Silent Hill: Memories of Chains

Chapter 2: Blinded by Selfishness

Katherine began to wake up; blinking as she tried to focus on the dim light of the room she was in. She turned to the left and right and realized she was on a bed in an old apartment building. She sat up slowly as she put her hand over her injured arm, it throbbed with pain. She looked at it in realization that someone had bandaged it. Her leather jacket lay across the room on a chair. Who had saved her? It couldn’t have been the man whom had tried to shoot her, and who else to save her than the man wielding the giant sword that had saved her life?

She got up off the bed and walked over to her coat and was about to grab it to put it on when the door next to her opened from the outside. She turned frightened by the sudden intruder. As the tall man closed the door behind him, they both just stared at each other for a moment. His hair was a light brown and he had a black head band going over his left eye like a patch; his skin was almost a light tanned ashy color dotted with freckles and his clothes consisted of an opened red button up shirt and jeans; his eyes were a dark almost black brown.

She turned to run to the other side of the room not knowing if he was dangerous or not, but before she could move further than one step the man had his arms around her waist holding her in front of him.

“Whoa where do you think you’re going?” He asked. Katherine could hear the smile in his voice.

“Away from you, who are you anyway?!” she asked in slight shock of the way he was holding her.

“My name is Malic, and I wouldn’t recommend you running from me, I’m the only thing keeping you safe at the moment.
She turned in his arms, her hands on his as she looked at him surprised. “You’re the one who saved me?”

He let go of her and nodded, “That James, he’s one of a kind; he is looking for his late wife. He tends to be skittish... By the way, why are you here?”

“My name is Katherine, I ran away to live here. I thought it would be safer; I wanted to disappear above all.”
Malic crossed his arms, “Well you won’t disappear that’s for sure, and if you did I’d be quite lonely here by myself.”
Katherine felt a grin spread across her face and she almost laughed, but a loud thud from outside caused her to hold it in. “What was that?” She asked in a whisper.

Malic handed Katherine her jacket and crossed the room to retrieve his large sword that she had not seen earlier. “That’s him, James Sunderland; we should get going before he finds us.”

Malic took Katherine by the hand and led her out into the hall way where the darkness of the old building gathered like the fog outside. The carpet of the apartment complex was torn and stained with time. The walls were off white and had graffiti written in most places. But she barely had time to notice any more detail of the decaying building with how fast they were sneaking from hallway to room.

Malic opened a fire escape door to reveal the building adjacent to it and a window on the building that was just a leap away. She stared at the dangerous opening in disbelief; did he expect her to jump over to the next building?! That was absurd and completely…

The sounds of rapid gunshots could be heard behind them; it was only when Katherine turned around that she saw that those bullets were aimed at them.

“Jump, now.” Malic said in a cool tone that made her wonder how he could stay so calm. But as the gun shots stopped and James reloaded she made her decision to jump and get away from the man trying to kill them. She jumped with all her effort, arms flying forward and legs extending as far as she could make them. She landed harshly on the floor in the opposite building, her head smashed against the floor, making her head spin and jaw ache.

Her eyes opened, her gaze following the floor she laid on, when she saw two feet land expertly before her eyes. She heard a muffled voice before the said person lifted her from the ground. “Get a hold of yourself.”

Katherine looked up to see Malic holding her up with a worried expression. “We need to run before he catches up.”
She nodded at him and started to walk out of the room, her head gradually becoming numb from the pain.

After maneuvering through floors, rooms, and different corridors they came to a room that was almost hidden from sight. Katherine ran in automatically, not noticing that Malic stayed behind. It was only when the door closed behind her that she turned around and noticed she was alone. She ran to the door and banged on it. “Malic, what are you doing?!”
“Stay in this room, and don’t leave. I’ll be back later.” There was a loud clink as something hard hit the knob of the door on the other side.

Katherine quickly jiggled the lock only to find it wouldn’t turn. “Malic, don’t leave me here!” She slammed her fist on the door angrily, “Damn it!”

Turning around and leaning on the damaged door she examined the decaying room. The light from the dirty windows of the balcony gave it an eerie glow and a slight fog lay in the room. Cautiously she walked forward examining the small apartment and its contents. It was relatively normal: one bedroom, a bathroom, kitchen, and a small balcony. She walked toward the dirty and somewhat broken balcony doors and noticed it was slightly cracked open.

She turned to look at the locked door behind her. Malic might have saved her life but other than that she knew nothing about him or how dangerous he could be. She turned her attention back on the glass door, she needed to find a way out of the building and find somewhere else to hide, or at least something to defend herself with.

She moved her fingers through the opening in the sliding balcony door and pushed lightly, but it didn’t budge. She tried harder, using all her weight trying to open it but it was stuck fast. She grit her teeth and looked at the door and noticed how some of the square windows on the door were broken. Getting an idea she picked up one of the kitchen chairs and held it up near the window/door and threw it against the glass as hard as she could.

The glass shattered and the chair flew past the door to land on the balcony that was now covered with glass. The air that wafted into the room almost smelled sweet compared to the musty odor inside. She moved past the glass door and stepped on to the balcony, her boots smashing the shards of glass that lay beneath her. She looked around and luckily found that the balcony was a fire escape. She then, carefully, made her decent down the many levels of the apartment.