Dark Descent

Disclaimer: Silent Hill is owned by Konami. :P

 

AN: Thanks to the latest reviewer!!  ;D  Yeah, I don't like exact retellings. The only ones that fly for me are the Persona ones, and that's because they have some amazingly talented writers working over there.  :)  Otherwise, I prefer some little changes to take place. Yeah, I made some changes to the lore, so you're not remembering it wrong.  :)  The lore is a little confusing, but the gist of it is that there are two universes now: one in which Alessa was spared after her burning, and one in which things continued on along their way as in the canon. This fic takes place in the former and not the latter.  ;)  Yes, I love Lisa too, and she is definitely going to be playing a major role in this story. So look forward to that.  :)  She's not a manifestation either, so you don't have to worry about that.  ;)  This is the real deal. Thank you so much for the review!!  :D

And now, let's get on with the fic...

 

Chapter 14: Ghosts of the Past

Brookhaven Hospital - Part 1

 

Alessa stared at the woman in disbelief.

The blonde woman’s face twisted into befuddlement. “How do you know my name?” Lisa asked, with great curiosity present in her voice.

Alessa didn’t dare to believe this was happening. This was impossible. Lisa was dead. Dead. There was no way she could be here. This had to be an illusion, or a dream. She tried anything and everything to explain away the sight in front of her, but the woman remained standing before her, and the radio wasn’t sounding off in her pocket.

“I…uh…I just…” Alessa stuttered for an explanation, searching for something, anything to say. What on Earth could she possibly say to verify her identity, that wouldn’t send the other woman into shock? She needed to make certain first. She couldn’t just give away her real info, in case it would prove dangerous to her.

Alessa forced herself to remain calm; she was trembling all over, but that couldn’t interfere with her concentration. She needed to remain certain of herself, in order to deal with this properly. It wasn’t until then that she realized, and a traitorous little part of her mind whispered, what you hope, what she was thinking.

What, make certain? Verify? Lisa was dead. This was a trick of some kind. It had to be.

She just couldn’t…

“You didn’t answer my question,” Lisa stepped forward, crossing her arms in front of her. She had a stern expression on her face, like she was interrogating Alessa, and Alessa shivered. Lisa was tough, or she could be when she wanted to be. “Who are you?” she asked, in a clipped tone. She was patiently waiting.

“Uh…ah…” Alessa swallowed, searching for some way to answer that.

Alessa resisted the urge to run up to the woman and hug her as tightly as she could. She certainly looked the same, but Alessa knew for a fact this couldn’t be Lisa Garland. She couldn’t. Lisa was dead. She was murdered years ago by the director of the hospital in the central part of town. Alessa stared hard at the pretty blonde, trying to pick up the slightest trace of anything that would give her away as not being human.

The longer she spent fighting the monsters she encountered on her journey, the more she had grown accustomed to them, in more ways than one. Not only was she used to their tactics and their grotesque appearances. Somehow, she was able to sense them as well. Alessa wasn’t sure how to explain what she felt around them, other than a stirring of some sort at the back of her consciousness; some vague combination of fear and revulsion.

She didn’t feel that here, though. Not in the least.

And yet, she couldn’t be sure. She hated herself for thinking that way, because this was a dream come true if it was real, but she just couldn’t be absolutely sure that this was the real situation happening.

She supposed she should be sad that Lisa had forgotten her, but she just couldn’t find it in her heart to be so. Lisa would have forgotten about her by now, and Lisa had never seen her mature self face-to-face. And there was a big difference between 14 and 20. A big difference. Lisa had no reason to remember her. In another life, Alessa might have reacted immaturely and been angry at Lisa for not remembering her, but here Alessa knew it was only natural that Lisa wouldn’t recognize her.

That didn’t make it less hard to deal with.

Alessa rolled the possibilities over in her mind, trying to gather her thoughts. She didn’t even know for sure who, or what, this person really was. There was practically no limit to the illusions and supernatural phenomena one could experience in this town. For all she knew, this…being could be yet another creature sent to torment her, hidden under the guise of her old nurse. After all, she herself had created a duplicate of Lisa six years ago, when she unleashed her full power on this place.

And yet…

She looked and sounded so much like her. Was it possible she was who she said she was? Were this any other place, Alessa wouldn’t have believed it possible. But this was Silent Hill. Anything was possible here.

Lisa looked closely at the young woman across from her. There was something off about the young woman talking with her, that she couldn’t quite put her finger on. She knew the other specter in the place, Stanley Coleman, was also following the young woman through the place, and Lisa found that quite odd. She knew that Coleman was obsessed with a particular woman, which was recorded in his records; why would he be so focused on this woman, if he was obsessed with someone else?

Lisa stared deeply at the young woman in front of her. Suddenly, she was reminded of an individual she had crossed paths with long ago. She remembered long black tresses, and hair tied back in a pony tail, which she had seen in a photo. She remembered bandages, and pain, and suffering, burning, drugs, and a whole host of other unpleasant things she didn’t care to recall. But there was compassion there, too. It wasn’t all doom and gloom. And most of all, she remembered a little girl desperately needing her help, yet Lisa being completely unable to help her. She herself had needed help during that time period, and she never got it.

Lisa stepped closer to the young woman. She placed both hands on the side of her face and stared closely, though thankfully the young woman didn’t respond violently. Lisa stared closely at her, trying to discern any trace of an identifying feature. And suddenly she saw the same lines of the jaw and delicate features she once saw in a photo, only more mature, and seasoned. She saw dark chocolate eyes that looked hauntingly familiar, and a nose that Lisa always thought was cute, if only the person lying on the bed had been able to wear the face in the photo, and not a mangled facsimile of it. And that wasn’t the only thing she saw. She looked clearly into the woman’s eyes, and saw something that she had never dared thought she’d see: Recognition. The pair of eyes spoke of immeasurable pain and sadness, a sadness Lisa was certain she had encountered before. And suddenly, Lisa took a deep intake of breath as she knew exactly who this was, and the consequences hit her full force like a ton of bricks. The world fell underneath Lisa Garland, as her stomach plummeted to the ground.

