Way Outta Hell

Aitor Rodríguez García

All my six partners and I were looking over the last tunnels that had been discovered the previous days. We were not supposed to leave until we found some coal in them. Chop after chop. Day after day. Suddenly we heard a thunderous noise coming from the entrance of the mine. As we were running towards it, McGregor shouted out loud what all of us were thinking: “The mine has collapsed”. He was right. As soon as we got to the scene, everyone collapsed like the entrance itself. It was a colossal amount of stone and gravel apparently caused by an explosion from the outside, probably some problem with the machinery. Some of my colleagues tried to crawl over the only cavity, on the brand new wall. But it was useless, since it disappeared in fractions of a second.

We held on a little to see if someone came to rescue us; we thought someone should hear the explosion. After understanding what was going on, we shouted like the end of the world was there in front of us, trying to make someone hear us, but there was no answer. I made them put some sense in their heads so at least we could calm down a bit and think about a solution to get out of that hell. When they finally calmed down, we started to solve the problem. We divided into two groups: four of us would stay at the entrance digging with the pickaxes and the shovels. The other three of us would be going inside the several tunnels, looking if our superiors had left some dynamite to blow up the rocks.

When I was alone in one of the tunnels I found it, standing there. I couldn’t believe it. We’d been working in that mine for weeks searching for coal… and there it was. It was a perfect spherical piece of coal. I swear it shined like it was a pearl. When I grabbed it I felt happy and serene for the first time since the explosion had occurred. It was so dark, but also so full of life and so colorful at the same time; it reminded me of my wife’s long hair, always dancing wherever she goes. She was waiting at home with my beautiful son, for me to get early for dinner. I don’t know how much time I spent looking at that black ball, but I realized the time and went back to my comrades. In the first hours of my entrapment I couldn’t get the sight off the coal. I still couldn’t believe I was the one who had found it. A few times I got the chance to admire it again, using the excuse of exploring the tunnels to look for some exit. I just couldn’t stop. I missed my family so much… and the coal was the only thing that kept me going.

After a few more hours, with our lunches eaten since before the explosion, I couldn’t resist anymore and I started looking at the piece of coal at a spot that was very close to my friends. On one of those occasions, McGregor saw me and asked me, “What is that? Is that coal?”

Suddenly I got everyone’s attention. I just couldn’t stay, I needed to get the hell out of there; they would take my coal away from me. I started to walk to the entrance of one tunnel when Mikey got in front of me. He was the first to go crazy: “How could a nobody like you have that coal? I don’t have anything like it! I want this to end the sooner the better!” That really shocked me. Mikey was a really nice guy and he was always happy. This situation had made him really mad.

All of a sudden, McGregor raised his pickaxe without saying one word and stabbed Aleks in the head, and before allowing us to hesitate, killed Luigi the same pattern. There was no way I was staying there; they were killing themselves because they wanted my coal. By instinct I ran directly to one of the tunnels while Mikey ran through another to escape from McGregor. As I was running I heard more screams; it sounded like he took care of Bruce and Harvey too. I don’t know where I was running, I needed to hide quickly. But I made a mistake; all the tunnels were connected even though we hadn’t even noticed it in all that time. I found Mikey in front of me again, always in the middle of everything. But I didn’t really see him for long, because McGregor was behind him and soon smashed his head killing him in the process. McGregor’s pickaxe got stuck in poor Mikey so I took the opportunity and slammed the ball of coal against his head, time after time. When I looked at the coal it wasn’t the same. Now it was full of the blood and brain of McGregor, and some pieces of the structure were falling down. Now I couldn’t see my family… But maybe I could clean it. “Maybe it will be the same”, I thought while I was taking all the small pieces away from the coal’s surface.

But before I managed to move I felt a presence behind me. Of course, how could I forget it? It was Cole. He was still alive. He wanted my coal. But he wouldn’t have it. He wouldn’t have my ticket out of this hell I was in.

But when I looked at him, he already had it. Everything that kept me alive was gone. He walked towards me. I was so afraid that, when I turned back to escape from him, I fell in an abysmal hole.

Right now, in my last hours on earth, with my legs broken and a deep cut in my arm, I am writing this letter so that whoever finds it can tell my family I love them so much and… to persuade myself that after I die someone will find my body. If I still had my precious coal… maybe then I would still be fighting for my life. But I’m too tired and I don’t feel my legs. Maybe when I’m dead I will meet my comrades and we will keep searching for coal somewhere in the dark.

October 2, 2017