Appeared In:
Silent Hill (1 and 3)
Name:
Cheryl "Heather" Mason
Age:
18
Gender:
Female
Appearance:
Cheryl
Personality:
"Listen, suffering is a fact of life. Either you learn how to deal with that or you go under. You can stay in your own little dream world, but you can't keep hurting other people!"
On the surface, Cheryl appears to be a carefree girl with a few rough edges. Like a typical adolescent, she is moody and loses her temper fairly easily, though she has since resolved not to let her rage control her and has become more open to others. Very sarcastic, she has a sharp tongue and a rather dark sense of humor, often joking at others' expense and even, on rare occasions, their fright. Because of her sarcastic streak, as well as her previous nightmarish ordeal numbing her senses, she can adapt remarkably to any disturbing spectacles she comes across, her bravery and nonchalance verging on hotheadedness at times.
Nevertheless, Cheryl has a great deal of kindness and selflessness, having a strong sense of justice even for people she otherwise has a strong dislike towards. She believes that suffering is a natural, sometimes unavoidable, part of life that one must go through. Despite her previous vengeful streak, she hates the idea of anyone hurting and killing others just to achieve their goals, and will refuse to resort to murder on another human being, guilty or otherwise, unless she has no choice but to defend herself.
One major trait for Cheryl, however, is her strong love for her late adoptive father, Harry Mason. She becomes very angry when others criticize him and is quick to jump to his defense. Ever since his death, she's become reflective and somber, his passing still a deep emotional scar that leaves her extremely upset when she thinks back on it. However, she still resolves to live on in his memory, her happier moments in life helping her get through the worst parts of it.
Powers:
As the reincarnation of Alessa Gillespie, Cheryl attains some degree of her supernatural abilities. Among these are premonition, being able to sense a presence that's otherwise unknown to others, and detecting Otherworld shifts, sometimes involuntarily bringing one about herself under a great deal of stress. With her memories as Alessa resurfacing, Cheryl has begun to exhibit signs of her stronger powers, such as telekinesis and astral projection, as well as some new powers that remain dormant for the time being.
Abilities:
Being a Silent Hill protagonist, Cheryl displays some abstract thinking, using items that would otherwise seem odd at first glance to solve some solutions (ie. a carjack to pry open a defunct elevator's doors), as well as being able to solve even the most complicated puzzles. As shown here, she could also tie a pretty strong knot. She has a strong awareness of her surroundings, usually able to pick up on a threat before it's known, with or without her old radio.
Though she has very little combat training, Cheryl can still hold herself up pretty well in a fight, keeping her distance with her guns and striking back when an enemy gets too close, as well as knowing how to block pretty effectively. When under pressure, she'll psychologically numb herself in order to get through tough situations, keeping a cool head until something causes her to snap.
Weapons:
Cheryl attains each of the weapons that she has found in her previous adventure. However, she can only hold one of each at a time when going out in the worlds, and for her guns, ammunition is limited, so she has to keep a close watch on them.
Firearms
Melee
Equipment:
Awareness:
No.
History:
Cheryl "Heather" Mason is the adopted daughter of Harry Mason, the protagonist of the first Silent Hill, and the reincarnation of both the previous Cheryl and Alessa Gillespie, a tortured young woman that was offered as a sacrifice to give birth to the god of the town. Though having an unwitting hand in the ritual, Harry killed the god and survived; before he made his escape, Alessa reappeared as an apparition, with a newborn baby in her arms. This baby was both the previous incarnation of Cheryl and Alessa herself, restored to one body. She gave the baby to Harry before she died, the man escaping the town with the infant.
Though initially conflicted, Harry decided to raise the baby, naming her Cheryl again, and moved to Portland. However, five years later, they were attacked by a member of Silent Hill's cult, to which Harry was forced to kill in self-defense. In an attempt to throw off the cult should they come looking for him and the child, Harry renamed her Heather, dyed her dark hair blonde, and relocated to another city, eventually settling in the Daisy Villa Apartments. On one of Heather's birthdays, she was given a pendant with a red jewel inside by her father, who told her to take good care of it and to never take it off, no matter what. Little did she know at the time, this gift would come to save her life in the future.
