Fan Fiction ❯ Silent Hill 2: Path of Retribution ❯ Mary's Letter ( Prologue )

Copyright: All Silent Hill related characters belong to Konami and Konami only, except Josh, but he's not important lol.

Luv, DC_Alice

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I had taken a couple too many beers that night on my little own at the bar.

I never drank more then one or maybe two beers per week when Mary was still alive. Perhaps it was stonger then me; this is why they say alcohol is like a drug. And it is.

Riding in my old car, I thought about how Mary would throw me a nice peice of shit when I would get home, then smiled when a few minutes later; she would come back and hug me out of happiness to find I was not hurt in the end. Sweet, sweet Mary...

My head circled around this idea as I went through the dark streets and up until I was in my driveway. I stopped the car and put the old metal keys in my pocket. I made no move to get out, and stared in the rearview mirror as if waiting for someone to pull up behind me and block my way out. Of course, no one ever even passed in the street. I was not sick. My stomach and head felt fine.

My mind did not. My mind was what was sick and tired.

As the dark house stared at me like a huge monster ready to eat me up, my sick mind came to a realization I did not want to count as an option at all: Mary would not be there to tell me I had done wrong to drink and drive, nor would she be there to be happy I was home safe and sound. Only the coolness of the empty rooms would be there to greet me.

Filling my lungs with the smell of old oil from the car, I sighed heavilly and finally stepped out. The air was humid and heavy that night, and the fog was already rising from the ground. It was better getting inside right away and take a nice, long, cold shower. There was already sweat appearing on my forehead; it could have been the humidity or my own body producing this, I did not really care; the night was hot.

Unusual even, now that I think about it.

As I reached the steps to the door of my home, I noticed the mailbox was opened.

"Damn... forgot to pick up the mail again...", I mumbled to myself, and picked it up without even looking at it. I unlocked the door, forcing the key a little - it was an old lock after all, I still wonder how it's possible no one has ever broken into this place yet - I managed my way in and through the dark living room.

That's when I stopped short, standing straight as a bar in the middle of the room. Having lived in this house for 5 years, I knew its sounds well, and this one was not part of the ritual. There was a screaching sound coming from the north of the house. It did not sound like a mouse, but more like something metallic being dragged on the floor. My mouth filled with saliva, and fear rose in my body.

"Who's there", I called out in the darkness, my mouth still filling up with the warm liquid.

There was no response.

The sound amplified itself, as if whatever was doing this was coming for me. I called out to the one trying to scare me -and was succeeding- and this time, there was a response: a wet faint sound like someone's throat had been ripped out and as the blood still boiled in its hole it was trying to say something.

My chest tightened. Whoever this was, it was able to touch my sensible side.

In what seemed like a split second, I ran for the switch, and although I had been living there for 5 years, it seemed the light switch had switched places. Groping the wall in a hurry, I found myself freezing as blood curled swallowing sound turned out louder.

"For Christ sake", I let out with a week voice, and suddenly, the switch had appeared under my wet palm and my fingers lift it up.

The room enlighted; I quickly looked out to stare at an empty room. I was on my own. However, the bloody sound had not stopped. Frowning and swallowing hard, perhaps out of anger, I stumbled my way across the hallway and into the kitchen. Giving a quick look around, I stopped my gaze upon the sink.... Walking to it carefully, I found the strenght to look down -

-and I broke into a laugh.

The sink was bubbling yes, and trying to gasp for air. The hole was somehow blocked, and some old food, completely mashed out by the tubes, had come up again, was trying to escape. I laughed for a while at my stupidity. The thought of a monster in my house had crossed my mind, or a ghost in chains even.

I then realized I had kept the mail in my left hand all this time. Leaning against the counter and ignoring the bubbling from the sink, I decided to take a look at them quickly. There seemed to be 4 letters. Three of them, of course, being bills for electricity, cable, and water, and one that was rather different then all those I had ever gotten. There was no adress on the envellope, and no returning adress either. From the feel of the paper, however, there was something inside. A thin peice of paper. I stared at it for a while, getting a strange feeling about this...

Eventually, I put my forefinger between the layer of paper and glue, and carefully ripped the envelope open. There was indeed a well folded letter inside. I grabbed it, and the food turned angry a little and burped. Not paying much attention to it, I unfolded the paper-

- the phone rang.

It echoed in the house and was trying to pop out my brains with a sound hammer. I had had a small headache, but it had emplified with the sound of the machine. Keeping the peice of paper in my hand, I walked up to the phone hung across the kitchen beside the fridge.

"James?"

"Uh... hey Josh...."

"How you doing?"

There was a pause on my part, looking at my watch. Josh is my brother: the type of person you may find much too kind for their own goods, always wondering how everyone is. It often got on my nerves.

"It's 11h30", I replied more roughly then I had entended, "you're not just calling me to ask how I've been now, are you?"

His voice seemed hurt by what I had said. "Sorry Jimmy... I was just a little bit worried..."

"Yeah, okay. And what's the reason for that?"

Well now, the fact you've been completely closed upon your selfish little self since the death of your pretty wife might explain a few things. Just wanted to make sure YOU were still alive, I thought but made no further comment. In fact, his was enough to feel more guilty then anything.

