Grounds

Grounds - Chapter One

Chapter One

21 February, 130 BI 

Small home in the Uppergrounds

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The small television that was placed in the center of the room projected various colors on the young boys face. He sat alone on the couch, too young to care about exactly what was going on. His father and mother were in the kitchen, a room away with no door to separate the two. The father paced back and forth, his shoes tapping on the tiles tirelessly. His mother sat at the table, her head in her hands and her long blonde hair hiding her tears. 

"So, we have to move?" His mother finally spoke up. She kept her head in her hands though. She was too ashamed of the tears that ran her makeup. His father sighed and kept walking. 

"It doesn't sound bad honey." He replied. His voice was low and held little relief to his distressed wife. There was another long silence. 

"What was it like down there?" 

What Clay didn't know was that his father had lost his job a month ago. The rent was due on their small apartment and they didn't have the money to pay it. Like most families, they were living check to check, waiting for their big break. What they found was a big break, but not in the way they thought of. Yet Clay sat on the couch, his blanket wrapped around him comfortably, watching a TV show he would not remember in the future. 

"I won't lie to you sweetie, it isn't a paradise. The place is huge, enough to fit skyscrapers. The walls are different in various parts but the place where we're going the walls are a grey stone, light by artificial lighting. Our apartment will actually be larger than this one yet cost less. And I would be going to work in the iron factory not far from it. Though, we will have to leave everything here behind. I had to sell it all so we could afford the house." He explained. 

His wife lifted her head to peer into his eyes. She could see the fear but she could also sense that he was determined to do anything for her and their son. Just then, little Clay came running into the room. 

"Mommy! Mommy!" He cried. In his hand was a little stuffed bear, brown in color. 

"What is it baby?" She said quickly wiping her tears away. But she wasn't fast enough, he caught her. 

Cocking his head he opened his mouth, "Mommy, are you crying?" He asked. 

His mother chocked and forced a smile. "No baby, now what's wrong?" 

"Mommy, Teddy is broken," he said. He held up the small teddy bear and showed her a tiny hole in the bear's arm. 

"It's just a little whole, he'll be fine." She said. Her eyes shot up to her husband's face and quickly returned to her son's. Clay turned to face his father, a tall stern man, towering over the small boy. 

"Son." He said, returning the look to his wife. 

"Now is not the time." His mother interjected. But she was ignored. 

"I have something to tell you" He said to the small child, only five years old. He got down one one knee, now looking the boy in the face. "Did you hear about the new Underground cities?" He asked, his voice a pitch higher than normal. 

Clay shook his head in disagreement. Clay stood there in his pajamas, his arms wrapped around his companion. A look of confusion and distress hid under his dark complexion and behind his ark eyes. "No." He said. 

"Well, Son. It's a new bunch of cities built so that people have more places to live. And we're gunna move there! Isn't that exciting?!" He bluffed. He had to make it seem like a good thing that they were moving. 

"Yaay!" His son cheered. He threw his arms up and laughed. His mother laughed a bit and his father smiled. The child's laughter had brought happiness once again into their home. 

And so it was to be that the small family would be moving into the newly created underground cities. With cheaper, larger homes, it seemed like a nice place, but that was only the book's cover. There were places that the lights around the stalactites did not reach. It was these places that criminals congregated. This place was lawless, as the law only concerned itself with the Uppergrounds. 

With all the new housing available in the undergrounds, the Upperground house became even more desirable, and so the prices increased. This forced even more people to the Undergrounds. And with the little money made in the Undergrounds, and most people getting involved in the crime rings, it became very difficult for one to escape the dreaded place. 

Clay's parents knew most of this. With the Undergrounds officially opened for only five years, the place was already detested by the people who lived under the sun. With these things in mind, Clay's mother cried herself to sleep that night while his father stared at the starry sky for the last time in his life.