It's lonely in this cave. The only sound I can hear other than the soft tap tap tap of my feet is the popping of the torches I placed to light the way. It's bad to keep a cave unlit. It's bad to keep it dark. Things like to lurk in the dark.
Tap tap tap go my feet. Pop pop pop go the torches.
I eye my dwindling supply of light. I need to make it last until I find a way out. I can't leave the way I came, mining a piece of iron caused a cave-in, blocking the path with gravel.
All I wanted was some diamonds. Is that too much to ask? Yes, of course it is. All anyone wants is diamonds. Some for fame. Some for fortune. Some just because they look pretty. I doubt anyone has ever mined diamonds for love.
I curse the people who destroyed the town's diamond supply. Forcing me to travel far from my home to find a un-raided cave.
My love, the mayor, Alex, doesn't even know I exist. I hope that my gift will at least make her want to get to know me.
Who am I kidding? She'll probably ban me from the town! Really, who goes and travels halfway across the server to get diamonds for a complete stranger? But I have to try.
I have no idea when this infatuation began. I just know I was a small boy when I first saw her, still playing with wooden swords. She had smacked the teacher for giving her a timeout when another child had tried to steal her cookie and she pummelled the poor kid. Since then I just kept noticing her. In the farms. At the mine. Everywhere.
Soon I had begun fantasizing about her, thinking on what would happen if I ever worked up the courage to speak to her. She had scared me, when she attacked the teacher. He was known for his skills at pvp, but he preferred to teach. Alex had had the gall to attack a man thrice her size, for giving her a timeout, I didn't want to find out what would happen to me if I annoyed her.
Maybe I'm just obsessed with the idea of her. Growing up on a small, poor farm. But still building herself up to mayor, while creating a wall to keep the town safe-
Spsssssssss...
What was that? I peer into the dark. There's nothing there. Probably just my imagination. Heh. Yeah. Just my mind playing tricks on me.
I see some coal, but move past it. I already have three stacks. And I don't want to waste any of the thirty-two torches I have left filling the alcove the absent coal would create with light.
I have one wood plank. Fate is taunting me.
Spsssssss...
There's that noise again! But it has to be my imagination. I am the only one in the soft glow of the torches. And nothing can survive in the dark. That's what we're taught in school. The dark is dangerous. The dark is something to be feared. People who went into the dark, never returned. No one knows why.
I have a feeling I might find out.
Spssss...
The noise is louder. That means it's closer. I can almost feel the drool dripping from it's mouth as it plans on how to eat me. No one had ever found bodies once the dark was lit, just large craters that must have been made by the creature. The creature must be large, the strength needed to create a hole that large is phenomenal.
I feel my fear grow. Since when did I start thinking to fear things in the dark instead of the dark itself?
I have ten torches left, no end to the cave in sight. I doubt my iron pickaxe will do any damage to anything that attacks me, it was crafted to separate ores from stone, not to kill, as I may need it to.
Tap tap tap. Tap tap tap. My blood runs cold at the sound of the two pairs of footsteps. Two creatures. Two ways to die.
Five torches. I try to use them sparingly.
Tap tap tap. Tap tap tap.
I have no more torches. That was the only chance I had to survive. I need to keep going in the dark. The dark that wants to kill me.
I try to steel my nerves. If I don't find my way to the surface, I'll starve to death. Already my stomach growls its disapproval.
I guess I'm going to die either way.
Spssssss...
The hissing sounds almost joyous from my venture into the darkness. I can't see the comforting light of the torches anymore.
Tap tap tap. Tap tap tap. The footsteps are closer. Too close.
I begin to speed up, trying to outrun death. Adrenaline keeps me going, my legs are in pain. I am growing tired, so tired. I can't stop, though. If I stop, I'll die.
Run! My mind screams, but I can't, I've been running for what feels like hours now. I pause and listen.
Tap tap tap. Tap tap tap.
The creatures are still there. They're still following me. I see a faint glow.
Could it be? No. It's just the torches I placed before I decided to leave the light of safety. I feel hope bloom in my chest. If I can get to the light, maybe I'll be safe at last.
I look behind me once I get to the iluminated stone. Tap tap tap. Tap tap tap. From darkness emerges the creature. One, not two, as I had originally believed. Tap tap tap. Tap tap tap. Goes it's four feet on the cold ground as it moves towards me.
It looks so sad. Why is it sad? It's sad because I ran away from it. I'm sure it just wants a friend. It looks at me with a frown, big eyes wishing for me to understand how lonely it is. I do understand, I'm down here aren't I? All alone. I wonder if anyone even noticed I left?
I wrap my arms around it and give it a hug. Only when it starts flashing white like TNT do I know that was the last mistake I'll ever make.
I wrote this shortly after I finished 'Theirs' and forgot about it. After a bit of proof-reading, deemed it fit to publish.
I hope you enjoyed! Please leave a review and tell me what you thought!