Contest Battles: Buffy vs. the Scarecrow in Silent Hill

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Captain Cascader

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#1  Edited By Captain Cascader

Mind and Chediablo's entry into the contest

Buffy vs. the Scarecrow in a town called “Silent Hill”

I'm walking with you, there is this beautiful lake, the sunset and the evening birds make one hell of a spectacle. Did I mention this? It was during the daylight and you were there walking besides me, like it didn't matter. You look so much better under the sun, your eyes are brighter and your skin looks... well, I don't know, less dead?

You hold me in your arms under the starlight. I see a shooting star and I fall asleep right there. When I open my eyes you're gone, the place has turned so cold and get this, I've been trough hell in my lifetime...s... but this place is really scaring me.

I'm so cold so I hike back to the town. I'm looking for a friendly face. Hell, I think I'm looking for a human face...

I start calling your name, no answer and I go into a diner to get a cup of coffee until you decide to come back. There is a song playing on the jukebox “Home is where you're happy and I'm happy here with you” However there's no one at the counter. The coffee pot is hot and I pour myself a cup, I sit at the bar and I start humming. Is this a joke? Are you playing with me? It doesn't matter, you'll come back and then we'll fight and we know that always leads to some serious make up sex. Let's just hope the roof stays up this time...

The jukebox goes quiet and I start hearing this scratching sounds, it is like a cat trying to get in, clawing' the front door. I get up and open but there is nothing there. I think I hear a truck passing by the highway. When I turn around it is there... I've not seen any demon like this one before. Huge claws and flame like eyes. It walks hunched over like some werewolf and it is full of rage. I'm afraid and he likes it, I can see that it feeds him, makes him stronger...

These are the dreams I've been having... I don't know why I write them down, It is not like I'm gonna show this notepad to you anyway, to you or anyone else for that matter. I told Giles that I was going away for a few days, I told him about some prophetic dreams I've been having, he inquired more, but I kept quiet. I was really afraid to start talking about it.

Here I am now; the highway post sing ahead looks just like in my dream. “Welcome to Silent Hill”.

There were several small houses and little stores. I thought the place looked like a nice little town, much like Sunnydale. Though this place was like smaller and more... Well, it was completely deserted. Or so I thought.

Have you ever seen a breathing, walking stick-figure?

When I met Dr. Crane at the abandoned gas station in Silent Hill, I remember thinking that he couldn't possibly be real... then he told me his name and I thought it was a joke. You know, Crane as in Ichabod Crane...

I'm Buffy... Buffy Summers – I told him while shaking his boney hand.

I wasn't expecting to see anyone here – I said.

Neither was I, I must say... I'm doing some research on the folk stories that refer to this place... how about you, Miss Summers?

I... uhh, well, a friend told me he had seen like a ghost or something here and I wanted to check it out for a movie I'm doing.... I'm a film student...

Very well, if you care to join me in my research perhaps we could help each other out.

I don't know why I choose to “join him” I guess it was my way of protecting the Doctor. After just a few hours we were getting bored. He had told me all about him being this psychologist and his studies on folklore; he was particularly interested in the scary stuff. He said that horror stories are very revealing of the taboos and superstition of the culture that creates them. He was going on and on about the Victorian era and how the repression gave way to a very rich horror and fantastic literature... or something...

I'm sort of tired of walking; let's check that diner out...

I swear, the diner looked just like the one in my dream, except it was completely abandoned and there was no music playing. We sat there for a few minutes, he was writing some notes on a little bloc and I was checking my make-up. He went behind the counter and got us a couple of coke bottles. I really wasn't thirsty, but he insisted that I should drink some, so I did. -_wow, it is true; coke tastes different in different places. Doesn’t it?_ - I said to the Doctor, but he wasn’t up for chitchat it seems so he just nodded. Then we heard something, it was like the sound of tires drifting...

I was ready, pulled my trusty stake out of my backpack and there I was, kicking monster ass again. Though these were not like any demon or beast that I had ever seen. Strange bodies that looked mutilated... I could almost feel them suffering from some strange disease.

