A Citizen of Rapture

        When I first became a citizen of this city I was only a child, no older the little sisters that roam the streets now. My mother and father brought me here to start a new life, a life of freedom and prosperity that the surface could not provide. They told me that soon the countries up there would again begin another world war, that it was only a matter of time until they all destroyed each other and that Rapture would be a safer place for their little girl to grow up. How wrong they were.
        My mother was a tennis star. My father, one of the best defensive line men to ever play the sport of football. They didn't come here to become captains of industry, make scientific breakthrough, or create art the likes of which the world has never seen. They came here because of me. Their talents got them the invite from Ryan, but they only accepted it because they wanted me to grow up safe and happy in a utopia.
        Now look at me. I'm scrounging the streets for a bite to eat, and only on a good day do I not have to kill someone. We were living the high life for a while there, pretty much my entire child hood was spent in ritzy stores and cafes with the elite of the city. But after the war broke out and the sports events were all canceled our savings dried up right quick.  It's quite a change for an adolescent girl, going from Mercury Suites to Pauper's Drop…the nerve of that man calling it a "deluxe" hotel.
        In a way though I should be thankful for our poverty because it kept us from splicing. We were too poor to afford our own plasmids, and we weren't stupid enough to trust Fontaine when he started giving them out in his poor houses. I only wish….I only wish dad hadn't trusted Sinclair though. I know she became a product tester so he could send mom and me enough money to keep us off the streets, or worse….but still. I saw what he became…
        It took about a year or two, by then the war was in full swing, and my father was gone. He stopped sending messages to us and eventually what little money he had did too. I saw him one day out of the window of the Fishbowl Dinner where I waitressed. He was among the first splicers to crawl into our little dank and forgotten part of the city. His face looked like, like it was a mask that was beginning to melt. I was scared, but I still ran out to him…he didn't even recognize me….
        It wasn't long after that when other splicers from all over the city came to Pauper's Drop after blowing all their cash on ADAM. And where the addicts go the drug soon follows. Soon nearly everyone in the Drop had started needling. Only a handful of us didn't. I know that there's old Grace who sang down in the Limbo room, she's still knocking around somewhere. And there was Angus the cook at the Fishbowl as well as the medical staff at the free clinic. And there were others to who saw what ADAM did to its users. But even they were lost.  They started going to meetings with that damn Doctor….Ryan was too busy dealing with his war with Atlas to see it, but an even bigger problem was growing there in the muck.
        Mom was killed by a splicer last year on her way home from searching for food. After she was killed there was nothing left for me in the Drop, so I left that hole far behind me. I took what little cash I had a moved in to a little apartment in Siren Ally with three other girls. They were, to be delicate, of ill repute. But I do not begrudge them. They weren't as lucky  as I was. The owner of the Fishbowl got me another waitressing gig here at the Mermaid Lounge.  My pay was an insult, and there were dirty dealings under every table, but at least it kept me out of the Pearl.
        I'm almost twenty now, birthday next month, and the city has long since gone quiet. I was right about that doctor. Her slimy tentacles have got the city in her clutches. Hell, the Ally's one of the worst places. I'd be more of a problem if I ever went outside anymore. Ha, that was a good move on my part. While everyone was at one of that crackpot Simon Wales's "revivals" I hacked the security, put all the apartments lining the walls of the district in emergency lockdown. Doors locked, gates shut, no spliced up nut jobs in here anymore…only me.
        With a little hard work and elbow grease I've managed to bust through a lot of the walls and into the other apartments. I've got a lot of canned food, and enough books to last me years. Those things out there can't get to me, hell they probably don't even remember being able to get in here.  For now I'm safe…..
        I've been hearing a lot more gun shots recently….and I even think there was one of those Big Sisters….What's going on out there? Something, something new must be happening….
!
        Water, water everywhere! It's filling the room! I can't get out! I can't-
        I…I hear someone…over the loud speakers….the water….it's so cold…

        "Look Delta, it is world for which you strive. Here, alone among the dead."