Age: 15
How I would describe Compound life: Boring! Also, don't tell Dad I think this, but something really weird is going on down here. Why don't we have Internet access? Dad's a billionaire, always saying that he can get anything. (He bought my $4,000 Getzan trumpet when I was six.) So why can't we connect with the outside world. They're have to be other people out there. We're not the only one's on Earth...are we???
What I think happened to the rest of the world: Some kind of disaster thing; at least that's what Dad says. I starting not to believe it though. Still, why else would we be down here?
My favorite memory from before the Compound: When I actually saw a sunset as a real event not as just a daily occurrence. Eddy, my twin brother who didn't make it to the Compound in time and is now dead, and I were making sundaes in the kitchen at home and we made a mess! Our cook, Els, ordered us out of the house. We sat on the lawn and watched the sunset and from then on it became a daily ritual to watch the sunset. That's why it made me so mad when he furnished my room in the Compound with light bulbs that mimicked the cycle of the sun. He said, "...I thought you might miss your sunsets" (Bodeen 6). I wanted to scream at him that the sunsets were not mine. They were Eddy's, too. Instead, I quietly thanked him.
Dear Diary...
Another thing. Today Mom showed me something. The flour has turned this grayish color and smells awful. I think it is going bad. She says for Lexie, Terese, and I not to eat anything she makes with flour. She also said not to tell Dad that the food supply was going bad and that he won't notice. She'll stop if he gets sick. To me, this seems a little suspicious...
Hopefully, everything will be fine and we will have enough food and everything like that...as if!
Will write again later,
Eli
Wireless Server...Now Connected?!?
A few days later I was out in the hallway outside of Dad's lab/office carrying Eddy's laptop and a buzzing sound came from the computer. Confused I sat down and opened it. A screen popped up saying, "Wireless Server Now Connected." I remember at the time that I just sort of stared at it in disbelief. We haven't had Internet for six years and now all of a sudden we do? You would be a little freaked out, too. Then Dad walked up and I quickly shut the computer. He walked up to me and handed me this CD by the band Cake. I had never heard of them before. I took the CD, went to my room, and listened to it. The song was good for once. I ejected it and noticed the corner of the label sticking up. I pulled up the label and underneath was a date. A very recent date. A way too recent date. A date that occurred after we entered the Compound. I lay in bed all night wide awake, thinking about what I had discovered.
The next day I told Dad about the date. He told me about the Internet being up and that he had contacted another survivor family and they had sent him the music. I don't believe it. All my instincts tell me otherwise. Especially the way his eyes darted around when he talked to me. Who does he think I am? A fool? Not a chance. He was definitely lying.
Wireless Server...Now Connected?!?
So I told you we don't have Internet access, right? Well, today, after all these years, I decided to go in Eddy's room. I don't know if it was to feel closer to him or what. When I got in there, I was surprised to see his laptop fully charged. I went over and opened the laptop and there was an Internet icon. My own laptop doesn't have one. Not long after we came to the Compound, Dad took my laptop away from me to "upgrade" it. When I got it back, it had no Internet. Dad said it was because there was no point in having Internet if it doesn't work down here and I didn't argue. If there's one thing that all us Yanakakis kids know, it's obedience. Mom came in and saw me in there and told me to take the laptop. So I took it.
A few days later I was out in the hallway outside of Dad's lab/office carrying Eddy's laptop and a buzzing sound came from the computer. Confused I sat down and opened it. A screen popped up saying, "Wireless Server Now Connected." I remember at the time that I just sort of stared at it in disbelief. We haven't had Internet for six years and now all of a sudden we do? You would be a little freaked out, too. Then Dad walked up and I quickly shut the computer. He walked up to me and handed me this CD by the band Cake. I had never heard of them before. I took the CD, went to my room, and listened to it. The song was good for once. I ejected it and noticed the corner of the label sticking up. I pulled up the label and underneath was a date. A very recent date. A way too recent date. A date that occurred after we entered the Compound. I lay in bed all night wide awake, thinking about what I had discovered.
The next day I told Dad about the date. He told me about the Internet being up and that he had contacted another survivor family and they had sent him the music. I don't believe it. All my instincts tell me otherwise. Especially the way his eyes darted around when he talked to me. Who does he think I am? A fool? Not a chance. He was definitely lying.
