SILENT HILL WITHIN

Prologue

Prior to the opening scenes of the original game, members of 'The Order', as the deviant religion in Silent Hill is known, began investigating the possibility of creating a child who might give birth to their god. The intention was to bring god to the world, so that mankind might be destroyed and reborn anew. The god worshipped by this cult is not the Christian God, but something much older. According to the legends of The Order, their god appeared in the world once before and promised to return when a woman gave birth to it.

Birth Of Alessa

With the aid of Dr.Michael Kaufmann, Dahlia Gillespie conceived and gave birth to Alessa. With the proper ceremonies, Dahlia placed the soul of Samael into Alessa'a body. Within this child was their god in an embryonic form, waiting for the right time and the proper age of the child so that it might be conceived. However, Alessa had powers of her own. She could kill with a word, transform day into night, and drive people insane with a thought. She resented the other children, who called her a witch. She also feared the intentions of The Order, including her mother Dahlia. As Alessa grew to the age of seven, she began refusing to use her powers for the benefit of The Order, and started seeking ways to escape from Dahlia. The woman who created and raised her had begun to abuse her.

Alessa Is Sacrificed

In her cruel mind, Dahlia realised that she did not need the child, only the power within the girl. She locked Alessa in her room and set the house on fire. This blaze reportedly burned down half the town. Yet, Alessa survived the fire, though badly burned and comatose. Through meditation over the body, Dahlia and the members of The Order determined that half of Alessa's soul had somehow escaped, taking half of their god with it.

The Significance Of Hospitals

Dahlia and The Order decided to lock up Alessa within an old storage room, in the basement of Alchemilla Hospital in Central Silent Hill. Dr.Michael Kaufmann, director of the hospital, was an ally of The Order. He assigned a young nurse named Lisa Garland to care for Alessa, and ordered her to tell nobody of Alessa's presence in the hospital. Lisa was addicted to a drug created by The Order and distributed by Kaufmann. In order to continue receiving her 'prescription', she went along with the scheme. At some later point, Lisa and Kaufmann had a blowout and the nurse threatened to tell someone about Alessa.

Alessa spent the next seven years lying in a dreaming coma, inside the dank and decrepit basement of Alchemilla Hospital. The dark power dwelt inside Alessa and tortured her mind with visions of cruelty and evil. In return, Alessa's fear and hatred nurtured the god within, and its power grew. Therefore, Alessa spent her worst days in a hospital. This information makes it easy to understand why some of the darkest and most evil places in the game are filled with hospital equipment.

Cheryl - The Second Alessa

During the Great Fire, half of Alessa's soul had escaped. While Alessa lay in Lisa Garland's care, Dahlia again conceived another child with Kaufmann, and placed the other half of Samael's soul into the body of the newborn. However, Lisa chose to defy The Order. She kidnapped the baby and placed it near a road outside the town, hoping someone would find it - and they did.

Harry Mason and his wife were driving along the road when they found the infant. The couple were leaving Silent Hill at the time, their favourite vacation spot. Unable to have children of their own due to the wife's illness, the couple took in the baby and rasied it as their own. They named the little girl Cheryl. Four years later, Harry's wife died of complications from her illness, but he continued to raise the girl as his own. Meanwhile, Alessa lay in a dark and dank basement room under the hospital, comatose, and dreaming horrific nightmares. Her mind called out telepathically to her sibling, and begged her to return to Silent Hill.

Silent Hill

The original Silent Hill begins as Harry Mason is driving towards the resort town with his seven-year-old daughter, Cheryl. The little girl had been repeatedly asking him to take her to the resort town for a vacation, and he finally agreed. Looking forward to some quality time with his daughter, Harry drove through the mountains toward Silent Hill at night. Suddenly, a young woman (Alessa) stepped into the road, in front of the car. Harry swerved and lost control of the vehicle. The car then crashed through a barrier and dropped off the highway.

Harry woke up some time later. It appeared to be daytime, but the streets of Silent Hill were shrouded in a thick fog. Cheryl was missing. After he recovered from his injuries, he pulled himself out of the wreckage and began to search for his missing daughter. A few blocks away, he heard footsteps and spotted Cheryl in the fog. The little girl did not respond to his voice at all and instead she ran away.

The Search For Cheryl

Harry followed Cheryl through the fog, as mysterious events transpired around him. Following what he believes are clues left by Cheryl, he searches one location after another, only to watch each place fall under the powers of evil and darkness. After he searched a location thoroughly, and it seems he needed to move on, the building tranformed in appearance. The wood became decayed and stained, walls were replaced by rusty gates, floors transformed into iron grates, and an endless chasm appeared below him. In order to transform the world back to a more 'normal' state and escape, Harry had to kill an oversized monster each time the world turned dark and corrupt.

While searching the town, he met the strange old woman Dahlia Gillespie, and the nervous hospital administrator Dr.Kaufmann. He also met the frightened nurse Lisa Garland, but it turned out that she was merely a ghost. He continued to pursue the trail of Cheryl, yet only encountered the visage of the young woman who stepped out in front of his vehicle on the highway. The meaning of these events remained a mystery to him, but all that really mattered to Harry was finding Cheryl.

Harry Learns The Truth About Cheryl

Harry eventually came to the conclusion that he was either dreaming all of this, or Silent Hill was being taken over by someone's nightmarish delusions come to life. What Harry did not realise was that the world was tranforming to match Alessa's experience in the hospital basement. The demons that afflicted her dreams had come to life through her power, and were attacking Harry. Alessa was 'sharing' her pain with the town of Silent Hill in a fit of horrific vengeance. The transformations also indicated the coming of the god, who wished to emerge from within Alessa. The young woman attempted to suppress the evil within her by creating the Seal of Metatron everywhere she went. Alessa was trying to stave off the birth of the god, although the monster within was no so powerful that it was transforming the town.

Harry finally caught up to the mysterious young Alessa at the Lakeside Amusement Park. There, he confronted the girl regarding Cheryl. Unfortunately, Dahlia Gillespie had followed Harry. She had been using him all this time just so she could get close enough to Alessa. Dahlia's intention to force Alessa to birth the god had not diminished.

Only the girl was not Alessa. As Dahlia reveals to Harry, the real Alessa was still comatose; a bandaged burn victim propped up in a wheelchair. The person who had taken Alessa's form was actually Cheryl. The girl that Harry raised for seven years realised who she really was on the instant they returned to Silent Hill. Remembering her past and her true powers, she transformed into Alessa and caused the accident. She had been leading Harry across town, hoping to get away from him. She knew that he would search everywhere for her, and that Dahlia knew this as well. She realised that Dahlia intended to regain control of her and her power once again.