Time rots everything. Even hope.
Helena - 1966
When Helena teleported, she thought that this was what the sky must feel like, a vast purple emptiness that took your breath away. She had never seen the sky, or the sun - except in films, of course, and pictures in books. The closest she had ever been to land was in Arcadia. The gardens there were one of her favourite places to go at night. They were quiet and green, and there was a special corner with no surveillance cameras. The trees and ground plants had overgrown and interlaced to form a natural barrier that the splicers couldn’t breach, and she could sit on the grass, or in one of the trees, and just...be.
There were no birds in Rapture - not anymore - but there were butterflies, and bees, and Helena liked to lie on the grass and watch them flutter and buzz their way around the flowers that had grown wild since the war. The orchards and vegetable gardens, too, had spread out and prospered, meaning she never had to go hungry...although she also regularly hit up the various vending machines for the delicious Pep Bars and Cream-Filled Cakes that had been her favourites since she could remember. When they had been in the orphanage, Sarah would sometimes steal change from the purses of the meaner staff members, and sneak out to buy Helena something sweet. Helena sighed and traced stick figures in a patch of dirt under a tree. She thought that this hole inside her would never go away, no matter how many pep bars she ate.
She didn’t use the teleport power unless she really had to, unless she needed to get to a Little Sister fast. It made her feel a little sick afterwards, and she could get around easily enough as it was. Rolling over, she stared up at the ceiling through the leaves. It was solid here, no window to the ocean, with diffuse lighting for the vegetation. Helena thought about Sarah, how they had roamed Arcadia, picking flowers and chasing butterflies, while their Daddy had stood guard.
When she realized her hands were trembling, she stretched her legs and arms before leaping to a standing position. Bending forward to touch her toes, then arching backwards and touching her heels. When she had gone through puberty, five years ago, the hormones had reacted with the ADAM in her system to turn her into...this.
Strength, speed, flexibility, agility. Teleportation, telekinesis. A scream that pierced minds. And she was tall - the last time she had seen Rachel, Helena had towered over her, making those silver eyes flash with something like fear...and a taste of something like envy. She felt a stab of pity. Maybe...maybe she should go and see her again. Maybe she wouldn’t be afraid this time...if Helena was a monster, then so was she, and why should monsters fear each other?
No. Someone was still sending Little Sisters out to collect extra ADAM. It must be Rachel. There was no one else left, apart from splicers who had survived Rapture’s civil war. And she can’t know how to make new Big Daddies to protect them so she was sending them out alone, and vulnerable. And they were so young - even younger than she and Sarah had been. How could she be so careless with the little ones? Of course, Rachel had never been one of them. She didn’t understand. I guess her parents didn’t teach her everything. Helena sighed. She could easily kill Rachel, even with all the power the other girl had, but…
She thought about Sarah again. And skimmed her way up the wall to a balcony, ran the length of it, launched herself off the end, and shimmied up the opposite wall to then backflip onto the next level up. Sometimes, she just had to move.
Sweeping around a corner, she ran towards the hidey-hole at the end of the corridor, clambering inside. She was tall, but the tunnels were roomy enough. She slithered along, the way ingrained in her muscles. Left here, forward for three sections, right here, down two levels, straight ahead. Coming to an opening covered by a grill, she peered out, carefully and quietly swinging the cover outwards. No one was there, and she slid out of the opening. This place was home, for want of a better word. A large room with several bunk beds, old toys and books scattered everywhere. She’d taken some of the bunks apart and pushed several of the beds together to make one long enough for her to lie on without her feet dangling off the edge.
One door led to a short hallway with a bathroom and small kitchen opening off it. The only entry now was through that one vent. This had been the safe room that Maty had brought all the girls she had rescued to. This was the last place in Rapture Sarah had been. They had left her an accu-vox message on the chance that Helena would one day find it. She had listened to it so often it was nearly worn out.
Behind the accu-vox, there was an oddly shaped glass beaker - a remnant from the lab - which held flowers in various states of desiccation, the freshest being a red tulip that Helena placed there two days ago. An ornate silver frame held a photo of the twins when they had first come to Little Wonders, arms wrapped around each other, tremulous, hopeful smiles on their faces. There was a Big Daddy doll, baseball for a head, thimble and corkscrew for a drill, next to more silver frames.
One encircled Brigid Tenenbaum, an early photo of her with dark wavy hair and a touch of glamour. A small oval showed the twins with their Big Daddy, one sitting on either shoulder and waving at the camera. A rectangular frame, half-hidden behind the others, displayed Sarah, Helena, and Rachel. Sarah sat in the middle, slouching, a touch of a smirk visible, Helena to her left, leaning against Sarah's shoulder and grinning. Rachel sat on her right, legs folded neatly, hands clasped in her lap. Her face was turned towards Sarah as if she'd been distracted just as the camera clicked, a polite smile turning into a laugh under the smooth blonde hair.
Helena stood at the desk in the corner, reverently touching her fingers to the small machine, then pressed the PLAYbutton.
“Helena, my little sestra, my ангел*, we have no choice but to leave, right now. We cannot get to you and-” there were voices interjecting in the background here, “-if you manage to escape the DYAD and find your way to this place, know that we will come back for you. Be brave.” There was a scuffling sound and then - Helena closed her eyes - “‘lena? ‘lena? Where are you? Don’t worry, I know you’re ok, and Maty says we’ll get you back!” sobbing, “I miss you so much ‘lena, my tummy hurts, I miss you I love you I love you ‘lena…” The recording cut off here and Helena dropped onto the nearest beds. Her golden eyes glistened with tears.
She curled up on her side and let her hair hang over her face, pulling at her bottom lip with trembling fingers. I miss you Sarah she thought. I miss you I Love you I love you I love I Love…eventually she fell asleep, exhausted. A few Little Sisters crept in during the night, ones she had saved and who now kept to the safe room and a few other select areas. They quietly gathered up blankets, and tucked them around their sleeping Big Sister. One started singing in a gentle voice and stroked Helena's frizzy halo of hair when she began twitching in her sleep -
"In the house of upside down
Cellar's top floor, attic's ground.
In the house of upside down
Laughing cries and smiles frown.
In the house of upside down
Found is lost and lost is found."
When she was quiet again, all the Little Sisters wormed their way under the blankets and snuggled up around Helena, like a pile of worn out puppies.
In the morning when they woke, she was gone, but there was a pile of Pep Bars on the desk.