Bioshock: The Story of Henry Walker

Chapter 13: The Apartments and The Orphanage

Henry looked around the bathysphere. It wasn't like the other one he came down to Rapture in. This bathysphere was covered in gold plating with intricate silver waves and other various designs. The lever was also made of shimmering chrome steel. It seemed they had spared no expense on this bathysphere. Henry wasn't surprised. This was, after all, Andrew Ryan's personal bathysphere. Henry looked over to the four other people seated around him. Naledi sat at attention, looking out the window of the bathysphere, taking in the amazing view of the underwater city, her eyes leaped every which way, trying to catch a glimpse of everything. Gil was seated beside her, he was looking at the different designs welded across the bathysphere, he seemed to have been lost in thought yet again. Peach was sprawled up against Gil, his eyes closed, head hung back and his mouth wide open as he made short snoring sounds. Henry chuckled, they had all worked hard in creating this beautiful city, now it was time to reap the rewards. Henry looked over to the last individual seated next to the bathysphere lever. Andrew Ryan sat patiently, hands folded over his lap, a small smile on his face, his eyes were also closed. "Of course." Henry thought. "Mr. Ryan has been working extremely hard as well, all this wouldn't have been possible without him, now his dream has come true, and he can finally rest for a few minutes." Henry smiled and shook his head. He still couldn't believe that almost a year ago he had been living in a broken old home being robbed by the American Government. Now he was twenty thousand feet under the sea in an underwater utopia called Rapture, it just seemed too fantastical to Henry. Naledi gasped, she spun around so quickly that her hand had collided with Gil's cheek which caught him off balance and sent his elbow into Peach's eye. Peach yelped in pain as he tumbled to the bathysphere floor. "Why'd the hell you go and do that Gil!?" Peach grumbled angrily. "I'm terribly sorry Peach, apparently I was doing something wrong which brought upon a slap from Ms. Atkins." Gil said with an annoyed tone. Naledi blushed. "Sorry about that mates, I just mean't to say that we're here!" Henry laughed, "Well I guess that's one way to get someone's attention!" The bathysphere lowered itself and latched onto the rails attached to a long vertical tube. The bathysphere ascended up the tube slowly and emerged from the pool of water. Andrew Ryan opened his eyes slowly and smiled. "Ah, finally, we've arrived at our destination. Mr. Wilkins, would you be so kind as to open the door for us?" Massaging the back of his head, Peach gripped the lever at the back of the bathysphere and pulled it. The clear glass door swung open and the five individuals stepped out of the bathysphere and onto the clean tiled floors. The tiled floor led to a wide set of stairs that they walked proceeded to walk up. The entire area was silent, save for the clicking sounds as their shoes hit the steps. They reached the top of the stairs and stood. Henry looked up to the glass ceiling. He could see the dark blue of the ocean water. The ceiling was at least forty feet high. The massive glassed tunnel that stood in front of the group must have been almost a mile long. Henry also noticed that the floors were different. Made with concrete bricks instead of checkered tiles. Andrew Ryan turned to the group. "Welcome to Olympus Heights. This is the area of which all my essentially talented individuals will reside in Rapture, what you see before you is the cart railway area, the apartments lay just beyond." Gil blinked to break his awe inspired stare, "Apartments? Not to be rude Mr. Ryan but I was hoping for more of somewhat like a household, not a small apartment." Ryan turned to look at Gil and chuckled. "Ah, don't fret Gilbert, these apartments will be greater than any household you could think of. Rest assured. Now, we should start walking down the sidewalk, once I get the street carts built, travel will be extremely time efficient, but until then it may talk us around twenty minutes to half an hour to get to the apartments." Peach and Gil looked at each other and groaned. Naledi smiled and punched Gil in the shoulder. "Well boys, let's start walking! Our beds are waiting!"

