Paradise, Wrapped in a Straightjacket

Chapter 2: Back in the Nightmare World


The world was dark around her. There was a musty odor in the air – the smell of air that was days, perhaps weeks old. She found herself walking a corridor that was grotesque in appearance, riddled with layers of rush and other putrid substances.

Heather Mason glanced around the macabre display. What was she doing here? She remembered going to bed, then a gradual fade into darkness, and then…nothing. She couldn’t possibly be back in Silent Hill? Was this a dream? It seemed there was no other explanation. But what was she doing here?

Suddenly it all came back to her. Claudia, Harry…yes that was it. She had to avenge her father. She remembered finding her father’s corpse in the living room, speared through the chest with a weapon of unknown origin. She would find her father’s killer and bring her to justice. And to do that, there was a certain someone she had to find first. The name came into her mind with sudden clarity.

Leonard…

Leonard, yes! She was here to track down Leonard. He would lead her to where that loathsome bitch was hiding.

Content with her purpose, she settled into the task at hand. The ghastly atmosphere bothered her, though she did her best to ignore it. She wandered the halls while holding her shotgun, searching for any sign of her quarry. Leonard was mentioned in the documents she found, so she knew he had to be around here somewhere. If only Claudia was here, so she could save herself the trouble. She thought about what she would do when she finally reached the pale, pasty blonde bitch. When Heather found her, she was going to blow away Claudia’s legs, followed by her arms. Maybe she’d even take a shot at the bitch’s crotch first. It was no more than she deserved.

She came across a room she noted seemed oddly significant. She noticed the number on the door. S07. A flash of recognition went through her. Wasn’t that the door to…?

She carefully turned the knob and opened the door. The room that greeted her was not what she was expecting. The room was not small and confined like the other rooms on the third floor. Instead the room was open and wide, like the M numbered chambers on the second floor. There was a bed on turned on its side leaning against a wall. There was another settled on the ground, with a set of rumpled sheets covering the mattress. And next to that was something Heather did not expect. There was a man sitting next to the bed on the floor in a cross-legged position, scribbling elegantly into a journal of some kind. Pages of the book was scattered around him, covered with that sophisticated handwriting. A flash of insight knocked Heather off the metaphorical ground. Was this…?

The man had short brown hair that ended above the back of his neck. He was wearing the uniform of a Brookhaven patient, a gray set of plain pants and shirt that looked more like pajamas than any medical garb. The man suddenly stilled, as though aware of her presence, and sure enough, he turned to look at her.

“Heather?”

Heather wasn’t sure to respond.

“Heather! You’ve arrived at last, my love!”

The man stood up to his full height. He was about the same height as Heather, maybe an inch or two taller. Heather was astounded beyond words at his non-threatening appearance. She was expecting…well, she wasn’t sure what she was expecting, but this wasn’t it. The man had a slight layer of stubble covering his jaw; he was surprisingly well-kept given the circumstances. He had a boyish, youthful quality about him that reminded Heather of some of the boys at school. He was lithely built, like Vincent, except slim with a muscular tone. But it was his face that truly captured Heather’s notice. There was an intense expression in his gaze; stronger than anything Heather had ever seen. It was disturbing, powerful, and suddenly, Heather scratched her old assessment of her. There was something threatening about him. There was a hint of madness in his eyes; some manic glee at seeing her that overwhelmed all traces of rational sense.

Heather unconsciously took a few steps back.

The man seemed not the least bit dissuaded by her reaction. If there was any trace of her nervousness, it went undetected. He was obviously too happy to see her to think about why she wasn’t doing the same.

“Who are you?” Heather asked, though she already knew the answer.

“You know who I am, Heather,” the man answered, staring at her with those intense eyes.

“…Stanley?” Heather answered shakily.

Stanley Coleman’s eyes lit up with joy. “You remember me. I always knew we would meet one day, Heather.”

Heather wasn’t sure what to make of that. If the documents were to be believed, every person in this place was a mental case. The slightest response a little off could be enough to set them off.

