I hope this will never come to any use; maybe it's better if you never know. More than anything else, I fear the possibility of your going away, far from me. But sometimes we have to tell the truth. That's why I'm writing this, before I'm lost in death and oblivion.

What happened back then? That has something to do with who you are.

It all started 24 years ago. Coming back from a vacation, my wife and I found a baby on the side of the highway. Since we were childless, we thanked God for letting us meet this child...this girl. We took her home. Three years later, my wife died, and another four years later - 17 years ago - I came to Silent Hill. I heard the girl's pleas and took her with me, not knowing why she wanted us to go there.

And it was there that the girl went away. Not that she actually went anywhere, nor did she die. "Returned to her former self"...that's what Dahlia Gillespie said. "Original self"...That was the young woman burned by her mother as a sacrifice to God...Alessa Gillespie. Half her soul escaped in those flames and went on to live in a baby...in that girl of mine. Of ours.

Seven years passed before that half-a-girl returned to Silent Hill and made Alessa whole again. Newly strengthened, she vowed to kill God. God, a fetus nestled into this sacrificial girl's womb, was summoned with the usual rites. This was Alessa's wish, no matter what the outcome - even if her own existence were at stake.

But that wish was not granted. My interruption meant she prayed instead for the girl's return. I alone couldn't bring her back. Dahlia did it - I only helped at the birthing ceremony, to bring God out of Alessa. The newly-born God wailed once and was dead. All from that girl's - and probably Alessa's conscious resistance.

That's not the end.

After God had vanished in a glow of light, Alessa reappeared and gave me a baby. She looked a lot like that girl so long ago. And then Alessa was gone, dead. There was nothing I could have done to help. I simply clutched the baby to my chest and ran off. The whole thing felt like a dream, but I had proof that it wasn't. The girl was nowhere to be found, and in my arms...the baby.

Now 17 years have passed. It feels like only yesterday, and again it feels like a million years ago. I confess I had reservations at first about raising that baby. Could I love her? Her existence was thoroughly unexplainable. I thought, "She could be that young woman who snatched away my beloved daughter." That led to sadness, anger...there were times when I put my hands around her tiny little throat. Several times I even considered abandoning her. That's what a terrible person I am.

But I decided to raise her after all. I just couldn't seem to let her go. When she...when you look at me, you laugh, so...

Even now, I can't forget about that girl. But I love you. I have no doubts about that. That's all I ask you to believe.

To my precious daughter...

- Harry Mason