Silent Hill: The Inner Monster
Page 25
By John Priest (Efrit, Drake, Noctros, etc)
*John's Story*
John lies alone on the frozen grating, particles of frost having already made their way onto his body, giving him a light yet visible coating of ice as he remains motionless on top of the metallic grating. He shakes his head constantly, suffering nightmare after nightmare. Unable to distinguish his dreams from reality, it all feels real to him. He hates it, he hates it all.
One nightmare forces him to relive his grandfather's funeral, only, he is fully grown and his family, are decaying husks. Their hisses of toxicity each hit him pin-point onto his heart.
""Why don't you cry? " Why don't you cry? WHY DON'T YOU CRY? ? ? " Chanting this foul verbal sentence at him, constantly pelting him with the stones of its accusation.
"Why don't you cry? " "I...I don't know...." replies John as he stares at the horrid figures whom have taken on the form of his family.
"Why don't you cry? " Hiss the abominations as they slowly inch towards him, the vapors of their breathes visible as a result of their disgusting, bile-infested mouths hissing at him. John can only take a few step backs as the come closer, replying "I don't know".
Each time they hear this reply, they crawl closer "Why don't you cry? " Hiss the beings as they come closer "I don't know" "Why don't you cry? " Coming closer and closer "I don't know " In which they have finally cornered him "WHY DON'T YOU CRY? " Wails the distorted apparition of his mother, who grasps down onto his shoulders and screams it into his face, pieces of skin and droplets of rotten blood flying onto John's face.
John sinks onto his knee's, his fear tightening it's grip on him. These beasts continue to chant mercilessly for what seems like eternity. "I...don't...know.....I..don't....KNOW " Yell's John as he swipes with his right arm, knocking the monsters away from himself.
He balls his hands up into fists, tightening fiercely as he glares at the rotting husks. He hates them, why can't they understand? Why must he be sad over a man he never knew? A man who never took the time to even become acquainted with his own grandson? He doesn't want to cry to be sad He just wants to be able to act of his own accord John closes his eyes for one moment "I don't want to cry " And forces them open once more as he brings his arms up, but to his surprise, the monsters are gone. They've simply vanished. No bile, no skin flakes, no droplets of blood....nothing. Even the droplets of blood that fell onto John have disappeared. This new series of events confuses John. That's when, he hears the sounds of a man's laughter.
"Ha...Ha....H-a...Haha...ha" Echo's the laughter throughout the room.
John tries to pinpoint the origin of these laughs, but to no avail. He twists himself, trying to perhaps catch the perpetrator unprepared, though finding nothing. He comes to the coffin that seemingly contains the body of his grandfather. Right next to the casket is a mirror, which while odd, isn't uncommon. Sometimes people who've recently lost a loved one, like to look in the mirror and perhaps use, it's reflective power, to implant a good memory into their sight for one moment of joy.
"Ha...ha....ha-aa...hahh....hahhhhhhhhhh" Hisses the laughter all around him.
These new laughs' further fuel his suspicions and want to find the source. That's when he turns to the mirror and stares at his reflection. He does this for several moments, before thinking of turning away, but as he does, something odd happens. His reflection takes a twisted grin onto its mouth, it's flesh beginning to melt, showing pieces of his muscle alongside some blistered patches of skin.
"Hahahahaahahah" Laugh's the contorted, twisted reflection, revealing itself to be the source of the laughter. John approaches the mirror "What manner of monster are you?" Inquires John as he looks face to face with the reflection "I'm you, the reeeaallll you " Hisses back the reflection, it's skin darkening as time passes. John brings back his head, his face turning into an expression of disgust at the creatures accusation, alongside it's continuously changing complexion. "You're not I, I'm nowhere like that " "Stop parading around in this charade. You know I am you, you know the truth " Asserts the dark reflection as it continues to laugh at its human counterpart. "Stop...laughing at me " Demands John as the reflections laughter increases. The reflection just continues to laugh at John, finding humor in some unknown source. Fed up, John raises his fist and punches the mirror, shattering it's glass and causing him to stumble into a void. John tries to return to where he once was, but some outside force pushes him through the broken mirror and out into the void, falling and falling helplessly as the light begins to fade.
As John continues to struggle inside his dreams, a mysterious figure walks towards John. The figure is humanoid in appearance, but vastly taller than most people. Its face is mostly featureless, with only a series of stitches being the only noticeable feature. It's rugged, dirty clothes being the only things that touch its leathery, prosthetic-like skin. It bends over, carefully wiping the frost off of John's twitching body. It releases a glowing light from its hand, defrosting John instantly, stopping his convulsions and letting John return to a state of ease. With that done, the figure grabs John's right leg and begins to drag him down the hallway. The hallways the figure drags John down, are a mixture of arctic and metallic themes. No strange obtrusion's are located here, holes being holes with no twisted or misshapen metal inside or surrounding them. The ice taking on shapes of its own, ranging from icicles too oddly, almost face-like patches of frost. Small, cage-like structures holding tiny, skeletal figures, hang down from the ceiling, creating a chillingly haunting scene as they remain there, motionless and twisted into statue-like displays.
