The first thing James felt when he opened his eyes again was a stiffness in his back.  The room that once contained the alien machine was now gone.  Somehow, he had ended up in the pool of the hospital, which was now completely drained.  The dark influences of the other world seemed to have disappeared as well.  Fleshy walls now replaced with solid plaster.  The scarred worn-away linoleum rubbed uncomfortably against his spine as he got up.
The stiffness disappeared as soon as he moved, his eyesight a little blurry but nothing disorienting.  He had to wonder how he got here, trying to cast his mind back before thinking of Luisa.  His heart sank.  He tried to imagine if there was a way he could have saved her from Pyramid Head.  All he could think of was her screaming face.
Her face was haunting him, piercing his mind with an all-too-familiar look of pain and anguish that he had seen once before.
	"I...c-couldn't save her either...g-god...fucking...dammit.  DAMMIT!  Is there anyone I can save other than myself?!  What am I even GOOD for?!"
He was about to sit down and accept his uselessness, sinking into despair before noticing the pendant around his neck.  Dar-Ma's pendant.  It was a useless little thing, not worth anything at all.  But it meant enough to him.  He had forgotten all about her in the chaos of the town.  A smile returned to him softly at remembering her.  He had managed to stop himself from grief, for now.
	"Yeah...I can save someone else...if I have help.  But...can I save anyone on my own?  ...I have to.  I have to try.  I-it wasn't my fault.  Luisa should have...s-should have run faster.  It wasn't my fault!  ...never was my fault."
He was not entirely happy, but he did not fall back into despair just yet as he climbed out of the pool.  Scaling a small ladder to the side, he noticed a small note pinned on it, in a handwriting that nagged his mind.

	go to the heaven's night bar just up the road

He was sure he had seen this handwriting before, taking the note with him as he headed out of the pool room and into the halls.  The corridor doors were thankfully unlocked as he made his way to the front desk to leave the hospital.  He had seen everything the place had to offer, more than he ever wanted.  As he headed towards the exit, the light of daytime shining through the windows with a welcoming blank radiance, he noted the visitor's log.
	"...wait a minute."
He quickly pulled out the note and compared, hoping he was right.  Luisa's name was still registered.  It was uncannily exact.  A shocked smile came over his face.
Did she survive?!  But how?!  How did she escape?!
He had nothing to answer such questions for now, as he pushed open the hospital doors and headed back out into the fog of Silent Hill.  But which way was up?  Both directions were just as obscured by fog.  When he came from the right of the hospital in the night, he saw no bars on his way.  With that, he headed north, to his left.
Several steps ahead offered him the perfect sight.  A neon light flickered in the distance.
	"Wha...is that the place?"
Sure enough, the neon sign winked with the words "Heaven's Night" showing off to the potential customer.  He couldn't even believe a bar was still operating in such a dead monstrous town.  But he did not question it, for now.  He stepped up towards the place, not seeing any sign of Luisa.  Inside the bar, it looked even better.
A simple hot-red neon light hung above the bar, the stools looking moderately in good condition.  The drinks were nicely stocked and a few pool tables were around the large room.  There was even a stage with a stripper's pole on it, intriguing James all the more.  But no woman around for miles.
Even a bartender was there, sweeping the floor behind the bar.  A large brown anteater in a black jacket, slowly turning his eye towards the raptor.
	"Welcome to the Kingdom," he said with a low southern accent.

	"Uhhh...kingdom?"
	"Was thinking of renaming the place, Heaven's Night is a li'l too Japan for my tastes."
	"Ohh you buying the place?"
	"Sure am...not many others seem to come in though, even if I was told this place was a steal."
	"Yeah?  Well it's a nice place."
	"Thanks."  The anteater gazed with sullen eyes as he stopped sweeping.  "Whatcha ordering?"
	"Uhhh...got any Heineken?"
	"I got Carlsberg and Jack Daniels, that do ya?"
	"Sure gimme a Carlsberg."
He smoothly poured a glass from the tap, planting it firmly on the bar before returning to his sweeping duty.  James sat down to drink, slowly savouring the taste of real alcohol that he hadn't experienced for so long.
	"Mmmmph that's good.  I really needed that, haven't had a good drink in years."
	"So what are ya doing in town?" asked the barkeep.
	"I should ask you the same when everyone else has fucked off."
	"I live here, I have an excuse.  And you?"
	"I wish I had one...I just found myself here and can't find anywhere else to go.  The town's...calling me somehow."
	"Heh...first guy I met to say that."
	"What's your name man?"
	"Paul Jensen.  You?"
	"James Campbell.  I'm from Chicago-"
	"No need to tell me anymore kid, unless I wanna buy the publishing rights."
	"Heh, no thanks, last time I let a bartender do that she legally became my mom."
	"Hehehe..."