No…

“Alessa?”

It can’t be…

Alessa looked up at her in recognition. “Lisa?” she dared to ask hopefully.

She scanned frantically with what was left of her senses, trying to discern any trace of an abomination from the town. There was none. There was only the woman standing in front of her. This was really her.

“Lisa!” Alessa cried. She enveloped the nurse in a huge hug, gripping her arms around her tightly. Lisa threw her arms back a bit, taken aback by the surprise. Alessa began to cry, overwhelmed by the sheer number of emotions starting to grow inside her. She couldn’t help it, she was just so overcome by all the sadness and happiness, and surprise and gratitude, and amazement, and all of the other things she couldn’t hope to describe. She lost control, letting herself fall prey to the emotions overtaking her and bubbling up to the surface underneath her bruised exterior. And suddenly the floodgates opened. Alessa sobbed loudly in the embrace, leaning her head against Lisa’s body as she sobbed against the woman who had taken care of her for so long six years ago.

Lisa didn’t know what to do at first. She had never been accosted by someone who was in such profound need of comforting before. This wasn’t just a crying spell, this was a full breakdown, years of pain and suffering coming to the surface in an unstoppable force of sentiment. But Lisa was good at comforting people. Gradually her arms settled around the girl, drawing her close. Awkwardly she patted the girl’s back, touching her in a comforting series of gestures. “It’s okay…” Lisa whispered softly. “It’s okay…” she told her. She felt almost like a mother in that moment, in a way, comforting a crying child, who was more than a little devastated or hysterical. Lisa was always good at comforting people. It was, perhaps, her one great flaw that had broken her, that she cared about others too much, even at the expense of herself.

Besides her addiction problem, of course…

When Alessa finally pulled away, she looked worse for wear definitely. “I’m sorry. Ugh…ah…I ruined your shirt,” she said, looking at where a huge wet spot had formed on the shoulder of Lisa’s uniform from Alessa’s salty crying. She felt embarrassed; she hadn’t expected to lose it like that. She just couldn’t help it. This was a happy thing; to have Lisa here! And yet, she felt conflicted, because of all the things they had suffered together. She wiped her nose a bit, feeling a bit mortified about her impromptu breakdown.

“It’s okay,” Lisa laughed a bit; it wasn’t exactly like it was going to get any worse. She was a walking aberration, and the ‘uniform’ was a part of her as much as her hair overall. There was no changing or improving it, it was just the thing she manifested when she became ‘solid’ in the material world.

Alessa pulled back, and stared at Lisa lovingly with adoration in her eyes. It was obvious that she was dead. She was obviously a spirit or a specter of some sort, but that didn’t matter. All that mattered was that she was here, with her. And she was awake.

As Alessa pulled back, Lisa was finally able to ask the question that had been on her mind. “Alessa…h-how…?” she started to ask, overwhelmed by the sheer impossibility of it all. How was it possible that her old patient was here, alive and well, and all healed up? It shouldn’t have been possible, but the evidence that was standing here before her was all of the proof that she needed of it.

Uh-oh. Alessa should have seen this coming. Alessa knew that she had some explaining to do. Normally, she didn’t like telling her complete story to a stranger, but this was one case in which she was gladly willing to make an exception. This was after all, no mere stranger – this was Lisa, her one source of light throughout that dark time in her life. And Lisa had been through so much of it, as well. She owed it to her to give her a rational explanation, and tell her the whole truth.

She gave a shortened version of her story, covering everything from her earlier teenage years to her most recent, telling her about her dad, Cybil, and her mother. She left out some of the more gruesome details, reasoning that Lisa didn’t need to know exactly how Julie died, or Cybil, in her current unbalanced state. Lisa had been through enough, without adding to the list of horrors with this. She summarized everything that had happened recently, with Douglas and Claudia’s attack, until she got to the latest part, with her coming to the town. Alessa felt a great burden lift off her chest, she had to admit, telling someone else of her complete ordeal, who wasn’t a stranger she had just met. She looked at Lisa with pleading eyes, hoping Lisa would just accept her story and not think that she was crazy.

“Wow, that’s quite a story,” Lisa said, softly shaking her head. She couldn’t believe it. Alessa had been through so much, and yet Lisa knew somehow that it was the truth. Incredulous and confused as she was, as incredible and astounding as it sounded, there was no other possible explanation for Alessa’s presence here. She had to believe her.

“So, I need your help,” Alessa said, breathing a sigh of tiredness. “I know this key has to be important, but I don’t know how to get it out. I have to find Leonard…but I don’t know where to start. I don’t know where he could be. I have to find him before the Order reaches him. This whole hospital is deserted. Please, Lisa, I need your help. Anything you could tell me, any info you would have, would be very valuable,” Alessa pleaded, hoping the nurse understood how earnest she was. She couldn’t do this alone. She needed some guidance, and she now realized that it hadn’t been a good idea coming here alone, without Douglas. She should have waited until he finished checking out Leonard’s house, and then the two of them gone together here to the hospital.

“I don’t know what this stuff is made of, but I think the thing holding it down is just glue,” Lisa said, running a finger down the side of the key. She considered it. “Some nail polish ought to take that right off,” Lisa said off-handedly, offering what she hoped was one alternative. It wasn’t an ideal solution, but it was a cheap one, and hopefully an easy one to implement. There had to be some nail polish somewhere in this town, and the deserted ruins of the buildings. It wasn’t a particularly difficult problem to solve, but then again, she wasn’t the one who was interested in the key. To her it was just a curiosity.

The young woman was shocked. “Nail polish?” Alessa asked, eyes widening. “I found some in the nurse’s locker room upstairs!” she said, kicking herself mentally over such a stupid mistake. She had been so close! “We’ll have to go back up and get it,” she said, making it clear Lisa was going to accompany her. There was no choice in the matter.