Get behind me, Crane, I got this. - But he couldn't listen to me. His eyes were blank and foam was coming out of his mouth.

_Dr. Crane...

Dr. Crane, are you all right?_

I kicked a table at the beasts and I started shaking him.

What, are you having a seizure or something?

But he wasn't. He started changing. His body was getting stronger and his hand turned into claws. Immediately I thought of a werewolf, but that wasn't it, In fact it was just some beast, a scary beast with eyes that gleamed and a huge mouth with pointy teeth... Yeah, I know, not very original, but I've been around enough transformations to know that they usually mean bad business. He tried to scratch me but I was ready, dodged the attack and using his own momentum I projected him onto the table were the monsters were waiting. I picked up a chair above my head and... it was oh so heavy... It was just a regular wooden chair but it felt like it was made of lead. I started feeling very tiny. Like Jonathan tiny... it all went dark.

The smell of coffee...

a soft country song

home is where you're happy...

My eyes are open now, the light is dim... where you're happy I start making out a face in the darkness, it is right in front of me..._ you're happy_ It disappears. You're happy

I finally get back on my feet. It all starts coming back to me: the diner, Dr. Crane, the mutilated beasts, the creature... What happened to this place? When did it all go so rusty, dirty and dark? I see that the only light is coming from the jukebox. The record is skipping and repeating the same line over and over. You're happy you're happy you're happy... The counter has been flipped over; there is glass all over the floor. A few rusty knifes lie on a table along with a pack of batteries and an old radio. How can the walls be covered with so much rust?

I pick up one long chef knife, it's got a crooked point, but it'll do the job. Wasn't the radio off? Static is coming from it. The noise, it gets stronger. How do I turn it off? I hear glass shattering, someone or something stepped on the pieces of glass from the counter. I turn around and I see the creature standing five feet away from me. The sound of the radio static is way stronger. It seems to be reacting to the creature. What an ugly piece of work this one is. It's got a huge mouth, all teeth, skinny birdlike legs, no eyes or arms. One kick to the stomach (if this thing has one) should do it. I connect dead on and my foot goes straight into its entrails. God! That smell... It stinks of rotten eggs, corpses, and fox news. I think I killed it, the radio is quiet now.

Wait, what is that? Looks like a bloc sheet. It's got some notes. Neurotoxins of fear tested in the environment of Silent Hill seem to produce a much stronger reaction. Of the twenty subjects, chosen at random and administered with controlled dosage of the “fear toxin”, nearly all of them, an eighty percent, suffered from heart failure. These were the results for an administered dose of just two milligrams of FT... Did Dr. Crane write this?

I gotta find that man. He’s got some serious answering to do. I leave the diner and the street looks alright. I mean it is dark outside and all, but there is no creepy rust or broken furniture and the best of all: there is no static.

The town sure seems empty. I can’t hear anything else but my own footsteps. Not a thing, not even like a cricket or toad or anything. Suddenly I see a light coming from a window at the “Lakeview Hotel”. It looks like a man standing at the window, only that it is no man, I see now that it looks more like a scarecrow, with a huge straw hat. The light inside the room dies out.

As I enter the building through the lobby door I hear someone running upstairs. What’s up with this place? There is fungus on the floor and ceiling and huge wet spots on the walls. It smells like a swamp in here and there is noise. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but it is like when you dip a cookie in milk and it starts crumbling… That’s the way it sounds like.

There is the scarecrow. He ran into one of the corridors on the third floor. He’s laughing, the maniac. What are you afraid of? It isn’t of demons or ghosts, nor is it of the murderer or the kidnapper. Oh, I see now, you are afraid of love. I want to tell him to just shut up but he’s fast, I don’t see him anymore. I think he went into one of the rooms. This is it: room 309. As I open the door I see two men in the dark, wearing trench coats, one is much taller than the other. The shorter one is smoking. They’re talking about me. -She is always late, I tell you. - Bloody Hell, do you have to make a big deal out of it. She is here at last, isn’t she? Aren’t you, love?-

I can’t believe it. It is Spike and Angel and they’ve come to help me. - Spike, Angel, what are you guys doing here? Listen there is this weird looking scarecrow guy.-

  • Don’t you ever shut up? - says Angel in a spiteful voice.

