Little One (Bioshock)

chapter two.

AUGUST, 1957

The dish was plunged into the soapy water, a rag coming to scrub the food and gunk from it's surface. Mary Locke tilted her head slightly to the side as she did this. Her body washing the few dishes that were in the sink, her mind in a place far away from here. To a place possibly less smelly than Apollo's Square. More elegant like Olympus Heights, although she knew she'd never get there with Allen, who slaved his days away for a poor salary at Neptune's Bounty. Mary didn't agree to it but it was the only place that would take her husband at the time. The days in Rapture were becoming more and more like the days in New York, depressing with no hope in the foreseeable future. The only difference now was that they couldn't leave the city with their funds and they had a sweet two year old to raise. The child sat near one of the windows now, watching the fish swim by the glasses. The scales gleamed from the lights the city emitted. Claire was mesmerized by it. It was the only thing she'd do for hours. It was the only thing she loved to do. The family was fortunate enough to get an apartment with a window of the sea. A huge rock took up most of half of the view, but the visible bits were surely something special.

Her mother called for her to come down the hall to get ready for a day out. Another thing Claire loved was walking around and exploring the city with her mother. Granted that they never got really far, Claire made a promise that she would get older and explore it for herself. She wanted to see even bigger windows that displayed even bigger fish. That was her main goal, and it was quite ambitious for a two year old.

The child slipped into her shoes and met her mother at the door. With hangbag at the ready, the mother-daughter duo left their apartment for their day out in the city. Mary needed to get more thread, heaps of it recently, but she also wanted to allow Claire to have a fun day out. Growing up in Rapture had proven to be quite the task. Claire's curious little mind had so many questions and at first, they mostly had answers. Now she was given saddened looks and sighs and a pat on the head. She didn't know why her parents had become to upset in the recent months but it was happening. When they thought she was asleep, she could hear them arguing. The child didn't like it but never said anything. Instead she tried her best to appear happy and cheerful. It helped.

Her third birthday would come in a few weeks and although money was a problem for the Locke's, both Mary and Allen agreed she deserved to be spoiled for the occasion . Today would hopefully be that day.

Upon leaving Apollo Square, the two traveled down one of the many long hallways of the city. People came and went, some bidding a good morning to them and others ignoring them completely. Claire saw a few children, older than she was but just as lively. Her mother stopped to chat with their mothers and Claire was allowed to compliment a girl's dress or comment on a boy's shoes. The words were exchanged and off they went, disappearing behind the intimidating corners Claire never dared go alone. She sometimes found her city Rapture to be scary. Not always but sometimes.

For living in Rapture's slums, the Locke's always tried to look their best. Claire had only three dresses that were her very best yet she took very good care of them, and always made sure to keep her shoes neat and tidy. Hair always brushed and face clear of grime, Claire Locke knew how to keep an appearance even at such a young age. It was important to her, more so her mother. Mary never wanted to fit into the stereotypes the elitists would say about the lower class citizens. Her hair was tidy too.

"Are you ready for your birthday present Claire?" her mother asked as they came upon the train station. As any little girl would, Claire nodded her head excitedly. It was extremely rare that her mother and herself would take a train somewhere in Rapture, so she knew this was something really special.

The train ride over was quiet. Many people got off and on, going about their daily lives. A few children had gotten on with their mothers, but eventually they had all gotten off by the time the Locke's reached Ryan Amusements, a place Claire had begged her mother to go for ages now. It had a ride, live entertainment and a gift shop! It all sounded so impressive to the slum-living girl, but what she ready wanted to see was the ride, "Journey to the Surface." It was all the children in Rapture ever wanted to see. Their mothers and fathers who came from the surface told them of amazing stories of cities filled with cars and buses, people of all over. Forests, gardens, and the sunshine: as real as an ice loli. A warm feeling that crept up yours shoulders and drowned in your hair. Claire's mother would go on and on about her house in the country, with a farm. Her family had horses and cows and chickens and pigs. Mary could sit for hours, snuggling up with her daughter and dream about a completely different world than the one she accompanied now. And as beautiful as the surface sounded like, Ryan had a completely different picture for Rapture's youth.

