Silent Hill
Prelude
By X-treme X-taggano ([email protected])

Webpage: http://www.fanfichq.com/

Have you ever had a nightmare?

This may sound like a stupid question. Sure, we've all had nightmares. All of our dreams have at one time been filled with horrific images of the past. We all have had these dreams of unpleasentness. But that's not the nightmare I'm talking about.

I guess there is a more clear way of asking this. Have you ever had a time in your life when you couldn't believe what you were experiencing was reality? A time when all that surrounds you was too horrifying to be real? A time when you tell yourself, "This has got to be a dream?"

 I'm sure many of you will answer yes. No doubt in my mind. I myself have had many times in my life when I couldn't believe what was happening. There were many times when I thought I was dreaming.

 Of course, there can also be times in your life when you think you are dreaming because of the good things that happen to you . . . things that seem to good to be true.  Both types of these "dreams" can be equally unfortunate in sleep, however. When you have a truly horrifying nightmare and you wake up, you were greatful it was a dream. When you have a dream about something that brings you pleasure and you wake up, you wish your dream was reality.

 I know. It may seem that I am rambling on about dreams. But I must get this point across to you so you can fully understand what I am talking about. No sense will be made of my story otherwise. Before I start, there are some things you should know about me.

 Goodness, have I even introduced myself yet? I'm terribly sorry. My name is Harry Mason. I guess you could say that I'm a writer. You might have read some of my past fiction. I know, my latest writing has all been dark . . . almost moody. I suppose that is because I'm also a widower. My wife died, leaving me and my daughter alone. I don't want to talk about here death. It's . . . not a happy topic for me. I just . . . no, forget it. No more about my wife.

 But my daughter . . . I guess you should know a little bit about her. You see, Cheryl isn't really my biological daughter. My wife didn't give birth to her. She was found on the side of the road.

 Most of the time, I wouldn't just take a strange child from the side of the road. But something just made me think otherwise. It was either the sweet face the child had, or the look on my wife's face when she saw the child. I had never seen her look at another child the way she looked at Cheryl. Before we knew it, we picked her up and took her home as our own.

 Don't think that we just wanted to adopt a child. My wife really wanted to give birth to a baby. But she had infertility. She was unable to give birth and was very sick. So taking Cheryl home was just about the only alternative. Besides, there was something about Cheryl. Something that just . . . I don't know. There was just something about Cheryl. I don't what it was. Just something.

 But a few years later, my wife died from her sickness. I'll never forget that day. Once again, I don't want to talk about that. Leave it at the fact that she's dead now, leaving Cheryl and I alone.

 I'm sorry if that felt unneeded. But you really need to know about Cheryl and my wife if you are to fully understand this story.

 This story of my nightmare.

Silent Hill
Chapter 1: A Step Into Darkness
By X-treme X-taggano ([email protected])

 I don't even remember when we decided to take a vacation. It all happened years ago, after all, but one day I just stood up from my writing and said "I need a break." I guess most people do when they approach their mid-life crisis. I was out of new ideas for my writing anyway.

 And besides that, most of my writing was far too dark . . . it all was so depressing and moody.. It had an impact on people who read it in a sad sort of way. I couldn't help but write like that. It was my wife. . . I missed her so much I didn't even want to say her name. . . fearing it might bring more sorrow into my heart. In fact, had it not been for Cheryl, I would have committed myself for being a suicidal  citizen. The joy of having Cheryl for a daughter was so great that most of my depression had died down significantly. . . except in my writing.

 I really needed some rest and relaxation. I felt like the stress in my life would make me explode. So I decided to visit a resort. Now anyone who wanted to take a vacation knew it wasn't easy for a normal household. A lot of work goes into finding the perfect resort, such as making sure it's affordable, choosing the right time to leave, and making room for it in your agenda. Taking all that into accountability, I started looking for the perfect spot.

 The travel books were never any help, but I couldn't think of anything else to find some vacationing spot. Most of the resorts in the books charged more then then I could make in a lifetime. Lord knows what kind of people could afford those kinds of hotels. Besides that, I knew I couldn't afford the airfare. I suppose I could, but that would be one less meal for Cheryl and I. Maybe there was some place where we could go... close.

 Driving distance close.

 I'll just skip ahead because only God knows how long I spent looking. But somehow I ended up choosing this place. It looked like a nice town. It had three districts... a shopping district, a residential district and a resort district. It was also built right next to a lake. I researched carefully about the "family activities" there. They had a carnival in town, which was a good thing. Overall, it sounded like the perfect place to visit. Cheryl and I could stay at a motel, go swimming, maybe go to the carnival too.

 I asked Cheryl if she wanted to go. She then asked for the name of the place. I politely told her but it seemed odd how Cheryl reacted. She told me straight out that she had a funny feeling about that place. I raised an eyebrow at her, wondering what my crazy kid was thinking about. I thought she was playing a game with me, but her tone of voice convinced me otherwise. I had never heard Cheryl talk like that. . . ever. She portrayed her apprehension in a way that almost captivated me. But nonetheless, she said she would like to go. She used words, however . . . words I thought any normal seven year old wouldn't know. I do not mean she went off and used profanity. She just used descriptive words in ways that almost painted pictures in my mind. Was going to this place really a good idea? Maybe Cheryl's fear was justifiable.

 A week later, however, we had forgotten about that incident entirely. I had spent almost a week packing, and my back was killing me. Cheryl had told me several times in the past that I needed to do a little more than write. She told me I should work out more often and eat healthier than I did. I smiled whenever she told me those things. It reminded me of what a damned hypocrite I was. I'd tell her to go outside and play with her friends and eat her vegetables. I did neither. I usually don't even go outside at all. I don't have many friends. I kept thinking Cheryl was the only one I needed.

 It wasn't until late at night that we finished getting everything together. I told Cheryl she should probably sleep on the way there. It wasn't, after all, as close as I might have made it seem. It was several hours from our home. Cheryl brought her usual sketch book. I will admit, she never was the best artist in the world, but she drew pictures that always made me smile. I remember the first picture she had ever drawn... a picture of me. It's true that it looked more like an parasite than a human being, but it still had this magical value to it.

 After we had driven for at least an hour, Cheryl had fallen asleep. I always loved watching her sleep. She looked just like an angel. I kept my attention on the road, however. I hated driving places. I had remembered the days when my dad used to drive me places and I'd look at him, wondering how anything as interesting as driving could get boring. But I had quickly realized that driving can be a chore . . . an endless chore that doesn't give you a break.

 Several hours later, we reached a mountain path. Windy roads seemed to go on for hours. Cheryl woke up at about that time. She then smiled at me. I returned the same expression. Fortunately for me, Cheryl never got carsick. A good thing, considering the constant twists and turns in the road. No one was even on the road, but I figured that was because of how late it was.

 But somehow... I thought I knew this place. I started to feel strange...

 I started to sense Cheryl's apprehension.

 Suddenly, I saw headlights in my rear view mirror. Maybe another car? Why on earth would another car be out this late? I laughed realizing the other person was probably thinking the same thing. I changed lanes to let the vehicle behind me past.

 It wasn't a car. It was a motorcycle, and one that probably belong to the highway patrol. I looked at my shoulder, making sure Cheryl and I's safety belts were buckled. The officer looked at me. It was a woman... her face was far too feminine to be a man. She just smiled at me, and drove on ahead of me. I raised my eyebrow slightly.

 Did I know her?

 It wasn't much further up the road that I noticed her cycle. It was there, but she wasn't. Whoever it was wasn't there any more. The cycle laid in an awkward position that convinced me that she had been in a wreck. I sure didn't see her body anywhere though. Maybe she just parked and threw her bike aside. She had probably crossed the street. It seemed strange that she'd leave it this late at night, though.

 Cheryl just stared straight out the window, obviously as confused as I. We both shook our heads as we continued down the seemingly endless chain of twists and turns.

 I really felt tired, and almost found myself falling asleep at the wheel. I occasionally slapped myself to keep myself awake . . . maybe even conscious. The road seemed to be a blur, so I slowed down slightly. It was then that Cheryl pinched me. That certainly woke me up. I started to zoom down the road. Cheryl giggled slightly. She knew how I was.

 Suddenly, my eyes caught a glimpse of something up ahead. I couldn't quite tell was it was. It looked blue from a distance. I saw Cheryl staring at whatever it was. She looked as if she were in a trance... as if she knew exactly what it was and why it was there.

 It was a girl! I couldn't get a good look at her, but I couldn't hit her! I suddenly spun my wheel to the left, trying to dodge her. Our car spun in a one hundred and eighty degree angle and it tipped over. It was than that I hit my head on the wheel... so hard...

 Everything started to go black as I lost my grip on the world.

Silent Hill
Chapter 2: A Voice Without Words
By X-treme X-taggano ([email protected]) 

 My head...

 Nothing made sense... I couldn't feel my arms or legs. All I could see was white... like a bedsheet was casted before my eyes. I tried to move, but I couldn't. I couldn't even tell if my heart was still beating.

 I couldn't tell if I was alive.

 If I wasn't, it was a funny hell I had been sent to... just a big void where I couldn't move or walk or speak. Maybe I was just passing through from our world to the next...

 I suddenly ruled against the idea that I was dead. I was able to feel my fingers. I decided to toy with my muscles to see if they would actually do anything. I barely moved my finger up. That was a good sign. I wasn't paralyzed or in any type of critical condition. I guessed I'd have to take my movements one step at a time or I'd go on the brink of insanity.

 It wasn't that much longer until I could finally feel all my limbs, but I didn't want to move. I didn't want to wake up. I didn't want to have find out where I had ended up. What about Cheryl? She needs me!

 I opened my eyes slowly. They seemed to flutter a bit before they opened. When at last I could see again, I saw the same thing as when they were closed... pure white. Maybe I was dead...

 No, I couldn't be dead. I saw the dash board to my car, and if I recall my theology correctly, cars don't have an afterlife. I placed my hand on my forehead, kneading it a bit. I was hoping this would somehow relieve some of the pain that throbbed in my head. I shook my head a bit. I was still alive. That was a good thing, I guessed. I placed my hand on the empty seat next to me to center my balance. I blinked a few times, wondering when my vision would focus.

 Wait a minute... empty seat next to me?

 Cheryl was gone!

 I looked at the seat next to me. Cheryl wasn't there. Where had she gone? The door was opened. Maybe she had just left to go find help. I was, after all, unconscious. I didn't even know if it was the same day. Maybe I had been unconcious for a while now and Cheryl couldn't wait any longer.

 I opened the door to the car and quickly stepped outside into this town. I started to wonder. How was it so cold in August? Snow was falling lightly. There was also thick fog, and a lot of it. I could barely see three feet in front of me. What was wrong with this weather? There was certainly no explanation for it off the top of my head.

 It was also quiet . . . too quiet. Where was everyone? I looked at the buildings and stores ahead of me. There was no one in any of them. I looked into a car parked by the sidewalk. No one in there. The only sound that could be heard was a distant moaning of the wind. It was odd how much the wind portrayed the same sound as a human dying.

 The color of this town seemed to be gray. The sun didn't shine in the sky, therefore rendering the town almost colorless. Everything in town seemed to look washed out. There was no color which actually seemed to fit the environment of this town quite well. No colors... no sound...

 Suddenly, a sound emerged from the darkness of the distance. It sounded like footsteps. Perhaps there was a citizen here who could explain this phenomena. Or perhaps it was Cheryl. I looked into the distance, my eyes fully focused. Off in the distance was a human! She had short black hair, and wasn't that tall. She looked young.

 Cheryl!

 It had to be her! I would recognize that dress I bought her for her birthday any day! There she was, just standing there.

 Goodness, she must be scared. I decided to slowly approach her, not wanting to risk scaring her off. A child of seven would be terrified in this type of situation any day, no matter how fearless they had seemed in the past. But this was my daughter! The slightest sound could almost give her a heart attack.

 Maybe...If she heard my voice. Cheryl once told me she loved my voice because it kept her from being afraid. What a kid she was!

 I cleared my throat lightly.

 "Cheryl?" I said in the most warm voice I could.

 But her reaction was completely different from what I expected. She started to take a few steps, not even turning to see who called her.

 Now, Cheryl had been a brave child before, but . . . was she really brave enough to walk right on without even responding to her father's voice? It was like she heard me, but ignored me. Weirder still was the fact that no matter how brave a child could be, they certainly wouldn't have any type of courage in this situation. I myself couldn't find an ounce of it.

 Cheryl wouldn't stop walking. Where was she going?

 "Where are you going?" I asked, once again trying to sound comforting.

 But Cheryl didn't stop. What was wrong with her? Cheryl just didn't want to stop walking. . . like a three year old taking her first steps to her mother. But what baffled me was the fact that she seemed so calm and unafraid . . . like she was in some kind of trance.

 "Hey, wait! Stop!" I tried to tell her.

 And then she ran.

 Did I scare her? How could I be so stupid? Maybe she just didn't hear me the first times I called her name. And then I get careless and scare her away! The poor girl must've been terrified! I didn't waste a second to follow her. Didn't she have any common sense? True, she was scared, but she should've at least checked to see if it was me before running away.

 But weirder still, it seemed like she was deliberately running from me. It almost seemed like she knew it was me, but decided to run from me. What could cause Cheryl to run from her father? I suddenly thought otherwise. Cheryl probably didn't know it was me. She probably thought I was some creature. Cheryl used to always ask me to check under her bed for monsters. I almost laughed at the idea of Cheryl thinking I was a monster.

 But she didn't seem frightened. She wasn't screaming, and she was breathing normally. It also seemed like Cheryl knew this town and knew exactly where she was running to. She ran a few blocks before stopping for a few moments. I was panting hard when I stopped running. Where did Cheryl think she was going?

 I then realized that Cheryl had stopped in front of what looked like an block of houses. She seemed to look at me for a second. And for a second, I could almost swear she smiled. She then started running again.

 By now I was really worried. Where did Cheryl think she was going? And the scariest part was that she knew I was following her. I was sure of it. She looked right at me and smiled. I once again started running. Exhausted or not, I couldn't let Cheryl go. She was all I had left in my life.

 The street corner Cheryl ran down seemed to be a blur. It all looked the same to me. Maybe it was because I was tired and the this couldesac seemed to go on forever. It was almost like time had frozen in place. Everything was a collage of red and gray. The only clear thing I could see was Cheryl. She was still running. I know I've never been in perfect shape, but Cheryl was running faster then I'd ever seen her run. She was ahead of me by leaps and bounds. I was astonished. Was this really Cheryl? She seemed like someone else now.

 No, it had to be Cheryl. I just knew it. It had to be her!

 My mind suddenly focused on the road ahead of me after the crash of a gate echoed through the street. I stopped as fast as I could. Where did she go? I looked left and right, wondering where Cheryl could possibly have gone.

 Suddenly, the glimpse of a gate caught the corner of my eye. . . that was it. She had to have gone through the gate. There was no other alternative. She couldn't have climbed the brick wall. It was too tall and there was no real way to keep a steady grip on the wall. And she certainly didn't turn around, or I would've seen it as clear as anything else. Besides, I heard the gate crash.

 Stop thinking! Find Cheryl! That thought entered my head in a split second. I have to find her. And she had to have gone through the gate. I didn't have time to think for very long.

 So, before I knew it, I put my hand on the doorhandle, stopping only to catch my breath for a second. I then turned the handle and open the gate.

 Suddenly my stomach went into a knot. . .I realized then that a stream of blood was flowing to the gate. A very little bit of it spilled onto my shoe. Where was this blood coming from? I slowly moved my foot from the awful red liquid. My eyes slowly trailed up that stream. Suddenly, I saw the source of the blood.

 My eyes widened with absolute terror. This seemed to be where someone kept his dog. Thick patches of grass surrounded an old doghouse. And there, in front of it, was one of the most gruesome images I had ever seen.

 A mutilated dog. . .

 Its thick intrales were bundled up in the center, with one part hanging off the side of the dog's rotting flesh. The remains didn't even hint that the dog had fur at one time. Only its pink, torn flesh shown, with many of its innards splashed out. It looked to me like someone did this on purpose . . . that the dog was deliberately attacked. I could barely even tell it was a dog.

 My stomach cramped up even tighter at the gruesome scene. I slowly moved on, trying to keep the sight of the dog away from my view. That image was enough to make the toughest stomach curl and I certainly didn't have the toughest stomach in the world.

 Right passed the remains in the back yard was an alleyway. I stared at it for a moment, stopping to think about how odd it was that an alleyway was in someone's back yard. Why the hell was there one here?

 I once again took a deep breath. Harry, stop thinking. You need to find Cheryl. That thought once again entered my head. I was thinking more than I was concentrating. And right now. . . I just needed to focus. I needed to focus on saving Cheryl. It didn't matter if there was an alleyway in someone's back yard. . . Cheryl probably went in there. I quickly made my way into the alleyway.

 There wasn't much in the alleyway. Just pipes and a set of stairs. I made my way through it, trying to keep my mind focused on Cheryl. Where was she? I hadn't seen her for a while, making me have my doubts of her being in her.

 After running for what seemed to be an eternity, I found another gate. I found myself praying for no more mutilated animals passed it. I soon opened the gate and walked in.

 Suddenly, a sound entered my head. I knew it was in my head, because it made it ache a little bit. And it wasn't a small sound in my head either. I could almost swear someone else could hear it. . . well, if someone else was there.

 It sounded like a siren...

 A siren trying to warn me of something...

 And then it got darker. The light completely disapeared from the alleyway, leaving me in pitch blackness. What was happening? Why did it all of a sudden become dark? I reached into my pocket, trying to find something that could help me. Suddenly, my hand stumbled accross something. A lighter.

 I normally didn't keep a lighter with me, but we were traveling here at night, and I kept one just in case something might happen on the road. It seemed almost ackward that I brought one. . . like it was fate that I had thought of it. I then starting running down the alleyway. I didn't know what to expect. Anything could happen at this rate.

 My thoughts were shattered by a sudden creaking sound. It sounded like a rusty wheel or something. I followed my ears around the corner to the sound.
 A wheel chair. Nothing unusual. Its wheel was still spinning, though. I guess that didn't matter much. I ignored it and moved on.

 I then, once again, stepped into an even bigger pool of blood.

 What the hell was going on in this town? Every place I went to was drenched in blood. That was the second time in the past ten minutes I stepped into blood by accident, and any normal person knows it's not every day you just happen to walk along and realize your shoe was bloodstained.

 And chances were, where there was blood, there was a corpse. . .

 And I was completely accurate. Up ahead, to my surprise, was a table with a sheet on it. Under the sheet was the shape of a human body with blood pouring out of the chest area. I felt like vomiting, but tried to keep the thought out of my head. I wasn't curious enough to take off the sheet and look at the corpse anyways.

 And then there erupted another sound, this time much louder then the mere squeaking of a wheel chair. It sounded. . . almost like a photocopier. It boomed through a chain link fence behind the table with the body. It sounded like it was getting louder and louder...

 Like something was approaching.

 I was terrified at the time. Up until now, I tried to think there was a logical explanation for everything I had seen. But now. . . there was no explanation for what I was experiencing.

 Like it was a dream.

 No, worse.

 A nightmare...

 I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts. I wanted to turn and run. But something pushed me to go on. I had to save Cheryl, wherever she might be. And so I continued on, following the bloodstains on the floor. More sewage pipes followed followed over head. The chain link fence to my right added a smell of metal to the disgusting smell of the thick blood that defiled the ground. Insects flew around some larger puddles of blood. I was sure my shoe was getting a darker shade of red as I continued to run. I could swear I heard a light splash with every step I took, and it sickened me. It sickened me immensely.

 I suddenly stopped. There was something ahead of me. It looked like a chunk of meat...

 Human meat.

 I slowly approached it. If this was every part of a human now, it could have fooled me. It was so dark . . so rotten. It looked as if all the blood had been drained out of it. That might explain all the blood in the alleyway, but how on earth was there so much blood from one chunk of human meat?

 I suddenly realized . . . That wasn't the only piece.

 There were several pieces up the alleyway. Some human must have been terribly mutilated. I couldn't point out the specific parts of the body that were scattered, but whatever they were, they were ugly and it all made me want to vomit.

 My heart started pounded as I kneeled next to one of the pieces. I noticed what looked like knife wounds. This body was cut into pieces! I was almost sure of it now. What kind of human could tear another into this? If this was a murder, this was far worse than anything I had even heard of before.

 My eyes slowly trailed up the the trail of blood and towards a chainlink fense wrapped with barbed wire. My heart stopped.

 There, on the barbed wire, was a mutilated human body.

 I looked at the wounds, closer to vomit than I had before. Who the hell did all this? Who could do all this? I saw the face on the body. It looked as if it had suffered in agony before it died. I could barely even tell it was a human other than the almost intact face and the figure. I could recognize its rib cage and its thick intestines hanging out like chains. Its torn flesh hung like torn tissue paper across its body. The wounds were definitely knife wounds.

 But its arms were out like it was supposed to be nailed to a cross. I, being a firm believer in Christ, knew that position, as one word made its way to my head.

 Crucified...

 Suddenly, I heard what sounded like a laugh. It was a child's laugh. It wasn't Cheryl, I knew. It sounded to much like a young boy. I spun around quickly and held my match in the air. I looked on way, where the footsteps were approaching. I kept staring, my pulse so strong I felt as if my veins were going to burst forth from my body. I then saw it...

 It looked like... a skinless kid.

 With a knife...

 Oh my God! There was a kid with a knife in front of me! I stared at him, wondering what to do. I was cornered. Whatever this skinless, one eyed monster, if that's the most mature term I can use, was... I had an idea it was here for me... I thought I could outrun it. It moved slowly. I jumped to my left and started to run. I ran right past the monsters...

 Monsters?

 There were two... three of them! I had no idea whatever this was, but it had friends. I was guess they were friends of murder. I ran past all three of them. I ran back up the alleyway from where I came . . . down that blood stained alley way. I turned around to see if those things were still following me. They moved slowly, but it appeared as if they were right behind me. I kept looking back while I ran, just to make sure they weren't stabbing distance close.

 Suddenly, I crashed into something. I turned my head. What was it?

 A . . . fence?!

 Where the hell did this come from? I looked at it. This fence wasn't here before and it blocked my exit out! I couldn't escape from the hell I was in! I tried to climb it, but there was no way out. What was I to do? I couldn't die! I wasn't ready for it! I . . .

 Than I felt a sharp pain on my back. It felt like a knife.

 Those kids!

 I screamed in pain as thick blood streamed down my back like a river. The back of my coat was torn open and could feel my muscles. They felt as if they had been torn apart. I turned around to try and fight back. I knew that was my only chance of survival. I had to use my limited combat abilities to fight off these things.

 But as soon as I turned around, another knife dived into my flesh . . . into my stomach.

 I groaned in pain and I felt even more blood spilling down both ends of my body. As soon as the kid removed the knife, I put my hand on my stomach. I swear I could see the stomach in my body spilling out. It sickened me almost as much as the pain I endeavered. Another knife struck my in the abdomen. I slowly felt the life flowing out of me. I couldn't stay awake.

 I couldn't stay alive.

 I couldn't stand up. I started to fall forwards, my blood spilling onto the pavement below me. I fell into a pool of it as I hit the ground. The splash it made sickened me, though I couldn't think straight.

 I was dying.

 I couldn't die! I had to save Cheryl! Cheryl needed me. How could my Father in heaven let me die now when I had a little girl to protect? I screamed again as another knife dove into my back, tearing through more of my muscle. My eyes fluttered shut. I couldn't hold on any longer.

 Good bye, Cheryl . . .

 I'm sorry.

Silent Hill
Chapter 3: In A Dream
By X-treme X-taggano ([email protected])

 I was flying . . . into heaven. I could see a light somewhere in the distance. I was going home at last. Maybe I would finally see her again there . . . I lifted my hands into the air as I reached out, trying to get to whatever that light was as soon as I could. I had to enter this realm! In there I would feel no more pain and suffering. What had happened was over. I felt an urge to open my eyes as I entered the light.

 I suddenly moved, sitting up. . . .

 I had been lying down . . . on a chair.

 I wasn't going to heaven! I was alive! What was I thinking? I wouldn't have gone to heaven until the resurrection anyway!

 I looked around, still wondering where I was. To my left was a table. This place looked like some sort of cafe. To my left was a table witha bottle of ketchup spilled onto a napkin. I looked out the window, realizing there was still light snow falling. The fog was still as thick as ever. I was glad I had my coat, or I would have been quite cold out in that kind of weather. I suddenly put my hand on my stomach.

 No wounds. Not even a tear in my shirt. I felt my back. No wounds or tears there either. I shook my head. I had to wonder . . .

 Was I dreaming?

 Suddenly,  heard footsteps coming from the dark end of the cafe. The noise alarmed me. I couldn't see who it was because they were hidden in the shadows. I prayed it wouldn't be one of those kids. I didn't want my dream to be a reality . . . if it really was a dream, that was.

 The person stood out of the darkness. Good. It was a human. I suddenly gasped.

 I knew that outfit! It was the police officer!

 She crossed her arms as she smiled at me. Her short blonde hair blew back a bit, due to the light breeze. She had a figure very similar to mine, only in female form. I saw the badge gleam on her light blue shirt. The sleeve said B.P.D, so I was assuming the shirt was part of her uniform. A gun was holstered to her side, hanging next to her dark black pants. She seemed young and attractive enough. I just wondered what she was doing here. How did she get all the way from that motorcycle "accident" to this town? I decided not to wonder too much. She, after all, was a cop and probably had her ways getting here.

 She sat down in chair and crossed her legs. It made me wonder how she could be so calm in a situation like this. I never had fully understood women, but this seemed abnormal. How could anyone smile when it was snowing in the summer, and a city had been abandoned?

 "How do you feel?" she asked me. I shook my head slightly. How did I feel? I felt like a train wreck, that's how! What a question to ask. How did I end up here? What about my questions? I gave off a sigh, trying to think.

 "Like I've been run over by a truck . . ." I said with all honesty. "But I'm all right, I guess."

 The officer continued to look my direction. "Glad to hear it . . ." she said relieved. "You didn't look so good."

 I started to wonder. Did she find me somewhere and bring me here? How did I end up in this cafe? Maybe she would explain it.

 "Are you from around here?" she asked curiously. "Do you think you can tell me what happened?"

 What happened? I thought I had been stabbed to death in an alleyway, but I had no marks to prove it. She was too calm! There was something funny about her, I knew it!

 "Listen, I'm just a tourist," I explained, trying to my hardest not to lose myself. No use worrying about the only other person I had seen who was alive. I knew I should just get some answers and maybe together we could get out of this god forsaken town. "I came here for a vacation. I think I just got here."

 "You think?" the officer mused.

 "Well, I got in a car accident. I might have been unconscious for a while," I explained. I shook my head. "I don't know what happened. I'd like to find out myself."

 The officer shook her head. "Uh huh . . ." She paused for a moment. "So, what's your name, anyway?"

 I was surprised I hadn't introduced myself to her yet. She might be my only hope of survival in this town. I didn't know if there were truly any dangers that lurked outside, but I had these thoughts that I was convinced were accurate. This place wasn't safe.

 "My name's Harry. Harry Mason," I stated formally.

 "Cybil Bennet. I'm an officer from Brahms, the next town over," she explained. "So you're Harry Mason, huh?"

 I was curious as to what she meant by that. How did she know my name? I had never met her before, and I had almost forgotten to even introduce myself!
 "Yeah. You know me?" I asked.

 She nodded. "I don't know you, but I'm a fan of your work," she explained. She smiled. "I read your recent novel. You have a gift."

 I was surprised she had read my writing. I thought no one had. It just seemed like that, I guess. I mean, I was still making money writing, so obviously someone had to keep buying my books. She didn't seem like the type who would read anything, but I guess you learn through experiences in life.

 Suddenly I stiffened. My eyes opened wide.

 Cheryl!

 How could I forget about my little girl? Where on earth could she be? I may have been unconscious for a long time. I lifted my head up and looked back at Cybil. She continued to gaze at me with those big blue eyes of hers.

 "By any chance . . ." I started. "You wouldn't have seen a little girl around here, have you?" I figured I should describe her. "She has short black hair. Looks about 7 years old. My daughter."

 Cybil shook her head. "I'm sorry. I haven't seen anyone in this town aside from you."

 What was wrong? Why was everyone gone? Maybe this strange weather phenomena had scared them all away. No . . . a whole town wouldn't run just because of strange weather. There must have been someone who didn't want to leave this town.

 "Where is everyone?" I asked.

 Cybil laughed almost sarcastically. "I'd tell you if I knew, believe me." She sighed. "All I can tell is that something bizarre is going on. Did you try any of the phones?" She pointed to the one on the counter next to the coffee machine. I shook my head.

 "No. Why, what's wrong?" I asked.

 "They're all dead," she explained. "So's my radio. I can't believe they sent me here alone to investigate this."

 I was a bit startled. I was guessing anything like this would call as an emergency. This certainly did not seem like a job for the local police department.

 "They sent you in alone for something like this?" I asked curiously.

 "No, I was sent in here to investigate something else. Just a local issue that's been going on," she explained. "But it's just my luck that this should happen right when I get to town. I'm going to have to go back and call in some reinforcements. You'd best come with me."

 I nodded my head, but I couldn't leave! Cheryl was still out there! I wasn't about to leave her out in that kind of condition! I was determined to find her! Without even explaining myself, I headed towards the door. Cybil suddenly raised her hand.

 "Wait! Where do you think you're going?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

 I looked back at her. "My daughter . . . I have to find her!" I explained.

 Cybil stood up out of her seat. "No way!" she said. I was startled by her tone of voice. "Do you have any idea how dangerous it is out there?" She crossed her arms tightly against her chest and tilted her head.

 My brow wrinkled. "Yes, I do! That's why I have to find her now!" I explained, almost angrily. "Cheryl's all I have left! She's my little girl, and I'm not going to leave her out there!" I had to let her know clearly that Cheryl meant my life to me or she might not let me go. I didn't know how she might react to my sincerity, but I wasn't afraid.

 She just approached me slowly. "Are you . . . armed?" she asked me slowly.

 "Am I what?" I asked, confused by the statement.

 Cybil rolled her eyes, acting as though I were just a lower life form. "I mean, do you have a gun?"

 I stared at her blankly. Did I have a gun? I guessed that the average human being didn't carry guns around with them. "No," I stated.

 Cybil sighed. "I didn't think so," she said. She then reached into a small pack on the other side of her holster. Inside the pack was a second gun. I was wondering what to expect until she . . . handed it to me? "Take this," she started, ". . . and pray you don't have to use it." She yanked the current magazine out of it and slammed in another fully loaded clip, then pulled back the top of it. I was assuming that was the way to remove some sort of safety lock on it. I had never seen a real gun before and I certainly didn't know how all the mechanisms on it worked. I guessed I would have to learn now, though.

 Cybil made eye contact with me. "Listen, with this pistol, pulling this will release the current clip," she explained, pointed to a certain lever near the trigger. "Only release it when you're out of ammo and you've found more somewhere. To remove the safety on this, just yank this back as hard as you can and let go." She pointed to the top of the gun. I took the gun from her hand, staring at it in fascination. I had always wondered how guns had worked, but I had never wanted one. Violence and death were always two things that scared me in life.

 Cybil touched my arm lightly. "Listen to me. Before you shoot anything, know what it is you're shooting. Don't do it unless absolutely necessary." She moved her hand back to her side. "And be sure that when I come back for you, you don't go shooting me by mistake. Got it?"

 "Yeah. Thanks," I said. I wondered what a safe place to put this was. I just shoved it into my pocket, hoping it wouldn't go off by accident. Fortunately, however, it didn't. As soon as the pistol was firmly placed, I looked back at Cybil.

 "Listen, I'm sorry I'm leaving you, but I have to get some help," she explained. "I'll be back as soon as I can. Don't wander off too far or I'll never be able to find you." She paused as she looked at the floor. "Harry, just be safe, okay?"

 I smiled. "You too," I said.

 Cybil opened the door and walked out. She disappeared into the fog in a matter of seconds, leaving me alone once more.

 I decided to look around this cafe for a while. Maybe there was something I could find that would be of any use at all. I searched, trying to find something else that would help me aside from the pinball machine. I had a passion for playing pinball every now and then, but this was not the time. I was guessing the electricity wasn't even working, so I looked past it.

 I saw some sort of paper object on the counter. I was curious as to what it was; so I examined it. It was a map! Perfect! Just what I needed. I picked it up and looked at it. It was a vivid map of the residential area of this town. I noticed how none of the other areas of this town were labeled on it, however. Hopefully, I wouldn't have to go to any of them. I just hoped to find Cheryl and leave.

 Underneath the map was a . . . flashlight. It was a specially designed one that could fit right in the pocket of my coat. The light itself would still shine forwards in my pocket, allowing me to use both my hands. This model was sometimes used by the police, from what I had heard. Maybe Cybil had left it here. I picked it up. Who knows? I might be useful. I put it in my front coat pocket. It fit quite nicely. Definitely something I might use.

 I suddenly turned around. I couldn't put my finger on it, but I could have sworn I heard something . . .

 . . . something flying by.

 I shook my head. Nothing. I was probably just a little tense due to what I thought had happened in the alleyway. Maybe I was crazy . . . or was going crazy. I had to be less paranoid.

 I decided that was all I'd need. Just a map, a flashlight, and a gun. I slowly started walking for the door. I stared at it, thinking about what kind of horrible things might be out there. I prayed to God that Cheryl was safe. I then put my hand on the door.

 Suddenly, I heard an alarm. I literally jumped at the sound. This alarm sounded like a bell ringing. I wondered what it could possibly be. My pulse started racing as I turned to my right.

 Just a radio. What was wrong with that radio? Was it finally getting transmission from the outside of town? I prayed that was the case. Maybe there would be someone to help me find Cheryl and get the hell out of this godforsaken place.

 I slowly walked over to the table, cautious about everything that surround me. The noise certainly wasn't quiet at all. It just blared out of the radio like it had a life of its own. As soon as I got to the table, I started to examine this noisy red object. To my misfortune, I couldn't make out any voices in this radio at all. Why would it just ring?

 My heart stopped as I heard a sound. Glass shattering. I quickly turned around. I must have just missed the window shattering. I saw glass shards defiling the ground around the couch by the table. My heart started racing. What had done that? I knew glass didn't just break on it's own. I started to look around. What possibly did that?

 My heart once again stopped as the window right next to me shattered. Something crashed into me, sending me flying to the floor. I hit it with such force that I couldn't feel my side. I opened my eyes quickly, wondering what it was that came at me.

 A monster...

 The only word I could describe it with. Monster. It flew above me, its leathery wings fluttering back and forth. I gasped at the size of its claws and the position they were in. He was ready to attack me! I had already suffered from a wound on my shoulder. Its pointed head was facing right at me. It seemed almost as proportioned as a human and was about my size. I could see its teeth.

 It drooled.

 My hands searched frantically for my pocket, searching for the damn gun Cybil had given me. The creature dove at me. I screamed in terror as I rolled over. It barely missed me, its claws slamming against the tile floor. I finally found the pistol. I yanked desperately at it, trying to get it out of my pocket. After many attempts, I got it out and aimed. I closed my eyes. I had never shot anything in my life, and was frankly quite afraid to. My hand quivered and my mouth went dry as I pulled the trigger.

 I heard the monster groan, but I could tell it wasn't dead yet. I put my weight on my hand and pushed myself up. I quickly dove to the other end of the cafe. The monster loomed overhead, and I searched the gun with my finger, desperately seeking the trigger. As soon as I found it once more, I aimed again. I fired 2 shots.
 Missed it! Damn it! Its wings started to shift back. It was going to dive! I saw its claws getting ready for me as I stared at its gigantic feet. It then dove once more. I yelled in terror as I pulled the trigger. The gun recoiled hard and hit the side of my cheek.

 The monster never attacked . . .

 I opened my eyes. I couldn't see that monster flying about me. I searched around. Where did it go? I searched around with my eyes until I looked on the floor in front of me.

 There it was. It had gaping exit wounds in it. I stared at the blood flowing from its head. It sickened me to know . . .

 . . . I killed it.

 I had never killed anything in my life except perhaps for insects, but I had just killed a living, breathing creature, and it frightened me. I knew by the adrenaline rushing through my head that this wasn't a dream. What the hell was happening here? I stared one last time at the dead carcass of the creature I had just killed. Whatever it was, I had intentions on killing me. I shook my head. I had never seen anything like that and hoped I never would again. I tried to get the thought of killing out of my mind as I walked towards the door. I stared off into the fog passed the glass door. I didn't know what to expect and I didn't even want to have to expect anything. I just wanted to find Cheryl and get out of here. This seemed too unreal to be happening, but this surreal environment was no nightmare.

 I just wanted Cheryl to be okay. But where would I find her?

 My first guess seemed like the best as I walked out of the cafe.

 The alleyway . . .

Silent Hill
Chapter 4:  The Sands of Time
By X-treme X-taggano ([email protected])

 The alleyway . . .
 
I hope I can make something perfectly clear, and that is that I did not want to re-enter that alleyway. I still was not positive if what I had experienced in there was reality. I was having my doubts, due to my lack of wounds. It must have been a dream. But maybe, just maybe, that dream was trying to tell me something.
 
 Maybe it was trying to tell me where Cheryl had gone.

 The road I had to take to get to the alleyway seemed even longer than before. I had to look at my map to figure out just where exactly I was to go. This town all seemed so big, and the fact that no one was there made it seem that much larger. Never before in my life had I felt so insignificant. The only thing that accompanied me was the constant moaning of the wind.

 When I had finally reached the line of houses, I looked down the road. I remembered this road so well. It was funny how much that dream seemed like reality. How could I remember the details so vividly? It was almost like I was there, but not really. I can't possibly explain how it felt, so I won't even try.
 
 I walked to the end of the line of houses. I met the brick wall. To my left was the rusty old gate with the lonely sign that hung . . .
 
 Beware of Dog.

 Beware of the dead dog. Beware of the hideously mutilated dog. The dog that had been horribly fucked with. If I remembered my dream accurately, this dog was dead. I swung the gate opened.
 
 The dog was there, and still hideously torn apart.

 I gagged at the sight. I thought that what I had  felt was just a dream, and yet some of the details remained very firmly the same in reality. I walked passed the remains of the dog. I didn't care to remember that detail. Hopefully, other memories wouldn't reappear here either . . .
 
