ElvenNeko
(Socolov Andrew)
Video game writer and designer.

A young man is sitting in the old chair, a voice recorder is on the table in front of him. He is unnamed, so he is simply referred to as the Protagonist. The room is in semi-darkness, the light flickers sometimes.

 

P: Pills don't help anymore. Every night I wake up from terrifying nightmares - the same ones that tormented me as a child. In my restless dreams, I see this town - Silent Hill, my homeland, about which I do not remember anything. The policeman who brought me to the orphanage only said that my parents were dead - at least that's all that my caregiver told me, but ... it seems there is something more here. Something important that I forgot. I have to find the answer myself before I go completely insane. I'm sorry to disappear without warning – but I hope you understand.

 

P turns off the recorder, puts a sheet of paper on top of it, leaves the house and gets into the car.

 

The footage of the trip is replaced by footage of a gas station. The shriveled old man accepts payment for gasoline from P.

 

P: Not a single car in the last hour... How do you even survive here?

Old man: Yes, as usual - spinning, but never winning ... It's been like this since the Massacre – the only people who go to the city now are those who are looking for their purpose. And every year there are less and less of them.

 

P: Carnage?

 

Old man: Not a local, or what? A well-known story - for many years a gang of cultists sacrificed people - the homeless, the elderly, tourists, even the executioner and the local sheriff were slain. Then the military raided them, there was a huge bloodbath, and after that ... the city became a ghost town.

P: Have you heard anything about the child found there?

 

Old Man: Child? Don’t think so.

P: Okay. Thank you, it's time for me to go, it’s getting dark already.

Old Man: Take care of yourself. Oh, and, wait... take this with you (hands him a portable radio)

P: Is that a radio?

 

Old man: Yep. This is the wilderness, here the signal of the outside world does not catch at all. But it will help you - just carry it with you always, okay?

P: Okay, thanks. I will return it on my way back.

P gets into the car and leaves. On the way, he thoughtfully examines the radio, when suddenly the  motorcycle drives past him. He looks at the driver and sees a girl who also gives him a look, and, overtaking, drives forward into the night.

Arriving in the city, the P stops near the hotel. The streets are empty and covered with thick fog, a motorcycle belonging to the girl who overtook him stands nearby. He enters the hotel, but no one is there. He rings the reception bell, but no one answers.

 

P: What's wrong with this place? Helloooo? Is there anyone here?

 

P walks around the hall, looks around the corners, but does not find anyone.

 

P: Okay...

 

P writes a note, takes the room key, and leaves a note and money on the counter. He goes to his room, lies down on the bed and falls asleep.

 

He wakes up in the forest. His radio lies on his chest, a flashlight burns on it, brightly illuminating the surrounding darkness. P rises, picking up a radio flashlight.

 

P: What the hell...

 

The radio in the hands of the P begins to make sounds. There is a rustle in the bushes.

 

P: Hey? Is anybody here?

The sounds from the radio get louder. A figure emerges from the bushes, wrapped from head to toe in old rags and bandages. He has armature in his hands. With an unsteady, twitchy movements, he approaches P and tries to hit him, but P dodges and runs into the forest. Here and there, he comes across similar figures in tatters, armed with whatever. P suddenly runs out of the forest and finds himself on the shore of the river - he stands and breathes heavily after the running. Suddenly, the water in the river begins to boil, a triangle covered with algae appears on the surface, and slowly, accompanied by heavy, humming music, Pyramid Head (PH below) rises from the water. Water flows out of his helmet as he slowly walks towards him, the radio hangs static at full volume, the P backs away - but behind him, in the darkness of the forest, many eyes light up, and creatures begin to emerge from the forest, surrounding him. PH swings a huge axe, hits - and P wakes up.

With a frightened cry, P wakes up on a bed in a hotel, but sighs with relief, realizing that it was just a dream. However, somewhere in the distance, he hears the sound of an alarm siren. He turns on the radio flashlight, and then he suddenly realizes that the hotel around him has changed:

 

(high-budget) - Instead of walls - rusty bars wrapped in barbed wire, behind which, in the dark, hang cells with mangled bodies in tatters.

(low budget) - Everything around is old and abandoned, rotten, decayed, as if people had not been in this place for a long time.

