The Records of Us

The Catacombs

"I woke up- "No that's not it

"I emerged"

That's much better

I emerged from the cloth that hugged my body in what I had imagined was a proper bed, light peeking through the thick boards that guarded any openings to the slum that I called home. My bones ached and creaked as I stood up, stretching as I did so.

Many times a day I would visit he catacombs, that is what we called it simply.

This place was a mysterious housing for archives that the quantity was far to large to count upon my rusty hands.

Little is known about the past, the past that had conjured the turmoil that quakes in the boots of the survivors of our society. But this was the place I called home, I could never imagine a place different than this. I had oddly grown yearn full of my city, although because of an unspoken disaster, many hazards sprouted vigorously across this city. Though I should, I've never grown curious towards the happenings of the past, I was more caught up in just living until tomorrow to stretch the same worn body as I had done the same before. One foggy afternoon I had wandered to the room of the adults, they were discussing something with hushed tones and frazzled faces. I marooned myself amidst the cloud of them, squeezing between two taller men to get a peak of what on earth they were talking about... my presence did not go unannounced. I was escorted out of the room by my father soon after hearing a few muffled whispers from one of my roommates who was noticeably older than I; "There were bright lights and so many screams, a-after that there was just smoke... we could've stayed but-". I broke away from the authoritative grip my father held on me and shuffled quickly towards the man blurting out this story. "What was that? What smoke?!" I asked excitedly, forced by my hunger for knowledge and cautiousness in my voice. I was then scooped up by strong hands, my father again I assumed, I sighed in impatience. "Now that's enough stories for you, child. You're going to get nightmares!" My Dad chuckled, trying to brighten the mood of the rest of his compadres. The speaker before him shrunk in his chair and huffed a dry laugh fallowing the others symphony of chuckles.

Eventually I fell asleep, but during the dark, early hours of the morning I sat awake. I couldn't prevent myself from running the same statement through my head like a freighter barreling ferociously abound a track shivering under its weight and instability. What smoke? And lights?? Was that the sun, how did smoke cause this? Maybe it was a- "Get up kid, you know it's not good to sleep in" my roommate grumbled, interrupting my thoughts harshly. I shot up, and began my same daily ritual as I did yesterday, the day before that, and the day before that and so on. I sat at the cusp of my bed, blinking in my surroundings as my eyes adjusted to the morning haze peaking through the slivers of he boards in my windows. Our room was small for a shared one, two beds lay parallel comfortably on a concrete floor, which was cold in comparison to my group's hospitality. The beds were nestled toward the back of the room, only allowing a small path between them. Along the walls were adornments of salvaged toys, knick-knacks and other outstanding finds. I dressed myself quickly as I hurried out to meet my roommate, we'll call him 'You', as that's what I've come to understand the others call him. "Hey you! Come here a sec I gotta show you something" I can recall them requesting his audience.

The taller man, You, smiled at me, and gave me a playful shove as we passed the adults' room. We shambled through the halls playfully, cautious as to not arouse the others from their light sleep. We approached the vault door at the climax of a ladder that expanded towards the upper levels. We breached it carefully once we clambered to the top, allowing a soft creaking noise to emit from the vault door. The sunlight was bright and just as equally warm in my skin, yet the surroundings were not as pleasant.

You and I collected ourselves and our bags as we exited the vault, taking a relaxing stroll down flat expanse of concrete, which was riddled in small plants and weeds sprouting from the cracks imbedded in its crust.

We loved it out here

You spoke up after a long moment of silence as we walked along our set path "So, are we really going there again? What's there to even look for in that dust house?" He criticizes. I began to ambling before the said "dust house", whipping my head around in sheer fascination. "What are you even talking about? We haven't seen the inside yet.. well most of it" I added thoughtfully. "And we might find some killer loot or something else, maybe an animal like the ones in the books we found?" I kept rambling on before he rolled his eyes and lead me inside, "Yeah well there could also be problems in there, if we get hurt no one will be able to find us for a whil-" I interjected mischievously, relaxed and persuasive. "Well that also means no one can stop us, I mean who's really going to anyway? We aren't doing anything bad and we might find something cool in here! Not to mention-" I was shoved, hard enough to cut my rambling short, but not quite rough enough to throw me off balance, I shoved him back. "Alright, shut up and take me in then". You sounded irritated, yet he smirked with an endearing sense. He was a good friend.

We meandered our way through the blockades set to keep something out of this crumbling, yet sound structure.
The building was absolutely massive.
From the outside it was a crumbling mess, fragments of its own foundation had infested the grounds around it, trees and plants of all assortments grew from its pitiful resting place. But, the inside was highly contradictory, as we pushed further into the building it was clean and well kept. Other than the dust and papers, it was cascading with bookshelves upon bookshelves, the height of which was towering even compared to the buildings outside. Light was suppressed, but poured in gently through the windows, the inside was dead silent.

We must've been there for hours, You and I explored every knoock and crevice of this monster of a building. Upon further inspection however, we discovered that this was only a small fraction of this place.

We decided to take the liberty of naming it, we found it after all. The only fitting name we compromised on was "the book place". But You suggested something different; "How about 'The Catacombs'?" He presented with a prideful grin, eager to hear my approval. I nodded in approval reluctantly, "It has a nice ring to it!" I commented, satisfied with our newest find.

The Catacombs, I thought, I can't wait to see more of this place