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short story its not very good though
It’s a hard life
The stress of every day life, up early in the morning then having to work all day. It’s really tiring but we all need to so we all just put up with it. Down here its cold, its dark and in some places its wet but after a while you get used to the harsh environment, we don’t even get a proper break its all constant hard work, its not even exciting just simple, basic mining and then carrying the load outside. It can be very painful on the back. I don’t even know how many workers there are here, I’ve heard that there is quite a lot of us but I never see many different faces so I always thought that it was all just the same guys each time but then again it is hard to distinguish down here so there could very well be lots. Time to start a long day of work…here I go.
Trudging down the old caverns listening to the sounds of the ground being broken apart and the occasional groan of an older worker suffering the strain of carrying his heavy load outside, making room for the next worker to aid in the clear away. Any slip ups and the boss won’t be happy so we are all that little bit extra careful. The boss has too much work to do, any interference can be hazardous. Although some problems can’t be avoided, I’ve been here for ages, for months or at least it feels like months, you lose track of any sign on time keeping down here. Every now and again we get the occasional cave-in and more commonly a flood; there is a lot of rain in these parts of the world or even the occasional intruder. Opposition trying to gain control of our shafts but each time they try we show them, throw them out, it might take a lot of us but we do it well. We might lose a few workers but in the end there’s always more and we still have our mines so it’s all good. It’s almost my turn to work it’s a simple procedure, just break the ground a bit and carry the biggest piece of debris out to the surface. This clears the way for other workers and for the boss’ work. I’ve been cued up for a while so I suppose it’ll be good to move a bit more freely. I guess by the time I’ve been waiting that the rumours of lots of workers could be true, surely it would have to be for a cue this big. Right it’s my turn now, the real start of a hard day.
It doesn’t take long to break the rock, just a few bashes here and there then a strong yank and it comes free, the hard part is carrying it back out. Need to keep it steady for the whole way, held high above me, sometimes these rocks weigh twice as much as me but it’s all part of a days work so you get used to carrying lots. Thankfully I got a rather small piece this time, but that will change later probably. It’s a very long walk to the surface, but we don’t pay attention or keep time so we just keep going with our task on our mind doing as were told, almost continuously up, very steep and difficult to walk up but it’s all about perseverance and you learn a lot about that down here. Every day we do this all in silence as well all we get are the mining sounds and the occasional warning from other workers about the mines, warning us about a cave-in, a flood or and intruder. Shaft four collapsed so there’s a big focus over there, lots of miners were crushed…poor guys but it couldn’t be stopped. I’m almost out now, I can see the light from outside, and I need to drop my load with the rest then come back for another round. I just hope they don’t make me work for too long, some have to work for days on end and die from exhaustion but its all part of our daily routine and were told it must be done so no-one raises a complaint. I can see more of the light now, I’m almost there. Maybe ill run away this time, live my life away from the labour but in the big world out id be killed straight away, it’s too dangerous so I guess I’ll just stay.
Right I’m here now, finally, now just drop everything…there we go and that’s me for round one. I can feel the wave of relief from my back but that wont last for long I need to go back now. The boss is soon to bring in the new workers; a new generation of miners so hopefully things will ease up for me but then again things never get easier it’s all the same all the time. Here I go again, cueing up once again, then again and again…we ants really do live a hard life its all just work.
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turn thee unto me with mercy for i am desolate and lost: psalm 25
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