Below Bellena

DAY ONE

TAPE ONE, SIDE A: 00:00

I found this recorder in a drawer somewhere. If I'd remembered where the drawer was, I’d go back and look for more tapes, but I guess I’m good with the few tapes that I have left.

Well gee, you’da had more if you ain’t wasted the others on all yer ‘Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3,’ and yer ‘Is this working yet’ and yer ‘OW! I jammed the buddon’... 

02:01

Ok, PepperJack, thanks for your input! But you know I don’t know how to work these things. 

That’ll happen sometimes–the interjections. You see, when a part of me gets an idea, it just spills out like melty cheese! And like melty cheeses, and stinky ones too, I’ve given them names. So don’t worry, when their moments come, I’ll introduce you.

Tapes and PepperJack aside, I want to start this new diary off with a bit about me. The main me, the real me, the original reporter.

Reporting from Bellena, my name is Polly. If you could see me, I guess you’d say I have legs like broom poles, hair like a broom brush...am I a broom?

I live in the only place I’ve ever known, Bellena. I’ve lived about 364 sleeps since I started counting. And I’ve grown about a pillow tall since then. If I had to estimate, I’d say I’ve been alive in Bellena for a bit over four-thousand sleeps, maybe even five. 

Bellena is a one-building town. It has a restaurant, and a rec pod with a school, and a lab with a crop farm–I know, right?–and lots and lots of other pods; all in between concrete walls that never seem to end.

And then there’s my pod on the 7th floor; where I am now. There’s not a lot here. I have a blanket and a small stash of food. I don’t like to store too much here because I always go down to The Belly to cook more food. 

The rest of my stuff, I carry over my shoulder in a sac. I never take it off. It has recording tapes, rope, some kind of cookies, a tin box, cloth, and a small knife.   

So right now, before I put us to sleep, I wanted to explain why I’m all tucked sneakily under my alarm bags. Not that you can see, but I’m proud of my creation. My alarm bags are basically giant, weighted bags I made that–if shifted in the night–I would surely get awake! The bags have never moved, and I wouldn’t take a chance without them.

Wouldn’t wanna get snatched up now, would’ya?

08:24

No, suppose not, PepperJack.

Safety first, listeners! Until tomorrow.

DAY TWO

09:01

Greetings listeners, Polly here, reporting from the stairs of Bellena. It’s the morning after our first sleep together, and I was on my way to the rec area, when I thought to bring you with me. And maybe I can show and tell you a bit of Bellena. And hopefully, we’ll find something to report along the way! 

Here’s a poster that says: ENERGY IS CURRENCY, SPEND IT WISELY. Two children stand blocking the door to Blowhole, a rec pod’s rehabilitation chamber.

That’s where we were sent when we did something wrong. 

Between the words is a picture of someone sitting in a lounge chair, while their family is playing in the rec area.

Get out of that place, damn near, get out, get out! I spend half a mind a day keeping you sane, I’m running out. I swear I am, I’m running out of my goddamn mind!

11:53

Listeners, if you’re still with me, we’re approaching the rec pod door. For your imagination, the door is large and blue with two tiny silver handles either side of the middle opening. The door is heavy, by the way. It may as well be made of concrete, too! 

In the rec pod now...what should I show off first? The library is my favorite place to be. If I’m not asleep or in The Belly, I’m in the library. My time here is spent learning all kinds of things. I try to read a bit of everything, but I would be lying if I didn’t say I had a favorite. Can you guess what it might be? 

Ooh you probably got it right, I love Sci-Fi! A little magic, a bit of science, a lot of action… My favorite is Metropolis. It’s just like Bellena, I guess that’s why I love it so much.

Sometimes I’m not sure if I’m the witch or machine-man. 

I’m going to the left side of the pod, listeners. Mind you, it’s big! The library is at the front to the right, the art station is to the back and middle-ish. 

This corridor IS A BIT ECHO-Y! AND IT’S ONLY GONNA GET LOUDER!

Ok, maybe I’ll whisper… So, listeners, in the back of the rec area is what we call, The Blowhole. This is the only pod that has padded walls. I never want to go in again, not after I was sent here for the first time. I can’t remember anything but the walls, and all I heard when I was in there––

TAPE ONE, SIDE A: 30:00

TAPE ONE, SIDE B: 00:00

––Ah, there goes my suspenseful ending! These tapes don’t last long, do they? Well, that’s why I call it The Blowhole. Nothing goes right here.

Anyway, maybe we’ll explore that area later. I have to get back to the 7th Floor soon. I’ll report back then, listeners!

01:39

Pack up, I say, we’re late! We’re going to miss the car. The car! It’s here, the car is here, we have to go! Oh for goodness sake, just leave it, let’s go!

