Part 32: "To School"

Chapter 4 - "to school"

Cybil senses someone...
Somewhere in this small room...

Underneath the lined up tables...
Behind the folding chairs...
Cybil cautiously checked all the places that someone could hide in, but...
It does not appear that anyone is here.

The faded ceiling fan is blowing air down towards Cybil.
That might have been what made her so sure someone was here, or perhaps
it was just her imagination.

She is uneasy.
She wants to talk to someone, to anyone.
These feelings might be what made Cybil think that someone was here.

"What was that all about?"
Cybil left the police station.
Cybil is once again in the city streets where the snow is falling.
"That's right..."
Cybil recalled her conversation with Harry.


(Oh, yeah, Cybil...You haven't seen a little girl in this town have you?)

"A little girl...
Yes...Cheryl.

I wonder if I will be able to rescue her unharmed in this town which has
become a nest of monsters..."

But Cybil is a police officer.
To find and protect Cheryl is her responsibility and her mission.

Realizing this Cybil could not sit still, and in the next moment she was gone.

"There should be an elementary school on the edge of town."
Cybil followed her intuition and decided that Cheryl probably headed for the
school after wandering around town.

Per her training in child psychology, she has learned that if a child
loses their parents or guardian then the chance is high that they will
be drawn to places that they are most used to going, places where there are
a lot of people.

However, ahead of her all knowledge, either a bit instinctively, or due to a
sense similar that to that of a memory coming back, she believed somewhere
within her heart that Cheryl was probably at the elementary school.


Cybil may have been drawn here by someone.
As she nears the elementary school part of her shirt becomes soaked
with clammy sweat.

"Is it really ok to go inside?"
She asks herself this many times.

As she reached the edge of the school grounds her conscientious sense of duty
as a police officer rose up within her along with her sense of reason, and
she began to walk naturally towards the school.

It is now too late for her to turn back.
She readies herself, and then using both hands she pushes the door in front
of her open with all her strength.

The aged building reeked of a peculiar mildew.
However, its insides were much cleaner than she had expected, and
Cybil found this a bit surprising.

Perhaps it was just the result of her enduring the cold wind for so long, but
she had a terrible headache.
Cybil pressed her fingers to her temples, and eventually began to walk
aimlessly again.


Cybil opened a door leading to a long hallway. She looked through the
glass windows placed in the doors of the classrooms while slowly walking.
There was no sign of Cheryl.

The courtyard is to her right.
The landscaping is very nice, and has been well cared for.
The snow has become sleet.
It does not look like it will accumulate.
In the back of the courtyard there is an old-feeling clock tower; however,
Cybil is not particularly interested in it.

"Hmm, I wonder how Harry is doing...
I wonder if the gun I gave him has come in handy...
If I cannot meet with Harry after I find Cheryl then it will be
meaningless...

We should have made plans to rendezvous somewhere..."

Cybil thought this, but at this point nothing could be done.

At any rate, there was her horrible headache.
It is gradually getting worse, dulling her sense of time and space.
A sluggishness similar to sleepiness grasps her entire body.


"Perhaps I am just dreaming all of this?", Cybil thought.
It is difficult for a person to tell whether they are dreaming or not while
in a dream, but for her to accept these conditions is just as difficult.

She has no memory of how she got to this town, so it seemed natural
for her to think that she has been in a deep sleep since the moment of the
motorcycle accident until now.

"Or possibly from even before then...
From the time of the phone call with the Silent Hill (police) station?

Or maybe..."

While contemplating the many possibilities, Cybil climbed the stairs to the
second floor of the school.

And then...

A ) She heard a melody being played on a piano.

B ) She heard the scream of a little girl.