"You didn't show up for dinner tonight...", he added.

"Dinner? What are you talking about?"

"Dinner. Mom and Dad had prepared a little something for you."

"For me? What -"

"The whole familly was there, Jimmy. They were all there to comfort you and care about you. I know it's hard, we all know that, we all liked Mary very much and....."

My mind drifted off to the sink as it expressed more anger bubbles. There was no smell from that food. It should have been rather rotted, but it seemed it was alright. Instead, I smelled something I had not smelled in three years. It was Mary's perfume.

For a moment I thought she was right behind me, in the hallway, watching and probably waiting for an explanation of my part for coming home with alcohol in my veins.

It's the kind of feeling everyone gets at least once: that fake sixth sense makes you beleive that someone who should not be there's watching you.

I still held the peice of paper in my hand....

"Jimmy? James? James?!", Josh sounded a little irritated at this point.

"Uh huh, I'm here", I finally replied. How long had he been calling my name, I had no idea. I did not really care.

"Did you hear a single word of what I said?"

"Hm-hmm."

"James, are you sure you're alright?"

"Yeah..."

In fact, I wasn't. For three long agonizing years without Mary, I had not been feeling very well. Josh started babbling again about me missing the familly dinner to comfort my selfishness, when I finally took a look at the letter. The perfume came from the smell of the paper itself. My eyes widened, my chest tightened into painful spasms once more all the while my heart began pumping so much blood I felt I might have a heart attack. The hair of my arms erected by an invisible force, sending gooseflesh all over my body. Cold sweat dripped from my forehead at once, moving drops from the top to my lips. My grasp on the receiver was so tight it might have broke in my hand.

My mouth felt like I had been chewing on paste all day long.

I read the letter once. Twice. A third time.

The fouth time, I took the receiver away from my ear.

"James?! JAMES?! ARE YOU THERE??!" he was stopping himself from continuing the sentence, James?! Are you there , you sunova bitch?!

He continued calling my name. I hung up as if he had simply said good-bye. My eyes never left the writting on the letter. I was hipnotized by it. I shook my head unbeleivingly when the phone rang once more. Josh was calling back and probably this time, he would not stop himself from calling me a careless sonuva bitch.

Like a zombie, my eyes still on the writting, I gropped the bottom of the wall and pulled hard on the wire of the phone. It stopped in the middle of a ring, dead and silent.

I let myself fall to the floor. My legs were not responding anymore. Astonished, I read it a fifth time.

In my restless dreams, I see that town, Silent Hill..

You promised you'd take me there again someday,

But you never did.

Well, I'm alone there now, in our special place,

waiting for you...

There was no doubt. I was not reading the words, but studying its writting with my eyes as I felt them burn from upcomming tears. It was Mary's hand writting. My gaze remained on the haunted peice of perfumed paper until I could no longer make out the words because of the violent shivers going through my burning body.

If that was a joke from the neighbor's kids, this was not a good one at all. However, they would not have been able to imitate to this point my wife's hand writting.

Eventually, I managed to get back to my feet, though my legs felt like jello. They wanted all but to support me, but I forced them to. This was ridiculous. At least to the sink... When I hung my heavy head above it, I felt this irresistible feeling to let my stomach go into it. The hole bubbled it's red and brown goo in front of my eyes, and I felt it come to my throat. I knew I was going to vomit violently. The beer had nothing to do with it. But when I thought my stomach had let in, I spit only clean saliva. Whatever had been going up went back down the way it had come.

I stared at the letter some more, and just threw it on the counter.

Nothing but a joke.

It had to be.

No choice.

A joke....

But....

That night, I decided to take a cold shower. Not a medium hot one that makes you beleive it is cold, but if there was no ice in the ice water tank, it was hard to beleive. My flesh looked as if sharp needles had been into my tender flesh and an invisible force was pulling on them. The gooseflesh was intense all over my body, but it felt good in such a hot and humid atmosphere, and it felt good to clear my head.

I crawled in bed, alone, as lonely as ever, and took only a moment to fall asleep.

I'd like to tell you I don't remember this dream. Usually, with time, dreams fade. Faster on occasion, more slowly for others. Well, in my case, this dream was so vivid, so real, that I did not forget a single detail from it.

I know I was about to go see Mary, as I did until she left us. I parked the car alongside the road, as usual, but everything was unusual. Thick fog surrounded the hospital building, as if it were a coccoon protecting it. Nevertheless, I invited myself into the hospital. The place was always lively, as far as this expression has the right to be in a dreaded place such as a hospital. This time, there was no one there. Not even a whisper, no footsteps, nothing. No sign of life.

My shoes echoed through the corridors, a little too dark for my sake, but it was still easy to see, and it made it as if I was following myself. Ridiculous you say?

I'm not so sure...

Eventually, I reached the elevator, and it opened without offering any resistence. I don't know why I was expecting it, but it seemed just normal (again, as far as it goes) for it not to open and make me have to find my way around....

