Swimming in Rapture

Chapter 2

Tree Farm, Arcadia, Rapture 1954

The greenery is lovely. Joyce walks peacefully through the tree farm of Rapture. Designed and grown to produce the air for the citizens of the Great City. She spins around in a daze. It's wonderful! Trees under the sea! A small buzzing noise catches her attention. She carefully scans the area around her. A few people were walking through the trees like her. They weren't going to bother her she hoped. She didn't like wondering Rapture without her Mommy and Daddy, she always felt self-conscious when being near people she didn't know too well, but Arcadia was such a quiet and picturesque place. She'd often walk through Arcadia on her way from Rapture's main school, Themis.

The buzzing gets near her, she snaps around. It's a small swarm of bees. She watches the swarm of the only non-human or plant life in Rapture flying through the trees. Stepping away from the trees, Joyce decides to make her way to Neptune's Bounty. The first fishery in Rapture her Dad told her.

Entering the Tea Garden of Arcadia, Joyce marvelled at the beauty of it all. It was all so magical to her. She strokes a plant leaf as she walks by. She wasn't sure about going to the Bounty. Some kids at Themis asked her to go, she wouldn't consider them friends, but apparently some "interesting" stuff was going on at the docks there. She didn't know how she ended up being invited; Themis was such a loud and indiscreet place for her. She hoped no one would make fun of her there. People barely spoke to her at school but some of the ones who did… She hoped they weren't coming.

Despite being distracted by the heavenly Arcadia and the thought of bullies, Joyce was surprised to have an unknown light shined in her eyes. She immediately stops. The shining disappears. She's standing on one of the small curved wooden bridges in the Garden, a vibrant stream of water beneath her. But that wasn't where the shining came from. There was something in the water, caught against a rock. A book, she thought. Interesting. She hurries down the bridge and curves around to the shallow steam. Bending over, she reaches out over the stream to pull the book out the water. She struggles to keep her balance as she carefully tries to stop the book from slipping away from the rock. She uses her fingers to the pull the book closer to the rest of her hand. As her fingers touch the water for a small moment, she appreciates the coolness of the water on her skin.

Then she lost her balance. Joyce's legs give way and she finds herself landing in the small stream, hitting her head of the rocks at the bottom of the water. She clambers around for in brief moment of shock and ends up just sitting on her bum, soaking in the water. The height of the water level going up to her waist area. She dumped her head in her hands, Mommy's gonna kill me. Getting my good school dress wet and dirty was the last she wanted me to do. She turns to her left and picks up the book. It's a jet black leather book with a symbol on its cover. A golden cross. The warm lights of Arcadia must've reflected of the golden material. She opens it, immediately turned off by the ratio of words to pictures. All words, no pictures. She sighs, it's wet but legible. Wondering whether or not to keep it, leave it or give it to someone. A lost and found store maybe? Are there any in Rapture? She didn't know. So finally, she decided, to take it with her. She'd never seen it in one of Raptures growing Library's. She'd show it to her Dad when she got home. For now, she had to get to Neptune's Bounty. Hopefully no one notices my wet dress.

The short journey to the Bounty taught Joyce a few things. About her book. Anyone who she walked past would look at the book in her hands. She couldn't tell what the look was though. Disgust? Anger? Fear? It's just a book. Right? After a while if discouraging looks, Joyce turned the book around. Hiding the cross. At that moment a rather burly looking man approached her, she flinched at his harsh movement.

"Excuse me miss?" said the large man, trying to sound as polite as possible. But he was clearly anxious about something.

"Yes sir?" Joyce replied, taking note of his uniform. Supporting a fisherman's attire, she decided he probably worked at the Bounty.

"May I see what that book is you're holding?" He said in a demanding tone. Joyce panicked, what is it about this book? She wondered whether or not to actually let him see. She didn't like his attitude.

"It's just a school book, Sir. Nothing interesting. I uh…I actually just dropped into the water." Joyce forced a small smile as she spoke. The scary man smiled too, but didn't back away. Actively reaching over this time, he spoke again in his anxious but stern tone.

"No I know but… I think I recognise it from my old school. May I see it?" Joyce backed away a bit. She could tell he was lying, but gave in. She handed it over, her heart smashing into her ribs. He snatched the book from her hands and peered at the front cover, as well as the inside. After a trembling moment of silence, the scary man looked down at Joyce.

"Where did you get this?" He growled, causing Joyce to shake in her cold wet dress.

"I…I found this at…In sorry…I found it in the water at Arcadia, Sir. I promise." She could feel her boyish voice vibrating violently in her throat. She wanted to start punching her chest to get it to stop tightening. The fisherman eyed her for a moment.

"Don't tell anyone about this book little girl. If you do, you'll be in a lot of trouble." He walked away from her, but not before he showed Joyce something amazing. Suddenly, an orange glow emitted from the fisherman's hand. The glow gave off a searing heat and then Joyce realised, his hand was on fire. She wanted to scream but was paralyzed with fear and bewilderment. He was burning the book with his bare hand. She stood back to avoid the spitting of the flames. Watching with a strange sense of attachment to the book as it crumbled to the floor, burning as it went. Once it was all gone and flickering on the floor, the fisherman stomped it out and brushed past Joyce. Deliberately smashing into her shoulder. She winced; it upset her very emotionally that a person could be so insensitive. But she didn't bother to say anything. She saw it. She'd heard about it and she saw it. They were getting more and more popular. She had just seen it; the effects of a plasmid.