 Such as skinless children.

 I ran into the alleyway in the back of the yard. It was dark, just like in my dream. The same two sets of stairs were there, and it still smelled terrible. I ran through the darkness quickly, trying to find my way to the gate.
 
 I soon found the gate. I didn't open it right away, however, and perhaps in good reason. My apprehension was most certainly justifiable in this manner. Would there be any more of these monsters? I prayed there wouldn't as I touched the handle. I slowly opened the gate, my other hand gripping the handle to my gun. My whole body shook as I looked inside. It didn't seem to be getting darker, so I walked into the deeper area of the alleyway..

 It looked like the place had been caved in, however. I couldn't get deeper into the alleyway where I dreamt I had found a mutilated body. It almost seemed ironic. I guess that proved that everything that happened was just a dream and nothing more. I laughed off the thought that I even had thought that maybe . . . just maybe, there was some mutilated body in here.

 I walked over to the pile of ruble to examine it. To my surprise, there were a few objects there. I looked down at the floor to examine the objects. There was just a simple lead pipe, which must have fallen from the ceiling, and a sheet of paper.

 Wait . . . the paper had something written on it. I kneeled down to pick it up. I soon discovered another object. I gasped as I instantly recognized the second object . . . Cheryl's notebook! I picked both of the objects. I examined the notebook first to make sure it had the one picture on the cover.

 Cheryl's first drawing of me . . .
 
 I saw it in the middle. That must have meant that Cheryl was here! I couldn't think of any other way that the notebook with the picture of me, crude as it may be, could have ended up here. Maybe she left some note here. I picked up the sheet of paper, hoping it would lend some clue to her whereabouts.

 The paper seemed to have a thin red line trickling down it. I realized the reason for it's supposed transparency was because the whatever marked it was on the back. I'd examine that later. But what did this note say?

 To school...

 So this was from Cheryl! She must be at some school around here. I took a moment to check my map. Sure enough, there was a school. It seemed relatively close, so I circled it. Cheryl was probably waiting for me there. She was smart to have gone to a safe place such as that. I put my hand on my chest and gave off a sigh of relief. I then turned the paper around to examine this red line.
 
 A red line written in blood . . .

 So much blood constantly defiled the streets of this strange town. I usually had to force myself to believe that this wasn't unusual or I might have gone off the brink of insanity. I shook my head and continued to examine this line made with blood. On the back there was a sloppy map of the town written in pencil  and certain streets were marked with blood. The red line lead to some sort of street corner. I decided this might be helpful in some way or another, so I copied it to my map. I then put my pen away.

 I heard some sort of snapping noise. I turned around and looked at the floor, trying to figure out what the sound was. I saw my gun about 4 feet away from me. How did it get all the way over there? I shrugged, deciding nothing of any possible harm could come from just picking up the pistol that had strangely found it's way to it's current position. I got up and walked over, keeping my eyes locked on the pistol. I extended my hand to pick it up from the floor.

 Something then bit me . . .
 
 I jumped back, staring at the large wound on my hand. Blood started to trickle down it lightly. I stared in horror and the tooth marks on my hand. Only one creature that I knew of had a tooth formation like that.

 A dog . . .

 I looked forward. A skinless dog . . .

 It growled at me, curling back, ready to attack. The dog's pink muscles moved like burnt rubber and it's blood red eyes glistened. It guarded my pistol with it's threatening position. I found myself quivering. I was defenseless against this dog. The dog slowly approached me. I kept my slow pace backwards, trying to stay the hell away from this . . . thing.

 I suddenly tripped over the pipe on the ground. I hit the damp floor with a great force. The dog jumped at me on impact. As if it was in slow motion, I grabbed onto the pipe in front of me. I didn't take the time to gather my energy as I swung the pipe forwards. I felt the dog make contact with it, resulting in a sickening sound of bone and tissue coming apart. I opened my eyes in time to see the dog go flying backwards. It was then the one to crash to the floor, defenseless. I didn't take much time to get up. The dog lay there on the floor. It whimpered meekly. I might have felt sorry for it, but instead I swung the pipe over my head and struck it once more.

 Blood spurted out of the dog's head as it cried out. I was too blind from rage. This damn dog had almost killed me!

 Son of a bitch!

 I swung repeatedly at it. Time after time I struck the almost dead body of the dog. Every time I hit it, I heard the blood curdling cry of it and the splashing of it's thick blood hitting the ground. I couldn't concentrate any more. When I finally finished, I realized what damage I had done. I could barely tell that this was a dog anymore. It bared striking resemblance to the mutilated one by the fence. I started to quiver. I hadn't just killed it . . . I had hideously murdered it. This was the second thing I had killed, and by far the most gruesome thing I had ever done to any living creature. It's red blood flowed off the pipe I held in my hand.

 I felt an odd sense of emotion come over me. It felt like . . . sadness. I felt a hot tear come to my eye. Why the hell did I kill it? I didn't have to! I could have left it as it was! But instead, I had killed it. I had torn the helpless thing apart. The emotional burden it had left me with was almost more than I could take. It may have been some creature present for no other reason than to harm others, but it had a soul just as I did. I started to quiver. What had I done?

 I threw the pipe aside and grabbed my gun, which laid next to the dog's remains.. This was no time to kill animals, even if they were a threat. I had to get to the school. I walked out of the alleyway, trying to forget about what I had done. After leaving the yard with the mutilated dog in it and walking down the line of houses, I stared down the road.

 Which way could possibly be the quickest route to the school? I remembered that a certain street had a straight route right to the school. It took me a few moments to find it, but at long last I got there. I started running down the road. I still couldn't see more than three feet in front of me. Like snow still fell that melted the second it hit the street. After a matter of minutes, I wondered how far down this road went.

 I soon found out as I made a sudden halt.

 The road had been destroyed.

 What the hell happened to the road? I looked over it and found I couldn't even see the other side of it. There was just a large canyon where the road used to be . . . almost as if some sort of explosion had occurred here before I arrived. I looked over the vast hole. I could hear the wind echo in it, creating more of a song than before.

 I noticed a sheet of paper on the floor. I was quite surprised it hadn't been blown away by the wind. I decided to examine it. It was another piece of Cheryl's notebook! I picked it up immediately and studied it for a moment. It was written in big red letter, though not written in blood.

 Don't forget to check the dog house.

 The dog house? I didn't want to even think about dogs at the time . . . not after what I had done . . . or what it had done to me for that matter. My hand was still bleeding from where it bit me. I tried to ignore the pain. The wound on my shoulder had seemed to heal now, but fresh blood still flowed out of my hand. I shook my head, still trying to focus. Look for a a home with a dog house in front of it.

 I spent what seemed like hours searching the city, only finding more and more of these road blocks. I began giving up on searching, wondering where I could possibly look. I couldn't figure out any way to the school. I checked my map once more. Was there any possible way to get to this school?

 I took some extra time to examine the red line I had drawn on the map. It lead down a specific street. My map was full of marks by now, mostly with large X's where the roads had been destroyed. But why hadn't I even thought to check that road? I didn't think Cheryl would leave me a note with markings without knowing that was possibly the only way to the school.

 It seemed funny, though. If these notes were really from Cheryl, which I had every reason to believe, than how on earth did she know this town so well? Too much seemed unusual about her knowledge of her surroundings. I decided not to think too hard about it. All I cared about was getting her back. Why should I be complaining about how well she knows the town? It was more of a blessing than a curse.

 I found my way to the street marked on my map. I started to walk down it, the cold air biting my flesh. I examined the line of houses thoroughly. I was guessing one of these houses was the one Cheryl wanted me to go to. But which one could it be. They all looked the same to me. Whoever designed this area of town was certainly able to keep a consistent look. I wondered if anything Cheryl had said in her note hinted as to which house got passed the canyon proportioned  holes in the road.

 My eyes suddenly turned to a specific house. One specific object in the front yard had caught my attention..

 A dog house!

 I suddenly remembered that in Cheryl's note, there was something about a dog house.  I smiled. This must be the house she was talking about! I ran up to the front door. The house looked fairly standard. Nothing too fancy, yet also nothing to complain about. I guessed that most of the residential homes were this way. I reached up and put a firm grip on the doorknob.

 Locked.

 I started to ponder. There was something else about the dog house in that note. I realized I should have kept it for future reference, as where I certainly didn't have the greatest memory in the whole world. Suddenly, I had remembered.

 Don't forget to check the doghouse.

 I raced over to the doghouse. It was fairly old. The paint was chipping off of it and several pieces of wood stuck of it almost like quills on a hedgehog. I knelt down next to it to look inside.

 The interior was splattered with blood.

 More blood. I held my head, realizing that if I was to see any more blood that day, I would lose my grip on reality. I was convinced I was having some sort of nervous breakdown. The way my spine tingled at the sight of blood made me want to hide somewhere from everyone and everything. The only thing that pushed me forward was Cheryl.

 I saw something shining inside. I tilted my head forward to examine the object. It was a key! Two of them, in fact. I grasped both of them in the palm of my hand and yanked them out. One of these keys probably unlocked the door. I quickly raced up to the door.

 My heart stopped as I heard a growl. I could recognize that growl anywhere.

 Another one of those dogs . . .

 I quickly picked up one the keys, looking over my shoulder. Sure enough, it was another one of those skinless dogs . . . very similar to the one I saw in the alleyway. It started racing at me. I panicked as I shoved one of the keys into the lock. I turned it furiously.

 Wrong key!

 I swore as I pulled it out. The dog was getting closer. I quivered. I couldn't kill it. No more violence . . . no more death. I hated it all! I took the other key and slammed it into the keyhole.

 I felt the dog bite the back of my coat.

 I quite literally screamed as I shook my back, furiously trying to get this thing off of me. I swung my body around rapidly as I kicked the dog as hard as I could. I felt it's cold body slamming into my shoe as it fell back a couple of feet. I put my hand back on the key as fast as I could. I turned it frantically.

 It unlocked!

 I turned my head to look at the dog. It slowly got back up. I trembled as I quickly opened the door. I saw the dog crouch back, ready to attack. I flung the front door opened and ran in. The dog leapt at me. I yelled in terror as I slammed the door behind me.

 I heard the dog slam against the door. Moments later, I heard it scratching it. It barked and wailed as if it were ready to close in on it's victim. Too bad, dog. Your victim is safe inside.

 I ignore the pandemonium the dog was causing as I examined the house. The first thing I noticed was the door to my right. I soon realized, however, that it was barricaded by something. The handle turned, but the door wouldn't open. I ignored it as I looked at the dining room. It was directly outside of the kitchen. It was a small place but safer than anywhere else I might have gone to.

 I walked into the kitchen. I saw the sink as I approached it slowly. I turned it on. Cold water flowed from it as I stuck my hand under it. I let the water wash away the blood flowing from the wound. I was surprised I was still bleeding. As soon as I finished cleaning it, it examined the cupboards around it. After a few moments of exploring, I found a medicine cabinet. Inside of it was some anti-bacterial cream and some band aids. I sighed, relieved, realizing how lucky I was to have found this. After tending to my wound, I looked across the counter. There were some magazines, mainly about firearms and such. I realized whoever lived her was probably some sort of gun owner. Maybe he'd have some spare ammunition. I didn't want to kill anyone or anything, but it was important to protect myself at all costs.

 I discovered some bullets nearby. They were all contained neatly in a red box. I didn't know if they'd work with my gun, but I decided to take a chance with them. I shoved them into my pocket. I realized I couldn't stay here for long, safe as I might have felt. I need to get to the school. But I didn't even know where I was in this town. All I knew was that I was on Levin Street. I walked towards the back door,  knowing that it was probably the way to the school. I examined it for a moment. There was some sort of thick lock on it.

 I then looked to my right. There was a map of the town on the wall. Marked on it was a big circle somewhere on Levin street. I realized it was on the position of the dog house! That the mark would help me figure out my own position. I wondered silently to myself how everything was turning out so convenient for me. I hoped that things would stay this way, leading me to Cheryl.

 Yet it all felt strange. I felt like it wasn't just convience . . . I felt like it was more of a call. These findings were just leading me on to something. I hoped whatever something was, it wasn't anything that would be of misfortune.

 I  looked back at the lock. Maybe the other key I had found would open this thick lock. I reached into my pocket and took the key out. I then placed it in the key hole and turned it. It unlocked. I laughed happily as I opened the door in front of me.

 I saw the back lawn. There was a table there with some patio chairs. A grill was also nearby, causing me to believe that these people were ones who enjoyed hunting and cooking. I saw the gate on the other side of the yard. I stepped outside.
 
 And suddenly, everything got darker.

 I looked around curiously. Sure enough, what little light was left in the sky slowly faded out. I wondered what was happening. Soon, the fog cleared up, but the light was gone. No stars in the sky, no sun overcasting all . . . just a pitch blackness the devoured all.

 I remembered about the pocket flashlight in my coat pocket. I searched for the switch on it. I soon found in and turned the flashlight on. Light once again shined, although not adequate enough to see everything perfectly. It only had a radius of about three feet. I trembled as I paced forwards. I had never been this genuinely scared of the dark before . . . except in that dream.

 I suddenly realized that in that dream I had, things became darker too, and I was sure the darkness in it was warning me of the dangers up ahead. I started to wonder to myself what the hell was going on and if this darkness was warning me of something. I pulled the gun from my pocket, clutching it with both hands. Whatever was out there had better stay away from me. I shook my head. I wasn't scared of the dark.

 I was scared of what it might be hiding.

 I opened up the gate. I then stepped forwards. According to my map, from here I'd make a left and then a right. Then I'd just follow the road until I got to the school. I folded up my map, putting it into my pocket, then turned left and started running. I didn't like being outside in this kind of darkness. I was literally terrified, surprised that I could even carry myself in these conditions. I ran left, desperately seeking the right turn I had to find. I soon found it and followed it tightly. I knew nothing was following me, but I didn't want to find anything that would.

 My thoughts halted as I saw a car in front of me.

 I heard wings flapping.

 I remembered the flying creature that attacked me at the cafe. It's wings sounded the a lot like the ones I just heard. I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to shoot it, but I didn't want it to attack me. I grabbed the switch on the flashlight and turned it off. I then hid behind the car. I couldn't see it, but I could feel it.

 I heard the flapping wings approaching. I started to tremble uncontrollably. It eventually passed me. The second I couldn't hear it's wings flapping, I flipped on my flashlight and continued running. I wanted more time to catch my breath, but couldn't stop. I had to get to the school and find Cheryl. I continued running through this nightmare of a town, wondering when the school building would show up. I started to pray silently to myself.

 No more monsters. Please, God. No more . . .

 I suddenly caught a glimpse of something in the distance. It looked brightly colored to me. It had a yellowish tint to it. I suddenly realized what it was!

 A school bus!

 Sure enough, there was a school bus. I looked at a nearby sign. It read "school crossing". I shined my light to the right.

 That was the school building all right. I laughed as I ran towards it. It was much bigger than I could have imagined. Probably a very large public school. I proceeded up the sidewalk leading to the front two doors. After scaling the small flight of stairs, I reached the door.

 Suddenly, I had this feeling . . . almost like a vision being unfolded to me. It looked like the front of the school, only bloodstained. It was made of rusted metal and looked as if it had been burnt. The vision ended in a matter of seconds. I held my head as I shook it.

 Was that vision trying to tell me something?

 I shook my head, realizing I was cracking up. I had to carry on and control my fear, no matter how bad it was. I then turned the handle in front of me and entered the school building.

Silent Hill
Chapter 5: In The Darkness
By X-treme X-taggano ([email protected])

 I stood still in the square shaped room. So this was the school . . .

 I started to wonder why Cheryl wasn't here. If she had left a note, it seemed like she wouldn't want to explore the school further. I looked around this empty room, wondering what the setup of this building was like and if there was any logical explanation for Cheryl leaving the den.

 I had a funny feeling, however. I examined my surroundings and realized that somehow, I knew them. I felt like I had been here before, and not just once. The feeling overwhelmed me . . . why did I even feel this way? I hadn't been here before! There was no way I could have, but somehow, this feeling in my soul caused me to believe that I had been here . . . multiple times.

 The walls were covered with bulletin boards and such. There were many posts with children's art work. There were also some articles about other countries or local news, possibly for some of the older student's homework. I started to walk forwards, decided to explore the school a bit.

 I saw a table up ahead and ran up to it. On it was a piece of paper, dominantly colored by blue.  I picked it up, examining it. It was a map! Perfect! Just what I needed. I read over it, exploring every detail with my eyes. Apparently, the school was 2 stories high and had access to the roof and basement. The school was quite large, as I soon discovered there were about two dozen rooms in it. I marked my current position on the map and folded it up. I then placed it in my pocket as I approached the two doors ahead of me and swung one of them open.

 I ended up in one of the school's many hallways. I saw lockers going up and down it, all rusted with age. Many more bulletin boards covered the somewhat plain white walls. The darkness still consumed a good portion of the hallway, however. All I could see was what my flashlight revealed to me. I turned to my left and saw that that the hallway continued down. I couldn't see the end of it, but it looked as if it went a ways. I started walking down it. The flashlight soon revealed a receptionist's desk up ahead. I walked up to it, wondering if Cheryl might be anywhere close. I noticed a side entrance into the work area and entered it. In the small office area, I saw a telephone on the desk. I picked it up, hoping it would work.

 Dead . . .

 I slammed it down, frustrated. I then looked around, shining the light on everything that came into my sight. I didn't see anything unusual. Just a photo copier, a door that probably lead to some sort of teachers lounge, some open book, and a computer, which also didn't work due to the lack of power.

 Wait a moment . . . something was written on the book.

 In blood.

 I knew it was blood. I could smell it. I tried to ignore the fact that it was written in what I thought to be human blood. It was a fairly long note. I started to read down the page, trying to keep my flashlight steady.

 The clock tower thirst for more blood. After it has been fed, it may continue on, devouring all. The time has come, and all it needs is a puppet. This puppet will set the clock back to it to the time of evil. The sacrifice will be made and all that remains is the power source. One man will bring back that power. At midnight, all will be set, and it will open, relieved of it's duties. A silence in music shall bring forth that midnight sun.

 Midnight sun? Silence in music? I had no idea what all this was supposed to mean, but it was probably important, considering it was written in blood. I wondered . . .
 Was this a note from Cheryl?

 I decided against it. Cheryl couldn't write anything in blood . . . blood scared her immensely. I decided that everything written there was just a childish prank played by one of the students on the receptionist. I shook my head, walking towards the door. I hoped something helpful was beyond it. I turned the handle and walked in.

 Inside this dark room was a table covered with magazines, mostly of educational value. There were two couches on each side of the table. This was probably a teachers lounge, as I had guessed earlier. The coffee machine near the desk was also supporting my theory.

 It was then that I looked to my right and discovered a painting. I saw two men on it . . . they looked as if they were guarding the strange door in the middle. The door portrayed had two square holes in it. I examined it closely. The men looked like they were wearing some sort of mask. This picture certainly wasn't very tasteful and definitely seemed out of place. I had no idea why any teacher would want anything of the sort in the lounge.

 I found my way out of the teachers lounge. I ended up back in the receptionist's office. I walked forwards a double door. I stopped a moment, taking a look at my map. I had this strange feeling of curiosity. I wanted to examine the clock tower I read about in the note written in blood . . . but was there even a clock tower in the school? Maybe the note written had no purpose. I examined my map for several minutes. I quickly realized that there was indeed a clock tower in the court yard making up the center of the school. I turned around, leaving the door to my left. I walked to the center of the hall and looked to my left. There was another set of doors leading to the court yard. I pushed one of them open.

 It was still snowing outside in the pitch black exterior. The court yard was actually quite nice looking. I had gotten a better view of it when I stood closer to the center. There were benches and plants . . . even a few light posts that didn't work. I searched around until I saw it . . .

 The clock tower looming over all in sight.

 I ran up to it. It had two doors that I soon realized were very tightly shut. Three stairs led up to the doors. On two sides of the hexagon shaped tower were slabs of ivory. One of them simply display a picture of the sun. The sun, however, was in a sky filled with stars. I wondered what that was supposed to mean. I took a look at the other one. Something was written on it. I shined the light on it to get a better look at the letters carved in.

 Beyond these doors lies what mortal men should be forbidden to see. Only one with a mind that overcomes the silence of music shall pass. Only then shall he succumb to the song of the birds.

 I suddenly remembered about the note written in blood. It talked about a midnight sun. That's what the slab must have meant. A sun in a sky full of stars. That was the midnight sun it was talking about. I thought everything over and realized that it all talked about music. I didn't know where Cheryl was or what I was looking for, but I thought both might be beyond the clock tower.

 I suddenly felt tiny hands grab my leg.

 I turned around, startled. The darkness prevented me from seeing whatever was holding my leg so diligently. I shook my left leg ferociously, trying to relieve myself of whatever it was that was grabbing onto my leg. I soon got it off and shined my light upon it. My heart stopped.

 A skinless child.

 I screamed in terror. Not another kid. I thought I was free of the nightmare full of those kids with knives. I grabbed my gun and aimed it right at it's head. It only had one eye, and it stared at me with terror. I pulled the trigger. The gun blast echoed through the sky, as did the sickening splash of it's blood hitting the floor. When I opened my eyes, I saw it lying there, squirming helplessly. I walked up to it, examining it. I couldn't believe that I had hit it right in the head and it still wouldn't die. I grimaced at the sight and kicked it's head. It stopped moving in a heart beat. This was the first time I was proud about killing something. I spit on the corpse of the kid.

 Go back to hell where you belong.

 I turned my head from the dead body. I then pulled out my map. All the talk about music in the notes made me realize I had to go somewhere that was music oriented. But where could I find some place like that? Maybe there was a music room or something similiar to one. I kept searching my map to find it.

 It suddenly popped out at me. A music room . . . second floor! I circled it hastily and put away my map. I then found my way out of the court yard and in to the main hallway. I took a left and walked to the door near the receptionist's desk. I flung it open and ran inside the newly discovered school hallway.

 I saw two bathroom doors. I decided maybe Cheryl had decided to hide in one of them. I was almost positive she wasn't, but I walked there anyways. I didn't necessarily feel comfortable going into a girl's bathroom, but decided to do so anyways. I opened up the door and looked inside. The darkness concealed virtually every object in the bathroom. I pointed my flashlight in various directions, trying to figure out if Cheryl was indeed here. I walked forwards.

 Nothing.

 All I could see in here were toilet stalls, sinks, and a mirror. I walked over to the mirror and looked at myself in it.

 I was a mess.

 Blood was on my face and jacket. I sighed as I turned on the faucet and washed away the blood from both. It spilled down the sink like a small stream. I splashed my face with the faucet water once more. I then looked at my face once more. It started looking a little better. Most of the blood was gone. I hadn't even realized it was there before. I didn't feel it or smell it or . . . taste it.

 My pulse skipped a beat. I heard a noise.

 I turned around instantly. It sounded like . . . a child crying.

 I wondered where that noise came from as I scanned the bathroom with my eyes. It was definitely the sound of a child weeping. I wondered . . . was it coming from the stalls? I opened up one of them cautiously.

 No one.

 Thank God. But I knew I wasn't just hearing things. I heard the sound too clearly and it lasted several seconds. I hung my head. Maybe I was going crazy. Any normal man would have stopped his search by now . . . but I didn't. Maybe I just wasn't normal.

 I walked out of the bathroom and back into the pitch black hallway. I turned left and started to run up the hallway. I knew that at the end, I'd find the stairs that lead up to the music room. Maybe there I'd find my answers.

 I suddenly tripped over something. I hit the floor with a painful impact. I swore as I looked at the scrape on my arm. I then looked back, trying to figure out what cause me to fall.

 It was just a rubber pink ball.

 I picked it up. I was guessing it was just something some kid left or dropped by accident. I put it in my pocket. Maybe . . . just maybe, this would be helpful in some way.

 I ran up to the stairs and started climbing them slowly. I stumbled up them, not being able to see each step in front of me clearly. After scaling the first flight, I ran up the second. I ended up in yet another hallway, very similar to the one I had just been in. I started walking down it, making my way to the music room at the end. I could see benches going up and down the hallway . . . perhaps where kids ate there lunches.

 I came to a sudden halt as I saw something up ahead.

 Another skinless kid.

 I growled. What the hell was another one doing here? I pulled my gun out and aimed. It wasn't even facing me. I figured this would be an easy shot. I knelt down and pulled the trigger.

 All I heard was an empty clicking noise.

 The gun was out of ammo! How the hell would it run out so fast? I fired no more than 7 rounds! Perhaps the clip Cybil gave me wasn't fully loaded after all. I reached into my coat pocket, realizing I had several bullets in it that I had found in the house that lead me here. I had no idea, however, how to reload the gun I had and didn't have time to teach myself a new lesson. I was left with one option.

 Sneak past it.

 I started to quiver as I turned my flashlight off. I was then devoured in absolute darkness. I couldn't see my hand in front of my face. I found the wall was my hands and used it to guide myself forwards. I moved myself forwards as silently as I could. I didn't know if these things could hear me or not and I didn't want to find out.

 I accidentally bumped the kid with my elbow.

 I panicked as I heard it groan. I got up and started to run, but tripped over my own feet. Damn it! The kid was probably close to me now . . . I tried to get up and run, but couldn't. My knee hurt.

 Suddenly, I heard the sound of a knife slamming into the floor beside me. I rolled over, now more fearful than before. I turned my flashlight back on.

 The kid's ugly face stared right into mine.

 I started to move myself back with my hands. The kid followed hesitantly, it's knife gleaming in the hallway. I took a good look at it's weapon.

 It was covered in blood.

 I knew it wasn't my blood, and I didn't want mine to contribute to the knife's dark red collection. The kid was no more than an inch away from me. Panicking, I swung my foot forwards. I felt it's tiny rib cage crash against my heal as it fell to the floor. I used my hands to push myself up, my knee still aching from the fall I took. Fortunately, however, it was my left knee. I wanted to run, but I realized if I did, the kid would still be waiting for me here. I looked right into it's one eye.

 I then stomped on it's head.

 I could feel it's tiny skull shattering beneath my shoe. I heard the sickening sound of it's bones being crushed. I then removed my shoe. A thin stream of blood spilled down it's head. It was dead all right. I turned away from it. It seemed strange that killing something seemed to get easier every time I did it. I felt less and less responsible. Something seemed to have clicked in my mind that these creatures were just worthless animals that were there to kill . . . and nothing more.

 I turned from it entered a door to my left. In the new hallway I had just entered, I saw the music room to my left. I opened up the door and stepped inside. There, in the middle of the room, was a piano. I saw a bench next to it, probably where one would sit. I didn't know much about music, never being much of a musician. I turned to my left and saw a chalk board with some white sheet of paper hanging down from it towards the center.

 Wait a second . . . there was something written on the paper.

 In blood . . .

 I ran up to examine it. I couldn't read what was original written on the white sheet of paper because the blood covered it. The blood seemed to spell out a poem.

 Birds Without a Voice
 Play the song of years ago
 A song which young and old should know
 The song where lesser evil comes
 The song that makes the fearful run
 A song of birds which have no voice
 To find the answers is your choice

 I started to wonder what this whole poem meant. It certainly had something to do with the piano sitting in the middle of the room. I turned and looked at the piano. I than walked up to it to examine it.

 Blood on the keys.

 I pressed down on a few keys. Notes emitted from the piano, breaking the silence of the dark room. A few other keys, however, emitted simple clicks. Almost no sound at all came from them. I stared at the piano. What was I supposed to play to go through the clock tower anyways? All this talk about birds and silence . . . the poem described some sort of song that all should know. I tried to think back to the days when my mother made me take piano lessons. What was that song she wanted me to play?

 Then it hit me . . .
 
 Birds of the Sky!

 I remembered playing that song when I was a child. I used to play it to show off to my friends. I placed my hands on the keys. I, like I had said, was never a talented musician, but I remembered this song quite well. I started to play the melody. When I was done, I waited for a moment.

 Nothing happened.

 Why not? I was sure that was the song the poems and notes described. No other song talked about birds and silence. I played it again. Once again, nothing. I wondered what I was doing wrong. Was there anything that I might have needed to play that I missed in some sort of clue?

 Then I remembered.

 Silence.

 There were silent keys on the piano. I realized that must be what all the references to silence must mean. Play it in a different key . . . a silent key.

 I played the silenced notes on the piano through. I was almost anxious for the results. I finally hit the last key to the song. I heard it click.
 
 I then heard the clock tower's bell echo throughout the sky.

 It rang 11 times. One hour away from midnight . . .

 I gave off a sigh of relief. Finally . . . but why didn't it strike midnight? I thought that was what all notes described. Also, the note in the receptionist's office described a sacrifice being made. I figured my duties weren't done yet so I decided not to head straight to the clock tower. I took out my map and gun. First, I unloaded it and looked at the empty clip. I took some bullets from my pockets and slipped them into it, filling it up with 15 rounds. I then slammed the clip into the chamber located at the bottom of the grip and yanked the top of the gun back. I heard a click, letting me know the safety was off. I laughed, realizing that I had just taught myself how to reload my own weapon. I then looked at my map.

 Funny. The locker room was circled. I certainly didn't remember circling it. I shook my head. Maybe I did and had just forgotten. Whenever I circled something, it was because I was supposed to go there for some reason or another. I decided that I should go there, because even if I didn't circle it, there was probably something there.

 I also noticed the basement area of the map. There was some sort of boiler down there. I decided I should also check that out. Maybe I could even get the power running and turn the lights back  on. Who knew how much battery power my flashlight had left. I promptly circled it as well.

 I exited the music, walking down the hall towards the locker room. I soon found the door and opened it. An endless amount of rusty old lockers appeared before my eyes. I saw a sign up ahead near one of the benches.

 No running in the locker room.

 Normally, I wouldn't be so foolish, but for some odd reason, I decided to follow the instructions on the sign. I walked slowly, making sure not to run. My pulse pounded as I continued down.

 Suddenly, I heard something rattling.

 I couldn't identify the source of the sound, but it was coming from this room and it wasn't stopping. My pulse raced as I continued into the locker room, trying to ignore the sound. I went around one set of lockers and saw more of them on the other side.

 One of the lockers was rattling.

 So that's what the sound was! Something was trying to get out. I prayed it wouldn't be anything of harm. I walked up to it, feeling as if my veins were about to burst from all the blood pumping through them. I approached the rattling locker door. I put my hand up and pulled it.

 I jumped as something leapt out.

 Just a cat.

 I looked down at the black and white cat. I knelt down next to it. I started to stroke it's fur. It felt nice to finally have a normal living companion. It purred lightly. I smiled. The cat then ran down the locker room around the set of lockers. I heard the door open. I was curious how it could have opened the door, but decided that it was nothing unusual. Maybe it just nudged the door open with it's head.

 Suddenly, I heard the slicing of a knife and the cat's screeching cry. I then heard a light splashing sound. I gasped.

 Did something just . . . kill the cat?!

 I then realized that the cat was the sacrifice needed for the clock tower to open. I started to feel remorse for letting the cat die. Why the hell did every other living creature get taken from me? Even cats weren't safe in this town. I shook my head.

 Horrible . . .

 Everything was too horrible.

 I made my way out of the locker room, still trying to keep a walking pace. I reached the door, but was hesitant to exit. I hoped that whatever murdered that cat wasn't still out there. I held my breath as I opened the door.

 Nothing.

 Thank God . . . nothing more to contribute to this endless dream.

 This endless nightmare.

 I turned to my right, looking at the door there. I tried to open it, but it was locked. I frowned at it as I pulled out my gun. I felt like some sort of movie hero as I shot the lock 3 times. I then kicked the door. It flew open. I then ran down the stairs ahead of me. As soon as I finished running down the 2 flights, I turned left and ran down yet another two flights.

 I found myself in a small room with two doors. One door looked fairly nice and casual. The other was rusted and gray . . . certainly not as attractive. I realized, however, that the normal looking door was locked. I decided to go through the other door. I opened it up. The creaking sound was disturbing, to say the least. I walked inside, facing forwards so my flashlight shine light on whatever was ahead.

 The boiler . . .

 I walked up to it's cylinder shaped base. What a piece of equipment this was . . . to imagine this was what powered the school. I noticed the control panel and hurried over to it. The controls looked a little confusing, but I soon figured out how to operate the machine. After a few procedures, I pressed the power button. I heard the boiler go on, emitting a loud roar. But where was the power? No light yet?

 I then heard the clock tower strike. 12 o'clock . . .

 So this machine was the power needed to finally let the clock strike 12 and maybe even open the doors up.. I was curious as to what it might have been. I turned around and proceeded out the door, knowing that my final destination was ahead. I prayed that Cheryl was in the clock tower and that whatever it was that was leaving these notes was leading me to her.

 But as I exited the door and proceeded up the stairs, I realized something. That was that I wasn't just looking for Cheryl anymore. I was looking for some sort of answer. I wasn't sure what it was . . . but there was a question I didn't know and an answer I knew I had to find. I walked down the hallway trying to make sense of my thoughts. I tried to think . . .

 What was the question?

 I found the door to the court yard in a matter of minutes and headed back out to the clock tower. I looked at the hands on it. They read 12 o'clock, and I was guessing that was the midnight sun described in the ivory on the side of the tower. I walked up to the door. I could hear a light roar coming from them . I could feel tension rising within my body. I reached forwards and threw the doors open. In front of me was a ladder. I shrugged. What harm could come from climbing it? I walked up to it, placing my hands on it.

 Should I be doing this?

 I shook my head. I told myself that nothing would happen and that I was safe. I took a deep breath as I started to walk up the ladder, leaving the cold air outside.

 The path up certainly wasn't long at all and I soon found my way to the top. I looked at the floor . . . it seemed to be made out of solid chain links. The interior was mainly built of rusty old metal. Up ahead, I saw some other passage, and I wasn't sure what it lead to.

 My body suddenly stiffened as I heard a noise . . .
 
 A siren . . .

 It sounded like the one from my dream! It was in my head, but it was so loud, I could swear if anyone else was there, they could have heard it too. I tried to make the noise cease in my mind, but it wouldn't.

 Maybe it was warning me of some sort of danger . . . just like in that alley way.

 I noticed several bottles up ahead. Out of them spilled some sort of liquid. I walked up to it and examined one. I read across the label, which was faded, although the bottle seemed fairly new.

 White Claudia . . .

 I had no idea what this substance was. Maybe some sort of drug? Who knew? I walked passed the many bottles, figuring they were nothing important. I walked into the small passage in front of me.

 Another ladder that lead down . . .

 I placed my hands on it and started to climb down. It seemed like the ladder went on forever this time. It should have been the same height, but this one seemed a lot longer than the last. Maybe it was just my imagination which had become quite twisted and fearful sense I had arrived at this hell hole of a town. I reached the bottom after what seemed like hours of climbing. I then saw a door ahead of me that was very similar to the clock tower's. I then pushed doors opened, each of them flying forwards.

 I then gasped at what I saw.

Silent Hill
Chapter 6: An Alternate World
By X-treme X-taggano ([email protected])

 The school courtyard . . .

 Mind you, it wasn't exactly the same as the other school court yard, but it was certainly close enough for me to notice several similarities. It was raining instead of snowing, and very lightly at that. A few drops hit my head. I noticed the pavement surrounding most of the exterior was much more dirty and defiled then before. The trees looked brown . . . as if they were dying. They all limped in a way that painted pictures in my mind. They seemed to be crying out in pain.

 I had to ask myself . . . had I been there before?

 I noticed that the siren in my head seemed to be dying down. I waited a moment for it to completely clear out of my mind. The sound soon ended. I guessed that meant that it was safe to continue.

 But somehow, I couldn't grasp all of my senses . . . as if this were some strange dream and not reality. The school had seemed very real, but this . . . it felt strangely more like a dream then reality.

 Just like that alleyway.

 I noticed a very large symbol in the middle of the courtyard. I was naturally curious as I walked up to it. I shined the light on it. It looked like a large triangle inside of two circles, one circle barely larger than the other, yet still leaving about a feet of space between them . . . the effect it made created an illusion. It looked like one big circle. There was a line the went back and forth inside of the triangle. It looked almost like a snake. In-between the gap of the two circles were various symbols. I certainly didn't remember this being here before. I started to wonder if I had seen this anywhere. I thought I had seen this symbol somewhere, but wasn't sure where.

 I looked ahead to see a pair of double doors. I noticed how rusted and old they were. Maybe this really was the same school . . . but how? I started to quiver as two simple words found their way into my head . . .

 Alternate school . . .

 I had no idea where those words had come from, but I knew that this might indeed be some place else . . .perhaps . . .

 Perhaps I had really been killed in the alleyway, just as I had feared.

 Maybe this was hell.

 I shook uncontrollably at the very thought of this being some sort of afterlife. I figured that, afterlife or not, I was in some sort of alternate school. The dirty steel door was there before me, almost calling to me. I swear I could make out worlds in the door, though none were written or had even intended to be. The rusted steel just screamed out to me . . .

 Welcome to hell . . .

 I shook my head. No more about these thoughts of the afterlife. I must still be alive! I walked up to the door and opened it slowly. The creaking sound it made was as sickening as it was frightening. I took a step inside and gasped.

 The school was made of rusted metal that looked as if it had been burnt.

 I remembered the vision I had experienced before entering the real school . . . the vision portrayed an atmosphere very similar to this one. I noticed the walls were covered with dried blood, as was the chain link floor that I walked upon. I couldn't see anything below the chain link floor . . . I was curious, but knew there was nothing I could possibly do to find out exactly how deep the hole went. I looked ahead, noticing yet another door. Curious, I walked up to it. I placed my hand on the knob and opened it slightly. I peered inside, wondering what was in the room.

 I saw a skinless kid up ahead.

 More monsters. I grabbed the gun out of my pocket and pointed it forwards. I suddenly heard it's deep laugh as it turned around. I knew it saw me . . . it's one eye squinted into my flashlight. I smiled as I aimed and pulled the trigger.

 Missed it!

 It then started to walk towards me at a much faster pace than I had seen these creatures move before. It continued to move, almost running. I panicked, wanting to fire again, but my hand wouldn't let me . . . almost as if this was some sort of nightmare where I was helpless against my enemy, as nightmares so constantly do. I decided that I'd close the door and keep him contained in that room. Then I could find a way out of the school.

 I suddenly felt a knife dive into the back of my leg.

