Me: And here's Chapter 13.

Zero: More unlucky 13 business?

Me: Could be.

Rendan: I think you enjoy writing this story a little too much.

AJ: What's wrong with that?

Zero: We can't understand jack shit of what's going on.

AJ and Me: ... That's kinda the fucking point.

Rendan: Do you two enjoy seeing us this confused.

AJ and Me: So much it should be illegal.

Zero: Do you two realize you're freaking us out with that?

AJ and Me: With what?

Rendan: ...Nevermind. I'll handle the disclaimer. Azard doesn't own Silent Hill or Hey Arnold! They are the respective properties of Konami and Craig Bartlett. All he owns are the plot, the OCs... Freaky bastard, and the monsters he's created.

Me: Thanks for that, Rendan.

Rendan: Part of my job... but I'll admit I enjoy it, too.

AJ: Read and enjoy!

Chapter 13: Keep Him or Leave Him?

The doors to the cultist base creaked open loudly. The wall hiding the door was moved outward along with it as four robe-clad figures walked out and let the door slam shut. The door locked itself with a resounding click as the four figures walked, as calmly as they could possibly muster, out of the hospital and back out into the fog covered town. After the four were a safe distance away from the base, as safe as anything possibly could be in Silent Hill, they discarded their robes and made to catch their breaths.

AJ was the first to recover, strangely seeming only barely, if at all, winded by everything. Helga was next, removing herself from the ground and standing up straight, her erratic breathing being the only remaining indication that she'd been winded. Arnold regained his breath shortly after, righting himself from his bent position. Lila was last, not surprisingly, remaining hunched over with her arms wrapped around her stomach as she tried to catch her breath. Arnold and Helga helped her right herself, allowing Lila to finish regaining her stamina.

Seeing as they were out in the open, the four children searched around for a temporary safe haven. Since Arnold and Helga didn't want to head to the Bowl-O-Rama again, in case the Order had cultists waiting there for them, they found a temporary haven in a local strip club, Heaven's Night. The four walked in to a room with what appeared to be a runway with a large steel pole reaching from the floor to the ceiling in the furthest point in the runway. Several neon lights, one or two of women, hung around the room remaining lit. However long was anyone's guess.

There were a few tables set around the room with three chairs at each, all of them dusty from what could've been years of neglect. However, unlike many other places in Silent Hill, this place hadn't been destroyed in any way, shape or form. The three P.S. 118 students didn't have a clue as to where they were, but took a seat in a few of the chairs at a table. AJ grabbed a fourth chair and moved it over to where the others were sitting and plopped in the chair. Helga pulled out the small radio and turned it on, once more ushering in the dull roar of static.

"Well, that was fun," AJ said with a smile.

"You call that fun?" Arnold asked with a glare. "We could've died!"

"We all could have," AJ stated in annoyance. "Don't think that you're the only ones that could've seen the white light."

"About that," Helga began, "how exactly are you alive?" Helga was doing an amazing job keeping her own shock and awe concealed. Then again, it wasn't the first time she'd repressed an emotion.

"Um... My heart is beating, I'm breathing, and I'm sitting right in front of you," AJ responded.

"That's not what I meant..." Helga groaned.

"Helga and Arnold said that they found your body in the hotel," Lila timidly added.

"My body?"

"Yeah, your body," Arnold filled in with a small amount of anger in his tone. "We found your skinned, broken, and lifeless body in a room that had at least ten dead monsters littered across the floor."

"How can you be sure it was my body?" Arnold growled and grabbed the vest he was wearing.

"Because I got this," Arnold stated, adding emphasis by acting as if he'd tug the vest he was wearing off his body, "off of your corpse!"

"Wasn't my body," AJ said as if it were obvious. Normally, he'd have been right, but there was the fact that the vest he wore was supposed to be one-of-a-kind.

"How did you escape then?" Lila asked. In truth, she'd been wondering that since the moment he'd reappeared. How did he escape from the swarm of monsters?

"Escape? Escape what?" AJ questioned. Lila was even more confused.

"The room with the rubble that the monsters started to come in," Lila replied. "You told me to go on while you fought them off." Lila was more than surprised to see AJ appear to be completely clueless.

"Lila, what the hell are you talking about?" Lila was worried at that question. How could he not remember? However, one look in his eyes confirmed a slight fear Lila possessed at the moment. He had no idea what she was talking about.

"The room on the second floor when-"

"Lila, we were separated on the first floor. Don't you remember?" Lila was beyond confused by this point. Everything he was saying was clearly contradictory to what she remembered. "You climbed up the pile of stacked furniture and it collapsed. I told you I'd find another way up and to find a place to hide. So, I went around, ended up breaking the axe, found this katana and saw you three being hauled off by the cult. Then I followed you."

"That's a load of crap!" Helga shouted. "When Arnold and I entered the hotel, that furniture was still stacked up! We even used it to get to the second floor!" AJ leaned back and shut his eyes. He crossed his arms across his chest and took several breaths.

