Little One (Bioshock)

chapter six

The girls never talked about Blue and her Daddy again.

That day, Claire smelled an angel closer to the busy city parts of Rapture. So far, her and Mr. Bubbles had stayed far away from them. Claire didn't know why, as it was all by Mr. Bubble's, but today she made him just inch a little closer to get the ripest, fattest angel she had smelled ever. She sang a song about this angel, telling Mr. Bubbles about how he was the best angel she had ever smelled. He just groaned in reply. He didn't like this idea, not one bit, but he would do anything to make her happy, and she was so excited about this angel for whatever reason her little brain had thought of. So, just this once, he would allow her to get closer to the city.

They had made it to the back openings of Siren Alley, a place that had mostly closed down by that point anyway. This didn't bother the girl at all. Once the door had been opened she dashed inside, sniffing the angel out and admiring the new place all at the same time. Her Daddy groaned as he shuffled after her, probably telling to her wait and slow down. They were still out in the open, after all, and Splicers could come from any where. Claire never thought of the dangers that much when excited. It was good that she had her Daddy to protect her.

Once she had located the angel, squealed and pointed toward him, looking over her shoulder at her Daddy. "Look! Look! He's right there!" She turned back around to look at him as Mr. Bubbles caught up, "He smells so good Mr. B!" And with that, she ran off.

Claire sat onto her knees and was just about to plunge her needle into the angel's stomach when a new voice stopped her, "Claire?"

It made the girl freeze. No one knew her name besides her sisters and her Daddy. She never told anyone, and no one besides them wanted to know. It made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up as she lifted her eyes to settle on a woman a few feet away. A woman that had her same hair color and sobbed out loud once Claire had looked up. Her hands went to her mouth and she took a step back.

Mary couldn't believe it. It was her daughter, her Claire, with empty ghoulish eyes and... dead gray skin. Yet she knew it was her daughter. Her hair and her soft voice, that was now twisted and demonic, gave it away. Mary had no idea how she had made it to Siren Alley by herself, and why she was about to stab a weird contraption into a dead body. They were several ways from Apollo Square and Claire would never venture out alone, Mary had taught her not to when she still had her. It was all a mystery to the woman until she saw who was standing behind her, protectively jutting out a drill and ramping it up. A warning to her own mother. A metal monster from Hell.

Claire continued to stare at Mary as she stood there. She didn't understand who she was and how she knew her name, or why she was here. It kind of annoyed her. She was ruining her routine.

"Claire... honey, do you remember me?" Mary said slowly. Her eyes flickered from her child to the beast, not sure exactly who to focus on. "It's Momma. I'm your Momma."

The girl gave no indication that she even knew a smidge of who she was. And it broke her.

Mary couldn't help from crying. "Claire you have to come home with me. We're going to get out of here, to the surface and see the sky and the sun. Do you remember that?" Claire didn't but she felt sorry for the woman. She didn't like to see anyone cry, and this woman was crying a lot. She was so upset and Claire couldn't fully understand why. Maybe if she told this woman that she needed to go, she would listen and stop crying and being sad. Because sooner or later, her Daddy would get tired of this woman and slam his drill right into her body, and Claire didn't want that. This woman was just sad but she needed to go. "We're going together."

"I don't have a momma," Claire said at long last, and it made Mary cry out even more. It was what she said and because it was her daughter's voice, mangled with other. A little monster, a freak. Mary just wanted to scoop her up and run away, far away and to try and get to the surface. "I'm sorry miss. You need to go away or my Daddy will get you." To which he revved up his drill again.