 I swiftly turned around as an immediate reaction to the pain I had suddenly endured. I noticed the knife was still sticking into my leg, and it sickened me to know that a tool used for murder was still in my flesh. I saw the kid . . . two . . . three of them! I realized I was surrounded by them!

 Without a second thought, I dove backwards into the room behind me where the kid was. I leapt past it and shoved it with both of my hands. I could feel it's body bounce of the palms of my hands. I had never felt one of these thing's bodies. They felt rubbery . . . it was disgusting, and I really had wished I hadn't touched it. As soon as it was out of the door frame, I slammed it shut behind me and sat against it, panting heavily. The kids pounded on the door as if trying to break it down. I got up, realizing for once, I was safe. I grabbed the knife sticking into my leg and yanked it out. To my surprise, I wasn't bleeding nearly as heavily as I had thought I would. I gave off a sigh of relief. I was surprised, though, that the pain wasn't entirely there. It seemed unreal for me, but decided that it was a good thing that the pain I had endured was kept to a minimum.

 I noticed benches similar to the one in the "real" school lined up. Around them were more bottles. I wondered if they were perhaps the same bottles that I had found in the clock tower. I picked one up and read the label.

 White Claudia.

 So it was the same drug. Maybe all of this had something to do with whatever was wrong with this town. I saw more liquid ooze from it. I started to wonder if I could contain some of this to examine it. I tried to scoop some up in the container, but none seemed to spill in. I noticed some chunks in it that looked as if they were made of some sort of plant. I was only able to get a little bit of the substance on my figure as I examined. Noticing that there were bits of plant in the drug, I was guessing it was some sort of hallucinogen. It was odd for them to make a hallucinogenic drug in liquid form, but maybe it was to conceal the fact that it was an illegal substance. I wasn't a drug addict, but I know a lot about them from research for my novels. I did find it odd, however, that they would clearly label a drug. I decided that maybe it was labeled that so no one would suspect it even was a drug in the first place. I, after all, had never heard of White Claudia before. Maybe they were trying to disguise it as some sort of flower or plant of some type.
 
 I noticed a strong breeze coming from within the room. I looked around, trying to identify the source of the breeze. I then noticed something up ahead . . . a large fan, still rotating. I approached it slowly, curious about what a fan was doing here.

 Suddenly, my light started to pick up something behind the fan. I could only see something hanging and wondered what it was. The object became more and more visible as I slowly began to realize what it was. I then gasped.
 
 A human body torn in half . . .

 I turned my head as I ran from the fan and towards the door. I than sat back against it, trying to keep my stomach under control. I started to shake uncontrollably. My body slowly became numb and most of my senses were lost.
 
 I then started to cry.

 I wept there for a long time. I tried to convince myself that I wasn't being a coward, and any normal man wouldn't have made it as far as I had. I felt so scared and so helpless, I couldn't figure out what I was supposed to do now. As soon as I was finished crying, I wiped the hot tears away with my sleeve and grabbed onto my pistol, ready for those kids. I wasn't any sort of coward. I was ready to fight to the death for my daughter!

 I then swung the door open in front of me, pointing my gun both ways.

 No one . . .

 Where did all those kids go? I continued to walk into the darkness. I didn't care where they were. At least they were gone. I continued to walk to my left down the dark hall. I saw a rusty old door in front of me, and ran up to it, wanting to leave this room as soon as possible before any more unfortunate encounters. I ran through the door, which was fortunately unlocked.

 I looked at my school map. This was the same place, all right. It was dark and twisted, yes, but the complex layout was exactly the same. I looked down the long hallway, wondering if the stairs were close by like the old school. I noticed the bathrooms to my left. I figured it wouldn't hurt to examine them, as where I needed to find some way out.

 I noticed a thick stain . . . perhaps of blood leading into the boys bathroom. I held my breath and bit my lip as I slowly opened the door. Inside, the trail of what looked like blood continued up into the stall. I wondered what could have caused it, as where the sink was full of it.

 I noticed an object under the stall. I couldn't tell what it was until I crouched down. It looked like some sort of book . . . a journal, perhaps. I wondered if perhaps some sort of helpful information was contained in it and decided to take it. However, it was barely out of my reach. I realized I would have to open the stall door to reach it. I then stood up and put my hand on the handle. I pushed the door opened. It made a loud creaking noise as it opened slowly.

 A rotting human corpse hung above the toilet.

 I gasped at the horrid expression on it's face. It hung on spikes . . . as if crucified.

 Crucified.

 Just like the body in the alleyway . . . I tightened my grip on the gun. Who the hell would do something like this? The violent damage done to this body was horrid . . . almost too much for me to bare.

 I then noticed something written on the wall next to it in what was probably the victim's blood. I examined it carefully, trying to comprehend the crude letters.

 Leonard Rhine
 The Monster Lurks.

 What was that supposed to mean? And who was Leonard Rhine? Was that some sort of warning? Was it trying to alert me of some sort of danger? I looked away from it. I figured I'd have to remember this phrase . . . The Monster Lurks . . .

 I picked up the journal on the floor near the body, remembering it was why I had originally entered the stall. I walked out of the stall, though too scared to leave the bathroom. I looked at the writing on it . . . it looked like a teenager's writing. I started to read.

 April 15th
 Well, here I am . . . my new home. This town's so weird. I wish we hadn't moved. School sucks. I hate all the shit the teachers are making me learn. This school is all crazy . . . and it gives me the creeps in some weird way. I might just be crazy, but the clock tower out in the school courtyard has always creeped me out. I heard some kids found a way into it and use the drugs we bought in there. They want me to use some . . . I'm not sure, but I did pay for them, so I guess we'll see what happens.

 Drugs? Maybe that was the White Claudia, or whatever it was I found spilled in the other rooms. I kept reading.

 April 16th
 Yesterday, I decided I'd finally go out and take a hit. That stuff was pretty crazy and made me feel strange. It was funny. When I took it, I felt different in a way . . . almost as if I was turning into some sort of creature. I guess that's just part of the high. It is, after all, a hallucinogen. But what really scared me was the clock tower . . . the wall on the other side seemed to moan . . . I could swear I heard sirens coming from it. My friends told me I was crazy. Maybe I am, but what if there was something beyond that wall I saw?

 I started to quiver. There was no wall blocking my way in . . . how could it have changed? I did hear the sirens, however. Maybe this really was some other world. Also, from reading this, I know that the White Claudia drug was a hallucinogen. I turned the page and read on.

 April 17th
 Busted . . . my English teacher, Mr. Gorden, found out we went into the clock tower, although he never figured out why we went there. He told me if we were ever caught there again, we'd be sorry. Geez . . . he was really pissed. It was like the school was trying to hide something. When my family moved here, I did here rumors about some sort of cult that some of the teachers were in. I had always thought it was a load of bull shit, but now I'm not so sure. I know there can't be anything past the clock tower . . . but is there something happening to it? Or this town, for that matter?

 A cult? I started to wonder what was happening to the kids of this school. I remembered the previous entry . . . it talked about him feeling a beast from within. I looked at the next page, which apparently was the last page.

 April 18th
 Everything I've written before has come true. I am so scared I can't think straight! My friends all took the drug again today at lunch and everything went crazy from there. I kept having migraines at school and kept having these visions . . . visions of our school turning into some horrible nightmare. Now those visions are coming true. I'm trying to hide as I write this entry down, and don't even know why I'm risking my life to do so. Maybe this'll help some other person who comes out here. Everything has turned pitch black, but I was lucky enough to find a flashlight while I hide here in my locker. I'm guessing they won't find me in here. Ever sense the school went pitch black, I keep hearing this voice in my head. It sounds almost like some girl who keeps whispering "you're not needed". My friends are all

 The entry abruptly stopped there. The rest of the page was covered in blood. I was curious as to what the kid was trying to say, but it all didn't make sense. His friends were more aggressive? I started to think of the skinless children, wondering if they were a product of the drug usage. I decided against it. No drug could possibly do anything like that. I placed the journal into my pocket, wondering if perhaps I'd need it.
 
 I wondered, though, why the journal was near the body of what looked like an adult. I was sure that whoever wrote this wasn't in this alternate school as well. He described how things got darker. I wasn't sure, but maybe this person who had been murdered and hung over the toilet was someone who had found this journal and dropped before he was murdered. I didn't know, but I was grateful I had found this. I looked at the body one last time, my face wrinkled with disgust. I then left the bathroom, stepping back into the hall.

 I turned left and started running down it. After what seemed like hours, I finally made it to the stair case. I ran up the two flights of stairs, trying to outrun a foe that didn't exist. I soon made it to the top of the stairs and ended up in another hall. I started to wonder, however . . . was the roof open? I decided to check as I ran up the next flight of stairs.

 At the top, I saw yet another rusted door. I then put my hand on the knob, putting a firm grip on it. I then twisted it.

 It was unlocked!

 I opened the door, wondering if there was anything useful out here . . . some way to get out of this nightmare of a school. I looked around, thin rain still splashing off my coat. I walked forwards, noticing another mark much like the one in the courtyard, only much smaller. It was engraved on the wall. I then saw something else . . .
 A statue . . .
 
 A few of them, in fact. All of them looked like the ones I had seen in the painting in the teachers lounge in the normal school. Maybe the writing about a school cult was true. The statues stood tall, the figures looking proud and yet somewhat tortured in a way. I noticed the color of the rusted metal mixed with the statue's plating quite well.

 I walked forwards, noticing that there was some sort of drainage gutter up ahead. It suddenly came to my attention that a small stream of blood was in it . . . and every other time I had seen blood on some object, it was significant. I ran up to it, looking down at the blood in the ditch. It was much thicker than any other bits of blood I had found in this alternate school.

 Suddenly, I noticed a shape being formed in the blood . . . it looked like a key of some sort. I hesitated before putting my hand into the blood, trying to grip the shape. I then pulled, but the key didn't come out of the blood. I was surprised the blood was really that thick. I moved my hand back and stared at it. More blood on it . . . I wiped the blood on my hand onto the wall next to me. A bloody hand print was left on the wall. How could I get that key out?

 I suddenly noticed a large tank near the key. I ran up to it, examining it for a moment. I read the large label on it . . . it was some sort of gas tank. I noticed how it was located directly above the gutter. I suddenly realized . . . maybe gasoline could eat through the blood on the key! But how the hell would I get the gasoline out without shooting the tank? I had to think a moment, realizing that a bullet could ignite the gas. I searched the tank for some way to get the gas out.

I suddenly noticed a faucet head sticking out of the side. I realized it must be part of a gas-dispensing system. I also realized that it was right above the gutter! I laughed as I quickly opened the valve.

 Gasoline poured from the small hole in the tank. It all flowed, slowly approaching the blood. I watched with a fascination, wondering silently to myself if it might actually work.

 Suddenly, it all stopped flowing towards the key. I wondered what had stopped the flow of gas as I examined the gutter's route. I noticed that there was a large drainage hole in the middle of the gutter. I swore as I examined it. It wasn't that large, but it was big enough to stop the gasoline. I wondered how I could plug the hole. I was too frightened to do it with my hand for too long, as where it could eat right through my own flesh. I put my hands in my coat pocket, wondering if there was any way to rid myself of this dilemma.

 My hand felt a round object. I grasped it and pulled it out of my pocket, wondering what it was that had brushed along my fingers. I held it in front of my face. It was . . . the pink rubber ball I had found in the school hall! I realized I could use it to plug up the hole! I wondered how I was so lucky as to have actually noticed it! Everything just seemed too fortunate . . . besides being trapped in this endless nightmare.

 I knelt down beside the gutter and jammed the ball into the hole. It fit perfectly! The gas flowed over the hole and towards the blood. I leapt a bit as a loud sizzling noise emitted from the blood as the gas flowed over it. The sounded ran it's course in about 5 seconds and then stopped. I ran up the where the blood was. The key floated in the pool of gasoline, continuing to flow down the gutter. I noticed at the end another drainage hole. I gasped as I raced towards it. There was no way I was going all the way back to the court yard. I dived forwards, my hand in front of me. I grabbed the key as fast as I could . . . right before it fell below. I laughed as I shook my hand, trying to get the think gasoline off.

I walked back to the valve and closed it. The gas soon stopped flowing. I sighed happily. The key was finally in my possesion. I wasn't sure what it unlocked, but I was sure whatever it was . . . it was probably important.

 I ran to the door. I swung the set of them open and ran back inside the school. I wondered what the key could open, but I decided that if a door was locked, I should try this key. As soon as I finished going down the stairs, I ran up to a door not that far in front of me. I opened the door. Okay, the key didn't unlock this one. According to my map, this was some sort of class room, although I couldn't see any objects inside that gave it that classification. No desks or chairs . . . I only saw a table a few feet in the distance. As I slowly approached the table, I realized that there were three old fashion phones on it. I walked up to one, hoping that maybe one of them would work. I pick it up and put the hearing piece to my ear.

 Dead . . .

 I soon discovered that all three of them were dead. I growled. Was every logical mean of escaping put there just to fail and disappoint me? I walked away from the phones, quite annoyed that none of them worked. The door was to my right, and I decided there was nothing more to search for in this room. I put my hand on the knob, ready to open it.

 Suddenly, the phone rang.

 The sound the phone emitted made me literally jump. I turned around, realizing it was nothing to fear. Just a phone ringing. I walked up to it. I had no idea who was calling or why, but maybe they could help me out of this hell hole. I picked up the phone. I opened my mouth to speak, but a voice came through before I had the chance.

 "Daddy . . . . help me! Daddy . . . where are you?"

 "Cheryl!"

 Suddenly, the phone started to die again. I heard a few beeps and then nothing. That was Cheryl's voice . . . I knew it. Where could she be? I decided now was no time to stop. I had to press on and find my little girl . . . no matter what.

 I walked to the door to my left and opened. As soon as I stepped out of it, I opened my map. I soon realized that there was a chain link fence blocking the other end of the hallway to my right. The school room I had taken was the way around it. I noticed that there stairway to the basement was down the next two halls. I closed the map and ran down the rest of the hallway until I saw a door to my left. I walked up to them and pulled on them.

 Locked.

 This was the door the key went to . . . I was almost positive. I pulled they key out from my pocket. I then placed it into the key hole above the metal plate. I turned it. It was the one, all right. I laughed as I pushed the doors open. I walked into the hallway, checking my map once again. in this hallway, there was a locker room and library. I scratched my head, deciding that maybe the locker room would be a good place to check. I walked up to the door that my map identified as the locker room and opened it up.

 The locker room looked a lot like the one at the other school, but it was darker . . . more twisted and horrific . . . just like the rest of the school. I heard a rattling sound. As I had remembered, the last time I had heard that, it was one of the lockers. I remembered how I had found a cat inside of it last time. I decided that maybe whatever was rattling was worth checking out. I proceeded down the line of lockers and around the first set. At the other end, I saw one small locker door shaking. Curious, I walked up to it as quickly as I could, although still walking. I was still scared of  the "no running" sign, fearing the worst. I always had to fear the worst in this town. I stared at the rattling locker in front of me. I then put my hand on it and pulled it opened.

 Nothing inside but blood.

 A lot of blood at that. The locker had a small river flowing out of it. What caused that rattling sound, I began to wonder. I looked deeper into, and still found no source to the sound. All I found was the gigantic red bloodstain that filled the empty locker.

 I turned my head from it, disgusted. Nothing in the locker room. Just a worthless locker filled with blood. I started to walk away from it, deciding that all of my exploring was getting me nowhere. I made sure to walk and not run, as I had before.

 Suddenly, one of the lockers flew open. I jumped forwards, not sure what came out of the locker . . . if anything at all. I then heard a hallow thump on the ground. I turned around slowly to see what it was that caused the sound. I then gasped.

 A rotting child's body.

 I noticed that by it's figure, it was probably a teen. I started to quiver as I examined it's face. It's mouth hung wide opened. The knife wounds were so deep into it's flesh, it scared me. The ends of it's figures had been sliced off and it's almost artificial looking veins hung out where it's fingers used to be. Who could do this to a child? I had seen adult mutilated bodies here, but . . . a child. How horrible and sick whoever did this was. Who could this child have been anyways and how did it end up in the locker?

 I suddenly thought back to the journal I had read. I remembered that the kid in it was hiding in a locker before he was apparently murdered . . . but how did he get into this alternate school? So much didn't make sense. I could only think about how sick and disgusting it was to murder a child.

 I noticed a card of some sort next to it's dead body. It must have been in the pocket of the jeans that were still on it's body. I picked up the card. It was golden with two black squares on it. I wondered what this could be used for, but knew that it was probably of some importance. After giving the card a secure resting place in my pocket, I walked back out of the locker room, continuing to follow the instructions on the sign in the previous school.

 I knew I should probably head to the library from there. I wasn't sure what I was aiming for, but my only hope now was to get out of here. I hoped that maybe Cheryl had already done so. I walked down the dark, erie hallway, my eyes peeled for any type of . . . thing that might harm me. After several steps down the hall, I noticed a door. I stopped in front of it, though my footsteps still echoed through the otherwise quiet corridor. I opened the door and stepped inside. I quickly closed the door behind me, still afraid of the dangers that might be creeping up on me.

 My head darted to my left as I felt something touch me. I leapt to my right, still staring in the same direction. What just touched me?! Another kid? I prayed not as I focused my eyes in front of me. I then gasped.

 A kid . . . only without a knife and . . . almost invisible.

 I could make out the basic shape of the child, but it was transparent . . . almost as if it were made out of glass. It walked and stumbled and fell on it's tiny face in front of me. I knelt down looking at it as it lay there in front of me.

 Suddenly, I heard a small voice in my head.

 Help me . . .

 It was almost as if the child were talking to me with it's mind . . . like it was telepathically communicating. I continued to kneel by the child, wondering if it was trying to tell me something. It didn't get up, however. It just lay there . . . maybe it had died from some unknown cause. I wondered why it didn't try to attack me. It had a clear advantage over me with it's transparency, but . . . it seemed to be much smaller than the other ones. Maybe this one was different.

 I got up, walking past it's invisible dead body. I noticed several books on a bookshelf against a wall. I laughed as I thought to myself that this wouldn't be a library without books. I was almost positive that none of them would help me, but felt driven towards them anyways.

 I noticed an open book at the end of the shelf. I walked up to it, shining my flashlight on it. The letters written on the pages were very small, but I decided that I should read it anyways. I noticed the bold letters at the top of the page.

 Leonard Rhine
 The Monster Lurks

 I started to quiver as I remembered that exact title written in blood near the body I had found. I knew by that title that I needed to read this. Perhaps it had something of some importance. I continued to read down the page.

 Chapter 3: Manifestation of Delusions
 In my recent research of manifestation, I have found that many things are known to trigger them in people. Poltergeists are among these. Negative emotions, such as fear, worry or stress manifest into external energy with physical effects. Nightmares have, in some cases, been shown to trigger them. However, such phenomena do not appear to happen to just anyone. Although it is not clear why, adolescents,  especially those who are female, are prone to such occurrences.

 The selection made me quiver. Manifestation? I didn't even want to think of Cheryl as manifested. I noticed that this page was it. Whoever Leonard Rhine was, he really seemed to know a lot about the topic of being manifested . . . but how?

 I left the bookshelf and walked up to a door located near the back of the room. I wondered what could possibly be beyond this door. I stared at it for a few moments. I was in no mood to check my map for some strange reason. Without a second thought, I swung the door open and looked into the other room.

 Just another part of the library.

 I noticed that up ahead another book lay open. I quickly ran up to it, wondering if there was any more information about the manifestation theory I had read about earlier. I took a look at the book, starting the read.

 "The lizard has returned," declared the village watchman. Hearing this, the hunter, armed with his bow and arrow, said "I will kill the lizard." But upon meeting his opponent, he held back, taunting "Who's afraid of a reptile?" At this, the furious lizard hissed, "I'll swallow you up in a single bite!" The huge creature attacked, it's jaws wide open. This was what the hunter wanted. Calmly drawing his bow, he shot into the lizard's gaping mouth. Effortlessly, the arrow flew, piercing the defenseless maw, and the lizard fell down dead.

 I had remembered reading this before when I was child. The Tale of the Lizard . . . it was funny how this book was opened. Perhaps this was significant somehow. I wondered how on earth a story about a giant lizard was to help me, but I quickly tossed aside all doubts in my head. I then walked out of the dark library into a school hall which my map had said would lead to the basement. The basement seemed to be the only area I hadn't explored, so I guessed it was where something significant was.

 As soon as I was in the hall, I started to run down it, hoping that my escape was somewhere nearby. Further and further I ran, hoping that this was all some nightmare I'd wake up from . . . because somehow or another, I felt like I knew this place, and I felt like this was a dream. I don't know why I kept having this sense of deja vue, but it was an overwhelming feeling that constantly threw my train of thought off.

 I felt like I was being used somehow . . .

 I eventually found the stairs at the end of the hall. I jumped down the flight of stairs almost like how I had when I was a child. As soon as I got to the first floor, I took a sharp left and ran down the next flight of stairs. I soon reached the bottom, ending up in a room very similar to the entrance to to the boiler room, except . . . the door that I entered the boiler room with at the other school had been changed. I suddenly gasped.

 It was the same door as the one in the painting at the teacher's lounge!

 The two statues stood tall and majestic looking, as if guarding something. I noticed a thin layer of blood spilling from one of the square shaped holes. I didn't know what was in it and figured I had best find out, as where I was guessing whatever it was that opened this door was in it. I looked into the square, looking for some sort of hint.

 I noticed a small brick inside. I looked closely at it and noticed a thin slit in it . . . it almost looked like a card holder. This was no doubt the mechanism that opened the door. I wondered what could possibly open the door . . . probably a card of some sort.

 And then it hit me. The card I had found next to the dead kid! I reached into my pocket and found it with my fingers. I then yanked it out and carefully slid it into the stone slit in the brick. I let back as the stone seemed to suck the card right in . . . as if devouring it. I then heard a loud clicking noise. I noticed how the door seemed to move forwards a bit. I figured this was a sign that it was safe to continue. I sighed as I lightly pushed on the door. It moved, so I pushed harder. Eventually, the door swung open. The area beyond the door was extremely dark. I couldn't see the other side of the room inside, but stepped inside. I walked forwards, wondering what was beyond this door that seemed to symbolize something . . . most likely some sort of danger.

 I leapt, startled, as the floor beneath me started to move.

 It lead downwards . . . like an elevator. It traveled through a shaft made of chain links, like the rest of the school. It took a while, but eventually I ended up at the bottom of the shaft. It landed in a round room.

 Suddenly, I noticed something up ahead . . . it looked like another statue, only this one seemed to be some sort of effigy. I stared at the statue that was tied to a wooden post  up ahead. Surrounding it was a metal barricade made up of gears and such that prevented me from approaching it. I wondered what this was.

 Suddenly, the figure was engulfed in flames. I stared in disbelief, not expecting fire to erupt from the post. I wasn't sure where it had come from, but it had certainly startled me. I watched the figure slowly burn until nothing was left but mere ashes. The fire still burned, however, and I noticed that as the figure burned, the gears surrounding it were moving. This was quite a machine, indeed. A burning figure . . . I started to wonder what sick minded person would do this.

 I then heard footsteps . . . footsteps that caused the floor beneath me to shake. Every single step sent a huge wave of shock through the floor. I wondered could possibly cause this. I then turned around. I gasped in complete horror.

 A humongous lizard . . .

 I was absolutely terrified as I started at the creature that was at least twice my size. It's thick, scaled skin moved with every step. I started to panic as I reached for my gun. The monster approached me slowly, my heart racing faster and faster. I saw it's blood red eyes focused on me. It's huge fore-arms stepping forwards as the lizard drew closer to it's prey . . .

 Me.

 I yanked the gun out of my pocket after struggling with it for a few seconds. I then pointed it at the monster and fired at least 3 rounds. I yelled as I realized every one of them had just ricoched off of it's hard skin. I noticed how one of the bullets, however, stuck very firmly in it's forehead. I noticed some pink substance ooze down it's forehead. I stared for a moment, noticing that the lizard had stopped moving. It stayed still for a moment. I wondered if the last shot I had fired had killed the damn thing. I continued to watch it's head.

 Suddenly, it's head split right in half.

 But it didn't stop! It was as if it's head was a larger mouth. I leapt back in fear, noticing the jaws within it's head. It then ran an me with incredible speed. I screamed, trying to run.

 It was then that I remembered the story I had read earlier. The Tale of the Lizard . . . in it the hunter shot the lizard through it's head when it's mouth was wide open! I figured nothing in the town that I had seen was there for no reason at all. I stared one last time into it's humongous mouth. It then took a dive at me. I screamed again as I fired 3 more rounds. I then collapsed on the floor, putting my hands over my head.

 The lizard didn't attack me. I stared up for a moment as I witnessed the horrid expression on the lizard's face . . . though it's head was split in half, it still had a facial expression on both halves of it's face. I then heard it moan and groan. It was then that it started to collapse on the floor.

 My vision got blurry as I heard sirens in my head . . . the same sirens I had heard my head in the alleyway and in the clock tower . . .

 My vision became normal again and the sirens stopped, but the lizard was gone. I wasn't able to fully explore my surrounding, but knew I was still in the strange room.

 I then saw a girl sitting in the corner.

 It looked like . . . Cheryl, only it was too old to be her. She looked more like she was in her teens, but she looked an awful lot like Cheryl. I guessed that's what Cheryl would look like when she was maybe 7 years older . . . exactly. The girl sat up and stared at me. I was curious as to who she was, but I couldn't find out as she then disappeared right before my eyes.

 I noticed the nightmarish surrounding dissolve around me . . . as if I were waking up from a dream. In a matter of seconds, it all disappeared. No longer was I in the alternate school . . .

 I was back in the normal school in the boiler room.

Chapter 7: A Nightmare Revisited
By X-treme X-taggano ([email protected])

 Back at the school . . .

 I started around, realizing that there was no need for my flashlight. Instead, there was fog . . . thank God there was nothing more than fog. I was starting to fear the dark. But I had to ask myself one question . . .

 Who the hell was that girl?

 I knew it wasn't Cheryl, but whoever it was looked an awful lot like her. And how did she disappear right before my eyes? So many questions flooded my mind. How did I end up back at the school? Where did the light come from?

 What was that other world I had experienced?

 I still felt as if I had awakened from a dream . . . a horribly nightmare. What I had experienced just didn't feel like it had actually happened. The school felt very real before I went to the alternate world, but the other school felt so unreal . . . much like the alleyway.

 It felt strange, but I felt like I had dreamt about the alleyway years ago for some odd reason. I knew that it had happened no more than a day ago, but my senses told me that it had been a long time ago . . . a long time ago.

 My thoughts were interrupted by a sound I recognized quite well.

 Bells playing a soft song through town.

 I wondered where the bells were coming from. I was guessing it wasn't the clock tower . . . the pitch was too high. I was guessing that they were probably church bells of some kind. I realized that someone must be playing them . . . and finding another human being meant the world to me right now. I couldn't stand my solitude right now. Anyone having to survive these conditions wouldn't.

 I quickly pulled out my map, looking for a church in town. I soon realized that there was indeed one relatively close by. I folded my map back up and walked out of the boiler room.

 I noticed that there was enough light to see without my flashlight, so I turned it off. I noticed that the fog seemed to have returned. What happened to all the darkness that I was previously surrounded by? I prayed that there would be no more monsters lurking around the school as I walked up the stairway. As soon as I got to the main floor, I ran to the door that lead outside of the school. Cheryl wasn't here . . . I knew that much. I needed to search somewhere else. Maybe someone was at that church who could help me. I pushed forward on the door.

 It was locked.

 I noticed that I could unlock the door with a small latch above the handle. I began to wonder how the doors ended up locked if I had gotten into the school earlier. The doors certainly weren't locked then. I shook my head, wondering how everything had ended up as messed up in my mind as they were. I walked into the main den, staring at the two doors ahead of me. I walked up to one of them--surely, these ones wouldn't be locked; these were the very doors I had used to enter the school! I pushed on one.
 
 Locked.

 What the hell was going on? I knew this was where I had entered the school, so how did everything get locked up again? Did someone come through here and lock it?

 Or had I never even been there before?

 I shook the thought from my head. Of course I had been there. How else could I have experienced what I did? As bizarre as the events that took place in the school were, I knew that they had indeed happened. However, I realized, after examining it, that my leg was no longer bleeding from the knife that had been stabbed into it. In fact, there were no cuts or bruises in the slightest. The only cut I had that I recognized was the one from the Cafe where that creature attacked me. I was sure, however, that I had been to that alternate school. I must have! It all seemed too real.

 I decided to stop thinking about all the things that didn't make sense. All I needed was to get to that Church. I walked outside of the school, not even turning back to think about what had happened in there. I continued down the walkway leading out of the school and found the road eventually. I then started to run down the street. I felt unreal being back in the shrouded mist for some odd reason. I felt like I had just awakened. I also felt lightheaded, which seemed a little unusual. Maybe it was because of what I had just been through . . . such an event can change someone in a heartbeat.

 I soon found Bachman Road and ran down it. Another long road . . . everything was a blur as I ran down the the road. It was as if I was swimming through a glass of milk with buildings outside of the glass. My face was almost numb from the stinging cold. More snow fell than before, yet it all melted by the time it hit the pavement. This was a strange town indeed. I needed to find Cheryl, but I also wanted to know . . .

 What was going on in this town?

 I soon found a building with a cross on the side of it. I realized that it must be the church. I ran around the corner and saw the entrance. There was a set of stairs in front of it, and they were quite big at that. I ran around to the front and started to walk up them. I noticed the bells were no longer ringing, however. I hoped that didn't mean that whoever was here left. As soon as I reached the top of the flight of stairs, I swung the door opened in front of me.

 Inside, I saw a huge cross with a stone figure of Christ nailed to it. Not a rare thing for a church. I noticed several candles around the church and paintings of religious figures, such as the Virgin Mary and such. There were also other statues that I didn't get a good look at, but were probably of religious value. Several aisles of church benches went up and down the long, extravagant carpet that barely covered the stone floor.

 At the front of the altar, I saw a woman.

 She looked quite old and wrinkled with age. She wore a white veil, although it did not cover her face. Her skin was almost sickeningly yellow and she wore a tattered old dress with a red tie. Her dress's coarse brown material clashed with the blue and red in her outfit. She had an extremely haunting
complexion that almost repelled me from her.

 I approached her anyway, ignore my fear of her appearance. "Were you ringing that bell?" I asked her.

 She stared at me and then smiled, her face starting to wrinkle even more than before due to her facial expression. "I've been expecting you . . ." she told me. "It was foretold to me through Gyromancy."

 I tilted my head. "W-what are you talking about?" I asked curiously.

 She looked up at the roof. I could tell she had some deep thoughts on her mind. Then she looked back at me, as if she had made up her mind about something. "I knew you'd come. You want the girl, right?"

 I suddenly shot a glare at her. "The girl? You mean . . . Cheryl?" I asked.

 She laughed slightly. "I see everything now . . ." she said slowly.
 
 I started to walk towards her. "You know something? Tell me . . ." I started.

 "Stay back!" she interrupted in a demanding tone of voice. I did as she told me, fearing to move any closer. She scowled. "There is nothing to be gained from floundering about at random! You must follow the path . . . the path of the hermit, concealed by Flauros."

 I was confused by then. What was this crazy old lady talking about? All this talk about 'the path' and such.

 "What do you mean?" I asked meekly.

 She reached into her pocket, searching for something. Soon, she produced an item . . . a pyramid shaped object. I couldn't get a good look at it from the angle she was holding it at, but it looked like it had some sort of writing on it.

 "The Flauros . . . a cage of peace," she began. "It can pierce through the walls darkness and counteract the wrath of the underworld." She paused as she placed the Flauros, or whatever it was, on the altar. She then faced me again. "Listen, if you want to stop this evil that is against us, go to the hospital before it is too late." She then started walking towards a door on the side of the church.

 I raised my hand, trying to stop her. "Hey, wait!" I yelled. "Don't leave!" It was too late, for she had already gone through the door and slammed it shut. I ran up to the door, but it was locked. Why would she leave when the whole town was in this condition? I would guess an old lady like her would be terrified and look for any help she could get.

 I turned around, deciding to forget about her and go to the hospital. Maybe there I'd find some more answers. I walked up to the altar, examining the objects she left. One of them was the Flauros and the other was a key of some sort. I picked up the key first, wondering what this key could possibly unlock. I read the tag attached to it. It was apparently used to lower some sort of bridge. I knew the city had 3 districts and that the hospital was probably in a different on of them. It seemed odd that it wouldn't be more convenient to the residentials, as I knew it wasn't in this area. Maybe it was past the bridge this key was supposed to lower. I checked my map, realizing that the bridge was right on this street near the gas station.

 I picked up the pyramid shaped object she identified as the Flauros. It was a strange object indeed. It had some sort of ancient writing on it, which I was guessing was part of the religious nature of the object. She had described how it could pierce through the walls of darkness and such . . . maybe it was what I was to use to finally put an end to all of this nonsense. I started to shake my head, realizing there was almost no chance of this small object being able to destroy all traces of the evil which lurked in this town.

 I turned around walking back up towards the door. I started feeling an eerie sense of deja vu, however. The church . . . and the Flauros, too, seemed familiar. I didn't know why. I kept noticing more and more that I knew my surroundings . . . maybe that was why I was able to carry on the way I did.

 I opened the double doors to the church and walked back outside into the murky city streets. I quickly ran down the stairs and turned right. I remembered that my map had said that the drawbridge was down this road. I started run down it as quickly as I could, trying to get there as quickly as possible. I didn't necessarily feel safe outside, although I had to admit I hadn't seen any monsters on my way to the church. Maybe things had gotten safer.

 It wasn't long before I could see the vague outline of a tower ahead. I realized that it must be the tower that controlled the bridge. I started to walk towards it, getting short on breath from all the running had done. The tower was much larger than I had realized, although not as tall as, say, a building. I noticed a set of stairs going up the side of it and decided that the control panel that lowered the bridge was in the top level. The tower became more and more visible as I slowly approached the stairs.

 I suddenly heard the flapping of wings.

 Not another monster . . . I thought that they were gone now! I didn't even take the time to turn around to check if it was indeed a monster . . . I heard its wings flapping, telling me that it was rapidly approaching me. I started to run, realizing that the creature wasn't very far behind me. I could soon hear its flapping wings right behind me, and I heard it cry out. It was closing in on me!

 I then dove to the floor, covering my head

 I heard it fly over me. The soft breeze that was emitted from its thrust brushed against my back and I heard its nails slam against the street and scrape along the pavement. I then looked up. It was one of those winged monsters all right. I reached into my pocket, searching for that gun I had become more well acquainted with then I wished. As soon as I had a firm grip on it, I fired at the creature's head. I was still lying on the floor, but the gun recoiled so hard it slammed into my forehead. I swore out loud and pointed the gun back at the creature. I noticed its head was bleeding. I was guessing mine was too. I fired another shot. The gun shot was responded with a sickening splat. I looked back at the pink demon, witnessing a thick stream of blood flowing out of its head. I was positive now that it was indeed dead.

 I brushed the dust off my jeans. I realized that I was getting better with a pistol. But if I ever survived this, that would be a skill I didn't want to have remembered. I hated killing and shooting, but I knew I had to do it. My situation was kill or be killed . . . whether I liked it or not.

 I walked up to the stairway and scaled it as quickly as I could. Once I reached the top, I was able to see the messy interior of the tower. I looked past all the objects that were scattered and noticed the control panel. I ran up to it, searching for the key in my coat pocket. As I was searching for it, however, I noticed a brightly colored piece of paper. I picked it up with my other hand and examined it. It was a map of the district passed the bridge! It was labeled "shopping district." I found the key with my other hand not long afterwards. I put the key into the keyhole, but didn't turn it just yet. Instead, I examined the map, searching for the hospital. I realized that it was on Crichton Street . . . the first street I'd reach as soon as I entered the new district!

 I folded up the map and put in my pocket with the rest of my map collection. I then turned the key. All the machinery started up and I noticed certain lights were blinking on and off. I then heard a loud beeping noise. I saw a button on the panel that read "lower" that suddenly flipped on. I was guessing this was the "magic button" that lowered the bridge. I pressed it.

 Through the fog, I could see the bridge lowering. It soon touched the ground, giving me access to the shopping district at last! I laughed, realizing that my path was clear now. I then ran out of the tower and down the staircase. As soon as I reached the bottom, I looked over the bridge. The mechanisms that made it lower created a haunting sound of the wind blowing over the canyon it passed over. I knew that what was creating that sound was a machine and nothing more, however. No harm could possibly come to me in any way. I started running over the bridge and into the new district.

 After running for a while, I reached the shopping area. I checked my map momentarily to see what street I had made it to. I realized it was Chrichton Street and the the hospital was down the street to my left.

 However, I saw a police station right in front of me. I knew that I shouldn't get too excited, due to the fact that I hadn't found one single living person in this whole town aside from Cybil and that old lady, but maybe Cybil made her way here! I knew she was from a different police department, but maybe she had made her way to this one because she couldn't find a way out of town! I knew I certainly couldn't find one. So, before thinking twice about it, I walked up the police station entrance . . . past the police car and in through the double doors.

 The police station was dark . . . even more so than outside. It was also drafty, which I was guessing was due to the lack of working heater. I saw the front desk, realizing there was no one here. I was angered by this, yet reminded myself not to be surprised. After all, there was no one else in any other part of the town either.

 I walked along the tile floor, making my way to a door to my left. I was curious if it was opened. I soon found out as I turned the knob and witnessed the door open in front of me. I then walked to the room. I realized that there were many files scattered across the floor. I walked through the seats that had been knocked over, realizing that most of the files were irrelevant to what was going on in this town.

 I walked up to a desk, realizing there was some sort of yellow notepad there. I saw someone's handwriting on it, and it wasn't in blood. I examined it, wondering what it had to say.

 Corner Seals called today. From his investigation, he had discovered that Officer Gucci was unlikely to have been murdered. He apparently had died a natural death. Seals did discover, however, that Gucci's medical records showed no prior symptoms of heart disease.

 I wondered if this had any relevance to what was happening, and soon decided against it. I realized that there was nothing else helpful on the scattered desk. I then looked to my left, noticing the chalk board was covered with police notes. I was curious as to what they had to say. I read the sloppy writing very carefully and slowly.