 

In both cases, instead of the usual doors in the rooms, they are now made of iron, with small windows, like in prisons.

P goes outside and looks around. The radio starts making noise, and a bandaged creature emerges from the darkness. P tries to run, but all the doors to the rooms are closed. Seeing that there is no way out, the P picks up an improvised weapon (perhaps tearing off a piece of reinforcement) and fights with the creature, defeating it. After the battle, he hears a sound coming from one of the rooms, and, looking through the window, he sees a Woman who arrived at the hotel on a motorcycle.

 

P: Hey! Do you know what's going on here?

W: Quiet! Get out of here or you'll attract new ones! Hide somewhere and wait it out, it'll be over soon!

 

P: Who will I attract? What the hell are theу?

 

W: Are you deaf? Leave!

 

The Woman disappears from view, leaving deeper inside the apartment.

 

P: Where are you? Come back, please! Hey?

 

After waiting a bit, the P starts walking down the corridor.

 

P: This is a dream... Is this supposed to be a dream? But I can't control it...

 

Going down the stairs to the lower floor, P sees a light in one of the rooms. Entering it, he finds a Man lying on a bed near a night lamp, and reading a book.

 

M: Another moth flies fearlessly into the light?

 

P: What?

 

M: Sorry. Being in this place leads to… strange thoughts. I am Joe. That's what my friends and my flock call me. I hope you and I can become friends?

G: Are you a priest?

J: Was him, once. When I still had someone to lead through the everlasting darkness of our existence. But now I'm alone here - well, except for the one who is always watching over us.

 

P: What is this place anyway? How did I get here, what's going on here?

J: Nothing good, as you can see for yourself. As for your other questions... I don't think I have a rational explanation that would suit you. I call this place the Other Side, which I think is quite fitting. Tell me, what's the last thing you remember before you got here?

P: I went to bed in the hotel room. I had a nightmare in which creatures in rags were chasing me... and then I woke up here and one of them attacked me. There was also a woman in one of the rooms, but she did not open the door for me and told me to leave.

 

J: So there are two of you? How... unusual. It's good that you mentioned - because she is in great danger. What room is she in?

P: I don't remember, one of the rooms on the top floor.

J: Wait here, this place should be safe. That I can’t say about the upper floor… Hope it's not too late.

Joe runs away in a hurry, leaving P alone. The P examines the book that he was reading - however, it is written in a letters unknown to him, and on many pages there are pictures with various rituals and mystical symbols. When the P sees a drawing of a particularly sophisticated, sadistic ritual, he says:

 

P: What is this...

At that moment, a shot is heard from somewhere above, followed by a female scream. P raises his head, listens, and, closing the book, says:

P: Ahhh, damn it!

Taking a flashlight, he returns upstairs. When he reaches the girl's room, he sees that the door is open, and Joe is standing on the threshold.

J: Too late... they got to her.

Stepping into the room, he sees the body of a girl sprawled on the floor, her neck has been cut, and a pentagram is drawn on her face in blood. There is a pistol nearby, and on the bed is a bag with scattered things, including a police officer's badge.

P: Who did it?

J: Surely someone she shot at. I was still on the stairs then, and I didn't see anything.

 

P: But this is a dead end, I checked - all the doors are closed!

 

The radio starts buzzing. Loud footsteps come from the hallway and the sound of something heavy and metallic as it is being dragged across the floor. P grabs a gun and runs outside, illuminating the beam of a flashlight, and sees PH, dragging a huge axe behind him. He shoots at him, but PH doesn't seem to care about bullets hitting him.

 

J: Follow me!

 

P: I told you – there is a dead end!

J: A true believer will always find a way.

Joe runs to the end of the corridor, and suddenly there is a huge hole on the exactly earlier wall, leading into darkness.

P: What is it? She wasn't here before!

 

J: This is the exit.  Before you can see the light – you must let the darkness consume you whole. You can find out how far this rabbit hole leads, or you can stay here in the company of this nice gentleman!

