Kate grinned up at the worried face peeking through the open doorway. Angela's dark hair framed her pale white skin, her deep brown eyes peered out from under her fringe.

"Katie?" Angela repeated, "Are you ok?"

Can't let her find out what happened there, thought Kate, she'd freak out, and then he would be mad as hell. Aloud she said, "Yeah, I'm ok. Just clumsy I guess." Shrugging in fake exasperation at herself, she clambered to her feet and went to the door. "I need to take a long shower and have a real think about what the hell's going on."

Angela stood aside to let her pass, but frowned. "A shower? Uh... ok, then. If... if you're sure. I'll just... wait here."

"What? What's wrong? I shouldn't shower or something?"

"No, it's, uh... Nothing, you go on ahead."

Frowning to herself at the other girl's odd words, Kate closed the bathroom door behind her and undressed, twirling the shower tap as she went. Something seemed wrong with the pipes, though, she noticed as she wrapped a towel around herself. Instead of the relaxing, refreshing sound of running water, the pipes rattled, gasped, and fell silent. As Kate turned to look, a single drop of blackened water formed on the shower head and fell, glistening, to the floor of the bathtub. Nothing followed.

"...Damnit." she growled. Suddenly furious, she spun, yanked the door open and stormed back up the hallway to Angela. "You knew!" she accused, shaking a finger at the suddenly cringing girl, "You knew it wouldn't work and you let me get my hopes up!"

"I... I didn't know it wouldn't work," mumbled the brunette, "I thought it might not work, but sometimes it works in the... in the hospital. You know? So I thought maybe it - "

"You thought?! Oh great! You just thought, huh? And you didn't tell me?"

The brunette's shoulders were beginning to shake now, her voice breaking. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you mad. I - "

"Yeah, right. You didn't mean anything." Kate growled, shouldering Angela aside and heading for the downward stairs. "I'm gonna get something to eat," she said, not feeling hungry at all but needing something to do, "You just think about what you do."

"Ok, I'll try. Uh... Kate?"

"What now?"

"Do you think you might wanna put some clothes on?"

Kate stopped dead, looked down, and slammed her fist against the wall. "Damn! Alright! You just... stay here. Or something."

"O - Ok. I'll go wait in the kitchen. I'll.. I'll wait for you there."

0o0o0o0o0

By the time she had finished dressing, Kate's temper had cooled again, and she began to worry what would happen next time she saw Damien. She had definitely upset Angela now, and there would probably be hell to pay. She left the second floor in a thoughtful mood, backpack in hand, guns and supplies clinking gently inside.

As she entered the dining room, Kate saw Angela slumped over the table, her back to the door. Kate felt her breath catch in her throat. Was the other girl crying again? Injured? Dead? She stepped forward hurriedly, but stopped short as a sudden menacing growling arose from under the table. Angela straightened up. The last fragments of what looked like beef jerky dropped from her hand and were immediately picked up and eaten by the black Dog emerging from under the table. It chewed rapidly, swallowed, and began to growl again. Slowly, head down, it loped around Angela's seat and placed itself between her and Kate. Kate laughed lightly, hoping to dismiss the animal's mood, and took another step forward. The Dog barked harshly, stopping her again, and lowered its head. Its lips began to roll back, revealing long sharp teeth. The growling began again, low and threatening. Beginning to worry now, feeling frightened, Kate looked to Angela, still seated motionless with her back to the blonde.

"Angela? What's...? Is this a different dog from earlier or...?"

Angela turned, her eyes reddened, her face washed out. "No, it's the same dog. He was here when I came down. I had to talk to someone and sometimes it's like he actually understands me, you know?" She laughed bitterly,"I guess he figures it was you who made me cry or something."

"Smart mutt," Kate muttered. Louder, she spoke across the rising growling, "I came down to say sorry. I don't know why I... I guess I'm having a bad day, you know?"

Angela stared into her eyes silently, thinking about it. The Dog at her feet bristled, teeth fully bared. Kate stepped back, slowly, hands outward. "Easy, boy, easy. I don't want any trouble."

Angela laughed quietly. "It won't help," she told Kate, "When he's mad there's no stopping him. If you try to calm him, it just makes him worse." She turned, dragging the chair around with her, and sat watching Kate closely. Kate stayed perfectly still, remembering the Dog's vicious, bloody, and totally lethal treatment of the wolves in the wood. One wrong move could cost her everything. She felt her heart racing inside her chest, watched Angela watch her. The Dog continued growling, its white teeth glistening in vivid contrast with its black fur.

