The Mine Shaft
10/21/2023
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The Mine Shaft
Now nobody could have foreseen a cave in, but that is exactly what happened. Rocks flowed down the left-hand side, plummeting down towards me like projectiles and totally covering the exit. I twisted my head looking for an exit; then, having found none, I lunged for the corner, intending to cower my head between my legs in the corner. In the dark, I misjudged the distance and stumbled onto my knees, into which I curled up into a ball on the floor till the danger passed.
After the down pore of granite rocks ended, a huge pile of rubble had built up on that side, which seemed to never want to end, which accumulated up to the top, completely covering the mine’s exit ladder. A small opening remained, barely big enough for a human to slip through, which was at the ceiling, straight above the rubble that blocked the bottom part of the ladder.
Darkness is everywhere; it consumed me and the room-light, and all would be gone if it weren’t for a small sliver of light that shined upon the murky shadows dancing with a small quantity of light from the crystals that reflected from the minuscule amount of light from the opening. I looked at the gravelly floor and gritty walls, then towards the crystals, clicking and shivering. My head spun, and I could not think. I pulled myself up in a daze, wondering how much time had passed. One minute, two minutes an hour maybe, but impossible to tell. Identifying my options, I looked towards the rugged rubble and approached it calmly, thinking it out, but the incline of the shale did not look climbable, and I would have only a couple of chances to climb it before it toppled over.
With no other way out, I would have to wait till somebody found me, but workers would not arrive in the crystal mine for many hours; by then, the rest of the mine would collapse. I grimly approached the rockway which led to the earth’s roof and the base that delicate shell covering a vast underground labyrinth, full to the brim of wood’s rainy scent, a rockway which stood tall at attention but was crooked like the tower of Pisa and as sturdy as a feeble baby walking for the first time. Then, kicking it hard with my foot—sending a wave of sharp shooting pain through my legs and through my bruises—I could discern from years of working in the mines how fragile these steps were, even without feeling tremors or vibrations.
At that moment, dust rained down from the cave’s dome, sending a ball of glamorous, crystalized rock towards me. My mind was petrified as I stood frozen in place while the amusingly eccentric death ball plummeted in slow motion towards me, then my wit barely discharged a weird command of falling backwards and covering my face as the dazzling rock landed on my foot.
Afterwards, I opened my eyes as the throb slowed to a dull roar and the dazzling rocks stopped spinning around my peripheral vision. I’m still glad that I chose not to sell this property for some dough and put my workers out of a job. Even if I die down here, the deed of the property will just be passed on to my assistant, who is adamant about keeping the property for the workers.
‘I will NOT die down here! Do not think like that,’ I hastily proclaimed in my mind. ‘Try calling for help’ is what my next thought is and I did.
“Hello!” I shouted desperately, groping toward thin air.
“Hey, who’s that?” A man’s familiar voice called, hesitantly and sounding as if it came through a funnel.
“Your boss, I’m stuck!” I yelled helplessly to the man.
“Louis, where are you?!” He called, his voice growing more distant.
“HERE! Here in the mine!” My voice cracked.
Suddenly, the ground rumbled, and dust rained down. A couple of fist-sized rocks fell around me, and a sound like thunder could be heard from around me. Again, a rumble sounded, and in one long moment, I thought it would never end.
Silence is the sound of emptiness; it is like a warm blanket from which safety can be relied. The respite of silence is the brief rest, which provides a calm tomb for death or the end of something. This silence was an empty canvas after the end of something that could be filled with something new.
“Hey, are you ok down there?” The man sounded like he was perturbed.
I blissfully shouted. “Yeah, great! Well, except for my broken foot from earlier, but alive and well.”
“What’s with the ground up here? It’s so... wet and muddy.” His sullen voice said he was pouting about something.
“Careful!” Then I postulated carefully. “It’s the mine; it’s unusable and unstable; the heavy mud is going to cause a cave in very soon.”
“Well, maybe I should leave yer here to rot!” The man burst out excitedly.
“What, why?!”
“WHY!” The man roared. “This property is supporting hundreds of mining jobs and thousands of pounds of crystal and coal, and you plan on selling it!” Then a resounding thump sounded around the room, spouting dust and coughing grime.
“No, I ain’t, so don’t do anything foolish,” I responded.
“Ugh, do not lie!” Then another thump echoed around, and maybe it was my imagination, but it looked like the ceiling sank towards me.
“Are you stomping in the mud?”
The man roared something incoherent, then started cussing up a storm. I could hear faint stomps getting fainter as the man left me to rot. That big-headed, cruel man was gone, leaving me among the pitch-black, empty space. The space left a gap between me and the mortal world, between me and the top-side world, and between me and my family.
As the space grew, I grew with it, using the wall to pull myself up, then screaming in pain—pain taking turns shooting through my foot and my leg—I walked to the end of the room to have plenty of room to open it up to top speed to make it up the ladder before my stairs collapsed. I took a deep breath to steady myself on my legs. I shifted my weight toward my good leg to prepare for my death scramble up the stairs.
I raced towards the stairs, running at top speed with each foot pounding the ground, but only one of them shot pain through my leg, sending me off balance. I rushed toward a fixed point on the ground right before the stairs, then sprung over the first steps, scuttling up after I landed, then dragging my weak leg up each step. The stairs vibrated. I was inches away.
Please give yourself the ending of your imagination.
Truly yours, Daniel Philips. Gill
