In the Eyes of a Child - Part 6/9
I was sitting in my usual spot on the couch, resting my arms against its backrest as I watched yet another of Alessa’s creatures hit the dust on top of my flowers. The sharp sound of gunshots was getting quite tedious, truth to tell. Cybil was running around out there with a seemingly endless supply of bullets, not seeming to realize that all the shooting only drew more of them for her to shoot. Or perhaps she did. The woman looked like a complete fiend whenever she was in sight.
She hadn’t taken the news of the carnage well it all. I never told her about her burning to death, letting her believe in her logical but hopelessly incorrect theories, but even so a deeper part of her seemed to know and remember.
I groaned and rested my forehead against my arms, only to lift it again upon feeling a hand on my shoulder. Sharon smiled at me and sat down, completely ignoring another burst of gunshots. “She’s not playing nice, mommy. She might get hurt if the big ones show up.”
I could see the annoyance in her dark eyes and nodded. The threat was obvious. “I’ll go out and fetch her, honey. Just stay here.”
Cybil was leaning against a tree, her gun lowered as she seemed to wait for the next unfortunate creature to cross her path. She must have been quite deafened, because she didn’t notice my approach until I stepped into her line of sight. An instant look of alarm crossed her features, and she immediately straightened.
“You shouldn’t be out here, Rose. It’s dangerous.”
A multitude of sharp answers ran through my mind, but then I just shook my head and stepped closer. “They won’t become any less real because you shoot them.” I brushed some ashes from her oversized leather jacket, feeling oddly protective of her. Well, she was technically my responsibility now.
Cybil lowered her head, slumping slightly, and I sighed. I seemed to be doing a lot of that lately. “Have you even slept?”
“No, I… can’t. This is…” She shook her head, the muscles at her jaw tensing, and I felt an unexpected surge of compassion. Tugging at her jacket, I said, “Let’s get you inside.”
--
The monsters of Silent Hill, Sharon once explained to me, are the manifestations of Alessa’s nightmare turned reality, but it’s not as simple as that. They are the victims of her revenge, doomed to exist in their own private hell even as they enter ours, taking the shape of our anxiety and fear.
Silent Hill wasn’t exactly hell, unless Sharon chose it to be. It wasn’t for me, at least. Perhaps it was for Cybil.
I’d woken up to the sound of her crying out in her sleep, and now I was sitting at the edge of her bed, unsure as how to handle the present situation. Cybil, her hair messy as always, had practically thrown off the cushion, her head turning from side to side as she mumbled incoherently. For being a tough cop, she sure didn’t look very tough right now.
“Don’t… she’s just a child…”
I winced and placed my palm lightly against her cheek, stilling her movements. “Shhh… it’s alright. She’s safe. You’re safe.” I almost gave a start when she nuzzled into my hand, her skin soft against my fingers, and I carefully pulled back as soon as she seemed to calm down. Quietly, I tucked her in and left the room, my palms still sweating.
My therapist would have loved this.
--
The corpses outside lay where they had fallen, twisted bodies slowly dissolving from the acid within. Cybil had been asleep for almost twelve hours now, leaving me to play with Sharon and continue reading my book. Things were almost back to normal, except they weren’t. Cybil’s presence unnerved me, made me feel like I was the stranger one.
“Why are we here?”
I blinked and looked up to find Cybil standing behind me. I gave her a tentative smile. “Well, this is my home, and I think you used that big bike of yours, officer.”
She gave me her best cop glare, and my smile widened as she sat down beside me, propping her feet up on the coffee table. “You know what I mean.”
“I do.” I paused, studying her. She wore the same clothes as yesterday, her white tank top slightly stained from ashes beneath the red checkered shirt, but her eyes held a new calmness. Wetting my lips, I hesitated, and was startled when she touched my shoulder with her fingertips. “I… um...” She raised her eyebrows, and I let out a soft breath. “I am here because I wanted a child, and Sharon wanted a mother. We’re bound together.”
For eternity.
Cybil looked at me for a long moment until the compassion in her eyes made me swallow and look away. Her next words were hesitant. “Here?”
“Yes, here. In the twilight zone between heaven and hell, I chose the dark truth over Paradise. I chose my daughter over sanity and reality, and you’re the unfortunate victim of that choice. You should never have followed us here.” I could hear the flat tone of my own voice, and when I met Cybil’s gaze I saw fear quickly being replaced by… stubbornness?
Her reply was faster than I would have expected. “I chose to protect and serve, and that is what I did. I don’t regret it.” Cybil always talked as if there was a law backing up her every word. She actually seemed to mean what she said.
“Is there anything left to protect?”
“There is you.”
I blinked. There was no way she could have actually just said that, but she looked straight into my eyes, her elbow resting lazily against the backrest of the couch. “I…” I took a moment to collect myself. “Thank you.”
She nodded briskly and then got up, probably off to polish her gun or something. I leaned back on the couch, watching her until she was out of sight.
Protect me, huh? I doubted that she could protect me from myself.