Lisa smiled at her; Alessa’s enthusiasm was contagious. “It’s commonly known that nail polish dissolves glue. You didn’t know that?” she asked curious, giving Alessa an inquiring look. Honestly it was surprising to her that another girl wouldn’t know that. Then again, given her circumstances, perhaps Alessa was more…sheltered, than she otherwise would have imagined.

Alessa looked down ashamed, feeling her face warm. “Uh, I, uh, don’t have any nail polish,” she said quietly. Or lipstick, or makeup, or any other type of beauty item, save for hair spray, she thought with some embarrassment. The only thing she used was lip gloss, and that was only because she had to. She felt incredibly self-conscious, standing next to Lisa. Even while dead, Lisa was beautiful. She was perfect, and her hair looked so incredibly smooth. Alessa looked grungy and worn out, like she had been battered by something at every turn. Her clothes were dirtied, and her general aura was radiating exhaustion; she felt incredibly self-conscious standing here next to this statuesque woman, in this messy, sweaty state.

“Oh. Really?” Lisa didn’t know what to say to that. Seeing the disheartened expression on Alessa’s face, she decided to change subjects. “Well, I’ll help you find it!” she said cheerfully. She didn’t know why Alessa would be so self-conscious about this all of a sudden, but it was obvious she had touched a nerve. The best thing was to move on.

Alessa smiled at Lisa, taking in her enthusiasm. She could always count on Lisa to cheer her up; she didn’t know the nurse that well, but just the thought of Lisa was enough to lift Alessa’s spirit most of the time. “Let’s get going then,” she said, pulling herself out of her funk. They had bigger things to worry about, than her lack of self-concern for her appearance. She wasn’t that bad looking, it was just that next to Lisa…she let the thought trail off. She felt her face warm a bit. Why was she thinking of that now, when they had such bigger concerns to worry about? She shook her head to clear away the thoughts.

She gathered her stuff to prepare to leave. There was one thing she had to do before that, though. Now that Lisa was with her again, she had to do everything possible to safeguard the nurse, no matter what. It didn’t matter that she was dead, Alessa didn’t want her to feel any more discomfort or pain than was absolutely necessary. She didn’t want her to disappear, or whatever would happen to her if she was killed in this state. And she had a feeling the town would not grant her a second chance after this, if she failed to keep herself safe in Alessa’s presence. The town would probably block her from ever appearing to Alessa again, now that she knew who Alessa was. It was sadistic like that. She owed it to Lisa; Alessa owed it to Lisa to keep her placid and ‘healthy’, if there was even such a thing here in this place. Lisa had taken care of Alessa, once. She had to take care of Lisa, and ensure that nothing happened to the nurse on their little journey through this place, assuming they were in it for the long haul.

There were no guarantees; Lisa could just as easily disappear at any moment, given the town’s capricious nature and unpredictability. But Alessa couldn’t afford to think that way. She had to act as if Lisa was here to stay. She couldn’t imagine that Lisa was going to go down like every other thing in her life, as a fleeting moment of happiness, before it was cruelly taken away. She deserved more than that, she knew it, regardless of what the Order preached.

“Lisa, can you use a gun?” Alessa asked. She pulled out the handgun she had found in the shopping mall, which she had replaced with the much stronger options after the subway, up until the recent debacle in the office building. She had kept it in case she lost her Magnum, and needed some way to defend herself. The gun was weak, but ammo was plentiful and it would probably be a very good possibility for a beginner. And combined with her Magnum shots, it would probably create a hail of bullets that would be impenetrable to the enemy. Lisa didn’t need to have a strong weapon that was overwhelming, she just needed to be able to fight alongside Alessa. And if God forbid, they found themselves separated from each other, Lisa would be able to defend herself. At least until Alessa got to her. It went unsaid that Alessa had no intention of letting her out of her sight. She offered the retrieved firearm to the nurse, holding it out in her hand.

Lisa looked alarmed. Her eyes widened. “Uh, I don’t know, I mean,” she stumbled. She had never fired a firearm a day in her life. The thought of using one against a living being was abhorrent, to say the least. Lisa was not a violent person, usually. There was only one person who had awakened Lisa’s violent side, and that was Kaufmann. She was unsettled deeply by this situation to say the least, and suddenly she found herself shifting uncomfortably in her shoes. She couldn’t seriously be expected to suddenly know how to operate a firearm after one minute, could she? Was Alessa seriously expecting her to shoot along with her, while they took on whatever was out there? She was suddenly very uncomfortable, and she didn’t know how to say it to Alessa. She didn’t want to be in a fight, and she didn’t want to attack beings who were…possibly just like her. She was nervous, and she was dubious about the whole thing, to say the least.

“Hey, it’s easy. Just point and shoot,” Alessa smiled, giving her a reassuring look, although a little uncomfortably. She knew she was asking Lisa to kill, and that wasn’t something one asked someone lightly. “Against human beings, you would need a lot more tactics, but these aren’t human beings. They’ll dive right into your attacks, and all you have to do is shoot them,” she said, trying to reassure the nurse. It was a bit more complicated than that, but hopefully Lisa would pick up the basics soon enough. She took on a bit more seriousness on her face. “Just don’t go shooting me by mistake,” she frowned, as she chuckled a bit uncomfortably. It was a very real possibility, and joke notwithstanding, she needed to have Lisa realize what she was shooting at, in the midst of the action. “And I suggest you don’t look at the blasts from my gun. The muzzle flash from this thing will blind you,” she said warningly to Lisa, conveying what someone else, and many varied people most likely, had learned the hard way.

Lisa smiled at her, but inwardly she was shaking with nervousness. “Okay,” she said, and tried her best to sound nice, like she wasn’t bothered by this at all. She was downright terrified, but Alessa was clearly counting on her. If it meant so much to Alessa to have Lisa’s support on this, then Lisa was going to try her best not to disappoint her. This was the first human contact she had had in six years, at least for more than a few minutes, and she didn’t want to give that up, as selfish as that sounded, even if she barely knew this girl. She needed this.

