Vault 207

Chapter 1

CLANG!! CLANG-BOOM!! Ahh, those familiar noises from my childhood. Iron wrenches againts the hollow interior of the cold, steel walls. They were always clanging on the pipes that go to Above, and nothing else. "Those pipes lead to absolutely nothing." my dad says. I believe him, but in a way, I don't. I believe him because it's been like that for the past seventeen years, and I don't because sometimes you can see a light coming from what I would like to imagine is Above.

(I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO NEVER TALK ABOUT-)

In school, sometimes I would doze off and daydream about how Above might look like. I've imagined it with luscious plants sprouting everywhere with the faint buzz of the bees beating against their own fuzzy body. Of course nobody knows if those plants or bees are real. Long ago, a law was made that everyone who lives down here is banned from Above. But why? I made these thoughts up when I was little to make my life have a little spice in it, and to keep me from boredom. It would be nice if they were real, especially if your life was trapped in metal walls. You could go somehwere new for once in your life...

(NEVER GO DOWN TO THE SOLID TUNNELS OF STEEL AND-)

Dad had always told me they werent real, he thought it was bad for my knowledge. He thought I would go around telling people that plants and trees exist. He also told me it was possible to teach yourself the lies you've learned or the imagination you believed in, like plants and bees are real even though they aren't. "Are you awake?! Its time for school! Hello?! Don't make me come up there just to catch you reading that damn book!" That's my mom. She's always worried that i'll sleep in one of these days and miss the first part of first hour. "I'm not reading that book. I finished it last week, remember? You were standing right outside the school when i turned the book in." Ugh, I hate going to school. Most of the teachers there are being forced to teach useless information to get paid well. And this isnt even a proper city! At least I don't think so, maybe it is. It doesn't have a name that i'm aware of. About two hours pass by and kids are still working on completing the test. Idiots. This is just a pretest and people still can't fill in circles with a pencil. I would look like a God compared to them just by holding a pencil correctly. Finally, my friend Jack finishes the test. I roll my eyes to myself, and bang my head on the desk. Could this get any more boring? Once that passes by, me and Jack go to lunch. They never have good meals there, it's usually just a sandwich wrapped in plastic wrap along with a little carton of milk. "Jack, I don't understand why it took you so long to take a test! Not just any test, a pretest. You DO realize it doesn't affect anything, right?" He nods his head, and keeps eating. Strange, usually he is the happiest guy I know everyday and responds to everything anybody says. I shrug it off. Afterall, not everybody has the perfect happy-go-lucky days people dream of.

(YOU COULD HAVE BROUGH HIM HOME AND-)

I walk home everyday because, well, you can't do anything else. No buses or cars to drive you home. Buses and cars are another part of what I think the Above has. Thankfully, my home isnt far, just 17 blocks away. Blocks are the seperate rooms you can buy for bulding walls and doors inside. Every single one is the same size, but yet you can do so many things with them. Our block isn't anything special, especially since my parents refuse to buy decorations. They think it's a waste of money to sugar coat their housewith pistures and tiny tables. I don't quite get what that means, but it's not my desicion, so why should I care?

I get home, and the first thing I see is my mom talking on the phone. Most of the time she is upstairs cleaning up after Dad, but I guess she already did that. I waved at her, since I didn't want to disturb her call. She looks at me, gives me a look with a quick smile, and walks to a different room and closes the door. Now i'm thinking to myself, did something happen at her work? Did the school look at my grades and call home? The possibilities are endless. I throw my backpack on the couch, and walk to my room to take a nap. I'm not tired, I just have nothing else that I want to do. I close my eyes, and soon after my mom walks in to tell me something. "Look, your friend Jack, he tried calling you when you were walking home, but you didn't answer, so he called me instead. I'm assuming your phone just died." How is that possible? I've never given him the number to our house, and my phone was at 42% when I left school. Mom asks me why i'm confused, so i tell her just that. "I'm sure you've told him, you just don't remember. I'll tell you more if you come down to the living room, I have work to do and i'm not bringing my laptop to your bedroom." It didn't seem like nothing big, so I slept it off.

(NOBODY CARES ABOUT YOU BECAUSE YOU DON'T CARE-)

I wake up, at look at the clock to see it's 11:24 pm. What the hell am I doing up now? I lay on my back to stare at the ceiling to try and figure out how long i've slept, just for shits and giggles. It's been about 8-9 hours since I fell asleep. I get out of bed to see if my parents left me dinner on the counter next to the oven, I was starving. They would usually wake me up for dinner if i'm sleeping, but I guess not this time. It wasn't on the counter, and it wasn't in the fridge. Pretty soon I just give up and sit on the couch to see if my parents were anywhere around. I try to be quiet to see if I can hear them, but I don't hear a sound. They might have gone to bed, they stay up til 11:00 most nights. Who knows why, but they must have something that keeps them up. Nothing is happening, and i'm not hungry, so I walkupstairs back to my bed. As im walking up the stairs, I could have swore I heard my foorsteps echoing back at me.

This has never happened to anyone, so it gave me a good scare, I keep walking up the steps, and my footsteps are much much louder than my actually steps. I turn around to see if there was anybody behind me, but all I see are black at white stars. Did I get anything to drink? And why am I wearing sweatpants and a jacket? It's 75° in here and outside. I can feel myself losing my balance as I fall onto the wall. I push myself back up, and get up the stairs as fast as possible. That was a bad idea, because I only saw even more stars, and I start falling backwards. The next thing you know, i'm down at the bottom of the stairs with stars surrounding me, swallowing me, engulfing me. My eyes close and all I can do is hope it all goes away. Footsteps are coming frantically towards me. They sound almost muffled. More than one pair, too. I can hear voices, but they are muffled as well. The stars fade away, and they leave me with blackness. What's happening?

(YOU DUMBASS, WHY CAN'T YOU TAKE CARE OF-)