 Product only available in certain areas of this town. Raw material is White Claudia, which we also have discovered is the name of the drug itself. This is a plant peculiar to the region. We are not sure if it is manufactured here. Is the dealer the manufacturer?

 White Claudia? I found that drug in containers all over the school. I then realized that the drug containers were probably labeled because no one expected it to be anything more than samples of the plant. But even then . . . the drug dealers should have known that they couldn't cover up forever. I also found it unusual that there was a liquid substance in the jar. I had thought that any drug of the sort would perhaps be inhaled through one's nose. Maybe I wasn't being led on to as much as I thought I was. I did, after all, only see the drug on the way into . . . and in the alternate school. Maybe the liquid was used to hide the actual drug. The possibilities in my mind were endless and constantly contradicted each other. I decided that, in time, I'd find more answers. My main concern wasn't drugs anyway. It was my daughter.

 I shook my head as I walked towards the door. I noticed, however, that there were bullets scattered around the floor. Maybe something an officer had dropped? I scooped up a handful of them and put them in my left coat pocket where I kept all my bullets. I realized that I had just picked up about 30 rounds, which was quite a lot to me. I needed to get my hands on as many as I could possible find or I would never survive my journey through this town. My pocket was now quite heavy due to the amount of ammunition contained within it, but it didn't burden me in the slightest.

 I exited the room through the door I had entered with and found myself back in the lobby. I decided there was nothing more to examine in the police department. I had found all I needed. I walked back out the same set of double doors I had found earlier. I flung them opened and stepped back into the foggy city streets. I knew at the end of the street was the hospital and I had to get there quickly. I started run down the street as fast as I could. I figured the faster I ran, the faster I arrived at the hospital.

 I noticed that the snow started to fall almost harder than it had before as I ran. It fell down in an enormous quantity, yet still melted the second it hit the street. It made me wonder how it could be cold enough to snow, yet warm enough to make the snow melt.
 
 At last, I saw the large building ahead of me. I started to run towards it, realizing the entrance was down the next street. I headed down that street, running towards the large gate that was used to enter it. At last, I reached it. I peered through the steel bars for a moment, and I noticed it was a small courtyard occupied with a few trees and a light layer of snow. An ambulance was also parked, leading me to believe this was used as a parking area for hospital staff. It was, after all, rather large. I examined the courtyard . . . or parking lot further, wondering if there was any danger that lurked beyond the gate.

 Unfortunately, there was.

 Two dogs walked aimlessly around the courtyard of the hospital where the ambulance was parked. I sighed. I didn't want to kill any more dogs. I didn't want to kill anything more at all. I looked around, looking for the way into the hospital. I soon realized the door that lead into the hospital was extremely close to the gate. I got to thinking . . . perhaps I could get to the door before one of the dogs noticed me. I held my breath as I walked towards the gate. My fate was left up to God in heaven at this point. I said a silent prayer and then threw the gate open.

 Both of the dog's heads shot right at me.

 I realized they knew I was in. I quickly ran to the door. The dogs were both in hot pursuit of me, but I got to the entrance before them. I opened the door and dove inside, slamming the door behind me. I could hear both of the dogs scratching and barking at the door. For a moment, I felt a sense of deja vu, remembering my encounter with the dog at the house I was at before the school. I laughed, thanking God that I was even alive.

 I stood up and walked into the hospital. It was very gray and murky. I noticed the receptionist's desk to my left. I saw a phone, but decided not to even bother trying it. All the phones were dead everywhere else, and I was guessing this one wouldn't suddenly work either. So I walked passed the desk , walking around the wall to the next area of the hospital.

 I suddenly heard a gun shot.

 I literally fell back in fear. The noise had startled me so much that I lost my balance. After getting back to my feet, I realized that the gunshot had come from the door to my left. I normally didn't follow gunfire, but I know that only humans used guns. Maybe there was someone alive. I ignored the table filled with magazines to my left and headed straight to the door.

 I walked up to the door and opened it slowly. The dark contents of the room soon became apparent to me as the door opened more and more.

 I gasped as I saw one of those winged monsters lying in a pool of its own blood.

 The blood in this one seemed to reflect other things in the room. I realized that there was a man's reflection in it.

 I looked up. There, I saw a middle aged man sitting in a chair holding a gun firmly in his grip. He slowly moved his head up in my direction.

 I was startled as he lifted his gun and pointed it at me.

 "Wait!" I tried to tell him, but he fired at me. The bullet barely missed me and left a small hole in the door behind me. I covered my head in fear. "Stop! Don't shoot!" I pleaded.

 I noticed the man put his gun down, no longer aiming at me. "Who the hell are you?" he asked in a deep voice . . . almost frighteningly deep.

 "My name is Harry Mason . . . I'm in town on vacation! Just don't shoot!" I explained.

 I noticed the man put his gun away in his briefcase, which let me know I was safe. I decided he meant no harm, considering he was probably just as paranoid as I was about the whole situation. I then got back up to my feet and approached him slowly. As soon as he was done packing up his pistol, he looked back at me. His black suit gave me the impression that he worked at this hospital in some way. His black tie swayed with the light breeze that penetrated through the walls of the building. He had dark brown hair, similar to mine, and his eyes had a strange glow to them . . . in a way that almost scared me.

 "Thank God . . ." he said, relieved. "Another human being."

 "Yeah . . . I'm glad I've found someone," I sighed. "Do you work here?"

 He nodded. "Yes. My name's Doctor Michael Kauffman," he explained. Though his voice was gruff, I did notice he had a strange tone of fear in his voice. I did notice, after all, that he shot at me even though he knew I was a human. Regardless of what had happened, he worked . . . and probably lived here. Maybe he had some idea as to what was happening.

 "You work here . . . so do you have any idea what the hell's going on?" I asked.

 He shook his head. "I really can't say," he explained. "I was taking a nap in the staff room. When I woke up, everything was like this." He paused as he looked out the window. "Something's seriously wrong. It's snowing in the middle of summer. And those monsters . . ." He pointed down at the dead creature on the floor. "Have you ever seen such aberrations? Ever even heard of such things?" He glanced back at me. "You and I know creatures like that don't exist!"

 "Yeah," I said. "I have no idea what's going on."

 I suddenly remembered . . . Cheryl!

 "Let me ask you . . ." I started. "Have you seen a little girl anywhere? She's about seven . . . short, black hair. My daughter."

 Kauffman tilted his head. "She's missing?" he asked.

 "Yeah," I sighed, still upset that I hadn't found her.

 "I'm sorry . . ." he said in a discouraged voice. "But with all those creatures around, I highly doubt that she's . . ." I noticed him paused because of the look of sheer panic on my face. What if Cheryl really had been killed? What if my whole journey was for nothing? "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to alarm you," he finished.

 There was, however, an eerie sense of realization in his voice. When I told him about my daughter, it looked like some light bulbs went off in his head. I didn't know why. Maybe I was just paranoid, but I could have sworn that he had just realized some valuable information and that I wasn't sure why it was even valuable.

 Kauffman than picked up his briefcase and started walking towards the door. I lifted my hand. "Wait!" I said. "Where're you going?"

 He looked back at me for a moment. "I've got to go. I can't waste any more time . . . I'm sorry," he explained.

 I shook my head. "Fine. Good luck out there, Michael," I said.

 He smiled as he opened the door and left. I sighed. Every single person I had found who was still alive left me. Cybil, that old lady, and now Kauffman. I didn't want to die alone . . . I wasn't sure how I could even keep my sanity when I was left with my solitude.

 I looked around the examination room, finding only a desk with some files and two beds. There were also three doors . . . the one had entered from, one straight ahead and one to my right. The only thing left in the room was the dead monster. I wanted to leave, but I had to find something in here . . . I knew that old lady was crazy, but for some reason I decided to take her advice and explore the hospital. Maybe it would lead me to Cheryl. I saw a door in the back and decided to take it out. I walked to the door and opened it up.

 Inside the next room was a row of book shelves. I realized, after examining many of the books, that all of them were simply books on medicine and such. Nothing important. I kept examining every object that came into my sight. All I had been finding was books on surgery and medicine.

 I suddenly noticed a newspaper clipping at the end of the desk. I picked it up and read it. I couldn't make out most of it because it was a part clipped out from a larger section. I did, however, see the name "White Claudia" in it several times and figured that the article was probably about the drug. I put it in my pocket, though I didn't fully understand it. For some odd reason, the whole "White Claudia" subject interested me. I wanted to know if somehow, it was what was causing some of the mayhem in this town.

 At the other end of the room, I saw a giant map of the hospital hanging down. I decided I would need that. I ripped it off of the wall and looked at it. The hospital was quite a bit bigger than I had imagined. I had no idea it was 3 stories tall. There was also a basement area, which I didn't want to explore for some odd reason. It made me uncomfortable thinking about going into the dark basement. I have to admit that by that time, I was afraid of the dark. Any normal human being would be.

 I exited out the door to my right. I found myself in a long hallway. On on wall, there were lots of windows, while on the other, there were lots of doors. I looked at my map, wondering what place seemed like a good to check first. I saw the manager's office on the map and decided that maybe it was a good place to start. I knew I was aimlessly wandering, trying to find Cheryl and answers, but for some reason some choices stood out over others.

 I ran down the hallway and soon found the manager's office. I stood in front of the door and opened it. To my surprise, all the books had been thrown off the shelves and most of the items in the desk were scattered. I ran past all the defiled books and straight to the desk. I hoped that maybe there would be some clue as to why everything was scattered everywhere.

 I soon found out what was probably the reason for it. I saw a broken flask behind the desk. Red liquid was splattered all over the floor. I was curious what it was, but I noticed the flask wasn't just broken . . . it looked like someone had destroyed it on purpose. I wondered if I could somehow get a sample of this stuff so I could examine it more closely. Maybe it was somehow similar to White Claudia. I noticed a small water bottle on the desk. I grabbed it and poured what I could into it. After the substance had been drained into the bottle, I examined it closely. There were no plantlike particles in it, which lead me to believe there was no White Claudia in it. This substance was differently colored, anyway, and wasn't as thick.

 I put the bottle in my pocket. I wondered if I'd meet anyone who might possibly be able to identify this substance. I got up, walking around the desk Nothing more needed to be examined in this room. I had the one thing I was curious about contained. I walked to the door and opened it, stepping back into the hallway.

 I walked down the hallway until I saw something at the end. It looked like an elevator. I approached it and realized that it was an elevator indeed. The gold doors and the buttons on the side proved it. I walked up to it, wondering if it might possibly work. I pressed the up  button. A few seconds later, I heard the elevator lower and the doors opened. I was surprised that, though nothing else worked, the elevator did. I checked my map. After searching through the three stories and the basement, I realized there was an emergency generator. Maybe Kauffman had activated it or something. I wasn't sure, but I decided to explore one of the higher floors.

 I got on and pressed button two. The elevator moved and took me to the second floor. The elevator doors soon opened and I found myself in a square room. I saw a set of double doors and walked up to them. I pushed on them strongly.

 Locked.

 I growled. Nothing left on the second floor to explore if the entrance was locked. I then proceeded to the elevator. As soon as I was inside, I pressed button three. The elevator moved and soon stopped. The doors opened and I found myself in a room similar to the second floor. The same vending machine was there as well! I walked up to the double doors on this floor, hoping that they wouldn't be locked.

 No such luck.

 No where left to search. I walked back to the elevator, now quite angry. Cheryl wasn't in the hospital. Where was she? I got back on the elevator, ready to press the button that would take me to the first floor.

 I then noticed a new button. One that hadn't been there before that I had noticed . . . one that would take me to the fourth floor.

 I didn't know the hospital had a fourth floor, but decided that maybe I'd find something up there. Maybe I had just hadn't noticed the button the first time. I decided that it was a safe place to explore. I put my finger on the button and pressed it.

 Suddenly, I had a vision . . . a vision on the girl who looked like Cheryl, only older. She was walking through a dark, nightmarish town . . . much like that alternate school. She then entered some sort of antique shop. The image suddenly left my head. However, I felt lightheaded. As soon as the doors opened, I stumbled out of them, not even able to see straight until they closed behind me. As soon as my vision returned, I gasped.

 The hospital was made of burnt steel.

Chapter 8: Returning to the Fire
By X-treme X-taggano ([email protected])

 I screamed in terror, realizing I had put myself right back into the hell I had escaped from just a little while ago.

 I ran back to the elevator, pushing the button several times, trying desperately to get the door to open. No matter how many times I slammed on the button, it wouldn't open. I looked at it one last time, feeling defeated. I kicked it with all my might, swearing at it. I then looked back into the hallway.

 I was surprised that the hospital wasn't pitch black like the alleyway and school were. A then layer of fog shrouded the 4th floor. I noticed that the vending machine next to me was burnt as well. The floor was made of reddish steel and walls were a blend of all these colors, burnt and disfigured. What kind of person or thing could possibly create such a nightmarish hell? I walked up to the door. If this one was locked, I was trapped here.

 Fortunately for me, it wasn't.

 I looked down the hallway. It was very similar to the other floors in the hospital, except now it was burnt . . . like an alternate version of it. The floor was still made of red colored steel . . . as if bloodstained, but now it had several holes in it. It was too dark to see if there was indeed a third floor beneath me, however. It was strange . . . I felt like I was a parallel universe of some type. I walked up to one of the doors and pushed on it lightly.

 Locked.

 I soon realized that every door on this floor was locked. It became apparent to me as I walked down the hallway and tried every door individually. I hated the way the rusted, burnt steel felt on the palms of my hands, but continued onward. To my right, I noticed a set of double doors. I wondered where they might lead, as where this floor wasn't on the map. I opened the doors in front of me and closed them quickly.

 And then it got darker.

 I turned on my flashlight, hoping that it had enough battery power. I realized that this was an alternate hospital. The rooms were hideously charred and the atmosphere was dark. I also had to ask myself, just like before . . .

 Is this real?

 I walked down the hallway, heading towards the door I saw not that far ahead. I had no idea where I was because this floor wasn't listed on the map. I hoped that the door ahead would lead me to the third floor where I could use my map to find my way around. I reached the door and opened it. Before me was a staircase. I smiled, hoping that maybe this alternate . . . vision would disappear on the third floor.

 It didn't, however.

 The same nightmarish hell that had infested the hospital had spread into the lower levels. I realized I was going the wrong way. I didn't need to be in the hospital if I had seen that vision of what looked like an older Cheryl entering an antique shop. There was no way that any of that could be real . . . no matter what that old lady had said, there was no way in hell that I was supposed to be here.

 I noticed a door leading into the main hallway of the second floor. I soon opened it and stepped inside. I was slightly apprehensive as I entered the room, hoping that there was nothing of any harm was in here. I examined the room from left to right.

 I suddenly noticed a human. A nurse . . .

 I noticed she slouched over in a way, and her position made me conclude that perhaps she was wounded. I noticed she carried a knife . . . maybe for self defensive purposes. Whoever she was, she probably needed my help. I walked up to her quickly until I stood right in front of her.

 I heard her groan slightly as she looked up into my eyes. Her eyes glowed blood red. She must have been more seriously injured then I thought if blood was flowing into her eyes. I then noticed blood spilled across the the silk white dress and red cotton coat she wore. I lifted my hand and opened my mouth ready to speak.

 I suddenly noticed how she lifted her knife above her head, ready to stab . . . me!

 I quickly dove backwards as the knife went flying down in my direction. I then fell to the floor, terrified. What was wrong with her? Did she think I was some sort of monster? I then pleaded for her not to attack me, but she paid no attention. She ran at me, still murmuring incomprehensible words. I pushed myself backwards with one hand, reaching for my pistol with another. I realized she didn't think I was some sort of monster.

 She was some sort of monster.

 I soon found the gun in my pocket. I wrapped a steady grip around it, still continuing to move myself away from the nurse. I then yanked the gun out of my pocket and aimed it directly at her forehead. I fired 2 bullets which both dove into her skull.

 She didn't stop.

 What the hell was wrong with this nurse. She wouldn't stop after two direct head shots! I was frightened as she approached, moving much faster than I was. I then thought maybe I could slow her down by shooting her legs. I re-aimed my pistol straight at her leg and fired. The bullet sunk right into her leg as I witnessed blood squirt out.

 She then fell to the floor on her stomach with a terrible moan.

 I stood up, realizing she had no way of getting to me now. I walked up to her body, examining it for a moment. I then noticed something squirming on her back.

 A parasite . . .

 I examined the pink skin of the parasite. It looked like some sort of barnacle. It was very large and wouldn't stop moving. I figured that whatever this thing was, it was controlling the nurse. My brow wrinkled with anger as I kicked the parasite as hard as I could. I felt the central oval fly off the top of the body. Blood squirted out and the creature stopped moving. I heard the nurse moan a final time before she met her death right in front of me. I stared at the dead body, wondering what the parasite on her back was.  Maybe it ran rampid through the hospital. Maybe . . .

 Maybe more of the hospital staff had been infected.

 I noticed a door to my right, trying to ignore the fact that I had just killed another human being. I walked up to it, hoping that it would be unlocked so that I could pass through and explore some more. I pushed on it, but it was locked. I frowned, but decided there was nothing I could do about it. I did notice, however, that there was some sort of slab next tot he door. I looked at it, realizing that it was made of stone. I then read what was engraved into it.

 The Grim Reaper's List
 35 Lydia Findly
 60 Trevor F. White
 18 Albert Lords
 45 Roberta T. Morgan
 38 Edward C. Briggs

 The Grim Reaper's list? I started to quiver at the thought. These were all people who were to . . . die? I shook my head. No . . . that wasn't real.

 None of this could be real!

 I turned around and walked away from the stone slab. I walked passed the dead body of the nurse towards one of the doors. I hoped it might be open. To my fortune, it was. I opened the door and stepped into the dark room. I noticed the walls had a red shade to them, which made me curious. As I had recalled, the school walls were mostly dark brown, except for the rooms that I had found dead bodies or blood stains in. I decided it was just a color difference and nothing more. There was nothing unusual about two buildings being differently shaded.

 I noticed a television set on the other end of the room. I walked up to it slowly, cautious towards my hostile surroundings. I soon stood in front of it and stared at it for a moment. I realized that the glass on the VCR display was shattered and the TV did not look as if it were in good condition at all. I pressed the power button, hoping that maybe it would turn on.

 To my surprise, it did.

 I was shocked that power actually ran to something in the hospital. I knew the elevator was working, but it had stopped, causing me to believe that the rest of the power everywhere else had also died. I pressed the channel button, but nothing showed up on the television. Static was the only thing that filled the screen.

 I pressed the power button again, turning the TV off. I decided there was nothing left in the room. I headed twords the door and exited the room. I ended up back in the hallway, wondering which way I should go.

 I started to wonder if the main lobby was open and if I could escape from the hospital through the front door. I realized that I had to get to the first floor. I quickly turned around and walked towards the door that lead to the staircase. I soon opened the door and walked down the set of stairs, walking past the second floor and down to the first.

 I noticed a door directly in front of me on the first floor. I crossed my fingers, praying it would be unlocked. I then ran up to it and pushed on the handle.

 Locked.

 God damn it! My only hope of escape was locked! I kicked the door a few times, hoping it would open. It never did. My bullets would do nothing to the door . . . it was rusted shut. I pounded on the door one last time, feeling a sense of defeat. I then pulled out my map, deciding I'd at least look for a place to hide. I examined it for a while, desperately searching for a room to take shelter in. I couldn't stay in any room without tables or chairs. I had never seen it, but I had a feeling that, if the monster tried hard enough, it could get to where I was, and these monsters were human. That really made me unsure of my safety . . . if they could follow me . . .

 My thoughts came to a halt as I noticed a different room lead to the lobby! The room I had met Kauffman in . . . I realized that maybe it was unlocked. I decided anything was worth a try. My only thoughts were on survival in this hell. I quickly ran passed the two bathrooms to the door on my right, hoping that this one would be unlocked. I pushed on it, still speeding forwards.

 The door was unlocked!

 In the knew room, I looked to my left, hoping that this door would be unlocked as well. I turned the knob, waiting for a moment until the door opened in front of me. I then stepped into the room, thanking God that the door even opened. Now all I needed was a way into the door at the other end of the narrow room I was in. I noticed that the same bookshelves were lined up to my right and left as the other hospital, only now burnt and bloodstained. I walked passed them, realizing that the books were all burnt.

 I suddenly heard footsteps behind me.

 I suddenly spun around and stared right into the face of an infested doctor.

 The doctor fell forwards, grabbing onto my arms and pinning me to the ground. I struggled, screaming at the top of my lungs as the doctor readied his knife above his head. He groaned and breathed into my face. The smell of death occupied his breath, bringing me to the point of sickness. I then started to kick him, hoping to knock him off of me.

 I soon kicked him so hard that he fell backwards to the floor and landed on his back. I knew the parasite was on the other end of him and I couldn't kill this . . . thing until he turned over. I noticed him trying to get back up to his feet, but I kicked him in the head, causing him to fall back down, this time on his stomach. I saw the squirming parasite that infest the doctor on his back and quickly drew my weapon, aiming it at the parasite. I shot the parasite twice.

 I heard the doctor groan as the parasite stopped moving on his back.

 I sighed, putting away my gun. Another infested medical staff member. I had seen a doctor and a nurse now. I hoped nothing else was beyong the door that stood before me. I then walked up to the door and turned the handle.

 Locked.

 This told me for sure that my only option was to hide from everything. I buried my forehead into the door of the examination room, pounding on it a few times lightly.

 I suddenly heard something from beyond the door. It sounded like . . . footsteps.

 I noticed how they ran and then abruptly stopped. I listened for a few seconds, curious as to who or what was passed the door. I noticed, however, that I could no longer hear anything beyond the door. I shrugged, deciding that it was nothing and even if it were, it didn't matter because there was no way to get through.

 I pulled out my map, wondering once again if there were any place I could hide. I realized that the basement was not far from where I was, and figured it might be my safest bet on where to hide. turned around as I folded up my map and passed by the burnt bookshelves. I then opened it and stepped back into the hallways, examining the rest of it with my eyes. I knew that I had a blind spot and that was to my right and left. I had to be aware of that . . . last time, the infested doctor had used that to his advantage. I took a deep breath as I continually walked down the hallway, hoping to find the basement door through all the others.

 I walked down the L shaped hall until I found a door that looked much different from the others. I realized it looked exactly like the one at the 'normal' hospital . . . the basement door! I quickly ran up to it, hoping that it would be unlocked. To my fortune, it was. Finally, some place to hide until I was able to make my escape. Maybe I would wake up from this nightmare while I was hiding . . . like at the school.

 When I was inside, I noticed a stair case in front of me. I ran down it, noticing another door. I hadn't gone to the basement in the 'normal' hospital, but I guessed that somehow, a basement would be a good place to hide for a while. I opened the door in front of me, hoping that no more of the infested medical staff would attack me in here.

 I noticed the basement was fairly small, but there were perhaps five doors in total in the entire room, which was quite a lot for a basement. I was guessing it was larger because in hospitals, they needed to keep more things in storage, such as medicines and such. I also noticed that the floor beneath me was made of stone instead of thin chain links. There were no more treacherous gaps that poised any threat. I pulled out my map, wondering if there were a storage room to hide in. I noticed a generator was in one of the rooms, but I realized that it was probably unimportant. The power wasn't going to turn back on . . . as much as I wanted it to, it wouldn't. I figured that the generator was simply for the purpose of providing the elevator with electricity.

 My head darted left as I heard the sound of glass shattering.

 I looked in every direction of the dark basement. I soon realized it was nothing. Cold sweat did, however, run down my forehead. I was extremely high-strung, and with good reason. I didn't know what had caused the sound, but whatever it was, it came from the generator room. I decided that maybe . . . just maybe . . . it wasn't the safest place in the world to hide. I examined the map, still trying to find out which of the doors lead to the storage room. I soon found it on my map, realizing that it was close by. I ran to a door down the hall and put my hand on the knob. I prayed that this door wouldn't be locked, as where I wasn't will to find another place to hide in this god-forsaken hospital.

 It opened in front of me.

 I laughed as I walked into the storage room, visually scanning the room. It was filled with many shelves containing bottles. I realized that many of the shelves, burnt and twisted, were knocked over. In the back of the room, I realized that barred windows were built into the walls. I wondered if any type of drug was contained within any of the containers. I noticed how some of them were filled and others were completely empty. I searched bottle after bottle, noticing that none of them contained any type of useful substance.

 I did, however, find a bottle of . . . disinfectant alcohol, it looked like. I soon realized that it could be helpful to me . . . it I ever had a serious wound, I could pour some of this on it. I decided to hand on to it, hoping that I wouldn't have to use it.

 I walked to the back of the room, hoping for a more convenient place to hide myself from my enemies. I then noticed some sort of bookshelf in the back. It was made of reddish steel and contained no books at all. I then noticed something next to it, however.

 Skid marks.

 I realized that the bookshelf had been pushed aside . . . and not just once, either. The skid marks were deep . . . so deep that it could only be that way after moving it several times. I started to wonder . . .

 What the hell are they hiding?

 I wondered if the bookshelf would move at all. I walked to the right side of it and put my hands on it. I took a deep breath and pushed as hard as I could on it. Sure enough, it started moving. I continued to push it, moving it further along the room.

 I then started to noticed some sort of door behind it.

 Soon the shelf was out of the way. I stared at the door in front of me. This was definitely something someone was trying to hide . . . but why? Was there something past here?

 My heart started to race as I opened the door in front of me.

 I looked into the next room, wondering what was down here. I realized that the room was fairly empty and nothing harmful was in here. I walked in, wondering why they would hide an empty room. I closed the door behind me, continuing to mentally scan the area. The only objects I had seen were the shelves to my right and some sort of square shaped brick formation ahead.

 I was most curious about the square. I walked up to it, looked at it. It looked like some sort of pit covered with vines. I knelt down, examining it. I wondered if the thick layer of vines could be removed. I tugged on them, but they barely budged. I soon realized that the vines could not be torn. There was nothing I could do to remove them.

 I noticed that, through the holes in the vine layer, there was a staircase going down. I then began to wonder once again if there was anything that they were hiding. The hospital staff had very obviously tried to block off all entrances to this secret room of theirs. I felt the vines once again, more desperate then ever to find out what was beyond those stairs.

 I then wondered . . . could I burn the vines?

 I reached into my pocket, praying that the lighter in my dream of the alleyway would be in my pocket. I soon found it. I gave off a sigh of relief, thankful that I had it at all. I then knelt down by the vines. I then lit up the lighter and put the flame against the thick vines.

 They didn't light.

 I growled angrily. Why the hell didn't they catch on fire? They weren't wet in the slightest and there was no plausible explanation for why it wouldn't light. I tried to think . . . was there any sort of gas or lubricant that would help get these damn vines to light. I remembered that there were several bottles in the other room filled with substances abound, but was not sure as to what they were. I knew that maybe one of them was filled with something that could help this thing light.

 I suddenly remembered . . . the disinfectant alcohol!

 I reached into my pocket and pulled the bottle out. It was a good thing I had thought to take it along, although not necessarily for this purpose. I opened the bottle up and pulled the lid off the bottle. I then poured the substance all over the vines. I prayed that this would work and I could get to the bottom of whatever was happening to this hospital. As soon as the vines were soaked in disinfectant alcohol, I reached into my pocket for my lighter. I then attempted to light the vines once more.

 I jumped back as I brilliant display of fireworks exploded before my eyes. The flame was quite large and the vines were definitely burning. I waited a few moments for the vines to burn up completely. Soon, they had been completely burned up. I sighed , relived as I witnessed the staircase that went down into this hidden room. I walked into the pit and walked down the stairs.

 The room I ended up in was very narrow . . . the walls were no more than an arm's length apart, and were no longer strangely burnt. Rather, they were made of stone. The floor beneath me was still made of chain links, but the rest of the hallway seemed fairly . . . normal, almost.. I noticed at the end of it was a door that probably lead to yet another area of this secret labyrinth I had discovered. I ran down the narrow hallway until I finally reached the door. I then opened the stone door in front of me.

 The room inside was very dark . . . it seemed the pitch blackness that filled the rest of the hospital had increased if that were possible. The room was still made of the stone. Normal probably wasn't the word, as where it was still dark and the gloomy atmosphere still had it's affect, but it was certainly more "normal" than the twisted, burnt parts of the hospital. I noticed there were several doors around me. So far, there was nothing suspicious, but I had to keep in mind that there were several door around me.

 I decided I'd start with the door to my right. I walked up to it and opened it. The door, unlike the walls and ceiling, was made of metal. I opened up the door slowly, stepping inside.

 I suddenly heard glass shatter.

 I leapt in fear, losing control of my limbs. I felt a shockwave go through my body, rippling through my arms and legs. The sound had startled me that bad. As soon as I had regained control of myself, I got back up.

 I heard glass shatter once again.

 I wasn't nearly as startled the second time, though my mind continued to wander as I thought about what creature could possibly be making those sounds. I noticed that the sound was echoing through the room continually . . . as if it were a tape on repeat. I tried to ignore it as I walked forwards, but was still feeling uneasy.

 I noticed a metal stretcher with wheels, which I figured was here for storage. I did notice on top of it, however, a video tape. I examined it momentarily, realizing a thin layer of blood was splattered on it. I, being the curious man I was, decided to keep it and see what might be on it  I knew there was a TV and VCR upstairs and made a resolution to watch this video as soon as I left the hidden area . . . if I ever was able to muster up the courage to leave. My original intent was to hide in this basement storeroom, but for some reason . . . I thought that the way out of here might be hidden somewhere in here.

 I exited the room promptly. I searched the hall, wondering if there were anything important anywhere. I noticed that the door directly across from me was quite a bit larger than the other ones, so I decided to go to that one. It seemed somehow . . . significant.

 I opened the door and found myself in a hallway very similar to the other one I was in. This was quite a hidden area of the hospital! Maybe this was for storage use and nothing else. Maybe the vines and shelf covering the entrance were part of the nightmarish transition from one world to the next. I didn't stop, however, and continued to explore this room. I decided to try the door to my left, hoping that there would be something of use in it. I turned the handle.

 Locked.

 I decided maybe whatever was in there wasn't important. I did notice, however, that the door was kind of loose . . . as if it could be broken down any second. I kicked it and pulled on the handle, trying to knock it down, but to no avail. I was quite annoyed and left it, heading towards a similar door closer to the edge of the hall. I then reached it. I put my hand on the knob and turned it.

 It was unlocked! I laughed, relieved, as I stepped into the room.

 Inside was . . . a bed.

 It was odd that a bed would be down here . . . who where they taking care of in a storeroom? I knew that a patient was probably being taken care of in here because there was an IV tube and life support machine on each side of the bed. The floor was once again made of stone, and blood was splattered on it that had probably dripped from the bed to the cold floor.

 It looked like someone had been here and the hospital didn't want anyone to know.

 I noticed a shining object on the edge of the life support machine and next to it was . . . some sort of picture frame. Perhaps the picture of the patient the hospital staff had attempted to hide in here? I walked up to it and examined it for a moment. The gold casing that surrounded the picture was truly astonishing to say the least. I then examined the picture. I suddenly gasped.

 The girl!

 It was that girl that looked like an older Cheryl! So she was the hidden patient! She wasn't down here, though, and as I had recalled, she was at the school last . . . no, wait. I remembered the vision of her walking into the antique shop. I was confused by why there would be a bed with blood on it and many tools used to save one's life and this picture of that girl.

 I then noticed small letters near the bottom of the picture. I squinted as I read them.

 Alessa.

 Alessa . . . I could swear I had heard that name before . . . so who was this Alessa? No doubt the girl who looked like Cheryl, but I had no idea what her relation with this town was. Perhaps she was in this hospital at one time, but was gone now. I shook my head. So much didn't make sense.

 I then noticed a small key next to the picture frame. I picked it up and looked at it. It . . . it was the key that opened the examination room! I gasped as I realized that I could finally go through that room to the exit! I put the key in my pocket, ready to head to the examination room. I walked towards the door, but looked back at the bloodstained bed once more.

 What the hell are they doing here?

 I opened the door in front of me and found myself back in the dark hall. I walked down it, realizing my destination was the examination room . . . but suddenly I remembered . . . the video I had found. I was curious as to what was on it and if it were important. I decided to get to the video room as quick as I could as where I wanted to leave this place as soon as possible. I then started to run to the large stone door at the end of the hallway.

 The door to my right fell to the floor.

 I leapt sideways as I natural reaction to the adrenaline that had suddenly pumped through my blood. I stared into the now opened doorway.

 Another infested nurse!

 I turned my head from it and ran to the door. Not now . . . I couldn't fight now! The only thing I had to do was get the hell out of this hospital! I got to the door and opened, but I heard the nurse's footsteps following me. I slammed the door behind me and held it shut, hoping that the nurse couldn't get through. The nurse pounded on the door and I could feel the knob rattling around. She was desperate, that was for sure, but I was more desperate to survive. I decided it would do me no good to hold the door all day, however. What I needed was to let go and make a mad dash for the back door. I held my breath and silently counted to three. On three, I let go and ran for the back door. I didn't know if the nurse had made it through the door I was holding and I didn't care. I soon made it to the back door and flung it open, diving back into the narrow hallway. I slammed the door shut behind me and gave off a relieving sigh.

 Thank God I'm alive . . .

 I got to my feet and started to walk back up the narrow hallway. Back up the stairs, through the pit and back into the empty room. I knew that I had to see what was recorded on the blood-stained video casset . . . my curiosity wouldn't let me do otherwise.

 To make a long story short, I went back up the stairs to the fourth floor where the VCR and TV were. I stared at it a moment before putting the video in. Once the video was in, the TV automatically flickered to life. The video quality, however, was terrible. The TV was distorted in a thousand different ways, making it impossible to see what the image on the video was supposed to be. I could barely make out the words in it either. I could understand a few words every now and then, such as "blood" and "promise". That made me uneasy of what the video's contents contained when they weren't scrambled. Perhaps just another piece to the nightmarish world I was trapped in.

 I took the video out of the VCR and walked out of the room. I then found my way to the door leading to the flights of stairs. The stairs were far dirtier then I had previously remembered. This place was all terrible. I ran down the several flights of stairs until I finally made it to the first floor. I looked to my right, seeing the bloodstained, steel door. I ran to it and opened it. I ended up in the main hallway to the first floor. I looked to my left . . . the door that lead to the room! Through that room I could get to examination room and hopefully make my escape.

 I opened the door and walked in. I walked passed the corpse of the infested doctor I had previously killed. I walked passed the burnt books on each side of me, realizing my salvation was perhaps at hand.

 I was about to unlock the door, when I suddenly noticed some sort of memo lying on the floor. I hadn't noticed that there before. I picked it up, curious as to what it might say. I help it close to my flashlight, attempting to read the sloppy handwriting.

 Doctor Jacob Singer called in today. Apparently, another member of the hospital staff has been killed. He did mention, however, that the woman seemed to have died naturally, although no previous symptoms to heart attack have been shown. The local police department has also been baffled by the loss of one of their own for the same reasons. We are currently trying to track down the source of the deaths of our medical staff.

 More death . . . maybe they were all related to the dealing of White Claudia . . . perhaps it was all part of a drug overdose and the drug was able to hide it's tracks in the person's body. I didn't know, but that was the second person I had read about who died of an apparent heart attack.

 I pulled the key out of my pocket and put it into the keyhole. I then turned the knob. I heard a click, signifying me that the door was unlocked. I sighed, relieved that I had finally found my way out of the hospital.

 I opened the door, but hesitated for a moment. I shined my flashlight on various objects in the room, hoping there were no more infested members of the medical staff. The room was exactly like the other examination room, only the objects were made of burnt, rusted steel . . . much like the rest of the hospital, but it was strikingly similar in that room for some reason.

 My light suddenly caught a glimpse of something . . . it was . . . a nurse!

 I jumped back, startled. I reached into my pocket, trying to get a grip on my pistol. I looked forwards, still trying desperately to get the damn gun out of my pocket. Suddenly, the nurse got up and ran up to me. I panicked as she wrapped her arms around me, ready to attack.

 Wait . . . she wasn't attacking me . . .

 She was . . . hugging me.

 I noticed the young nurse in my arms was terrified. She was almost weeping, her soft voice trembling. She then looked at me and smiled. She must have been happy to find some other living human being.

 She was a very attractive woman. Her skin was nothing short of perfection. Her light brown hair was the kind that I usually had found a liking to in women. She wore a cotton red coat over her white dress . . . much like the infested nurses. And, though it isn't very gentleman like of me to speak of, but her dress revealed more cleavage then the infested nurses too. To say the least, she was beautiful.

 She continued to hold onto my arms. "Thank God . . . someone else who's okay," she sighed.

 I smiled. "I'll say . . . what's you're name?" I asked.

 Her big blue eyes stared into mine. "Lisa Garland . . ." she said softly. "What's yours?"

 "Harry Mason," I replied.

 She looked away from me and released her grip on my arms. "Harry . . . tell me what's happening!" she said, almost pleading. "Where is everyone? I-I must have gotten knocked out. When I came to, everything was like this . . ."

 I sighed. "So you don't know anything either . . ." I said, disappointed. I stared at the charred walls. "I just don't get it. It's like this is all some sort of bad dream."

 Lisa stared at me. "Yeah . . . a living nightmare," she said.

 Then it hit me . . .

 Cheryl!

 "Have you seen a little girl around here?" I asked. I was surprised how many people I had asked that. "She's only seven . . . short, black hair."

 "A little girl . . . what, she's you're daughter?" she asked. She shifted her weight.

 "Yeah," I replied.

 "I can't say I have . . . I was unconscious this entire time," she said. "I'm sorry."

 I sighed. "That's okay," I said. "By the way . . ." I paused. I had just thought about that hidden room with the bed in the basement. "Do you have any idea what all that weird stuff in the basement is?"

 Lisa suddenly directed her attention to me. "N-no . . . why? Is something down there?" she asked.
 
 I tilted my head. "You don't know? Don't you work here?" I asked her.

 She shook her head. "We're under strict orders never to enter the basement storeroom . . ." she explained. "Why? What's down there?"

 I thought a moment, trying to explain. "Well, it's kind of like . . ."

 Suddenly, a throbbing pain shot through my head. I heard those sirens . . .

 I stood back a moment holding my head. Lisa's hand suddenly shot out towards me. "H-Harry?!" she screamed.

 "Damn . . . my head . . ." I moaned. I realized the my head hurt so much that I could hardly stay conscious. I started to fall backwards as all my senses fell apart.