Alessa gave her a serious look. They had to leave. They couldn’t dawdle around here forever; they had to go and carry out their mission. “Okay, let’s go,” she said, letting out a weary breath. Lisa nodded in response, and Alessa was reassured that she and the nurse were on the same page on this. For now, at least. She took her gun and began heading out of the hospital room. They had a patient to find.

She was tired and weary to her bones emotionally, but at least now she had an ally to help her in this. She just hoped it paid off in the end.

Lisa dutifully followed her out of the patient room, armed with her own gun in hand.

~

The sounds of gunfire and bullets connecting echoed in the long hallway. The monsters came out of the darkness and were eager to draw blood from their victims, only to be met with a hail of resistance. Alessa and Lisa found themselves in the west corridor of the 2nd floor. They had retrieved the nail polish quickly after arriving, and then Alessa decided now that she had some backup, she could go back and explore the second floor. There was the strangest feeling she had missed something there the first time around. She didn’t know why, but there was the feeling that there was something important there that she had forgotten about. The hallway had once again gotten full of nurses, but now there were two of them to combat them and they were armed. The nurses came out of the darkness, ready to beat them with pipes and scalpels and who knows what else. Alessa and Lisa fired their guns simultaneously, firing off a multitude of shots. Lisa shot several times at the nurses approaching them, downing one of them. She looked to the left to see Alessa readying a shot, and she closed her eyes as Alessa fired her massive handgun at a nurse, taking her down in one shot. The sound was thunderous in the room. Alessa fired at the other remaining nurse, and she fell down in a heap. Lisa felt a bit uncomfortable firing on the nurses; she didn’t want to think about what they really were, and how much they were really like her. No, not like her, she told herself; she was nothing like them. They were mindless monsters, acting without thinking. She knew exactly what they were, and it wasn’t anything that was close to her. She had a mind, she had…had a soul. They were spirits, the thought went unbidden in her mind. She ignored it. Finally the last nurse fell down, and the room was finally clear.

Alessa wiped her brow with her forearm. “Whew, that was a bit of work. You did some really nice shooting there, Lisa,” Alessa smiled at the nurse. She had handled it like a pro, even though she was really only pointing and shooting at whatever was in front of her. She was surprised, but comforted the nurse was actually going to be a big help to her. She felt secure that Lisa could handle herself – and she had to admit, she’d had her doubts.

Lisa blushed at Alessa’s compliment. “Thank you,” she said, although she wasn’t sure being complimented about killing things was really the best way to feel good about herself. In fact, she felt downright uncomfortable about it, and she felt a little bit of gut-wrenching nausea that she had killed other living beings. She had gone from being a dead spirit roaming around the town to making other creatures into dead spirits, that would now roam the town. Was this what awaited her now that she had reunited with her old patient? But then again she had to kill them, or else they were going to kill Alessa – the rational part of her mind protested fiercely, and she tried desperately to believe it. Still, it was disturbing. She decided not to dwell on it. It was something that was better left unsaid.

Alessa sighed tiredly with confusion. “I know there’s something here. I was so sure that there was. My senses are telling me that all over, but I just can’t figure it out,” she groaned, throwing her arms out in a huff. She sighed to herself, maintaining her calm demeanor. Maybe it was a stupid idea. Maybe there was nothing left here, and it was just her imagination playing tricks on her. She certainly hoped so, in a way. It meant that she could finally walk away from this part of the hospital, and move on to something else. She’d hate to think her senses were failing her that badly.

Hmm. “What else did you see on this floor?” Lisa asked calmly. Her arms were crossed over her chest.

Alessa considered it. “Well, there was a room with beds, where I found some helpful things, and there was a morgue with a body in it, although there was nothing interesting about it, it was dark…” Alessa trailed off. She couldn’t think of anything particularly noteworthy that she had missed. The rooms were vacant, the morgue held nothing interesting about it, except for a body she didn’t want to check out up close, and the hallway was derelict with threadbare sitting places except for the nurses that occasionally popped into it. She just couldn’t think of anything she had missed that was simply important, or else she was going blind.

That caught Lisa’s attention. “Wait a minute. You said there was a morgue. Was there a man with a tattoo in it?” she asked frantically. She couldn’t help it; they finally had a valuable lead.

“Uh, yeah, I think,” Alessa shrugged, doing her best to hide her visible confusion. She didn’t see why that was important, and why Lisa was excited all of a sudden.

Lisa’s face was serious, and determined. “Come on,” she said, taking Alessa’s arm and guiding her towards the morgue.

A burst of confusion ensued. “Huh? Where are we going? Wha…why here?” she asked confused, wondering why Lisa was dragging her like this all of a sudden. What had she missed?

Lisa dragged her all the way to the morgue. The man’s corpse was still there on the stretcher, with his arm hanging out to the side from under the sheet. Alessa wondered what was so important about it: surely an important clue wouldn’t be buried in this decaying piece of flesh, would it? That thought was disgusting and revolting on several levels, and she hoped the town wouldn’t sink so low as to place a clue on an actual corpse. Ugh, she shivered just thinking about it. She didn’t want to get closer to it, but it seemed she had no choice. She looked to Lisa for guidance and got a patient look in response. “Look at the arm,” Lisa urged her.

Alessa went right up to the corpse: it was best to get it over quickly. She grabbed a hold of the corpse and realized that there was indeed a clue on the arm! “The start time is my key,” Alessa read aloud. What the hell does that mean? She wondered. The start time – what were they referring to? And what else needed a key in this place? They already had the nail polish to get that key off the plaque, and the method to get into the third floor, presumably. “What does that mean?” she asked the nurse, wondering if there was something she was missing. She just didn’t get it.

Lisa contemplated it. “Hmm…” The nurse crossed her arms over her chest, holding her delicate chin thoughtfully with her fingers.

It was obviously a riddle of some kind, that much was clear. This place was used to its vague riddles, Alessa thought, and once again she found herself getting frustrated.