"What do you have to say about that?" Arnold questioned, feeling slightly smug. Oddly enough, Arnold had no idea why he felt so smug. For a while, he trusted AJ to watch over Lila while the four were separated. Now, however, him suddenly dying and resurrecting was making his appearance highly suspect. No one can just die and magically be alive again. That just did not happen! His mind traveled to one of the first things AJ said to them when they appeared in Silent Hill.

'You can't trust everyone you meet in Silent Hill,' AJ had said. In truth, that made Arnold all the more suspicious of their fourth member. And, in a way, he knew far too much. He knew about The Order, he knew at least one of the previous victims of Silent Hill and most damning of all, he seemed to be playing mind games with them!

'Is he a member of The Order?' Arnold thought. 'He seems to know a whole heck of a lot about them and the town, and it can't be just coincidence we made it out of their base without being stopped or questioned about anything. The fact that we walked out seemingly without running into anyone is strange enough, but he walked through the base as if he'd done it at least a few times before. That Order member did know him, after all. They could've staged that whole incident to gain our trust.' Arnold's eyes narrowed as he looked at AJ's unchanging expression, filling him with anger and doubt.

"It seems the town is making its move," AJ finally said, breaking the momentary silence.

"The town is making its move?" Arnold repeated, his suspicion and disbelief clearly showing by his tone. AJ nodded and eyed the three seriously.

"Silent Hill has a habit of messing with its victims. The town itself seems to reach into a person's mind. It brings out their fears, their worries, their doubts, and whatever negative emotions that live within them and plays hopscotch with it. It feeds off of your inner darkness and brings it out, making you angrier than normal, maybe less sane or increasingly violent. It can even play tricks because of the hold it gains on your mind. That's what it did to Eddie Dombrowski, anyway."

"How do you know about him?" Arnold shouted, remembering that the only way he knew of it was through the notes left for him.

"Did you forget about what the cultist said?" AJ questioned in aggravation. "Apparently I've been here for years. Eddie was one of the people I saw come into Silent Hill. He, a girl named Laura and James all came around the same time."

"Nineteen years," Helga stated lowly, not believing that the boy in front of them should now be in his late twenties. In truth, her suspicions arose the same time Arnold's did and for most of the same reasons. However, the one thing that confused her most of all was the change in the amount of time that both he and the cultist said AJ'd been there. AJ said he'd only been there for a week or two, while the cultist said that he'd been there for nineteen full years. No place could seriously be that messed up! If only she knew.

Lila was unsure what to think. On the one hand, AJ had never lied to her before. He was patient with her lack of knowledge on the town and had even offered to train her to fight. He was apparently even right about how messed up the flow of time was in this town. It was amazing that he could feel like he'd only been there for a couple weeks but in reality had been trapped for almost two decades.

"I'm going to tell you what I told Lila," AJ started. "Time does not flow right in this place. Though... the amount of dust I'd find after being gone for a day suddenly makes sense. Even I can't believe the flow of time is messed up that badly."

"So what, are you twenty-eight in reality?" Helga asked.

"No, I'm still just nine. It seems that once I got into this place, I became bound by the way time flows here. By all logic, I really have only been here for about two weeks... but in the outside world, I've been gone for nineteen years."

"You realize how ridiculous that sounds, don't you?" Arnold questioned, his eyes still showing the same disbelief but now also betrayed some anger and hostility.

"If I didn't, would I be sitting here trying to make sense of it all?" AJ responded with his own question. "Fat lot of good it'll do though. This place isn't supposed to make sense."

"This wall wasn't here before..." Lila stated almost in a zombie-like trance.

"Lila?" AJ asked, though the unasked question was clear.

"When Pyramid Head killed those cultists in the alley... The wall behind us had a message written on it in... blood. It said, 'This wall wasn't here before'. At first, I didn't understand what it meant, but maybe I'm not supposed to."

"You're not," AJ confirmed. Lila nodded in a relaxed manner, as if a weight had been taken off her mind. "Only Silent Hill can make sense while making no sense at all."

"A paradox," Arnold said.

"Exactly," AJ stated. "This place is an eternal paradox. In ways it makes perfect sense, but in others, it makes no sense at all at the exact same time. It exists for the sole reason of messing with the victim's mind."

'That could be what's happening,' Helga thought as her gaze shifted to Arnold. 'Arnold's being affected by Silent Hill. He's used to everything making sense, but all of this violence and evil is really messing with his head.'

"Which is why, in this place, the only way to stay alive is to kill whatever seeks to harm you," AJ concluded.

"I don't know how you're able to kill anything," Arnold solemnly stated.

"You should know, Arnold," AJ began. "After all, you already have blood on your hands as well."

"You're lying!" Arnold shouted as he stood, knocking the chair he was sitting in over and onto the floor. Despite Arnold's reaction, one that spooked Helga and Lila because of the outburst, AJ sat in his seat, unmoved and unfazed by Arnold's outburst.

"Am I?" AJ calmly asked. "Look at your bat." Arnold picked up his bat and examined it, once more coming to the red splotch on it. "That little red splotch isn't a ketchup stain." Arnold began to tremble.

