Scuba Emo

Virgil was in the boat looking over at the water. He felt a hand on his shoulder and found that the owner of it was Patton, which made him feel a little better. They were both looking out at the water knowing that, by no choice if their own, they would soon be swimming in it with plenty of equipment.

The two of them as well as Roman and Logan were friends since elementary school, yet had struggled to continue getting together as the years went on due to the different paths life took them on. The last time they got together, they made a vote on what activity they should try together. Virgil voted on paintball, Patton voted on seeing a dog show, and Logan and Roman both voted on going scuba diving, which almost surprised the group. When it was confirmed that they all would try scuba diving, Virgil expressed that he had a bad feeling about it and Roman told him to just relax since the "bad feeling" had been "holding him back." Virgil had to admit that buying and stocks for Hot Topic and posting blog posts for money wasn't the most exciting way of living compared to venturing in and out of the city taking on acting gigs and singing on YouTube; however, Virgil figured that he'd at least be able to keep Roman from letting anything go if his bad feeling was confirmed or he'd actually find an activity he'd enjoy if the bad feeling was proven to be incorrect.

They were all getting suited up and instructed on how to work the equipment as well as the "Do's and Don'ts" on the swimming. Virgil was feeling a little better knowing that the underwater landmarks will serve as reminders of where the boat will be and he knew he would be able to hear his friends as well as the instructor in case he needed to speak to someone. It didn't take too long before they all made it into the water one at a time. Roman tried to swim like he was a merman and was singing "Under the Sea" with limited movement, Logan was giving fun facts about the ocean life surrounding them and ranting about the dangers of oil spills and litter, Patton was observing the pretty colors and making sea puns to go along with Logan's facts, and Virgil was just swimming along taking in the scenery and making sure he was getting his money's worth. He was singing as he was watching the many entities of sea life swimming around minding their own business and was actually starting to feel like Roman might've been on to something.

Virgil was swimming around for a little while longer before he saw an unfamiliar movement nearby. He was about to freak out before deciding to just keep swimming. He found the need to stop when he saw black surround him and felt...something wrapped around his body. He heard the sound of his tank breaking and someone calling his name as whatever held him squeezed tighter. Everything was slowly fading as Virgil was reminding himself to relax.

As he was coming to, Virgil was starting to feel his back on a floor, someone pumping his chest, and his nose plugged as air was inserting his mouth. He sat up gasping and coughing as his friends and the instructor surrounded him.

"Wh-what happened?" He struggled to ask.

"Apparently, you had a run-in with some octopodes that probably didn't like human interference," Logan explained.

"Is that how it's pronounced? I thought it was 'octopi'," Roman countered.

"No, it's 'octopodes'. Now can we focus?" Logan responded.

"How am I alive?" Virgil asked.

"Well, we tried calling you, then Logan saw the blotch of blackness. Once we followed it, we saw you losing consciousness and Roman attacked it before doing some weird movements and we all pulled you back here," Patton explained while in disbelief of what happened.

Patton was about to carefully hug Virgil before Virgil put his hand up. The instructor wrapped a blanket around Virgil as the suffering man rested his head on Patton's shoulder.

"I'm so sorry about that. They don't usually interfere in this part of the sea, but I guess they were just in hiding the last few times," the instructor apologetically said.

As the instructor was bringing the boat back, Virgil looked at his friends before looking down.

"Am I allowed to freak out now? I think my heart attack is breaking its chain as we speak," he muttered.

Roman's eyes widened as he was thinking over why Virgil would ask permission.

"Is that why you didn't call for help or swim away? I am so sorry, Hot Topic!" Roman proclaimed.

"It's okay, Princey. Minus the octopus, it was actually pretty decent down there," Virgil responded.

As calm as he was on the boat, the severity of the situation dawned on Virgil when he returned home and his friends made time out of their days to help him however they could.