The figure then comes to a stop, having arrived at a flight of stairs. Using a moment to come up with a new direction, the figure decides to just keep on moving, stepping down the stairs and dragging John's unconscious body along the way. As this happens, John is still stuck in a mire of his own nightmares. None of them are as ghastly as his most recent one, but they all hold their own effect. One nightmare consists of John being strapped into a chair, being forced to watch a grisly spectacle, consisting of a group of bleeding and horribly bruised children, singing "Ring around the rosy", their flesh decaying faster and faster as they sing the song. It ends with the children becoming nothing more than sacks of bile, stomach juices, and blood, their last words before collapsing upon each other being "anndddd....theyhhhh....alll...falll.....dowwwwwwhhhhnnn!" And then falling down, melting into a large pool of corpse juice as they all laugh, staring at John.
As the figure drags John down the vast, it notices his inner struggle. It pities him, having to endure such torment. But, it knows that such a test of mental endurance, is necessary for what is to come. This place, the Otherworld, is formed from his fears, his regrets, and his sins. The one's who've come before him have been faced with this grim truth and as such, he too will be forced to persevere through it too. Finally, the being comes to a stop, having crossed into a dark room at the bottom of the Slaver's Compound. It drags John into the middle of the room, letting go of his right leg and placing John at his intended destination. It then touches John's head, altering the course echoing in his head into one of it's choosing, so that John may help another. Lastly, before heading out, the being places a pair of burnt, crispy leather gloves on John's chest and departs from the room, disappearing into a combination of mist and darkness.
John open's his eyes as a new dream starts, finding himself inside of a alley way. A dreary, achromatic colored sky greets his eyes as they open up and take in his surroundings. For some reason, John doesn't seem to want to get up. It's like, he'd rather prefer to just lye here, letting time past and perhaps get some rest. But something feels wrong, something is wailing in the back of his head to get up and explore, to get up and get far away from his current location. Not wanting to offer any real resistance, John gets to his feet and stands up, gripping one of the surrounding walls for support. He exits the alley and goes out into the street, finding it desolate with no signs of life. He slowly makes his way across the street, looking around for anything that may give him some clarity. Unfortunately, nothing comes up. The western side of the street is blocked with an assortment of cars and various other vehicles. The eastern side has an open abyss, but with chunks of concrete still forming small, yet accessible platforms for anyone to traverse.
Figuring it to be his only path out of the current area, John makes his way to the eastern side, arriving at the platforms and slowly beginning to cross them. He takes his steps carefully, making sure to have a good place for his feet. He crosses ten or so platforms before coming to an end, being met by an open door. He's a bit cautious about entering the doorway, remembering what happened when he entered the broken mirror, but he eventually does enter it and goes through, entering a new building. Inside, from the various stuff around, he makes the guess that he's in some sort of coffee shop. He walks inside of the backroom, glancing around it in case there's anything that might interest him. When he gets to a door, he looks down and strangely, finds a gun on the floor. He takes out the clip, finding only one round inside of it. Unsure, but unwilling to go back, he chambers the one round and grips it firmly inside his right hand as he opens the door.
Inside, he see's Tai standing near a table, an expression of horror highlighting her face. Beside her, several ghouls are chanting at her, accusing her of letting one of them die. Not letting them get to her, John shoots the gun in his hand, hitting one of the ghouls in the head and killing it.
He runs over to Tai, telling her to come with him, but she doesn't reply.
He shakes her, trying to get her attention, finally managing to, saying "Come on" and smiling before returning to his usual expression.
He grabs one of her arms and forces her to follow him, running through a pair of double doors and out into another area. They continue to run for quite some time, not even looking back to see if they are still being pursued, they just keep on running. That's when, when they charge through one last door, a bright light absorbs them.
John awakes with a jolt, sweat oozing down his flesh. He wipes his forehead and takes a deep, icy breath.
"Tai....are you still alive?" Questions John as he stares into the darkness in front of him.
He places his hands into his laps, feeling a bit surprised as he feels the touch of leather against his hands. He grabs the source of this new feeling and finds a pair of gloves. Holding them in his right hand, he inspects them a bit before placing them inside his right pocket and standing up. With nothing but darkness in his sight, he turns on his flashlight and starts to look around.