 

Joe disappears into the darkness of the hole, and the P has no choice but to follow him. He crawls and crawls through the tunnel, which seems endless, and suddenly the radio starts making noise again, and the P hears a scraping sound behind him - shining a flashlight back, he sees that one of the creatures in bandages is crawling behind him, trying to grab his leg. Having kicked the pursuer, the P accelerates, trying to break away from him, sees the light at the end of the tunnel and, having pressed, falls out of it, ending up in a small library.

A creak is heard from the darkness, and the P draws a gun, but his flashlight only illuminates an Old Woman in a wheelchair, looking at him with accusation.

OW: Young man, were you taught the rules of behavior in the library? Why are you making so much noise, and even ruined my wall?

 

P starts laughing hysterically.

 

OW (frowning): Did I said something funny?

 

P: Sorry. It's just that after everything that's happened to me, you and this place seem so... normal.

OW: A. Recently in town, huh? After so many years, one can already forget that life can be ... different.

P: Years? Do you live here? What for?

OW: Where should I go? There (waves his hand towards the window) people like me (looks at her non-functioning legs) are not needed. Society tolerates us, but deep down almost everyone thinks: "It would be better if these parasites did not exist." Besides, how can I leave all these treasures to their fate? On these shelves you can find all that remains of countless human lives, their priceless thoughts, the only proof of their existence. Without me this place will fall apart.

P: But what's going on with this place anyway? These beings... they killed the woman in the hotel. And the hotel suddenly turned into… something else.

OW: Hotel? Ahhh, exactly. I forgot already that they decided to turn the prison into a hotel - the last attempt to save this city.

Are you saying the place changed? Same, but looks different? These are shifts. It rarely happens with those who live here, a lot more – to the outsiders. And about the creatures... See this charm on top of my door? I do not know how - but it does not let them get inside. And outside they can be avoided if you know how to do that. Even I managed to learn.

 

P: But… where are we? This is some kind of nightmare!

 

OW: Well, that's one of the theories - that we opened a the door to the world of nightmares. The other is that our reality collided with something that was on the other side of existence. Call it the other world if you want...but the truth is - nobody knows. We just live with it, that's all. But almost everyone were sure that the cultists and their unholy rituals are to blame. You could ask them - if only at least of them was still alive ...

P: Cultists? I heard they were killed during a military raid. Do you know what happened?

OW: Yes. Once upon a time, a church flourished in our city ... but they were praying to a creature that demanded sacrifices. Blood sacrifices.

 

The old woman begins her story, which is completely (or in parts, depending on the budget) rendered on the screen - everything except the face of the cult leader, which is always hidden in the shadows or off-screen.

 

OW: They started with the homeless - those who won’t be missed, who are easily lured into a trap by the promise of food and shelter. Realizing that they were getting away with everything they do, they became insolent and staged a raid on the hospital, where they found miners injured in the accident. Most of them had terrible burns - because of the bandages and heavy painkillers they could not even move, and the cultists… they just massacred all of them. The next morning, the only sect member that was known for sure was arrested: Father Jeremiah, who preached madness right in the local church.

OW: He was going to be executed to intimidate the rest of the cult members, but when the executioner came for him, it turned out that two of his henchmen were also cultists. They grabbed the executioner, and gave his huge pyramid-shaped helmet to Jeremiah, and the executioner was tied up and dressed in the clothes of a prisoner, with the bag on his head so nobody would recognize him. The executioner was mute from birth, and could not call for help - so Jeremiah cut off his head in from of the cheering crowd of people who did not understand what had happened. By the time the body was identified, it was already too late...

 

OW: Jeremiah was vindictive. He went to the house of the sheriff who arrested him and killed him along with his wife and child.

(At this moment, the P starts flashbacks, he sees frames from the past - the view of the house from the outside, the dining table, the hands of the people sitting at it, a snippet of dialogue)

 

OW: After that, nightmare has come into the city - cultists broke into houses and took away those who could not defend themselves with weapons in their hands, dragged them to the church and sacrificed them to their deity - and sometimes they did it right on the street, infusing horror into the hearts all who saw these gruesome executions. They would have drowned the city in blood - but then the army arrived in time. The cult resisted, but, apparently, killing professional soldiers is not the same as killing the homeless and sick, and in just a few hours most of the sect members were killed, the rest fled aimlessly into the wild – only to be hunted by the military later.

