Well, here is chapter five. I certainly hope that you all enjoy this chapter. I'm actually thinking of a certain idea, but seriously, if you have any suggestions, leave them in the reviews. I honestly tend to get a little lost every now and then. The entire time I wrote this, I listened to The Darkness; look it up on YouTube, it has a thumbnail picture of someone from Elfen Lied. I was told that I should watch it. Should I? Another song I listened to quite a bit was Children of Darkness, Nightcored. It has the same thumbnail as The Darkness, but it looks a little inverted (color wise).
Edd looked up from his own small bag of medical supplies after reorganizing it for the third time, "Alena, I thought you said that your real parents died when you were only a few months old."
"That's what I was told." Alena whispered. She had been told that on the day she asked if she were her parents' real daughter.
"Sweetheart, we adopted you from Silent Hill."
"So my real Mommy and Daddy are from Silent Hill?"
"No, kiddo. Your real Mommy and Daddy died."
The woman claiming to be her real mother held her hand out to gently touch Alena's cheek, "I am Rowena. You may call me that if you like, Emily."
"I-I'm sorry, Rowena. But would you mind calling me Alena? I've been called that almost my entire life." She responded quietly.
Rowena smiled, "Of course, dear."
"Rowena," Called a stern voice that they recognized as Christabella's. Alena turned to see the firm look on her face, almost disapproving.
"Yes, madam?" Rowena almost said in a voice of submission. Slight panic and fright could be seen on the older woman's face as she was addressed by the Priestess.
"Don't scare off our guests, now." Christabella's stern expression faded into a small smile. Her smile faltered once she saw Alena and Rowena standing next to each other. "Oh my, you two certainly share quite a resemblance."
Before Alena could say anything, Rowena spoke. "Quite a coincidence, is it not?" Alena was shocked that she was lying. Why could Christabella not know of their biological linkage?
Christabella pulled a smile, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that Alena is in fact, your daughter."
Rowena quickly shook her head, "Oh no. Emily died when she was only a few months old, do you remember?"
Christabella nodded, "Of course. I had almost forgotten. It was quite a loss, was it not, dear Rowena?" she acted as if she had totally forgotten the event, entirely.
Alena wanted to say something, but she couldn't get a word in edgewise. She was confused by Christabella's mockery of such an event. Regardless if it happened or not, that isn't something you speak lightly about…
"Tragic." Rowena's voice was covered in worry and despair. Either she was doing a good job of faking it, or she was genuinely concerned for the secrecy of their relationship.
Christabella nodded once more, "Well, I must attend to other matters. You need your rest anyway. Rowena, you are needed." She said.
The other woman nodded, "I'll be with you in a moment-"
"Now." Her voice rang off the walls, almost making Alena jump.
Rowena knew that it was a lost battle, and nodded a quick 'farewell' to her daughter and the other men.
"I would prefer that you all stay here, my companions are a little... nervous." Christabella had a sharp look on her face that alena could not describe.
The two women walked out of the West Wing, leaving Alena standing there in confusion.
"What was that about?" Eddy asked with his arms crossed.
"I have no idea…" Alena finally said and frowned. "But one thing is for sure, I think we need to be careful around that woman. Something about her worries me."
"Rowena?" Ed spoke with a risen eyebrow.
She shook her head, "It's not Rowena who worries me, but Christabella. Why would Rowena be afraid to disclose our relationship?" She unzipped the black vest, revealing her dark blue polo shirt.
"And why did she say that you died, but when in fact, you had only disappeared?" Edd piped in.
Alena sighed, finally understanding, "She wants her to think that I'm dead for some reason."
"But why?" Ed stood.
"Hopefully we'll find out soon. But for now, I suggest that we stay quiet." Edd shrugged and rubbed his forehead.
Alena nodded and sat down against the wall, "Maybe if we looked around, we could find a little more about these people." She shrugged. "But where to look first…" she bit her lip and became lost in thought.
