Ch.3 Strip Mine Blood

I began the task of mining straight down within my basement. I had crafted ladders just to get up and out of the mine shaft when I needed to get something. Working without a break I accomplished the mine shaft within two days. I had crafted two stacks of sixty- four ladders and used almost all of them. Now to make the main mining operation rooms.

Counting thirty blocks I made a step off from the ladder to the main room and began to mine out four rooms and extend it into four long three wide hallways. One of these would be a storage room that I would keep extending while the other three hallways were strip mines that I would gather what I needed from. I found a few veins of iron and a lot of coal. It was a good sign, these mines would most defiantly work for me. I sat down in the room of the main room of one of the shafts and ate on a piece of cooked pork. The stuffy air made me feel tired and claustrophobic slightly.

I knew the walls weren't moving in on me, that it was just my head playing tricks on me. I decided to go up and get some air. As I got closer to the surface I began to hear a noise that I knew from back home. The smell of damp grass and falling water was reaching my nose. It was raining above me.

I climbed from the shaft and noticed that water was running into the basement. I crafted half slabs and placed them in the murder holes to fix the problem. I wouldn't really need the murder holes much now since I was going to be using the mine shaft for something else other than mining. I sat on the basement floor listening to the rain and thought back to when me and my brothers used to hang out in the dairy house eating ice pops that mom would make for us. Whenever it would rain we liked to hang out and watch it while eating the ice pops and make up small adventures in our heads.

We'd laugh and play while throwing hay at one another. The cows would watch us playing and moo at us enjoying the show. We'd also shoot one another with the cow's milk. I sprawled out on the wooden floor eating the pork chop and slowly drifted asleep. I didn't notice I had at all.

I stood next to the fields that contained the pigs in one field, cows in one, and sheep in another. I stared at it all for a moment and realized that dad had changed it all since I had been gone. I turned around to see dad having a time with the old mare that he used to plow with. She wasn't happy one bit because no one had fed her a sugar cube. I usually did when I went about feeding the animals in the morning and tending to them.

I heard a sound and saw my brothers' horse playing with one another. I wasn't surprised at their antics. I went inside the house and saw my mom sewing some tanned leather together for a shirt or something. Upon closer inspection I saw that the leather had initials stamped into the edge where my mom would sew into later to hide it. The initials meant that the leather had come from the city.

The city's leather was much more expensive than the neighboring towns' because they had more machines than the towns'. The neighboring towns' had windmill powered tanning machines that would break if it rained and would be down for a day or two to be repaired. It told me that the neighboring towns' windmills were down from the rain to make mom go to the market and buy from the city's stall. I smiled at her and sat on the couch watching. I wished I could sew like her, my stitches were so uneven and crazy.

Looking out the bay window behind me at the many fields that we used I saw the old oak tree that had branches splaying every which way, with its two trunks intertwined with one another as if they were lovers. I missed climbing that tree, I missed hanging upside down on its highest branch and making my mom scared. She would fuss at me so much until dad would get annoyed with her and order me down. It was me and my brother's favorite place on the farm. It also held a secret beneath it within its soil that I buried there a long time ago with someone special.

I opened the front door that was in the kitchen and walked out to the oak tree. The wind made the branches sway lightly up and down as if the wind was tickling it making its leaves flutter in laughter. I had good memories under this tree. It always made me smile when I was depressed when I thought back to them.

That special person whom I've forgotten his name now. He moved away to the city with his parents and I never heard from him again. He should be on his own adventure too right now if he and his parents still go by that rule.

"Sell?"

I turned to one of my brothers that had said my name and saw that it was Toc, his hair swept to the side and a small ponytail in the back. His red eyes staring back into mine with surprise.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were on your adventure?"

"I still am. I came to see how you all were doing." I smiled and looked out over the farm. "I see dad's making some changes."

Toc nodded. "He said he gave some thought over your ideas. They seem to have a good vibe about them. They seem to be very efficient." Toc turned to me confused. "If you're still on your adventure how are you here? You want me to go get mom and dad?"

"No." I said quickly moving some strands of hair from the side of my face that were bothering me. "I've already seen them. I don't want them to know I came to see you all. I was just checking."

"Checking? More like home sick for you to project yourself like this," Toc replied with a grin that told me he was playing with me. "Your projecting has gotten better. I'm surprised you've been walking across the farm. I didn't even notice until I looked up here and saw you."

"Our connection hasn't faded one bit." I smiled leaning against the tree. "Tell Des that I said to repair the barn door. It's looking crooked. Tell dad to look up a SMERF. I want you and Des to build a mob trap beneath the barn under the saddle stall in the back. Have them drowned or hit a lava blade. Just don't let dad hear them."

Toc looked at me uncertain. "Why are you telling me all this? Sell, what's the matter?"

I wiped tears from my eyes holding back a sniffle. "I miss you all so much but I'm making it here. It's hard and scary at times. I miss the chores and I miss helping dad. Mom had to go to the market and I'm sure she got a bad deal on that tanned leather."

Toc hugged me and kissed my head. "Sell, we're fine. The farm is good, the crops are good, the animals are good and you spoiled that damn mare on sugar cubes but I haven't told dad that."

I sniffled into his shirt. "Give her sugar cubes. It'll make her happy. I know she misses me."

"We all do."

Toc and I turned to see Des with a shovel in his hand. His hair grown out and pulled back into a pony tail like his brother but side burns grown out and down to his chin. His red eyes looked from me to Toc. He stuck the shovel into the ground and hugged me tightly. I hugged him back as Toc hugged us all.

"Sell, we miss you so much. Dad's not happy and mom doesn't sing like she usually does."

"I'll be home as soon as possible. Once I finish up making my island into something I'll be back. I promise." I looked up at them smiling rubbing tears from my face. "Tell mom to make you two and dad some jackets. It'll be winter soon. Harvest the crops before the cold gets to them. Make the animals eat up and store fat, we all know the ground will be hard as ice."

They smiled and nodded. Toc sniffled and looked out at the wheat that waved in the wind. "Get home quick, Sell. Mom is worrying about you daily. We'll fix the barn up and build that mob trap and have dad do some research on that thing. SMERF wasn't it?"

Des snapped his fingers. "I know what that is! Mom would love that!"

I stepped away from them wiping my eyes and looking out at the sunset. "Mom would like a flower shop at the market on the corner next to the fountain. She'll show you her plans that she's drawn up. Look into it once you get that SMERF working. Okay?"

Before anything was said I woke up crying on the floor. I curled up into a ball letting the tears flow. I hated projecting sometimes. I wished I could stay there with them and help but my adventure wasn't over. It had hardly begun.

Toc and Des had grown up more since I had left. They would be looking to settle down soon if I recall correctly. They would be moving back to their place or build a new one in some town or city somewhere. I knew my brothers though and they didn't seem the type to be in the city. They liked the farm life as much as I did and mining.

They would more or less go to a mining town and settle down. Just like our dad would've done if he hadn't met mom in a town when he was passing through but that's a different story. I stood in the morning light and descended the ladder to do what I needed to do. Build a mob trap so I could make the things I wanted to make. I was going to build the island out and make it greater than it was now.

This was my island and I'd do everything I could to make it as great as it could possibly be and more.