“Maybe so, but who are you?”

Stanley took on a confused expression. “Don’t you remember me? We were friends when we were kids.”

“I had no friends when I was a kid,” Heather asked automatically. “None of that suits your profile anyway…”

“Heather…”

“You were the one who left me the diaries…and that doll,” Heather burst out suddenly.

Stanley noticed something resembling panic in her voice. “Yes. I didn’t mean to scare you. But those were tokens of my affection. I didn’t have another way to express how I felt about you. This place isn’t exactly teeming with useful stuff.” Stanley hesitated with some measure of shame. “And…I was too cowardly enough to face you. But that’s all over now. When Leonard came at me with a knife, I knew I couldn’t go this way. I had to stand up for myself. So I killed him. And then I decided to meet you. I had to be brave enough to see you, or else I would I would never be able to meet you.” Stanley smiled, looking up with a sort of self-deprecating pride.

“Oh Heather. I always knew I would meet one day. I just knew it.”

“Um, I think you got the wrong person. It’s Alessa you want,” Heather answered uncertainly.

But Stanley was unfazed. “It doesn’t matter. That’s just one part of what a wonderful person you are.”

Stanley approached Heather slowly.

“You have no idea how long I’ve waited for this. How many hours I sat in this room, waiting for the day when I would finally see you.”

Heather wanted to run back. And yet, she found there was something holding her back. She didn’t know why, yet the effect was undeniable. She was drawn to this young man. Heather backed up against the door; she wasn’t aware she had moved back with him. She felt cold, unable to react. Heather’s heart was hammering in her chest. She was trembling in uncontrollable nervousness.

Stanley was perilously close to her now. He placed an arm around her shoulder, leaning against the door. He reached for her with his left hand, stopping in midair. Heather was mesmerized by the desire in his eyes. No one had ever looked at her this way before. It was strangely satisfying to know someone valued her that way. Heather knew what Stanley was getting at. Yet far from feeling threatened, she was feeling…excited? Hadn’t she been thinking about how nice it would be to have someone make love to her? Oh, she was nervous, no doubt about that. But it wasn’t the sort of nervousness one got when your life was threatened. This was the nervousness you got when you were about to do something you had never done before.

“I love you, Heather. Let me show you how much,” Stanley said in a heavy voice. Heather’s trembling increased. She must have seemed ridiculous, shaking like a statue of jell-o.

Stanley leaned in to kiss her. Heather let him, enticed by the idea of getting her first real kiss in years.

Suddenly, she was hit by a flash of recollection.

If it weren't for his meddling,
I would have been able to meet
you in just a little while.
Then I could have taken you
to my world.
A world for us alone, more
beautiful than this one.

The memory brought the situation back into cruel, twisted focus. A light bulb went on in Heather’s brain. He didn’t want to pleasure her. He…he wanted to kill her. She didn’t know how she knew that, only that she did.

Heather pushed the man away.

“Stay away from me,” she burst out. Stanley was confused by her sudden change in demeanor.

“Heather…”

“I said stay away!”

Before Stanley could react, Heather was out the door.


~


Heather ran through the halls of the hospital. She ducked into the first door she saw at the end of the hall. There were no sounds of pursuit, though she dare not stop in an environment like this. She kicked herself for being stupid enough to leave behind her weapon, in the hands of the maniac who wanted to murder her, no less. She might as well have told him to come after her and blow her ass to hell. She didn’t care where she ended up in, only about getting away from this stalker…this….insane man who wanted to ‘liberate’ her from her troubles by killing her. The walls teemed around her with dark layers of rusted gore, emanating a stench that made her sick to her stomach. Heather resisted the urge to vomit, driven by the fear of what would happen if she did not escape this insane pursuer.

Suddenly she halted in her tracks. Running so instinctively, she barely noticed the roadblock in front of her until she was mere feet away. Ahead of her was a sight that made her stop cold. It was a monster. But this was no ordinary monster. This monster was huge. It stood at least seven feet tall and wore a massive helmet over its head, in the shape of a pyramid. Its massive body shifted under the triangle as it manipulated some unknown thing, muscular flesh rippling under the pale gray skin. Heather gasped when she saw what it was he held.

