Silent Letters; 'S' is for Stairs

Silent Letters; 'S' is for Stairs

S.

S, s, s. S for Scarlet. Maybe it was his key. How horribly ironic it would have been if he had been waiting all along in the most obvious place of all. His own room. Monika's brow furrowed and she unrolled Ian's message again, to reread it properly.

They'd bring us here in groups to make us do something boring.

Usually sitting in a circle and discussing one topic or another so they could judge our sanity that way.

Monika cast a skeptical glance at the key, now clutched in her friend's hand for use as a makeshift marker. It seemed doubtful a place like a mental hospital and a mental hospital like Brookhaven would bother custom-initialing patient rooms. He wouldn't be Ian Scarlet here, he'd be 'patient number such and such'. No, definitely not a personal room. And definitely not an 'S plus number' room, according to the long, straight slashes across the map. The only 's' places left were several storage areas and shower rooms, inconveniently placed on every level of the building.

It only made sense to start at level one. The two had devised a search plan and were off to follow it within a matter of two minutes, trying in vain to fit metal teeth into locks they weren't made for, and searching about for somebody--any living, breathing being at all--to soothe their worried minds. Not only had they failed in that, but also discovered a faulty elevator power system, which at the moment, stranded them on this one story of the building.

Monika didn't miss peeking out of any of the few windows they'd passed, hoping desperately to see something other than white and gray. She noted with some cynicism, that it seemed Ian had pulled them both into an odd little game with a vague likeness to hide-and-seek. Here they were, running all about this labyrinth of an asylum, after him, the evasive prize...

How pleasing for him.

Right.

Still a lot of rooms to go, but they had been cut down considerably and there were just the two on this floor. Store room first, since it was in their immediate vicinity; Trish picked up the map again, folding it so that just the first floor was showing for now and held it at her side, the key in the opposite hand, counting the doors they passed under her breath before stopping. Store Room one.

Lifting the key up and staring down at the knob, she hoped this was the one, just so it would be done that much faster and could find this Ian guy, either to shoot him or turn him into the police, though with the amount of activity currently present in Brookhaven she doubted very much that there was an active police force in this town. More and more she was getting the feeling that Silent Hill was a little too silent. Like a ghost town.

A light jiggle of the handle and the key. Nothing. The key barely even fit in the lock. She let out an aggravated sigh and turned around to face Monika, nodding for her to go over to the next hall to check the Shower Room. She did wonder why it would be a shower room. Perhaps they were misinterpreting? Well, it would still be good to check either way, but as soon as the same thing happened with that knob she felt the need to retract that thought. This hall was even darker than the last, and had a stale smell to the air, one that seemed mildly expected from such an old looking facility. Yet another angry sigh and they were once again in the main lobby, finished with the only two 'S' rooms on this floor.

Elevator time.

...Or so they thought.

"What?"

Trish pressed the up button a few times with her thumb, causing no light to come on and nothing to stir behind the tightly sealed metal doors. Damn, that made sense. There wasn't any other light source and now this, the power must have been out. "Shit... Monika, the elevator's aren't running," Trish bit an end of the key lightly, just to give herself another free hand, and brought up the map again, holding it close to her face.

Stairs, stairs...

.......Wait.

Stairs!?

Trish practically threw the map onto the floor and tore the key away from her mouth to examine it again, very closely, staring hard at the 'S' imprinted on it.

Store room.

Shower room.

None of those made sense.

Stairs.

'S' for stairs?! How clearer did that need to be?

"...Seems that boy's made a fool of us."

Monika paused for a long time after that, just staring. "...I--...what? You mean the clue...?"

Trish had the expression of a woman on a mission. She didn't keep still as she explained her discovery, irritation and determined curiosity speeding her pace to a speed that made Monika nervous of losing track of her friend. By the time they had reached the suspected 'correct answer' of Ian's hint, she was struck dumb with speechless realization.

She would be sure to admonish him for that once they met.

Sure enough, Trish's suspicions were indeed correct, her flash of deductive wit rewarded with a snug key fit that gave a dull clunk when she turned it. There was a bit of apprehension immediately after that initial rush of excited adrenaline, but surely nothing that couldn't be remedied with firearms. The two barreled in suddenly, Trish ahead with her weapon whipped forward, and Monika just behind.

Nothing.

The gun barrel hovered for a while longer, as both it's wielder, and whom it was protecting strained their ears to hear anything at all that might warn them of a lurking danger. Silence. Dark and silent and seemingly safe. Trish lowered her arms into a more comfortable position, but left her finger across the trigger.

After a quick exchange of nods between the two women, they began to trudge up the stairs, their progress gradual with darkness that grew more and more absolute the higher they climbed, even despite the flimsy glow of Monika's cell phone screen. After much toil and failure to open the second story floor, another note was found.

This one was shorter:

I told you.

You're getting closer, I know.

