Chapter Eight: In a Hole Lot of Trouble

I wake up with ringing in my ears and a throbbing in my head. I notice my hands aren’t black anymore. I look beside me and see the others. I sit up and rub my head before shaking Manny lightly. He stirs awake and rubs his head.

“Ugh… What happened…” He mutters. He opens his eyes and looks at me.

“Oh.. Origami. You’re awake..” He looks at Blue and Potato who are passed out on the floor.

Manny helps me wake up the other two. I wake up Blue, and Manny wakes up Potato. When I wake up Blue though, I see something in his expression. I’m confused.

“Oh, hey Origami.” He says groggily.

Hate starts to act up.

“THE EYES! THE EYES! I SEE IT IN HIS EYES! GET AWAY FROM IT PLEASE!”

I walk into the corner and whisper under my breath, “What’s gotten into you, Hate?”

“I SEE IT! I-... I see it in the eyes! D̴̟̬̯̱̖͆͝â̵̧̯͍̟̫̎̅͊n̸̤̎̅̋̔̍͝ģ̸͍̫̖̳͕͌̂̔̈́͋̑ë̸̹̒̋̓r̷͚̜̯̯̉͒̃͊̚!̶̨̺̽̎̊ ̵͎̬̹̈́̕͝D̷͇̪̹̥͒͋́̚a̷̘̥̭͔̯̍̈́͋͝n̸͎̏̅̕͝g̷̨̡̤̎́͛e̵̖̜̔r̷̡͈̞̼͐̓́̈́̾ͅ!̶̠̙̱̼̔̐̃ ̸̱̹̪͕͝ It saw me! It saw me!”

“Hate! There’s nothing wrong with Blue! Be nice!” I whisper to myself.

Manny stares at me from across the room.

“You good there bud? You uh, you talking to yourself?” He asks with a concerned look on his face.

I quickly turn to Manny in embarrassment and shake my head.

“Uhm.. Then who were you talking to Origami?”

“Uhm… Uh….” I quickly try to think of an excuse. “It’s uh.. It’s Nunya!”

“Nunya..? Who’s that?” Manny asks.

“N-nunya bismuth!” I quickly sputter.

He laughs. Blue giggles too from the other side of the room. Potato cracks a smile.

“So anyways guys, I know I led us into a giant hole. Sorry about that, but it was the only way to diverge us from the monster.” Manny says apologetically.

“Who the hell makes a hole out of metal?” Potato complains.

“I think I got a bruise on my head.” Says Blue.

“Pain..” I replied.

“Yeah. I get it. This isn’t the first time we’ve fallen in a hole. Just, let's try to get out of here and get the water to extinguish the monster.”

Potato stands up with the aid of Blue and we all trail through the halls. I stay close to Manny and hold onto his arm. In a strange way, I feel safe around him. We walk through the halls as our feet make tapping sounds on the floor. After a bit, I notice my hands are starting to turn black again, and I back away from Manny, putting my hands in my pockets. I brush my hair out of my face for a second.

“I never noticed your pupil was so big before. It was normal sized before.” Manny notes.

I put my hair back in front of my eyes.

“I-it’s not…” I say softly.

I feel lightheaded. I feel like the lights are getting brighter.

We keep walking. We find some sort of ladder and climb up it. I reach my hand out to help Potato up. My hands have become fully enveloped in black. She looks shocked, but just takes my hand and comes up with us.

“Origami, your hands…” Blue says.

He whispers something to himself, and Hate hisses, “Danger….”

I put my hands in my pockets.

“I-it’s nothing…”

“Origami, this is serious. I can’t just let you breeze over this.” Manny says in a serious tone.

“Stop!” I say in a raised voice. I cough a bit.

It starts to spread up my arms. It’s starting to really hurt now.

“I’m.. Fine…” I say in a more stern tone. “This will lead us to water…”

“Okay… I’m trusting you Origami.” Manny says in a sad tone.

“This way…” I say as I walk in front of the group.

I keep walking as the black continues to take over my lower arms. I don’t even try to hide it anymore. Blue taps me and the shoulder and walks beside me.

“So… Mind telling me what that stuff is?” Blue inquires as he points to my arms.

I glare at him. He holds up his hands.

“Sorry, sorry. Just curious.” Blue says.

I glance away.

“He’s dangerous.. Don’t trust that thing..” Hate hisses.

“Why wasn’t he a threat before?” I mutter under my breath.

“I couldn’t see his eyes before. Neither could he see ours. But he saw them, just as we saw his. I saw that thing... It’s not safe anymore.” They hiss at me.

I ignore Hate. Blue is staring at me. I tilt my head to try and see his eyes. They’re looking at me. They send fear through me. I look away before continuing to lead the group.

I carefully look both ways to make sure the monster isn’t there before we run closer to where the tubes are. My arms are fully coated in black now, and it’s starting to form on my neck a little. I’m starting to see now what Manny meant by my pupils being dilated. It’s so bright that it hurts now.

We’re at the source of the tubes. There’s large tubes transporting different liquids. One looks suspiciously like the stuff on my arms.

“What is this…?” Manny asks while staring at the tubes.

“Well, it’s liquid..? Potato notes.

I cover my eyes a bit to keep the light out. I take my hand back off my face and quickly turn to the side. We all hear a giant bang.

“Hurry! Let’s get one of these tubes open!” Manny says quickly.

We all run to a tube with red liquid inside of it and try to break it.

“It’s so resilient….!” I say with a struggle.

“Yeah..” Blue replies.

We all stop trying. I remember the rock from earlier and take it out of my pocket.

“Hope this works..” I say.

I try to band in the tube, but it’s no use. No matter how much banging or scratching we do, it won’t come undone. The monster spots us due to the racket and raises its hand.

“Guys.. I can’t believe I’m saying this.. But now is the perfect time to run.” Potato slowly says before we all run as its giant hand slams down on where we just were. We look to its hand as the monster shrieks in pain. It busted the water tubes where we were. Its whole hand is gone now.

“Yes! That’s something we did right!” Blue says.

Potato nods in amusement. The monster glares at us.

“Quick! Run to more tubes!” Manny says. We all comply and run to the tubes on the other side of the room. The monster is smarter this time though. It lanches a fireball at us and we run as the pipes explode. The area we’re in now is starting to flood. The black on my arms starts to move away from my arms and onto my neck instead. My neck feels like someone's grabbing it hard and won’t let it go. The monster doesn’t notice the water buildup on the floor as the tubes keep letting out liquid.

“Uh.. Guys..? Is it the best time to say I can’t swim..?” Blue says nervously as the water fully envelops our feet.

I **hate** water. It scares me so much when I’m in it. It really hurts me when it gets on my eye.

“**GET OUT OF IT! IT BURNS!**” Hate cries as some water splashes on my neck. I feel the burn too. It feels like someones scorching my neck with a cigar. I wince in pain and put my hand on my neck where I got splashed. We all get closer together as the water starts to flow to our knees.

“Guys.. I don’t like this..” I say as a tear runs down my face. Blue looks like he’s gonna be sick. His face is flushing a bit purple. The monster looks down at us as we all start to panic. There’s only one thing left to do.

And that one thing, is to survive.