The nurse spoke up. “It sounds like a time riddle, based around some kind of object in the hospital,” Lisa said contemplatively. She had understanding cross her face, as she turned to the girl on her right. “Alessa, were there any items in the rooms that showed you the time? Clocks, watches, things like that…” she said suddenly, looking to Alessa for an answer.

Alessa was shocked. “What?” she asked surprised, looking shocked at the nurse’s sudden insight. Could it be that simple? Suddenly, she recalled something. “Wait a minute. There was an alarm clock in one of the rooms and there was a suitcase on the bed, but it didn’t seem particularly important. There was no note around it or anything, like the kind I usually find,” she said, sounding like she was making an excuse, but she wanted acceptance from Lisa. No tatters lying around, no diaries from that maniac Stanley Coleman even…how was she supposed to know it was important? For some reason, it occurred to her that she just didn’t want Lisa looking down on her, or coming across as dumb or airheaded to this woman, because she couldn’t solve one little riddle. She wanted to impress this woman, as ludicrous as that sounded. Why should she care? They were in much more dangerous situations than worrying about a little embarrassment. But she did care, and the reason was so obvious that Alessa didn’t dare to voice it. What would Lisa think? She wasn’t sure at all, and now wasn’t the right time to bring up the subject.

The nurse stirred. “Come on, let’s go,” Lisa said, rushing to move towards the door.

Alessa moved to follow her, but suddenly she hesitated. There was something that was occurring to her now, and she couldn’t let it go without contemplating it.

Lisa noticed that Alessa wasn’t moving. “What’s wrong?” she asked, looking at Alessa with a worried glance.

Alessa was completely still where she was. “Who was he?” she asked, her voice full of curiosity and a solemn mindset.

Lisa knew she was referring to the man on the stretcher. It wasn’t something she expected from her, but she answered anyway.

“He was found on the grounds here. They don’t know where he came from, nor I,” Lisa said, thinking back to what she had picked up. “He had a tattoo and a suitcase with him, but not much else. They didn’t know what to do with him, so they confined him in one of the rooms here. I don’t know what he thought of it,” Lisa said, recalling what she had ‘seen’. It wasn’t something she explained often, but she was sometimes able to pick up on what was going on in the other world simultaneously, or what had gone on there in the past. It was like a burst of images, or momentary flashes of insight, seeing the pictures in her mind. “That’s all I know, I swear,” she said, being honest with Alessa.

A thoughtful glance. “And they didn’t even try to find out who he was?” Alessa asked, thinking of people who mysteriously popped into places from out of nowhere. Her father’s friend John called it translocation – the disappearance of people from another dimension into this one, although what the dimensions the people were from were like was unknown. It was a wild theory, and one of the pet theories he was always pursuing. Whether or not there was any truth to it, Alessa didn’t know; Alessa wasn’t an expert on that, or heavy science for that matter.

Then again, he might have just broken into the hospital from the town. Everything didn’t necessarily have to have a supernatural explanation.

The nurse shared her view on it. “He had no identification on him. It wasn’t exactly a concern,” Lisa shrugged. She didn’t see why it mattered. The corpse was long dead.

A disgusted scoff. “Lovely bedside service,” Alessa said sarcastically. Lisa found herself a bit angry with Alessa’s comment – she was only supplying information, not directly responsible for what happened here, damn it; but she let it go. She knew Alessa wasn’t really angry with her, just at the callousness and indifference of the doctors that worked here on a daily basis. Getting angry at Alessa wouldn’t solve anything, and they needed to stick together in this place.

Lisa wanted to leave, but then she noticed that Alessa still wasn’t moving. “What’s wrong?” she asked, getting a little concerned about Alessa. What was it about this place that was bothering her so much?

Alessa didn’t move at all, staring at the floor. “That could have been me,” she said, focused on the thoughts running across her mind. She looked at Lisa. “If I had ended up alone, when the Order tried to exploit me…if my dad hadn’t gotten me, or if Cybil wasn’t there…and I had nobody to vouch for me, and the Order was able to convince people…I could have ended up in here, committed to the hospital. And no one would have believed me. Being tortured every day, drugged up 24 hours a day…” Alessa said, trailing off. It was a sobering thought. She could have ended up as a mental patient here, committed to the hospital and restrained. The thought of how close she had come to being one of the unfortunate collection here sent shivers up her spine, and she tried to push it out. Probably getting raped every day too, by the male and female staff, she added. It definitely wasn’t something she wanted to think about.

Lisa put a hand on her shoulder. “You’re okay now. That didn’t happen, and you don’t have to worry about that stuff. You’re not going to be put anywhere you don’t want. Come on, let’s go,” she said, offering her an out. She understood Alessa’s reservations now, but that hadn’t happened, and there was no reason to think about it. Bad enough that she had spent much of her life burned on a hospital bed. A mental hospital was a different tale. Lisa knew the types of things that went on in these places. The thought of that girl she took care of being confined to a mental hospital, and being abused by the staff every day, was disturbing on several levels, and she was surprised how much she cared. Being a young girl with a good body, Alessa would be a prime target of the male staff in the place. And even if she could defend herself against them, she couldn’t defend herself from all the male patients. Lisa put it out of her mind. No, she couldn’t think about that now. It hadn’t happened, and that was that.

Alessa smiled at Lisa. “Thanks. Come on, let’s go,” she said, moving to leave the room with the nurse. Because Lisa was right. That hadn’t happened, and she didn’t have to think about it. She didn’t know why she had allowed herself to be drawn into that train of thought.

The troubling room was left behind solved, with nary a thought as to its implications.