OW: Our city never recovered from this - people left one by one until only a handful of residents remained. And then came the fog, the creatures, and the world of nightmares. Apparently, the cultists somehow found a way to carry out their revenge from the grave…

P: You mentioned the sheriff. Tell me, did he happen to live in such a blue house, with a green fence?

 

OW: Yes, exactly like that. So why are you here? I understand ... This house is not far from here, when you will leave this place - turn right and go to the end of the block, after - cross the road and you will see it. Just - be careful, if you see one of the creatures - better run. For some reason - they will not pursue.

 

P goes outside, and, making his way through the fog, avoids opponents wandering in it with the help of a radio. He finds the right house, examines it from the outside, sees a strange construction:

 

P: It looks like a dog house... though I am not sure, since there’s no dog around.

 

P goes inside, starts  inspecting things, and when he enters the dining room and sees the dining table, he is covered by a flashback:

 

The table is served, at the head sits a man in the clothes of a Priest. It is visible from the back, but the face is not revealed. On either side of him sit a Woman and a Boy. The door opens and the Sheriff enters the room.

 

Priest: How rude of you to be late.

 

The Sheriff reaches for his holster, but the Priest lazily puts his hand on the gun that lies at the table next to him.

 

Priest: Sit down.

The sheriff sits down, two cultists enter the room and put a plate of food in front of him and also take away his weapon.

Priest: You invaded a holy place, defiling it, and thought you could get away with it so easily?

Eat. But know that just as you tried to spill your poison into my flock, my children spilled it into this food. If you eat it, you will die, but if you refuse, I will blow out the brains of this glorious blond creature and it’s offspring.

W: Don't do it!

Priest: (Takes a gun in his hand) When men speak, their women must remain silent. Disrespect me once more, and I will shoot -  not at you, but at your brat.

Priest: Well? What are you waiting for, a special invitation? Eat. The. Meal!

The Sheriff begins to eat, and the Priest looks at him with a smirk that gets more sinister the less food remains on the plate. When he finishes eating, Priest starts to applaud.

Priest: What dedication! Bravo!

More cultists enter the room and grab the woman and child.

Priest: It's a pity that it was all in vain. You see, the Great One prefers the blood of pure creatures. And this two are the perfect fit.

The priest takes out a knife and plunges it into the woman's stomach. Woman screams in pain, and the Sheriff screams in rage, but he is held tightly by the cultists. The Priest plunges his hand into her stomach, and draws a pentagram on her face with blood, looking straight into her eyes as she dies.

The boy bites the hand of the cultist who is holding him, and the cultist releases him. Taking advantage of the distraction of the rest of the cultists, the Sheriff frees himself and knocks out  one of the cultists, yelling:

 

S: Run!

 

The boy runs out of the room as the Sheriff knocks back the second cultist and takes back his weapon from the first one, turns around, and shoots the Priest. The camera finally shows his face - this is Joe, whom the P met at the hotel. There is a bullet hole between his eyes, but he only smiles when the Sheriff, frozen in shock, falls to his knees and begins to choke in pain as the poison starts to take effect.

Jeremaiah: See? All these sacrifices were not in vain. My prayers were heard, and the Great One gave me strength. My father was a simple priest - every day he prayed, but his prayers were empty words, so he received nothing back. But I gifted the pure, unstained suffering to the Great One, and in return I got the power that my father never dreamed of! You have been given the honor to feed the one who saw the dawn of time, to become a brick on his road to our sinful world. Be proud of it, as you face the darkness!

Jeremiah plunges the knife into the Sheriff's chest, and draws a pentagram on his face with blood.

Cultist: Shall we catch up with the kid?

Jeremaiah: Let him run away, he means nothing. The city is now ours.

 

At this time, the boy, choking on tears, runs down the street with his last strength, and a police car stops next to him. Further shots - a policewoman (the same one who died in the hotel, only much younger) takes the boy away, questions him about what happened in the city, and calls the authorities, saying that the help of the army is needed. At this time, the boy is sitting at her table, looking into the void - the camera focuses on his eye, then moves away - and this is the P's eye, also looking detachedly at the dining table, at which his family was once killed.