That’s Feta, listeners. She takes after my pod mummy. Somehow the only part of me that remembers my pod mummy, and only bits of her at that! 

I was too young, you see. When everyone was gone, I didn’t notice until many sleeps later. I always fended for myself. Entertained myself, too. You gotta in a town like this!

You know, I have never explored the outside or touched the sun or felt snow falling on my head. Bellena and The Belly, my bed, the lab, and now The Baleen are all I know. 

Once, I knew of people. People who looked like me, people who cooked like me, ate and slept like me, even played, and talked, and bathed like me. There were about a hundred of them. I knew most of their names. Unlike me, most of them had only one name, so it was easy to remember. Dare I say, as I’ve forgotten them. 

There were mummies and pappies and grandpappies and kidlets all over. Mummies who cooked and teached, pappies who cropped in the lab, grandpappies who waited for the kidlets to cause trouble. We always caused trouble.

08:24

DAY THREE

Listeners, this is Polly reporting live from The Belly, Bellena’s finest restaurant on our third sunset together.. Behind the counter, I see the granite top of the serving bar has a texture to it that I could only feel before, but now I can see it... For the sake of this report, I would say that it is indeed sticky, but I can’t tell what it’s made of, because it doesn’t smell or taste like anything except dust.

I’ve cleaned the bar with some lemon juice, and for the first time since being able to see over the top with my feet flat, it’s as spick as a spoon before it hits the plate! Shinier, too.For food today, I’m preparing rice and cinnamon. It’s an easy meal to prepare, super delicious, and I can take it with me in my can. Mmm...hear the bubbles? Well, it smells deeeelicious!

I wonder what you eat, listeners. Sometimes, when I’m feeling down and have the ingredients, I love to make lemon cookies. The key ingredient is not actually just the lemons, but what really ties it together is olive oil. Can you believe it? And when I’m really lucky, I’ll add thyme and rosemary. I figured it out by accident, thanks to the herbs growing in the lab pod.

I’ve read about laboratories in sci-fi with their operating tables and chemistry sets. In Bellena, our lab pod is where The Belly gets its freshest ingredients. It grows all kinds of herbs and plants, I should take you sometime!

*Ding!*

Goodie, the rice is done! Now to add my special ingredients...and a dash of cinnamon...mmm my tummy is rumbling!

Oh, and it looks like the tape is running out...

Since there’s nothing else to report today, let’s cut it here for now. Until next time, listeners.

28:43

DAY FOUR

TAPE TWO, SIDE A: 00:00

Good day, listeners, this is Polly reporting from the lab on our fourth sunset. As reported yesterday, Bellena’s lab is far from the labs I’ve read about in the books. Instead of experimenting on people, Bellenese experiment on plants. And instead of a small pod with a metal table and screaming patients, it’s a huge area. Maybe the entire third floor, with tall corridors spanning as far as I can see, all for growing or storing food. 

If we start back at the door, to my right is a sort of grow wall where foods of the climbing variety crawl. Most of these include berries or beans. While the tomatoes, cucumbers, and other questionable, climbing fruits are supposed to be in their own corridor somewhere. 

The lab is super dark, by the way.  That’s because the only light comes from the crop boxes on the right. The white corridors are positioned so evenly down the lab, they look like giant teeth coming to gnash me. That’s why I call them, The Baleen.

So in the lab, besides the half-here crops and the empty crop boxes set up on the right where we were before in the light, over to the left, there’s a place for tools and stuff along the wall. While I haven’t found any extra seeds or fertilizer here, or even any big enough tools to use, I did find a trench shovel and other solutions to replant all that’s still alive. Pretty impressive, right?

Oh! I almost forgot. Yesterday I mentioned my thyme and rosemary, so I wanted to report on them today! That reminds me to report on the lemon cookies, too! Well, they were de-e-elicious!

Ok, so a few corridors over––and when I say “corridors”, I’m talking, double my height, white metal planter shelves that go all the way down to...

So, I still can’t see the end of any of these corridors, and after all this time, I haven’t dared walk too far into The Baleen. Somehow it feels darker down there...ha..ha... Let’s not do that today! But one day I should...it is about time. 

Speaking of thyme, I’m happy to report our thyme and rosemary crops are growing strong and healthy! There aren’t any bugs in Bellena, so my only worry is keeping the crops fed. Since we don’t have fertilizer or new soil, I usually compost old roots and leaves from other crop-types so they don’t cannibalize themselves. I’m not sure if it even matters, but I thought it made sense if they fed each other rather than themselves––isn’t it easier to eat meat than to eat your finger? Maybe not, I’ve never tried.

