Disclaimer: Silent Hill is owned by Konami.

AN: This story has returned! This story is taking a lot more consideration than usual, since I don't have a plan for it. I only have ideas that I want to see happen. So, it will take more time for it to progress slowly. Rest assured, however, I will be diligently working on it beside 'Forbidden Longing' and 'Dark Descent' while the other stories are being written! ;-D I hope you enjoy it.

AN2: Yes, Julie is a thinker. That's what happens when you're caught in a situation like this. You overthink things, and struggle to understand why it's happening. And unlike most people, Julie knows that there's a psychological component to the Otherworld. It's not just gods, or spirits, or whatever force is in the town, running around playing with things. :-)

Chapter 2

Julie emerged out into the front yard. She had made her way down from the bedroom, encountering no enemies along the way. The outside was quiet and still, with the night sky having taken on a sheet of black with no stars lighting up the area. There was no air being whipped around on this night, which was odd. Everything was just kinda…still. Yes, that was the word to describe it. She didn't know what that would bode for her. Julie hoped it didn't mean that the Otherworld had taken hold here already. It would make escaping out of here much more difficult.

She bypassed the fountain on her way to the gate, which was shut off and currently holding no water within its stone base whatsoever. She had tried her car in the garage, but the damn thing refused to start. Either Claudia had sabotaged it, or else the Otherworld had gotten to it. But if that was so, then why else were no objects in the environment rusted and not bloody? Julie keyed the ignition, but nothing came up after minutes of trying and she didn't know nearly enough about cars to try and fix it herself. Either way, it wasn't a huge issue. Julie had other resources to get out of here, other than relying on her car. Put simply, if she couldn't access her vehicle to facilitate an escape out of here, then she would walk with her own two feet.

Finally, she reached the fence, which was shut off from the power being shut off. The gate was powered off, but that was no problem for Julie, since she could just climb over it using her own energy. She prepared to scale the fence and grip the metal tightly, but before she could get a good grip, she realized that something was wrong. The moment she grabbed the metal, her fingers lost their grip. She felt weak when she gripped the gate, and when she tried to actively climb the fence surrounding the house, it was like she was actively drained of all the strength in the upper part of her torso. She tried again to climb the gate, only to slide downward as her hands failed her and she couldn't get a firm footing, with her boots sliding off the metal. She tried again and again, until she couldn't keep up the charade any longer. She slid down to the ground, boneless in her stance as she stared at the shiny metal gate. What the hell was going on? Julie asked herself. It was like she couldn't muster the energy to climb the fence, no matter how much she tried. It was such a simple effort, and yet she couldn't pull it off no matter how much energy she put into it. She stared dejectedly at the metal gate, almost willing it to open.

Wait a minute. Julie stood up and touched her metal sword to the fence. Watching carefully, she waited for any signs of anything, ready to jump back in case of an electrocution. Sure enough, a spark of light seemed to engulf the tip of the sword, and the sword almost seemed to light up, as if the fence was doing something to influence the surrounding area. It wasn't electricity, but it was definitely some form of influence there. Shit, it was obvious that this was some kind of thing designed to keep her away from escaping by the fence. The more she tried to make the effort, the more it drained her energy. And it was obvious they wanted her to go back into the house. Julie turned and looked back at the house, which now had some of its upper lights turned on. She really didn't want to go back into the house. It was dark and dangerous in there, and she didn't know what might be lurking in there. But she had no choice. It seemed the house was the key to escaping from here. Something had been placed in there, that wasn't there before. Julie needed to find out what.

Julie turned back toward the fence. Wait a minute. There was something there that she hadn't noticed before. She took a close look at the environment and was shocked at what she saw. There was no trace of the outside world beyond the area a few feet away from the fence. There was no driveway, trees, grass, rocks and ground, lights, or anything else. There was only a complete darkness, all-consuming in the way it had touched everything. Oh my God, she thought. She was in the Otherworld. She had suspected it before, of course, but this confirmed it. The house had been completely cut off from every other corner of existence. It now existed in a self-contained void in the Otherworld, and there was nothing beyond its borders to explore. There was no escape.