P leaves the house and goes to the church. Before moving inside, he notices a charm hanging on the door - exactly the same as on the library door, and removes it, holding it in his fist, after which he goes deeper into the building. There, after a short search, he finds a door leading to the basement, inside of which there is a small labyrinth of corridors, the walls of which are studded with candles and painted with various symbols. At the crossroads of several passages stands an altar, on which traces of dried blood from many sacrifices are visible. Behind the P applause is heard. He turns and sees Joe.

J: I was watching you, boy. Why did that bitch that once killed my people come here - it was obvious, and now she got what she deserve. You?  You were a mystery that I needed to solve.  But now I start to understand - are you that little mutt that once ran away from me? Came to have your revenge? You do remember me, don't you?

 

P: Jeremiah.

 

J: Reverend Jeremiah. But like I said, my friends call me Joe.

 

P: Do people like you have friends?

 

J:  You will not believe, but yes. Although in this world there will never be another being that would be closer to me than God.

 

P: God or Devil? Do you even know who you're worshiping here?

J: Spare me this biblical bullshit. The real God is neither good nor evil, he is a force to be reckoned with. He cares about humans no more than we care about ants. But, if you are useful to him, he will share a particle of his divinity, as he did it for me.

 

P: Useful? By killing people? So you just a hitman for a God so powerful, that he can’t even kill someone without your help?

J: Well, the killing part was not nessesary. You see, my God cannot yet enter our world. He needs to create a passage, and then stabilize it. As you might have noticed -  the first part was a great success, but with the second there is a problem – two worlds  randomly replace each other, which means that He did not absorbed enough energy… yet. And this energy is produced by the strongest emotions - such as fear or pain. However, after all the experiments I came to the conclusion that the strongest energy surge occurs when a person realizes that it is dying - in this case, energy output can be compared to the  five years of the most sophisticated torture. So -  I think you understand why I prefer killing?  Plus, it's a lot more humane than years of suffering, right?

P: Or you just a maniac who enjoys killing, who found himself an excuse to do that. What is even the point of all this madness? Do you really believe this creature cares about you?

J: I know that it does not. And this is the best part - the Great is the primordial element, chaotic, uncontrollable. None of us will ever understand his ways, for we are only grains of sand under his feet, and his stormy stream will wash away our entire species, along with our sinful thoughts and actions. Can't you see how rotten this world is? We destroy not only ourselves, but everything we touch! It's time for people to leave this world. Someone else will take our place, and I may even be able to see it all - thanks to the power that He has shared with me. And He will not kill me, because my body now became a conductor through which energy flows between the worlds. I am the gate, and Purification itself will pass through me!

P: Or just a psycho with delusions of grandeur.

P shoots at Joe, piercing  his body until the bullets run out, but Joe continues to stand, smiling.

J: Don't you understand? I cannot...

P: Yeah, yeah, I get it. But tell me - after all, all those creatures that roam the streets of the city - these are all your victims, right? Homeless people wrapped in rags, hospital patients in bandages? And the hulking monstrosity are the executioner who was supposed to take your life, but you took his instead? He is looking for you to restore justice?

J: Maybe.

At that moment, Pyramid Head slowly and soundlessly emerges from the darkness behind Joe, to a heavy, pumping musical riff.

J: Some people don’t know when to give up… even after they die.

PH comes closer

J: But i  don't care, because none of those filthy shells will be able to set foot on the holy ground of my church.

P opens his fist, showing him the talisman, which he removed from the entrance to the church.

 

P: Let me guess… this thing had to stop them?

 

Joe is scared.

 

J: How did you...

 

P: Yes, I won't kill you. About him - I'm not so sure (nods behind his back)

Joe tries to turn around but doesn't make it in time because PH grabs him and drags him into the darkness. Joe yells, but he can't break free of the creature's iron grip. Other creatures begin to pass by the P, not paying attention to him. Only two of them stop and look at him. The darkness does not allow to see the details of their appearance, but the P notices familiar clothes ...

GG: Mom? Dad?

But the creatures turn around and go into the darkness, following the rest.

P gets out, and sits at the entrance to the basement, exausted. At this moment, the opening chords of Theme of Laura from SH2 are heard. At 10 second of the track, a creature appears from the basement and approaches the P. P doesn't notice him. It grabs him and drags him back. Now it’s 20 second of the track, the credits roll.