[ WP ] They said I would n't make it this far . I wish they had been right .

Everyone said that what I was doing was pointless. I could still hear my brother saying `` You might as well just accept your fate like a respectable human being''. 
 I rolled over in my cot and stared at the concrete wall that now had 87 black tally marks aligned neatly in groups of five. I buried my face in my pillow, knowing that I would have to get up soon to start another day of trying to maintain my sanity in this place. I slowly hoisted myself up and walked over to my desk and grabbed one of the two black markers I had brought with me. I winced as I drew the 88th tally mark on the wall and tossed the marker back onto the desk's rusted metal surface. 
 I had been here alone for almost 3 months and was starting to question whether I had made the right choice. I forced a chuckle as I walked by the picture of my grandparents hanging on the wall. If only my great-grandfather knew that when he built this place over sixty years ago, that I would end up being forced to stay here....slowly losing myself one day at a time. 
 I walked over to the old locker I had been using as a pantry and grabbed a can of peaches. Before I locked myself down here, my main objective had been to make sure food would n't be an issue... at least for the first 6-8 months. I suppose I was so focused on preventing starvation that I did n't think about how living solitarily would effect my mind. I blew the dust off the lid of the can before pulling the aluminum tab off the top. I quickly gulped down the juice before pulling the chunks of fruit out with my fingers. As I ate, I walked over to the ladder and looked up at the clad steel lid to this `` shelter'' that I was now confined in. I started to think of all the other words I could use to describe this place. It had saved me, but at what cost? 
 `` ping ping'' 
 No....Not again... not again... 
 `` ping ping'' 
 Why do these sounds keep harassing me? It would be impossible for there to be anything alive up there. I knew that. 
 `` ping ping'' 
 I quickly set down the peach can and hurried over to sit down on the long wooden bench in the far corner of the room, bringing my knees up to my chest. I never noticed when the rocking would start. It was only after I had been sitting there swaying back and forth, curled up like a child for several minutes that I would realize how pitiful I must have looked. 
 `` ping ping'' 
 My eyes shifted towards the ladder. These noises had become more frequent in the last few weeks. I knew it was just in my mind. I still longed that I would hear a voice to prove me wrong. That there would be a rescue team coming around to find those that had been able to survive the explosion. 
 `` Ping ping'' 
 I felt my grip tighten on my arm as I started to bump my head against the wall. I admit that I never thought it would be like this. physically healthy, but still dying a little every day in my own mind. My brother did n't think I was down far enough to even survive the initial blow. Hell, there's no way he thought I would make it this far. A part of my wishes he had been right...
