Chapter Seven: A Place to Call Home
Overwhelmed. Total sensory overload. That's what it had been like for me since the moment that I had set foot in the city. The sounds, the smells...everything was so overpowering. I didn't know what to do...and for the first time in my life, the people around me...the people passing me in the street...they didn't give a damn, and strangely enough, I was glad that they didn't. For once I didn't have someone always watching me, no matter how silently, no matter that it was on some monitor in an obscure part of the facility. There was no one watching me. It was...well it had felt...like a release, like a weight had been taken off my shoulders. If I had jumped off a bridge started doing jumping jacks in the middle of the street, no one would have cared. They all had their own problems, and unless I was blocking the street while doing the jumping jacks, they weren't going to care.
Anyway, I continued to walk down the street. I must have looked really weird, and it's kind of funny now. I mean, here was this little kid with a shaved head and walking around in what must have looked like rags by that time...makes me smile now. That's something I never did often...apparently I still don't, or not as much as I'm "supposed" to. Anyway, going off on tangent there, and not a pleasant one either.
So, I was walking down the street. I could tell, even with my limited knowledge of the outside world, that I was in what would have been the rich neighbourhood before the pulse. It had still been decent looking then too. I mean, considering the general state of the country at that point. The houses were all kept, maybe not as well as they would have been before, but still kept. And the fact that they were houses with families, and not other things, was impressive in itself. Most people lived on the streets. Only the really rich people survived the pulse without too much damage. And here I am going off on another tangent, speculating about the richness of people after the pulse. Bad me.
I remember, as I was passing the houses, something had caught my eye through one of the windows. They had been balloons, which of course, I didn't know at the time. The only balloon I had ever seen before that was the red one that Zack had gotten out of one of the tree's back at Manticore. But these balloons were all different colours, and they had said "Happy Birthday" on them, which had totally confused me. I hadn't known what a "Birthday" was then. I had stopped, and was just staring at them...not quite sure what to make of them. I had wanted to know what they were. But eventually I decided that it was waste of time to stand and stare because I had had no intention of going to the door and asking. I had had a feeling that that would have been highly suspicious. So I continued walking.
I was making my way out of the "rich" area, which was rather small, and was slowly, but distinctly making my way into the real slums of the city. I was getting nauseous with all the smells, but I kept going, like a good little soldier. At some point I came to a building, which I had suspected had been an office building before the pulse. It was one of the sturdier looking buildings. Most of them looked like they were condemned and should have been torn down, not that that was going to happen. Tearing things down costs money. The government didn't have money. Or not enough to waste tearing down buildings anyways. So they'd just stay there. They'd only come down when they finally became so dilapidated that they wouldn't be able to support their own weight. You just hoped you weren't in it when that happened, and let me tell you, that happened plenty then. Still does actually.
So anyways, that's part of the reason I chose this particular building. I say chose, but in fact, it's more accurate to say I was drawn to it. I was drawn to it because...well, I hate to admit it, but I was drawn to it because it reminded me of Manticore. And because Manticore had been my "home" up until a few hours ago, it was something familiar, very familiar, and though I hate to admit this even more, the familiarity provided me some sort of sense of safety. Not safety like nothing could hurt me so long as I was in the building, what a joke that would have been...on several levels, but safety in the sense that it reminded me of something that I knew very well...very intimately. Anyway, it seemed like a good enough place to stay for awhile. I hadn't planned to stay there long, but then again, you can't predict the future right?
Overwhelmed. Total sensory overload. That's what it had been like for me since the moment that I had set foot in the city. The sounds, the smells...everything was so overpowering. I didn't know what to do...and for the first time in my life, the people around me...the people passing me in the street...they didn't give a damn, and strangely enough, I was glad that they didn't. For once I didn't have someone always watching me, no matter how silently, no matter that it was on some monitor in an obscure part of the facility. There was no one watching me. It was...well it had felt...like a release, like a weight had been taken off my shoulders. If I had jumped off a bridge started doing jumping jacks in the middle of the street, no one would have cared. They all had their own problems, and unless I was blocking the street while doing the jumping jacks, they weren't going to care.
Anyway, I continued to walk down the street. I must have looked really weird, and it's kind of funny now. I mean, here was this little kid with a shaved head and walking around in what must have looked like rags by that time...makes me smile now. That's something I never did often...apparently I still don't, or not as much as I'm "supposed" to. Anyway, going off on tangent there, and not a pleasant one either.
So, I was walking down the street. I could tell, even with my limited knowledge of the outside world, that I was in what would have been the rich neighbourhood before the pulse. It had still been decent looking then too. I mean, considering the general state of the country at that point. The houses were all kept, maybe not as well as they would have been before, but still kept. And the fact that they were houses with families, and not other things, was impressive in itself. Most people lived on the streets. Only the really rich people survived the pulse without too much damage. And here I am going off on another tangent, speculating about the richness of people after the pulse. Bad me.
I remember, as I was passing the houses, something had caught my eye through one of the windows. They had been balloons, which of course, I didn't know at the time. The only balloon I had ever seen before that was the red one that Zack had gotten out of one of the tree's back at Manticore. But these balloons were all different colours, and they had said "Happy Birthday" on them, which had totally confused me. I hadn't known what a "Birthday" was then. I had stopped, and was just staring at them...not quite sure what to make of them. I had wanted to know what they were. But eventually I decided that it was waste of time to stand and stare because I had had no intention of going to the door and asking. I had had a feeling that that would have been highly suspicious. So I continued walking.
I was making my way out of the "rich" area, which was rather small, and was slowly, but distinctly making my way into the real slums of the city. I was getting nauseous with all the smells, but I kept going, like a good little soldier. At some point I came to a building, which I had suspected had been an office building before the pulse. It was one of the sturdier looking buildings. Most of them looked like they were condemned and should have been torn down, not that that was going to happen. Tearing things down costs money. The government didn't have money. Or not enough to waste tearing down buildings anyways. So they'd just stay there. They'd only come down when they finally became so dilapidated that they wouldn't be able to support their own weight. You just hoped you weren't in it when that happened, and let me tell you, that happened plenty then. Still does actually.
So anyways, that's part of the reason I chose this particular building. I say chose, but in fact, it's more accurate to say I was drawn to it. I was drawn to it because...well, I hate to admit it, but I was drawn to it because it reminded me of Manticore. And because Manticore had been my "home" up until a few hours ago, it was something familiar, very familiar, and though I hate to admit this even more, the familiarity provided me some sort of sense of safety. Not safety like nothing could hurt me so long as I was in the building, what a joke that would have been...on several levels, but safety in the sense that it reminded me of something that I knew very well...very intimately. Anyway, it seemed like a good enough place to stay for awhile. I hadn't planned to stay there long, but then again, you can't predict the future right?