Angela leant forward and rested a hand on the Dog's head, slowly stroking its fur. She whispered in its ear, inaudible to Kate but perfectly clear to the Dog. "Let it be, boy. She said sorry, and I think she means it. Let her be. This time." The growling died down rapidly, and the Dog rose and stretched out as Angela continued to stroke it. Turning, it nuzzled Angela's knees and licked her hand as she tickled its chin, then laid itself on the floor at her feet. She smiled and then looked up at Kate.

"Alright," she said, "I believe you. You meant to hurt me, but you..." she stopped, thinking how to say it, "You weren't yourself, I guess. I understand. There's something about this town that makes people crazy. Forget it. We all do things we regret." She glanced across the room to the kitchen, taking in the knife block, the first aid kit Kate's mom always kept there in a box on the wall, and laughed. "Some things more than others." She looked at Kate mischievously, a glint in her eyes. "Don't tell me you've never been bad?"

Kate laughed nervously, what the hell was all this now? "Well, yeah, I guess I have. I guess you're right, we all do things we regret." Curiosity overcame her now, so she asked the question, "What about you? What did you do?"

Angela's mouth twitched suddenly and she covered her face, almost catching a sob, but not fast enough. Kate regretted the question instantly. The Dog at Angela's feet raised its head, blinking up at the brunette. Seeing her posture, it rose, turning to Kate again. Kate gasped, ready to run, but relaxed as Angela brought her hands back down and gently restrained the animal, turning a wan smile to Kate. "I don't think I can talk about it, Katie. It's not you, just..." She put a hand to her chest. "It hurts too much to think about it."

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense," Kate said, nodding slowly and thanking God for her two close escapes. Two escapes, too close. "But I do have a question that I hope you could help me with. Just, keep the dog from eating me if I ask the wrong question? Please?"

Angela nodded, forcing herself to calm down again, "I'll try."

"What the hell is going on in this town? I mean, I live here, I went to school at Midwich Elementary, I grew up shopping at the convenience store on Bachman road, Dad always fixed the car with things from Julio's Auto Parts on Matheson street. I know this place like the back of my hand, so why have I come back from a little walk in the woods and suddenly I find this whole... new town where the old town was, and you and Damien are just so..." she shrugged helplessly, "So 'blah' about it all, like you've been here years? Like you're used to it all. The fog, the monsters, the mind trips. What the hell is going on?"

Angela nodded, "I understand. The big question. Maybe it's the only question anyone has here. Until you get to the other question, the real one." She gestured to the chair next to her, "You should sit down, there's a lot to tell, and it could take a while."

Kate sat down, suddenly feeling the chill of the house, and tried to ignore the feeling. If she was going to figure out anything of what was going on here, she'd have to pay real attention. Angela started to explain, and in a few minutes Kate forgot all about the chill.

"I'm not like you," Angela said, and smiled sadly at a memory. Maybe, thought Kate, of a memory of Angela's first arrival in the town. "I'm not from around here at all," Angela continued, " and before I ran away from home I hadn't ever even heard of Silent Hill."

Angela told Kate about how she had grown up with a 'difficult' home life, that she had run away after high school but been brought back, and had run away again as soon as she could. That time she had run to Silent Hill, where she thought her father couldn't follow her and drag her back again.

"I got lost," she told Kate. "When I came into town, there was a thick fog, and I couldn't follow the road anymore. Someone had boarded off the main road, so I turned off it and found a way through. But when I got to the town, I got scared, I saw... saw things in the fog. I had passed a churchyard near the town and I, well, I thought maybe she was already dead. There was no reason to go looking in the town, with all those weird noises, if she was, you know? I started looking around the gravestones, making sure my mama - I mean, my mother, wasn't buried there. I wanted to be sure I wasn't too late.

"While I was looking, a strange blond man came up to me. He was looking for someone too, but I don't know if he ever found her. He said he was looking for his wife, but he also said that she was dead. I guess he probably didn't find her."

She sighed tiredly, "Either way, I didn't see him much at all. I had my own problems to worry about. Soon after we split up, I went into town myself, and I found some of the monsters you've seen. So I ran from one hell into another. And the first one even followed me. Daddy - I mean, my father - he found me in a maze under the town, and James, the blond man, saved me. But then he started ordering me around, acting all bossy just like my dad had when he... when he wanted something." Her lips began to quiver, and Kate saw a glisten in her eye, remembered what Angela had screamed in the amusement park

No, daddy, please!

with that monster doing things to her, and felt tears prick her eyes. The Dog lifted its head and licked Angela's hand, whining gently. Angela stroked its head, wiped her eyes, and tried to carry on.