"Margret I'm tired and my feet hurt, and I'm hungry!" whined Johnny. Margret Lencher was an older woman who took care of orphaned children all her life. Before she was given Ryan's letter, Margret was an orphanage matron in New York. She had seen and dealt with all types of children, ranging from infants to seventeen year olds. She had seen what they had been through and how some had lived without parents for their entire childhood. Delinquents, prostitutes, murderers, thieves, these children barely out of adolescence, already unleashed to the harsh reality of the world, Margret had seen them all. She dedicated herself to helping these downtrodden infants, children and adolescence find new homes and families. While searching for new homes, she had made a massive orphanage. She was given several awards for her selfless ways to helping the children of the future. With such experience with orphaned children, Ryan thought she would be an ideal matron for the orphans of Rapture. For half the time of Rapture's construction Margret was able to rest and relax, but she knew there would be accidents, and sooner or later, there would be orphans in need of her help. So far their were nine orphans she would watch over in Rapture. Johnny, a whining six year old boy. Eight year old Emma who had knack for reading. Four year old Gregory, who was always sleeping. The five year old energetic twins Scot and Shaun. Mary, who was ten years of age and thought she knew it all. Fourteen year old Jeremy, basically the leader of the group, all the kids looked up to him, but he seemed quite confused about it. Elizabeth, a very quite and pretty thirteen year old girl who acted like a big sister for all the little ones, she and Jeremy have helped Margret many times and continued to do so. Finally there is little Jenny, a small girl barely one year of age, but she is extremely energetic and full of curiosity. She and Elizabeth spend the most time together. They had come out of their large bathysphere almost twenty minutes ago and were now approaching Apollo Sanctuary. A large orphanage built for those children who lost their parents in the construction of Rapture. They had been walking along the walkways of a large glass tunnel and were near the Apollo Sanctuary. Margret was tired just like everyone else, but she was determined to reach the Sanctuary without  stopping. "C'mon kids, keep walking, I know you're all tired, we're almost there!" The group groaned as they slowly walked on towards the Apollo Sanctuary. "C'mon guys, let's sing a song!" cheered Jeremy. Gregory, Scot and Shaun smiled. "Yea sing a song Jeremy! Sing a song! Sing! Sing!" they chanted in unison. Jeremy chuckled, "Alright, alright, here goes." He started singing a song about a dog in the window of a pet shop. Jeremy was a tall boy, well built with dirty blond hair, tanned skin and sky blue eyes. He had a slender face and a smile always on his face. He wasn't the smartest boy, but he wasn't dumb. He knew how to talk to people but he was quite shy at times. He had an amazing singing voice. He could raise his voice to a soprano and he could lower it to become baritone. He would always sing songs to the younger kids when they would get restless, in a depression, or just plain bored. They would always perk up when they heard Jeremy's voice, especially Elizabeth. Since Jeremy was the closest to her age, he was the only one she could really have a conversation with. Even if the conversations didn't last too long. They were basically like the big brother and sister of the group, caring and tending to the little ones or helping Margret. They didn't mind the work, they preferred it to just sitting around. Elizabeth had developed relationships with everyone. However, she had a special bond with Jenny. Elizabeth was the first orphan to be put into Margret's care and Jenny came shortly after. Elizabeth was sitting on her bed one day when Margret came in with a blanketed bundle in her arms. Elizabeth may have just lost her parents, but at least she got to know them. Jenny was the daughter of a single mother who had died giving birth to her. Jenny would never know her parents, would never know what it was like to have a mother or a father. Elizabeth was always close to Jenny. Taking care of her. Trying to be the best big sister she could be. They were nearly inseparable. Even now when so many others needed Elizabeth's help, she would have Jenny in one arm or always sitting near by. Jeremy was singing louder now, nearing the climax of the song. Jenny laughed and smiled a toothless grin. She loved hearing Jeremy sing. Jeremy finished the song and the children cheered. "More! More!" said the twins in unison. Jeremy smiled and patted them both on the head. "Jeez guys, I dunno, well, maybe just one mo-" Margret cut Jeremy off. "We're here boys and girls! Welcome to our new home! Apollo Sanctuary!" The group stopped on a wide set of stairs. They looked up in awe at the large orphanage. "Wow, Mr. Ryan sure didn't go cheap when he made this place!" Jeremy said amazed. The others nodded slowly, mesmerized at the building they would be living in. The shining metal doors opened up and a small women