Julie groaned as she stared back at the house. She sighed as she considered her options. There was no way around it. She had to return to the house. She gathered her stuff and slowly began her journey back to the house. It seemed she had to go inside there again, in order to complete her journey. She hated this feeling. She could already feel the Otherworld creeping up on her, manipulating her with its schemes and maneuverings. Fine, she would play their little game for now. She would go in there and she would solve whatever puzzle they had in there for her. And when she had escaped from their little deathtrap and was on her way to find her daughter, she would kill every one of those monstrosities that she came across.

She rushed back up to the second floor. She bypassed Claudia on her way there. Claudia was still knocked out. Julie had the feeling she would probably be out for a very long time. She went up to her bedroom, where this had all started. She had a feeling that was where she would find her answers. She entered the room with a cautious approach, readying her weapons just in case. As soon as she entered, she saw something that most definitely did not belong there. There was a huge hole in the wall, with a tunnel leading from the entrance of the wall. It was like that 'Hellraiser' movie. Julie knew that was where she would find her answers. It was visibly obvious she would have to go in there, if she wanted to continue on her way.

Julie prepared herself. She took a deep breath, and made sure all her items were on her. As she went over her equipment, she thought about Claudia, lying unconscious in the hallway. She knew most people would question why she didn't just bind the cult member with some rope, but the truth was she didn't have any rope. And even if she could find a substitute, she just didn't have any time to spare. She supposed she could have tried to sift through things and find a substitute somewhere if she really wanted to, but she just didn't have it in her to bother with that right now. Not to mention, she really just wanted to get out of here, so that she could find the solutions to this puzzle and get out of this place. Her daughter needed her. She had the gun and the sword, where Claudia had nothing. She would just have to trust in her own abilities, and trust that she could deal with whatever the Order chose to throw her way.

Steeling her resolve, Julie took a deep breath and prepared herself to deal with this next twist of her circumstance. She entered the dark stony arch-laden tunnel, hoping it would lead her to whatever the riddle was for getting out of this place.

She hoped to god there wasn't anything too powerful for her inside that tunnel.

Cybil drove at top speed on the highway, weaving in and out between the cars that comprised the traffic out on the road this late at night. She had tried calling for backup on the road from both her radio and a cell phone, but she was unable to communicate with either the precinct or 911. She considered pulling over onto the side of the road and stopping one of the cars or vans, and asking if she could use their cell phone, but somehow Cybil had a feeling that it wouldn't work. Cybil looked at the cars passing on the road, and she wondered if there would be panic when they realized that there was a massive communications blackout in this entire region of the state.

Finally, after about two hours of driving at dangerous speeds on lanes of traffic, she arrived at the manor where Alessa lived. The place was deserted. In fact, the roads were desolate after coming in, after she had left the main flow of traffic. This was not good. So this was where Alessa lived. Cybil parked her motorcycle and secured the brakes. She made sure she had her gun fully ready, and took off her helmet. She had never seen it before. They had lived somewhere else until now. Cybil knew Chris had gotten the estate on the cheap, or perhaps they had inherited it. She couldn't remember which. She looked around at the estate. It fitted her. She couldn't imagine Alessa living in a more modern house. The lights were turned off all around the estate, except for one of two spots of notice. Again, not good. If Alessa's family was still how she remembered it, they should have had more security measures in place.

Cybil climbed over the fence, managing the feat easily with a good jump. The electricity to the security measures was also shut off, as she had ascertained before she made the jump. Not a good sign. She bypassed the fountain on her way there, oddly noting how unusual it was for this to even be here in the first place. Finally, she reached the house. She found that the door was unlocked. Shit. Cybil readied herself for anything that might be waiting inside. Time to see what was going on here. Cybil opened the door and charged inside, carefully doing so as to not alert anybody who may have been inside. Once inside, Cybil took off her jacket and threw it off to the side. There was a warm temperature in the air that was somewhat uncomfortable, and it didn't seem to be coming from the house itself. She took off her glasses and pocketed them in her shirt. Cybil moved carefully through the house with her gun drawn, ready for anything that came her way. "Alessa, are you here?" she called out, her voice resonating through the emptiness of the other rooms. Nobody answered. The silence was deafening, in its own way. Cybil was starting to get worried. If the house was deserted, it was not a good sign. Either something had suddenly happened that forced everyone to rush out, or else the "Otherworld" had taken it over. Cybil didn't know which. She was passing through the living room, when she came upon a sight that made her pause in her tracks. There was a blonde woman lying unconscious in the room, face down. Cybil rushed up to her, and took a closer look. It seemed to be a young woman of about age 25 or maybe in her early thirties, Cybil couldn't tell. Cybil took her pulse, and found that her beat was steady. Judging by her disheveled hair and the dress she was wearing, she was obviously a cult member.

