"HELP" You cried, desperately.

You were swimming. Swimming in what looked to be some sort of mysterious, creepy basement. The waters were a murky brownish-blue color. When you looked down you couldn't even see your own feet. Just the foggy water. 

You continued to paddle forward, with no clear path. You were swimming faster and faster, when you suddenly felt something cold and boney, wrap around your leg.

You were suddenly dragged down-

. . .

"HELP!" You cried, suddenly sitting up and breathing heavily as the world came into focus.

In reality, you weren't being dragged down into the depths by some mysterious monster. 

Yet...

You were sitting on a small wet mattress, your brother right next to you, safe and sound. You weren't alone.

You were never alone.

"Bro?" Your brother asked, sleepily rolling over and looking at you. Even though he was technically the older twin, you were already taller than he was. However, he usually acted older, always making sure you were safe. "What was it? Nightmare?"

"Yeah," You told him. 

"What was it about this time?" He asked.

"Drowning."

"How convenient," He chuckled, "considering we're on a boat. Don't worry though. I won't let anything happen to you."

"I know. S-sorry for waking you, Mario."

"Don't be, Luigi."

The nightmares were never too bad because he was always right there next to you when you woke up.

Since you two were both awake, you decided to get up. You and your brother Mario had been stuck in the lowest level of the boat for about a week now. You two had been in and out of different boats, simply trying to find a new home. 

The constant rocking almost made you seasick and you hated being stuck in the murky lower levels, especially since most of the rooms were flooded with water. Out of all the ships you two had found yourselves on, this one was most definitely the scariest. You and your brother planned to find your way to the lifeboats and escape as soon as possible.

The two of you were fourteen years old. In about three months you would be fifteen. Your birthday was always your favorite day of the year because you'd get to celebrate it with your brother. It always brought back memories of when your parents would bring you cakes and presents.

You missed them dearly.

"Got your lighter?" Mario asked you, reaching into his left pocket and holding his own silver lighter out. He flicked it on, illuminating the darkness so the two of you could see.

"In my back pocket," you replied with a smile, not bothering to take yours out since he was already using his. He nodded at you, then started forward, through the darkness and away from the leaky mattress the two of you found the night before.

You could hear footsteps coming from the levels above you, and could only pray that whoever was making those footsteps couldn't hear you. You and Mario quickly learned that this boat had a very clear "No Stowaways Allowed," rule. Anything that didn't belong was caught and dealt with. 

You and your brother called the person who was working on the ship's lower levels the Janitor since he often worked maintenance. His arms were too long for his body, but the rest of him was fairly short for an adult. He was proportioned all wrong. It was like nothing you and your brother had ever seen before! 

When you first weaseled your ways onto the ship you saw him taking care of some runaway children by dragging them to his room as they squirmed and squealed. You never heard from or saw those children again. You could hardly even remember what they looked like.

"Come on," Mario whispered. "We gotta keep moving if we're going to find those lifeboats and get out of here for good!"

You nodded at him as he grabbed your arm, sneaking through the series of rooms with his lighter showing the way. You hated the way the wooden floorboards creaked and cracked with each and every step the two of you took. You were surprised that this ship was still floating. It looked very poorly made, especially in the lower levels.

You passed by a few other leaky mattresses. They were all damp and smelly. Occasionally you'd see small black snakes slither around the room in the shadows. They made you uncomfortable, but you weren't scared of them anymore. They wouldn't hurt you as long as you were smart and kept your distance. 

The creepiest thing was the eyes drawn all over the walls. You hated the feeling of being watched. Not that it was a new feeling. Sometimes, it felt like the world was ALWAYS watching you and your brother.

You came to a small door that was too high for you to reach. So, as if on cue, Mario walked over to it and turned to face you. You nodded at him as he held his hands out, then got a running start. He immediately grabbed your foot and boosted you up so you could grab the handle and swing the door open, like the two of you had practiced countless times. It was almost natural now.

Once the door swung open, you let go and landed on the ground with a small thud. You were about to hold up your hand for a high five, when Mario suddenly grabbed your wrist and pulled you into the shadows, covering your mouth and pointing up at the ceiling.

The room you were in now was a larger room. On the far wall near the ceiling was what looked like a large eye. In the pupil was a motion-detecting camera that was moving slowly back and forth, as if constantly checking different areas of the room. You and your brother both knew that if you were to be seen by it, the Janitor would surely be alerted and would come to retrieve you.

"Follow me," Mario whispered. "Keep you back to the wall. Ready... now!"

