2nd December 2019
Night
Each step I took on the dark and forgotten tarmac felt like another step towards my last. The trees that lined the lane watched with curiosity as I put one foot in front of the other. I wanted to look to my left and right, look at the trees that sat passively watching, as they had done for a hundred years. I knew I had to press on, walking a route I knew all too well.
I walked towards the ten-foot-tall fence lined with barbed wire that enclosed the entire site. Once, when I was young, I could duck under it without maiming myself, but not now. Luckily, I didn’t need to. There was a gap, the metal fence cut away from the post and pulled out. Keeping low, I moved as fast as I could across a field towards the mine. I would plead with the Drifter, tell him the truth: it was all me. All of it. I would beg for him to let them go. They have suffered enough. Now it was my turn to pay the price for what happened.
The uneven ground was hard to move across, and on a few occasions my ankle turned as my foot slipped into an unseen crevice. I ploughed on, moving fast, drawing closer to the mine until its huge headstocks leant over me. I wanted to look up, see its ever-present eyes staring down, but knew if I did my head would spin. When I was only a matter of feet from the entrance, I lost my footing as the uneven ground became the tarmac car park and fell hard, my elbow jammed into my ribcage, temporarily robbing me of my ability to breath. Rolling onto my back, I fought to get air into my lungs. After a few moments, the ache in my chest began to ease and fumbling to my feet, I pressed on until my hands touched the walls of the colliery. Cold air seeped out from the shallow entrance. It wouldn’t stay cold. I knew, the further down I went, the hotter it would get. Taking a final moment to steady myself, I stepped into the entrance, the dark cavernous mouth swallowing me whole.