[L'Oiseau Noir]

As he was approaching the halfway point of the corridor, a curious noise distracted Gabriel. He guided his flashlight to a wall--the sound was a lot like a valve turning--and saw a lanky humanoid creature rotating a rusty valve handle. Its face was non-existent, and it wore an apron of sorts made of a strange material similar to flesh. In fact, its face, at least what was supposed to be its face, looked as if somebody had pulled a fleshy cloth over it.

“What in God’s name….” Gabriel trailed off though, stepping away from the wall of the corridor. The monster just kept turning the valve, oblivious to his presence--Gabriel wanted to keep it that way.

Further he traveled down the hall, past rows of numbered doors and gaunt stretchers, with no particular direction in mind; his feet seemed to be moving on their own volition, like they wanted to take him somewhere important. A place he’d forgotten a long time ago.

Gabriel came to a full stop, however, for a lithe shadow manifested before him in the folds of darkness. It was a girl with dark hair and greenish-brown eyes, her body wrapped in bandages. She wore a stained and tattered navy jacket over her torso, and though a majority of her body had seemed to have sustained some form of damage, her pale face remained unscathed. The girl had a very pretty face in fact, with thin cheekbones and a sharp, narrow nose. Her lips were soft and pale like her skin, and she had this otherworldly wiseness in her eyes, like she’d seen so many things in her life no normal person could ever fathom. But, also, the girl seemed sad--Gabriel could see the sorrow in her eyes.

“Who are you?” he asked.

The girl stared emptily at Gabriel, as if she was looking right through him.

“Hey,” Gabriel took a sole step forward, “can you tell me you’re name?”

“How could you forget?” the girl asked in a half-whisper. A fringe of black hair covered one of her eyes, but the visible one remained intent on Gabriel. “How could you forget about those summer nights in Silent Hill, Gabriel? The precious time we had spent together….”

Gabriel looked at the girl funnily, uncertain of what she’d meant by “precious time” or “Silent Hill.” He didn’t remember anything like that--and he was sure he would have if such a thing had transpired. “I don’t even know you,” Gabriel said, feeling the hairs on his neck begin to prickle. “Silent Hill? I’ve never been there… that place was closed off years ago from the public.”

“You were there once,” the girl said cryptically. “You and I were both there once, Gabriel. We lived in that town as children… we played there, went to school there. How can you forget such wonderful memories?”

“What memories? There never were any memories!”

“You left me a long time ago, Gabriel,” the girl continued. “You left me alone in Alchemilla, and now that I’ve found you, I’m taking you back home to Silent Hill. I want you by my side again, just as you were seven years ago. Dahlia will not interfere this time.”

As the girl spoke those words, it was as if the fury of all Hell had been invoked. The sirens resonated from the murky depths of the decrepit world, and everything around Gabriel began to collapse into darkness. He tried to move, but he was held fast by an unseen force. Before him, a strange red seal began to form as if a ghostly hand was drawing it: it was a weird triangular marking with unreadable squiggles written in its core, as well as the circle that encompassed it. It pulsated and flashed, filling the corridor with a bright red glow. An indescribable pain rocked Gabriel’s body, like his flesh was slowly being peeled away and his insides were being scooped out. He writhed and screamed, falling helplessly to his knees. Then he felt something warm push itself up his esophagus--blood….

That was the rest of the story--it was a very small writing assignment, so I didn't go all out on it. After all, it's not like it's a draft for a novel--that won't be done for quite some time; well, until I finish reading and memorizing all the important rules listed in "English Grammar for Dummies."

Sorry for the suckage. =P