. She closes her eyes and leans her head up, breathing in a deep breathe and letting it go as quick as it came. She then opens her eyes and tilts her head back into its normal direction, grabbing her lead pipe and her handgun to make sure they are both still there. She places the handgun inside her left pocket and firmly grips the lead pipe in her right hand as she firmly adjusts the flashlight clipped to her shirt, making sure that the illumination is just right. Once her curiosity is sated, she looks around a bit, hoping to find some sort material that may be useful to her. She spots a case of handgun ammunition on a shelf and gladly takes it, for you can never have too much ammunition, especially in a hell like this.
Just as she turns around and starts to walk, she trips and hits her shoulder on the floor. She utters out a groan of pain, looking at her shoulder to make sure it hadn't bruised as a result of the fall. She uses her flashlight to look around the room, in order to find the perpetrator of the act. What she finds, is a rather long can of medium thickness. She stands back up and goes over to the can, grabbing it and shaking it to see if anything is inside. To her surprise, she finds it to be sort of heavy, but with something inside it, that's for sure. She tries to unfasten the lid, but due to her small frame, she doesn't exactly have the most strength, so she cannot unfasten it. But she doesn't give up, she puts it in her right pocket, hoping that she'll find some way to open it. As she finishes that, she decides it is time to move on and heads to the door on her left, in which she opens it and goes through, back into the auditorium.
Once outside of the room, she carefully treads down the wooden steps, lead pipe griped firmly in both hands. She's cautious, and for a very good reason. The monsters in this town, seem to disappear and reappear at any time, awaiting the right moment, in which they can surely kill or scare their victim. But, as she walks through the isle and towards the double doors, which lead to the lobby, she finds no source of aggression or threat to her well-being, just empty, silence. She's nearly at the doors, when she hears the thud of a cushion to her right. She swallows a bit of air, unsure of what may happen next. But, after several minutes of anticipation, she accepts the seemingly harmless matter at hand and goes towards the seats, trying to find which one that fell.
One by one, she searches through the aligned seats, quickly growing board from the situation. She comes to the end of the first row and luckily, finds the last seat missing its cushion, which lay before Tai's feet. Tai picks up the weathered pillow, which has clearly not been replaced in quite some time. She dusts the cover off and flips it around, searching it for any obtrusion's or noticeable marks. But she finds none, throwing the pillow to the side and huffing a bit. She begins to leave when she hears a crumpling sound beneath her right foot. She points the flashlight to her foot and sees a folded note. She bends down and picks it up, putting it in her right pocket for later. With this done, she quickly sprints down the seats and into the isle, heading towards the door and quickly going through them, to avoid the potential danger inside the dark auditorium.