And sorry about the bit of confusion the key must have caused. I know just how many 'S' rooms there are in this place.

Not to worry, though, my dear. The rest is easy, but the elevators don't work properly. The power might have something to do with that. Why don't you have a look since you're up here?

The last door opened. They were back outside, but with a view now. A Brookhaven haunted by suffocating fog, littered with grim, ugly silhouettes and shapes of distant objects. Everything. It was all horrible and gray and infected.

Trish and Monika were grateful for this very direct and easy-to-fulfill clue. Go up to the roof and turn the power back on. It was simple. The main power control was easy to locate on a nearly empty roof, and reactivating it consisted of only the flip of a lever.

Back down to the third story door they had passed over. Now it was all a matter of finding the elevator, which was yet another very unbelievably uncomplicated task. From this point however, Monika was at a loss, and when she glanced at Trish for perhaps another miracle inspiration, she was replied with her own expression mirrored.

No matter. They'd just try someplace they hadn't been to yet. The basement and the second floor. Just out of curiosity, and despite her friend's protesting, Trish curiously poked at the 'B' button, but was disappointed to find her action inconsequential in the least.

The second floor it was.

They would take the stairs to get to the basement later on, but for now this was their only choice.

Trish pressed the button and a light came on behind it, casting a dim though eerie glow on whatever was near it, namely her and Monika. They kept close to the door for the mean time, waiting only a few small seconds before there would have been a ding, but that seemed to be out of order and instead the doors pulled themselves open with an aged groan.

Something seemed off immediately to Trish, but she couldn't place what right at that moment. The air was stale and stagnant, as if nothing had gone in or left this hall in a very, very long time, but how could that be if Monika's own aunt worked in this facility?

Speaking of Margaret, where the hell was she? She didn't come to meet them at the inn, they hadn't seen a soul in town through the fog, and now there was no one in this place at all, not even patients?

It just didn't add up, no matter how she tried to wrap her mind around it. What the hell was going on here?

The two stepped out of the elevator, Trish scrutinizing everything particularly, turning to the left and staring at the long hallway before them there. Dark as ever, but there were some windows that weren't boarded (which she couldn't for the life of her understand why some were boarded unless patients here were particularly violent and they had broken), letting a meager amount of light in that made the use of the cell phone on this floor superfluous, and she pocketed it.

So what now?

No other hint from this kid?

No more words from the creepy little bastard?

Well, she was mistaken.

A quick turn to the right granted her sight to an old wooden table parked up right against an alcoved wall, and sitting daintily atop it was another, slightly more crumpled piece of paper.

There's always something stirring in this town. It's almost disgusting. Not everyone sees it, though.

Have you seen it?

The fog?

What about the dark?

I hope you haven't seen the dark... no one should have to, but it's there. It exists. And it eats at everything.

Underlined was the last sentence. And it eats at everything. Was that significant, then? It had to be, or else he wouldn't go through the trouble of pointing it out so blatantly... or maybe he was just being weird. He was insane, wasn't he? That's why he was put in this place to begin with.

"Aside from him being honestly insane... I think I would peg him as a druggie, first. This boy does not sound sober."

The fog was everywhere, but what the hell? There was a lake and it was November. It was chilly as hell. No wonder there's fog. But the dark? That was a bit of an odd statement... 'I hope you haven't seen the dark...' This whole place was dark, what was he talking about? She probably shouldn't have been trying to analyze the words of a possibly drugged out mental hospital patient, but there she went, doing it again. Every note brought her more questions about his character than answers.

Why was he being so cryptic?

Why bother with the notes instead of just meeting Monika at the front?

It was probably like a game to him and he was fun running all over the place placing these things, always being one step ahead of them.

"Eats at everything... okay... What can we get from that line," she tapped at it with her finger, looking at the ceiling and pondering while Monika reread it next to her. A thought; "Maybe... he's not being metaphorical. Not some kind of warning, but..." Warning? Why did she jump to that? ...Well... it did sound kind of like a warning. To stay out of the darkness. But why, if he had brought them into such a dark place to begin with? "But maybe... shit... He's making about as much sense as my uncle. Bastard's always drunk, too..."

Drugs. Alcohol. Insanity.

Any combination of those could be why he was saying things like this, but for every note he left, they did seem to accomplish something. Damn it all... It was just like a scavenger hunt.

She sighed and attempted to continue, "Not a warning... Maybe... something physical. That eats at everything... what could they have in a hospital that 'eats at everything'..." Everything that came to mind after that thought turned into metaphorical objects; therapy, insanity, darkness of the mind.

Wait... yes!

Suddenly Trish went tense and glanced quickly to Monika.

"You're a nurse... this is a hospital. Maybe this clue's tied to things you'd find in a regular hospital, like... medical alcohol or something."

Was about the only thing that made any sense to her in regards to that line, hopefully Monika would have a clue.