Since then, Heather grew up with her father, rarely associating herself with her neighbors in order to keep living in hiding, for reasons that have been unknown to her. Otherwise, she lived a fairly normal life, making a few friends and even acting out despite Harry's concerns. However, her love for her father always stood out above all else, bringing her up into a happy, carefree young woman.
However, at the age of seventeen, everything changed. While running an errand for Harry at the Central Square Shopping Center, she was confronted by the middle-aged detective Douglas Cartland, who had been hired to find her. Thinking him to be a stalker, Heather evaded him and tried to exit the mall. However, it was in her attempt to flee that she was attacked by hellish monsters, supposedly led by a woman named Claudia Wolf, a religious fanatic aligned with the very cult that Harry had stopped so long ago. While fighting her way through the monsters, venturing through locales that sometimes shifted into the hellish alternate reality known as the Otherworld, Heather began to have a strange feeling of something that she forgot for a long time, that she had been running from her whole life.
After fighting her way through subway, sewers, construction site, and office building, the teen finally returned home. However, she witnessed a terrible sight that brought her to her knees in tears: Harry Mason, the former hero, had been brutally murdered, killed by a monster under Claudia's order. After killing the monster in retribution, the young woman mourned her father's demise with a remorseful Detective Cartland at her side, unable to give him a proper burial at the time. Intent on avenging her father's death, Heather decided to go after Claudia to the eponymous town of Silent Hill, with Douglas accompanying her and driving her there.
On the way, she began to understand the truth, the reason why Claudia was so interested in her as well as why she was having strange flashbacks to memories she couldn't understand. She realized that she was Harry's adopted daughter instead of by blood, given by the spirit of a fourteen-year-old girl who had been sacrificed by her mother to give birth to a horrid deity known to the cult simply as "God," and that Claudia was going to perform the same ritual with her as the sacrifice.
As Heather journeyed through the twisted town of Silent Hill, fighting her way through the hospital and the amusement park, she learned more about the truth of her origin. Not only was she this gift of the girl from seventeen years ago, she was also her reincarnation, with the rejuvenated form of "God" within her womb, feeding off of her hatred to give itself strength and nourish it. Not long before she faced Claudia, Heather was faced with the remnants of that girl, the Memory of Alessa, a being intent on killing her in order to prevent "God's" birth, which would bring more suffering to the world. However, Heather resolved to survive and live this through rather than lay back and accept a "peaceful" death, defeating her and coming to terms with her confusing identity.
She went on to confront Claudia in a church dedicated to the cult's religion, where her rage almost caused the birthing of the god within her. However, she was able to compose herself and used her last resort: the pendant that Harry gave her. The red jewel within it was actually a stone of crystallized aglaophotis, a substance that was used to expel the god out of Alessa seventeen years ago. Harry put this in her pendant in the case that, should Heather ever be in danger of birthing the cult's god again, she could survive by swallowing the aglaophotis and expelling the god.
She did just that. Then, against all biological means, she egested the deity fetus out of her, not yet fully formed. However, she was unable to kill the god in the state that it was, as Claudia, disgustingly enough, ingested the fetus herself, "birthing" it with the aid of a demon known as Valtiel, the "Hand of God," at the cost of her own life. In its weakened state, Heather confronted the partially-formed God, with its twisted face so similar to Alessa's own, and ultimately killed Her.
After tearfully mourning her father, and then hearing what she thought was a newborn's wail from the fallen God, Heather was returned to the normal world, reuniting with an injured Douglas and coming to terms with her past. The two escaped the town, Heather taking on her true name of Cheryl Mason as her father intended, and returning to her normal life, with Douglas becoming a foster father for the time being, the two having developed a surrogate father-daughter bond over the course of their journey. During this time, Cheryl was able to give her father the burial that he deserved. Supposedly, this ended the tale of the reincarnation of Alessa Gillespie.