  • I’m telling you, the tart is always like that; always: “me, me, me”. Well, love; it is bloody time you listen!

They’re both upon me now, their faces all vampiric. I try to push them away, both, but they are too strong for me. I can’t take the two of them.

  • Hold her tight, William

  • You got it. Besides, that’s the way you like it. Isn’t it, sweetheart? Rough and violent.

Angel hits me with all his strength. I feel my nose break, blood gushing out. -_Leave me alone. Why are you doing this?_

  • Consider it payback, slayer. - Spike tells me as he reveals a… railroad spike.

  • You think you can dispose of us like that. Always using us, killing us, sending us to hell. But you’ll see now, Buff; ‘cause love hurts and payback is a bitch.

  • Aren’t you full of cliché...

Angel kicks me to the floor; Spike is coming at me with his weapon. I gotta do something quickly. If I could just dodge the... but it is too late, I feel the sharp cold metal going into my shoulder. My clavicle snaps and the pain is so strong… Angel pulls me towards the bed. Spike holds my legs and he pushes my face into the dirty smelly sheets. I’m bent over with my legs on the ground and half my body pushing towards the bed. I feel the blood running down my nose and shoulder. My neck, my chest and stomach are getting soaked. I cannot move my right arm anymore, but I can still use the left one and that’s gotta be good enough. Angel pulls me by the hair, my head looks upward and I see the Scarecrow. He’s there at the window, sitting on a chair next to the curtains. Has he been there all the time? I don’t remember.

Spike rips my shirt off, I can feel his weight pressing against my back and I see a chance. The bed, if I could grip the edge of it, I could… There, I use all my strength and I flip over the bed, they’re both under it and I gotta act quickly, I break of a leg of the bed and I know, I just know that if I put it through the wood and mattress, that I’m gonna get Angel right in the chest. Here it goes, and I see him stare at me, right before turning into dust. Spike is laughing, but not for long. I know him too well, I sweep kick him off his feet and I get the flask of bourbon right out of his coat. Now where’s his lighter? And it is there in his right pocket as usual. - One last smoke, my darling?

The flames got pretty high. I leave the room bleeding pretty badly. I have to pull my shoulder into place and that hurts. Now I pull my nose too and it feels like a broken chalk stick in there. I’m a little better, and that’ll have to do for now.

There’s an envelope on the reception desk. Funny, I don’t think it was there when I came in. It’s got my name on it. There’s a note inside, apparently from the same bloc as the note I found in the diner. I found an interesting subject. I knew that sooner or later she’d be attracted to this place. After all, it has all the characteristics of what she calls a “Hellmouth”. I do wonder how much FT I’m gonna need for this one…

Ok, now I’m mad, I’m gonna get this clown even if I have to wreck half the town to get him.

Back on the street the weather has grown colder. The wind blows strong much like in that dream… I find myself walking next to the lake. The moon above reflects from the still water and it would almost be a beautiful scene. If it wasn’t for the pain on my shoulder, my blood stained clothing and the goddamn cold; it would be simply peachy.

I follow a path down into the woods, there’s an abandoned orphanage and there I see him. He’s been waiting for me and he wants me to chase him. And I do… it’s not like I have another choice anyway. I gotta find out what the hell is going on. We run through a maze of dirt roads till we get to a hospital… Great! I just love hospitals…

He went in through the front door and up the elevator; seems like he stopped on the third floor. I try to follow after him, but the elevator is not responding. This place…It does look just like every other hospital. With the squeaky clean white floors and the cold impersonal halls filled with waiting chairs, water coolers, vending machines. Doors on left and right: examination rooms, labs, x-ray machines, charts and beds. I’m looking for the stair case and when I finally find it; it is blocked by hundreds of gurneys. They’re all covered with huge stains of what seems to be dried blood. It looks blackish and it smells too. But I don’t have time to stop and smell the gurneys so I jump over them skipping from one into another till I get to the stairs.

