Little One (Bioshock)

chapter three.

DECEMBER 31, 1958

It was their fifth fight of the night. A bottle thrown. A bang of the cupboards. Claire sat in her room, in the same apartment in Apollo Square. She played with a doll she had gotten a year ago, it's hair still spick and span. The young girl was used to this by now - her parents fighting. It had been going on for a year. Ever since her father started on his Splicing journey. His anger towards his wife grew by the day. He even hit her when the anger was so boiling hot in his throat and he couldn't contain it. Claire saw it once. She didn't know what to think at the time and even now she was conflicted. She loved her father, like any child would, and loved her mother all the same. She didn't want this anger and hatred between them but there was nothing in the world that she could do. And so she sat back and tried to block it all out.

During those hideous fights Claire would hum herself a song she heard down here in the city. It was on a boring day. Her mother was talking to some other woman and they gossiped about Mr. Fontaine and the sort but, at her young age, Claire didn't care much. She walked a little bit away from their conversation, eyes peering out into the sea. The huge windows that displayed the cool blue water were every where in Rapture's public eye. The sight would always take Claire's breath away. She continued to look and admire when she said the first hum of the song. It was a bit to her left and wasn't as clear as it was when she finally had gotten closer. A girl, around her own age, was humming the song. She stood in a line of about a dozen other girls. They all dressed the same, all had the same low ponytail in their tamed hair, and all took the same stance. All of their backs were perfectly straight and their arms held tightly behind their back. It gave Claire an eerie chill up her neck.

However, the low hum still emitted from the little girl's mouth. Claire couldn't the front of her but she knew it was the girl in the last row. The back of her heels slightly bounced on themselves as she did so.

"What song are you singing?" Claire asked her. A moment later Claire had started to scream. The little girl that was humming turned around to reveal her ghoul-ish glowing eyes. Wide and bright, deep yellow. Mary came and quickly scooped her child up in her arms and was even startled herself at the child's glowing eyes. Words of ' Little Sister ' mumbling into and out of her ears. What kind of monster was this? Mary had heard rumors about the things but never saw one for herself...

Although the girl scared the wits out of her, Claire couldn't get her or the song out of her head. Singing it comforted her to a strange degree.

The roar of the slam of the front door indicated the ending of the fight. Claire heard her mother yell something along the lines of never come back, and a wail of sadness was shouted at their apartment walls. The girl waited until her own door was flung open. Her mother stood there, makeup tearing down her face of defeat. A sniffle here, a few walks forward and Claire was wrapped up in her arms. She seemed to try and console the older woman in a way only a child knew how, by rubbing her back and telling her not to cry. If only it were so easy.

"I'm so sorry for bringing you down here," Mary sobbed into her child's tiny shoulder, her grip tightened with each word that slipped from her lips. "I could've been such a better mother to you. I always wanted you to see the sky and the sun." And soon her sobbing was too much to form words. All that was heard was her crying. Claire didn't know how to react. She wanted to say that she was a perfect mother, a loving parent, and that her life down here in Rapture was great as is. Would it make a difference now? Most likely, no.

Shifting her body upwards Claire took a hand to wipe her mother's sadness away, "Momma? What if we just leave? We can ask Mr. Ryan and go to your family's farm, like you always wanted."

It was a few minutes of Mary taking this in. Mary didn't know of anyone leaving Rapture. People did disappear, especially in Apollo Square, but she wasn't sure if that was because of them leaving the underwater city or just dying. Surely it wasn't the latter. Another thing that dawned onto her, would Claire really be willing to do this? As far as Mary knew Claire was terrified of the surface because of all the propaganda about it. It's what they were taught in the schools and on the streets; Ryan had a whole ride dedicated to scaring the witts out of children! Mary never wanted to put Claire in a situation where she would be too overwhelmed but if she would really do it...