Edd popped his fingers and looked at a framed picture on a wall. "Well, this is a map of the church, and we're in the West Wing, right?" he asked his fellow friends. After receiving a nod, he continued. "Well, majority of people who feel threatened during a crisis, usually go to a religious official or a sacred place because it brings them peace. Or, sometimes they feel that the religious leader has divine advice."
"Okay, so what does that have to do with this current situation?" Eddy asked.
"Well, I was analyzing the behavior of the other people in this church, and I've noticed that they all have an affiliation with this particular area. It is safe to say that they are all followers of the religion that is worshipped in this building. So if we find a bible or some other form of sacred text, we will ultimately learn who exactly these people are, to an extent." Edd explained.
Alena nodded and almost laughed, "I can't believe I didn't think of this before. Good thinking, Double D." she smiled.
Ed nodded as well and pulled her to her feet, "So where do we look first?" he asked and looked to his friend.
Edd sighed, "I don't know if I can memorize this map, but I believe that if we can manage to sneak into the East Wing, we'll find the library-" he was interrupted when Eddy grabbed the picture frame from the wall, unhinged the back, and pulled the map out. "Edward Corbin! What are you doing?" he panicked.
Eddy looked at him with a risen eyebrow, "I highly doubt they'll miss a map of the place they already have memorized."
Edd sighed, knowing that he was being somewhat ridiculous. "Eddy, where does it show a bathroom?" he asked.
Eddy looked at the map, "East Wing, why? Do you have an idea?"
"A pretty good one, at that," he said and pulled out his cellphone. "Although I do not have any service, I can do this..." he took a picture of the map with his phone. "Now I can know the entire East Wing." he smiled.
"So what's your plan?" Alena asked.
"I'm going to tell them that I need to use their restroom, and when they can't see, I'll simply sneak into the library." Edd shrugged.
Ed nodded, "I think it will work."
"And what if they just won't let you go?" Eddy raised an eyebrow.
Edd was actually stumped by that question. He made a humming noise and rubbed the stubble of his chin, "Perhaps if I am convincing enough, they'll let me go. It's not like they can just keep us here. We're not their prisoners."
Alena nodded, "Okay then. Do we have a plan B?"
"We'll come up with one if this doesn't work." Edd gently pushed his phone into his pocket.
Edd carefully opened the door and met eyes with the Priestess who stood there, "Um, where is your lavatory?" he asked with a half-smile.
Christabella nodded to her left, "The East Wing. You'll find it." her expression softened ever so slightly.
Edd said a quick 'thank you' and hurried down the hallway, trying to act as if it were an emergency. When he closed the heavy oak door to the East Wing, he sighed in relief. That woman frightened him almost as much as the monsters he encountered outside. He turned to the East Wing in front of him, seeing an old 'Restroom' sign above a dingy wooden door. Edd shivered, not wanting to see how unsanitary it was. Instead, he looked at the large bookshelves in awe. There were so many! He desperately wanted bookshelves like the ones before him in his apartment to hold his many books. But first he'd have to alphabetize them by their genre, then by author, then by novels (and maybe numerically if they were in a series). the very thought excited-
Wait- I can't get distracted.
He slowly walked to the mountain of books and began searching for anything that sounded like it would be a bible of some sort. Then, he could figure out who these people were.
He searched and searched for any possibility rapidly. If he were gone too long, it would draw attention and he certainly didn't need that. But not once did he find anything that resembled a book of faith.
He was close to cursing until he saw a journal-like book, leather bound with small silver outlining. He grabbed it quickly, glancing at the circles on it. It was like the Zora symbol on Ed's Legend of Zelda game box, but without the lines around the circles, and around the three circles was yet another one.
He stopped when he heard voices from the hallway. He didn't move a muscle until he realized that whoever was on the other side of the door, had no intention of opening it.
"Christabella, dear Priestess, I promise you that Alena is not Emily."
That was Rowena.
"And you expect me to believe that? You cannot trick me, Rowena. I remember how desperate you were to keep Emily from me. You know her fate."
Edd didn't have to guess to know that it was Christabella.