"I am Andrew Ryan," a voice said as people poured into the park. Claire bounced on her heels. She was finally here! "Welcome to Ryan Amusements. Please, enjoy the park."

Mary bought their tickets for the ride, making a mental note to see if they could afford anything in the gift shop later, and made their way into the standing queue, with all of the other families. Each child had a face lit up in wonder for what was in store for them. Scanning the room, Claire noticed a lot of couples with their child. A boy would look up at his father and beam a brilliantly wide smile. Claire felt indifferent about this. She knew her father couldn't make it. He had work to do, busy earning money to provide for his family. She knew this yet still wondering what if he had come. Wwould she be happier? Honestly she had no idea. So she grabbed her mother's hand and smiled up at her. She was perfectly fine with expirencing this with her mother. She did favor her more, afterall.

Before everyone was permitted into the carts, Andrew Ryan had a speech prepared. A fake Ryan sat at a desk, emitting his voice somewhere above them. He sat in a relaxed pose, as if merely noticing he had any company at all. Ryan went on about how he had his dream of Rapture, and how he put it into action. And then the question came; what was the surface like and has it changed in the years since? To find out, they would need to continue on with the ride. And so they did! The gates of the ride opened, and they were allowed into the tiny bathysphere-like carts. Claire hurried and jumped into the first one. She wanted to get the first view of the ride, the best view. Mary came in a second after, not as excited but appearing so for Claire. As soon as every person was safely seated in their carts, they began to move on the track. Claire couldn't contain her excitement. She gripped the steel bar that secured her tiny body in place kicked her legs back and forth. Her mother chuckled at her side.

The ride come upon a pastoral view, of a vivid blue sky and fluffy white clouds. Green grass was sprawled out on the floor and Claire wanted so much to touch it. She always imagined what grass felt like. It was probably soft, like her blankets back home. A little ways in the distance sat a house, in the doorway stood a woman and a little girl, holding onto each other as they watched a man out in the field work. Mary whispered something about a farm and Claire almost jumped out of her seat. A farm! This is what it looks like!

"On the surface, the farmer tills the soil, trading the strength of his arm for a home and land of his own," Ryan spoke overhead. Claire could almost imagine it, this view, as the view of her mother's childhood. Her own mother holding onto her mother, watching their husband and father work for them. Claire imagined chickens and pigs, animals she had never seen before but imagined what they would look like, running around in the grass. And Claire would chase them. "But the Parasites say, 'NO!' " And suddenly, a pair of gigantic hands came from the sky and tore off the roof of the farmer's house. The once bright sky is gone, replaced with red lights shining onto the farmer and his wife and child. The hands, labeled God and Government, go on to steal the contents of the house. " ' Whats yours is ours! We are the state, we are God, and we demand our share.' "

On and on this went, Ryan telling the children of the Parasites of the surface, how everything that people work hard to earn and keep are ripped away from them, using God and the government as an excuse to be greedy. Other things are shown as well, the Parasites censoring an artists work and forcing a scientist to continue to slave away for them. The last attraction, the one that horrified Claire the most, was the government stealing a boy, a child, to go off and fight in a war that wasn't his own, to die. Claire huddled close to her mother. This display that Ryan held out was nothing like what her mother had told her. The surface was cold-hearted, greedy and... awful. She had no idea of any other way to describe it.

The end of the ride stood at a lighthouse, a smaller version of the lighthouse that descended Claire and her family down a few years ago, with a little girl inside a bathysphere. Ryan's voice came back overhead, lecturing the children about the dangers of the surface and how much safer they would be in Rapture, "So you see, there is no place for you on the surface, but  you may bring the world to you! If you know someone who belongs in Rapture, write a letter to the Ryan Industries mailroom. And you never know! The next new face... might be familiar."

Their little cart rode them out as 'Rise, Rapture, Rise,' the anthem for the underwater haven, played in the background. From that day on, Claire never asked about the surface again. Out of fear or sadness, she never wanted to even think about it. However, once in a while, she would dream of her perfect world, on a farm with her mother and father and the chickens and pigs, and everything would be alright.