Follow me || Red Velvet & Seulrene

Chapter 74

Mina had trust in my abilities. So why shouldn't I have it?

under the school yard; 0:40am

I could do that. I just had to concentrate.

I rapidly got up, the water now right under my chest. I scanned the room as my gaze lingered on Jisoo. I stared at her for a second.

„Hey!", I snapped at her. She looked to me. „Try to climb on the steel wheel at the door. You can prevent the contact with water for another ten or eleven minutes with that." Her eyes shifted to the door, then, they widened in realization. She obeyed. I watched her getting on top of the small item, her face looking swollen while her legs where completely covered with blisters.

I mentally ticked that point. Now, I had time for the rising water-level. I swam to the pool (which was not really a pool anymore since the whole room was a pool now) and looked at the ground. It was still as deep as before. I took a long breath before I completely got underwater.

My eyes got used to the liquid pretty fast. I swam a bit deeper to find some extraordinary things in the pool, but still, the water and my bad eyesight prevented me from seeing all. As air became necessary, I swam back to the surface and took a deep breath. I mentally slapped my eyes for being that bad.

I got to the left wall and tiptoed on the ground. My height wasn't an advantage here too...

Then, I suddenly noticed something. The room was filling with water, that was clear. But still, I couldn't feel the air pressure getting higher too. I couldn't feel the normal uncomfortable feeling inside my ears like one could feel while flying with a plane.

That means: The air had to leave the room through a vent. I looked up and scanned the ceiling. Nothing.

I stared back at my hands. Then at the blue and grey tiles behind it. Could there be a vent behind them? Or a opportunity to leave? Or...

The other room?

My eye widened. Behind this wall was the other room, looking exactly like ours. Just that Mina, Seulgi and Irene entered it. Were they maybe experiencing the same right now? Was the water rising too?! I tried to calm down. I had to fully swim now since the water reached my height.

The air was leaving this room through some kind of vent. But this complex was underground. And where should come all the water from? The sea was half a mile away from here. Not even Arnold Priston could have had the money for such fancy pumps...

I widened my eyes in realization. „The water is coming from the parallel room!", I screamed to the others.

„How do you know?" Jisoo immediately yelled back.

„Doesn't matter now." But Jisoo's eyes widened too. 

„The pool has roughly the same size as the room above it. That could really be true."

„And how is that helping us?", Jihyo asked while swiming to my direction. I thought about that. Yeah, how was that helping us. What could Arnold Priston want from us...?

„Jihyo. Are you good in holding your breath?", I asked out of nowhere.

„Kinda", she replied.

„Get to the edge of the pool and try to find any extraordinary things inside it. You probably have a better eyesight than me." Jihyo nodded, the fear showing up on her face. She took a deep breath like me and disappeared under me.

I waited.

30 seconds.

One minute.

Now, just 70 centimeters were left to the ceiling. I noticed Jisoo's whimper. Her upper body was pressed against the wall, her arms lifted to the ceiling. She was obviously struggling not to cry or groan in pain.

After an eternity, Jihyo came back.

„And?", I blurted out, accidentally gulping a bit water. I coughed. „I couldn't see much, but there is a small red spot at the ground of the pool. It looks like a button or a smaller tile."

My eyes lightened up. „Okay perfect!", I said enthusiastically. This had to mean something. Everything had a meaning in this complex. Was this buttom to stop the rising water? Or to open an exit? I didn't know. But I had to find it out.

I took a deep breathe and pressed my eyelids together. The water once again filled my blonde hair as I dove through the water, the distance between ceiling and me grewing. I had to reach it. I was so close now.

Suddenly, my ears started to hurt, the water-pressure increasing fast. I ignored it and tried to get deeper. I reached approximately the one meter mark of the pool. My ears almost exploding. My lungs longing for air. My head hurting. Just four more meters...

Just a little bit more...

„Did you reached it?!", Jihyo asked as I sharply in- and exhaled. 

„No", I breathed out. Our head being the only thing that wasn't underwater. 

„Fuck!", Jihyo said, the panic returning. Jisoo was still pressed against the wall next to me, her teeth clenched together while her breath was heavy. I got to her and comforted her a bit, although she didn't even notice me.

Maybe this was really the end. Maybe Mina had been wrong. I failed. Jihyo failed. Jisoo failed. The distance between the ceiling and the surface was just 20 centimeters. There was no way to reach the ground of the pool anymore.

But still, I thought that we haven't lost, that there was a way out of this hell. Sure, my body was paniking, and my breath was uncontrolled as well, but I didn't felt as much fear as I felt half an hour before. I closed my eyes for the last time.

Arnold Priston had a pattern.

The water came from the similar room next to us.

Similar.

Why had we have to open the doors simultaneously? Was it because this ‚game' needed two players? No student could dive six meters or more. And especially not the one's with a handicap if they weren't trained. So why did he built two similar rooms next to each other, needing to people to play it?

There was just one possibility.

The answer had to be...

„Trust."

I took the last heavy breathes. Jihyo was crying next to me, Jisoo almost unconscious. „Guys, we get out of this! Just trust the others!" The water touched my cheek. I pressed my head at the ceiling, as my last breath came near and I got pulled underwater.

I had to trust them.