Adding to the list of things I still don’t know, I thought today could be the day I go deep into The Baleen. Yesterday, I sat long and hard, after Feta got me thinking. 

You see, Feta remembers things about Bellena that I don’t. I, Polly, have little to no memory of it since I was so young and confused. Feta and PepperJack were awake the most, which pretty much left me in the dust. These audio recordings are the only way I’ve been able to truly hear the thought-friends that live in my head. 

Gee, if I can’t remember what they do, at least they could come out and play. It’s been just me for a long time now, but I’ve survived well enough.

Well, golly, Miss Polly! What’s with the sour face? All yer friends long n gone? Did Polly go a-hidin’ while the others went a-cryin? That’ll happen when ya hide n no one seeks! Where’d they all go? Aint a body who knows.

23:52

Ah, PepperJack. Piping in whenever he pleases. Whenever I get annoyed, I guess. Well, he’s all talk anyway. I mean, literally. 

Reporting back to my crops, listeners, I’m happy to report that the bean leaves are composting nicely in the thyme and rosemary box. The grape leaves don’t seem to be disintegrating that well, but that’s ok, it looks fine.

I’m stalling, I know, I’m just trying to figure out my game plan. I’ve thought about it before, a lot, but I never dared try to go past the first section into The Baleen. 

If you can imagine, each corridor is a row of tall open shelves on either side that stop and start every ten steps. Each shelf is assigned for a different crop. If I could see, the top of each shelf would say something like, “C-23: Chili Peppers”. “C” would represent the corridor and “23” would be the section. Fun hint, listeners, odd sections are to the left, while even are to the right. 

The light from the hanging wall only reaches the edges of the first two corridors of The Baleen, but you can see the next few if you lean forward if you let your eyes adjust. 

23:52

Excuse the noise, I’m back at the tools. I wonder what I should bring with me. I can’t carry much more in my sac. It’s got the recording tapes, some rope, lemon cookies, a tin box, cloth, and a small knife. I’m wondering if I should take the trench shovel. It’s a bit of a weird tool, since the handle is super long and the blade is kind of skinny, but it’s light so I don’t mind bringing it with me.

DAY FIVE

TAPE THREE, SIDE A: 00:00

Listeners, it is after our seventh sunset together. I am outside the doors of the lab. Before travelling deep into The Baleen, I spent a day gathering some more supplies from upstairs. And I even went down to The Belly to get a pot, some food, and to make more cookies, since I finished the lemon ones already. This time, I made strawberry and oatmeal cookies. I admit they’re a bit dry, but I figured I wouldn’t mind once it becomes my only option! I know, super hardcore, Polly.

Speaking of hardcore, oh listeners, you’ll like this one.

I used that small knife to cut into the bag and empty some of the stuffing. Then I took the rope and tied it around my waist so the bag could be fastened on my back without needing my arms to support it. Now I have room for the sac, all the things I gathered from the 7th floor, all the supplies from The Belly, and still have my alarm bag. Pretty clever, right? I agree.

Ok, listeners, it’s time.

Hyup! Alarm bag fastined, and we’re ready to–– Uh, start heading into the lab to pick up that trench shovel. I’ll use it like a walking stick and poke around or something.

Taking the first steps now. I’ll be sure to keep the shovel in front of me. Listeners, my toes, my bag, and everything else is officially passed the first section. It’s a milestone!

Goodbye, Belly. Goodbye, Bellena.

The light from the lab is dimming in my peripheral. No lights in front of me, so I’m relying on my shovel. Swiping it back and forth on the floor, sometimes against the base of the shelving unit. Everything seems to be good so far. I feel more confident as I get lulled into the ridges on the shelves. They must be screws or something. 

Can you hear the stick? You can tell I’m not using the shovel end. I didn’t want to make a lot of sound with all the metal and no light, I figured this was a safer bet.

Woah! That made me jump. I was so into the rhythm, I forgot the sections end every so often. I should have counted the ridges. Was it ten or fifteen?

Listeners, I went really far. I should have recorded again, but I forgot to turn it back on. It’s alright, you didn’t miss a thing.

Quick update; I’m currently at corridor S, and roughly 60, maybe 70, sections away from the lab. It is absolutely pitch black in here, besides the little red lights.

They have followed and floated with me since I noticed them. I hadn’t taken a look until just now, but the little red lights seem to go all the way up to the ceiling in their respective rows, all lined up. The longer I look up or far ahead, they appear fuzzier and more clustered.

My head is starting to hurt. 

My eyes hurt.

I should...eat.

Yes.

Eat.

...

...

TAPE THREE, SIDE A: 27:19

Where are the people, Feta, whose hands built this city?

Off where we belong, right, PepperJack?

Off where we belong, Feta? In the depths? And if those in the depths one day rise against you?