One year passed since then. While Cheryl had freed herself from the religious cult that pursued her since birth and attempted to rebuild her life, she was shackled by the guilt of Harry's death. A darkness punished her every night under the guise of abominable nightmares of her previous venture, as well as the painful memories of Alessa's past. To ease her conscience, she volunteered at a crisis intervention center for troubled youth, acing her training after three months and being able to answer the crisis line without supervision. With this, she was able to adjust back to a relatively normal life, moving out on her own and settling into South Ashfield Heights.
However, once again, everything changed one day. The Great Convergence, though its effects had occurred for a lot longer on her world, seemed to finally reach her, the young woman having the feeling that something was off. Initially trying to ignore it, it was when she was walking back to her apartment that she encountered a strange creature, not at all like the monsters she encountered before, but one that still sent her old radio blaring with sudden static. Unable to ignore it in spite of common sense saying otherwise, she followed the creature into an alleyway, coming across a door that initially seemed to be a backdoor entrance to a building. Upon going through, however, she found that it did not lead inside the building, but another world entirely, winding up in the industrial world of Monstropolis.
There, she stumbled upon the plot to collect screams from children in order to get back at the new heads of the company. But, more importantly, it was also here that Cheryl came face-to-face with the conjurer of that strange monster: a boy in a black coat and a helmet, calling himself "Vanitas." Though she knew nothing about him, he revealed to her that the demon god from back then wasn't the only thing feeding off of her anger and hatred; along with the screams of the children collected, as well as the dark energies from that town and "the sorrow of that little girl," the boy made of Darkness was also reconstructed at a much faster rate from her thoughts of revenge. After "thanking" her for unknowingly aiding in his revival, the boy decided that she'd heard enough, summoning a strange key-like weapon in hand.
Despite facing down a god and surviving, the boy proved to be too much for Cheryl, the young woman knocked to the ground with ease. However, just before he could finish her off, he was suddenly pushed back by a telekinetic force unconsciously summoned by the young woman in a small fit of panic. At first surprised by this herself, she chose not to question it at the time and instead took the initiative, making her escape through another active door and winding up on another world once more.
Unfortunately for her, the boy didn't give chase. Instead, she was cut off entirely, the door deactivated and leaving her stuck. Far from home once again, Cheryl went on to try and make sense of things rather than sit around whining about being seemingly trapped in another world.
And so began Cheryl Mason's new journey to head back home, one that would turn out to be far less horrifying and stressful than her previous journey. Or at least, that's what she hoped...
Sample Post:
She stared at the large mirror, though didn't know why. She hated her reflection, the false image of herself staring back at her, with its swarming red in the background like a bunch of tendrils. Part of her just wanted to turn away and leave the room, but she just stood there, like she had some morbid fascination with this thing in front of her. Not only that, but something told her that she was trapped in this room, a stupid decision that she made to stumble into here.
For a while, nothing particularly special happened. Just the swarms of blood red moving about the floors and the walls in the reflection, absent from reality. Well, as close to reality as this nightmarish world would allow. But then, it all happened so quickly. The blood slithered its way into the tub of the reflection, making its way into the drain.
A disgusting squelching sound to her right. She looked to the tub in reality. The blood was slithering out of the drain like snakes, slowly spreading its way throughout the room.
"They have come to witness the Beginning. The rebirth of Paradise, despoiled by mankind."
Back to her reflection. Her clothes turned bloody, her skin burnt and pale. Hair turned darker, her demeanor cold and emotionless.
"Remember me, and your true self as well. You will birth a God and build an eternal Paradise."
Soon, the blood filled the whole room. She could feel some of it snaking up to her legs, sapping away at her very soul.
She couldn't take it anymore. She ran back to the door, trying to push her way out. As she thought, it was jammed without warning, keeping her trapped in this death room. No matter how hard she shoved, pulled, banged her fists and kicked at the door, there was no way out.
"Let me burn..."
