July 1998
Sixty minutes before…
None of the group had expected it to be so dark. They had of course heard from friends and family about the ‘blackness’ of the mine. But, despite the descriptions given, it hadn’t prepared them for it. Neve led the group, slowly moving down, and it became clear very quickly that they would become lost if they were not very careful.
‘Neve, don’t you think we’ve explored enough?’ Holly asked, shuffling along somewhere near the back of the group.
‘You’re not scared, are you?’ Georgia replied.
‘Yes! I’m freaking out, I can’t even see my hand in front of my face.’
‘Hang on.’
Baz pulled out his Zippo lighter, sparked it and a small flame began to flicker. It caught the angles of his face, and the rivets in the rock, creating sharp lines that made both he and the mine itself appear menacing. Jamie followed, igniting his disposable lighter. Michael pulled out a small wind-up torch that barely held its charge, so every few steps he had to turn the handle to generate more light. Its dull beam reflected off exposed metal rods that supported the tunnel and chains that still hung from the ceiling. Being able to see was somehow more unnerving.
‘There, is that better, Holly?’ Neve asked.
‘Not really, no,’ she replied honestly.
Neve pressed on, Jamie by her side, holding her hand in the darkness. They turned left, and then right, each step taking further down.
‘Neve, do you have any idea where we’re heading?’
‘Dad often speaks of this place. I think I know where we are.’
‘We’re gonna get lost unless we leave a trail,’ said Baz.
The group agreed and knew they needed to act like Hansel and Gretel and leave a trail of breadcrumbs to guide them back. But they didn’t have bread, so at each junction, each turn in the narrow passages, a member of the group removed an item of soaking wet, superfluous clothing. Michael’s hat, Neve’s hoody, Jamie even left his shoes, claiming he wanted to be more connected to the moment. With the intermittent illumination from the lighters and wind-up torch, and the trail to guide them back, the group began to relax. Michael took it upon himself to try and scare the others by running ahead and jumping out of dark corners, making the group laugh when Baz screamed like he was a five-year-old girl.
‘Stop it, you bastard!’
‘Mate, you crack me up.’
‘Fuck off!’
They all began to shout down the tunnels, their voices bouncing back in perfect echoes. Everyone but Jamie, who walked quietly, barefoot, absorbing the life he felt he should have had.
Before long, they came across a turning that veered to the right, tracks laid in the rock, which coal would have been shunted along. An upturned coal cart lay close by, now all rusted through.
‘The water is flowing, that’s good,’ said Jamie, looking at the small channel of water running close to where they walked.
‘What?’
‘My granddad used to tell me, flowing water was OK; water that was stagnant wasn’t.’
They moved slowly, the ground underfoot slippery. Georgia complained that her new trainers were getting ruined. But no one else passed comment, they were too busy concentrating on the next step. Above them, chains hung lifelessly every few metres. Chloe half expected one to begin to swing at any moment.
‘I think he died down there.’ Jamie pointed to his left, where a dark cavern extended away. Somewhere down there lay the corpse of a buried miner. But his was not the only story that came from these depths. Tales of rail carts moving on their own and whispers in people’s ears. Men’s screams. As they turned down it, Neve felt the air move around her, sweeping through her hair, and her cocksure attitude was swept away with it.
Michael stopped messing around and walked towards the tracks. ‘Right, let’s do this,’ he said, his tone serious, which was more nerve-wracking than when he was trying to scare the others.
Nodding, Baz took off his rucksack and unzipped it, pulling out a solid wooden board.
‘What is that?’ Holly asked.
‘What do you think it is?’ Michael replied.
‘No. No, you didn’t say anything about a ouija board. No, I want to go – I want to go now!’
‘Come on, Holly, you don’t actually believe in this stuff?’ Neve asked quietly, trying to reassure her, but she wasn’t kidding anyone; the board made her feel afraid also, despite her suggesting they brought one down.
‘All I know is there are things we don’t know. I don’t wanna start pissing around with it.’
‘Fine. Go if you want.’
‘Are you coming?’
‘No way! I’m staying here,’ Neve said, trying to sound sure of herself.
‘Is anyone coming?’ Holly asked, her voice bouncing off the cavern walls, and once it faded, it was greeted with the return of silence.
‘We all wanna stay,’ Baz said. ‘Come on, Holly. Nothing will happen. It’ll be fun.’
Reluctantly, Holly nodded and walked into the narrow shaft to join the others who had placed themselves around the ouija board, a glass from Baz’s kitchen upside down on the top. One at a time, they placed a finger on the glass.
‘So, what do we do?’ he asked.
‘I guess we ask questions?’
‘OK, who’s gonna go first?’
The group looked at one another, waiting for someone to speak. Rolling his eyes, Jamie began.
‘If there is anyone down here, let us know. Make the glass move. Make a noise. Something.’
They all held their breaths, staring at the top of the glass, waiting for something to happen. After a few moments Jamie looked up, and the group caught his eye. He looked like he heard something.
‘If there is anyone here, move the glass, spell out your name. Bang something,’ he called again. And again, they waited in silence.
‘I don’t think…’ Michael began his sentence before being cut off by a distant noise.
‘Did you hear that?’
‘What the fuck was that?’ Georgia asked.
‘I’m freaking out,’ Holly said, letting go of the glass.
‘Guys, shut up,’ Jamie interrupted. ‘If that was you, can you do it again, so, we can hear it clearer.’
Another tap came from somewhere down the mine.
‘Fuck!’ Baz said, covering his mouth.
‘Jamie, say something else,’ Michael said excitedly.
‘Can you do it again? This time, tap twice.’
A pause, and then, just as the group began to breathe once more, two taps quietly returned, the sound of hammer on rock, sending the group into a frenzy. Michael and Georgia were grinning, afraid, but enjoying the fear. Neve found herself clutching onto Jamie, and Chloe held onto her. Holly began to cry, and Baz tried to comfort her.
‘Could you do it again?’ Jamie called out, stepping away from Neve and Chloe who held each other tighter. ‘Make a clearer noise. So, we know for sure you’re definitely listen…’
The bangs picked up again, more than they could count. Louder than a tap. Much louder. It sounded like a metal pipe hitting something else metal. Like the ghost was hitting the steel arteries that reinforced the tunnels with a hammer. It came from in front of them, a place deeper into the mine, further into the bowels of hell. Then, just as the group began to panic, it stopped.
‘Michael, wind up the torch,’ Jamie said quietly, his breathing jagged and shallow. Nodding, Michael did as Jamie asked and once it had a bit of power, he flicked it on in the direction of the sound.
‘What the fuck…’
Down the mine, just on the edge of what they could see, something stood in the middle of the passage. ‘What is that?’
‘Some sort of machine?’ Georgia queried; the smile wiped from her face.
Michael advanced, and after three steps the torch went out.
‘Shit,’ he said, quickly winding it again. When he held it up, the thing was moving towards them. The Drifter.
The group descended into hysteria, screaming, crying, running. Baz dropped his lighter and Michael’s torch failed again as the group tried to run the way they came, back to the entrance of the mine.