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Claudia awakens to darkness. Overhead the clouds are embracing Silent Hill as always, with no sign of sunlight. Today is the Day of Sacrifices, and she must choose.
She looks over her meager possessions. First she picks up a gold chain her mother once gave her, with a pendant with a cameo on it. Then she touches a drawing her childhood friend once gave her of a butterfly sitting on a flower. Finally she sees a knife which makes her momentarily consider a blood sacrifice. But she discards that idea and picks up the chain.
"You are supposed to give up what would hurt you the most," an elder had told her, but that would certainly be the drawing and she cannot let go of it. She will bring her last memory of her mother and hope that the god will be merciful.
She leaves the house, touching the sigil on the door as she leaves. It is there to protect the house, but it cannot help her as she walks to the church. Still, she must leave on this day.
Outside there is so much fog she can barely see. A Holy Monster slouches down the roadway and Claudia hides, praying to the god who makes men and monsters to spare her. If she had brought the knife... but only the god can decide when her special creatures will die, or whom they will kill. And for that Claudia is still grateful, as she saw her father's blood spilt years ago.
Outside there is a long line of faithful bearing their sacrifices.
"I heard someone ran yesterday," a woman tells her. "He made it halfway to Ashfield before a pack of dogs caught him."
"Why would anyone run?" asks Claudia. "The god has made the whole world perfect, especially this place."
It has been ten years since the divine mother gave birth to the god. Now the elders say that everywhere is like Silent Hill, and everyone is at peace.
Finally Claudia reaches the church, and then the front of the line. The divine mother herself is behind the altar accepting the sacrifices today, and she takes her chain and places it with the other offerings. Claudia tarries at the altar to look at her, seeking the eyes of her former playmate in the scarred face. The divine mother usually appears pained, but the elders have assured everyone that it is only the sins of faithful that ever pain her, as she is blessed.
Claudia, for a moment, wants to take her hand and ask her how she really feels, but the divine mother never speaks and never touches anyone. And Claudia knows she must surely be happy. The god has brought happiness to everyone, and to believe otherwise is a sin.
And if she remembers a child named Alessa Gillespie, who lived her life frightened of her mother and of the god, she will never speak of it. She will ever be faithful, in the hope that someday she may be blessed as well.