The light is not working very well (go figure) and all I can see is the light coming in from the door of the second floor. Seems simple enough, but the radio starts with the static sound again. I can’t see anything until they’re right in front of me… Whatever the hell they are… it looks like a porn movie gone wrong. They’re like really leggy and busty nurses (at least they’re wearing nurses uniforms) but their faces is covered in yellowish bandages. Some of them are missing arms; one of them seems to have two heads instead of one. And they move so freakishly, like Xander doing the robot… There are at least eight of them blocking my way up. - I’m sorry, but I’ve had all my vaccines and I’m not due for a check up…- I push hard on the most upfront one and all of them go down like domino pieces. I use them as stepping stones but one of them grabs my foot and I fall head on towards the last few steps of the stairs. It hurts. She’s grabbing my leg and pulling hard, twisting it. -_Ouch, stop that. It is my turn. Open up and say “aaah”_- My knife goes into her head like if it were bread. I push her downstairs against the other evil nurses and I make my way to the second floor. The way to the third floor is completely clear and I run upstairs.

I’m hoping for no sequels of “nurses gone wild” when I enter a huge gallery lined up with dozens of beds. There are some neon white lamps but none of them seem to be working properly and just a dim intermittent light is coming from a couple of them. God! There are like body parts every where. Gangrened feet and stitched up legs along with torsos lying on the beds…

  • Buffy? - I hear a familiar voice.

  • Who wants to know? - I ask.

  • Young lady, don’t take that tone with me

  • Mmm mom? - It can’t be, but there she is on the last bed of the gallery, all hooked up to an I.V. and there’s a probe going down her nose…

I step right next to the bed and we just stare at each other for some time…

  • What are you doing here, Buffy? Where is Dawn?

  • She’s alright; I left her with Giles…

  • Why do you do this to me?

  • What?

  • Buffy Anne Summers, I brought you up, gave you everything I could but it is never enough is it? I had to die for you to be happy… You had to kill me.

  • What? Mom, no. I never wanted for this to happen…

  • Shut up. You sicken me…you think you’re all grown up, all powerful… but you’re just a scared little girl. You’re afraid of the pain you can bring to your family. You’re afraid to lose what little you have left: your sister. But you don’t deserve her. I’m gonna take her with me. - Her face… she’s not my mother. Her face looks like cloth… like… She’s just a sack, with a badly drawn face on it…

What the hell is going on with me? I’m losing my mind… And then I feel it, a rope around my neck and it pulls so hard. I can’t breathe. My throat has been harmed and it hurts, the friction burns my skin… It pulls again and I’m on the floor, fighting to get the rope to loosen up. She’s pulling me, it’s my mother, only that I know it isn’t her. I do a back flip to get back on my feet. It takes the rope right out of his hands… - That’s it, straw sack, I’ve had it with you and your deceptions. - I hit him with my favorite turn kick and then I collar him against the wall. I start hitting his face with my open hand. I feel his bones crushing. Yet he’s laughing, he’s having a total laughing fit right in front of me. Suddenly a huge claw hits me off my feet. He’s transforming again as he jumps out of a window onto the streets.

-_You’re not getting away, psycho._ - I jump after him; he’s still laughing singing some sort of nursery rhyme. Something weird about a Slayer that lived in a shoe…

I catch up to him and he’s just waiting there, in the middle of the street. The beast is staring at me. His eyes look deep into mine and I can feel nothing that might indicate there’s still a human being inside that monster. Yet I can tell he’s nervous and I know why. I’m not afraid, I’m pissed, I’m ready to tear him a new one but I’m not afraid, not even one bit. Then he starts laughing again.