"No! Get away from me!"
"Their bodies ached, and their hearts held nothing but hatred. They fought endlessly, but death never came..."
It was hopeless. She was going to die, from an irrational fear come to life no less. She turned back to the mirror, and though the mirror would not reflect it, she could not mask the fear shown so clearly on her face.
"Stuck in the eternal quagmire..."
Hazel eyes snapped wide open. A deep gasp, eyes darting around the room that she had been asleep in. Finally, checking her legs for any signs of those blood-like tendrils.
Nothing. A sigh of relief. Just another nightmare.
It'd been like this for the past year now. Nightmares, of her previous journey through Silent Hill, and the torturous memories of a previous life, haunted her almost every night. She thought she would be at peace after coming to terms with herself, but it seemed to be getting worse for her. There were times where it was almost too much for her to bear, the young woman considering therapy if they got any worse, even though her budget wouldn't allow her to afford it.
But...no. She couldn't give in, not after facing the living nightmare that was that damn town and surviving it. She had to stay strong, no matter how bad things got. That's...that's what her father would've wanted.
Tracing the pendant that she still wore, that she still treasured even after its use was done, Cheryl gave a deep sigh. Even now, the pain of her loss still lingered in her heart. But, no matter her sorrow, she had to go on with her life, in his memory.
Besides, what kind of psychiatrist would want to go over her screwed-up life anyway?
With a somewhat bitter chuckle to herself, Cheryl looked over to the counter on the side of her bed, checking the time on the digital clock. 6:48 A.M. Just about an hour before she had to head to the call center.
May as well get up then, she told herself. So, getting up out of bed, she went about her daily routine of getting ready for the day: wash up, grab a quick bite to eat, and head out of her apartment.
"Just another day..." she told herself as she walked down the sidewalk to the call center she volunteered at. Just another normal, uneventful day in the life of Cheryl Mason...
Or so she thought.
Silent Hill (1 and 3)
Name:
Cheryl "Heather" Mason
Age:
18
Gender:
Female
Appearance:
Cheryl
Personality:
"Listen, suffering is a fact of life. Either you learn how to deal with that or you go under. You can stay in your own little dream world, but you can't keep hurting other people!"
On the surface, Cheryl appears to be a carefree girl with a few rough edges. Like a typical adolescent, she is moody and loses her temper fairly easily, though she has since resolved not to let her rage control her and has become more open to others. Very sarcastic, she has a sharp tongue and a rather dark sense of humor, often joking at others' expense and even, on rare occasions, their fright. Because of her sarcastic streak, as well as her previous nightmarish ordeal numbing her senses, she can adapt remarkably to any disturbing spectacles she comes across, her bravery and nonchalance verging on hotheadedness at times.
Nevertheless, Cheryl has a great deal of kindness and selflessness, having a strong sense of justice even for people she otherwise has a strong dislike towards. She believes that suffering is a natural, sometimes unavoidable, part of life that one must go through. Despite her previous vengeful streak, she hates the idea of anyone hurting and killing others just to achieve their goals, and will refuse to resort to murder on another human being, guilty or otherwise, unless she has no choice but to defend herself.
One major trait for Cheryl, however, is her strong love for her late adoptive father, Harry Mason. She becomes very angry when others criticize him and is quick to jump to his defense. Ever since his death, she's become reflective and somber, his passing still a deep emotional scar that leaves her extremely upset when she thinks back on it. However, she still resolves to live on in his memory, her happier moments in life helping her get through the worst parts of it.
Powers:
As the reincarnation of Alessa Gillespie, Cheryl attains some degree of her supernatural abilities. Among these are premonition, being able to sense a presence that's otherwise unknown to others, and detecting Otherworld shifts, sometimes involuntarily bringing one about herself under a great deal of stress. With her memories as Alessa resurfacing, Cheryl has begun to exhibit signs of her stronger powers, such as telekinesis and astral projection, as well as some new powers that remain dormant for the time being.