"I- I didn't mean-" he started but was interrupted.

"Good job." The three students all stopped what they were doing and looked at their fourth member. "You rose to the challenge and made your first kill, so relax. You did what you had to."

"How do you expect me to relax?" Arnold cried. AJ looked him in the eyes.

"What do you think would've happened if you didn't?" Arnold paused, but only for a second.

"We would've run away."

"And what after the creature found you again, and again, and again?" AJ continued. "You would've had to either kill it or be killed by it. You chose to kill it and live to see another day." Arnold went silent. "So, the question is, where do we head now?"

"Hold on a second," Helga said. "Who says we're bringing you along?"

"What?" Lila shouted. AJ narrowed his eyes.

"I'm with Helga. All of this isn't making any sense. You died, we get caught by the cult and now all of a sudden you're back? There's no way you're really AJ. So, to protect my friends, I'm going to take one of the first pieces of advice you gave us. We're going on without you."

Arnold was sure that all of this was impossible. He was sure AJ was really dead, or he was an agent sent by The Order to kill them when their guard was down. Of course, with the way AJ, either dead or a cultist, had been speaking about Silent Hill, he now could very well be created by the town itself to lead them down a road that would kill them all. There was just too much wrong with this picture.

"You can't trust everyone you meet in Silent Hill," AJ said, making the kids look at him incredulously. "Good call. But, there's one problem. What does the third member of your group have to say about your decision?" Their attention all suddenly turned to Lila, who found herself shrinking under their gaze.

What did Lila think about that? Her mind began to wander, specifically to what had been occurring lately. She had to admit that very little made sense, yet, to her, nothing really seemed off about their fourth companion. He was pretty much exactly as she remembered him.

"I think he should stay," Lila stated.

"Are you serious?" Both Arnold and Helga asked. Lila nodded.

"He's the strongest out of all of us, he knows the most about where we are, he hasn't lied to us yet, and he's saved us twice... and me a few more times. And he made a promise to me... I want to see if he keeps it."

Lila was slightly relieved to see AJ smile in return. Even stranger, though she did want to keep him in the group, there was something else telling her to keep him close. What was telling her and why, however, escaped the redhead, though the thought had a small dusting of pink reach Lila's cheeks. Arnold and Helga gazed at Lila in a small amount of shock and confusion. Shock in that she knew that much about him and confusion as to why she'd want to keep a dead boy in the group.

"Well, there you have it," AJ said.

"Nothing changes," Arnold argued. "Majority rules."

"You're not stopping me from coming with you."

"Really?" Helga asked as she stood next to Arnold.

"Yeah, really. Lila wants me to come along, so that's what I'm going to do."

"She may, but we don't," Arnold stated, looking ready to fight.

"I don't remember caring about what you want. Just what she wanted," AJ retorted, standing his own ground and narrowing his eyes dangerously.

"And if we say no?" Helga questioned.

"As if you saying no is going to stop me. If she wants me around, that's what's going to happen. If we have to, we'll separate again and she'll come with me."

"Like Lila would go with you!" Arnold shouted.

"It's her choice! Whatever she decides, I will go with!"

"What are you, some kinda lapdog?" Helga yelled.

"Unlike you, I'm not afraid to do what needs to be done to survive!" AJ shouted. Arnold and Helga went silent after that. As much as they hated to admit it, AJ was right. They were more inclined to run and keep running. Arnold wasn't even aware he'd killed something until AJ pointed it out. AJ was right... they were scared. They were scared of the idea that they had to kill. They were terrified of the notion that they may not escape. Most of all, they were frightened about what may happen to them should they fail.

"We're going to the school..." Arnold said, the previous fight he held in his voice now completely gone.

"Back there, huh?" Helga and Arnold nodded. AJ stood up and headed for the door. "The quickest way is across the lake, but we may have to take the road. The cultists may be waiting at the docks." The four stood up and walked out of the building, heading back into the fog and walked down the road.

"We're going to take the fastest route we can," Arnold stated. "That means we're going to take a boat from the docks. Even if there are cultists there, I'm sure you could handle it, AJ." The anger in Arnold's voice was clearly heard.

"At least one of us here isn't afraid to," AJ retorted, tapping the hilt of his katana with his left hand.

Me: And that's the chapter.

Zero: Oh shit.

Me: Apparently you see it. I wonder if anyone else can.

AJ: You mean see the things that are going on?

Me: Mentally, not just physically.

Rendan: Well, that's understood.

Me: I'm just curious if any of the readers realize what's going on.

AJ: I'm just glad I got a katana. Those swords are freaking sweet! It can't get much better than that!

Me: Are you sure?

AJ: ... Let's see what you've got planned then.

Zero: What just happened?

Rendan: Some kind of understanding between creator and creation. Why don't we have that?

Me: Your minds are differently wired than his. Simple. Anyway, that'll do it for this week.

Everyone: Be good and be safe, everyone!

Me: I'm outta here!