Cybil was faced with a dilemma. She only had one pair of handcuffs. On the one hand, she could use them on this woman right now, and the suspect would be secured, that was for sure. If she encountered another threat along the way, however, she would have no way to bind him, and she would be forced to resort to her gun. Cybil weighed the decision. Ah, the hell with it. In the end, she decided to save them for a greater threat. If she found something else along the way to bind her with then she would do it, but she was not going to go out of her way to subdue this woman. The woman was unarmed and had no weapons on her, and Cybil was the one with the gun. If she came to and came after them later on, Cybil would simply have to take her down the hard way. Besides, she didn't plan on staying here long. She was only going to be here long enough to find Alessa, or whoever else was here, and then get the hell out of here.

Cybil raced out of the living room. Her target was the upstairs floor of rooms, and it was obvious there was no one else down here. She needed to check the other rooms, and see if there were any survivors, or if Alessa's entire family had gotten out. Or worse, if Alessa had been killed by the Order. Cybil didn't want to contemplate the possibility, but if that had been the case, she would give them hell to pay to the Order, her badge be damned. She tightened her grip on her gun. Her gloved fingers maintained their focused demeanor with a professional intensity, as she proceeded along the corridor. She needed to be aware of any members of the Order, in case they ambushed her from around the corner. The silence took on a threatening, almost menacing aura, as each minute passed by uneventfully. Cybil was starting to get her hackles raised up on her neck, as it seemed that the ominous house was slowly luring her into a trap, by getting her guard down. It was almost like the atmosphere was waiting for something, and Cybil was the lone mouse caught in a hugely sadistic, elaborate trap. Well, Cybil wasn't falling for it. No siree, she was going to keep focused on the situation at hand until she found the people she was searching for, and got the hell out of there, or ascertained what happened to them.

As she passed by a thermostat, she noted that the temperature was a cool 75 degrees. She noted the air coming out of the vent, and realized that the warm temperature wasn't due to the heating system. It was the Otherworld that was slowly changing the house's climate, filtering its presence inside the establishment like an insidious parasite. She had to get out of here. If that was indeed the case, it was only a matter of time before the Otherworld overtook the place completely. And that was something Cybil did not want to be stuck around here for.

Rounding the corner, Cybil came across a sight that made her heart stop. There was a mannequin-like creature lying dead on the ground, pouring a blood red substance into the carpet. Cybil put her hand to her mouth, unable to believe what she was seeing. It looked like two lower sets of mannequin legs had been sewn together, and stitched with crude-looking thread. Cybil stared in horror at the misshapen, bizarre monster. Christ, what was this? She had never seen anything like this in her lifetime. Cybil shook her head to clear away her nerves, and refocused on her task. That settled it. If there were any doubts that she was in the Otherworld, the presence of this creature here was proof enough of what she suspected. She needed to get everyone out of here and soon, before things got worse.

Cybil ran all the way up the stairs and quickly began searching through all the rooms. She called out the names of the family, hoping that anyone who was here would hear her. She hoped that she wasn't too late, and that there was still somebody left to save. At this point she didn't care if the Order members heard her. She just wanted there to be some signs of life; some hints that someone, anybody was still left alive. She was well aware that her outburst could attract the attention of the Order, but she didn't care. She would deal with them as they came. She needed, wanted to find someone alive. Cybil continued searching through the rooms, desperately searching for someone to validate that this wasn't a waste of time, and that she hadn't arrived too late yet again.