- Soul Guard (dormant): When seriously injured, Cheryl is quicker to recover than most due to having grown accustomed to pain and sorrow, and has made it a part of her. If suffering from a form of dark magic or malicious psychic influence, her body recovers all the quicker, enabling her to have a regenerative healing factor when under their influence, from curses to hexes and more.
- Blood Pact (dormant): Due to her past life and connection to the town of Silent Hill, Cheryl is instinctively linked to others' pain and sorrow, especially when they are being hunted by individuals with single-minded obsession. When said victim is injured in the process of being hunted down by their pursuer, Cheryl can see their psychic outlines and sympathize with their pain and fear, and vice versa. After healing the victim, or vice versa, they both get a surge of adrenaline that allows them to regain composure quicker than usual.
- Repressed Alliance (unstable): Through her latent psychic abilities, Cheryl can unconsciously call upon the dark forces of an area and bend them to her will in small ways, using them to block off attacks from assailants as the most prominent usage.
Abilities:
Being a Silent Hill protagonist, Cheryl displays some abstract thinking, using items that would otherwise seem odd at first glance to solve some solutions (ie. a carjack to pry open a defunct elevator's doors), as well as being able to solve even the most complicated puzzles. As shown here, she could also tie a pretty strong knot. She has a strong awareness of her surroundings, usually able to pick up on a threat before it's known, with or without her old radio.
Though she has very little combat training, Cheryl can still hold herself up pretty well in a fight, keeping her distance with her guns and striking back when an enemy gets too close, as well as knowing how to block pretty effectively. When under pressure, she'll psychologically numb herself in order to get through tough situations, keeping a cool head until something causes her to snap.
Weapons:
Cheryl attains each of the weapons that she has found in her previous adventure. However, she can only hold one of each at a time when going out in the worlds, and for her guns, ammunition is limited, so she has to keep a close watch on them.
Firearms
- Handgun: Holding ten rounds of ammunition, the handgun has a long range and a very high accuracy, allowing to be fired while moving. Though it's not very powerful, it's the most reliable gun for Cheryl, and she's usually found with it more often than her other guns.
- Shotgun: Carrying six rounds of shells, the shotgun is most effective at close range and slow to reload, but has a powerful knock-back effect on weaker enemies.
- Submachine Gun: This holds 32 rounds of ammunition. While great for continuous firing, it's only setback is the scarce amount of ammo clips that can be found. As such, it's only reserved for emergencies, such as powerful adversaries that are asking to be pumped with lead.
- Stun Gun: A gift from her "worrywart dad," the stun gun has a very short range and consumes one battery per use. It's mainly used to knock down enemies for a short period of time; otherwise, Cheryl is rarely seen with it on her due to its bulkiness.
Melee
- Knife: Cheryl's knife is a retractable switchblade that's swift, but weak. While not very useful, she holds onto this "just in case."
- Steel pipe: Usually good for bludgeoning, Cheryl rarely uses this unless she has to pry something open with it.
- Maul: While an extremely powerful weapon, the maul is very heavy and slows down Cheryl's movements drastically, whether going around or attacking with great effort. The distance between her and the enemy also takes into effect, as they can be hit with the haft instead of the head if they're too close. Because of how limited its use is, Cheryl only uses this when faced with slow enemies.
- Katana: Initially an art gallery prop, this traditional Japanese sword is very fast and powerful, being the most useful of her melee weapons and one that she's seen with the most.
Equipment:
- Silver Pendant: A birthday gift from her father, once containing a "good luck charm", now empty after its use. It's one of Cheryl's most valued possessions, continuing to wear it as a memento of her late father.
- Bulletproof Vest: This vest acts as general protection, reducing the damage taken from enemies by a marginal amount, even moreso from ranged ballistic hits to the torso. While good for protection, its weight makes Cheryl run slower, so she dons this only when she feels she really needs to.