 "Harry! Let me help you!" she started screaming. She stared into my face. I couldn't recognized her anymore, though. Everything started to became a blur . . . as if the world was collapsing around me. I heard her call my name, but her voice was soon blocked out by the sirens in my head.

 My vision soon cleared up as I stared at the ceiling. I got up off the floor that I had fallen to. I waited for my eyes to focus.

 The original hospital . . .

Chapter 9: Valley of Visions
By X-treme X-taggano ([email protected])

 I looked around the room. It wasn't pitch black, so I figured that this was the normal hospital. No more nightmarish delusions . . . for now. I sat up on the hospital bed and held my head, shaking it. I then looked up and asked myself aloud . . .
 
 Was I dreaming?

 I suddenly heard one of the doors slam shut. My vision darted in the direction of the sound.

 There, by the door, was the old lady I had seen at the church.

 "You were too late," she said in her raspy voice. I stared at her.

 "I-it's you . . ." I said, stuttering.

 She smiled. "Yes . . . Dahlia Galespie," she said, identifying herself.

 I stood up and walked over to her. I had remembered how she mentioned my daughter at the church. Now I wanted to get some answers from this crazy old lady. "Tell me everything you know!" I demanded. "What the hell's going on?!"

 She stared at the roof, then back at me. "Darkness . . ." she said. "The town is being devoured by it! Strength must overcome petty desires . . . childish sleep talk. I knew this day would come!" She gestured with her hands, letting me know that she somehow knew exactly what was going on.

 I was still confused immensely. "What are you talking about?" I asked.

 She stared out the window, reaching into a back pocket of hers. "Believe the evidence of your eyes!" she explained. She then produced a key. She held it tightly in her fist. "The other church in this town . . . that is your destination! This is beyond my power now." She gave me a glance that almost frightened me. "Only you can stop it now! Have you not seen the crest of evil all over town?"

 I suddenly remembered the traingle-shaped crest in the middle of the school yard. "So that's what I saw at the school," I said in calm realization. "What does it mean?"

 "It is the mark of Samael!" she explained. "Don't let it be completed!"

 Samael . . . the blind Hebrew archangel . . . in my studies of theology, I had learned about the Hebrew religion. So that's where I had seen the symbol before. Was Samael creating this dark world? I was almost convinced that the dark world was some sort of hallucination . . . or conjured world, perhaps. I was pretty sure that this misty town was indeed the real town. I was more sure of my senses when I was in the misty world . . . considering my thoughts, I figured it was a safe bet to assume that Samael kept pulling me into this conjured world . . . but why? Was Cheryl in any way related to this matter?

 Then I heard the door slam. I looked back and realized Dahlia had disappeared.

 Perfect. Now I was once again left alone with my thoughts. I looked at the desk where she had been standing by. I saw a green, metallic object on it and walked up to it. I soon realized it was a key of some sort. I picked it up and examined it for a moment.

 I noticed a tag on it and read it. Antique Shop.

 I then remembered a vision I had seen . . . the one of that . . . girl, who I was guessing was Alessa, walking into the antique shop. I was pretty sure that the girl who appeared to be Cheryl, only perhaps 7 years older, was Alessa. The picture I had found in the hospital looked exactly like her and was labeled Alessa, so I thought it was safe to assume that the girl I had seen was indeed her.

 I realized that there was nothing left in the hospital. My destination was the antique shop. I turned to my right and opened the door. I stepped back into the hallway . . . I was sick and tired of this journey. If only the dream . . . or conjuration of the hospital were true. That nurse, Lisa . . . somehow, I felt protective of her. She seemed scared and confused and needed my help. In fact, at the time, I was convinced that perhaps I should stay with her. I knew, however, that by Dahlia's tone of voice, was that, dream or no, I needed to find my daughter.

 I walked down the hallway and past the receptionist's desk. I then walked to the entrance, but hesitated.

 Would there be any more dogs out there?

 I had remembered those damn hell hounds, as I referred to them as. They lurked the area where the ambulance was parked and had almost attacked me the first time. I pulled my gun out and quickly yanked out the current clip. I realized there were only a few bullets left, so I loaded the magazine back up with bullets. My pocket was full of them, but after reloading my weapon, the weight of my coat had reduced considerably. I then removed the safety and clutched the gun to my heart, ready to fight whatever was still out there. I took a deep breath as I quickly flung the door opened and stepped outside.

 Nothing . . .
 
 That was odd . . . where were the hounds? I scanned the area and realized there were none. I looked around briefly and realized that they were indeed gone. I gave off a sigh of relief and walked to the gate. I then opened the gate up and stared down the road.

 I looked to my right down the long road. After examining my map for a few moments, I realized that the street I had go down was the second street up to my left. I put away my map, ready to head to the antique shop. I started running down the street in the pea soup fog. My obscured vision was not fully focused. All the buildings around me were just the same shade of gray in my view. I had tried to block out all that was obsolete. My thoughts had to be simple, or I'd never figure out what was becoming of this town. The occasional red flashed into my view due to the tiles used for the roof, and that was the only color that found it's way into my vision.

 I then found the left turn and started running down the street. My mind once again began blocking out all the houses around me. I tried to keep my vision directly in front of me, making sure that my mind stayed on Cheryl. I had remembered how that nurse . . . Lisa . . . had almost made me think about quitting my journey . . . but nothing could stop me! Nothing! Cheryl meant the world to me and I'd find her no matter what! I still wasn't sure about Dahlia, but I was guessing she knew what was happening to Cheryl . . . true, she may have seemed a bit crazy, but also had a strange amount of sincerity in her voice. I figured that, considering how confused I was, she would know better than me.

 I noticed a large building to my right . . . there were large metal barriers covering the entrance, preventing me from getting into the . . . mall, or whatever this thing was. The large gray walls were humongous, but the entrance itself was fairly small. The only reason I had noticed it was because of it's size. I turned my head from it, pressing forwards.

 Then I noticed a large, rusty old sign that read "Antique Shop" over a small brown building.

 So this was the antique shop! I noticed that in front of the building was an open door that lead down . . . down stairs made of stone. I walked towards the entrance and walked down those stairs. It smelled musky inside, and the dirt covering the walls was almost repulsive. To think anyone would think of entering a shop like this! The only reason I myself was entering was because of this . . . other church, or whatever it was.

 The door at the bottom of the small staircase was made of wood chipped with age. The handle in front of me was quite dirty, but I forced my hand on it anyway. I turned the handle and the door opened in front of me. I then stepped into an extremely dark room. Fearing something might be following me, however, I closed the door behind me.

 I flipped on my flashlight and the whole antique shop was revealed to me. There was a large grandfather clock in front of me with gold lining. It was about as tall as I was. I turned left and noticed a counter made of wood. In the areas deeper in the small, square shaped room were several objects . . . antiques, of course, arranged about. I saw various objects, such as couches and lamps and such. All the objects in the room were covered with a thin layer of dust.

 I started to walk to the back of the room, wondering if the "other church" was in here anywhere. I walked across the dirty wood floor. I couldn't see the back of the room yet, due to my limit field of view. All I could see was the antiques and the stone walls the surrounded me.

 I then noticed something in the back . . . some sort of cupboard.  I walked up to it, noticing it was propped up against the wall. It was beautiful carved and designed . . . but, as I had noticed, there was evidence that it had been moved . . . a part of the floor had been scratched up, causing me to believe that it was moved here to . . . hide something.

 I walked to the side of the cupboard. I knew something was probably hidden behind it . . . just like at the hospital. I placed my hands against the flat surface and then pushed as hard as I could. Sure enough, the cupboard started moving. Eventually, it was out of the way, revealing . . .

 A hole . . .

 I stared at the hole in the wall for a moment. How on earth was this here? I looked into it, realizing a dark passage went deeper into it. The same gray stones made up the walls, but the floor was now made of dusty, old tile. What was this? And where did it lead? I figured my questions would be answered soon as I ducked down, ready to enter the hole.

 Suddenly, I heard the door slam behind me.

 I was nervous . . . maybe I hadn't shut the door all the way and one of those monsters found it's way into the antique shop! I grabbed a hold of my gun and twirled around pointing it directly in front of me. My flashlight soon revealed what it was. I then gasped.

 "Cybil!"

 "Harry?" she cried. Sure enough, it was her! I put my gun down and she ran up to me, literally scared out of her mind. She then fell into my arms. I wrapped a warm embrace around her, hoping that I could somehow comfort her. I always felt responsible for others . . . I had very few friends, but the ones I knew I cared for deeply. Soon, we broke our embrace and she looked back at me.

 "Thank God you're alive!" she managed. "Harry, things are a lot worse then I ever could have imagined!"

 I sighed. "I'm glad to see you're okay too . . ." I started. "But didn't you say you were coming with backup?"

 She stared at me, quivering uncontrollably. "Harry, don't you get it?! There's no way out of town! All the roads are blocked!" She looked away from me. "We're trapped in here!"

 I looked at the floor. "Yeah, I know," I said. "Did you see Cheryl anywhere?!"

 She suddenly looked back at me. "Cheryl? I did see a girl!" she said.

 My heart started to race with enthusiasm. "You did?! Where?" I asked. Was my search finally over?

 "I saw her walk down Bachman Road," she said. "I only caught a glimpse of her, but . . ."

 "And you just let her go?!" I groaned, interrupting her. "Where did she go?!"

 "Calm down . . ." Cybil said, raising a hand. "She went out past the lake. Now don't get exciting . . . she didn't walk off exactly." She looked at the ceiling, trying to make sense of what she had seen. "There was nowhere for her to run. The road had been obliterated!"

 My eyes widened. "What?! So then Cheryl . . ."
 
 "It was like she was walking on thin air!" she explained. A sense of awe filled her voice. I gasped, surprised. Cheryl was walking over the lake? How could she do such a thing? She was, after all, only my daughter.

 "What about you?" she asked. "Anything?"

 I nodded my head. "Yeah," I said. I started to walk to my left, sitting myself down on the couch. Cybil soon followed and sat down next to me, realizing I was tired. I laid my head back staring at the ceiling. It felt so good to sit down for a moment . . . to finally get some rest. I then looked at Cybil again. I had forgotten how beautiful her blue eyes were . . . I feared I might have gotten lost in them and started my story. "I met this crazy lady named Dahlia Galespie . . . you know who she is?" I asked.

 "Dahlia Galespie?" she asked. "No . . . what about her, though?"

 "Well . . ." I stopped to think. "She says the town is being devoured by 'the darkness' . . . some gibberish like that." I looked back into her blue eyes. "Do you have any idea what she means?"

 She thought a moment . . . "The town being devoured by darkness?" she wondered aloud. "Probably on drugs . . . someone sells them to the locals. The force hasn't figured who's behind it . . . the investigation is probably stalled by now, though. No doubt about it . . ."

 "Drugs?" I asked. "What do you mean?"

 Cybil looked back at me. "I was originally sent here to check out a drug trafficking problem . . ." she started. "I probably told you I wasn't here to investigate this whole mess . . . I was sent here to try and find out who was behind the White Claudia dealing."

 White Claudia? I had heard so much about that drug! "What is this 'White Claudia', anyway?" I asked.

 Cybil looked at me. "It's a halucinogenic drug made from a flower called White Claudia . . ." she explained. "It looks like powder . . . and it's inhaled through the nose, in case you've might have seen it."

 I thought a moment. Wasn't the White Claudia I had seen contained in a liquid? I guess my theory of hiding it in that liquid was probably correct. "Hmmm . . . but what could drug trafficking have to do with all this?"

 Cybil sighed, her chest rising a considerable amount. She then looked at me. "Beats me . . . maybe that was the darkness she was talking about."

 I smiled. "Maybe . . ." I said.

 I then sat up from the couch I was sitting on. I walked towards the hole. Cybil soon got up and followed me. We both stared into it.

 "So what's this?" Cybil asked me.

 "I don't know . . . I just discovered it," I explained.

 Cybil looked in the hole. "Hmmm . . ." she sighed. She then pulled out her gun. "I'd better go first and secure the area."

 I looked at her. "Wait a second!" I said, almost yelling. "Cybil, I'd better go first . . . I don't want you getting hurt."

 She looked at me. "Harry, I'm a cop . . . it's my duty to serve and protect. I'll go first," she explained.

 "Listen, I need to go first! I don't want anyone else here getting hurt!" I explained. "I'm sorry, but I really can't stand any more bloodshed today!"

 Cybil raised an eyebrow. "Bloodshed? What are you talking about?" she asked me.

 I looked into the air. All those nightmarish delusions that had been haunting me didn't make sense to me . . . I decided maybe I should try and explain. "Well . . . have you been experiencing . . ." I paused. "I don't know . . . like some other world sense you got here?"

 Cybil stared at me. "What are talking about?" she asked.

 I sighed. "I'm not sure myself. I've been seeing . . . some sort of alternate world," I explained. "It's like a bad dream . . . it's really dark and I can hear sirens in the distance. It's . . . it's all a blur . . . like some sort of hallucination, you know?" I hoped Cybil might know what I was talking about. I had experienced more than one of these nightmarish delusions and I was wondering if she might have too.

 She stared at me blankly. "Harry . . . are you another White Claudia addict?" she asked me.

 I shook my head. "No . . . no . . ."

 Cybil looked back at the wall. "I have no idea what you're talking about . . ." she said.

 I sighed. "Oh, well. That's okay . . . I was just hoping someone might know what it was that I was experiencing . . . never mind."

 She smiled. "Harry, you're tired. I think you need some sleep," she explained.

 I smiled back. "Yeah, maybe . . ." I replied. I then looked into the hole. "I'll be back as soon as I'm done checking this out." I then ducked and entered the dark hole.

 It was very similar to the antique shop as far as dust went, but otherwise, there was no difference, other then the floor made of stone. I ran towards the other side, hoping that this 'other church' Dahlia had mentioned was somewhere in this place. I noticed a few bugs squirm across the floor, but nothing was there that would interfere with my exploration.

 I soon noticed a second hole on the other end of the narrow passage. I ran up to it and stepped through it. This hole, just like the last one, looked as if it were broken through intentionally. As soon as I was inside the new room, I pointed my flashlight in various directions around the dark room, which appeared to be made of the same stone as the tunnel.

 Then something suddenly made it's way into my vision . . .
 
 An alter!

 I ran up to the golden stand. A red tapestry was laid out onto the floor beneath it and two tall, golden candles stood on each side of the alter. On it was some sort of square, brown colored object. Behind the alter was a giant painting of . . .

 The corpse from the school!

 My stomach tied into a loop as I saw the hideous, crucified body hanging. What was this, anyway? Why would anyone hang a picture of a mutilated body near an alter? Or any palce at all, for that matter? Questions filled my head, but I knew that this alter was definitely something I should tell Cybil about.

 I turned from the alter, facing the hole in the wall. I needed to tell Cybil about this alter. I walked up the hole and ducked down, ready to exit it.

 Suddenly, I heard the sound of flames rising.

 My head shot immediately in the direction of the alter. What the hell . . . ?! The alter was burning! I stared at what the figure was in the middle. It started to slowly disintegrate, turning into nothing but ash.

 My vision disintegrated with it . . .

 All I could see was fire surrounding me . . . like I was burring in the deepest depths of hell. I looked in every direction, but all I could see was this inferno I seemed to be stuck in. I then screamed, losing consciousness. I slowly fell to the floor, my body feeling as if it were on fire. I fell to the floor and my body went numb.

 All I could see was a shade of white. I wasn't sure if I was still conscious or not, or where I had even gone to . . . I didn't think I had left, but maybe . . .

 Maybe I had suddenly died . . .

 I suddenly heard a voice. "Harry?" it asked. It was Cybil's voice! I heard her footsteps walk around a bit. "Harry, where the hell are you?!"

 I tried to speak, but words wouldn't come out of my mouth. How could she not see me?! I was lying on the floor . . . probably near her too! I tried to move, and continued to listen to her words, but my world was falling apart around me. Her voice seemed to get further and further away.

 And then the brightness that dominated my vision seemed to leave. Instead, I saw a pitch black cascade before my eyes. I started to blink a few times as I tried to move. Soon, I found my senses and put my arms behind me and sat myself up. I . . . was lying on a bed! How did I end up here? I looked to my left, realizing there was light. I then gasped.

 Lisa!

 "Lisa!" I gasped, surprised to see her. She sat in a chair in front of me. The room around me seemed so blurry, though . . . maybe my eyes hadn't focused, but everything seemed to be a blur. "So I'm in the hospital?"

 "Harry . . . you were having a bad dream," she explained. Her face looked rather pale, and her body seemed to quiver . . . maybe she was sick or something.

 "Was I?" I asked, surprised. What I had seen seemed too real . . . "Hey, you don't look too good . . . are you okay?"
 
 She looked at the floor from her seat, still holding her own hands together. "I'm fine . . . nothing you should worry about," she explained meekly.

 "Well, if you're sure . . ." I said hopelessly. "Lisa . . . do you know anyone named Dahlia Galespie?" I asked.

 Lisa looked back at me. "Oh, yeah. That crazy Galespie lady . . ." she said. "She's pretty well known around here. I don't know much about her because she's kind of quite, but . . . I heard a rumor that her kid died in a fire that wiped out almost half the town and she's been crazy ever sense." She paused. "Why, did you meet her somewhere around here?"

 I wasn't sure if I had, but . . . decided to force myself to believe that I had. "Yeah . . . she said the town's being devoured by darkness," I explained. "Do you have any idea what she means?"

 Lisa looked at the ceiling for a moment, then back at me. "I can't say for sure, but I can make a guess . . ." she said with all honesty. "Before this town was a resort, see, the locals were all on the quiet side. They all followed some strange religion . . . some sort of cult, I think." she stared at the floor. She barely blinked at all. "They believed in black magic . . . that kind of thing."

 I raised an eyebrow. "A cult?"

 "Yes . . ." she continued. "Then a whole bunch of new people came to the town and that cult seemed to disappear." She looked at me. "The last time I had heard about it was . . . gosh, years ago. They probably broke up or something . . . maybe decided that the new people might find out about their rituals or something. A lot of people died, as well . . . a whole series of mysterious deaths took place a while later . . ." She suddenly stopped. "I'm sorry . . . I'm rambling. I'll shut up."

 Suddenly, Lisa disappeared right in front of me. I felt as if I had just woken up from some dream. I asked myself aloud if what I had experienced was another dream . . . I soon realized as I got up out of the darkness that I was no longer in the hospital. I flipped on my flashlight and looked around. I gasped.

 I was in some twisted nightmare . . . in the antique shop.

 I looked at the ground and saw that triangular symbol I had seen in the school courtyard drawn in blood . . . this "mark of Samael". I noticed that there was nothing below the chain links that I stood upon. I looked around. The room was empty . . . all the walls were burnt and dirty, and two humongous statues stood.

 The same ones I had seen at the school.

 I didn't want to think so, but . . . what if none of this were real? I could still be in my car . . . in a hospital bed . . .

 Or maybe I was killed in the car accident.

 The thought scared me and I tried to convince myself that I was still alive . . . but then I heard a voice in my head. I couldn't tell if it was my own, but whenever I tried to convince myself I was indeed still alive, the voice would ask me "then what are you doing here?" I didn't know . . . was this . . .

 Was this hell?

 I didn't like the thought of this being a twisted afterlife, but nothing else seemed to make sense. I told myself once more that I was alive. I then drooped my head.

 Then what are you doing here if you're still alive, Harry?

 I shook my head. Alive or no, I figured I had absolutely nothing to lose. No matter what, I would find my daughter. I didn't know if I still had possession of my own life . . .

 But maybe I could save hers.

 I walked around the corner of the room and stared at the door. The burnt steel it was made of made me quiver, but I knew that my journey was for Cheryl, even if there was no light for me.

 I'll save you Cheryl . . . I promise.

 I then turned the knob to the door and stepped outside. I knew that getting to the resort area was impossible, due to the distruction of Bachman Road. How to get there was beyond my knowledge. There was only one person who I could ask by now.

 Lisa . . .

Chapter 10: Beyond the Gates
By X-treme X-taggano ([email protected])

 I stared at the stairway leading up in front of me. From what I could tell, the walls around me looked normal, but I still wasn't sure if the rest of my surroundings were. I figured the only possibly way I could figure out was to go up and hope that the entire town hadn't been infected. I made my way up the stairs, crossing my fingers.

 But unfortunately, my prayers weren't answered.

 I gasped in horror as I took a look at the nightmare of a town . . . chain links made up the street . . . as if I were over a void that went on forever. I could see what looked like wind mills off in the distance and a like rain splashed down from the heavens . . . instead of snow. I turned around and looked at the buildings. They were all burnt . . . burnt by what looked like hellfire . . . and they were all made of metal. And it was raining . . . not snowing.

 I looked into the sky, but realized I couldn't even see the stairs. Rather then my light penetrating the dark, the dark was penetrating the light. I also realized by looking through the chain links that there were posts holding up the platform I was standing on . . . leading me to believe that there was indeed some end to the void beneath me.

 I looked to my left. The mall was there still there, and also appeared to be closed. A large, steel gate was pulled over it . . . which was standard for malls after closing hours. I started to walk towards it, wondering if I could get it opened. I ran up to the gate, trying to pull in open.

 It wouldn't budge.

 I groaned as I put my forehead against the metal blocking. I put my fingers through one of the holes, feeling defeated. I felt like nothing in my life could go right.

 I suddenly heard the sound of footsteps.

 Perfect . . . everything kept getting worse by the minute. I looked around, searching for the source of the footsteps. I heard them in two directions . . . to my right and left. I looked both ways and soon realized that there were two or more . . . things!

 And that I was surrounded.

 I started to tremble, realizing that staying put would only lead to my death. I looked to my left, searching desperately for  a place to run. Hopefully, there would be some unlocked building of some sort.

 The only thing my eyes caught sight of was some creature crawling twords me.

 My eyes widened with fear . . . some sort of . . . monster was slowly approaching me, and it was different than any other type I had ever seen around here. Its dark brown fur covered its entire body, including its enormously large arms. I couldn't see its face, but I saw its blood red eyes staring towards me.

 It looked like a teddy bear from hell.

 My eyes suddenly took notice to a large hole in the gate to my left . . . it looked as if it were intentionally broken through. I realized that it lead right into the mall, and I guessed it was the safest place to go to for now.

 The footsteps kept approaching me, and I realized that if I didn't move now, I'd be attacked. My heart started racing as I stared at the crushed gate. I closed my eyes for a moment.

 1 . . . 2 . . . 3!

 I immediately sprinted towards the broken area of the gate. I could hear the footsteps on all sides of me . . . all of them starting to increase in tempo. They were chasing me! I quickly ran to the gate, reaching for the door handle. My hand wrapped around the steel door barely beyond the broken gate. I jumped inside the mall and slammed the door shut behind me.

 Another close call. So many times had I barely avoided danger because of a building close by. Strange hell this was . . . a convenient hell at that! I was always able to avoid death, but always just barely. Maybe, through the darkness, there was some sort of light that shined upon that I couldn't see or feel . . . one that I just knew saved my ass on several occasions.

 I got up and looked around. The floor was still made chain links, but there were several posts that soared into the sky . . . posts made up of four polls that seemed to create one. I looked around, realizing there were TV monitors to my right in the distance and next to them was a broken escalator set.

 I slowly started to walk towards the escalator step, pulling out my gun and releasing the safety. As soon as I stood in front of the broken escalator, I looked down at the steps, realizing that they weren't quite as rusty as the rest of my surrounding. I then grabbed onto the handrail and started to walk up.

 It was then that the TV monitors flickered to life.

 My head immediately shot in the direction of the TVs, which were located to my immediate right. I noticed mostly static dominating the set of monitors. I then noticed an image flicker onto the screen. I suddenly gasped.

 It was Cheryl!

 Cheryl was throwing her head back as if she were being tortured. "Daddy!" She screamed over the monitor. "Help me! Daddy, where are you?!"

 Her voice . . . she said it the exact same way she did over the phone at the school! I know people often say things in a similar tone, but this time it was too similar . . . as if it were recorded and played back to me.  But none of that mattered. All I needed to find out was one simple thing.

 Where the hell Cheryl was.

 I then noticed a new symbol appear on the screen . . . the mark of Samael.

 Several different images looped on the screen and I didn't recognize some of them. A few looked like Cheryl, while others were various symbols . . . probably most of religious aspects. I was never one to care about other religions, though I did study some to improve my writing. But this loop . . . why one earth was Cheryl in it? Whatever it meant, Cheryl needed my help . . . and soon.

 I turned left and ran up the dirty, broken escalator and made it to the top. More chain links made up the floor. There were several stores that I saw, but none of them appeared to be open. All of the entrances were blocked off by metal barricades, making it impossible to  pass. I looked to my left, realizing that the floor was torn off, making it impossible to go any further in that direction. The only thing of any interest was an old, rusty bench. But I knew I couldn't stop . . . no matter how tired I was. I had to keep going . . . to find Cheryl through this dark hell.

 I then looked to my right and noticed something in the distance . . . I couldn't quite make it out, but whatever it was seemed to have a human figure. I slowly walked towards it, hoping it wasn't too far off. My flashlight's power was slowly diminishing and the range in which it could shine light was gradual decreasing. I walked slowly towards it, hoping that whatever that thing was happened to be harmless or dead.
 
 But I soon realized it was dead.

 I gasped, realizing it was another corpse . . . nailed to a cross! Several unusually large maggots were chewing away at its decaying flesh. I squinted a bit, wondering what the hell a crucified body would be doing in the middle of a mall. I tried to ignore the dark shades of red and yellow that came from the stores on my left . . . I was wondering what this was doing here.

 Suddenly, the floor beneath me broke away from the rest of the platform.

 I screamed as the I fell down with it. Then I hit the ground beneath me with an impact that inflicted a surprisingly little amount of pain. I soon got up and looked around. No wonder it hadn't hurt . . . there was a mountain of sand that had broken my fall! Sand covered the entire area, in fact! I looked around, realizing this was just another area of the mall. I scanned the room with my eyes. There was some sort of arms dealer on one side and a few restaurants here and there. On the other end, I noticed some sort of glass door . . . which was probably where I needed to go. I needed to get to the hospital . . . the hospital in the hellish delusion of this town where I had always seen Lisa. I referred to the dark hospital as "Darkside Hospital", as where this was the dark side of reality.

 Suddenly, I heard a sound.

 My head darted to my left, trying to figure out what exactly caused that sound. It sounded like the sand beneath my feet was moving. I looked down, realizing that there was indeed something in the sand that was moving. I then noticed some sort of antenna poke out of the sand. So this thing, I guessed, was probably some sort of insect.

 However, when the rest of it came forth from the sand, I realized it was any normal insect.

 I gasped as the creature came from the ground, its slimy body leaving a thin trail of ooze behind it. It appeared to be . . . some sort of worm . . . perhaps a caterpillar of some sort. I looked at all its legs move as it approached me at a slow pace. Its two humongous, black eyes stared at me. I was guessing whatever this thing was had no intentions of helping me.

 I turned around running away from it. It followed me, not having the clear advantage after all. It slithered slowly along the sand, trying to catch me. I continued to run, hoping that the gun shop wasn't locked.

 To my misfortune, it was.

 I noticed another metal gate preventing me from entering. I didn't stop running towards it, however. I wasn't about to stop and let myself be devoured by this . . . thing. My eyes scanned every possible area nearby. Please . . . God, this handgun isn't going to kill that monster. I needed more.

 It was that second that I noticed something in the corner of my eye . . .

 A rifle!

 It was a hunting rifle of some sort . . . I knew little about guns, besides the handgun I had gotten to know so well, but I knew that the rifle I saw was probably used for recreational purposes. I saw it lying in the sand next to the gun shop. I needed that rifle to kill that bug . . .

 I dove forwards, my hands in front of me reaching for the rifle. I then hit the ground with a tremendous impact, but the rifle found its way into my hands. As soon as I had a steady grip on it, a flipped around, looking back at the monster. It was a ways away from me, fortunately. Still crawling at its average pace, I observed. I tried to pull the trigger of the rifle, but it wouldn't budge.

 Damn safety lock!

 I looked at the gun for a few seconds, my heart still racing as I heard the creature slithering towards me. I started a random guessing game, trying to figure out which one of these things on the gun would release the safety lock. I finally saw a metallic lever sticking out. I grabbed onto it and pulled it back. The creature was no more a few feet away from me. I heard something click in the gun, and immediately pulled the trigger.

 The gun recoiled much harder then I could have imagined and I lost my balance, falling to the ground. I wasn't sure if the creature had been hit by the bullet, but I prayed that it was. If not, I was worm food . . . no doubt about it. My eyes were tightly shut, my body trembling in terror.

 But the worm never attacked me.

 I opened one eye, realizing I was still "alive" (if I were even that). I then looked over my shoulder. The worm like creature was on its side, still squirming around in spasming pain. I got to my feet and stared at it. It still moved around, completely helpless. I decided maybe I should just put this creature out of its misery, so I aimed my rifle at its head once again. I then pulled the trigger.

 It responded with an empty click.

 I growled, realizing there was no more ammo in the gun I held in my hands. I threw it to my side, still angry that I had found such a powerful weapon that was out of ammo. I threw the rifle to my side, discarding it as useless. The creature was too badly hurt to attack me in the first place.

 I looked around for the glass door that I could exit the small, sand filled chasm with. I soon saw it and started to walk towards it. Finally . . . out of this god awful mall . . . it was a mistake to even go inside.

 Suddenly, I heard the dry sound of something burrowing into the sand.

 I turned around and realized the worm was gone. It must have dug a hole into the ground. I shrugged deciding it was nothing. I then turned back in the direction of the door. I took a few more steps in its direction.

 Suddenly, the worm like creature came out from the sand itself right in front of me.

 I leapt back in terror as I stared at the enormous creature. I was sure I had nothing to worry about, but now my confidence was gradually leaving my soul. How could that thing recover so fast?!

 Then I noticed how it didn't attack. Instead, it broke through the glass door and left the mall.

 What an unexpected surprise! The worm wasn't here to kill me . . . it just wanted to escape from the same dark prison I was trapped in. I realized that it was a blessing . . . now I had a way out! I laughed realizing this was another "hidden blessing" as I walked up the door. I then stepped outside, but noticed the worm was nowhere to be seen.

 Once again, being the damned ignorant fool I was, decided it was nothing as I walked along the chain link platform. I then looked to my left and right, making sure it was safe to continue. The platform didn't wasn't the same as the street to the "normal" town. The only thing that remained intact was the location of the buildings. I looked around, realizing that the platform only lead left, so I started to run left down it. No monsters that I could see, fortunately. I hoped it would remain that way.

 As I continued down the road, following every turn I found, I got a better view of the metal windmills. The were very old . . . that was made apparent to me. The whole city was showing signs of steady decay. I my mind was still set on how anything like this could be created. Perhaps the theory of alternate universes was perhaps true. Maybe time did, in fact, exist in layers and I was brought to the apocalypse layer of time . . . or perhaps this was all just a crazy hallucination. That seemed logical, although, though not fully able to control my senses, I could feel most of them. It felt a little too real, yet radically different from the other "reality" I was brought into.

 I then heard the flapping of wings.

 Damn! More of the winged demons! I looked over my shoulder, now running faster than ever. Not just one . . . !! Several of them! There were at least four demons hot in my pursuit. I knew I couldn't slow down now . . . not after being so clearly outnumbered.

 And then I caught a glimpse of yet another creature up ahead . . .

 A dog . . .

 The dog got up and growled. How the hell was I supposed to get past this thing?! It sat directly in the middle of the road . . . blocking my path! I decided I couldn't slow down and ready my gun . . . I had to run past it. I closed my eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath and then sprinted as fast as I could past it. It barked and it missed me barely . . . thank God. I then looked over my shoulder as I ran, checking to see if it was still in pursuit.

 I gasped as I witnessed not just the hell hound, but thousands of winged demons filling the sky.

 They were everywhere! I could hear their high-pitched screams as the flew about the sky. They weren't just behind me . . . in front of me, above me . . . everywhere! If this wasn't hell, I didn't know what was . . .

 Then I heard more footsteps following me.

 I took one last glance over my shoulder and realized more dogs were chasing me! I felt totally trapped . . . at least five dogs in my pursuit and thousands of demons scourging the sky.  I started to run with a new will to live, adrenaline pumping through my veins.

 Then I saw it!

 The hospital! Thank God! I ran to the gates of the hospital, which looked fairly similar, except now burnt . . . I opened the gate as fast as I could, and slammed it behind me. That stopped the hell hounds from chasing me.

 I was suddenly knocked over by the claws of the demon.

 One of the winged demons had actually attacked me! I fell to the floor almost flat on my face. I then rolled over and stared back into the sky. The demons all flew in circles around the sky, watching me and waiting to attack. I gasped in fear, pushing myself back to the door. My muscles were almost numb, but I somehow got to my feet.

 I noticed several of the demons diving towards me.

 I screamed as I opened the door and crawled inside, slamming the door. Another close call. Thank God for doors . . . they had saved my sorry ass several times. I knew my advantage lay in the fact that I was physically able to open doors. I laughed, thinking thoughts about being the superior one in this game of survival, regardless of whether it was true or not.

 I looked to my left, examining the burnt reception desk to my left. This was hell, all right . . . a terrible, terrible hell. I started to walk down the hallway, looking for the examination room. Hopefully, Lisa hadn't run off. I soon found the door and walked up to it.

 Please, God . . . let Lisa be in there.

 I then slowly opened the door and walked inside. I was abruptly greeted by a woman's scream, which made me leap in fear. There she was, sitting beside a bed with a candle lit.

 "Lisa!"

 "Harry!" she gasped. She then ran up and me and threw herself in my arms. I wrapped them around her in a caring embrace. I could only imagine how scared she could be. She quivered in my arms, letting me know how genuinely afraid she was.

 But somehow . . . she mattered more to me than that. I felt more than responsible for her . . . it was more . . . I wasn't sure, but almost some sort of love.

 She looked back at me. "Thank God you're alive!" she exclaimed. "I was so scared!"
 
 "Yeah . . . well, I'm here now," I said softly. "I was worried about you too."

 I suddenly realized then that I didn't come here to aimlessly flirt with a nurse stuck in hell . . . I was here to find my daughter!

 "Lisa, do you have any idea how to get to the lake?" I asked.

 "The lake?" she asked. "You take Bachman road . . ."

 I hung my head. "The road's been destroyed. Is there any other way?" I asked, hoping that she might possibly know.

 She put one arm across her waste and the other to her chin, looking at the floor and thinking. She suddenly looked at me. "Wait a second! I just remembered something!" she suddenly exclaimed. "I remember this one waterworks system near my old school that goes underground! I heard it even goes all the way to the lake!"

 I could feel all of my hopes rise all at once. "Really?!" I asked. "Well, it's worth a try, right?"

 Then suddenly, I noticed Lisa's eyes . . . they turned bright blood red for a split second. As soon as they returned to their normal shade of blue, she threw her head back, holding it with one hand. She then bent over slightly, obviously suffering from a headache.

 "Lisa!" I screamed. "Are you all right?!" I asked.

 "Harry . . ." she started, still staring at the floor. "Please stay by me! I'm so scared . . . I'm cold . . ."

 And that was probably the most difficult choice I had to make . . . should I search for Cheryl, who might very well have been killed for all I knew, or stay here with Lisa . . . my body went numb from trying to make up my mind because I knew both of them needed help. How could I help both of them at once?

 Suddenly, it occurred to me. "How about coming with me?" I asked. "I can't insure your safety, but I'll do my best to protect you."

 She looked up at me, like a meek kitten looks towards its owner. "No!" she said in a tone of voice that almost scared me. "Harry . . . somehow, I don't think I'm supposed to leave this place!"

 I sighed. "Lisa . . . just wait here a little longer . . ." I tried to reason. "I'll be back as soon as I find my daughter."
 
 Lisa turned her head from me, looking betrayed. "Harry . . ." she said, almost pleading. "Please stay with me! I'm so scared I don't know what to do!"

 I hung my head. There was almost nothing I could possibly do now. All I wanted to do was save my daughter . . . but Lisa needed help, too. There was only one thing I could say . . .

 "I'm sorry."

 I then turned my back to her and walked out the door. I heard her call my name one last time and I told her I'd be back one last time . . . I then closed the door behind me.

 It's amazing how one decision in your life can really fuck up the rest of it. I was convinced at the time that Lisa was in more need of my attention than my own daughter. I hadn't seen Cheryl anywhere . . . all I knew was that she was in a lot of trouble. She needed my help, but so did Lisa . . . I had a love for Lisa as well, and it was an eerie sense of responsibility for her.

 A true kind of love.

 I sighed as I walked on, leaving the door that lead to the examination room. Please be safe, Lisa . . . that was my only prayer. I wanted to help her, but not until I knew my daughter was safe. I continued to head towards the door that lead outside and stood in front of it. But then I looked back at the dark hallways behind me.

 Forgive me, Lisa . . .

 Opening the door and stepping outside, I looked into the sky and realized there was no longer a scourge of demons. All of them were gone! The thousands that flew about in the sky seemed to have disappeared . . . but how? I shrugged, deciding it was a good thing that they were all gone . . . but it all seemed to suspicious.

 I walked up to the gate and opened it in front of me. I then looked at the path in front of me. Funny . . . it wasn't the same path. Instead, it lead to the building that would have been the post office. I walked down the narrow platform. Sure enough, it lead straight to the metal staircase which was used to get to the roof of the post office. I looked around, realizing there was nowhere else to go except to the top of this horribly burnt building. I started to walk up it, only accompanied by the echoing of my feet through the bottomless void beneath me.

 I finally reached the top, but didn't get much of a view. The top of the metal building was made of stone, surprisingly. I also noticed another small area at the top which lead to some sort of satellite. I looked around, wondering where to go from where I was.

 Suddenly, I heard the flapping of wings.

 I looked around, startled. I soon realized that there were no demons in sight . . . but what was that sound? It sounded like wings flapping . . . no mistaking it at all. I looked left and right, but still saw nothing.

 Suddenly, my heart stopped as a gigantic flying insect emerged from the darkness.

 Note that when I say gigantic, I mean five to six times my own size. This flying creature was incredibly big. Where the hell would a thing like this come from? I noticed how it was still wrapped in a thread of some sort, but I could make out the basic form and shape of the creature. It was some sort of moth, I was guessing, who had just recently hatched from its cocoon. But where would . . .