"Maybe he wasn't even bossy, maybe I was wrong. He didn't give me my knife back when I asked him for it, I know that. He said he wasn't saving it for himself, but I didn't believe him. It was hot as hell on that staircase, and even he could see it. The town had gotten to him, too, and he was beginning to see the truth. He saw how it was for me. I didn't see him after that, but he probably saved my life." She bent her head, studied her hands as they wrung on her lap. "If I had held onto that knife, I don't know what I might have done."

Sure, thought Kate, cause you're all about the fun with knives.

She looked up again, straight into Kate's eyes. "I left him there and went on up the stairs to the next floor of the hotel. I guess you can guess I was looking for another knife. If James wouldn't help me, I figured I'd have to help myself. But then he came, and then I didn't have the choice anymore. I was so scared of him, I just ran. He chased me all round the hotel and out into the town. When I looked back, the hotel was just smoke and ruins. The fire took it to pieces.

"I just wanted to be left alone, I didn't want anyone to come after me. I wanted to find another knife and finish it. Another man would only want one thing, even if this man said he only wanted to help me. But I had heard that before, and that man had been just the same. So I ran.

"He caught up to me at the hospital near the hotel, Alchemilla. I had found a surgical knife, but there were too many nurses, they wouldn't leave me alone. I couldn't get the quiet I needed, couldn't find a place to just lay down and start to finish. That's when this guy showed up," she pointed to the slumbering Dog, now laying on her feet, "He bit the nurses, gave me time to get away from the hospital and run. But when I finally found an unlocked apartment and began to relax, he showed up out of nowhere. Again."

"He?"

"The Dark Man, the one who chased me from the hotel. You know him, you called him... uh... Damien?"

"No..." said Kate, confused now, "that's what you called him. I just picked it up from you."

Angela frowned, then shook her head dismissively. Obviously it didn't matter, ' he' was still grating on her nerves.

"Anyway, he showed up out of nowhere and knocked the knife straight out of my hand. I can remember it fell point down into the floor and stood up out of the ground. Then he knocked me out. The next thing I remember, I was in a hospital again, and I was cold, and wet, and naked. He had taken my clothes off and was just... washing me in the bath room, with a sponge and soap, like you'd wash a baby or something. The water worked there, and still works in my room, that's why I thought it might work here, you see? I screamed, ran away as fast as I could, I knew he just wanted that one thing, the disgusting pig! But he caught me before I even could reach the door. He told me it wasn't safe for me to go out there. Like I'd be safe with him! He must have... must have done something, because the next thing I remember I was lying in a hospital bed, dressed and cleaned. Nothing hurt, though. Nothing was even sore. Maybe he really did just want to get the blood and dirt off me like he said. He's hardly even touched me since, though, not even when I hit at him for keeping me there in that room. He said 'it's for your own good', that he didn't care what He said, he was gonna look after me. That he was gonna make me better." She laughed bitterly, "I told him I had heard that before, and he just shrugged."

Kate was completely confused now, "Wait, what Who had said?"

Angela scoffed, "I don't know. Something about the his 'master' or something. Metaton, he said, or something like that." The Dog at her feet twitched in its sleep, then began to snore again. "I don't know about all that," said Angela, "but men always only want one thing. If they're nice or if they beat you up, force you, they just want one thing. Even after Daddy was dead, he still came after me, still made me need another man to save me from him." Her face twitched, and her next words were strangled in stifled sobs. "This town... it makes you... makes you remember things. Things you want to forget. Makes you face your past, even if it kills you. It probably killed James, and Damien said it would've killed him if he hadn't made the deal. But he'd never tell me about that, so I just live in my little room in the hospital. I never know what I can do, if he won't give me a knife and just let me finish it. I guess I could go out, find a gun and a monster and pick up where I left off, but I just... I just wanna end it all. I just want to get out of all this.

"That was years ago now. I was nineteen when I came to Silent Hill," she looked at her hands, ran them through her hair, "and I guess I still am. Nobody ages here.

"Damien said James had made it out, and had taken a girl out too that he found lost here. But I never saw a girl here, Damien must have been lying. Men always lie. I know it's been years, though, he brought me a drawing pad and some pens to write or draw with. Something to keep me from getting bored, he said. I counted off the days, and there have been so many of them. It's strange, though, not getting older. My hair hasn't grown, I'm never hungry. Time doesn't pass normally here, it doesn't change anything. Sometimes I'll try and go out, finish the fight, but I get so scared. I run away, or fall down. And he won't let me die, won't even let them kill me. I've seen so many others die from the monsters, even after he leaves them bullets and guns and clues, but he won't let me go. He'll never let me go!" She thumped on her thighs, startling the Dog. It nuzzled its head against her legs, and she stroked it, the soft fur seeming to calm her.