- Radio: A staple of the Silent Hill series, Cheryl has kept her own radio since the events of her game. It acts as a sort of radar, alerting her of any nearby monsters by emitting static. Sometimes, however, it can work against her, alerting monsters to her as well. Though it works on enemies outside of her world, it's mostly reserved for supernatural creatures and doesn't detect Heartless or Nobodies, though it does detect Unversed. In some cases, it won't go off even when faced with such a thing, indicating that she is faced with something much more dangerous than a simple monster.
- Flashlight: Another staple of the series that Cheryl has kept. Keeping it in her left breast pocket, it's used to illuminate extremely dark areas; like the radio, it can backfire by alerting enemies to her.
- Silencer: Another item that Cheryl has kept for practical purposes, the silencer can be equipped to her handgun or submachine gun. When equipped, it muffles the sound of gunfire and suppresses the muzzle flash emitted when fired, making it harder for enemies to locate her or where the shot came from. The only drawback is that shots are weakened when equipped, reserving its use for when she has to use stealth.
- Harry Mason's notebook: An aged, bloodstained document titled Simple Works, with the words "To My Dear Daughter..." written on the cover. This was written by Harry some time after the first game, relaying its events and explaining Cheryl's true origin. Cheryl has held onto this ever since receiving it, keeping it as another memento of her father.
Awareness:
No.
History:
Cheryl "Heather" Mason is the adopted daughter of Harry Mason, the protagonist of the first Silent Hill, and the reincarnation of both the previous Cheryl and Alessa Gillespie, a tortured young woman that was offered as a sacrifice to give birth to the god of the town. Though having an unwitting hand in the ritual, Harry killed the god and survived; before he made his escape, Alessa reappeared as an apparition, with a newborn baby in her arms. This baby was both the previous incarnation of Cheryl and Alessa herself, restored to one body. She gave the baby to Harry before she died, the man escaping the town with the infant.
Though initially conflicted, Harry decided to raise the baby, naming her Cheryl again, and moved to Portland. However, five years later, they were attacked by a member of Silent Hill's cult, to which Harry was forced to kill in self-defense. In an attempt to throw off the cult should they come looking for him and the child, Harry renamed her Heather, dyed her dark hair blonde, and relocated to another city, eventually settling in the Daisy Villa Apartments. On one of Heather's birthdays, she was given a pendant with a red jewel inside by her father, who told her to take good care of it and to never take it off, no matter what. Little did she know at the time, this gift would come to save her life in the future.
Since then, Heather grew up with her father, rarely associating herself with her neighbors in order to keep living in hiding, for reasons that have been unknown to her. Otherwise, she lived a fairly normal life, making a few friends and even acting out despite Harry's concerns. However, her love for her father always stood out above all else, bringing her up into a happy, carefree young woman.
However, at the age of seventeen, everything changed. While running an errand for Harry at the Central Square Shopping Center, she was confronted by the middle-aged detective Douglas Cartland, who had been hired to find her. Thinking him to be a stalker, Heather evaded him and tried to exit the mall. However, it was in her attempt to flee that she was attacked by hellish monsters, supposedly led by a woman named Claudia Wolf, a religious fanatic aligned with the very cult that Harry had stopped so long ago. While fighting her way through the monsters, venturing through locales that sometimes shifted into the hellish alternate reality known as the Otherworld, Heather began to have a strange feeling of something that she forgot for a long time, that she had been running from her whole life.
After fighting her way through subway, sewers, construction site, and office building, the teen finally returned home. However, she witnessed a terrible sight that brought her to her knees in tears: Harry Mason, the former hero, had been brutally murdered, killed by a monster under Claudia's order. After killing the monster in retribution, the young woman mourned her father's demise with a remorseful Detective Cartland at her side, unable to give him a proper burial at the time. Intent on avenging her father's death, Heather decided to go after Claudia to the eponymous town of Silent Hill, with Douglas accompanying her and driving her there.
On the way, she began to understand the truth, the reason why Claudia was so interested in her as well as why she was having strange flashbacks to memories she couldn't understand. She realized that she was Harry's adopted daughter instead of by blood, given by the spirit of a fourteen-year-old girl who had been sacrificed by her mother to give birth to a horrid deity known to the cult simply as "God," and that Claudia was going to perform the same ritual with her as the sacrifice.
