'kay, before anyone makes a nasty review or sends me an e-mail informing me of my impending damnation, I did not include the religious part of this chapter to upset people, nor am I saying that these beliefs are mine (though, I'm also not saying that they aren't). Since the beginning of the series, Silent Hill has included numerous religious ideas and passages to add a certain element to the story of each game. The last thing I need is to have atheists e-mailing me, complaining about how it was unnecessary to add religous references within a fanfic, or to have devout Christians saying that my interpretations of the Bible are wrong and that Satan is going to own my soul, yadayadayada .. Newsflash: What's written within this piece of fiction is not my interpretation of the Bible, nor does it necessarily reflect my personal religious beliefs. And even if were and/or did, holy cow, it's a free country. Kthnx.

(Sorry to those of you who have open minds and don't really care to make a fuss when it comes to such matters.)

Thanks. Enjoy.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I l l u s i o n

The graveyard was as nice as any could be; freshly cut flowers were set before every grave, some with little notes and tiny stuffed animals, and grand willow trees seemed to shield them with their long, billowy canopies. It seemed as though the fog and diminishing sunlight of the evening's hour were the only things that made it seem like a believable cemetary - if they'd come in the morning, Lilly doubted that she'd recognize even the tombstones for themselves.

"Lilly," came Sam's voice, and she glanced up to see him a short distance ahead of her. "Come on, I don't want to be stuck in this place after dark."

Turning her head once more, she looked back to what had captured her attention and stopped her trek. An angel stood beside her, towering over her by a good three feet, hands outstretched to each side with the palms turned skyward, as if waiting for salvation to pour from the heavens and into her hands. The wings, chipped and eroded, the left missing the entire bottom tip, were unfurled, ready to take flight. But the eyes were what had transfixed Lilly, wide and gazing down into the grave above which the statue was erected, seeming to look into the hidden eyes of the dead. Those eyes saw what she could not see, right through the earth, into the very soul of the one who'd been buried right under her feet, and Lilly could just imagine the angel lifting the individual's soul from their body, right up into Heaven, offering it to the Lord. Right then, at that very moment, she stood over one of His lambs, one of the Chosen people that lived so purely that an angel could anoint their soul right after death. This person, she knew, must have lived so greatly that everyone else knew of their future in the afterlife, and that was why they'd placed such a statue over their grave. Maybe it had been a pastor? Or perhaps just a simple, everyday person that had been an avid church-goer?

"Lilly!"

With a double-take, Lilly tore her gaze from the statue and jogged over to Sam, who had stopped his forward progress to turn and wait for her, and she could tell as she approached that he'd been watching her. It puzzled him, she knew, to witness her fixation with an angel statue in the middle of a graveyard at dusk. It would anyone, to be sure, but Sam was sensible, down-to-earth, and, most of all, he tended to worry a great deal. To ease his discomfort, she smiled softly and gave a little kiss to his cheek, taking his hand within her own, and they continued through the cemetary.

- - -

They'd found the Lakeside Hotel within an hour, taking a few moments to stand and look out over the lake at Lilly's request. The moon was in the process of crossing the horizon, looking whole as its upper half reflected in the lake's water, waveless and still, like glass. Finally, with his hand pressed gently to the small of Lilly's back, Sam turned them both towards the door of the hotel, ushering her through and following after. The main lobby was dimly lit with a single lamp set atop the counter, behind which sat a slumbering, balded, elderly man with a large, dark grey tabby curled comfortably in his lap. Glancing over at Sam for the go-ahead, Lilly reached her hand forward to firmly tap her knuckles against the countertop, jumping back in surprise at the cat instantly awoke and looked up at her with one green eye and one black, empty socket.

"Jesus," Sam exhaled, bringing his arm comfortingly about Lilly's shoulders, his concern for her growing as they both peered at the feline, who had stopped paying any attention to them and placed its head down again, settling back to sleep. The girl's knee-jerk reaction to the animal had startled him more than the animal itself, and he couldn't really understand why it had unnerved her - it was just a cat, after all. "You okay?"

"I just .. wasn't expecting that," she replied, regaining her composure, more than a little embarrassed, instantly recognizing the fact that Sam hadn't seen what she had within that void where an eyeball was supposed to be - and just as instantly recognizing the fact that he would be even more worried if she said anything about it, so she remained silent.

"Excuse me," Sam called gently to the man, keeping his arm securely wrapped around Lilly as he rapped his own knuckles on the wood. Unlike Lilly, he didn't notice that this time, the cat didn't stir.

The man's eyes slowly opened and he looked up at them for a moment, lifting a hand to scratch at his nose before sitting upright, straightening his black vest and grabbing a pen from the countertop. "Evening, youngin's, how can I help you?"

"We'd like to book a room, if you have any available," Sam replied, taking a pair of twenty dollar bills from his pocket, too busy to notice that Lilly was still staring at the sleeping cat.

To her, though, the cat was wide awake - he'd never gone back to sleep - and staring at her with its one eye, the left socket wide and empty, a dark abyss that was drawing her closer, in. It was growing, leaving the cat behind, creeping towards her to swallow her whole .. With a blink of her eyes, it was an empty socket again, within the head of a feline that was lazily licking its paw. Simple and harmless enough, she thought, until she noticed the droplets of blood dripping from the claws ..

"Lilly? Come on," came Sam's voice, and she could feel his palm on her shoulder, his fingertips gripped comfortingly upon her collarbone. He was leading her away, down towards the room he'd booked for them, and she was walking along with him before she could even consider it, and as they turned the corner into the side corridor, she glanced back over to the cat.

He was curled up in the man's lap, sleeping.

- - -

"You should probably get ready for bed while I get the stuff from the car."

The room was quaint, though small, with a large window granting visage of the lake just beyond. Lilly was sitting on the bed, her hands pressed down onto the soft duvet, as Sam grabbed the room key from the top of the television and turned to the door.

"Wait," she said, looking over to him, and he turned with his hand on the doorknob. "It's getting dark .. Let's wait until tomorrow and go get it together. I don't like the thought of you going all the way out there alone at night."

"I don't like the thought of somebody stealing everything we own," he replied flatly, but she could see in his tired eyes that her concern touched him.

"Come to bed, we'll get it in the morning." Reaching out her hand, she watched him hesitate, mentally weighing the possible consequences of leaving their belongings out in the car all night long outside a strange town. Within a moment, though, his exhaustion and her care for his well-being won the battle and he strode over to her, setting the keys back on the television and dropping to his knees before her, resting his head against her chest as she brought her arms around him.

Stroking her hands down his back, Lilly gently pulled his shirt up the length of his torso and off his arms as he leaned back and raised them, dropping the garment to the floor. Slowly, he unbuttoned her blouse, letting it fall to meet his shirt, and they both slid up on the bed, lips together as their hands undressed one another the rest of the way. Keeping his arms about her and kissing her deeply, Sam entered her, the first time since they'd lost their viginities. And despite the sweetness of his skin and the pleasure of their union, all Lilly could smell was the scent of blood.