"Wait, hold up," said Kate, "leaves them what?"

Angela laughed, almost mocking Kate's reaction, "You don't think guns and notes just grow on the sidewalk? That's the only part of the deal he will tell me about. The notes you find, the journals, he left them there. Or someone else the town called. There's different ones lately, but they fade away when you read them. Damien says they're just here because Alessa came back, and they'll go now she's gone."

"Now she's gone?" Kate interrupted, "You mean you saw him since she... since that Alessa girl killed the 'God' thing...? That monster in the basement?"

"Yeah," Angela nodded unhappily, "I saw him after Alessa killed the God in the church. He saved me from myself. Again. Him and that other man, the one you don't like, the one who shot Damien in the mall. They saved me from what I did to myself with the knife I stole from Damien. You remember I stabbed myself with it, right? He didn't even let me go then. He just took me back to my room afterwards, and the other man tried to come with us, but Damien hurt him, made sure only the two of us went back to the hospital. I didn't want to stay there, though, or stay with Damien, so I made him let me look after you while you slept."

"Hmmmn..." Kate sat thoughtfully. So the town had some kind of power to make you face your fears. But worse than that, to face your real inner fears, the things that made your dreams restless and twisted your life up. And Damien was some kind of... caretaker of hell, but also a kind of carer of Angela, but for completely different reasons than his role in the town. That was because of a 'deal' of some kind, but he kept Angela as a prisoner, or a pet, or maybe because he cared for her. Or... something. Could this get any more insane?

"I don't know," said Angela, "if any of that helps you or not. From what you said, and what Damien told me, it almost sounds like you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. But Damien told me once about the guy who was here first. Sometimes..." she ducked her head shyly, almost smiled, "sometimes he sits with me in my room and we talk. Just talk. Damien, that is, not the guy who was here first. I don't trust Damien, but sometimes it's nice, you know?

"Anyway, the first, uh, the first 'victim' of this place? He seemed like he was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. But he had been brought here by the town all along. Without that 'Harry' guy, this whole thing wouldn't have started. Without his daughter, the Powers of the town, the 'Old Gods' wouldn't have broken through. Damien says that without all of that, Samael, the worst 'Old God', couldn't do anything. And Harry? He only ended up here because he swerved into a fence on his vacation. So maybe there aren't any accidents."

At the mention of 'Samael', Kate became suddenly aware of a bitter, sour taste forcing a burning way up from her throat into her mouth. By the time Angela said 'accidents', the taste was so strong, the feeling so bad, that Kate gagged violently, holding her hands to her mouth in a panic of nausea while Angela stared in alarm. Kate ran into the kitche n and braced herself over the basin, coughing violently into the chrome pit. Nothing came out, though she wanted so much to let it go, whatever it was. That flower, that sap she had swallowed, it had tasted like this, but much weaker. Seating herself facing Angela again, she explained all this to the other girl, who looked suddenly thoughtful on the description of the taste and feeling, then sat bolt upright at the description of the flower's shape and color.

"He told me about that, too." Angela said. "He said that he had found a book in Alchemilla talking about a plant. Some flower called 'White Claudia' that grows wild around here. The book just said it was used in old religions sometimes, but Damien knew from the old days that it had been used by the cult here, the one that 'Harry Mason' had fought. They used it to summon things, he said." She frowned, "I don't know what he meant, but maybe it had something to do with the change the town had. Maybe it brought the 'other' town to here, maybe it can take people from normal life to this town. Maybe."

Kate frowned, "So you, and James, you took this stuff?"

"No, I guess the town didn't need any help there," Angela sighed, "we were just about perfect as we were, for the Old Gods."

"But not me," Kate thought aloud, "I had to be dragged in. And my dad, too? Is he in this... this screwy 'version' of the place? Did these 'Old Gods' drag him in, too?"

Angela shook her head, "I... I don't know. But if you've seen him here, there's gotta be something going on with him. Or about him. Maybe it's taken him, the way it wanted to take me," she hung her head, "for being bad."

Kate's fist suddenly slammed down on the table. Angela's head snapped up in sudden alarm and fear, the Dog at her feet jerking out of its sleep with a yelp.

"No!" Kate said. "No, that's not gonna happen. Whatever's going on here, this place isn't gonna hurt my dad. I've gotta find him, get him outta this place."

