I continued walking, crawling into a vent and climbing upward, so at least I could tell I was heading someplace different. I wasn't really sure where, but I'd find out soon enough. It was pitch black inside the vents, so I desperately hoped nothing else was in there with me. I never liked not being able to see. It was one of the reasons I used to keep a flashlight AND a lighter on me at all times.

However, the creepiest part about being in the dark was the fact that my left eye almost emitted a faint glow. I didn't like that, since it didn't look natural, so I made sure I moved more of my hair over it to cover the glowing. Even if it was helping me see, I didn't want it to show.

I crawled up and kicked another vent cover open, hopping into what looked like some old boiler room. There were pipes and machines everywhere. It was a little warmer than the other rooms I had been in but still was fairly cold.

I continued limping when I heard a soft hissing noise. I bit my lip and looked around when I suddenly looked up to see pipes overhead and a long black rope swinging above me. I frowned slightly as the rope dangled there, almost looking unnatural. That's when it fell on me. 

I squealed and quickly brushed it off, taking a few steps away as it fell on the floor and started slithering around.

"Snake," I told myself, stepping backward away from it. "Not good, not good!"

I had come across many creepy things in my lifetime, gunshots and distorted teachers, but I had NEVER been a fan of snakes. The way they hissed and slithered was offputting to me. 

I swallowed nervously as it quickly started slithering towards me, opening its mouth and showing me its two sharp fangs which had drops of venom dripping from them. I knew that the best thing to do when encountering a snake in the wild was to stay still and not agitate it, but my fight or flight response flared up and told me to sprint away.

I turned on my heel and started running, avoiding the searing pain in my cut foot as the wound re-opened and sprinting as fast as I could away from the slippery creature. As I ran I could see a few more snakes falling from the ceiling. I hated each and every one. They stuck to the damper, darker corners of the room where I could see their beady little eyes, watching me from the shadows.

It was hard to see in the dark and I occasionally tripped on broken pipes, but I didn't care as I continued running until I finally made it to another room, slamming the door shut behind me so the snakes couldn't follow. I grabbed a chair and propped it under the door handle just to be safe, even though I knew the snakes couldn't use the doorknob.

My gut told me that the snakes could seep through the small crack at the bottom of the door, but my mind knew that the crack was far too small. These were fairly large snakes, so I was pretty sure I was safe.

I was in a much smaller room now with two doors. One of them was the door I had just come through, and the other was boarded up. I decided that I absolutely was NOT going back to the horrifying snake-infested room, so the only thing left to do was press forward. 

I grabbed the loosest board at the bottom and used all my strength to pull it off. Since the wood on the actual door was rotting, some of that broke as well, so I was able to lie down and crawl through the now broken hole in the door, where I saw another one of those little white ghost things in the shadows.

"Hello?" I asked, wondering if it was the same one. 

It quickly looked at me, then rushed away. 

"Wait!" I called, taking a few steps after it, when the floor below me suddenly broke, causing me to fall down a floor, into what looked to be a small puddle of black sludge. It was gross and got all over my arms and hair. I hoped it wouldn't infect the open wound on my foot. It stung really badly.

It was nearly pitch black in the room I fell into, but I could see movement. I quickly got up and looked around myself. 

It almost looked as if the floor was moving and breathing.

I nervously swallowed when I realized what was surrounding me.

I gasped as soon as I felt one slither against my ankle, then took off sprinting once again. 

This time they were all around, hissing and screaming whenever I accidentally stepped on their slimy, squishy bodies. 

The snakes moved all over, and I didn't want to think about what would happen to me if I were to get trapped down there. 

I ran and ran until I came to a wooden door. 

I desperately reached for the handle, which was damp and slippery. 

A few snakes circled around my ankles, brushing against me, but thankfully not biting me. 

My hand slipped from the knob a few times, but I eventually got the door open, kicking the snakes off and rushing through without bothering to close the door. 

I just ran into the light, as far and fast as I could. I heard the hissing and slithering noises get further and further away until they finally faded to nothing.

I rested against a wall and finally caught my breath. There were a few flickering lights above me so I could properly see. It looked like those snakes avoided the lit areas, so I felt somewhat safe for the moment.

I was in a more open room with a small ladder and broken boards on the ceiling. I looked up to see the same round thing looking down at me. Once our eyes met, it quickly dashed away.

