Part 16: "I'll Shut Up"

Harry is all about equal rights. Let's let the trained professional go...
B wins!

Chapter 13 - "I'll Shut Up"

Cybil says "I'm going"


I cannot beat her bravery.
"Even though I look like this I am a police officer.
Please trust me."

"I will stay here.
If anything looks wrong, then yell back to me."

Cybil brightly smiled and then disappeared into the darkness.

After a bit I was not longer able to hear the echoes of her footsteps
from the passage.
It looks like the passage is longer than I thought.

I took another look around the disorganized antique shop.
The shop in itself is just beyond the bottom of the stairs leading down
from the entrance.
Inside it looks like what I would expect an antique shop to look like, as it
is all cozy and such.

So things like that passage leading deeper in are unimaginable.

.........

Drowsiness is threatening my consciousness.
It is not unreasonable.
We left past midnight and without sleeping a wink I have been
walking all over town while searching for Cheryl.

I made my way into the room at the end of the passage.
It is small, and the smell of something having been burned is in the air.
Once I saw an altar appear in the darkness I realized that this is the
"church" that Dahlia was talking about.


I look around the area.
An axe have been displayed on the wall.
But nothing else stands out.
While shaking my head I decide to try going back through the passage
I came from.

And at that moment...a light bright enough to make me look away emanates
from the altar.


I think I heard the sound of a giant match being stuck, and then two enormous
pillars of flame rose from the altar, as if a ritual were beginning or
something. Even at the distance I am at I can feel the heat from those
flames.

My surprise and that heat cause me to fall into a state of barely being
conscious, and then I gradually lose myself, until I finally end up lying face
down on the concrete floor.
And the coldness that remained in the floor was drawn away by the heat as
my consciousness grew distant...

I am on the verge of falling asleep
............
A scream from what I think was Cybil brought me round.

I know I heard it.
I energetically stand up and rush into the passage.
There is something at the end of the passage.
Something dangerous is...

...rry? Are you OK?
Harry?
Harry?
..............................

Where am I?

Harry.

Lisa...
Then I'm in the hospital.


You were having a bad dream.

Was I?

Hey, you don't look too good.
Are you OK?

I'm fine.
Nothing you need to worry about.

Well, if you're sure...

Lisa...
Do you know a woman named Dahlia Gillespie?

Oh yeah, that crazy Gillespie lady.
She's kinda' famous around here.
She never sees anybody, so I don't know that much about her.

But I heard her kid died in a fire, and supposedly she's been crazy
ever since.

Well, she says the town is being devoured by the darkness.
Do you have any idea what she's talking about?

The town...devoured by the darkness.
Yes, I think I do.
Before this place was turned into a resort, the townspeople here were on
the quiet side.

Everybody followed some kind of queer religion.
Weird occult stuff...
Black magic, that kind of thing.

As young people moved away, the people figured they'd been summoned by
the gods. Evidently, things like that used to happen around here all the time.

Before the resort, there wasn't really anything else out here.
Everyone was so flipped out. Gotta blame it on something.
Then a lot of new people came in and everybody clammed up about it.


A cult...

Last time I heard anything about it was, gosh, years ago...
When several people connected with developing the town died in accidents.
People said it was a curse.

Oh, I'm sorry. I'm rambling...
I'll shut up.


The reverberation of Lisa's "I'll shut up" remained in my ears.
I wonder how long had I been asleep? I found myself in that antique shop
again, lying face down in the same position I was in just a short while ago.

Was that another dream?
Did I pass out again?
I don't want to think so, but maybe this is all just going on in my head.

I could have had a car accident, and now I'm lying unconscious in a hospital
bed...

I don't know what's real anymore...

Cybil said Cheryl was heading towards the lake.
But, the road to the lake is blocked...
Aren't there any other roads?
Lisa would probably know...

Although I am limited in what I can do, I still have one piece of information
for finding Cheryl.
So I cannot just remain here.
I energetically stand up, open the door of the antique shop, and rush back
into the town.


The town has turned into that nightmarish world.
It's as if the danger in this town increases with every second.
In order to find Lisa I turn on the flashlight on my chest and begin to
run at full speed.

I left the antique shop with the intention of reuniting with Lisa, but I
discover that all the roads leading to the hospital are blocked.
With no other choice I enter the shopping mall "Town Center" in the shopping
district.


Inside everything has naturally changed to the otherworld as well.
I can hear the groans of monsters in the vicinity, and it would not be
surprising if they attacked at any moment.
The floor has changed to metal grating, and this building looks as if it has
been left in ruins for several hundred years.

Large monitors have been placed in the hall at the entrance to greet shoppers.
After wandering around the first floor and finding nothing interesting I begin
heading up the powered down escalator. And at that moment...


Suddenly light overflows from out of the monitors in the hall.
A bound Cheryl is displayed on the screens.

"Daddy...Help me!"

"Cheryl!"

I turn around and run back down the escalator toward the first floor hall.
The image of Cheryl on the monitors then begins to get more and more fuzzy,
until it dissolves into video static on the picture tube.

And then, in place of Cheryl an eerie crest is displayed.

It...
looked a lot like "that" which I saw in the courtyard of the elementary school.

I pound on the monitors.
I pound with all my strength, as if I believed that Cheryl is trapped inside
the picture tube.
However, Cheryl's image did not appear again.
)
I am convinced.
Cheryl was definitely taken away by someone and is being held by them, and she
is waiting for me to rescue her.
I must hurry, I say to myself.

All right...

A ) Search the second floor.


B ) Search the first floor.