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uoy rof hguone doog ton

Not Good Enough For You

"Beta I swear I am not having this today!" Matrix yelled, pacing their shared room. "These people are more than insane, maybe your imaginary friend should have mentioned that!"

Hershey sat on his bed drinking as much water as he could hold down. He could still taste the regurgitated food in his mouth. "Agreed. That sushi we ate earlier was not good." Hershey shivered at the thought of it and then froze. "What if Elias was trying to poison me."

Beta bit his lip, feeling bad for his friends. Not to mention a part of him felt like Elias was trying to poison Hershey, and it was all too much. "No Hershey, it's not trying to poison you. Guys, this isn't Elias' fault—"

"Then who's is it, hm?" Matrix said, taking a break from scrubbing his cheek raw. "Is it mine? Is it Hershey's? Or maybe it's yours."

Beta choked on the words he actually wanted to say, holding them down. It was his fault, it was all his fault. His body had gotten better after the incident, fixed itself. Still, he felt a little shattered. "Well," he said, changing the topic. "Fortunately, I did find something. I saw a brunette girl leaving the table when it all went down; she hadn't said a word. Something's off about it, don't you think?"

Matrix sighed. "Okay, wow. Great info Beta. So, we just watch over all the crazy brunette girls in this hell house and hope to find one crazier than all the rest. Great lead. Truly amazing work." Matrix began to applaud.

"Come on, it shouldn't be that hard. We've got to go back down there for dinner anyway, so we'll scope 'em out."

"What do we do until then?" Hershey asked, gargling water before swallowing it.

"I'll scope the place out," Matrix and Beta said in unison. "We'll split up," Beta decided.

"Okay. Hershey goes left, I go right, and Beta can go straight down the hallway. Good? Great." Not waiting for confirmation, Matrix made a beeline for the door. Beta rolled his eyes and went straight down the hallway in front of him. Hershey took another swig of water before standing up and turning left down the hallway.

Hershey went down the stairs and turned into a mini hallway leading to the family room. He realized that it was almost as big as the dining room. It held a big screen T.V. stuck to the magenta wallpapered wall and three different-styled green seats. One was a large sofa fitting six or seven people, another was a love seat, and the last was just a padded wooden chair. The white carpet was soft as Hershey stepped onto it with his bare feet. He looked around the room but saw no one in sight. He tiptoed over to the sofa in front and sat on it. Relief flooded through him as he sunk into the couch's cushions. He looked left in search of the remote and he found it. He picked it up and pressed the big, red button at the top.

Then the living room was a world of life and sound. Hershey winced from the volume and lowered it quickly, afraid it would draw too much attention. Once it was at a good volume, he started to flip through the channels. He was enjoying himself so much...maybe too much. Hershey's thumb hovered over the channel ꜛ button on the remote, pondering.

He hadn't been this comfortable, felt this much at home, since he left home all those years ago. It was times like that that made Hershey realize how long he had been away, how short his life had been, and despite all the setbacks a rich lifestyle had brought him...how much he missed it.

Hershey sighed as the T.V. shut off, putting the remote back where it was and exiting the living room. There was nothing for him there.

When Hershey heard the T.V. start up again—already out of the mini hallway and in the dining hall—he turned back around. When he did, his feet squeaked. Just that very sound made him nervous. He didn't want to look down because he already had a good feeling of what the substance was. He looked down anyway, lifting up his barefoot to see the blood stain clinging onto his foot's sole. His eyes trailed forward and he saw the trail of smudged fresh blood going from up the stairs to the kitchen. He followed it into the kitchen.