James nudged his head; the ground beneath it was cold and hard. Very uncomfortable. With a groan, his head lolled to the side, the faint pounding of a headache from lying there starting to arise. Slowly, he tried to remember what had happened. Why was he lying on the ground.

I…I killed them. The monsters, the ones in the cages. Then I…fainted? The room began to spin. I…now I remember! Laura! Oh g-d, my head…

He sat up quickly, looking around his surroundings in dumb amazement.

The office was gone.

Now he was sitting in a completely different room. It looked almost like a garden area, very dirty and dead looking. James pushed himself to his feet quickly, wondering what the hell had happened. Had someone carry him here?

That's it. He thought. Things are screwy enough as it is. I need to get out of here. This place…there is something terribly wrong here.

He found himself laughing dryly at the comment, placing his hands over his sore abdomen. Did you just realize that now dumb ass?

He wasn't laughing because it was funny; he was down right scared. His knees trembled; he shook like a child and felt just as frightened.

Maybe I'm in hell.

Still shaking, he exited the room, wanting nothing more than to get back to Maria, find Mary, and the get hell away from this…this town. Was it even a town? He stepped out into the hallway; a cold hand gripped his stomach, making it churn. It was dark, very dark, and darker than it should have been. The walls looked old, rotted, rusted, and…blood stained. He might have expected that. This was a abandoned hospital, it's bound to show some form of neglect.

This isn't neglect. He thought gravely. Not neglect…hellish is a better word to describe it.

It did look hellish, like a nightmare. The dark that had succumbed the hallways was thick, his light barely sliced through it. The air had a much stiller, frightening feeling. The atmosphere of the sad building had been altered completely. James racked his brain, trying to come up with a name for this-this hellish scenery. Hellish wasn't enough, he somehow knew this, like he had been supplied with this information. No, this place had a very different feel from the foggy world, it was more evil, more tormenting, as though the devil himself had arisen from hell and placed his palm across the walls, spreading his own wallpaper.

Darkness.

The word arose in his subconscious like a creature slowly arising from a lagoon.

Darkness.

That's how it seems. He realized. Darkness. Darkness. Darkness.

Not your average everyday darkness, something evil. The kind of darkness, like a nightmare viewed through reality. A nightmare that has become reality.

James removed his flashlight form his jacket, holding it out in front of him for better illumination. His footsteps sounding light in the thick, cold air. He located the elevator, and rode it up to the first floor back to where he had started. As he stepped out, he noted that it too had been altered, much to his dismay. The darkness.

What's happened here?

Maria…I should go check on Maria.

He nodded slightly, agreeing with himself that it was a good idea. Stumbling down the hallway, light slicing through the unnatural dark, looking at the new surroundings almost in awe. The rust, he saw, seemed to emit a reddish glow. It reminded him of embers. The doors that were open before were just as he had left them; he yanked the door knob and hurried up the stairs, never stopping to catch his breath until he had reached the third floor. He walked out, nearly running into the twitching, faceless creature wearing a nurse outfit. He raised his gun without hesitation, shooting down the creature until it was soaked in dark red blood.

He ran into the back rooms where patients had been admitted. Everywhere he looked, darkness seemed to cling like a blanket. The back rooms, as everything else, were changed. He stopped in front of Maria's room, waiting, seeing if he could hear anything.

She's still resting.

He opened the door, stepping inside and gazing in dismay at the empty, now rusty cot. Maria wasn't there, she was gone. On the bedside table were some unopened pill bottles. James picked them up. The bottle had no prescription, no name; it didn't even have a label. Just some white pills on the inside.

What is this stuff?

He set them down, dread growing in him. What had just happened? Hell, what was happening in general? This made no sense. This place was screwed up entirely.

Why did I leave her alone?

James walked out of the room, debating what to do next. Just leave without Maria? Maybe she was wandering around, looking for him?

Or maybe that pyramid head thing dragged her off.

He hurried, not knowing where he was going, down the stairs.

Crash!

