Amiss

Chapter TWELVE

Yet somehow, in the midst of it all, my friend's tone stayed quiet and calm, as if she was... happy, peaceful to see my face.

"Please," Johni whispered as her throat grew tight, "Please, just make sure he doesn't do any evil. He's already struck Warner, and he's aiming for the rest of the crew next. You must stop him."

I blinked, crying out, "Why the fuck would I do that?! I'm focusing on you! I-I- you are dying!" I flipped around, jumping to a different table after spotting a few rolls of gauze lying on the rounded cushions, rushing to snatch them before whipping around in desperation towards Johni again.

In horror, I shakily reached out towards my fading friend on the table, strapped down, eyes staring in my direction as her stomach stopped moving and her legs slightly swiveled. She had rested a hand on her chest, index finger pointing upwards to the ceiling, as if trying to hint that there's a great treasure if I could just climb up.

I could have stared at the body all day, baffled from what had just happened, to myself, to Johni. Questions were zooming in my head, all the who's and why's and what's that wouldn't be answered until later. I collapsed to the floor, clutching the gauze tape as if a teddy bear for support, sniffling to myself – after all, I was losing even more companions.

But this just made me to wonder: was I the one bringing destruction to these innocent humans? Would all of the deaths and wrongs be hung on my shoulders? Was I going to be traumatized at the end? Or was I going to have the same treatment as them?

Instead of sitting like a pile on the floor, however, a massive slam vibrated throughout the ship of the ship, and I almost crashed my side into the floor before shakily standing up, dusting myself up while wiping away tears. I had to be brave, I had to keep going, they're depending on me, Johni and Warner and the rest. A simple glance towards the cursed table reminded me of how real this all was, that there had been a friend on that table, now reduced to a lifeless figure.

I shouldn't keep sulking, I told myself, you have more important things to do. You will die if you don't move, you tried to help in a frantic mindset, you did your fricking best. You can stop it, don't be a chicken.

Off to the side along the wall was a folded-up ladder, too high to reach, and then there were the vents on the opposite side, right on the floor, but there was always the option to go back up the stairs. I chose the option of the ladder, because those vents are way too small, and I'm terrified of what could happen when heading back.

Minutes later, I was lifting up tables and chairs, stacking the seats on top of each other, finally balancing myself on the wobbling top. Taking a sigh of both relief and exhaustion, I slowly extended my arm up, aiming for the bottom ring. Shakily, after realizing I was just a couple inches short, I bent my knees and leaped up as far as possible.

I was scrambling before I rested my arms onto the second ring, heaving myself with some difficulty before being able to climb up. I thought of how safe it was before reminding myself that this was probably just the beginning. Nothing ever was as simple as it seemed, after all.

After slowly grasping and pulling myself up the ladder, I noticed a hatch at the top, slightly groaning to myself. I didn't like the idea of falling, therefore having to remove one arm from the ladder seemed almost impossible. Yet, somehow, I managed to wrap my fingers around the curve of a cold handle and yanked it down, gasping as the force jerked my body down. Fearfully, I hung on for my dear life – and then a shower of dust rained down on my head and blessed my hair, great. Glad to know that once everything was all fine and I walked home, my first priority would be to take a nice long bath to rid of the friendly germs.

Mustering up my courage, I kicked my way up top and peeked my head over the edge, internally screaming at another room of darkness. Who turned off all the lights?! Who is stupid enough to just take out the bulbs?! Was it just a prank or something?! Geez, I hope I don't get spooked from anyone or anything...

Another loud moan came from the ship, veering to the side and causing my head to roughly bonk against the corner of the hatch. While closing my eyes it felt as though I was falling, except I didn't break my bones on the floor under me; somehow, I was in the dark room that had been above me.

I blinked and slowly pushed myself up, freezing when a hand slowly pushed on the hatch and popped it shut, immediately causing a shiver to run over my back as the chilling void completely swarmed my vision.

If I had to compare this experience to anything, it would be sitting in a cave alone – water dripping, echoes everywhere from your breath and voice, being scared and lost, almost forgetting your purpose. Why was I even here anymore? Why didn't I just... leave?

However, I lost all chains of thought when I observed a buzzing noise in the corner of the room, up above something flashed. A whirr that reminded me of a generator filled my ears, shaking the floor as the blood started pumping to my brain. Was this a sort of trap, I thought, or something planned? Yet, the absence of my friends led to the belief that this was belonging to the hands of the culprit, whoever they were.

After another minute, I forced my body to my feet, blinking in amazement at how my eyes hadn't adjusted to the blackness yet. I swiveled my eyes around, reaching out for something, anything at this point. But when a loud crack erupted in the room, I slipped back away from the sound; a blue glow radiated from the ceiling, and even if it was dim, my eyes were straining for it. More bluish gleams began to appear, circling the ceiling, while others crawled down to the sides. And on the opposite side of the room was a chair, a very royal-looking chair, if I could even say.

But I looked in shock, not from the chair, but from the people sitting on the chair. And, to be frank, these two people didn't look very kind – they both held menacing smirks, and it was almost as if I didn't recognize them properly. Yet, I could.

Sitting on the chair was the sibling I thought I had lost: O'keal. Added to the side was the sweet girl, Carissa, whom I barely remembered, as it had been so long. However, they looked different.

So many thoughts raced through my mind: where has O'keal been all this time? What has he been doing? Why do they look so vicious? Was this... a trap?

Starting to regret coming up here, I backed up against the wall as O'keal stood up, more lights switching on and creating an eerie shadow on the walls. Carissa stood up, holding O'keal's hand, as they both stalked over to the middle of the room, staring daggers into my eyes (although it seemed like they were stabbing my soul, actually).

"Welcome back, Faith," the two spoke in unison, as if saying for the hundredth time. "Do you know," a short pause, "how long we've been waiting?"

It sounded so typical and unoriginal, but at that moment, it was the both the weirdest and scariest thing I've heard all day, considering my own brother and friend were staring at me as if I was meat and they were starving loners. And, expectedly, I was about to have the time of my life.