 I suddenly gasped, realizing this moth was the same bug I had fought at the mall.

 How the hell would it have hatched so soon?! I thought the process for a butterfly would take quite some time . . . but something this big might take years to develop!

 I thoughts stopped as it spewed some sort of venomous liquid in my direction.

 I knew whatever that thing was spitting, it was poisonous. The putrid color of green and the strong stench of the liquid that fell to the floor was solid proof. I panicked as I tried to escape . . . whatever the hell this thing was, it was a very, very large threat to me.

 I quickly ran to the other side of the small platform that the satellite was mounted on. Ducking down, I reached for my pistol and looked back. I could still see the creature's unusually large antennae poking around the corner. I panicked as I held onto the bar the aligned the stairs with one hand and my pistol in the other.

 This thing's going to die . . .
 
 I then jumped around the corner, firing several shots straight at its forehead. Three direct head shots! My aim was definitely getting better. I watched blood spill forth from its forehead and heard the creature's cries of pain.

 It began to fall down to earth at a tremendous velocity.

 The whole black shroud around me started to turn into to a bright light and I heard sirens in the distance . . . the reality around me was starting to fall apart once more . . . I screamed as I grabbed my head and looked in every direction. All I could see was a white shroud. My nerves all went numb and my body limp.

 My vision slowly returned in a blur of white. Soon, it came all the way back to me. I blinked a few times as I looked around.

I was on top of the post office . . . in the normal town.

Chapter 11: On Top of the World
By X-treme X-taggano ([email protected])

 I looked around in the slow realization that the world I was in was indeed the "real" one. I looked back and forth, realizing that I was on the roof of the post office, staring into the the overzealous fog. On top of the city . . .

 On top of the world.

 I looked around, realizing that there was no longer a dead moth anywhere. It had disappeared with the rest of the dark world, apparently. I gave off a sigh of relief. Thank God this misty version of the city was the hell of a lot safer then the dark city.

 I thought a moment, remembering what Lisa had said. The way to get to the lake was through the waterworks, apparently. I pulled out my map, searching around the area near the school. I looked and looked until I saw it. It was just north of the school . . . definitely close, just as Lisa had said. I circled it on my map and put the map away.

 I then turned to my right and ran down the metal stairs which had apparently returned to their normal silver shade . . . no longer the dark, golden shade. As soon as I reached the bottom, I looked at the road in front of me. The street was full . . . not just a narrow platform leading to the hospital.

 And speaking of the hospital, I had thought for a moment to check and see if Lisa might be in it, but soon remembered that I had only seen Lisa at the Darkside hospital . . . maybe her permanent new residence. Too bad . . . I wanted to help her out of this town, too, but I wasn't ready to go back to the nightmare I had trapped myself in too many times.

 So before I knew it, I was at the other end of town, by the water works' gate. I was thankful that the bridge was still down or I wouldn't have made it to the residential area of town. I had forgotten as well how many different roads had been destroyed and how haunting the school still looked in my eyes.

 The gate to the water works looked old . . . it probably hadn't been used in years. I walked up to the front gate, examining the fairly large lock that had been secured on the the handle. No way to enter . . . I thought of climbing over the fence, but the barbed wire that surrounded the top area poised ominously above me.

 I examined the lock again, realizing that the lock was old . . . I could probably break the lock . . . but how? I tried yanking on it, but nothing happened. I smashed it against the poll next to it, but it was a persistent lock and didn't crack in the slightest. I growled , angered, wondering how the hell this damn lock was going to come off.

 I realized that I could probably shoot the lock off. I pulled out my gun and aimed it at the lock. I then fired two shots at the lock. I was cautious, as where I knew the bullets could ricochet right back at me, but to my fortune, they didn't. Instead, the lock broke in half and fell to the floor.

 I laughed happily like a little school boy does when he got a good grade on his math test. Finally . . I could pass. I lifted my foot and then kicked to fence open.  Some of the time, I really felt like an action hero. Kicking down fences, shooting off locks . . . I was Harry fucking Mason, and was proud of it, too. But other times . . .

 Other times I realized I was not that action hero, as much as I wanted to be. I was just a pawn . . . a worthless pawn that could be disposed of in a heartbeat. If I forgot my place, my ego would rise and I would die. I knew that I was the inferior one in this game called survival. I wasn't an action hero. I was an innocent victim who had to make it out the city alive . . . with his daughter. Kicking down a fence was nothing . . .

 Once I survive this hell, I'll know I really am that action hero.

 I looked into the area within the gate. A large generator was on the stone floor that covered the inside of the fenced area. I also saw a hole in the ground with a ladder . . . it must be the entrance to the water works! I prayed that Lisa would be right about it going all the way to the resort area . . . all the way to the lake. I knew there was nothing to lose, as where I wasn't going any other place anyway. I held my breath and slowly climbed down the ladder.

 I soon reached the bottom, realizing it was very dark inside, forcing me to turn my flashlight on once more. The stone floor I stood upon was very cold . . . not what I was exception. This place had probably been abandoned some time back. The color of the bricks around me gave the whole place a washed out look, even with the pipes overhead the dripped with leaking water. I look to my left, searching for a way to go further into the waterworks.

 I then realized there was a tunnel to my right. I smiled, realizing that it probably lead straight to the resort area. I quickly ran down it. The stone archways overhead gave the place an ominous feeling. I didn't know what to expect in here, but I prayed maybe nothing at all would come. The wet ground beneath me was growing mold, apparently, and water still dripped from the pipes overhead, occasionally on my head.

 I soon reached the end of the tunnel, looking left and right. I then stepped out onto the metal platform that  stood over the water. I had apparently entered a new room . . . and it was humongous . . . an entire labyrinth of water! I looked up, gazing at the roof which stood several feet above my head. I couldn't see the end of the room to my left or right, either. In front of me was some sort of water filter. All the water seemed to flow to my right.

 I decided to follow the water's path, considering it probably lead straight to the lake. All the water was drained there, perhaps. And so, without a second thought, I turned right and started running down the platform. I stared at the floor, watching the water beneath the metal flow. I prayed for the town's residences, as where this certainly didn't look like the cleanest drinking water.

 It was then that I heard a loud hissing noise.

 I turned around instantly, grabbing on to my pistol and aiming it directly in front of me. I looked around for a moment, trying to identify to source of the hissing. I soon realized there was nothing. Maybe it was just my twisted imagination . . . being a writer and such can lead to twisted imaginations. I decided it was nothing and turned around.

 Suddenly, I felt a mighty claw slash at my leg.

 I fell backwards, screaming in pain. I stared in horror at the large cut on my leg . . . the cut was deep. In fact, at the time, I was convinced it went straight to the bone. Large quantities of blood oozed out of the fresh wound. I then looked back in front of me.

 A green creature stood in front of me, it's eyes gleaming blood red.

 The thing looked like a cross between a lizard and a plant . . . it's long green tentacles squirming in the darkness. I started to push myself back, realizing the creature was following me on all fours. It had no hands or feet . . . it's forearms were made up of claws almost as big as the creature's body itself! It's head was certainly long . . . like the ones you might see on aliens in old sci-fi films.

 It opened it's mouth and I could smell it's putrid breath coming forth from it.

 It growled as it leapt forwards. I panicked, still pushing myself back.

 Pull the damn trigger, Harry!

 As if the words were a Godsend, I pulled the trigger several times. I could hear each bullet sink into the creature's slimy, green flesh.

 The creature fell backwards, screaming in pain. Despite the bullet wounds, it was still alive. I got up, limping towards the creature. Its skinny body still quivered, and I quickly figured this damn thing needed to be put out of it's misery. I pulled back my bad leg and stomped on it's head. To my surprise, it smashed into a million pieces . . . like a pumpkin. My stomach twisted into a knot as I witness bits of bone and flesh splatter across the dirty metal floor.

 I suddenly fell back, my leg still throbbing with pain. I watched as the thick, black liquid squirted from it's body . . . perhaps it was his blood. This damn things probably ran on fuel rather than blood and flesh like any normal being!

 I couldn't move my right leg . . . I knew this was a serious handicap. The monsters could very easily kill me now . . . with only one good leg, the best I could do was hold on to the wall to keep my balance as I supported my weight with my left foot. I had to get out of the sewer as fast as I could . . . this wasn't the safest place for a man who's leg was nearly severed.

 I got to my feet and then used to wall to help support my weight. I started to limp forwards, trying to find my way through this darkness to the exit. I could feel the thick blood running down my leg as I progressed further through the waterworks, praying that I wouldn't find any more of these . . . things! I looked behind me for a moment, realizing I left behind me a trail of blood behind me. I groaned, hoping that the exit of this place would be somewhere close.

 It must have been at least an hour I spent searching through the darkness of the waterworks with my busted leg still leaving a trail of dark red behind me. Fortunately, though, I was still alive. I was sure that all the blood I had lost would kill me, but my leg hadn't even gone numb. I could feel the blood flow just as easily then as I could earlier. I guessed I must have friends in high places, because it was a miracle I could even walk.

 But soon I found a gate . . . rusty and old, of course, but not in the nightmarish sense that had become familiar in this town in the "other world". I found the main gate that lead into the small area inside and stepped in. I looked around a moment, realizing that the small area closed in by chain links was some sort of work desk. I limped towards it, seeing many sheets of paper on it. I then put my right hand on the edge of the desk, holding myself up as I routed through the papers with my other hand. Most of the documents were just simple things . . . paychecks, plans for the new water filter . . . things like that. No maps, unfortunately. But I was a persistent bastard, not ready to stop yet my search yet. If I didn't find a map, I might be stuck down here for a lot longer than I had planned.

 I then noticed a document inside that caught my eye for some odd reason . . . perhaps only because of the sloppy handwriting, but that paper stuck out from all the others. I picked it up, holding it close to my flashlight.

 Log-April 16th, 1990
 Water still normal. Filtered through at least 4 times. It seems to be pure enough. Ending my shift early today . . . my girlfriend, Jezzy wants me home for something . . . it sounded pretty important. I'll be working a double shift tomorrow.

 Log Out Time: 3:45 PM

 I read on, figuring this must be a journal of what has been happening in the facility that the workers were supposed to keep . . . when it was still open, that is. The journal had ended almost nine years ago, so this place probably shut down. I read the next page.

 Log-April 17th, 1990
 Strange findings in sewer water. They are dark red . . . like the color of blood. Not sure what's causing the strange differences in water. Was someone murdered?! Scared the living daylights out of me. Have to get home . . . my kids Elli and Jeb are visiting me. Sarah won't be joining me, however, due to our divorce. Hope I can keep my cool.

 Log Out Time: 5:54 PM

 Blood in the drain? Murder? It all sounded unlikely, but I decided to read on.

 Log-April 18th, 1990
 The chemical department studied the liquid. According to them, they've found some sort of drug in the red substance. I heard it was even White Claudia. Other than that, the water has been cleaned and my shift is over. I'm calling it a day.

 Log Out Time: 5:30 PM

 So the red liquid was used to conceal White Claudia . . . just as I had guessed. And the drug dealers thought they could get rid of it through the sewage system! Pretty smart planning . . . no one could figure out who the drug dealer was. Maybe the whole town was involved, therefore keeping the whole thing quiet through mutual agreement with each other.

 I then noticed something next to it. It was a map of the whole water works facility! I looked over it, realizing I was close to the ladder that lead out of here . . . right to the resort area by the lake! So going through here was the way to the lake after all. I was relieved Lisa knew what she was talking about! I was almost out of this place! Thank God . . .

 Next to all the paper work, I noticed something bright red. I examined it for a moment, wondering what it was. I soon discovered it was a radio . . . one that only received FM stations. Maybe the sewer keeper kept it here for entertainment. I did guess, after all, that making sure the water is clean is not the most enjoyable job in the world. I picked up the radio, deciding to take it along with me. I wasn't sure why I did it. Maybe just for the simple joy of having something else aside from a pocket full of ammo.

 As soon as the radio was kept safely in my pocket, I looked to my left, noticing an old wooden cabinet near the desk with the red cross sign on it. I walked up to it, hoping someone might keep a first aid kit in it. I soon found out as I opened the doors and looked inside. There was some disinfectant alcohol! Also, there were bandages for my wounds! I didn't know what the other things were used for, but at least there was enough to tend to my current wound. I pulled out the bandages and sat down for a moment, opening up the disinfectant alcohol. I lightly poured some on the cut. It stung . . . like salt to my wound, but I could already see some of the bleeding reduce. I then took a bandage and wrapped it around my leg. Not long after that, my wound was covered . . . nothing more to worry about.

 I laughed. Thank God there was something to help the bleeding. I then stood up, realizing I could walk on to feet again . . . although not very well. My right leg was still in extreme pain, but at least I could use it! I walked forwards, still limping but not in any need of support from the wall. I slowly made my way to the gate at the other end of the room, passing the large water filter to my left. I soon reached to dark brown chain link door at the other end and opened it.

 The first left . . . then the first right . . . sounded easy enough. I was quivering with fear, however, and quivering plus and busted leg is not a good equation in the survival game. I continued to walk forwards, hoping that the damn turn would show up soon. Further I continued into the dark void. The dirt beneath my feet was scraping along the bottom of my shoes. I could see a few small bugs skittering along the stone floor, but nothing of any harm or consequence was there.

 Finally, I saw the first turn . . . so, naturally, I took it. It lead down another very narrow passage way with green moss growing on the walls . . . which was no surprise. The water was probably leaking through, letting more weeds and other plants grow. As I walked further down the passage, I noticed the room was starting to slant downwards. I figured it didn't matter. It only went down for a couple of feet and then stopped.

 I started to run . . . at least, attempt to run. I was able to move surprisingly fast for a bad leg. I wanted to get out of the damn waterworks and into the resort area! I guessed the bleeding was started to go down . . . which was a good thing. Maybe some more blood could circulate into my leg soon enough.

 Finally, I saw the end of the tunnel I was in. I ended up in another canal . . . much like the one I had been in previously. I looked back and forth, trying to locate the next passage that would lead me out of here. All I could see in my limited field of view was a small . . . boat?

 What the hell was a boat doing in a waterworks facility? I was guessing it would get cough in the works. I walked up to it slowly, curious about it's presence. I knelt down and stared into it for a moment.

 It was just a normal boat, though . . . nothing unusual. I got up, but still had that one thought stuck in my head . . . where was the damn exit?!

 I started to run down the metal catwalk along the side of the water, still limping all the way. I hoped that soon, I'd see that right turn that lead right out of here.

 And in a matter of seconds, I saw it. I looked down it, realizing it was surprisingly similar to the last tunnel I had seen. However, it also seemed to be one hell of a lot shorter than the last one. I wasn't able to tell for sure, but I thought I could see the end of it.

 I started down the dark tunnel, hoping the exit was indeed just past here. Water dripped from the ceiling to my head . . . which was refreshing, I guessed. The floor beneath me was particularly moist, however . . . almost so much that it was slippery. My shoes had no traction problems, though, so it was not a distraction . . .

 I was right about the tunnel being short, as where I had run all the way through it in a matter of seconds, but past it was another room . . . not the ladder out! The floor was made of stone beneath me and more pipes ran overhead . . . but not that much water was dripping anymore. I guessed the plumbing maintenance was above average in this room . . . but then again, I guess it'd have to be, considering this was the resort area of town . . . the place where no one settles for anything but the best.

 I also noticed a large, chain link wall blocking the exit.

 I gasped. I wasn't trapped in, was I?! I ran up to it and grabbed onto one of the links. This couldn't be happening! I couldn't be trapped in by a fence . . .

 Like I had in my nightmare about the alleyway . . .

 I suddenly noticed a door, however, on the left side, built right into the fence. I let off a heavy sigh, realizing I shouldn't worry about things before I had fully examined them. I then walked up to it, thankful that I wasn't hopelessly trapped, waiting for some creature to devour me.

 My thoughts suddenly ended as I heard something breathing behind me.

 I looked over my shoulder . . . two . . . three of those lizard creatures! They all were in a line, closing in on me. I panicked, turning around and running for the gate. I could hear them slowly skittering towards me. It was strange, though . . . they weren't chasing me. Why not? Not that I wanted them to, mind you, but they weren't in any hurry . . . unlike most of the monsters I had seen.

 I quickly opened the gate and ran through, slamming it behind me. I then looked back through the chain links, staring at the monsters. They wouldn't stop coming! I had to admire their perseverance, but they weren't getting me now. What would they do? Break the fence down?

 As I my thoughts had casted some kind of curse, they started tearing through the thin metal with their claws.

 I stared in horror as the chain links were gradually being torn apart. I then turned around, wondering why the hell I was just watching death creep up on me and why I wasn't running. I started to run towards . . . the ladder! So that was my ticket out of here!

 Then I heard a loud crashing sound behind me.

 I peered over my shoulder for a split second, realizing the creatures had ripped down an entire section of the chain link fence! They then piled into the room I was in. I turned around, desperately trying to climb to the top of the ladder . . . but my damned foot could barely support my weight! I stumbled over the fist step of the ladder, but continued to climb up. I looked back down. Those things were right below me.

 I then pulled out my pistol and aimed it downwards, only about two steps up on the ladder. The creature was just about to leap up at me. I closed my eyes, hoping I could keep my balance as I fired two rounds at the monster as it leapt towards me.

 It then fell back, however . . . back into the other creatures. I gasped, partially relieved. I continued to climb up, hoping these things couldn't climb ladders as well. I finally made it to the top and pulled my self out of the hole, closing my eyes for a minute. I then collapsed onto the wet grass beneath me.

 Thank God . . . I'm still alive . . . somehow.

 I then knew I had friends in high places. No doubt about it. Something must be protecting me, and it was either fate or God . . . and I never believed in fate. I didn't like the idea that I wasn't in control of my life. That meant that God had been watching over me . . . and I was eternally thankful to him.

 I then stood up, looking around. I noticed my flashlight was blinking on and off occasionally, and I figured it was almost out of batteries, but hoped that it would last a bit longer.

 Unfortunately, it didn't. It died right before I could examine my surroundings, leaving me in the darkness, not sure where I was . . .

 I was standing in darkness . . . once again.

Chapter 12: The Darkness
By X-treme X-taggano ([email protected])

 More darkness . . .

 I started to pray silently to myself that I hadn't returned to hell . . . I looked around through the pitch blackness that surrounded me. I felt totally helpless, realizing I was in the middle of nowhere in complete darkness. I started to quiver uncontrollably, fear taking it's effect on my stomach as I realized my situation. That sewer had taken me to the resort area of town, but I had no idea if I was in the normal town or the nightmare town.  Stranded . . .

 I put my hand out for a moment, looking for some sign that I hadn't gone back to hell . . . some sign . . . anything to assure me that I wasn't stuck in the nightmare world.

 I sighed as I felt a snowflake fall into the palm of my hand.

 So this was the normal town . . . thank God. My chances of survival were higher . . . if I was alive in the first place. But the darkness that shrouded me was too great. I needed a new battery for my  flashlight, and I needed it now! I couldn't see my hand in front of my face . . . much less than the street I walked on.

 I started to search through my pocket, hoping to find something that might run on batteries. Maybe something I had used the same size . . . which was, unfortunately, a nine volt battery for this particular model. I certainly couldn't think of any electronic device that I would carry with one of those . . .

 It was then that my hand made contact with the radio I had picked up..

 I quickly took it out my pocket, searching desperately for the battery compartment. I could only really on my sense of touch, so I hoped I would soon find the ridged area that went over the opening. I soon found it and yanked the latch off. I felt inside the hole for a moment and then found the square shaped battery. Then I turned the radio upside down and let the battery fall into my hand.

 Just what I needed . . .

 I then discarded the radio, realizing there was no use having one without a battery, and pulled out the flashlight from my coat pocket. I did a battery compartment search on it and found the latch. I let the old battery fall out and put the new one in. I then closed the compartment up and flipped on the switch.

 A bright light shined once more. I laughed, realizing I had just fixed my flashlight.

 And Harry said . . . let there be light!

 I looked down the street. I was next to some broken home, roaches crawling out the sides. The walls had caved in . . . as if the house was intentionally destroyed. Why someone would want to destroy what looked like a nice house was beyond me, but I guessed it was none of my business.

 I ran down the small path made of grass until I saw the city street in front of me. To my left, I noticed a huge sign . . . almost like a bulletin board. I walked up to it, realizing it was nothing more than a large map of the city. "Information" it said in large, black letters across the top. At the bottom were some random notes and facts about this part in town. I also noticed a small square holder at the bottom of the display. It had something it it . . .

 Smaller maps!

 I grabbed one immediately. How convenient! This was obviously the place the town wanted to be more well known in, so they displayed maps so I could find my way around easier! Fantastic! I quickly opened it, exploring it with my index finger. Now if Cheryl was walking out past the lake . . . then she probably went off to one of the docks. Maybe she had just walked down one of the piers and Cybil hadn't seen it due to the distance and the mist.

 There was, indeed, a dock down at the west end of town. I figured I should make my way down there . . . and quickly. Who knows where Cheryl might have ended up by now? I looked down the dark street in front of me. This was going to be a long trip . . . but hopefully, it would be the last one I would have to take for a while.

 I started to run down the street, hoping that no monsters would be out. Fortunately, I hadn't seen any yet . . . causing me to believe that I shouldn't have to turn off my flashlight and conceal myself in the darkness. The air was still cold, as usual, but it did keep me alert. If it were warm, I might have become victim to drowsiness. The stinging cold kept me aware of my senses, however, as I ran past the dim houses.

 I leapt at the sound of a man's scream.

 I suddenly stopped where I was and looked around. Who the hell was that?! It sounded . . . like a man. I looked left and right, only seeing buildings. No one in sight. I shrugged. Maybe the scream was just the product of my twisted imagination.

 My thoughts changed instantly as I heard a gunshot.

 It came from . . . the bar! I saw a large building with an old sign over it that read "Annie's Bar" and the door was wide open. Someone must have been attacked in there and he was probably trying to defend himself. The large, dark yellow building seemed to call my name . . . and I went in there without even knowing who I was saving. Anyone deserved to live just as much as I did.

 I looked around. I could here someone yelling still, but I had no idea where he was. It was coming from the other side of the pool tables, though. I quickly ran around them, trying to find the man and hopefully save him.

 I suddenly gasped. Dr. Kaufmann!

 A monster was on top of him . . . not like one I had seen before. It looked like those furry creatures . . . only, skinless. A skinless teddy bear from hell trying to take a bite out of his throat. I noticed the creature had long claws . . . no doubt used for killing it's victims. He then stared at me for a moment, his eyes blood shot in terror.

 "Harry?! Is that you?!" he screamed. "Help me! Get this damn thing off me!"

 The tone of his voice . . . he was pleading. I quickly pulled out my gun. I had to aim carefully, as where I couldn't shoot Kaufmann. I closed one eye and aimed for the creature's head. I then pulled the trigger.

 The monster went flying off Kauffman and onto the floor beside him. Kauffman quickly got to his feet and kicked the monster's heart. He had apparently killed it right then . . . apparently, my bullets weren't enough to kill the monsters that lurked in this hell.

 He then looked at me. "Thank you . . ." he said, almost ashamed to admit that he needed help. "What the hell is that thing?!"

 I shook my head. "I have no idea. I've seen a few of them out there, though . . ." I wasn't lying, either. I had seen a few . . . but the ones I had seen had fur . . . not as threatening, although still very capable of killing.

 Kaufmann picked up his briefcase, and then his pistol, which I was guessing he had dropped when the teddy bear from hell attacked him. "Did you find a way out?!" he asked, almost anxiously.

 "No . . . " I muttered. "The town's completely blocked off."

 Kaufmann looked up. "Well, this madness can't go on forever!" he said confidently. "The military will probably be sent in soon. All we can do is hope that we can survive that long"

 "D-do you really thing they'll find us?" I asked.

 Kaufmann laughed. "Of course they will!" he said. "You don't really think something like this is going to be ignored, do you? This is a big city, for Godsakes!"

 I nodded. "Yeah, I hope you're right."

 Kaufmann started to walk towards the door. "Well, I don't have time to talk. I have business to attend to . . ." he explained.

 What possible business could he have to attend to when the town had gone to hell? Maybe he hadn't seen the nightmare world as wasn't fully sure of what was happening. After all, this wasn't the hellish version of the town . . . probably just the normal town at night. That other place I had been seeing . . . the other world . . . was probably something I was only experiencing. But why?

 Because Cheryl's my daughter, and she's trapped there.

 Yes . . . I was sent there to save Cheryl. Some force was helping me save her. What that force was, I had no idea. I just had to use the time I had in the nightmare world wisely if I was to find Cheryl. The presence of monsters in this world probably meant that the "Otherworld" was leaking through to this world and I had to stop it.
 
 Suddenly, the name Alessa popped into my mind. Michael was the head of the hospital staff, but maybe he didn't know that someone had one of his patients hidden in the room beneath the hospital. Or maybe he did . . . and he was the one hiding her there.

 "Michael, do you know someone named Alessa?" I asked.

 He didn't even look back. He just answer with a quick and simple "no" and left.

 That rat bastard probably knew exactly who she was . . . but why? Why would a hospital need to hide one of their patients? Were they afraid of the police or something? Whatever the reason, Kaufmann probably had some part of it, as director of the hospital.

 I looked around at the bar. It was fairly small . . . not even any tables. Just a counter where people probably plastered themselves all night as they played a game of pool. The floor was, however, made of fine tile and the wood floor beneath the counter was well maintained.

 I noticed something on the ground in front of me, however. It was some sort of tag . . . a receipt, maybe. I picked it up, looking at the cover. It had the initials M.K. on it, which I was guessing stood for Michael Kaufmann. For some reason, however, those initials put horrible images of death and dismemberment in my mind. Maybe I was just crazy, but images of combat and violence flooded into my head. Maybe I was just uneasy about this Kaufmann fellow . . . or maybe the town and made me afraid of life and anything and anyone in it.

 The receit had something written on it . . . M.K, pick up delivery at Indian Runner. 0473.

 The Indian Runner? I opened my map, looking for a place in town with that name. I soon noticed a small building on the map labeled "Indian Runner". Maybe some type of storage or postal service? Whatever it was, Kauffman had something waiting for him there.

 And I had an irresistible urge to find out what it was.

 Maybe I was being nosey. Maybe what he had was none of my business . . . but I wanted to know what it was so badly. Kauffman had something to do with Alessa . . . maybe the delivery would have something to do with her.

 I noticed something else on the ground. A key . . . I didn't know what it unlocked, but it probably belonged to Kauffman. There was a small tag with the number three engraved into it. Maybe it was the key to where ever he was staying. I remembered seeing a motel on the map, which was probably where he was attempting to hide whatever he had.

 I walked towards the exit, thinking about where I would go. First, I'd head to the Indian Runner and then head to the motels. I knew Cheryl was in need of my help, but there was probably nothing I could do while I was still here in the normal version of the town. I sighed as I opened the door and stepped into the streets.

 The Indian Runner was just across the street, fortunately. I ran from the doorway towards the large building. There were a lot of supplies and boxes outside the office . . . so this was some sort of post office. I shuddered to think of what a mess it probably was inside. I ran past the small pilliars and towards the large, brown double doors. I pushed on the doors, trying to open them.

 They were locked!

 Great . . . locked. And by a huge padlock hanging from the door handles. I looked at it for a moment, realizing I had to turn the dials to four different numbers. But what were they? I sighed, realizing I had just wasted my time and that I'd never find out what Kauffman was up to.

 Suddenly, I remembered that some number was written on the receipt. I pulled it out of my pocket and looked at the large red numbers scribbled on the top.

 0473 . . .

 I quickly turned the dials until I had entered the numbers written out on the receipt. I then pulled on the lock and it came undone. I laughed as I opened the doors and stepped into the building. I closed the doors behind me, still cautious, however.

 I gasped as I saw the post office. The shelves next to me had been knocked over and several objects lay scattered across the floor. Several books were on the floor as well and broken pieces of wood defiled the stone floor. To my left was a counter with a book of some sort and a cash register.

 I walked around behind the counter, passing the large FedEx boxes piled up. I ignored the strewn paper, heading for the book that was laid open. This was apparently some sort of journal. The handwriting was fairly sloppy, but readable none the less. After reading the cover, I realized this journal belong to some man named Greg Vederman. Perhaps he was the owner of the Indian Runner. I started to read the text written on the pages.

 April 5th
 He came by today. I gave him the package the old woman gave to me. The Galespie lady, that is. Where she's getting all of it is beyond me.

 Galespie? What did Dahlia Galespie leave off? And who was she delivering it to? Was it Kauffman? Probably, considering the receipt had a note telling Kauffman to pick up some shipment. What was the damn shipment, though? Did it have anything to do with Alessa? I shook my head as I turned the page.

 April 6th
 He showed up at Norman's place too. I don't want to be involved with them anymore, though. But I'm kind of creeped out. I thought about leaving town, but I was afraid of what might happen if I do. So I'll just keep the shipment in the safe. I left the key in the usual spot in the drawer.

 The shipment in the safe? Key in the drawer? I knew the shipment was probably already sent off, but I wanted to see what it was anyways. I turned around, and saw a large, wooden shelf behind me. I ran up to it and opened the top drawer. Inside was a key . . . just like the journal had described. I grabbed a hold of it and closed the drawer back up. I then turned left and faced the safe inside a small area under the counter. I walked up to it and kneeled down I then pulled out the key and put it into the slot. I turned it and heard a click, signifying that it was indeed unlocked. I then pulled the handle and the safe opened up.

 I gasped as I  saw three packets of what looked like drugs.

 The drugs looked like powder! Maybe this was White Claudia! I touched one of the bags with my finger. It was thin . . . thin enough to snort through your nose. This was the drug all right . . . and the local post office was carrying them for . . . Kauffman and Dahlia?!

 So this had nothing to do with Alessa. This meant Kauffman and Dahlia were part of the local drug racket Cybil had told me about! They probably hooked all the locals up with the drugs . . . and were probably making good money too . . .

 I closed the safe and stood back up. I then noticed some delivery order and a photo hanging on the wall. I looked at the photo first, which showed a well dressed man with his hair neatly combed. He was standing in from of some motel and the photo read "Norman's Grand Opening!" at the bottom. I had already figured Kauffman was probably staying at the motel because there was only one in the whole city. It was the motel I was planning on staying at, in fact. I had Kauffman's key so maybe I could  find out more about his involvement in the local drug racket.

 Next to the photo was some delivery order.

 3 loaves of bread.
 3 cartons of mild.
 2 dozen eggs.
 Deliver to back door daily at 8 A.M. Rear entrance code, 0886. Norman Young.

 I figured it'd be best to write down the code to the back door, so I grabbed the pen I saw sitting on the table and wrote it down on my hand. As soon as I had it written, I turned away from the wall and started to walk towards the door. Inspector Harry, at your sevice . . . ready to solve the great White Claudia caper.

 I opened the door and found myself back in the dark, cold streets again. The motel was at the end of Weaver Street to my right . . . the Haerbey Inn. I quickly started to run down the road. The road was becoming a little slippery from all the melted snow, however. I wished my shoes had better traction for this kind of weather . . . but I wasn't expecting this kind of weather! It usually didn't snow in late April! I thought the sun would be shining, but instead, I got this fog shrouded, Godforsaken ghost town. My wife used to tell me I was bad luck, I was starting to believe her.

 I suddenly noticed a large, green building to my right. It was the Haerbey Inn. I came to an abrupt halt at the the side of the building. There was a large gray door, and next to it was a panel with numbers on it.

 0886 . . .

 I punched in the numbers and pressed the enter button. I heard a beeping sound, probably signifying that the code I had entered was correct. I walked to the gray door and turned the handle. the door opened and I stepped inside quickly.

 The room was fairly small . . . but then again, it was only a small motel. It was no five star resort or anything. The green carpet beneath my feet seemed to match the rest of the furniture in the room. There was no bed, however . . . just a coffee table scattered with various pornographic magazines, an old radio which was probably broken, and a desk.

 I did notice on the desk, however, that there was some sort of journal that was opened. I walked up to it and started to read it. It was the journal of Norman Young . . . the owner of the motel.

 April 6th

 He showed up . . . told me to sit on the package for a while. I really don't like being involved with these guys, but I have to help them out . . . they're the only ones who can sell me White Claudia. I can't live with out it, so I kept the drug and hid it in the garage, like he asked. This time, I can't even let the woman know I have this.

 Hid the drugs in the garage? Actually, he hadn't specified that it was White Claudia that they were hiding, but I assumed it might be. And who was "he"? Were they referring to Kauffman? Who knew? I just wanted to find what they were hiding . . . help Cybil out, maybe.

 I turned right, noticing the door across the room. Maybe that was where the garage was located. I walked up to it and opened the door. I was then greeted by the musty smell of dirt . . . how a garage usually smells. I walked inside, looking around. There was a motor cycle inside the room made predominantly of stone, and a sink and a work bench . . . but where would he hide the drug? I figured the sink might be one possible place to look, but there was nothing. I turned around and routed through the rusty old tools, but nothing was in there either.

 So where would it be? The motor cycle? There wasn't any place for him to hide it there! I walked up to examine it anyways. I doubt he could have hidden it under the flame patterned metal . . . so where can you hide drugs on a motor cycle?

 I noticed the gas tank, however . . .the dust was rubbed away around it . . .

 Maybe it was hidden in the gas tank! That would seem logical. Not many people would think of looking for it there . . . especially not in an age old motor cycle that probably hadn't been used in years. I put my hand on the cap and tried to twist it off.

 No such luck.

 I should have noticed the key hole next to it. I needed a key to unlock this thing. Why would anyone need a key hole on a motor cycle gas tank?! Were they afraid someone was going to steal there fuel? I laughed at the thought, but also started to worry. Where the hell would I find the key?

 Then I remembered I had Kaufmann's room key . . .

 I knew he probably kept the key in his room somewhere . . . he probably hid that key too. I sighed as I turned around and walked back up the stairs. I then opened the door and exited the garage. I needed to get to the bottom of this.

 I still continued to wonder, though, what part Dahlia played in this. Dahlia delivered drugs? But why? She seemed to be a nice, if not disturbing woman. She didn't seem like the type who would help in a drug deal . . . but I guessed even the most innocent of people can fall victim to drug abuse. Whatever it was, she was the only one who could help me. I would worry about her drug problem later.

 I walked out the door to my left and found myself in the reception area behind the counter. I walked passed the counter, which was filled with sign up sheets and various information about the rooms and to the door by the vending machine. I then opened it and walked outside.

 Kaufmann's staying at room number three . . .

 Fortunately, there weren't that many rooms here in the first place. There were probably twelve at the most. I didn't have time to count, though. All I had time for was looking for room number three. And I found it soon enough at the other end of the parking lot.

 I pulled out the key from my pocket and put it into the slot. I turned it and the door unlocked. I then turned the handle and stepped inside of Kaufmann's room.

 The motel rooms were fairly small, but decent enough for the manger to stay in business. It had a nice bathroom made of green tile, which I could see because the door was wide open, and the carpet matching the tiles quite well. There was only one bed, though . . . and some desser used to keep clothes in.

 I noticed, however, the carpet had been ripped near the dresser.

 Someone must have moved it! Trying to hide something, I guessed. Kaufmann must not be a very bright fellow, because he used  shevles and dressers to try and hide his tracks too often and I had caught on almost immediately.

 I pushed the dresser out of the way and looked at the floor. A small key lay there. I picked it up quickly. This must be the gas tank key I was looking for . . . I didn't want to question it. I just hoped I was right. I picked it up and headed out of the room.

 I ran back across the parking lot to the receptionist's office. I opened the door and ran through the room back to the door at the end of Norman's office. I opened the door, finding myself back in the parking place. I then walked up the motor cycle and searched for the gas tank. I soon found it and used the key on the key hole. The gas tank unlocked and I twisted it off.

 Inside was a glass vile inside a plastic bag.

 I picked it up and stared at it. This wasn't White Claudia. It looked like the substance inside the smashed glass vile I found at the hospital! Was this some other type of drug? I took out the bottle I had of this and held it up beside the other vile. The liquids were identical! What was this?

 I suddenly heard the door behind me slam.

 I turned around and stared right into Kaufmann's face.

 "Give me that!" he scowled as he ran up to me.

 "What is it?" I asked.

 He quickly snatched the bottle out of my hands and put it in his pocket. "That's none of your damn business!" he yelled. "Instead of just fucking around here, why don't you look for a way out of here?! Are you trying to get yourself killed?!"

 "Okay!" I said. "Take it easy!"

 "Listen, you're royally fucked if all you do is just go tapping into other people's business!" he yelled. "So stay away from my shit! Got it?!"

 Kaufmann then turned around after grabbing his briefcase and started to walk towards the door. He then exited the room, slamming the door behind him. The dust on the roof of the garage fell to the floor because of the force of the slam.

 He sure was pissed . . . and in such a hurry, too. He had to have some part in the local drug deal. I wasn't sure what kind of substance was contained in the bottle, but it was probably just another drug of his that he sold to the tourists. Well, at least I had my hands on some evidence against him now . . . this red substance. Whatever it was . . .

 I figured there was nothing more to explore. I guessed I had just wasted my time. There was no more time anyway . . . I had to find Cheryl!

 I walked up to the garage door and opened, stepping back into the director's lounge. I walked past the porn magazines, although I saw that some of them were lying on the floor. Maybe Kaufmann had decided to have some fun with it before he left on whatever business he had to attend to. The thought was both disgusting and humorous at the same time. I laughed as I exited out the back door and into the dark streets once more.

 Still dark . . . still snowing . . . nothing had changed. I still had time to save Cheryl, I guessed. It was too calm for anything to happen to her. I turned right and started to run down the long road ahead of me. Through the darkness and fog, it all seemed like I was swimming through a thick, black void. No monsters in sight, fortunately. All I had to occupy myself with was my thoughts. I didn't have to think with the barrel of my pistol right now. I just had to get to the docks and see if I could find Cheryl . . . though this wasn't the "Otherworld", maybe I'd still find Cheryl there . . . maybe my thoughts of Cheryl being trapped in the nightmare world was nothing but a ramble in my mind.

 I suddenly stopped in place as I heard Sirens in my head.

 I looked in every direction, realizing that it was no longer snowing, but . . . raining!