Wharf, Neptune's Bounty, Rapture 1954

Walking into the Wharf of Neptune's Bounty, Joyce looked around at the massive room. In front of her she could see a harbour like area. Only they were underwater. This harbour wasn't for boats; it was for submersibles like submarines, delivering the food and fishes to Rapture. The ceiling in this room is notably high, to simulate the feeling of a real harbour outside and on the surface. Joyce looked around the cavern like room. No groups of kids in sight. Joyce sincerely hoped she wasn't being stood up by everyone. But no, there must be something going on here. She walked aimlessly around the dark damp wooden docking area. Her wet dress slowly making her more and more sick and uncomfortable. Nothing. Joyce sighed and sat on the edge of the dock, letting her legs dangle over the cold sea water. And then she heard them. Quiet murmurings beneath her. Kids from school? She quickly lifted her legs up and turned around to look through the wooden planks of the dock, that's them. Joyce's heart was pounding in her chest again. Just kids, she thought. She plucked up the courage from the back of her mind and slowly lowered herself into the docks water. The faces of the kids looking pale and uninviting to her.

"Hey everyone, it's a…Uh…Joyce yeah Joyce come over here!" Said one of them out loud, Joyce couldn't even make out who was there. She didn't have any friends at school. Just people who knew her name.

"Who is that?" "It's the weird girl that talks like a boy" "What's she doing here?"

These where only some of the mummers she heard as she walked under the wooden docks to see what was going on. As she got closer, things became darker and more unwelcoming than ever before for her. The water going up her knees, she was shaking was she walked up next to the group of teenagers. And then she saw it, the amazing thing that she had heard about. But not what she thought she'd see. No. What she saw was so upsetting and humiliating compared to what she was expecting. She thought she was about to burst into tears. Because all she saw was bottles of Arcadia Merlot. A popular wine produced in Rapture. A large group of them were just floating in the water around the group of kids. They were just in this to get drunk. Joyce trembled with emotion.

"I uhh… Never mind. Sorry." She then quickly shuffled through the water ignoring the laughing of the kids behind her. A lot of them were repeating what she said, mimicking her ridiculous boyish voice.

"Never mind! Sorry! Ha-ha! What's wrong with her?" The laughing and mimicking continued. Upon hearing the sound of some of the drunken boys following her in the water, Joyce didn't bother climbing back onto the dock, instead she decided to wall through the large stretch of water to get to the dock on the other side. The boys were cursing at her and barking at her to come back. She tried to ignore them.

"Get back here boy! Turn around!" Joyce stopped in half way between the two docking areas. Freezing cold in the knee deep water. She turned around to see the boys who followed her out from under the wooden docks.

"Go way! Leave me alone!" She cried to them. But they merely burst into laughter upon hearing her voice.

"Oh man she, or he, needs a drink. Give her one Henry." The boys laughed.

Then, suddenly, the boy named Henry lifted his bottle of Arcadia Merlot and prepared to throw it at her. This got Joyce scared and she started backing away slowly, not taking her eyes of the boys. She hoped that she wouldn't fall over. Henry threw the bottle. It soared threw the air towards Joyce, who ultimately tripped over and fell into the water. She shrieked as the bottle came falling from the sky, ready to crack open her head.

But then… It stopped… Dead still.

Joyce looked up and saw the bottle of Arcadia Merlot hovering in the space above her. And then it suddenly soared through the air and smashed into the face of Henry, sending him screaming into the water trying to claw the glass from his face. The boy next to him cursed and ran away without looking back. Joyce stood up and span in a full circle to see what had just happened. And then he saw him. A boy she recognised from her school, but not in a bad way. He was looking down at her from the dock she was heading for. She headed over to meet him. He instinctively lifted her up next to him.

"Thanks…Uh…What did you do?" Joyce mumbled, expecting to hear a jab about her voice. But no jab came. The boy wiggled his fingers in front of her.

"A new Plasmid, Telekinesis. Move stuff with your mind." He smiled briefly at his hand, and then looked back to Joyce. "You okay?" The boy had a welcoming tone in the way he talked. He had a short haircut with a very manly build, Joyce thought.

"Yeah…Yeah I'm…I'm fine. Thanks again…" Joyce couldn't take her eyes of his hand. His power. His Plasmid.

"You're Joyce right? Joyce Lynn?" He inquired.

"Yeah. And you're…?" Joyce said distractedly.

"Tony." He said. "You need anything? Need a walk home?"

"No I…" Joyce felt a strange surge of excitement run through her. "But I…I was wondering where you got that Plasmid?" Tony seemed confused, but followed through.

"I took my Dads ADAM syringe and bought an EVE hypo to use with it… You can use mine…?" He wasn't sure what to do. He'd just rescued this girl and she was already asking him for his helpful drugs. Joyce smiled a devilish smile that wasn't quite like her.

"Yes please."