The motels were in four rows, rooms on each side of every building, creating aisles up and down to walk through. My house, or "room" you could call it, was on the left side of the second building. Behind every door was one bedroom. Some families, including my own, split their one bedroom into two very small ones. We did this so my dad and I wouldn't have to share a room.

I walked down the next long isle, the walkway in between the right side of the second building and the left side of the third, on my way to my best friend, Wyatt's, dwelling. He loved to come on adventures with me. He was just as curious as I was. He just never thought before acting, leading him to end up in some very difficult situations, due to his lack of intellect.

I knocked on his maroon-colored door, the same color as every other. His little sister answered the door. She should have been in elementary school, but education isn't a thing down here as it was above. Survival is what everyone focuses on, not exponents or photosynthesis.

"You need Wyatt, I'm guessing?" She raised an eyebrow. I looked down at her and nodded my head. She was used to me asking for Wyatt. He never came to my door, asking for me. It was always me putting in the effort, but it's not like he doesn't enjoy our friendship. We are the only friends we have. Just each other. She walked away from the door, leaving it half open as I stood and waited.

Wyatt finally sped to the door, shutting it on his way out. "What's today's mission?" He asked, slugging his backpack full of useless junk that he thinks we always need, but we never do, over his shoulders.

I shrugged, giving a sign that I didn't really know either. "I guess, let's just go wander to somewhere we haven't left tracks behind."

We walked away from the home buildings, the junk in Wyatt's backpack clanking around every time he took a step.

"How come your father is never home?" I asked as we walked, trying to get ourselves lost.

He looked at the ground for a moment before answering, "Did I never tell you that he works all day, comes home to sleep, then leaves again early in the morning?"

"Well, no. I get that, obviously, dingus," I rolled my eyes. I honestly could have answered my own question myself.

Wyatt started blabbering on and on as we walk about God knows what. All I heard is, 'Can you believe that? People used to hand wash their clothes!' and 'Do you think that food and drinks with the dye, Red 40, dye your inner organs red?'. He really doesn't think straight, but he's still my best friend. You kind of get used to his nonsense after awhile.

After not knowing where we were, our bodies decided our legs were tired. Not only that, my ears decided I was tired of listening to Wyatt's blabbering. We sat down on the packed down dirt, Wyatt swinging his backpack around his body, into his cross-legged lap. If there was a sun, a moon, or a sky, we probably would have been looking at that. Really, all that was above us was dirt that for some reason decided to spare our lives and not collapse on us.

My stomach desperately growled at me. I rested my hand on it as if it would call down the beast. It was past lunchtime and I was starving.

"Hey, did you bring any food?" I glanced at Wyatt. He checked and searched around in his backpack, knowing he didn't bring any food.

He stuck up his pointer finger and opened his mouth before he stopped himself, putting his hand down into his lap. He started again, "I, uhh... I didn't bring any food..."

I glared at him, sighing. "Out of the entire all-day buffet at the kitchen hall, you decided to bring nothing?"

Wyatt shrugged it off. He didn't eat much. If anything, he only ate breakfast sometimes and then always dinner. I was never able to understand it. I always ate my three meals. Yet again, you might as well take advantage of the all-day buffet. Since everyone's dwellings only had one room, no kitchen or bathroom, there was one big building filled with an all-day buffet and plenty of tables and chairs. You could eat at any time you pleased. There was also a large building specifically for restrooms. On one side was the women's' and the other side was the men's', holding about 8 stalls each. It had to be that way so there were enough motel rooms for everyone, instead of everyone having their own kitchen and bathroom.

I sighed as Wyatt looked at me, his shaggy brown hair moving with his head as he turned. We were sitting against the outer edges or walls of our underground home. We were quite far from the main area, where the homes were, but we knew our way back.

"Well, today wasn't much of an adventure," Wyatt attempted to start a conversation, staring off into the distant candles, our only source of light, from the main area.

"Yeah, I know. Hopefully, tomorrow is better because I'm bored to the maximum," I replied, hugging my knees to my chest.

Wyatt asks me if he can ask me a question and I nod in approval. "Do you think your mom is still alive up there?" He asked, looking upwards, then back at me as he asks.

"I'm not sure. I really hope she is though. I miss her so much," I respond while trying not to show any negative expressions. Wyatt brings her up every now and then, hoping I would never forget her. The truth is, I never could. Whenever he brings up her presence, I secretly break inside, but I try not to show it.

When the fires broke out four years ago, the government rushed as many people as possible through the tunnel to the underground. They knew they could never put out these fires. They occurred all over the world, except for Canada and Greenland. They still rushed citizens of Canada underground anyways because the smoke and air pollution would get thick enough and soon affect everyone.

My father and I made it safely, but my mother got lost in the back of the crowd. When we made it underground, we were immediately assigned a room number where we had to retreat to right away. The entire time, we were waiting for Mom to come inside our room, seeing us once again. The next day, in the kitchen hall where everyone was eating breakfast, we got sad news. Some men and women who worked federally told us that only a certain amount of people could fit down here, enough to at least continue the humankind, which was about six hundred people. Most of the world's population was left to die above us. Because my mother was accidentally separated from us, she couldn't make it down here before all of the motels were already full, leaving her on the surface. Unfortunately, there was nothing they could do about this.

I cried my heart out every night for seven months. As Wyatt would know, I have a fear of sleeping. Why? Well, I still to this daydream of my mother every single night. Every time I see her in my dreams, I long for her more and more. Now, I hate seeing her in my sleep, knowing I will never truly see her again.