Bound by its power, a demon nurse struggled furiously in its grasp. The creature seemed to be groping her, working its hands tellingly over her body. Heather was repulsed by the sight. The creature grabbed her chest, digging its fingers into her flesh, warping and destroying the area. The nurse shrieked frighteningly in agony, its limbs thrashing spasmodically in the air. The creature drew back with its right hand and then brought its arm into the nurse’s body. Though its body obscured her vision, Heather somehow knew the creature had put its hand between her legs. The nurse thrashed in agony as the creature felt her insides, casually rearranging her internal organs. And then, the creature pulled out its arm and raised it, holding a string of organs high in the air.

Heather shrieked in astonishment. She was too horrified to scream, though her heart was hammering in her chest. The creature turned towards her and dropped the nurse to the ground. Heather raised her arms to shoot it, only to realize she was missing her shotgun. Tossing the organs against a wall, the creature started to move. Heather cursed herself for leaving behind her only weapon. She went to run away, but tripped and ended up falling on her ass. Heather tried crawling away, but the monster reached out and grabbed her leg. Hauling her back by her leg, it lifted her up from the ground until she was face to face with it, being held up by one hand. Its grip was tight on her chest, holding her up by the center of her vest. The creature maintained its grip on her vest, leaving its left hand free, and for one terrifying moment Heather thought it was going to do to her what it did to the nurse. Instead the creature tossed her back with enormous brute strength.

Heather cried out from the impact. The fall had taken the wind out of her. She pushed herself up on tired arms. Heather tried to get away, but the creature exerted some strange power over her with its hand. Indeed, she found herself unable to move. More terrified than ever before, Heather tried her best not to cry as she realized the end was near. She was about to die and there was nothing she could do about them.

“Let her go!”

Heather looked back at the sound of the male voice. To her surprise, it was the last thing she would have expected.

The man she had been running from stood there intently, looking infuriated.

Heather looked back at the pyramid head, then back at the man standing like a challenge before it. The pyramid headed creature seemed just as surprised as she was. Was the man she had been running from really standing up for her?

“Let her go,” Stanley Coleman said, in a surprisingly authoritative voice.

The creature looked unsure of whether to back down. Finally it relented. With a wave of its hand, the creature released her from its grasp. Heather reeled back, taking a moment to recover herself.

The monster lumbered away, leaving the two of them alone. Heather looked at Stanley in awe, unable to believe what just happened.

“You saved me,” Heather said, the astonishment evident in her voice. Was he using the same power the creature was?

Stanley said nothing, making sure the creature was truly gone.

“Why did he attack me?” Heather asked.

Stupid question, she thought to herself. As if a monster needed any reason to attack someone. But there was something different about this one. It seemed…Heather didn’t know, superior somehow? It didn’t seem like your run-of-the-mill monster.

“The gods are angry, Heather,” Stanley answered in a reverent tone. “They’re angry at what mankind has done to the world, and how corrupt and uncaring they have become. So they choose to take it out on anyone human they come across.”

“So how did you drive it away?” the blonde teen asked. If these guys were gods, then how was it possible for Stanley to drive one back?

“Because in spite of this, there are a few humans they still respect,” Stanley answered. “You just have to know how to deal with them.”

Heather was silent while she absorbed that. That didn’t answer her question.

“Now do you believe I won’t hurt you?” Stanley asked her.

Heather looked at that youthful face, so blatant in its honesty. She could almost see into his soul, and the depth of desire he harbored there. He cared about her. Strange as it may seem, with no logical reason for it, he did.

“Come with me, Heather,” he said, holding out his hand.

The teenager looked at his outstretched hand. There was more than just a gesture of benevolence. He was asking her to trust him. He was asking her to believe in him, and his word as a “childhood friend” that was he was not going to hurt her.

And in that instance, Heather made a decision. She took the young man’s hand and followed him back to the room where they met.