~

They had ended up in one of the hospital rooms. Lisa stood out of the way while Alessa explored all of the objects available in the room. Almost immediately, they noticed something that definitely stood out among the throng. “This wasn’t here before!” Alessa exclaimed surprised, as she noticed a certain diary lying on the bed. The object had seemingly appeared new out of nowhere, just as she could have predicted. Alessa sounded like she was trying to justify her statement that there was nothing there previously, but the young woman would have been surprised to learn it wasn’t necessary. The nurse believed her that there was nothing there. The mattresses were overturned, the floors were dirtied, and the room just looked like something out of a disaster area. Lisa wondered if it was in the same state in the real world, or if it was just the manifestation of things in this world? The hospital was in sad shape, but in a way it reflected the state of the hospital staff and the mental patients here, rather than just being a random disaster.

Alessa approached the briefcase laying on the bed. The alarm clock was positioned on the nightstand behind it, and sure enough, there was Stanley’s familiar diary sitting nearby on the bed. Alessa took the diary in her hand and started to browse through it. Once again, she wondered why this mysterious patient was leaving her these diaries, when it was obvious she had no interest in responding to them.

There was a tattooed guy

on that rumpled bed.

Not any more, though.

That alarm clock and filthy bag

are his.

Ah, but don't misunderstand.

I haven't done a thing.

I didn't hate him,

though he was a liar.

Shall I write something of my own?

On my chest, since I can't cut it

open to show you my heart.

"I Love Heather".

No, something a bit more forceful.

"I Love Heather" isn't enough for

what I feel.

Oh, what tender emotion

this image brings...

Stanley Coleman

Alessa set the diary down on the bed. She shuddered in revulsion: god, he wouldn’t quit, would he? What was it about her that had him so fascinated, and why wouldn’t he leave her alone? Did he really expect her to respond to him, after how creepy he’d sounded in the diaries? And the way he spoke about that man, he had no compassion whatsoever. Did he really think she went for guys like that? She set it out of her mind, focusing on the immediate problem instead. The diary certainly confirmed what they had suspected all along, that it was a time based puzzle they were dealing with.

“Yes! I knew it was a time puzzle,” Lisa said, sounding very self-satisfied.

Alessa looked at where she was staring. Lisa was staring at the clock, which was stuck at a certain time. There were varied buttons on the briefcase, each containing a digit that one could roll. Alessa knew this already and so the clock had to be relevant. The nurse was showing some great enthusiasm for her quests in here. She wondered if it was for her benefit, or if the nurse really was excited about the prospect of being able to help her. Either way, Alessa appreciated it. It kept her mind off other things, like what her mission was, and what she had to do. Seeing Lisa so excited, it was a new thing for her. She smiled a bit in happy appreciation.

Alessa looked at the diary sitting on the bed. “Who is he?” she asked, turning her attention towards the nurse. The question lingered in the air, and had been doing so for some time.

Lisa frowned a bit in response. She knew Alessa was referring to Stanley Coleman. “He’s a patient in the hospital. I don’t know much more than that,” she said. Actually, it was a lie: she knew exactly who this man was and knew every exact detail about what he was doing here. It was just that Alessa would be disturbed if she knew the truth, and that he was a phantom that Alessa could do nothing to stop if she wanted to.

Lisa walked over to the bed and picked up the diary. She skimmed through the pages, backtracking through the previous entries as she took in all the minor details and read through every word. Her eyes narrowed, as her mouth settled in a grim line. She set the diary down, as her mind adjusted to the new circumstances.

“Alessa, don’t meet him face to face, all right? If he shows up here in the open, don’t meet him face to face. If he starts bothering you, just tell me,” Lisa said. She might have been overreacting, but suddenly she couldn’t help it. She herself was disturbed by what she was reading in the diaries. Alessa could defend herself pretty well, but the thought of Alessa being pinned down under his stronger form as he ‘loved’ her, being unable to do anything except settle back as he did what he wanted with her, was disturbing on several levels. He may have been dead, but Lisa knew very well the dead can still reach you in this place. Her own experience, and the fact that she could actually talk to and touch Alessa, was a grievous enough example. She didn’t know why she was suddenly feeling so protective of the girl, but she was. Memories of being pinned under Kaufmann assailed her, similarly in that same position, and she had to try to fight them back. That was back then, not now.

Alessa stirred. “Lisa? I can handle him, you know,” she said questioningly. She raised an eyebrow, wondering if she was hearing everything right. Was Lisa really becoming worried about her? She was armed to the teeth. Why would Lisa be concerned about her? Unless, and she hopefully thought it was, Lisa was beginning to care about her too. She would have wondered if she was hearing things, but the overly concerned tone in Lisa’s voice told otherwise.

There was a protest. “I know, but…” Lisa trailed off, not knowing quite how to explain herself. She just couldn’t let it go, no matter what her brain was telling her. Realistically, she knew Alessa was more than capable of defending herself, but she was just so worried about this girl.

Alessa smiled. “Lisa, I’ve got it,” she said smiling. Alessa felt overjoyed that Lisa cared for her, but she also felt a little torn. She appreciated that Lisa was concerned about her, make no mistake, but she knew how to defend herself! Still, she appreciated the fact that Lisa was worried: it showed that she cared.

Lisa breathed a deep sigh. Pause. “Okay,” Lisa said, reluctantly. She wasn’t going to fight Alessa on this. She was a grown woman. Alessa was armed with multiple weapons, and she knew how to defend herself. She would just have to hope that Alessa would be dealing with this adequately, and had the situation in hand.

“Come on, let’s see what time this opens up to,” Alessa said cheerfully, getting off the subject. She picked up the alarm clock, which read a very specific time. “8:03?” she read aloud. There was a reason that number seemed important, but she couldn’t figure out what it was. She set down the alarm clock, and went over to the briefcase. She picked up the leather clad object, and entered the time on the four buttons on the briefcase on the front. Immediately there was a click, and Alessa was excited that it worked. They had guessed right, after all. Alessa popped open the lid on the briefcase, and awaited in anticipation to see what lay inside.

Alessa lifted the object that was inside carefully with both hands. “A camera?” Alessa asked, holding the object carefully in her hands. This wasn’t what she expected.