"Hey! Wait up!" I cried, climbing up the ladder and following in the direction it went, careful not to fall off the broken boards. I held my arms out to balance myself. As I climbed up, I saw a small ledge with poorly made wooden stairs that went down another path. It was much darker since I was above the flickering light now, but since I was so far from the ground I was hopeful that there weren't any snakes. I quickly jumped over to the ledge, then rushed up the stairs, occasionally wincing as I stepped on my bad foot. I'd need to find something to wrap it with soon.

I lost sight of the little ghost, but I did end up finding what looked to be a door that opened from the bottom up, like a garage. There was a crank next to it, so I quickly spun that, opening the door. As soon as I let go, the door began to fall shut, so I quickly slid through, into a new room.

Funny. Once the door shut, there was no other way out. There was no way to open or even see that there was a door from this side of the room. There was just enough light for me to see that there was a fan and a small vent in the ground which seemed to lead downward.

I wasn't about to go that way. Down seemed like a bad idea. The best way to head was up. 

However, next to the small vent cover, I spotted what looked like a small silver lighter, just like the one I gave to Blumiere in the factory all that time ago.

I kneeled down to pick it up, then flicked it on, seeing the small orange flame dance as it emitted a warm heat.

I smiled, keeping it on as I looked up to see a window on the opposite side of the room which was left open as if someone recently climbed through it. However, it was way too high for me to reach. There was no way I could jump that high. Even if Blumiere was still there to boost me up. I'd have to come up with something else...

Just then, I saw the little ghost thingy, poking its head out from the window.

"Hello?" I asked, much quieter now.

The ghost didn't run this time. It simply threw down one end of a rope. A REAL rope this time. Not one of the snakes. I frowned slightly, then flicked the lighter off and walked over to it, tugging on my end to make sure it was secure. 

Surely enough, it held strong. I looked up to thank the little ghost, only to see that it completely vanished.

"Hmm..." I muttered, wondering what the little ghost ball thing's motive was. Why was it helping me?

After a moment, I shrugged the thoughts off and started climbing up towards the small window. There was no moonlight shining through it, so I knew it didn't lead outside. Probably just to another section of the ship. But still, it at least had to lead somewhere.

There were a lot of crates situated by the window once I crawled through, so it was easy to get down. I found myself in another hallway, walking forward. It was oddly quiet. It should have been comforting but I was so used to living in a world with constant noise that it felt unsettling. I couldn't even hear the roaring of the ocean. Just the sound of my feet on the creaky wood floors.

I continued into the next room, which was larger than the hallway when an ear-screeching alarm suddenly went off. I froze in place and looked up to see what looked like an eye in the wall with a camera inside, trained on me.

"Uh oh..." I muttered when I heard the sound of quick, heavy footsteps.

I should have run away like I did with the snakes. I should have rushed out of the camera's sight, back towards the last room so I could jump into that vent in the ground and hide. But instead, my body froze, until I saw a large man, taller than me, but shorter than most average adults.

Something I didn't like about this boat was that I had no idea who I was dealing with, unlike the last little adventure I was on with Blumiere. I had no idea what this guy's number was nor what his powers were. All I knew now was his appearance. He was short and stubby. His skin was a pale almost green color as if he was seasick. However, the most noticeable thing about him was his cold, dead-white eyes and his incredibly long arms.

"U-Uh, hello," I squeaked, awkwardly waving as the man looked around the room. As soon as I spoke, his head snapped towards me. Not a moment later, his long arms reached for me and grabbed ahold of me tightly. 

I instantly panicked, then looked around frantically for that ghost thing. "Uh, hello? Ghost thing? Now would be a good time to appear again!"

No one came.

"Uh, HELLO?" I asked, slightly louder, trying not to let the panic set in. "HELP!"

I began to breathe heavier, realizing that I was alone and didn't know what to do. For some reason, the loneliness really hit me at that moment. I had been through worse, sure, but Blumiere was always around back then.

Where was he now?

"SIX?! SIX, PLEASE HELP ME!" I begged, secretly hoping that he'd appear and use his dark blobby power to save me as he did with the Teacher. 

But he was gone. He let me go and wasn't going to come back for me. I knew that. Calling for him was pointless.

Still, I cried for him.

The man holding me winced at the sound of my cries as if the noise was hurting him, but I didn't care. I wasn't strong enough to save myself from this. I didn't even know where I was going, let alone how I was going to get out of this. 

After a moment of yelling, I felt something hard hit my head, then it all went black.