  • What are you laughing at, you ugly beast?

  • That would be “scarebeast” and I’m laughing because I realize now what your strongest fear is. - He said growling and hissing.

  • The stench of your feet?

  • Funny… You.

  • What?

  • You.

  • Me?

  • You are afraid of yourself. You’re afraid of what you could do to yourself or your loved ones if you were to give into your instincts, your desires, your fears…

  • Next time I want to get my head examined I think I’ll be calling Doctor Phil, not some mad loser who dresses like a character from the Wizard of Oz.

I throw my fist up at his ugly mouth with all my strength but something stops me. That is “I” stop “me”. She’s exactly like me, a perfect mirror image, only that she seems not to be suffering from my injuries.

  • Ok this is…

  • The cheapest trick? - She interrupts me, guessing what I’m about to say.

  • Alright. No more…

  • Talking. - She throws me far; I go flying in through the window of the diner.

I think I hit my head against the Jukebox… You’re happy you’re happy you’re haaaaaaapppp. She lifts the jukebox above her head and throws it at me. I barely dodge her attack when she’s already at me with a stake. She drives it into my chest, but it is just the tip, somehow I managed to gold her wrist between my hands. Still I can feel my sternum’s been punctured.

  • Ok, this is lame.

  • What?

  • Even if I am in fact afraid of the things I could do, I’m not really afraid of “me fighting myself”. Especially since I know that it isn’t really me.

I break her hand and then I pull her arm into a judo throw, I use her own weight to slam her down on an upside down table on the floor. One of the legs goes in through her back and out of her chest. She, instantly, disappears. Then I go after him, he’s hiding in a corner. -_see? Now who’s afraid?_- I grab him by the throat (or at least where his throat should be) and I start hitting him in the face. Then I throw him against a wall and when he bounces of I trip him so he falls onto the jukebox which is now lying on the floor. I start smashing his head against the jukebox. The music starts playing again. You’re happy you’re happy youuuuu’re ha - ha - ha - ah peee… I’m smashing and smashing until I realize I’m about to kill him. I’m about to kill Doctor Crane, the beast is gone and I just want to keep smashing this man’s head until he dies. I’m horrified. I was about to actually kill a man. Then the radio starts making the static sounds again. -_Now what?_ - Suddenly the place is filled with shadows: moving, corporeal shadows. They’re pulling Crane, they’re taking him. I try to stop them, I grab his arm but they are way strong and it all goes black… The static… the music from the jukebox… I feel my head spinning… What was in that coke?

I open up my eyes and I’m there on a stool at the counter of the diner. The place is nice and clean, there is no one there but the coffee pot smells of freshly brewed coffee. What the hell happened? Where is Crane? As I stand up from the stool I hear a car driving off into the distance. I find a note at the juke box. Miss Summers, I’m afraid something’s come up and I cannot stay any longer in Silent Hill. I apologize for not accompanying you on your search. I made a pot of coffee and I left you my handheld radio, just in case you get bored. I wish you the best luck. Sincerely yours, Doctor Jonathan Crane.

I really don’t know what to make of all of it. As I walk out of the dinner I swear I hear the jukebox playing: Home is where you’re happy and I’m happy here with you…


Post Edited:2007-03-01 15:11:47

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Fourpower (R.I.P)

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#2  Edited By Fourpower (R.I.P)

Wow.....your pages aren't the best but your story rocks! This is my fave story of the three.

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Zero

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#3  Edited By Zero

Let's see what we have here, k?

  • The Buffy page covering every important aspect of the "buffyverse"

  • The Scarecrow, f* yeah, at last a page of my favorite bat-villan

  • The most interesting location

  • An excellent fight: not only a cool exchange of fists but a great analaysis of Buffy "the Slayer" Summers

  • All of it well written and paced (which is kind of plus in this contest)

My favorite so far

PD The Scarebeast = instant win

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Fourpower (R.I.P)

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#4  Edited By Fourpower (R.I.P)

They definitely did a good job.