in a white blouse and black skirt walked up to Margret, talking incredibly fast. "Margret Lencher! It's so good to finally meet you! I've heard so much about you, I'm quite a fan of your work! Are these the children? Oh they look so adorable! Oh where are my manners! I'm Sophie, Sophie Quinn, I'm the assistant matron here at the Apollo Sanctuary." she said smiling widely. A little stunned by Sophie's lightening fast sentences, Margret shook Sophie's hand. "Nice to meet you Sophie, yes I am Margret and these are the children." She proceeded to introducing them all. Sophie was a small woman, looking somewhere in her thirties with a small heart shaped face and curly brown hair. She also had an enormous smile and her eyes went wide whenever she would smile which made her seem quite creepy. "Well let's not wait out here any longer, you all look so tired and I know you just want to hop right into bed. Of course there is food out and waiting for those that are still hungry." said Sophie sweetly. The group made their way into the orphanage. It was massive. The large room was the lobby of the orphanage, it was square and simple, yet elegant. The ceiling was painted with bright clouds with little angels dancing around them. The floors were tiled with shining marble and wooden benches lined the walls. The walls themselves were made of dark mahogany wood with bronze engravings of ocean waves and a lighthouse at the end. There was two large doorways on opposite sides of the room. One doorway had the words KITCHEN in gold letters above it and above the other doorway was DINING. "Now, who's hungry?" asked Sophie. Johnny, Mary and the twins shot their arms up into air, eyes wide. Jeremy chuckled, "I guess I could use a bite as well." Sophie smiled widely and nodded, "Of course!, why don't you four go into the kitchen there and asks the chef for something." Jeremy nodded, "C'mon guys let's go get something to eat!" The twins cheered as the three kids followed Jeremy to the kitchen. Once they were through the doorway Sophie turned around sharply, "Well then, how about I show you all to your rooms!" Elizabeth nodded, "Please do, we're all pretty tired. Jenny's eyes were closed and her head rested against Elizabeth's shoulder. Gregory was holding her other hand, his eyes were on the verge of being fully closed and he was somewhat snoring. Margret giggled, "Yes, I think we could all do with some rest, lead on Sophie." The excited assistant matron nodded and made her way to the back of the large room. At the end of the room was a large desk, administration was stationed there. Behind the desk was a large staircase with red carpeted steps. At the top were two long hallways with several doors on each end. One hallway entrance had the golden letters that said BOYS above it and the other hallway on the right had the word GIRLS. Margret walked over to Elizabeth and picked up Gregory."Elizabeth, how about you go with the girls and get them in bed? I'll take Gregory, and Sophie can show me the boys rooms, I'll be over in a few minutes to check on you alright?" Elizabeth nodded, "Alright, let's go Emma." she said taking the eight year old's hand and starting down the girls hallway. The doors were made of mahogany wood with a gold number on the front of each door from one to ten. "Hmm, what an interesting room placement." said Emma. Elizabeth nodded, always amazed at Emma's vocabulary, and opened the door on the left with the large number one on it. Elizabeth walked into the room with Jenny in her arm, Emma close behind her. The stood side by side looking over the room. It was a rectangular room. Much like the rooms on the Odyssey. Beds lined the opposite sides of the walls that stretched quite far, with dressers beside each bed. At the end of the room was a large window that showed the blue hue of the ocean and the bright neon lights of Rapture's other buildings. Lamps were lit on the dressers to illuminate the room. Emma walked over to one of the beds and collapsed on the neat, white sheeted beds with bronze framework. "Lizzie, you need to lay on one of these beds, it's so fluffy and comfy!" Emma said smiling. Elizabeth smiled and propped a pillow up and sat down with her back on the pillow. She looked down to Jenny who had her thumb in her mouth and was sound asleep. Elizabeth looked over to Emma who was already under her white covers, already sleeping. Elizabeth chuckled, it had been a long night. Even though she was an orphan, she would go to school, she would grow up, and so would Jenny. She may have lost her parents, but she gained a sister, and she wouldn't let anything happen to her. Elizabeth looked over to the beams of light shining through the window and sighed. It had been a while since she had thought about him, but she wondered where Henry was, what he was doing, and if they would ever meet each other again. She shuffled down the bed and made herself comfortable, the bed was so light and comfortable. She looked down at Jenny's small figure resting on top of her. Elizabeth looked up at the ceiling and let out a deep breath. Her eye lids became extremely heavy. She slowly closed her eyes and embraced the blissful feeling of sleep.