"I... I don't think that's a good idea, Katie," said Angela hesitantly, "There's something really really wrong here, and I don't think your dad will - "

"I don't care, I have to try! He's... he's my dad, you know? I have to try."

Angela nodded, "I guess you do. One thing, though, let me come with you? I know this place now. Kind of. I'll try not to slow you down."

Kate considered this. Angela sure as hell didn't want her to go looking for her dad. The other girl seemed to have real 'daddy issues', but wanted to come with Kate anyway. On a search for Kate's own dad. Another man, and her father, too. Really not the kind of thing Kate could imagine sitting well with Angela, not at all. Still, it wasn't like the place would be safe for either of them alone. It'd be good to have another girl with her, too. Too many men was never good, her dad had always told her to never trust men at all, and without Angela she would be just one girl against two men. Nathan had to still be around out there, and there was no way he could be trusted. And Damien, that Angela had called 'the Dark Man', was just too weird. Having Angela around could be a really good thing, Kate decided, and she nodded.

"Ok, lemme just get my stuff sorted out and we'll head out."

"Ok. But... where will we go?"

"We can start with the hospital, that's where they took him after the crash." Remembering it still hurt Kate so badly she could only just say it, but she kept on, "If I can find which room he's in now, we should find him there."

Angela stood up, looking embarrassed, "Alright, but I, uh, I have to go to the bathroom first."

"Up the stairs, at the end of the hall." Kate gestured . "I'll wait here."

"Thanks." Angela let herself into the stairwell to the first floor, and the door clicked closed behind her before the Dog could follow. It pawed at the door, whining, then lay down in front of it, waiting.

Kate laughed quietly at the Dog. Just when she thought she understood anything today, things turned right around and changed on her. The Dog was proof of that. Kate went back into the kitchen, checking the fridge and counter tops for any new goodies since she had last been there. Nothing, just a few loose coffee grounds next to her dad's old coffee cup. Kate and her mom had been too busy in the last few weeks to clear up properly, so the cup had just sat there.

Standing there, in the kitchen of her lifelong home on Levine Street, Kate sagged against the kitchen counter and stared at her father's coffee mug . He'd left in such a hurry that evening, there had still been half a cup of coffee in it when the police called. When the hospital confirmed the coma. When they set off to see him in his state of un-life. The letter she had written for him was still in her pocket, and pulling it out, she read it for the hundredth time. She had written it, read and re-read it, but never delivered it.

Dad,

I'm writing this not knowing when I'm going to get it to you, or even how. But I know I need to say all this to you, and if I try in person it just won't work. Not because I don't love you and can't talk to you, but because I do love you and can never get up the guts to say it to you without being too scared of hurting you. Too scared of losing the connection we still have to do the one thing that'd save it.

So here I am, at my desk, hoping that if I don't ever get up the guts to give this to you in person I'll at least be smart enough to leave it on a dresser where you'll see it or something. We used to be so close, Daddy, who would have thought we'd end up like this? How did it all go wrong? Maybe I messed up somewhere, but I've tried and tried and I can't figure out how or where or when, and every time I try to make things better with you, it just gets worse. Where you used to be so sweet and kind your temper's gone completely messed up. Half the time I don't know if it's even safe to be in the same room with you, and that doesn't just scare me, Daddy, it hurts me so badly I can't tell you.

I always looked up to you, and even now I still try to. Even though you drink so much and shout so much. Even though half the time I've got no idea at all what you're trying to tell me or why you think it. I've always looked up to you, always been your little girl, but now it feels like you're not there for me anymore, like someone or something has stolen you and left some kind of sick robot in your place. And I know that's not true, and I know it's nonsense, and I know that you're still my Daddy and that you still love me, but I can't feel it anymore, the connection we used to have.

I hope I get this to you soon, Dad, not because I want to hurt your feelings or make you mad. That's the last thing I want. I guess this is a message from the past, a letter from the lost days and my desperate try to find them again. I hope they're not gone completely, Daddy. I want those days back again, more than you can know, but I can't do it by myself. We both need to do this. Please, Dad, please help me find the way home.

Your little girl,

Katie.

Saddened by the memories, blinking back tears, Katie placed the letter under the cup, handling the cup with the greatest of care. It was the only tangible evidence of her father left to her, other than the bloodied and broken husk in the hospital bed, the only thing that was really remarkable as just his. With funereal care, she straightened the letter, the cup, wiped loose coffee grounds off the counter into a garbage bin, and came back into the dining room, where Angela stood waiting. Together they left the house, the Dog trailing at their heels, its tail just escaping the closing door. Together they went out, into the dark new night.