Julie followed the long dark tunnel all the way through the corridor, until she saw a light at the end. Finally, there was a light for her to follow. Julie breathed a sigh of relief. She arrived at what was an unusual sight. What the…? This looked to be like the door to some old-style house, leading to a room. What was it doing here? She would have expected another hole like the one that appeared in her bedroom, or some other rough opening of some kind. Not something like this. Was this supposed to lead her out of the labyrinth to the outside in some way? Or was it a trap, to keep her trapped here in this place forever until the Otherworld dealt with her?

Julie decided to open the door with a careful gesture, and the light of the room hit her with a blast. It was a startling contrast from the darkness of the corridor, and she lowered her face away for a moment. Julie swiped her handgun to face the room, and was fully ready for whatever was waiting inside. She stepped into the room and looked around at the shelves and drawers. What the hell was this? This looked like a copy of her room, back in her childhood home. She recognized the drawers and the shelves, and the books on the shelves, and the table and the posters, and all the furniture in the room. Even the bed was the same as her childhood bed. What the hell was going on here? This was supposed to be an exit from this place, but instead it was like a collection of her memories from years long past. Julie looked down and recognized the prayer book on the desk. It was a prayer book from her childhood, and Julie remembered its contents clearly in her memory. What was it doing here, though? Julie walked to pick up the book, wondering if there was some sort of clue that was supposed to be hidden inside. Suddenly, Julie morphed into a version of her younger self, like reality itself was imposing on her the image of her past self. Her image would have appeared to be flickering, as when viewed by an outsider. Julie herself felt the change and was frightened by it. She saw her own image flickering in her hands and felt herself caught in a whirlwind. Her vision became blurry. What was going on?

14 year old Julie Gillespie stood distracted in her room. What was she doing here? She was doing…something, wasn't she? She couldn't remember what she was doing here. She was supposed to be doing something, wasn't she? Suddenly, she saw the book sitting on the desk. Oh! The prayer book. She was supposed to be studying the prayer book, for certain prayers and passages as per the instructions given to her. Mother Dahlia had promised her a reward if she read them right and if she didn't, Julie knew there would be severe consequences later on. She sat down at the desk and began to read through the prayer book. She read through every word, studied every single sentence, and perused all the way down to the end of every page. She read through the book concentrated on doing exactly what Mother Dahlia had told her. As always, she felt…*something*, but it wasn't enough to get the results Mother Dahlia wanted. She wasn't producing results, and that was what was important. Julie bit her lip and struggled not to cry. Why was this so hard? She knew other members of the hall had this *affinity*. Why didn't she? She was tired. She just wanted to please someone, for once.

The sound of the door opening signaled that someone was intruding.

Dahlia entered into the room, passing by the pink bed on the right, and stopped at the desk where Julie currently worked at.

"How goes the progress?" Dahlia questioned sharply.

"Nothing so far," Julie replied miserably.

Dahlia frowned at that. With a quick swipe of her arm, Dahlia slapped her hard across the face, sending the girl's face flying back.

A painful crack sounded in the room. Julie winced as she felt the stinging blow. She expected that. It wasn't unexpected that Dahlia would hit her. She had known that Dahlia was going to be angry that she couldn't get the prayer right. Dahlia was upset that her daughter was a failure, and couldn't get anything she wanted right. She wished she could change that, but the simple fact was she couldn't.

"What is the problem, child? It is just a simple prayer," Dahlia scolded her, crossing her arms in a clear sign of expectance.

Julie turned back toward the book. She read through every line once again, memorizing every single word, and calling the sacred text in her mind. As usual, there was no effect. Julie simply did not have the power to turn the words into reality. "I'm sorry, Momma. I just can't do it," she said tearfully, blinking back the moisture in her eyes. She knew what Dahlia wanted her to do. She wanted Julie to use the prayers to enhance her own power. The words were more than just words scribbled on a page, and to a certified special user the prayers were a means to get power, aiding them in doing all sorts of things. That included communicating with the dead. She just couldn't do it. The most Julie could hope for was a buzz of energy when she recited the prayers, overtaking her mind and soul, from her already natural healing abilities – but it was not enough, not nearly enough. What good were her abilities, if all she could do was provide a warming glowing sensation from her hands – and heal minor things like cuts and scrapes? Julie asked herself in frustration. She was a failure. She could hear Dahlia's thoughts in her head, as she saw what the older woman was clearly thinking: "Why do I have to be stuck with this orphan from a broken home, who has no power; I deserve my own flesh and blood. My own beautiful daughter would not let me down; she would make a great medium, and accomplish my goals." Julie wished she could change that, but she couldn't. She was worthless to Dahlia, and that was a tough pill to swallow. The only new chance she had been given at a new life, and she was blowing it. She choked back a sob, blinking back tears in her eyes. She just wanted to satisfy someone, just once.