James nearly tripped, grabbing a hold of the banister to keep himself from falling on his face.

It came from the basement.

He retraced his steps back down the stairs, readying his shotgun. His breath came it in short, quick gasps, his nerves were on fire. At last, he reached the basement, preparing himself for hell. He walked in quickly, his shotgun poised at air. The basement was very small, there wasn't anything down there. He looked more closely around the room, noticing for the first time a smaller entrance in the basement, almost like a large hole. James bent down, pulling himself through the hole, and looking around curiously. It was dark, there wasn't anything in there.

James walked more into the room, sighing in frustration, feeling like he was running in circles. There was nothing at all, and, he was starting to think, was never anything. Of course that thought had been on his mind all day, he had tried to ignore it, and it always came back.

Oh g-d Mary…

"James!"

James' heart leaped forward, he whirled around, a huge smile of awe on his face. Someone moved in the shadows, stepping forward. James knew those legs anywhere. "Mary!"

Frowning, Maria left her dark veil, a slightly disappointed look on her face. James faltered for a moment, his mouth twitching in embarrassment. As glad as he was to see her alive, he was deeply disappointed she wasn't Mary. "Maria," He said, clearly surprised. "I thought you were-anyway," Maria shook her head slowly, frowning. "Anyway, I'm glad your alive."

There was a beat, and then she looked up at him, her blue eyes narrowed angrily. "Anyway?" She screeched. "What do you mean anyway? You don't sound very happy to see me!" Her voice raised several octaves. James took a step back, surprised by her outburst. "I almost died back there, why didn't you try to save me? All you care about is that dead wife of yours! I've never been so scared in my whole life!" Her voice cracked, she absent mindedly wiped away a tear.

James didn't know what to say at first. Here was this woman, she looked just like Mary, but she wasn't. She was someone completely different, not Mary at all. Not Mary, not Mary. She was Maria. When would he learn that?

"I'm sorry," He said lamely. "I just-"

Maria didn't give him a chance to finish. She flung her slender arms around his broad shoulders and pressed herself against him. "Then stay with me." She wailed tearfully. "Don't ever leave me. You're supposed to protect me." Then she began to cry. James slowly put his arms around her, feeling both awkward and bad at the same time. He hadn't meant to make her cry, he hadn't meant to scare. But…his first priority was Mary, didn't she realize that? Was this really his fault?

I shouldn't have left her—

You have Mary to think about.

James inhaled Maria's perfume, not Spring, of course, probably something from Victoria's Secret. Mary had always been so fond of nature. Her shampoo had been lilac scented. She had been over fond of flowers; he would always find her pulling weeds out of the ground or watering the plants at home. She had had a regular green thumb. He use to bring her flowers in the hospital, but they always died. It was something he had never understood about her. Why had she become so attached to something so fragile? Flowers died so quickly, they would wilt first, their lovely color fading, and then they'd rot, then they would just sit there until Mother Nature did its course. It was tragic in its own way, watching something so beautiful just slowly rot away. Sometimes, it was a lot easier to just pluck them out of the ground while they were still wilting.

Maria moved away from him, her eyes dried. "Where's Laura?" She asked him. "Did you find her?"

"Yeah, but," James winced, feeling bad. "She ran away."

"We have to find her!"

"Why do you care so much about her?" James asked her, remembering how she locked him into the room. He was bewildered. "Do you know her…?"

"I-I don't know." Maria admitted. "But I feel like it's up to me to protect her."

James nodded, pretending to understand. Another mystery about Maria he would never figure out.

The two quietly exited the room, neither one speaking. Maria remained behind him, as usual. He was suppose to protect her after all.

She was a puzzle to him. He didn't understand why she resembled Mary so much. Whenever he saw her, he instantly though: "Mary!", even when he knew she wasn't. She was someone entirely different, yet he felt like he knew her. And the way she spoke, as if she had known him for years. But they didn't, neither of them had never met before, so he shouldn't feel so guilty. He knew he wanted Mary, not Maria. And she wasn't his Mary. When would he realize that?