James occasionally looked outside through the window, wondering if she would show.
	"Whut is it?"
	"Hmm?"
	"You keep lookin' outside, you waitin' fer someone?"
	"Uhhh yeah, kinda...you know a girl called Luisa at all?"
	"Mmmnope, can't say I do."
	"Doggy face, black-red dress, slutty eyes?"
	"Heh, nope.  Sounds a keeper though."
	"What, you don't like dogs?"
	"They make good pets, but I wouldn' go so far as to marry one kid."
The comment was rather odd for James, and he wondered if it was racist.  He decided to not pursue it and merely shrugged before moving to another topic.
	"So what happened to this town?"
	"Cult happened up in the ol' town, lotta people left, police got involved...killed business like nothin' else."
	"So why you staying here?"
	"Cuz I live here."  Paul gripped the bar with monstrously thick claws, big enough to tear a tree in half.  "Ain' nobody gonna tell me to move."
	"Right, fair enough."
	"This town may have gone down in recent years but there's still a lotta people out there who like it.  I ain' givin' up on this place."
	"I can understand that.  Sorta."
	"Right...you headin' somewhere?"
	"Yeah, is there anyplace I can get out of town?  I got business elsewhere."
	"Only the roads...course if they're blocked then yer trapped here like a cyclone in a canyon."
	"Dammit...any roads that are a good bet?"
	"Could try Rendell Street down south, or Nathan Avenue if you go up Carroll Street right past the bowling alley.  They'll getcha out of the town."
	"Huh, just like Luisa said."
	"She yer girlfriend?"
	"Just...someone I know.  I just hope she's okay."
	"Ahhh huh."
Jensen had a rather uncertain look in his eyes, but he did not question it, merely continuing to sweep the floor.
	"You don' have to pay by the way, don't get enough customers to matter...plus I haven't legally bought this place yet."
	"Wow...uhhh thanks man."
He was rather thankful he didn't have to.  He wasn't sure if the bartender would accept Eagleland money anyway.
	"No problem.  We'll call it a solid."
	"A what?"
	"A solid.  Don't you have that where you come from?"
	"Uhhh I never heard of it, what's that?"
	"Very simple.  I do you a solid, you do me a solid.  That's the way things work round here."
	"Ohhhh I getcha, a favour."
	"Precisely."
	"Alright then, if I see you again, I owe ya."
	"Alrighty...hey, if you ever see Luisa, tell her I'm leaving town okay?  She can find me up uh...Nathan Avenue was it?"
	"Yep, and I will."
	"Alright, thanks man."

James hopped off the stool and headed back out, feeling refreshed by the drink as he waved the bartender farewell.  No Luisa, but she had to be alive somehow, it had to be her handwriting.  Who else could it have been?  He decided to make his way out of the town, or at the very least to somewhere other than this place.  Heading past the Bowl-O-Rama, which appeared to be condemned, he found himself upon Nathan Avenue.
The road stretched out to the west, far beyond the reaches of the town.  It was the only way left.  Luisa was nowhere to be found, plus he had the strangest feeling upon that road.  It tugged at his heart.  Even if he wanted to walk in any other direction, his feet wouldn't let him.  With a deep sigh of resignation, he checked his weapons first.  Rifle, ready.  Scissors, ready.  Handgun, fully loaded with 9 bullets outside of the clip.  With that, he began the longest walk of his life.
The fog continued to swirl all around him, opening partly before his eyes before closing behind his head.  Every step he made opened the slightest visibility.  As his claws clicked upon the hard gravel, his thoughts unravelled slowly.
Hope I can get outta here.  Much as I wanna know if Luisa's alright, I have to keep myself alive.  I HAVE to get back home for Sarah.  I need to know if she's alright.  So what else is this fucking town gonna throw at me?  Fucking rape monsters with wheelbarrow heads, weird-ass alien generators, Ridley...oh god I forgot about him.  ...it wasn't him, was it?
It couldn't have been him.  How the fuck is he here?  He can't hunt me down, he's dead!  ...isn't he?  Oh god this town's got to be screwing with me.  I need to get out of here.  Luisa lives here, she can handle herself, yeah I'm sure she can, I gotta get out of here an-...wait...what's that?
A large billboard stood at a fork in the road.  Underneath it was a signpost pointing to two ways.  Paleville to the left, and West Sandford Street to the right.  The billboard was now worn away, revealing fractures of a slogan that would never apply to him.  Feeling Paleville might be the indication of another town and therefore an exit, he went towards the left first, hoping his intuition was right.