As Heather journeyed through the twisted town of Silent Hill, fighting her way through the hospital and the amusement park, she learned more about the truth of her origin. Not only was she this gift of the girl from seventeen years ago, she was also her reincarnation, with the rejuvenated form of "God" within her womb, feeding off of her hatred to give itself strength and nourish it. Not long before she faced Claudia, Heather was faced with the remnants of that girl, the Memory of Alessa, a being intent on killing her in order to prevent "God's" birth, which would bring more suffering to the world. However, Heather resolved to survive and live this through rather than lay back and accept a "peaceful" death, defeating her and coming to terms with her confusing identity.
She went on to confront Claudia in a church dedicated to the cult's religion, where her rage almost caused the birthing of the god within her. However, she was able to compose herself and used her last resort: the pendant that Harry gave her. The red jewel within it was actually a stone of crystallized aglaophotis, a substance that was used to expel the god out of Alessa seventeen years ago. Harry put this in her pendant in the case that, should Heather ever be in danger of birthing the cult's god again, she could survive by swallowing the aglaophotis and expelling the god.
She did just that. Then, against all biological means, she egested the deity fetus out of her, not yet fully formed. However, she was unable to kill the god in the state that it was, as Claudia, disgustingly enough, ingested the fetus herself, "birthing" it with the aid of a demon known as Valtiel, the "Hand of God," at the cost of her own life. In its weakened state, Heather confronted the partially-formed God, with its twisted face so similar to Alessa's own, and ultimately killed Her.
After tearfully mourning her father, and then hearing what she thought was a newborn's wail from the fallen God, Heather was returned to the normal world, reuniting with an injured Douglas and coming to terms with her past. The two escaped the town, Heather taking on her true name of Cheryl Mason as her father intended, and returning to her normal life, with Douglas becoming a foster father for the time being, the two having developed a surrogate father-daughter bond over the course of their journey. During this time, Cheryl was able to give her father the burial that he deserved. Supposedly, this ended the tale of the reincarnation of Alessa Gillespie.
One year passed since then. While Cheryl had freed herself from the religious cult that pursued her since birth and attempted to rebuild her life, she was shackled by the guilt of Harry's death. A darkness punished her every night under the guise of abominable nightmares of her previous venture, as well as the painful memories of Alessa's past. To ease her conscience, she volunteered at a crisis intervention center for troubled youth, acing her training after three months and being able to answer the crisis line without supervision. With this, she was able to adjust back to a relatively normal life, moving out on her own and settling into South Ashfield Heights.
However, once again, everything changed one day. The Great Convergence, though its effects had occurred for a lot longer on her world, seemed to finally reach her, the young woman having the feeling that something was off. Initially trying to ignore it, it was when she was walking back to her apartment that she encountered a strange creature, not at all like the monsters she encountered before, but one that still sent her old radio blaring with sudden static. Unable to ignore it in spite of common sense saying otherwise, she followed the creature into an alleyway, coming across a door that initially seemed to be a backdoor entrance to a building. Upon going through, however, she found that it did not lead inside the building, but another world entirely, winding up in the industrial world of Monstropolis.
There, she stumbled upon the plot to collect screams from children in order to get back at the new heads of the company. But, more importantly, it was also here that Cheryl came face-to-face with the conjurer of that strange monster: a boy in a black coat and a helmet, calling himself "Vanitas." Though she knew nothing about him, he revealed to her that the demon god from back then wasn't the only thing feeding off of her anger and hatred; along with the screams of the children collected, as well as the dark energies from that town and "the sorrow of that little girl," the boy made of Darkness was also reconstructed at a much faster rate from her thoughts of revenge. After "thanking" her for unknowingly aiding in his revival, the boy decided that she'd heard enough, summoning a strange key-like weapon in hand.