I pushed the button to the last level, thus level 4, and waited as the machines roared their way up to the destination ordered. But as it went, the engines went silent. All at once. I could feel the little cubicule move, but it felt like a sheild had been put up against sound, all the while the lights missed to help my sight. I was stuck in darkness and sound cover.

The air turned excessively humid, and the sound of water dropping cought my attention. Whatever that shield was, it wanted to to hear what IT wanted me to.

The elevator stopped its course so brutally I almost fell over. The door opened into darkness, but somehow, I had a flashlight in my pocket...

"How...?" I asked myself, then my heart missed a beat.

"Ring a ring a roooosie, a pocket full of poooosie, A-shes, A-shes, we all fall down...." It was a little girl's voice, but somehow, as it fainted and was dragged away from me, the sweet voice was turning into a devil's gagging, the voice becoming dark, like a tape recorder moving the tape slowly because it needs batteries.

The light moved around, but there was nothing, no little girl, no satan, no nothing.

Yet, I knew I was not alone.

"Mary? Mary, is that you?", I cried out. There was no answer... until I heard a faint gagging sound again, but this time, it was more like a shriek, hideous and monstrous call. I knew this was for me.

Whatever it was, I was the one it wanted, and it was calling and coming closer.

It's the evil monster from the sink, James, that's all it is. Are you afraid its bubbles will reach out to you? Big bubble heads? Aw yes, big and juicy, puss and blood...

The voice echoed in my head. Whoever or whatever it was was no pleasant at all...

Panic overcame my logic and I turned back the way I came... I wanted to run. Go far away from this place, but as I was about to enter the elevator again, the door closed quickly.

I was stuck. I was stuck here with the sink monster...

Come on, James, this is ridiculous..., I told myself, but I let out a loud shriek myself when I heard a voice I unfortunatly knew: "JaaaAAAAAAMMMMES!!!"

Long and in sheer panic and pain, Mary's voice had never sounded so desperate. My courage was back in me at once. "MARY!!!!!", and I was running.

I ran for quite a long time. I don't know for how long, but I ran and ran, until I knew, I FELT Mary was nearby.

"JAMES!!!", I heard her call again, and this time, yes, it was close.

She was waiting for me in the doorway of a dark room. She seemed perfectly fine, yet her face was grave and reproaching.

"James, honey, what have you done?", she whispered in a cold yet sweet voice.

I had no time to answer. The unhuman shriek came from behind me and everywhere. Mary looked around herself, her eyes full of panic and fear.

"Mary?", I heard myself only whisper. Something grabbed both of us. Gelatinous and warm hands clutched to my shirt and ripped it wide open while I could see the same was happening to my beloved wife! I struggled hard, but whatever was holding onto me was too strong!

"MARY!", I cried.

Two monsters appeared from the darkness, dressed in what seemed like what used to be a daring sexy nurse outfits, for it seemed old and drenched in blood.

It's the evil monster from the sink, James, that's all it is. Are you afraid its bubbles will reach out to you?

I struggled harder against the warm and grotesque creature, but it held on until I slipped and hurt every bones and muscles in my body. Their heads seemed exactly like it: bubbles. The silk of their flesh was rotting with puss and blood, and though they had no face, their inhuman loonalike scream only made manners worst.

Are you afraid its bubbles will reach out to you? Big bubble heads? Aw yes, big and juicy, puss and blood...

When one of them reached out for me with the flash of lightning, I realised I was staring at nothing but the ceiling of my room. The scream of the bubble nurse fainted with the dream, but reminded for quite a while.

My mouth and eyes were wide and dry. I knew I had been staring at the furniture for quite a while. My eyes burnt again. I was as straight and rigid as a stick, my muscles aching from the tension of stress brought to them. Sweat was covering my body as if I had been struck my light rain.

Turning over, I saw the clock indicated 3:00 AM. I forced myself out of bed, still trembling. It had been a very intense dream... The most real one ever... And I was somehow afraid to go back to bed... I stumbled for the light switch. I was blinded at once, but the feeling soon dissipated. I looked around the room quickly, half expecting to see one of those monsters, but of course, there was none.

Yet, something was wrong... That smell from the letter, Mary's perfume, was in the room. My hand touched a peice of paper on the desk and realized, somehow, that it had teleported itself all the way the my bedroom. A frown led itself to my face...

In my restless dreams, I see that town, Silent Hill

"Silent Hill", I found myself saying aloud. This town had been a place where me and Mary had spent vacation. It had been wonderful, and Mary had begged me and made me promise to go back with her someday... But when her sickness had cought up to her, that promise was forgotten. I felt aweful for that... I should have taken her again, even in her sickness...

"Oh Mary....", I whispered.

A disgusting hope struck my mind. I wanted Mary to have written this. I wanted it so bad that I knew what I had to do. I would have done anything to see her again. What did I have to lose anyway?

I took another shower before leaving, making sure to bring a map along with me, as well as the letter Mary had written. When I stepped outside, it was 5 in the morning, and birds had started their routine song. The sky announced another hot day.... As I was about to close the door, the sink I had not worked on roared at me. "Bubble monsters or not", I told the empty house, "I'm going to settle this."

My mind was set, and nothing was going to stop me. I was heading for Silent Hill where Mary was waiting.

To Be Continued