The good news was that his intuition had been right.  It did appear to be a way out of the town.  The bad news was that the road was also completely closed off by a huge tearing gash in the road itself.  There was no way he was going to make such a leap.  With a sigh of frustration, he turned slowly back the way he came, back to the billboard.
Nothing new appeared as he went towards the right, along West Sandford Street which began to curve towards the north, leading him right around what he now realised to be a lake north of the town.  He paid little attention to much else as he walked, except for one thing halfway along.
A car, parked on the side of the road.  Dull greyish-blue, barely standing out amongst the fog.  He carefully walked closer, curious to examine its contents.
Four bodies were dead inside, decayed like the rusted car they sat in.  He could make out one of them to be at least a child, but he also noted the fact that each of them had a bullet hole in their head.
A revolver sat in the unoccupied driver's seat,.  But something was odd about the placement of it all.  Three in the back, one in the passenger seat, and a gun in the driver seat.  James had seen plenty of crime shows to at least understand basic deduction, the scene intriguing him all the more.

	"How the hell did this happen?  Four dead, handgun in the driver's seat, which is empty...but if one of them shot the other three and shot themselves...it'd be in their hand or on the floor right?  ...five seats...waaaaiiiit...there were five here.  No reason one of them would change seats surely...so where did he go?"
Even though he would never know the answer, he looked out towards the mist, curious to see the ending of this story, or at least the beginning.  What terrible event could have caused such a scene?  Were they a family or just survivors stuck together?  What happened to the fifth person?  As he pondered on this as best as he could, leaning his arms upon the rolled-down car window, a terrifying sound shattered the fog.
A monstrous roar that penetrated the deepest roots within James' soul, sending them into shivers of fear all over his body.  The sound was somehow the most frightening thing he had ever heard in his life.  A violent furious roar that he somehow felt was being directed at him.  It came from behind him, back towards the town of Silent Hill.
The next thing he heard were terrible crushing steps, like stormclouds brewing upon the gravel.  Every step closer made the ground shake even more, and James soon found the courage in his legs to jumpstart and run.  He didn't dare look behind him as he desperately sprinted north along the road.  When he found himself picking up speed, the thunderous footfalls turned faster.  There was no doubt in his mind now.  It was chasing him.

He ran as fast as he could, the creature's footsteps coming closer.  He had never heard such a heavy thud of footsteps before, the kind that only existed in his nightmares.  He started to whimper halfway through his exertions, still not looking back, especially not after hearing the beastly roar that emanated from the fog behind him.  His lips shook with the urge to scream, but he resisted.
He feared the footsteps would turn so strong that they could unbalance him, but he somehow managed to keep his footing, running around the corner to see two buildings in the faintest distance.  One looked like a large house, a stately mansion.  All he could do was run past it mournfully for the fact there was no way inside.  Instead, he ran towards the taller shadow in the distance.
Upon nearing it, he realised it was a ferris wheel.  He desperately ran towards it, taking any port in a storm as the monster came closer.  He could almost feel the huge clawed feet just a few feet behind him, as he leapt over a turnstile gate and into the carnival.
He didn't have any time to take in any of the sights before he dodged into a confectionery stand, shielding him amongst stale candy floss and mouldy sweets.