"I swear-"
Rowena's protests were interrupted with a slapping noise, making Edd wince.
"And I swear, Rowena Gillespie, that Emily is the Chosen One. There is nothing that you can do that will stop me from opening paradise."
Edd was stunned, wondering if he heard heard things correctly, but realized that he had used precious time as it was.
He took out the smallest roll of gauze to make room for the book in his side pouch and stood. As fast as lightning, he acted as if he were walking back from the bathroom. It was a good thing that he did this, because no longer than a second later, Christabella opened the door to the East Wing. Rowena was nowhere in sight.
"You were taking quite a while, Mr...?"
"Ah, Eddward. But my friend's call me Double D, because I have two D's in my name, rather than one. And I forgot where I kept my hand sanitizer, so that did take a minute." he said with a weak smile.
The stern look on her face didn't go away.
For a split second, Edd thought that his composure would break at any second until she finally acknowledged that he had answered her.
"This is quite a large church, we wouldn't want you to get lost. I suggest that you hurry back to your friends." She plastured on a smile, but Edd knew that it wasn't genuine.
Edd rushed past her and out of the East Wing as if she intended on chasing him.
Alena was sitting on a dingy looking couch when Edd finally came back. She sat up and looked at him, not speaking until the door was completely closed. "Did you get it?"
He shrugged, "I'm not sure if this is it..." he pulled it out of his pouch, "But here." he handed it to Alena, who eagerly opened it.
The pages were slightly yellowed and were frayed on the edges, they were aged. Edd's guess was that it had to be almost half a century old, maybe even older. The writings were also old, hand written in faded black ink, elegant and neat.
"To those who wish to seek the Old Ways..." Alena read off the first page.
"'The Old Ways?'" Eddy attempted to look over her shoulder.
"Who is 'Ex...' wait, 'Zuchi-"
"Xuchilbara." Edd corrected Ed, knowing that he was having trouble saying it. "It says here, that Xuchilbara and Lobsel Vith were created by God." he said, also reading over her shoulder.
"'In the beginning, people had nothing. Their bodies ached and their hearts held nothing but hatred. They fought endlessly, but death never came. They despaired, stuck in the eternal quagmire.
A man offered a serpant to the sun, and prayed for salvation. A woman offered a reed to the sun, and asked for joy. Feeling pity for the sadness that overrun the earth, God was born from those two people.
God made time and divided it into day and night. God outlined the road to salvation and gave people joy, and God took endless time away from the people. God created beings to lead people in obedience to her. The red God, Xuchilbara; the yellow God, Lobsel Vith. Many Gods and Angels.
Finally, God set out to create paradise, where people would be happy just by being there. But there, God's strength ran out and she collapsed. All the world's people grieved at this unfortunate event, yet God breathed her last. She returned to the dust, promising to come again.
So God hasn't been lost. We must offer our prayers and not forget our faith. We wait in hope for the day when the path to paradise will be opened.'" Alena read from the next page.
"God is a woman?" Eddy asked with a risen eyebrow.
"Damn straight." Alena mumbled, "Although it sounds odd, I find this somewhat interesting."
Edd nodded, "I can see that. I find it interesting the way man is said to need God in this passage."
Alena sat down and read the Bible, Edd sitting next to her; reading as well.
Ed and Eddy studied the West Wing, wondering that if needed, they could escape. When Edd saw that his two friends were away, he spoke to Alena in a low voice.
"I have to tell you something."
AUTHOR'S NOTES
Woot, that was an interesting chapter, wasn't it? Oh, and the passage that Alena read from the Bible like book, is called Sun from the Silent Hill 3 soundtrack. I really like it, and I do find it insanely interesting. I love how the creators actually went in depth with it and how they said that man was miserable without God, and how they craved guidance and all that jazz.
I also love the music that plays in the background as Mary Elizabeth McGlynn tells the story :3
Well, read and review! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and believe me, there is more to come! I haven't even gotten to the nurses yet :DD
This is PhilosophicalZombie, signing off!