Chapter Six: Fall Back Into Distress

I wake up later to see that everyone is still sleeping.

“Morning Hate..” I whisper under my breath.

“Good morning Origami. You doing better?” They ask.

“Yeah… I want to go explore again..” I tell them under my breath.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea…” They say.

I stop talking and quietly stand up. My body is shaking. I give myself a second to get used to the feeling of standing up before I tiptoe out of the little “base” we made. I go to explore this hot metal world. I see a giant furnace that lets off light like the sun. Hot coals are scattered on the floor. The air is filled with ash the closer I get to the furnace in the sky. I put my shirt over my mouth and nose before walking closer. I make sure to avoid all of the hot coal bits on the floor. I stare up at the furnace. It’s really hot here. I look behind me. I heard something.

I walk away from the furnace and release my shirt from my face. I take a deep breath before turning the corner. I surprisingly see no threat. All that’s in the room are what appear to be large closed metal eyeballs. They’re embedded in the walls. I see no danger. I hear the same sound I heard before and quickly look around. Where is it coming from..? I suddenly see a series of tubes in a wall I hadn't noticed before.

It seems to be transporting some sort of black goo. It seems sticky, as I can see it sticking to the tubes. It gives me a bad feeling. I look at my hands as they start to get black spreading down from the fingers. I quickly shake my head and start walking back to the “base.” As I get farther, the black on my hands retracts. I know why it does that, but it always scares me. I come back to our little shelter and look inside. Everyone’s still sleeping. I sit down on the cloth outside and pick up a rock. I pick up a piece of coal that isn’t hot and start drawing on the rock.

A while later, Blue, Manny, and Potato come out of the tent talking.

“おはよう everyone.” I say happily.

“Hey Origami!” Blue says.

I wave to everyone, and I get a friendly wave from Manny. Potato rolls her eyes at me, but I don’t mind. She’s just like that.

“Alright guys, coming back to the task at hand, we gotta keep moving, but we also need to find food and water. We’ve gone without it for quite awhile.” Manny says.

“Finally someone said it.” Potato says with an edge.

“I almost didn’t notice, but honestly, I was starting to notice.” Blue notes.

“Where would animal survive..? Water will turn to steam…” I say softly.

“I, uh…” Manny pauses. “I really don’t know. We’re just going to have to split up.. No, actually, that’s a bad idea. Let’s scale this place together.”

We all group up and start to walk.

“Hey, let’s go that way!” Blue points to where I was earlier. I shiver in fear a little, but everyone else seems on board, so I go along with it.

We walk to the area with the closed metal eyeballs in the walls. I see the tubes. My hands start to turn black again, so I put them in my pockets.

“Over there!” Potato exclaims. There’s some bread in a cage next to a jug of water. I have a very bad feeling about this and I tug Manny’s sleeve.

“You okay Origami?” Manny asks.

“Bad feeling…” I whisper.

“Don’t worry, we’ll be okay! There’s food and water over there. There doesn’t seem to be any danger here. There’s nothing to be scared of.” He tries to assure me.

We all start walking over there. When we get to the middle of the room, Blue and Potato pick up the food and water. Just then, the giant eyes all open. I can’t explain what’s going on. The room fills with a bright light that causes us all to hold our heads in pain. I collapse to the floor. Everyone else is trying to hold on. I start getting all of these memories. I can hear all this yelling. I can hear swear words and names. I can hear false love and affection. I can hear screaming and all these terrible terrible things.. I see a woman with long black hair and a red kimono. I see a man with an alcohol bottle yelling at a crying child. I see the two fighting. I see the woman yelling at the child. I see the child with friends. I see distress. I see pain. I see turned backs and sticks. I see tears. I see blood. I see a car. I see another kid. I see friends. I see him leave. I see the child in a hospital bed.  I see…

Me..?

The lights shut off and I gasp. I breathe heavily trying to comprehend what I just saw. Everyone else is breathing heavily. Potato starts to cry. Something pressed a deactivation switch on the other wall.

“What… Was that..?” Blue breathes.

“Does…. Does anyone want to talk about that..?” Manny asks breathlessly.

Potato shakes her head. So do I. I stand up and help carry the food and water back to the little shelter. We all sit around a fire we made in silence. It feels very awkward.

Manny puts his bread down.

“Okay guys. Bear with me here. We all saw.. Some stuff…. But, this feels a little too torn apart for us. Are we falling apart because of some metal eyes?”

I sit in silence. I lean on Manny’s arm a little bit. I haven’t touched my food or water. Everyone else doesn’t respond.

“Terrible things…..” I whisper. “Things that could break minds….”

“They’re right.” Potato starts. “These things could get people shut up for a while.”

“Why should they though? Why are we sitting around and being sad about some fake projections?” Blue says.

“True.. But they felt so.. Real..” Potato says grimly.

I nod. I close my eyes and drift off to sleep against Manny’s shoulder as I can hear the others talking. We’ve fallen back into distress as the story continues.