With the opportunity to hide and observe, James softly peered out to gaze upon the monster that made him its prey of choice.  It was enormous, so big that he could only see the feet, yet it was clearly monstrously tall, the height of a post office.
The feet were thick and dark-brown with scales, gigantic black claws that could easily crush him underneath just one of them.  He tried to see any further up the thick muscular legs, the size of trees stomping through the fairground.  But it merely passed him by, travelling further into the amusement park.  Soon as he heard the stomping fade away, he got out of cover.
He hadn't realised in all his excitement that the world had turned to night once again.  He couldn't even remember when it happened, but now he was in the middle of a fairground, in the black of night.
A sign nearby helped him name the place properly.

	"Lake Side Amusement Park...but...it was dark like...how long's it been?"
His head began to hurt a little from just trying to remember.  All he could do now was try to evade the monster.  He decided however to just simply leave the place, and turned back towards the turnstile.  But the town was not going to make that so easy.  A barricade was now there, silently put up while he had been hiding.
	"Oh you are fucking kidding me."
It was a long large iron gate that covered the entire entrance, activated by a panel in the tollbooth to the fairground's turnstiles.  Nothing seemed to be working except for a well-lit keyhole, with the words "SECURITY ACCESS" emboldened above it.  A post-it note had been placed beside it.

	Key is in Coaster Panel

	"Coaster?  ...coaster...wait...rollercoaster panel?"
He turned back towards the abandoned amusement park, trying to make out the rollercoaster from his position.  He could see a few telltale bends of a track high above him, and made his way towards it.  He brought out his handgun for safety, not entirely trusting close-quarters combat within the carnival.  He also realised at that point, that he had never been to one before.
After this place, he was certain he never would.  The entire place had shades of black and red.  The floor he walked on was red-meshed girders, like the floor of an abattoir.  The sky kept itself pitch black, with barely any lights on in the fairground to help him find his way.
The confectionery stand he had been hiding in offered little to feed him with, the sickly-sweet smell of decayed candy already keeping him away.  A gift shop nearby however was well-lit, appearing like a slice of heaven within the hellish-feeling grounds.  It was a simple small shop, one central area of shelves on both sides, with a few walls stuffed with various toys, especially that of a pink rabbit wearing dungarees.  Nothing truly helpful.

He did however note a first-aid kit at the counter, stuffing it into his satchel.  There was also an energy drink, but he had no more room for it.  Instead, he drank it on the spot, gulping it down with a smacking of lips.
	"Mmmmm sweet apple."
Feeling slightly rejuvenated, he headed back out and further into the fairground.  The rollercoaster became easier to spot with each new step he took, heading straight towards it.  Various attractions laid all around him.  A rifle range for popping balloons, a coconut shy, a haunted house that he definitely kept away from, and a merry-go-round in the very centre of the park.
Feeling unnerved, he headed onwards to find another locked gate, which unfortunately headed in the direction of the rollercoaster.  He would have been angry were it not for the distant sounds of the monster somewhere in the darkness of the park.  It sent chills deep down into his primal instincts.  There was however, a note on the padlock of the gate, taped onto it.

	I used to wonder what friendship could be
	Until you all shared its magic with me
	Spin around with all of us, don'tcha see?
	The party doesn't start until you set us free!

	"...what the fuck is this shit?"
James' eyes turned heavy with frustration, getting rather tired of the cryptic riddles the town loved to throw at him.  He tried to figure out what the note could mean, until he turned around to see the main attraction of the park.
	"...oh.  Really?  ...alright then."
The merry-go-round had a strange aura about it, to be placed so precisely within the centre.  A map of the park laminated on a nearby billboard even showed evidence that it was.  James had to wonder on why it seemed to unnerve him, as he crept closer to it.  There were six horses to ride upon, all of whom had been fixed in place with a single pole.  Two were unicorns, two were pegasi, and two were just regular horses.
Each one of them was different in colour, yet surprisingly pristine and untouched by vandals, other than a very specific marking carved upon their flanks.  They weren't part of the original design, clearly scraped into the bodywork.  The weirdest part of it, was that the carvings had a reddish tint to them, like dried blood.
	"But...these aren't real."
Are they, thought James, as he examined the eyes of a purple unicorn very closely.