The camera was old, and looked like it hadn’t been used since the 70’s. It was one of those old Polaroid style instant cameras, which allowed you to see the picture quickly after taking it. It still had some film in it, judging from how it sounded when she shook it slightly. Alessa admired the craftsmanship of it, but otherwise there was nothing to suggest it belonged anywhere even remotely in the hospital.

“But we have the key from downstairs. What am I supposed to do with this?” Alessa asked, holding the object out in one hand. She was in amazement and confusion at the discovery inside the briefcase. All of this work for one camera?

And yet, there was obviously a purpose to it. Alessa just didn’t know what that was, yet. She waited helplessly.

Lisa had her chin cupped thoughtfully. “You’re obviously expected to photograph something,” she said thoughtfully, staring at the ancient looking relic in Alessa’s hand. She thought further about it. “That key you have downstairs doesn’t look like it’s for one of the hallways. In fact, it looks more like something for the basement, or the roof.” She snapped her fingers in sudden insight. “I bet if you just tried to use that key by itself, you wouldn’t have been able to get into the third floor,” Lisa said, putting the pieces together. She was quite pleased with herself at solving the puzzle so easily, to be honest.

Alessa groaned in exasperation. “Okay, let’s get it over with,” she said. It never ended, she thought. No matter how far they went, the town kept throwing more obstacles in front of her. It was almost like a game, she decided, except from the minds of the most twisted game makers possible.

Still, they would need to find out where they were supposed to utilize the camera in the first place. She supposed they would find out soon enough.

Lisa didn’t say anything, although she was seemingly smiling in amusement at Alessa’s antics. Maybe she sensed that Alessa was getting tired, but she wasn’t quite bold enough to say it. It was easy for her, Alessa realized. To her this was a game, running around and solving puzzles and gathering clues. She didn’t really have her life on the line, like Alessa did hers.

She was almost tempted to take a picture of Lisa, but somehow she held off the temptation. Knowing the circumstances, either Lisa wouldn’t show up, or else she would be shown as some kind of gruesome monster. Even if she was a spirit able to talk to her and act nicely with her, dead was dead, and such things tended to mess up the process on film cameras.

Alessa sighed tiredly. Best to just suck it up and get it over with. The sooner she got this done, the sooner she could track down her target and get the hell out of here.

They left with nary a word, determined to find their next subject. There was something waiting for them in here, but the problem was they had no idea what it was. Still, they couldn’t help but feel they were getting closer. Lisa knew she had to keep Alessa’s spirits up, and the way to do that was to distract her from how confounding some of the things here were. Hopefully she could continue to offer some help, despite her limited experience. It made her feel…useful.

~

They had retrieved the key from the patient room. Just like Lisa had said, it had popped right off once Alessa used the nail polish. Well, not exactly ‘popped right off’. Alessa had to struggle a bit to pry it off, which was embarrassing, considering the nurse was three feet away, and she even used her boot. She strained a bit, which almost had Lisa asking if she was all right in concern, but she kept her mouth quiet. Finally, it did pop off. Alessa held the key aloft in her fingers like a trophy smiling, savoring her victory. While she basked in the glow, Lisa smiled at how goofy she looked. The first floor was still deserted, although they decided not to linger in the region too long. There was no telling when they could be ambushed at any time. They still had the sense of something watching them in the halls, but there didn’t seem to be any visible danger. Maybe it was just their imaginations. The recovered items now in hand, they were now searching for where to use them. This place was large, but they were limited in where they could go, and it had to be somewhere nearby. Settled down as they were, they could afford to think clearly and take their time.

Lisa decided she’d waited long enough.

There was a particular question she wanted to ask Alessa. It was the question that had first burrowed its way into her brain from the moment she first realized who Alessa was, and what she was doing here.

They were walking along in the second floor. It had kind of become their home base, since it was the only place they were assured not to get ambushed, and the other places were too tight to maneuver easily.

Lisa stopped Alessa in her midst, putting a hand to her forearm. The other girl looked at her in surprise.

“Alessa, wait!”

“What is it?” Alessa asked.

Lisa decided to take the plunge. She had helped Alessa, with her goal and the obstacles she was encountering here. Maybe now Alessa could help her a bit.

Alessa waited with an expecting expression.

Lisa took a deep breath. “Alessa, can you get me out of here? I can’t stand being in this place anymore, after so many years in here,” she said, secretly pleading with the girl to answer in the positive vain. She couldn’t stand it anymore; she needed to get out of here. She didn’t want to sound too desperate, but she needed Alessa to help her. It was about the only chance that she would ever get, and Lisa wasn’t about to pass it up.

Alessa looked at her. “Lisa? What do you mean?” she asked. She had a vague idea of what Lisa was asking; but she needed to hear the nurse say it. Was Lisa really asking if she could take her away from the town? If so, that was crazy.

Lisa remained patient. “I’m sick of being stuck here, Alessa. I need to see what is beyond this place; please, can’t you help me?” she asked, pleading with the girl to understand. It was a desperate act. She knew there was an afterlife beyond this, and she wanted to see it, but with the gods blocking the path it was impossible for her to move on. But with Alessa in her corner now, maybe she could finally leave this hellish existence, once and for all.

Alessa set her mouth in a frown. It sounded like Lisa was asking if she could release her soul from this place. Alessa hated to be the bearer of bad news, but her heart broke when she realized she had to give Lisa the obvious answer. She knew some things about this place, but these were gods, and she didn’t know a lot of things about this place and how they functioned. It was true she was powerful, once. But she wasn’t a God, and it had been a long time since she was a priestess of the Order.