 The floor beneath me started to turn into metal . . . and then to chain links! The fog seemed to disappear and an even greater darkness then before shrouded me, if it were possible. My flashlight still shone brightly in the darkness, but I still wasn't trusting my vision . . . because this didn't feel like shifting from reality to a nightmare . . .

 This felt like reality becoming a nightmare . . .

Chapter 13: When Worlds Collide
By X-treme X-taggano ([email protected])
 
 I stared in horror at my surroundings. The so-called reality that I thought I was in was turning into that hell that I had thought was a dream.

 But it wasn't just a dream. It was a real world that was somehow taking over our world . . . making it hell on earth. I didn't know what was going on or what would cause earth to be taken over by this reality, but whatever it was, it was intent on the distruction of this planet.
 
 Something horrible was going on . . . no doubt in my mind.

 I looked past the decay that had just spread into the world. If the nightmare world had invaded our world, that meant Cheryl probably ended up here too . . . and she was probably out on the docks, like Cybil had said. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I didn't know if the monsters had made there way into this world as well, but with my luck, they probably did . . . thousands of them did.

 I quickly started running. No use sitting around thinking about the many ways I could die. The only thing that was important was finding the ways that I could live. The metal beneath my feet felt more real this time. Every hallow footstep that echoed beneath me felt more like reality and not just a blur. This was no hallucination . . . this was hell. I knew it was. The buildings around me weren't just part of the mere shadow of a world I had thought to be a nightmare. They were real . . . too real.

 I looked to my left and realized there was a street. According to my map, this lead straight to the dock . . . right were I was heading! I looked down the road made of chain links for a while, still unable to believe the bottomless void beneath me wasn't fake this time . . .

 It's real . . .

 I ran down the street. I saw the objects that were once lamp posts that had been turned into windmills overcasting all. I couldn't feel the breeze, but I could feel everything else. The stale air, the smell of blood through the buildings . . . even the feeling of my own heartbeat racing as I ran through hell.

 Then I heard something growl.

 A dog! A god damned dog! I turned around for a brief moment and saw it staring into my eyes . . . only this one was different! His skin looked as if it were made out of . . . some sort of tube like object. As if it were made out of it's own intestines! It growled at me and it seemed to be vomiting up some sort of gray substance. Perhaps it was just drooling, but I didn't want to stick around and find out.

 I instantly turned around and started running. The dock wasn't far, so I flipped off my flashlight. Hopefully, the dog wouldn't be able to see me as I ran through the pitch blackness. I was soon completely lost in the dark, only knowing that the general direction I had to go was forwards. I heard the dog's footsteps behind me, but knew that it probably wasn't getting any closer. The footsteps seemed to get further and further away from me . . . until I could hear them no more.

 I stopped right where I was and started to catch my breath. No more dogs . . . I was able to outsmart this one. I still wasn't sure, however, if it would be safe to turn my flashlight back on. I figured it probably wouldn't be the smartest choice to make and all I could do was fumble through the darkness. I knelt down, trying to stay low as I felt along the floor, slowly guiding myself forwards. I was bound to find the dock somewhere.

 My heart stopped as I my hands fell over the edge of the pier.

 My chest hit the stone floor as my hands slipped into the water. I quickly pulled them out, as where the water felt more like . . . fire. My hands burned when they were wet from the lake. More to add to the hellish nightmare. I quickly flicked the water off my hands, trying to relieve myself of the burning pains I was enduring. As soon as the water was off, I got to my feet and turned my flashlight back on. No use wandering aimlessly. Either way, it was dangerous and I was just as likely to die without my light on.

 I looked to my left, realizing there was a boat on the lake. It was quite small, old and rusted, barely connected to the pier by a thick rope tied around one of the posts. A small wooden board was was laid across the deck and went out onto the pier . . . which I could probably use to board the ship. I stood up for a moment and stepped down lightly on the board, making sure it wasn't going to collapse beneath me. Fortunately, however, it seemed fairly stripy. I decided, however, it was probably a good idea to make it across as fast as I could so that the board wouldn't have the choice of falling beneath me. And so I quickly ran across the board. It wobbled a bit, but I didn't fall into the "water" and take me along for the ride. As soon as I got to the other side, I opened the door to the ship and slammed it behind me.

 I was greeted by a mutilated body nailed to the bulkhead.

 I screamed as I stared at it for a moment. Another crucified body! Why another one?! I didn't want to look at it . . . I didn't want to see have to see the charred, brown flesh of the human . . . I didn't want to see it's terrible expression . . . I didn't want to see it's face!

 Because I realized it was my own face on the body.

 I looked away from it in horror. It was me. That body that hung on the wall, dismembered and destroyed, was my own. And it wasn't the fact that it was mutilated that scared me . . . it was the message it sent. That my whole life had been a lie . . .

 I started to look at the body again, examining every scar it bared . . . a deep cut in the knee. Another horrible stabbing mark lay on the stomach. It scared me because every wound on it . . . they were my wounds. All the pain and suffering I had endured was displayed on this body . . .

 My body.

 But it was all nailed to a cross. Either this was a sick joke, or a way of telling me I was forgiven. My sins had left me with the cross . . . that all the lies I had surrounded myself with . . . all the wrong things I had done . . . they had all been forgiven by my God . . .

 And as the thought had sunken into me, I realized the face was slowly changing. I leapt backwards because the transformation startled me. But as it twisted into shape and I stared deep into it, I realized that the face was no longer mine.

 I gasped as I realized who it was . . . the one who had died for my sins . . .

 I smiled as I thanked God for the reassurance. This truly meant that God was on my side . . . he was watching me, helping me make it through this hell . . . and I was grateful to him. I laughed, knowing that, though I was always a firm believer in God, I had never really prayed or even gone to church. But I found that my faith in God was perhaps the only way I'd survive this hell. Just that one bit of hope.

Hope . . .

 I walked passed the body on the bulkhead and up to the small set of stairs . . . three stairs, to be specific. It lead right to the door used to enter the main deck. The door was chipped and torn apart, but still worked . . . just barely. I put my hand on the knob, instantly realizing how uncomfortable the metal felt beneath my fingers. I turned the knob and the door opened.

 I suddenly gasped as I saw a woman standing near the wheel . . .

 "Cybil!"

 The woman instantly turned around, letting me know she was indeed Cybil Bennett. She was quivering with fear . . . this much I knew. I could see the way her small body was shaking as she looked out the main window into the lake of fire before us, standing upon the almost completely destroyed wooden floor. She gasped as she stared into my face. It didn't take her long to realize it was me . . . she then ran up to me and threw herself into my arms, weeping. She was terrified. I held her tight, trying to keep her from shaking with fear.

 She looked up into my eyes, her own flooded with tears. "Harry! Where the hell did you go?!" she asked.

 I stroked her hair with the palm of my hand. "I don't know . . . " I explained. "I'm sorry . . . but I'm glad you're okay. I was worried about you."

 Her eyes widened. "You were worried?! I looked everywhere for you!" she explained. "Harry, what the hell is this place?!" She started to cry again . . . I could feel her tears sinking into my t-shirt and onto my skin.

 "This is that place I was telling you about," I explained.

 She pulled herself away from me for a moment, although not forcibly. "This is worse then before! Is this . . ." she paused a moment. "Is this hell?"

 I wasn't sure, but I didn't want to think so. "I hope not," I said softly. "This is that other place . . . " I paused and cleared my throat. "Listen to me Cybil. I haven't gone crazy, and I know what this is."

 Cybil nodded. "Yeah . . . go on," she said.

 "It's not me . . . it's the whole town. I thought I was going crazy, but now I know I'm not . . ." I explained. "This town is being invaded by the Otherworld."

 Cybil gasped. "T-the Otherworld? What do yo mean?" she asked.

 "I don't know what it is. It's a world where someone's nightmarish delusions come to life," I explained. "The invasion is spreading into the real world now. At first, I was the only one who could see the infection. But now it's made it's way through . . ." I paused. "All I know is that Cheryl is there."

 Cybil glanced curiously at me. "There?" she asked.

 I shook my head. "Under whoever created this hell. She's trapped and needs my help," I explained.

 "Well, who did create this hell?" Cybil asked.

 "I don't know," I answered.
 
 "And how are we going to stop whatever it is anyways?" she asked.

 "I don't know that either . . . but I think I finally figured out what that lady was talking about," I said in calm realization.

 Cybil shook her head. "Harry, this whole trip has become a major blow to you," she started. "You need to rest! You're probably too tired to think things through logically right now."

 I looked up. "Cybil, I . . ."

 The sound of doors slamming interrupted my speech. I turned around, staring right into the face of Dahlia Gallespie.

 "The demon is awakening!" she explained. "Spreading those wings!"

 Cybil stared at her. "Who the hell is that?!" she asked.

 I raised my hand up. "It's okay, Cybil . . . this is Dahlia Galespie," I said. I looked back at Dahlia. "Go on."

 "The task is almost completed!" Dahlia said, raising her hands. "Once the abyss . . . the mark of Samael is completed, everything well perrish! Even in daytime, darkness will cover the sun! The righteous will all be killed and martyrs will burn in the deepest depths of hell!"

 I interrupted her speech, raising my hand. "Wait, what am I supposed to do?!" I asked. "How do I stop it?"

 She looked out the window to the boat. "You must go to the lighthouse and then to the amusement park. Then you will be able to stop!"

 Cybil looked at me. "Look, Harry . . ." she explained. "I don't know what's going on . . . but if there's a chance we can save you're daughter, then I'm in. I'll go to the amusement park and check it out."

 I smiled. "Cybil . . . thanks," I explained.

 She started to walk towards the door, looking back at me for a moment. "I'll be back as quick as I can . . ." she explained. She then opened the door and walked into the hallway, slamming it behind her.

 Dahlia looked back at me, her gray skin seeming to wrinkle. "You will have to use it . . ." she explained.

 I raised an eyebrow. "Use what?" I asked.
 
 "The Flauros . . . only then will this madness end," she said calmly.

 I looked back at the door to the hallway that lead to the rear exit of the boat. "What about Cybil?" I asked. "I have to help her!"

 I heard a door slam and realized a second later as I turned my head back in Dahlia's direction that she was gone.

 By myself again. I hated not having anyone to rely on. My only friend was my pistol . . . and that was a scary thought. I didn't want to have to constantly run to each end of town to find nothing . . . I wanted this to end. And I realized the Flauros she had given me all that time ago was probably the key to the happy ending for me.

 I walked across the dirty floor of the boat. Like it or not, I was the only one who could stop this. I sighed as I opened the door in front of me and stepped outside. From the front of the ship, I couldn't even see the lighthouse. I just knew it was out there . . . somewhere. And I needed to get there fast.

 I pulled my self up onto the other side of the long, stone dock. I dusted my knees off as I looked out into the darkness. The lighthouse wasn't that far away . . . at least, that's what I wanted to believe. But in reality, I knew it was a long was down this dock.

 I started to run down it, finding it was hard to keep my balance with so much dust. My shoes didn't have the proper traction for something like this. My feet were skidding along the beads of thick dust as I increased my pace forwards.

 I wasn't sure, though, but I could see things in corner of my eyes. Whenever I turned my head, however,  they were gone. The images that passed me didn't seem real . . . although the rest of the world did. But I could swear I saw something almost every second.

 I noticed a large chain link fence blocking my way out, blood dripping down it like water from a rain gutter. I growled as I looked to my right. I the noticed a stairway that lead down to the side of the dock. I quickly ran to it and descended it. Down at the bottom, I was able to go around the chain link fence. Hopefully, there wouldn't be any more obstacles.

 I gasped as I noticed a dog ran past me.

 I turned around, stopping in place. I blinked noticing the dog was gone. I slowly reached for my gun, quivering uncontrollably. This was a sick joke . . . none of the creatures I was seeing was real . . . just a projection of the nightmare world.

 But wasn't this the nightmare world now? I thought reality had become a nightmare now. So why weren't the images of the creatures I was seeing real? The dog I saw near the boat had seemed real, that was for sure . . but everything around here didn't.

 I shook my head as I moved on. No use worrying. These things couldn't hurt me . . . and whoever was creating the images wasn't harming me . . . just scarring the shit out of me.

 I saw another dog running at me.

 I gasped as I suddenly stopped. I aimed my gun as quickly as I could and fired. But the bullet seemed to pass right through him. I screamed as the dog leapt at me and bared it's teeth . . . ready to attack.

 But to my surprise, the dog passed right through me . . .

 It was like a ghost. That's the best way I could describe it . . . like those old movies where they passed through walls and people. I fell backwards as he did so, landing on my back. I turned around, rolling onto my stomach. I then pulled the flashlight out of my coat pocket and shined it forwards. Nothing . . .

 I tried to hold back my fear, but I couldn't. I felt a tear slide down my cheek as I looked back at the floor, burying my face in my arms. Now was not the best time to have a nervous breakdown, but I was so incredibly scared, my fear had completely taken me over. The smell of the stale floor and my hot tears mixed together to create an atmosphere like no other. I had almost died . . . more than once. I couldn't bear to imagine what Cheryl was going through in the hell.

 As soon as I was done crying, I got to my feet, wiping away the wetness in my eyes. I knew I had no more tears to shed. This was it. I was going to save Cheryl no matter what . . . even if I died trying.

 I looked up ahead, noticing something in the distance. I started to run towards it. It become more visible as I approached it. I looked up, realizing it was much taller than I had thought. I gasped, realizing this building was the lighthouse! I stopped suddenly, noticing a set of rusted old stairs.

 Compared the rest of the town, the lighthouse was brightly colored. The white paint was still intact all the way to the top, it seemed. The door frame was still painted red and the door wasn't made of rusted steel either. Perhaps this was something that survived the invasion from the Otherworld . . . I shrugged as I climbed the stairs and opened the door, stepping inside.

 The interior was, however, still made of rusted metal.

 I looked at the dirty walls and stairs that lead to the top. It was a long ways up . . . but Dahlia said this was where I would find the answer to what was happening here. I pulled out my gun, realizing this could very well be the end of my journey.

 I started to climb up the stairs. They lead in a circular pattern all the way to the top, and were certain not any type of pleasure to climb. I tried to ignore my fear of heights as I continued to climb, still being careful not to look down. I noticed the way the the stairs wrapped around a poll in the center, keeping them aligned all the way to the top.

 I finally saw the hole that lead to the roof. I started to run up the stairs, noticing some light shined through it. Any type of light was unusual in this town . . . and there was quite a bit of it coming from the roof. What was it?

 I gasped as I stepped onto the top of the lighthouse, noticing beams of light tracing something on the roof . . . whatever it traced covered the whole damn topside of the lighthouse! It was huge. I looked around and then gasped, suddenly realizing what it was . . .

 The mark of Samael.

 I looked up into the darkness after staring at the light. There was a girl standing in the darkness! It wasn't Cheryl, but . . . Alessa! I help up my hand to speak, but she slowly started to disappear.

 "Wait!" I called.

 She didn't wait . . . she just vanished right before me eyes. I lowered my hand. I was too late. Whatever the reason was for me being here, it didn't matter anymore. I missed my chance . . .

 But maybe Cybil didn't.

 I needed to get back to the boathouse! Cybil would probably be there by now . . . and maybe she had found something! Thank God she had gone to the carnival for me or else we would be lost here . . . stuck in hell forever.

 I slowly walked back to the stairs. There was no use being here anymore. The mark of Samael had already infect this place . . . and I had to stop the invasion from spreading. I started to descend the staircase quickly.

 By the time I had reached the bottom, I had forgotten about Alessa . . . almost. All I could think about was Cybil. I prayed she was safe. She was the only friend I had here . . . and I had to see if she had found anything. I opened the door to the lighthouse and stepped back into the street of burnt steel. I looked off into the distance, realizing my journey wasn't over yet.

 It wasn't over yet . . .

Chapter 14: Alone in the Dark
By X-treme X-taggano ([email protected])

 It wasn't any more pleasant of a moment when I reached the boat. Time was still locked in place for me. I didn't want to move for some reason . . . maybe it was because I was afraid of whether or not Cybil had returned. If she hadn't . . .

 I shook my head. If she wasn't here, she was either dead or had found something. I slowly reached for the door knob, praying she was either inside or had found something. I sighed heavily as I turned the knob and opened the door.

 She wasn't on the main deck, however.

 I growled. She hadn't come back yet, and that creep Alessa was sure to show up sometime. I hung my head. I knew Alessa was out to stop me from finding Cheryl and knew Cybil was helping me . . . her arch nemesis, in finding my daughter. So Alessa was probably heading towards the carnival . . . to get Cybil!

 I had to stop her! There was no way I was going to let Alessa take Cybil away from me. I had to get to the carnival before it was too late!

 Let me be on time.

 I walked up to the door on the opposite end of the deck, listen to the sand slip beneath my shoes. I opened the door and stepped into the main hallway the lead to the rear entrance of the boat. I tried not to look at the body that hung from the bulkhead as I continued to make my way to the door. I could here the tiny footsteps of insects as they skittered across the dusty wooden floor beneath me. I then walked up the door and opened it.

 I stood still for a moment on the rear end of the boat. I didn't want to go back where I came from. The carnival was just down the street and to the left. I didn't want to go back there . . . because I knew exactly where it lead and where it would take me.

 And it was more dangerous a place then I wanted to go.

 I started to walk slowly across the plank and back onto the dock. Through that darkness . . . was the path I had to take. I sighed as I started to run. Hopefully those creatures wouldn't be waiting for me. I closed my eyes for a moment, trying to clear my thoughts. I continued to say a repeated prayer to myself as I ran down the stone floor. It just went on forever in this pitch black void.

 I stopped where the dock ended and the street picked up. I looked to my left, staring at the long path down the road. I walked down it nervously, hoping nothing would find me . . . or that I wouldn't run into anything. My eyes darted left and right to every sound I heard . . . even my own footsteps! I didn't want to die. Not until Cheryl was safe.

 The road ended abruptly after a while and was blocked off by a large, metal barricade. I glanced at it curiously and tried to find a way around it. There was none . . . I couldn't climb over it and I could go around it. So how was I supposed to get to the carnival? Cybil might be in danger and needed my help . . .

 I kicked the barricade, angered, as I turned around. How did Cybil even get to the carnival with this thing blocking to road . . . or did she even get there at all? My guess was that she probably did somehow or else I'd have found her at the boat or I'd have found her dead body on the street. I was thankful I hadn't . . . but where would an alternate entrance be?

 I looked to my left, realizing there was some sort of path the lead to a chain link fence. I examined it from a distance. I couldn't see what was beyond it because my flashlight didn't shine that far . . . but from what I could see, it looked as if the gate was open. I walked closer to it slowly. It lead to a          small, fenced in area. But what would they keep locked out from the public here?

 I gasped as I saw a manhole that had been torn open.

 Another waterworks facility . . . probably the only way into the carnival. No doubt the way Cybil got in. Who else would have torn this open? Hopefully, she had found something there . . .

 I looked into the dark hole in front of me. I could hear water dripping from the pipes below . . . and some sort of creaking sound below me. The only way to the carnival was through the water works . . . through hell once more.

 I kneeled down and grabbed ahold of the ladder. I swung the rest of my body over the concrete and into the hole. I then slowly descended the steel ladder and made my way to the bottom.

 I don't want to die . . . I don't want to die . . .

 I stepped to the floor, realizing more blood was covering the floor . . . on top of a huge stone tile. I gasped, realizing it was that mark . . . the mark of Samael! I started to walk passed it, feeling uneasy when I was around it. This place was infected . . . no doubt about it. Hopefully none of the creatures I would find would be real . . . hell, hopefully, I wouldn't find any creatures to begin with.

 I started to walk down the stone floor covered with soft moss. There was no flowing water, however . . . perhaps this was just an ordinary sewer. Or maybe this place had changed after Samael had passed through here. I shook my head, continuing down the almost familiar passage.

 I finally lead to a chain linked floor. I stared at it for a moment, realizing there was some sort of liquid flowing beneath me . . . like the waterworks. I looked down through the chain links, wondering what it was below me.

 I gasped as I realized it was blood.

 A river of blood was flowing beneath my feet. As the not so calm realization sinked in, I started to smell it . . . and it made me sick.

 I instantly stood up. I wasn't sure if I had completely lost my sanity, but I lost control of my body. I was overwhelmed with fear and it felt like my body was acting impulsively to the adrenaline that was pumping through my veins. I felt like I was going to pass out as I started to run, and I wasn't sure where my body was taking me.

 Suddenly, the nightmare world was starting to feel like a hallucination again . . . but perhaps only because I was losing control. I felt more like I was on some sort of train ride . . . and I didn't know where I was going. I felt like I was being controlled by someone . . . and that someone was laughing at me. He was laughing at me for not being able to find my daughter. He was laughing at my struggles.

 Even though I didn't feel fully conscious, I still had one definite thought running through my head.

 What kind of sick human being could possible enjoy watching a man aimless trying to find his daughter and consider it amusing?

 I suddenly gasped as I saw something crawling towards me . . . but for some reason I was still running straight at it! I tried to regain full consciousness, but I couldn't stop! It was like I was on a runaway train. I ran right passed the thing, only barely catching a glimpse of it.

 It was the same creature that had attacked Kaufmann!

 Thank God I had avoided that one. I tried to look back, but wasn't able to move my head. I was completely insane now. I continued to run. I only caught glimpses of what passed me by . . . or what I had passed by. I wanted to scream as I saw blood run along the floor beneath me . . . or the mutilated body I saw torn apart in a small pit filled with barbed wire. I felt my heart stop as I heard something crumpling apart, but my body still didn't stop. Nothing stopped.

 And then I blacked out. The last thing I remembered seeing was a ladder in front of me and a destroyed carousal drifting in the lake.

 That was my final journey into the deepest gates of hell.

Chapter 15: Sweet Dreams of Bitter Hell
By X-treme X-taggano ([email protected])

 It was a while before I had regained consciousness . . . at least, it seemed like it. I slowly opened my eyes, only to realizing that it made little difference to improve my vision. It was still pitch black. I wanted to turn my flashlight back on and find out where I had ended up, but I had too much on my mind. I realized that now reality had become hell . . . that there was no turning back.

 No returning to the real world.

 And as that reality started to sink in on me, I began quivering with fear. I was stranded here in hell. I couldn't go back . . . and that thought absolutely terrified me. All I prayed for was that Cheryl could be saved from the same fate I was already suffering.

 I reached for the flashlight with my right hand and found the switch. I flipped it on and my surroundings were suddenly illuminated. Rain was still falling from the sky . . . and I was standing next to some sort of carousal. The floor beneath me was still made of chain links that were suspended over a huge black void. It took me almost no time at all to realize I had gone all the way to the center of the of the carnival. I looked around, realizing that the rides were still fully operational. I could only see two of them, but they were running just fine.  The rides were all destroyed with age, however. The paint was coming off and the various animals the children ride on were falling apart. Lighthearted carnival music was blaring from the ride next to me . . . which didn't seem to fit the current situation at all. This was a carnival . . . but certainly wasn't the type one would take their children to.

 I looked closer at the carousal, however. I gasped, realizing that there were children riding it. But they were all dead. I couldn't get a very good glimpse at them, but all I could see was the blood running down their faces and their completely decadent stare.

 Horrible . . .

 I looked passed all the rides into the darkness. I noticed a yellow snack bar near it and a barbed wire fence nearby . . . covered with blood. No surprise there. I looked away from it, however, and slowly started to notice the outline of something else in the distance. Maybe it was another ride or something . . . but whatever it was,  it stuck out. I started to walk towards it, trying to forget about the dead children on the ride. As I slowly approached it, I realized it was a much larger ride then any of the others. As I closed in on it, I started to see the outline of a fence and some stairs leading up.

 Another carousal!

 It was larger then the other one I had seen. I ran up to it as quickly as I could. It seemed significant somehow. It was this feeling that this was where I was supposed to go. That was definitely what I felt as I stood in front of the gate and opened it up. To my left was the operators both. No one was inside, however. I guessed this was a free ride for me. I climbed the stairs and stepped onto the metal floor. A fairly normal circus attraction . . . compared to the rest of them, at least. I looked at each model horse, making sure there were no dead children riding them.

 I suddenly leapt back as I realized someone was riding it. I looked into the darkness. Whoever it was certainly seemed dead. But then again, truth is more than meets the eye . . . a lesson I've learned by this encounter. I walked up to the figure slowly. I suddenly screamed as I realized who it was.

 Cybil.

 She stared into the sky with a vacant look. I was convinced she was dead for a moment . . . but then her head moved. She looked in my general direction, although it seemed she was staring at something behind me . . . like she couldn't focus on me. She slowly got to her feet, still seeming very distant. She started to stagger towards me, and for a minute, I wondered if she was seriously wounded.

 I gasped as I realized her eyes were blood red.

 She was infested. She was fucking infested. That was all there was to it. There was nothing I could do about it. As she continued to stumble my way, I felt an empty feeling in my gut . . . like I had lost everything. I didn't know if I could save her now . . . but that wasn't the only thing that was important. I didn't know if I could save myself.

 Cybil then pulled out her gun and pointed it at me.

 I dived out of the way of the bullet, but she didn't stop. She fired three more rounds at me. My pulse was racing as I started to hide behind the various animals on the carousal. I started to breathe heavily . . . because I didn't want to kill Cybil, but I didn't want to die either. Maybe Cybil was already dead. Maybe killing her would be . . . a favor, perhaps. Or maybe she was doing this against her will.

 No matter what the case was, I had to survive. I reached into my pocket, hoping to find my gun. I groaned heavily, realizing what had to be done. I loved Cybil, yes . . . but I loved Cheryl more. I searched through my pocket with my hand, but didn't find anything it.

 I suddenly took my hand out. Something was burning me! I stared at my index finger, realizing there was some red substance spilled on it.. I wiped it off on my jacket quickly. What did this come from? I reached into my pocket, searching for the the source of this liquid.

 I found a water bottle in my pocket.

 It was that drug Kaufmann had been hiding! Maybe I could knock Cybil out with this . . . maybe long enough to save her. I took a quick peek towards her and was greeted promptly with a bullet flying my direction. I quickly pulled back. I listened carefully, realizing Cybil was reloading her gun. Now was my chance . . . I had to use this.

 I dove out from behind my cover and flung the substance out on her. I heard her scream as she held her stomach. She started to fall slowly after she dropped her weapon on the floor. She then moaned and collapsed.

 "H-Harry . . ."

 I then noticed a parasite on her back. It started to come off . . . and tried to slither away. I ran up to it and stomped on it. It's thick, black blood flew everywhere. I growled at it. Good riddance, you piece of shit. I looked away from the parasite and ran to Cybil's side.

 "Cybil!" I yelled, shaking her body. "Snap out of it! Wake up!"

 I held her close to my body, weeping openly. I pleaded for her to wake up . . . but she didn't. I ran my fingers through her hair as I called her name again. Was she dead? Had I killed her? Not just a human being . . . she was my friend. And her she was, bleeding in my arms. I hung my head. I had lost . . .

 "Cybil, I'm sorry!" I started to plea. "I didn't mean to! I could never hurt you . . . " I closed my eyes again, trying to hold back my tears, but they kept coming. I was worthless . . . useless. I couldn't defend the people loved . . . I couldn't even find my own god damned daughter.

 I stared at her longer. I suddenly noticed how she moved a bit. I looked into her closed eyes again.

 "Cybil?!" I asked.

 I stared at her face hoping something would happen. I then realized her eyes were slowly opening. "H-Harry?" she asked.

 And an overwhelming amount of joy rushed through my body. I held her so close I was afraid I might suffocate her she was still alive. I kept telling her I was sorry over and over again and continued to soak her shirt with my own tears.

 I pulled her away from me for a moment to let her breathe. "Harry . . . you're all right . . ." she said weakly.

 "Me?!" I gasped. "But what about you?"

 Cybil looked at the floor. "I . . . I don't know what happened," she explained. "I felt like I was in a void . . . almost like I had gone to hell." She stared into my eyes. "D-did I die?"

 I smiled, more tears running down my face. "Oh, no . . ." I said, embracing her again. "No . . . I didn't let you."

 I helped her to her feet. She was able to walk just fine. It was a good thing I had used that drug on her. I didn't know what it was, but it had extracted the demon from her and she was doing all right. Thank God for that. We started to walk towards the exit, ready to find out what forces were doing this to me . . .

 To put an end to this nightmare.

 "Harry . . . " Cybil asked, standing to me. "Why did they take your daughter?"

 I looked back at her. "I don't know . . . but . . ." I paused. This was something I had never told anyone else . . . but I figured I needed to tell someone or I would lose my sanity. "Cheryl isn't my real daughter."
 
 Cybil gasped. "Not you're real daughter?" she asked.

 I shook my head. "No . . . she's not. I actually haven't told her yet," I admitted. "You see, my wife and I were driving home from our vacation. We then saw something on the side of the road. It was a little girl." I smiled, remembering how happy I was to find her there.

 Cybil continued to walk by my side. "Go on . . ." she said.

 "Well, we didn't have any kids of our own and my wife was sick. She was infected by some sort of plague that she caught in this town . . . and she wasn't getting any better," I explained. "So we brought her in."

 Cybil looked ahead once again. "So that means . . ."

 I nodded my head. "There's probably some connection between Cheryl and this town."

 "So what are you going to do?" Cybil asked me.

 I looked ahead, more determined then ever. "Cheryl's my daughter. Nothing will change that. I don't care if I found her or if she was my own daughter . . ." I clenched my fists. "I'll find her no matter what."

 We both stepped off of the carousal and back into the amusement park. I left with that feeling in my gut . . . like I had done the right thing. I would save Cheryl. I had gone through hell to find her . . . and I wasn't about to stop now.

 I suddenly noticed a figure standing in the distance. Cybil suddenly took a step back. "Harry, there's someone there . . ." she gasped.

 But I knew exactly who it was and I wasn't afraid. Cybil started to draw her gun, but I raised my hand.

 "Don't shoot her," I explained. "Stay here . . . I don't want you getting hurt."

 Cybil nodded uneasily as I looked away from her and started to approach the figure. I felt almost as if I were in a trance . . . slowly walking towards her. I knew my purpose . . . and hers.

 Alessa.

 "I figured you show up here," I said to her, still a fair distance away. "Hold it right there . . . I don't know what you're doing and I don't care. All I ask of you is this . . . give me back my daughter."

 Alessa stared at me. She did remind me an awful lot of Cheryl . . . but older. Alessa stood there, a blank look remaining on her face. I was getting impatient and started to walk towards her.

 But she slowly raised her hand. I gasped as some force knocked me on my back. I looked up, realizing she was still standing there, perfectly still. I got back to my feet and started to run towards her. But I ran into something that I couldn't see with my eyes. I looked in front of me, realizing there was nothing that was holding me back. What did I just run into?

 The girl smiled and started to walk away. I growled as I raised my hand, but nothing came out of my mouth. I had to stop her. She was the one I needed in order to stop all this.

 Suddenly, I noticed something glowing in my coat pocket. I quickly reached into it and pulled out . . . the Flauros! The pyramid shaped object shined brightly and started to float out of my hand into the sky. Alessa suddenly turned around and stared at the object with pure horror.

 And then a beam of light shot out of the Flauros, striking her to the ground. I heard her scream in agony . . . and then she quivered as she lay helpless on the floor.

 I approached her slowly. "Where's Cheryl?!" I demanded. "What the hell have you done with her?!"

 As Alessa continued to try and speak, I noticed another figured emerging from the darkness. The person started to approach Alessa, who was helplessly lying on the floor.

 I gasped, realizing it was Dahlia.

 "Well well . . . we meet at last, Alessa," she said to the girl. "So you thought you could escape this time."

 Alessa gasped as she stared up at Dahlia. "M-mama!" she yelped.

 Mama? Could Dahlia be Alessa's . . . mother? How could that be? Alessa was surely no more than fourteen years old and Dahlia was well past sixty.

 Dahlia smiled. "You've been a ghastly little pest, haven't you Alessa? Conjuring up this whole world with your dark half . . . very impressive," she explained.

Conjuring this hell? But this felt too real. Maybe it was at one time, but had spread over into the real world. That was what I had guessed Alessa was using to spread the infection into the real world.

 "You thought that just because you contained half of the dark soul that you could keep your free will? I bet you didn't count on me using the Flauros now, did you?" Dahlia continued. "All I had to do was use this to tap into the other side of town. I just had to get this close to you . . . and it's all because of him . . . your father."

 "Father?!" I yelled. "What the hell are you talking about?!"

 Dahlia smiled. "All I needed was him to get you trapped in a corner and then capture you. It was all quite the plan, was it not?" she explained. She then looked at me.

 "Plan?!" I asked. "Where am I?"

"This is a conjured world Alessa was using to hide from me," Dahlia said. "You see, the followers of Samael and I knew that our God's soul was locked away within this city. So we decided to conjure that soul into a child so that we could control him. But that child, Alessa, was a lot more trouble then we could have ever suspected. We couldn't talk her into our plans . . . so we locked her in her room and burned my house down."

 "You burned down the house?!" I asked, almost screaming. "What kind of sick fuck are you?!"

 "One who needed to have her cult's plan moving forward," she sneered. "Alessa was left unconscious . . . but all at once, her power flared. The dark soul within her was complete. I needed her power now . . . but my daughter was smarted then I would have guessed. She created this world to hide from me. I guess you were lucky to find her, eh?" She laughed.

 "Lucky?" I asked. "So that cult was yours . . . you were the one burned down half the city! Just so you can try and turn the world into a living hell?"

 Dahlia's smile left her face promptly. "You say that as if it were all easy! Conjuring a child so that she would help us control the world . . . all hard work," she said, trying to convince me that her intentions were honorable. "The only reason Alessa was created was so we could control the dark soul. She has no other point in life!"

 Dahlia had control over the cult . . . that was for sure. I was starting to think, in fact, that maybe the cult had a big influence on the rest of the city. But how could they? What could possibly make so many people . . .

   Then it hit me. Drugs. No doubt in my mind . . . Dahlia was part of the drug dealing, and her cult made their money through them. Kaufmann had played a big part in the drug dealing, that was for sure. So maybe Kaufmann was part of the cult himself. He was, after all, head of the hospital staff . . .

   Which could help them hide Alessa in the basement.

    I started to feel ill as it started to make sense. Alessa was being hidden in the basement of Kaufmann's hospital. Alessa had to be kept alive in secret so they could continue their dirty work in controlling Samael. These were sick people who had the whole town in the palm of their hand . . . and no one knew about it.

 "All I had to do was get the Flauros close enough to her so I could capture her," Dahlia continued. "But my daughter here was able to sense my presence in her world. So I had to bring someone who she loved into the conjured world and get close enough to her."

 And it all made sense. Dahlia had been using me to capture Alessa this whole time. She wasn't the villain . . . I was. I had the one hope of finding my daughter and Dahlia used that to her advantage. Alessa was using this hell of a world to scare me . . . to keep me from finding her. And everything here had been what I was afraid of. Afraid of being alone . . . afraid of death . . . afraid of . . . of . . .

 Hell.

 But why did Dahlia mention that I was someone Alessa loved? I had never met Alessa before . . . I hadn't even seen her before. There was something deeper going on that I wasn't aware of. Something I had to find out in order to leave this conjured world.

 Dahlia looked at Alessa. "He doesn't get it. Well, it's almost time," she said distantly. "Let's go home now, okay sweety?"

 I leapt back as a huge void started to open up around then and they disappeared into it. I felt myself going with them . . . leaving Alessa's nightmare. All the world started to blacken out around me. I started to panic as my world crumbled apart around me.

 And like I was awaking from a dream, the world slowly came back to me.

 I woke up in the dark hospital with Lisa hovering over me.

Chapter 16: The Decent
By X-treme X-taggano ([email protected])

 I looked around. The hospital . . . I was taken back here.

 I blinked a few times and my vision returned to normal. As I shook my head, I used my hands to sit myself up. Lisa sat in front of me on a chair. Her skin was far more pale then I had remembered. She looked . . . ill, almost.

 "Lisa?" I asked.

 "Harry . . . I'm glad you're awake," she sighed. "Listen, I needed to tell you something."

 I nodded. "What's that?" I asked.

 She cleared her throat, still staring down at the ground. "I couldn't just sit around and let what you said go . . . so I went down to the basement," she explained. "There were all these weird room . . . but nothing truly unusual. Then I entered this one room . . . but . . ." She paused, crossing her arms. "I felt like I had been there before."

 I tilted my head. "Lisa . . . I'm sure there's an explanation," I said, putting my hand on her shoulder. "It's just a temporary thing. You're probably just feeling a little different because of . . ."

 "Shut up!" she yelled. She then stood up. "There's something wrong here and all you have to say is that I'm crazy?" She then stormed off.

 "Wait!" I yelled standing up. "Where are you going?!"

 "Fuck you, Harry!" she yelled as she ran for the door. I sighed. What had gotten into her? She didn't act like she had very much control over herself. But then again, one was bound to go crazy in a time like this. I hadn't lost it yet . . . but maybe because I was finally beginning to realize what was happening. This world was all part of Alessa's head . . . and now that Alessa was captured, it was starting to fall apart. For all I knew, I could be unconscious somewhere and my soul was dragged into this hell. But I realized now that Dahlia had to be stopped.

 I leapt as I heard a loud roaring noise emit from the floor. It was coming from the basement. I sighed, hoping Lisa hadn't gone and done something stupid. But whatever the noise was, it was loud. My curiosity started to get the best of me and I walked towards the door where Lisa had exited. I then opened the door stepped into the next room.

 A long, narrow chain link floor was built before me. Surrounding it was a void of darkness that I didn't care to know what it lead it. I started to walk forwards, trying to keep my balance. This platform didn't seem to lead to anything that I could see. But then again, my flashlight had no more than a 5 foot radius of light.

 I then noticed an end. It was an elevator door built into the wall. I stared at it as it started to open up in front of me . . . as if calling my name. I knew I was being summoned. I didn't know who was calling me, but it didn't matter. I stepped into the elevator, not knowing where it would take me. But I did know one thing . . .

 Once I go down, I'll find my answers. I know it.

 The elevator doors closed behind me and it started to move downward. This was it . . . the decent into the deepest pits of hell that this world had to offer. But all that mattered was that I find my daughter.

 Cheryl . . .

 The elevator soon reached the bottom and the doors opened up. I stepped outside into the hallway. It was another part of the hospital. The world was all a blur . . . letting me know that the hell I was in was definitely not real. I started to walk down the hallway, trying to open several of the doors. All the ones I tried where locked. But as I walked around the corner, I realized the hallway was full of doors with names on them. The door to my right had a golden crest on it.