He tenderly rubbed a finger upon them, finding them to be made of plastic.  They were definitely plastic, even the manes.  He then noted the saddles, which had something even stranger upon them.  Words, clearly carved in the same odd red tint.
The purple unicorn's words were:
	Everything must be perfect.  How can I save my friends, if nothing goes to plan?
As soon as he finished reading these words, the merry-go-round suddenly jilted into life.  The machine started up, yet only half the lights came on, revealing the horses in better colours.  The only difference between them, other than the wings and horns, were colour and hairstyles.  No music came as James expected it to, but the machine nevertheless began to turn.  The horses slowly went up and down.
James was confused, but decided to see if the other equines had any words upon them.  Sure enough, in the saddles of each, were different words.  One regular blonde horse, who for some reason had a cowboy hat, had the words:
	I have to be strong, my friends rely on me.  I can't be weak, I can't accept any help, no matter who's asking.
	"Heh, I hear that girl."

He patted the hat in a brief sympathy before moving on to the first pegasus, a blue one with a dull rainbow-coloured plastic mane.  Her saddle read:
	I'm not afraid of anything, except failure.  I can't lose, no matter what, even if it kills me.
	"Sore loser huh?"
The next was the other unicorn, a luxuriant white one with a stylish purple mane.
	I want to give my friends all that I can give, even my heart if they needed it.
Something about this one made him uncomfortable, as he went past towards the other pegasus.  Butter-yellow with a sweet pink mane.
	I'm scared of everything and I don't know why.  How can my friends even stand being with me?
This one made James' heart sink.  His hand reached out almost instinctively to stroke at the mane.  He didn't know why, but the pegasus touched him with an odd feeling.  He moved to the final horse, a regular pink horse with a puffy curly mane.
	I just want to be happy with my friends.  I don't wanna be alone.  I can't be alone again.
As soon as he finished reading the sixth horse's words, a light suddenly flickered to reveal something upon the central column.  More words.  James was almost starting to get tired of reading.
	Choose And Never Leave Her
At first the phrase made no sense, but he had an inkling as he looked around at the six rides.  Which one did he want to pick?  Why did it want him to choose one?  He just wanted to get out of this place and keep going, so he went towards the one he felt the most for.  The yellow pegasus.  He climbed up onto her, resting his legs on both sides.

The ride began turning faster, fast enough for the world to start blurring somewhat around him.  He felt like he was being taken to another world, the strange aura of the merry-go-round picking up once again with a stronger energy.  James soon heard a most horrifying shriek come from the other side of the carousel.  It sounded like a girl being torn apart.
He wanted to leave, but he also remembered the words of the column, slowly appearing before him as a reminder.  He stuck to the pegasus, readying his handgun to deal with whatever danger was coming.  Another scream came, this one more rough-sounding, like a tomboy's.  Then another, a guttural groan of gritted teeth before a final gasping death rattle.
James could see the horse with the cowboy hat.  He thought he saw it shiver and twitch.  The hat disappeared into the darkness of the fairground.  Now he could see the last three around with him.  The white unicorn, the yellow pegasus, and the pink pony.  He kept his eyes back and forth, waiting to see what was happening.  The white unicorn came first, an ear-splitting shriek of agony.  Much to his horror, he could see it all before him.

A black shadow was clawing invisible strikes upon the unicorn, who reacted in a disturbingly accurate manner, as if it were a real horse being assaulted.  Its mane was torn off, and its horn was ripped from the skull to be wielded like a dagger, ready to plunge into her side.  James fired at the shadow, managing to stop it before it did so.
The shadow turned towards James, its eyes a vile red.  As it did, he could hear a scream of fear come from underneath him.
	"Wh...what the...what the fuck is this?!"
The dark spectre began to walk closer, causing the pegasus to shake and tremble in fear under James.  He couldn't understand why, he could feel it being afraid.  But it was just plastic, surely it wasn't alive.  Was it?  As James tried to understand it all, a voice flashed in his mind.  A voice as sweet as a spring meadow.
	"Please...help me."
	"Wh...Daisy?!  No...that wasn-"
	"Please, don't let him hurt my friends!  Stop him!"
He didn't know who was pleading for help, but the voice reached deep inside his heart.  Something welled up in him, an urge to protect as he gently got off the pegasus, bringing out the scissors in his other hand.