“Lisa, I’m sorry. I don’t think there’s anything I can do,” Alessa said, genuinely regretting the words. It wasn’t something she ever wanted to tell Lisa, but it was the truth. She didn’t want to sugarcoat it. Alessa didn’t want to lie to her, and she wasn’t going to. There was no point in lying to her, and Alessa didn’t want to get her hopes up when she had no idea what she was doing here. She just didn’t know enough to help her, and even if she did, she didn’t know if she would be able to given the circumstances. That didn’t mean she didn’t care, however. Seeing Lisa again here had brought her a peace she had never known, especially in recent times with all the horrible occurrences in the past 18 hours. It was nice to know that at least one part of her past here was unsullied and intact, even if Lisa was technically not alive. In fact, it made Alessa contemplate what she would be doing after this occurrence was over. That didn’t change the situation, though. Lisa was dead, and there was no bringing her back. Still, it was something. She had a friend here, something to hold onto and cherish, which was more than she could say for her mother at that point. And that led her to a stunning realization. It surprised her to know that she was prepared to stay here, if it was for Lisa’s sake.

It was a subject that held no doubts. Alessa liked Lisa, and she was prepared to spend the rest of her life in this place, if it meant she could keep Lisa company. It was better than going back home and being alone. It was a terrified thought honestly; for the rest of her life, she added silently. She knew how crazy that would sound to most people, giving up her life for a dead woman. Still, she was looking forward to spending time with Lisa, if it turned out that she couldn’t leave this town, and it was looking increasingly likely that that was the case. She wasn’t giving up on life, she was just being realistic about what her best prospects might be, after this was over. And that was keeping a dead woman company. She couldn’t take Lisa out of this place, but she could make the rest of her afterlife here in this place very pleasant, if she did say so herself.

Lisa’s face turned into something nasty. “So you’re not even going to try to help me?” she asked incredulously in a soft tone, looking at the girl across her with the first hints of betrayal. Her face shifted into outright anger. “After all I’ve done for you. I took care of you, Alessa. I fed you, changed your bandages, cleaned you up… I died for you!” Lisa shouted, her voice stinging with the tones of righteous anger. Alessa was taken aback at her upset reaction. And Lisa continued. “And you’re telling me you can’t find it in yourself to summon even a shred of sympathy for me?” she demanded, staring at Alessa with hardened eyes, as though she was demanding an answer immediately.

“Lisa, I…” Alessa started to say, not knowing what to say. She was rather frightened now, to be honest. But Lisa interrupted her.

Lisa was shaking her head. “I can’t believe it. You’re one of them. You’re just like all the rest of them, who come here to this town and promise to do things for you, and then never deliver on it!” Lisa said venomously, glaring daggers at the girl across from her, with all of the indignation she could possibly summon. Then, she reached a decision. “Then, fuck you! Fuck you, Alessa!” Lisa shouted, screaming at Alessa in outrage and defiance of the worst kind. The sudden explosion took Alessa completely by surprise, and she took an awkward step back: was Lisa going to hit her? It was disturbing, and she almost found herself reaching for her gun, before she remembered that it was the nurse, and she couldn’t possibly hurt her; she’d never forgive herself if she did.

“…Lisa, I…” Alessa tried, but it was no good. Lisa suddenly took off running, and before Alessa knew how to respond, she had disappeared around a corner with the sound of a door being unlocked somewhere. Alessa stood there puzzled, baffled as to the sudden turn that events had taken. It was bizarre, and not at all what she expected.

What the…? What the hell was that? Alessa wondered. The explosion had come out of nowhere, and had taken her completely by surprise. She had never seen Lisa that angry before. She had gotten flashes of her arguing with someone, but never to that extent. It was disturbing, to know that her sweet little nurse was capable of such rage, and Alessa almost felt that she was being seriously criminalized for committing some irredeemably mortal sin.

And suddenly her own rage began to grow. What the hell? What right did Lisa have to accuse her of any of these things? It wasn’t like she wanted any of those things to happen. Alessa never meant for any of these things to happen, and she was entirely helpless in the situation. It wasn’t like she would have been able to stop them: she was lying comatose on a bed for god sakes! And Alessa was helpless to do anything to bring Lisa back, no matter how much she may have wanted it. She wasn’t a God, or a miracle worker. Hell, she was probably going to kill herself after this was over! She didn’t deserve that, and it was completely unfair of Lisa to pour all of those accusations on her like this. There was only so much she could do. She wasn’t invincible, damn it, she was…it…

The rage lingered there in the background. She tried to tell herself that it was all she needed, that she didn’t have any reason to feel bad about what Lisa said, but the truth was there was something sadder that was being concealed under the anger. Alessa had adored Lisa all those years ago, and to have the nurse say all those awful things to her without any thought to her feelings whatsoever left her shaken, despite her best attempts. It hurt, damn it. Her stomach felt ill just thinking about it.

She was left seriously confused, wondering what she should do next. Would she ever see the nurse again? Or was this just one of the illusions the town imposed on her, and that she allowed herself to fall into? She cursed herself for doing so if it was the latter, but somehow she didn’t think so. Something else had happened here, and it wasn’t just the town playing a trick on her. She knew it; there was more to this than met the eye. Somehow, a feeling in her gut told her so.

Alessa looked at the corner through where Lisa had vanished from the corridor. She would be back, Alessa knew it. The nurse hadn’t taken off permanently, and this was just a little tantrum on her part. Somehow, she knew it. She would encounter the nurse again, and they would have words then when they met. Until then, there was nothing Alessa could do but wait, apparently. Alessa hated the thought, but it was so.

Very well, Alessa decided. She would show Lisa that she didn’t need her. She had been doing just fine without her, before she came along. She would get through the hospital just fine and find Leonard, and complete her objective here without any help from the nurse whatsoever. And when Lisa saw that there was nobody else in this hospital to keep her company, nobody who could even see her, she would come begging back. She would be sorry she said all those things to Alessa, and Alessa would ask what the hell was up with exploding like that. She wasn’t a child: she didn’t need hand-holding to get through a tough situation like this all the time.

Emboldened with new purpose, Alessa stepped out the door to proceed with her assignment. Douglas was counting on her. She was off to find Leonard, and she couldn’t allow something as trivial as a nurse’s little feelings to interfere with that. She had something more important to do, and anything else could wait until the end of that. She told herself that firmly. Maybe if she told herself that enough times, she would believe it.

~

AN: Some dialogue, and Stanley's diaries may be borrowed from SH3.