It was funny.
Really.
How stupid he was, thinking it would be fun to go down and visit those older caves he'd scared to go into.
His friends dared him to do it, time and time again, but he'd never be so foolhardy.
And yet here he was, sitting by his last torch in a cave, miles below the ground, waiting for something, anything to happen. All his other torches had been kicked out, likely by zombies in the darkness, willing away the light.
Or maybe some endermen took them, stole them away to the End, keeping them for themselves.
Whatever happened, he was here now, waiting and waiting, wondering when something would sound in the darkness of the caves.
How stupid could he be? Alright, so he wasn't the smartest, and he didn't know a lot of stuff, but he'd often been mining!
Just, not this far down.
He'd never mined a diamond, or even found gold. Everything he had, he got that from his friends. They gave it to him sometimes, other times they traded it to him.
In fact, he'd just gotten two diamonds and a few chips of lapis from one of his pals. They didn't have enough time to make a farm, or even go to the apples trees around the small town they lived in, shared.
He was a farmer, not a miner, why on earth did he think this had been a good idea? He should have stayed with his pigs, pet his new horse and find some more chickens.
Grabbing his iron pickaxe, he swallowed back his fear, brushing away the locks of swaying hair from his cheeks. "Come on, it's only darkness."
He pushed every thought away, taking his only torch back and beginning up the cave, bare hands gripping sharp stone.
Weakly checking his belt, he noticed the shimmer of his iron sword, and he sighed, a light smile tugging at his lips. At least he hadn't lost that.
Pulling himself up, he found the cave evened out, and quickly, he followed it, pushing past a few cobwebs as he rushed to find where he'd come from.
Light.
His eyes widened and he began climbing quicker and quicker, dismissing the noises he'd heard behind him.
He was a farmer, not a miner. His friends did that kinda stuff; not him.
He gulped, shivering in his waistcoat. "You can do this, you've been in caves before," he said aloud, pushing himself to walk on. He wasn't about to die down here, he had bread cooking in the oven.
Keeping his head high, he flicked back his hair that curled in around the bottom of his neck.
The light was getting closer now.
"A few more steps, you can do this!"
But, in truth, he knew he never wanted to step foot inside a cave again. 'I'll pay them to find me iron and stuff I need from the caves!' he nodded to himself, that was a good idea. His friends never had time to farm or find food.
The light was ahead of him, and he grinned, grabbing the last parts of the sharp, rocky stone under his fingers, pulling himself out.
'Run, get home, run, get home.'
With the little iron he'd found, he saw the lights of his house, a little to the left of the main town. He pulled at his backpack and bit back another shiver. He was chilled to the bone.
He'd tell his friends in the morning, just how he'd been in the caves.
They wouldn't believe him, they won't ever believe him.
"Bring us back a diamond that you mined, then we'll believe," one friend laughed drunkenly as they stared at the smallest of their group.
"A whole diamond! Come on! From the old caves! There must be millions down there, no one is stupid enough to take that leap - it's worth than the Nether!" another joined in, patting the small-armed boy on the back.
"He can lift a pickaxe? Wow," the only girl of their group snorted, pushing back her blonde locks.
He sniffed at the memory. He would show them, he really would.
As he walked towards his house, he swallowed again and opened the door, rushing inside and bolting it shut. His cat meowed and his wolf barked worriedly.
"I'm fine," he told his pets, shaking out his hair, knocking his goggles out.
He picked them up and threw down the bag, seeing the oven had, luckily, turned itself off. He almost smiled.
He was such a fool.
Moving towards his bedroom, he switched on the lamp in the corner, diving into bed and yanking off his boots only when he was half under the covers.
He rested his goggles on the table and restlessly fell into a hellish sleep.
Maybe his friends would believe him this time.
He huffed, still semi awake as he felt his dog lay down next to him, his cat taking her place on the foot of his bed.
Unlikely.