Once the camera was focused on the other side of the room, the two of you started forward, tip-toeing and keeping your backs pressed to the wall. Once the camera moved back to your side of the room, you froze, hoping that the camera wouldn't detect you if it didn't sense motion. Luckily, no alarms went off, so it seemed safe. The two of you continued forward with this strategy, all the way until you safely made it across the room and out of the camera's sight.

Once you made it out, the two of you dashed through the next hallway, your footsteps echoing loudly with each step. You wished that your steps weren't so loud, and you partially debated taking your shoes off just to be quieter. However, the soggy texture of the wood didn't look all that appealing to walk on barefoot, so you decided against it. There were a few crates and a window at the end of the hall. There wasn't any moonlight shining through the window, so the two of you knew that it didn't lead outside, just to another part of the ship. Still, you and your brother stacked the crates so you could reach the said window and jump through, landing in yet another room.

"Huh," Mario hummed, looking around himself at the new room the two of your fell into. There was a large fan and a flickering light, but nothing else. He flicked his lighter off and put it in his pocket, biting his fist as he tried thinking of where to go from there. "Any ideas, Weegie?"

You looked around as well, seeing that you two had seemed to find a dead end. You supposed that was the disadvantage of not knowing where you were going.

There was a small open vent in the floor which seemed to lead straight down, but that didn't look all that appealing.

"Okay, let's go through the mental checklist," You started, as you and your brother sat down on the slightly damp floor, trying to brainstorm. The two of you often did this to stay organized. 

"Our main goal: Find the lifeboats and get off this boat," Mario stated.

"And help as many people as we can," You added, thinking of the children you heard the Janitor take away when you first arrived. "Step 1: Find a way out of this room."

"Step 2:" Mario continued. "Find a way to the upper levels without getting caught."

"Step 3: Find food and drinkable water," You said.

"Step 4: Find a way to the lifeboats and escape!" Mario beamed, smiling at the thought.

"Then, find a happy place to live and spend the rest of our days helping out those less fortunate than us!" You chimed back with a big smile. 

Something you and your brother had in common was the determination to help others. There was just something so rewarding about it. The two of you wanted to grow up to be heroes. Not the widely recognized heroes like superman, but just good people doing good things. The reward was the act itself.

"Do you think we'll be able to help those kids the Janitor found?" You asked with a hint of hope in your tone.

Mario's smile faded, and even though he remained silent, you knew what he was thinking. 

It was too late for them. The best thing to do was to focus and not waste time.

A part of you felt really bad but knew he was right. The people on this ship were extra violent. You wondered what was wrong with the world they came from.

You and your brother were quite the travelers and had seen many many worlds in search of a place to call home. However, out of all the worlds you had seen, this one was definitely the... weirdest. People were really dark and unforgiving, especially to the children. It was hard to understand. 

But hey, sometimes it was alright not to understand everything. The two of you were still just children after all. Well... kind of children. Technically teenagers now! 

"So... I take it we're going to have to jump blindly into that open vent?" Mario asked with a hint of dread.

You looked up at the window you came through, which was too high to reach, even with a boost from Mario. There were also no crates or supplies you could use to lift yourself up to it, so going backward was not an option anymore.

"I suppose so..." You trailed off, hating the idea of it just as much as Mario did. You weren't a stranger to jumping headfirst into situations blindly, but you still didn't really like the idea of it.

Mario paused for a moment, looking at the dark gloomy hole. He then turned to you, smirking slightly.

"Rock-Paper-Scissors to see who goes first?!" He asked, with a hint of excitement. 

You smirked back, crossing your arms knowing that you've played that game with Mario countless times and had memorized his strategies and patterns. "Okay! You're going down!" You laughed, holding your hand out.

You played one round and of course, you played scissors while Mario played paper. You were about to push Mario down the vent when he started waving his arms, claiming that you had to win two out of three games! You realized that he knew he was going to lose and was just stalling, but you decided to humor him since you weren't too eager to jump down there either.

You played again with the exact same hand, and surely enough, you won again. Mario tried to convince you to play best three out of five, but you weren't having it. You won, fair and square, and now it was time for him to face his defeat.

"Okay, okay, fine," Mario sighed, pointing at you with a half-serious expression. "But if I die, I'm blaming you."

"I'll literally be right behind you," You reminded him with a small chuckle. "So if you die, the odds are I'll die too."

"That's not very comforting..." Mario trailed off.

"I know," you sighed. "But hey, whatever happens to us, we'll be together."

Mario cracked a small smile and nodded. Then, with that thought bouncing around his head, he jumped in, falling down for a few seconds before you suddenly heard a splash.

Not a moment later, you followed and fell until you were submerged in cold water.