Despite facing down a god and surviving, the boy proved to be too much for Cheryl, the young woman knocked to the ground with ease. However, just before he could finish her off, he was suddenly pushed back by a telekinetic force unconsciously summoned by the young woman in a small fit of panic. At first surprised by this herself, she chose not to question it at the time and instead took the initiative, making her escape through another active door and winding up on another world once more.
Unfortunately for her, the boy didn't give chase. Instead, she was cut off entirely, the door deactivated and leaving her stuck. Far from home once again, Cheryl went on to try and make sense of things rather than sit around whining about being seemingly trapped in another world.
And so began Cheryl Mason's new journey to head back home, one that would turn out to be far less horrifying and stressful than her previous journey. Or at least, that's what she hoped...
Sample Post:
She stared at the large mirror, though didn't know why. She hated her reflection, the false image of herself staring back at her, with its swarming red in the background like a bunch of tendrils. Part of her just wanted to turn away and leave the room, but she just stood there, like she had some morbid fascination with this thing in front of her. Not only that, but something told her that she was trapped in this room, a stupid decision that she made to stumble into here.
For a while, nothing particularly special happened. Just the swarms of blood red moving about the floors and the walls in the reflection, absent from reality. Well, as close to reality as this nightmarish world would allow. But then, it all happened so quickly. The blood slithered its way into the tub of the reflection, making its way into the drain.
A disgusting squelching sound to her right. She looked to the tub in reality. The blood was slithering out of the drain like snakes, slowly spreading its way throughout the room.
"They have come to witness the Beginning. The rebirth of Paradise, despoiled by mankind."
Back to her reflection. Her clothes turned bloody, her skin burnt and pale. Hair turned darker, her demeanor cold and emotionless.
"Remember me, and your true self as well. You will birth a God and build an eternal Paradise."
Soon, the blood filled the whole room. She could feel some of it snaking up to her legs, sapping away at her very soul.
She couldn't take it anymore. She ran back to the door, trying to push her way out. As she thought, it was jammed without warning, keeping her trapped in this death room. No matter how hard she shoved, pulled, banged her fists and kicked at the door, there was no way out.
"Let me burn..."
"No! Get away from me!"
"Their bodies ached, and their hearts held nothing but hatred. They fought endlessly, but death never came..."
It was hopeless. She was going to die, from an irrational fear come to life no less. She turned back to the mirror, and though the mirror would not reflect it, she could not mask the fear shown so clearly on her face.
"Stuck in the eternal quagmire..."
Hazel eyes snapped wide open. A deep gasp, eyes darting around the room that she had been asleep in. Finally, checking her legs for any signs of those blood-like tendrils.
Nothing. A sigh of relief. Just another nightmare.
It'd been like this for the past year now. Nightmares, of her previous journey through Silent Hill, and the torturous memories of a previous life, haunted her almost every night. She thought she would be at peace after coming to terms with herself, but it seemed to be getting worse for her. There were times where it was almost too much for her to bear, the young woman considering therapy if they got any worse, even though her budget wouldn't allow her to afford it.
But...no. She couldn't give in, not after facing the living nightmare that was that damn town and surviving it. She had to stay strong, no matter how bad things got. That's...that's what her father would've wanted.
Tracing the pendant that she still wore, that she still treasured even after its use was done, Cheryl gave a deep sigh. Even now, the pain of her loss still lingered in her heart. But, no matter her sorrow, she had to go on with her life, in his memory.
Besides, what kind of psychiatrist would want to go over her screwed-up life anyway?
With a somewhat bitter chuckle to herself, Cheryl looked over to the counter on the side of her bed, checking the time on the digital clock. 6:48 A.M. Just about an hour before she had to head to the call center.
May as well get up then, she told herself. So, getting up out of bed, she went about her daily routine of getting ready for the day: wash up, grab a quick bite to eat, and head out of her apartment.
"Just another day..." she told herself as she walked down the sidewalk to the call center she volunteered at. Just another normal, uneventful day in the life of Cheryl Mason...
Or so she thought.