Dahlia frowned at her in disappointment, but she apparently decided to have mercy on her. "It's all right, child. You are simply too weak to summon the proper energies. You don't have the power to harness stronger forces, like many others do," she said, and the disdain in her voice was clear to Julie. She could hear the disappointment in the older woman's voice. She was little more than pond garbage, to her. Julie swallowed back the tears, as she realized just how little her mother thought of her.

"Come. Dinner will be on the table at 6:00," Dahlia offered, and turned around and walked to leave the room.

Julie sighed as she followed her, grimacing in cold disappointment and realizing that she would never live up to her mother's standards.

Julie blinked back the tears from the recollections she had just seen. Even after all this time, the memories hurt. Why couldn't her mother accept her for who she was?! She knew nowadays that Dahlia was most likely just evil, but it still didn't curb the desire for acceptance that she had for her mother. Perhaps if Dahlia had accepted her, Julie could have gotten her to open up, and she wouldn't have gone down the dark path that she did. The abuse and torment she had endured in that house was legendary, in their family, and she couldn't help but recoil in revulsion when she thought of what she had been forced to do. She had gone from having no family, to a home where she was beaten and humiliated, and taught values that most people would have been appalled at. She would have been better off dying in the car crash that killed her parents; at least then she would have been in a place that treated her respectfully and like a human being. No, Julie shook her head. If she had died in that car accident, she never would have met Alessa, or Chris, and she never would have had a chance to be a mother to Alessa, her beautiful wonderful daughter that she loved. No, she was better off living, right in the here and now, rather than focusing on memories. Julie shook her head. She didn't know why she let herself slip into that momentary lapse of regret. She lived a good life, and Julie was pretty happy with the lot she had been given in life at this time. Now wasn't the time for that. Julie needed to focus on escaping from this place right here, rather than dwell on past regrets. She looked around at the room, searching for anything that might have been useful, or anything that looked out of place. There was nothing, only the furniture and decorum she had known all her childhoods, and the knick knacks on the shelves she had once owned. It was just a regular room.

She wondered what she was doing here? What was the point of that flashback she had just seen? Julie didn't understand what reliving those old memories was supposed to accomplish. What was the Otherworld trying to tell her? There was no point in going through old memories, except to bring her regret. Perhaps that was the point. Maybe this was a trap of the Otherworld, Julie reflected, to guilt her into submitting. Well it wasn't going to work, Julie thought to herself. She was going to push through here and find her daughter, no matter what. If the town thought that it would get her to give up willingly simply because of some bad memories, then it was sorely mistaken. Julie had more mettle than that, and Alessa was counting on her, and Chris trusted her to protect their daughter. That was enough. She wasn't going to disappoint them.

There was nowhere to go. Julie knew there was only one way to go. She had to go out. There was nothing else to do in this room. She looked through the shelves and searched through the room again, though, just in case there was something useful that she had missed. Nope, there wasn't anything useful there, except mementos and hints of a life long past, and things she'd rather not remember, and photos that she didn't care about, because she had no particular attachment to the people in them. With nothing useful in the room, Julie left out the door leading to the rest of the house, the old wooden structure she had grown up in so long ago. She hoped there would be something here to find, and that this wasn't just a waste of time designed to trap her here, keeping her from escaping forever. It seemed she was trapped in the house that had once been her sanctuary from the outside, which had quickly turned into a nightmare, looking for something that she didn't know what it was. Julie hoped it was worth it.

Or else, she didn't know what she'd do.

AN: R & R, readers! - ;-D