 Phaleg.

 That name probably had some sort of religious aspect to it. I wasn't too familiar with the Hebrew religions, but I guessed sense this whole cult was dedicated to bring Samael into human form, the name was of that religion's importance. I tried to open it, but it was locked.

 I leapt as I heard a child's laughter from behind me.

 I turned around quickly and saw a transparent figure skipping towards the door. I gasped, realizing it was Alessa! She continue to giggle as she walked right through the door. I wasn't sure, but I guessed that this meant something. Dahlia was hiding in the hall of Phaleg.

 I turned away from the door and looked at the other ones in the room. I figured the ones that I was meant to go through had more religious names. Alessa, though captured, was obviously trying to help me find her. Perhaps she realized I was the only one who could help her now.

 And even though Cheryl was my main concern, I knew I had to help Alessa.

 I noticed another crest on the door to the far end of the room. I ran through the darkness, listening to the dust skitter under my feet. I soon reached the door. The word "Haggith" was written in golden letters across the top. This must be one of the rooms. I opened the door and stepped into the next room.

 I gasped, realizing I was in the school. I wasn't in the alternate version . . . just the regular one. But there was only one desk inside of the classroom. One in the center. I slowly approached it, still cautious that there might be something lurking around. As I stepped up to the desk, I realized there was something carved in it.

 Go home. Thief. Drop dead.

 Perhaps this was a warning . . . but not one from Alessa. Dahlia no doubt. Well, she could threaten me all she wanted, but I wasn't about to quit. I hadn't searched through hell after hell just to give up in the end.

 I then noticed something shining in the seat. It wasn't reflecting the beam from my flashlight, however. It was . . . glowing! I leaned towards it and soon realized it was a key. I picked it up quickly, examining the glowing letters.

 Ophiel.

 A key to another hallway, no doubt. There was nothing left here. I had to find this hall of Ophiel now. I turned around and headed back to the door that I had come from. The world continued to swirl around me . . . as if I were overdosing on a drug of some type.

 I opened the door and stepped into the room. But to my surprise, I wasn't in the hospital. I had ended up in the church that was hidden in the antique shop. How I got here was beyond me. But then again, Alessa was no longer in control of the world.

 The door to my right had nothing on it, but the one to my left said "Ophiel". I quickly reached into my pocket and pulled out the key. This was the room. I put the key into the hole and turned it. I heard the lock come undone. I was startled as I realized that the key dissolved in my hand. Nothing left of it . . .

 I shrugged it off and opened the door. I stepped into it. This was apparently another part of the hospital. The storage room . . . that was it. At the other end was a double door. I started to walk towards it slowly.

 "Harry?"

 I leapt back as I heard the voice come of the corner of the room. I turned around quickly, raising my hand. I instantly calmed down as I realized who it was.

 "Lisa?" I asked.

 Lisa sheepishly came out of the corner. Her skin was particularly pale now. She looked as close to death as ever now. I was starting to worry if she was going to go into shock. If fear could effect her health this much, then I had no idea how she had survived this long.

 "Lisa, what' gotten into you?!" I asked.

 "Harry . . . I understand now," she explained.

 I tilted my head. "Understand what?" I asked.

 "Why I'm alive while everyone else is dead . . ." she explained. "I'm not the only one walking around, you know." She started to shiver. She was trying to say something, but couldn't get it out . . . I could tell that much.

 Finally, she said it. "I'm the same as all of them."

 "What?!" I asked, startled.

 "I'm the same! Alessa had created me to slow you down so you wouldn't find her!" she explained. "I'm just another monster . . ."

 And my heart dropped down into my stomach. Lisa was just a creation. She was another one of the creatures Alessa created . . . but she created Lisa to try and stop me from searching for her. Hell, she had almost succeeded a few times. But this felt too unreal. Lisa couldn't be a monster . . . she couldn't!

 "Harry, stay by me!" she pleaded. "I can't control myself anymore!"

 She started to walk towards me, her arms wide open. I panicked and shoved her back. I was afraid she might attack me . . . even though she had never done anything to me. I could hear her weeping as she fell back against the wall.

 She looked straight at me, her eyes slit. I could sense her feeling of betrayal, and it made me feel terrible. She slowly stood up and started to walk towards me again, only much slower this time. She stumbled in my direction as I continued to walk backwards towards the door.

 I gasped as I saw a stream of blood flow down her face.

 In a matter of seconds, she was bleeding profusely. Her dress was covered in her own blood, as was her face and hair. She had returned to the monster she was. I screamed as I turned around and headed for the door. I heard her call my name, but it didn't matter. I opened the door quickly and slammed it behind me. I then braced it shut with my own body.

 I heard Lisa pound on the door as she continued to weep. I felt terrible for what I was doing. Lisa wasn't just another monster . . . she was a person I had gotten to care deeply about. And here I was, betraying her when it really counted.

 After a while, her pounding stopped. Had she gone away? I was nervous about checking the room out, but knew it was what had to be done. I turned around and opened the door slowly. I peered inside for a moment, and realized she was gone.

 But where could she have gone? There was nowhere for her to go in this hell. Maybe she faded away with the other parts of this conjured world. I looked into the dark corners of the room, making sure she wasn't in here.

 However, there was a book lying on the floor. I approached it slowly, wondering what it was. The cover was blue and it was already attracting the dust the defiled the floor. I knelt down next to it and picked up the book. As I opened it, I realized it was some sort of journal. I started read it and quickly identified it as Lisa's.

 May 15th: The patient hasn't been getting any better. I hate working down here. No matter how often I change the bandages, the blood continues to flow. I don't know what's keeping this child alive, but whatever it is . . .

 A child she was taking care of? I turned the page, curious as to what this patient was.

 May 16th: Still no sign of improvement. I can't take watching this child suffer any more. I want to leave, but Doctor Kaufmann isn't letting me. He says that he needs this patient taken care of. And if I tried to escape, I'd just come back where I started again.

 Kaufmann? I started to wonder why he was a concern to Lisa. That rat bastard couldn't keep her anywhere . . .

 May 17th: I kept on feeling like I was going to throw up today, but I ended up only vomiting up bile. Nothing comes out . . . and I was determined to leave more than ever. I plan on escaping tomorrow. However, I might fall victim to my addiction.

 I raised an eyebrow to the addiction part. What could she possibly be addicted to? And how could some addiction be of any concern towards her escape. I turned to the next page in the journal, anxious to read more.

 May 18th: Just when things couldn't get any worse, I have another child to take care of. Kaufmann gave me another child . . . only this one is much younger. Probably only two months old. I heard she was related to the patient I was already taking care of, but I couldn't stand it any more. This child won't suffer the same hell her sister is through. I am escaping tonight and I'm bringing this child with me.

 I just hope that my White Claudia addiction doesn't slow me down.

 That was the last of the entries. I stood there breathless. The patient she was taking care of . . . was no doubt Alessa. So Lisa was the one who was taking care of Alessa in the hospital basement . . . and under the supervision of Kaufmann.  And Lisa escaped with a child that was said to be Alessa sister.

 Cheryl.

 It was Cheryl. It had to be. We found Cheryl on the road near this town. We never knew why someone would leave a baby here . . . but it was starting to make sense. Lisa probably fell victim to her addictions and only made it to the highway with that baby. Perhaps she left it there, hoping someone would find it.

 Maybe it was just fate that I was the one to find her.

 I then noticed something else in the room. A TV and a VCR next to it. I walked up to it, almost in a trance. I had found a video in the hospital that was scrambled. I had to see what was on it. So I reached into my pocket and took hold of the cassette. I then pushed the video into the VCR. Moments later, the TV flickered to life and the video started playing.

 I saw Lisa on the screen. She was in the room that Alessa was being taken care in. The camera was apparent set at the edge of the table and she was taping a confession.

 "Kaufmann, I'm sorry . . . but I can't take this anymore. I love this child, but I can't handle watching her suffer any more. I'm leaving. I don't need your damn drugs or anything. If you want to continue doing all your dealings with that Galespie lady, I don't care. I know you sell with her. I'm also taking the child with me. I'm sorry to do this, but you've given me no choice. Goodbye."

 Dahlia . . . I knew she had something to do with the drug dealing. I would have been surprised if she hadn't. So Cheryl was Dahlia's daughter. That's why Alessa and Cheryl looked so much alike. But it still didn't explain one thing. Why was Alessa so intent on keeping her?

 I stood up and turned my back to the VCR. I had to find out where Dahlia was hiding. She was going to pay for all this. Lisa had no doubt died because of her goddamned cult . . . she had told me about how many people in the town had died mysterious deaths. Maybe she was one of them. It was obvious, though, that when Alessa created one of her monsters to look like Lisa, she had a fond memory of her. Perhaps she felt sorry for her . . .

 Like I had felt.

 I walked up to the door on the other end of them room and opened it. I was now in the antique shop, but I wasn't surprised. I didn't know how I remained calm in a moment like that, but I did. Maybe the fact that none of this was real was starting to sink in. I walked through the antique shop, looking around. I felt like I was in some sort of science fiction movie as I examined the store around me. Details didn't matter any more. I didn't care if the room wasn't exactly the same. The only thing on my mind was my goal . . . find my daughter. Fuck this conjured world . . . it didn't matter.

 I noticed that the grandfather clock was gone. Instead, there was a door. I looked at it closely, realizing there was something carved in gold.

 Bethor.

 Another hall. I turned the knob and entered the room. Inside was a room full of graffiti. I read the words on the wall.

 Help me. Murder. Die. Can't take any more. Fire. Burning.

 Simple words of sorrow and hate. That seemed to sum up the words that surrounded me. Words from a tortured soul, no doubt. Alessa seemed to be crying out to me. I could even hear her weeping.

 I gasped as I realized I saw Alessa crying in the corner of the room.

 "Alessa!" I yelled.

 But it was too late. She had disappeared. I didn't know what she was doing in this room right here, but she was obviously trapped. Maybe this was the room she was locked in when the house was burned down. Some of her memories were being shown to me here.

 I then noticed a small key on the ground. I hurried over to it and picked it up. Written in golden letters at the handle was something written.

 Phaleg.

 The key to the hallway! This was no doubt where Dahlia was hiding from me. Hopefully, I'd find my way through this world that was steadily falling apart. I walked up to the door, realizing I didn't know where I'd end up when I walked through it. I crossed my fingers as I pulled the handle and walked into the next room.

 I was in the main hallway! I did it! This world had brought me back. Alessa was no doubt fighting to get me to her. I didn't know how controlling a world happened or how one kept control of it, but it would be a safe guess to assume that there was some sort of conflict happening right now.

 I ran down the hallway towards the hall of Phaleg. As soon as I reached the door, the key was already in my hand. I put it in the keyhole and turned it. The key then faded away into dust. I smiled, realizing Dahlia wasn't working fast enough to stop me. She was trying as hard as she could, but Alessa was taking up too much of her time.

 Well keep working, bitch, because you're not stopping me yet.

 I opened the door labeled "Phaleg" and stepped into the room. I had just entered a part of the hospital basement. The hallway that lead to where Alessa was being hidden. It looked exactly the same, except there were two labeled in gold letters. I couldn't read either of them for some reason, however. My vision seemed to blur when I stared at the markings. I decided these doors where probably the ones I was meant to go through, so I walked over to the one closest to me on my left. I turned the handle, but it wouldn't open. I growled and stumbled over to the other door. This world was starting to feel like a hallucination again. It was as if I were extremely intoxicated. I started to make my way to the other door, feeling like I was flying through some sort of void as I made my way there. Finally I reached the door and tried to open it. The door opened up and I made my way into the room.

 I suddenly collapsed in the room, not sure where I was. It might have been minutes or hours that I laid there in the middle of the floor helplessly. It honestly didn't matter to me. All time seemed to mix together as one. I wanted to make sure I was okay before I continued on. I knew my journey was almost over and I had to push on, but I couldn't do anything at the present. Just lie there in the heap of memories Alessa had.

 "Is she going to be okay?"

 I suddenly looked up. In front of me was an bed . . . and I soon realized this was the same room that the hospital had hid Alessa in. Surrounding the bed were four figures. Two of them I recognized . . . Dahlia and Kaufmann. The other two I had never seen before. There was a body on the bed that was covered by a blanket, and I thought it was a safe guess to assume it was Alessa. I would have been alarmed, but all the figures were transparent. This was obviously another fragment of Alessa's memory she was sharing with me. This wasn't really happening. It had already happened.

 "Don't worry, she'll be fine."

 "Did we get the soul?" I heard Dahlia's voice ask.

 "Yes, but it's very weak. Almost nothing. We've only successfully conjured half the soul."

 "So my daughter only has half of it? This is unexpected," Dahlia said thoughtfully.

 "Does this mean it's not going to work?" Kaufmann yelled in his gruff tone of voice. "This isn't what we bargained for!"

 Dahlia raised a hand. "No, these are just stalling tactics," she explained. "We have half the soul contained within her. Now all we half to do is create the other half."

 "The same way?"

 "Yes," Dahlia said, nodding. "The same way."

 "But that will take time."

 And suddenly all the figures in the room disappeared. All that was left was a small key in the room. I got to my feet and approached it. It sat their on top of the blood soaked sheets. It seemed to be the only thing in my vision that wasn't blurred. As I picked it up, however, everything started to become clear again. And as I placed it in my pocket, colors started to emerge from the black world.

 This key would take me to where I was to find my answers.

 I turned around, leaving the room. I ended up back in the basement hallway . . . only, now it was clear. Now longer was it a blur of a world. I could see the door across the hallway that I had to open. I started walking towards it, removing the key from my pocket. This was it . . . through here, I would hopefully find my daughter and Alessa. Dahlia couldn't keep them from me now. I sighed as I put the key in the keyhole and turned it. The door unlocked and I turned the handle, letting myself into the room.

 I was inside a little girl's room. I saw various papers scattered across the wooden floor that seemed to have come from the bed. They clashed with the green sheets on the bed , but none of the mattered. Beyond the art desk that was parallel to the bed was a door. And engraved into it was . . .

 Religious objects.

 A star . . . which was the star of David, a dagger, a disc . . . what were all these doing here? Trying to break some sort of spell? Getting through the final barrier of evil by using objects of holy value. Alessa did this for me. I was sure of it. She needed my help now and destroyed one of the spells Dahlia had no doubt used. I walked up to the door, carefully avoiding any of the drawings on the floor, and opened the door.

 I gasped, realizing in the other room, there were two transparent figures.

 I closed the door behind me and stared at both of them. It was Dahlia and Alessa.  Another one of Alessa's memories, no doubt. Dahlia was apparently trying to force her daughter to go somewhere with her and Alessa was definitely against it.

 "Come along!" Dahlia yelled, pulling on Alessa's arms.

 "No! Please . . ." Alessa cried. "I don't want to do it!"

 Dahlia continued to struggle with her. "Do what mommy tells you now!" she demanded. "I just need a teeny bit of your power. That's it!"

 Alessa broke her mother's grip and fell back on the floor. "No. I'm not doing it!"

 Dahlia sighed and kneeled down next to her. "It will make everyone happy . . ." she explained. "And it's for your own good too."

 Alessa shook her head. "But mommy . . . I just want to be with you. No one else," she said. "Just two of us! Please understand."

 Dahlia seemed to think about something for a moment. "Oh . . . yes. I see. Maybe mommy has been wrong."

 Alessa gasped. "Mommy?!"

 Dahlia started to smile. "Why didn't I see this before?" she said, astonished. "There's no need to wait! Heirin lies the mother's womb . . . giving power to create life! I could have done it all myself!"

 And then they disappeared in front of me.

 So Dahlia realized that only half of this dark soul was in Alessa. She was planning on burning down the house they were in, no doubt. And that house was where I was right then. The wooden floors, the doors that wouldn't open . . . the pictures of several ritualistic activities hanging on the walls . . . this was the house that was burned down. No doubt about it.

 To my right was a flight of stairs. Even when I pointed my flashlight down them, I couldn't see the bottom. They went down a long ways. Where they would take me, I didn't know. But did know one thing.

 Dahlia was down their.

 I held my breath and clutched my pistol close to my side. This was it. I was about to confront Dahlia . . . all my memories, all my emotions, all my fear . . . they were coming along with me for the ride. This was it. Save Cheryl or die trying.

 I started to walk down the stairs. This was it . . .

Chapter 17: Tears of Pain
By X-treme X-taggano ([email protected])

 My pulse raced.

 My eyes were tingling. My mouth was dry. And every muscle in my body fought to support my weight. These are the symptoms of fear, and once they kick in, they have a hard time slowing down. No amount of breathing could calm my heart. No amount of screaming could take me away from this nightmare.

 Only one fight to end it all.

 I continued to walk down the stairs, realizing they went on a long ways. Where they would end was beyond me. Dahlia didn't want me here. She new I was going to try and stop her from hurting Cheryl. She knew I was going to try and stop Samael.

 But she didn't know I had no plans on trying to do anything. I was going to finish this. I didn't care how many demons she would throw at me. I had looked hell in the face already, although I wish I could say I laughed in it. But I wasn't going turn and run from my fears. I had to face them. I had to face Dahlia. Maybe even face myself. My conflicts . . . my anger . . .

 I suddenly froze in place as I heard the sound of a gun click.

 "Freeze," I heard Cybil's voice yell.

 I slowly ducked down on the stairs and slowly descended them, trying not be seen so I could see what was going on. Dahlia was standing next to Alessa down at the bottom of the stairs . . . and there was also some bandaged thing sitting in a red wheel chair. It seemed like whoever was in bandages was rotting away. Across from them was Cybil, pointing a gun straight at Dahlia's head.

 Dahlia smiled. "I was shocked when I realized the talisman of Metratron was being used. Just a little longer and all would have been for not," she explained. "It's all because of that man. We must be thankful to him."

 Cybil shook her head. "Where's his daughter?!" she yelled.

 Dahlia looked away from her. "That's none of your concern! Don't even think about trying to hurt me!"

 Cybil growled and fired a bullet. But the bullet stopped in midair and fell to the floor. She gasped. "What the hell?!"

 And suddenly she flew backwards, the gun falling out of her hand.

 I gasped. "Cybil!"

 Dahlia suddenly looked in my direction. I growled as I ran up to her. She smiled, as if somehow realized that it was just me.

 "Well, well . . . to think you'd make it this far," she sneered.

 "I've come all this way. Now I want to know!" I yelled. "What the hell have done with my daughter?!"

 Dahlia raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?" she asked me. "You've seen here many times after being restored to her former self."

 "What are you talking about?" I asked.

 She then pointed to Alessa. "Don't you see?" she asked. "She's right there."

 I gasped as Alessa looked up at me. She did look like an older Cheryl, but that couldn't possibly be her. "That's impossible!" I yelled.

 Dahlia laughed. "You are the only one who thinks so," she explained. "You don't understand anything. When Alessa was born, she only contained half the dark soul."

 "What does that have to do with Cheryl?!" I asked.

 "It means we had to created a second child with the rest of it," she said calmly.

 I gasped. Cheryl was . . . part of the whole ceremony? So Alessa and Cheryl were sisters . . . both created to bring back the dark God Samael. But Cheryl was taken away by Lisa, and then I found her. This was all starting to make an eerie amount of sense.

 "But then why is Cheryl in Alessa's form?" I asked.

 Dahlia laughed. "My daughter is a clever one. She tried to help you're daughter escape from me by creating this hell you've been wandering through," she explained. "You daughter was drawn to Alessa from the start because they were two halves of the same soul. So when you're daughter re-united with Alessa, she took her form and continued to run from you. They're the same person! Don't you understand that?"

 I shook my head. "Why are you doing this?"

 Dahlia looked into the sky. "It's been a long seven years," she said. "Seven years sense that terrible day. Alessa has been kept alive suffering a fate worse then death." She pointed to the bandaged figure in the wheelchair. "You see her? You can almost feel the agony she has gone through just by looking at her. And He has been nurtured by the nightmare. Waiting for the day to come when the two halves would be re-united. That day is finally here!"

 That day was here . . . but was I too late?

 Dahlia raised her hands in the air. "Everyone will be released of pain and suffering! Our salvation is at hand . . . when we all return to the true paradise!

 "My daughter well be the mother of God!"

 And then a bright light emitted from both "Cheryl" and Alessa. I stepped back and shielded my eyes. The light was painful to look at . . . but it dimmed slightly after a while. I still couldn't look because it was too bright, but something had happened to the two girls. I slowly put my hand down, hoping my eyes could adjust to the light properly. I found my eyes could handle looking at them, and stopped covering my vision. I then gasped.

 They had turned into an angel.

 Not two, but one . . . the mother of God, Dahlia had said. They had been re-united to form this illuminated figure wearing a robe that shined with the brightest of light. But the angel looked confused, as if still not knowing her purpose yet. Dahlia laughed, though, as if she had won the war already.

 I suddenly ducked as I heard a gun shot.

 But it wasn't I who got stuck by the bullet. It was Dahlia. She fell tot he floor with a bullet in her shoulder. Blood flowed out of the wound and spilled through the chain link floor beneath us. The angel looked at her, still standing on the mark of Samael . . . which was engraved in the floor in metal.

 "Quit screwing around!" I heard a voice yell.

 Kaufmann.

 I turned around. "Kaufmann . . . how did you get here?!" I asked.

 "I found myself here after I got knocked out in the streets," I heard his voice say, although I still couldn't see him. "Looks like someone messed up big time."

 Kaufmann walked out of the darkness. He was holding a gun and his briefcase as he slowly approached Dahlia. He still kept his distance, though, expecting the worst.

 "Did I ask for this, you stupid bitch?" he yelled. "No one uses me!"

 Dahlia looked up weakly. She was still smiling, though, and I didn't know how. "You're role is over . . . we don't need anyone to hide my girl anymore!" she sneered. "What did you think you could do by coming here?

 But Kaufmann wasn't the least bit intimidated. "Getting cocky, are we?" he said, smiling. "Say, do you recall a certain drug we created? What was it called . . .?"

 He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a vial of a drug. The same drug he hid in the motorcycle . . .

 "Aglophitus?!" Dahlia screamed in horror. "I thought I got rid of that!"

 Kaufmann smiled. "The drug that extracts demons? Yes, that's it," he laughed. "All I had to do was plant it somewhere where'd you find it and get rid of it. It certainly kept you busy."

 But I knew Kaufmann couldn't use the drug. It extracted the demon, yes, but it didn't kill the demon! I remembered when I used it on Cybil. The parasite didn't die . . . I had to kill it. So if he used it, then . . .

 "No!" Dahlia screamed as Kaufmann tossed the bottle at the angel.

 I gasped as the bottle flew through the air towards the angel. It all seemed like it was in slow motion as it hurled through the air, slowly approaching her. And then it hit her on the head. The liquid spilled out on her and soaked her robe. I heard her scream and the light surrounding her started to fade. Kaufmann smiled, thinking that he had won for sure now.

 But suddenly, something started to sprout from the angel's back.

 She started screaming as he back began to tear open. Blood splattered everywhere as she was torn apart. Kaufmann gasped.

 "What the  . . . this isn't supposed to . . .!"

 And I watched in horror as I witnessed the demon God come forth from her back. As he came out, he wings sprouted and before I knew it, he exited her body, leaving it a heap on the floor. I looked up at the creature and it's brown, coarse flesh stretched out to create the human figure. It's goat like head had it's eyes gouged out and the horns on his head stood tall. His ribs almost ripped out of it's flesh, but it still was strong in power . . . no doubt about it.

 Samael.

 The demon was hovering over everyone as he looked around. And then he spoke.

 "Who has disturbed me?"

 He looked at me first, and I froze. I tried not to move a muscle as he stared at me. I kept repeating to myself a simple phrase.

 Please don't kill me.

 And the demon looked passed me and to Kaufmann. He also froze. But he wasn't attacked either. He saw Cybil, but she was unconscious, and therefore innocent, I guessed. We had passed his judgment.
 
 The he looked to Dahlia.

 "Why hast thou abused thy power?"

 Dahlia quivered on the floor. She didn't want to die . . . that was for sure. She knew where she was going if she did. But it was to late. Fire of damnation fell upon her and she rolled on the floor, burning in the heat of the flames. Soon she was nothing. Her flesh rotted away and she died with an agonizing look on her face.

 And then Samael looked ot the rest of us.

 Will you follow me?

 I heard that voice in my head. I knew it was in my head.

 Will you follow me?

 "No!" I yelled. I felt myself tremble as I answered. I would be punished, no doubt, for my answer.

 Then you, too, must perish.

 And I dove out of the way and fire flew from the heavens. It crashed to the ground, but missed me. The demon growled in a terrible roar as he tried again. But he once again missed me as I continued to run. The demon was hell bent on my destruction now. No doubt about it. He had destroyed Dahlia for a rightful reason, but I . . . I would never worship a demon.

 A . . . a mortal demon!

 I stopped running for a moment and looked up at it. This was a long shot . . . but if it worked, I would be free. "You're nothing!" I yelled at it.

 And the demon suddenly stopped attacking. It stared at me for a moment. "What?"

 I nodded. "You're just a demon!" I continued. "A demon who was brought into human form. Humans are merely mortal!"

 "I am no mortal."

 "Go ahead and try to convince yourself of that!" I yelled. "But when you were brought into human form, you were also brought into the human rules of life."

 The demon quivered. I pulled out my handgun and pointed it right at it's forehead. "And for a human, it only takes this to end a life."

 And I pulled the trigger.

 I watched the bullet hit it's forehead. The demon screamed as he held the wound. "I . . . I can't die!" it yelled. It wings slowly stopped flapping as it started to fall downward. It was dying. I had hopefully stopped it from it's reign of terror. No more hell . . . no more

 It then fell to the ground and lay there. It was dying fast. I slowly walked up to it, wondering how much longer it had.

 Harry, come here . . .

 The voice in my head . . . it was his, no doubt. I walked up the the wounded demon. I knelt down next to it.

 "Harry Mason, I've misjudged you. You're no ordinary man. You truly came here to save your daughter." it explained, breathing heavily. "I am commanded to use my powers to punish people for their actions, and I have abused my own power. I cannot die, but my demon spirit will remain here forever. From now on, only the wicked shall be punished with this hell!"

 I shook my head. "The power to judge someone should be left to God!" I said.

 The demon looked down. "I have not had anything to do with God sense the beginning of time. There is no atonement for my sins." It slumped it's head against the floor. "You wanted to see Alessa, right? There is nothing else I have to say." It looked back at me one last time. "Good bye . . . and thank you."

 And it's body disintegrated into beads of sand which fell through the floor and into the void. Back to his cage man calls hell . . . for he had lost his power to rule. And even after all he had told me, I still didn't feel sorry for the beast.

 The ground rumbled and fire started to rain from the sky. I looked around, realizing this place was going through damnation. The hellish nightmare of a world was being burned along with anything wicked. This was all over . . . perhaps even for me.

 I looked to my left. The angel was now very clearly Alessa. I ran up to her as she lay wounded and bleeding on the floor. I lifted up her head in my arms a bit, her robe still soaked with blood.

 "Harry, there's no time left," she said. She coughed, a trickle of blood spilling down the side of her mouth. "You have to escape this place."

 "But Alessa . . . you've fought so hard! And I was the one who imprisoned you here!" I said, trying to choke back tears.

 "It wasn't your fault . . ." she said. "Because of me, you were trapped here. There's no hope for me. But . . ."

 She reached behind her, producing a . . . a child! A baby wrapped in a clothe sheet . . .

 Cheryl.

 Alessa smiled. "I hope my sister has a chance. Take her, Harry . . . and please take care of her."

 I looked at the baby. Cheryl . . . as a child again. Born again, free of any demons or sin. Perfect once more. And as I held her, I realized it was a second chance for me, too. A new start for my family . . . my life.

 Alessa then pointed to a bright light in the distance. "Leave me Harry . . . and thank you. Thank you forever."

 I nodded. "No, thank you."

 I then ran up to Cybil, who was unconscious on the floor. I knelt down quickly and shook her, trying to wake her up.

 "Cybil! Get up!" I yelled.

 I saw her blink a few times. She had been unconscious for some time, but she was okay. She shook her head and she slowly got to her feet. She then looked around in horror, though she didn't move.

 "What's happening?" she asked.

 "The world is falling apart," I explained. "The conjured world is being destroyed."

 I then grabbed her hand as I started to run. We both started to sprint towards the light at the end, knowing that was our final escape from hell. I wasn't sure if Cybil knew what was happening, but there was no time to waste. This place was being destroyed and there was no time to explain.

 "Wait for me, Harry!"

 I suddenly stopped and turned around. Kaufmann was yelling to me. He slowly stumbled to us, trying to escape from the world with us. He didn't want to stay in this hell. No one did.

 But then arms wrapped around him and starting pulling him back. He screamed in horror, not realizing who was doing this, but that he was staying here . . . in hell with the rest of the world. I gasped as I realized who it was pulling him under the grating and into the hellfire.

 Lisa.

 And it was what Kaufmann deserved. Punishment for the sins of his life. Samael had kept his promise . . . he was punishing the wicked for what they had done.

 I suddenly gasped as a hail of fire started to descend from the sky, falling straight towards us. I screamed as I put one hand over my head, hoping I wouldn't get swept away by the hellfire. Cybil, too, got on her knees and ducked.

 But the fire never struck us.

 I slowly moved my hand and looked into the sky. The fire was suspended in the air. It wasn't falling anymore. What could do this? What could stop all of hells fury from raining upon us?

 I looked back and saw Alessa with her hand raised in the air.

 She had saved us again. She was sacrificing herself, but she was saving us. And that seemed to be what was important to us. I smiled at her and she returned the same smile she had given me earlier. I then turned around and started to run. This place couldn't be kept up forever.

 Thank you Alessa.

 We then ran through the light, tears streaming down my face. They weren't tears of joy or tears of sorrow . . .

 They were tears of pain.

 I felt Alessa's pain. She had felt it her whole life and had never had a day without it. And now it was over for her. A kid who only knew pain and suffering her whole life . . . it didn't seem right for her to have to suffer this fate.

 And then Alessa was consumed in the fire.

 Cybil and I continued to run through the light, and it took us back into the foggy town. We ran passed the street signs and straight towards the edge where my car was tilted over the edge. I had to escape . . . escape from this nightmare.

 But I started to feel light headed. I slowed down right in front of my car and put Cheryl on the hood of the car. But I couldn't hold on any longer. I passed out and collapsed onto the car.

 And to this day, I still don't know if what I had experienced in that town was real. I had the baby with me and my memories of pain were so vivid . . . but when I woke up in the front seat of the car on the road early the next morning, I wondered how my car could have gotten back on the road or how we had gotten out of the town. Or how, even more, that all that could have happened in a matter of hours. It was impossible!

 But then I saw the baby in the seat next to me. It was Cheryl as a infant again. How it had happened . . . I didn't know, but there she was. An innocent baby . . . all over again.

 I got out of the car, holding her in my arms as I looked around. Where was Cybil? I couldn't have just dreamed this all up, could I? My memory was kind of fuzzy about the whole incident, but Cybil should have escaped too! Or was she still stuck there? On the other side . . .

 I looked back into the town, realizing there was no fog shrouding the town. The city was a beautiful as ever . . . I didn't see any residentials out yet, but it was still too early for anyone to be up, I guessed. The town had two . . . maybe even three sides to it, and one of them was just destroyed. But this side of town was paradise. No doubt about it.

 Life is a true gift.

 "Harry?" I heard a voice asked.

 And I knew just who it was.

 I turned around and saw Cybil on the other end of the road. "Cybil!"

 Cybil walked from the side of her bike and walked over to me. She almost seemed surprised to see me . . . like she had just woken up from a dream, only to find that one of the characters from it was standing right in front her. She put her hand on my cheek . . . as if checking to see if I were real. Once she was assured of that, she sighed. "So what we experienced was real?" she asked me.

So she was having her doubts too. For all I knew, all that we experianced could have happened in our heads. But there was a baby here in my arms and it was definately real. No doubt about it.

 "I don't know," I said. "I really don't know."

Cybil then looked down at Cheryl. "Where'd you find her?" she asked.

 "In the seat next to me when I woke up," I explained.

 Cybil smiled as she touched the baby's nose. The baby giggled. And I felt an strange sense of deja vue as she did so. It reminded me of the time when my wife and I had found Cheryl on the side of the road. This was exactly like it . . . only now Cybil was here with me instead, and . . .
 
  I laughed. No way all that could happen. Not a chance.

  But years have passed sense that day. That day when I questioned everything . . . even life itself. What had I been living for all this time? What am I living for now? The answer was simple, though.

  Someone else.

Epilogue
By X-treme X-taggano ([email protected])
 
 A cold winter's breeze stung my face as I stood in the open field. Snow fell front the dark sky. It had been night for hours. This was a place I hadn't been in years. The headstone in front of me hadn't seemed to deteriorate one bit sense last I had seen it. I couldn't stop reading it for some reason, even though I had read it a thousand times before. But the words were so meaningful, I couldn't help but re-read them, hoping I would get something even more meaningful out of them.

 "So that's where you've been," I heard a small voice call from behind me.

 I turned around and saw Cybil there, wrapped in her heavy winter coat. I smiled at her as she walked up and kissed me. She then examined what I had been staring at. She read the words of the stone and then looked back at me.

 "How long ago did you build this?" she asked.

 I shrugged. "A little bit before we got married," I explained. "I just couldn't bare to forget it."

 Cybil nodded. "So that's why you wanted to visit this town again?"

 I shrugged again. "I'm not sure why. I just felt drawn here again," I said, my breath visible in the air. "Fortunately, I wasn't brought to hell this time."

 Cybil smiled and laughed. "Same with me," she explained.

 I looked at the ground for a minute. "It's just . . . sometimes I feel like I did everything wrong," I confessed. "It felt like all that time, I was just fighting for myself."

 Cybil put her finger to my lips. "Hush," she said. "You did nothing wrong. You could have just gone and saved your daughter . . . but you saved me too. Saying all that you did was for yourself is bullshit, Harry."

 I smiled. "Yeah, I guess your right," I said, putting my hands in my pockets.

 Cybil put her head on my shoulder. "You remember what you told me you had learned?" she asked.

 I nodded. "That life is a true gift," I sighed.

 Cybil nodded. "Don't ever forget that. She taught you something, and that's that no matter what happens, there's always a reason to live."

 I nodded. She patted me on the shoulder and started to walk back to the house we had rented for the weekend. She then looked back me. "Coming?" she asked.

 I nodded. "Yeah," I said. I turned from the stone and started to walk away. I'll never forget what I carved on it said.

 Here lies
 Alessa Galespie
 Age 14
 "Life is a gift."

Final Word And Stuff You Probably Missed in the Book

Thanks for reading! It's been one hell of a thrill ride writing this, but I'm finally done. I can sleep at night once again! This has been such a fun book to write and all of you who kept reading and enjoying my book are keeping it real! Thanks every! It makes me a happy X-tagen.

I know . . . I wrote the ending differently then what happened, but I wanted it to seem more satisfying then the game's ending. So I did the game's ending, but I ADDED stuff! Yay! Hope you all don't mind. But I was happy with the stuff I added. I got real emmotional satisfaction of it. I don't know why . . . it just seemed like it ended with more then just a narration . . . it ended with a message. That's what I was aiming to do.

First of, all, here's the stuff you probably missed in my book... hidden stuff I put in! I didn't have much hidden stuff in the beginning, though... I just didn't even think of it!

1) There's a LOT of references to the movie, Jacob's Ladder, in my fic. The Doctor's note talks about Doctor Singer... That's Jacob's last name in the movie. Also, the sewer log he finds describes his girlfriend Jezzy... Jacob's girlfriend in the movie, his ex-wife Sarah and his two kids Jeb and Eli. All of those names came straight out of the movie Jacob's Ladder. I thought it'd be pretty obvious, but I guess it wasn't.

2) Valley of Visions (the name of chapter 9) is the name of a band from my hometown. I'm a punk fan!

3) When Worlds Collide (the name of chapter 13) is a Powerman 5000 song.

4) I think we all know where I got the line "I don't like the idea that I'm not in control of my own life" from in chapter 11... The Matrix. Duh.

5) When I was describing how the initials MK made Harry think of death and dismemberment in chapter 12, I was referring not only to Michael Kaufmann, but to Mortal Kombat (a video game most will remember . . . a movie most will forget). It's not very obvious, but then again, it wasn't supposed to be or else everything would get all screwed up.

6) The journal in chapter 12's owner's name was Greg Vederman... he's my favorite writer for PC Gamer. Anyone who reads PC gamer should know "The Vede".

7) When I said "What kind of sick human being could possible enjoy watching a man aimless trying to find his daughter and consider it amusing?"... I was referring to YOU as a reader. You are, after all, reading this and finding it amusing (I hope).

8) The line "there was a broken home, roaches crawling out of the sides" is referring to Papa Roach, a band you've probably heard of. They have a song called "Broken Home" and I tried to make it more obvious by describing that "broken home".

9) In that one plot guide FAQ, it mentioned how Harry could be stuck in a lope, but that ending seemed kinda shitty to me, so I didn't do that. However, I DID put in implications that he might have been stuck in a lope for a while. You'll notice if you re-read the fic that I did mention a few times "I felt like I had been here before." That was done purposefully just so I could kinda hint it without just saying it.

10) You might not have noticed this, but (aside from the titles of course) I never actually said "Silent Hill" in the whole fic until the end. I wanted to see if I could possibly do it. And I did! I'm so proud of myself! (Don't believe me? Check it out with word search or something. Didn't say it ONCE!)

That's all the hidden stuff I put in there. Man... if this were a movie, I would have put in all sorts of stuff in the background that no one would have seen! I love easter eggs! :-)

Now, for the award for most faithful reviewer . . . B. Braswell! Thanks for reviewing all my fic chapters faithfully, buddy! I'm glad you stayed on board for the whole ride!

Now, I can finally rest with the satisfaction that I'm done writing this. Now I can either write Silent Hill 2 or maybe even write an original novel. You guys would read an original, right? Cuz I have a really cool idea for one, but I need some assurance that you guys will read it!

And so ends Silent Hill. Thanks everyone. You guys are the best and I'll never forget my incredible experience writing this.

Your pall forever,
--X-treme X-taggano