The shadow grinned a wicked set of grey clouded teeth before charging at the raptor.  He fired once, before dodging to one side and slashing through the spectre's stomach, cleaving through an inky gaseous substance that seemed to spread through the air.  It turned towards James and tried to launch upon him, but the raptor dodged and fired straight for its head.
It managed to do something, disorienting the shadow enough to glint a single red eye towards him.  Somehow he had blinded it in the other, but that didn't stop its assault upon him as it grabbed him by the neck, and furiously began to throttle him.  He wasn't going to let that happen again, aiming his gun straight into the throat of the spectre and firing before he even started to choke.
	"Not this time fuckhead!  What now!?"
The shadow fell back against the central column of the carousel and chuckled a thick shivering gurgle.  Soon the shadow began to turn solid, no longer just a cloudy being.  The ink fell away, slowly revealing a bloody pair of claws at its arms.  Then a set of legs in blood-streaked jeans, the smoke unwrapping around to reveal a bare scaly torso.  The head however remained trapped in black smog, which slowly formed into something similar to a raptor's.
He could see where its eye was going.  It stared with a hungry grin towards the yellow pegasus.
	"Wh...NO!  You can't have her!  Don't you DARE touch her!"
The creature did not listen as it slammed through James, knocking him over as it leapt onto the pegasus.  Screams of fear came from its twitching body, claws slowly wrapping around the neck before James roared with a shot to the scaled torso.

It fell from the horse with an unearthly screech, collapsing to the side and barely hanging onto the side of the merry-go-round, before shifting itself back towards James in a trail of fog.
The raptor barely had time to react when he felt claws slash at his torso in that instant, forcing him back against the central column with a yelp, blood oozing softly down his chest.  He instinctively fired back, emptying the clip straight into the familiar monster.  It roared and snarled at each shot, but still stood before him, seeming to absorb the bullets.
James was not done yet, stabbing straight upwards before putting the handgun back in his satchel.  The creature dodging as it readied itself for a duel, suddenly growing its own weapon within its hands.  Another pair of scissors.
	"Are you...me?"
The shadow did not answer as it hungrily charged at James, forcing him to fight back, striking the blades together to try and deflect his opponent.  The spinning motion of the carousel did not help matters, as he tried to keep his guard up.

He forced the shadow back, not wanting to be pushed back and lose his ground.  The spectre however made a vicious swing, knocking James down hard to the ground, before turning back towards the pegasus.
Another scream alerted James, as his adrenaline surged for him to quickly get back up, and shank the monster straight through the torso.  He had no idea why he had become so defensive with this carousel horse.  But he could feel it.  Something...or someone...needing his protection.  He remembered that feeling.  The pendant at his neck glimmered weakly.
	"I said DON'T FUCKING TOUCH HER!"
His fury rose with a violent intensity, slashing with renewed vigour at the shadow's form.  His blows were merciless, his swings swift yet precise, muscle memory on fire as he feinted one way to make it block strong to its right.  When it did, he swung back to the left in a half-spin, pretending to hit the other's scissors before slicing directly through the abdomen, finishing it off with a burning blast deep into its wound, directly inside the body.
	"BURN MOTHERFUCKER!"
The shadow screeched and writhed at the flames burning up inside it, the smoke pulsating out with a thick undulating form that covered the merry-go-round.  The creature however did not make the sounds of death.  Instead, it merely chuckled.  Its laughter was low and vile, filled with contempt, seeming to come from inside James' own mind.
He shook with fear and went down onto his knees, panicking at the sound, somehow reaching into his very soul.  As the laughter reached a crescendo that deafened the entire world to him, his vision turning black and fuzzy from the very sound, the smoke suddenly faded away.  The laughter went away with it.  The merry-go-round stopped.
Standing up once again, he examined the scene around him.  Three of the horses were badly destroyed.  The purple unicorn now had no tail.  The blue pegasus no longer had wings but bloody stumps, and the blonde regular horse had its legs twisted up.  The white unicorn had only lost her mane.  The pink horse was surprisingly unharmed, as was the yellow pegasus.  As he examined her, something was inside the yellow horse's mouth.  A note, with a small key attached to it.
	Thank you for saving me and my friends.
A strange warmth grew in his heart at reading the message, despite the shivers of fear he felt from the shadow that attacked the carousel.  Why was it mimicking him?  He didn't think on it any further, leaving it up to the town's twisted trickery upon him, as he left the merry-go-round.  The key was a perfect fit for the padlocked gate, as he headed on towards the rollercoaster.