Brigit's Flame August Week 3
For brigits_flame
prompt: canary in a cole mine
(Warning: LOTS of cussing & pubescent boys that think they're tough)
“Fuckin yella bitch!”
Gary’s fat-ass hand shoves me, surprisingly strong for someone that spends half his day shoveling Twinkies, or something, down this throat. I stumble backwards, bony-ass lightweight kid I’ve always been; regain my footing in the gravel. If I’m yellow for not wanting to run into an abandoned coal mine, so be it. I mug Gary’s Hulk-ass down.
“Better go get that shit!” Lil Cam squeaks, jeers at me from behind Gary’s bulk. There’s five of us, all kids from Windy Brook Lane (what kind of wuss name is that, right?). Sundays we ride our bikes up here, out to the old soccer field to throw around Jav’s brother’s football. It’s late today, almost 4 when we got here, and the sun’s started to go down. When Jimmy makes a pass to me the sun flares up in front of my eyes like a fireball and the ball flies straight over my head, bounce-bounce-skids into the fuckin’ coal mine.
Or that’s what I want to call it. Who the hell would put a soccer field (an abandoned one) by a (abandoned) coal mine? Right. It’s just a spooky cave, just a dark, dark hole in the hillside…
“I’m not going in there,” my voice cracks embarrassingly. Fuckin’ great. They’ve spread out now, circling around me, crime mobster movie wannabes.
“Hella scared,” Jimmy spits.
“You better get it, bruh, that’s my big brother’s,” Jav reminds me. His brother’s huge, taller and stronger than Gary.
“I’m not going in there,” I’m a broken record, weak. “That’s an abandoned coal mine!”
They laugh, crack up and guffaw all over the place. I force a little nervous smile on my face.
“Lookit this bitch,” Gary sniggers, points a pudgy finger at my face, “Makin’ up lies ‘n’ shit. That’s not a coal mine,” he grabs me by the front of my shirt, sweaty round face hella close, “And you’re gonna get Jav’s ball.”
Gary pulls me to the cave and throws me in.
I hit the ground with a scream and a thud. They’ll fuckin’ laugh about that, too, for days. I pull myself to my feet, my hands stinging, knees burning from the fall. I feel my pant leg. My jeans are ripped around the knee - Mom’ll kill me for that, I already know.
“Asshole!” I scream at Gary, half turning towards the entrance of the cave -
But there is no entrance. My voice snaps back against the walls of the coal mine cave, surrounds me, dies. It’s pitch fuckin’ black in here.
“Gary? Guys?” the echo is audibly nervous. “Guys!”
I scramble, feet leave the ground but it feels like I’m running it place - I search for the entrance, light, shadows, anything but this deep, endless night.
“Shit!” I choke. “Jimmy! Jav! Lil Cam! - What the fuck!”
My hands are out, grasping wide but there’s nothing, nothing to feel, no walls, definitely no football. I’ve been walking in the same direction for seconds, there must be something -
Hot. My hand burns white-hot and snaps back in shock. I still can’t see but there is something there, something burning, crackling?
“Shit -“
“Who are you?”
A voice from the dark, thick, gravelly, murky, all at once - as if unused to the words, as if its owner had not spoken for a long, long time. The sound slithers down my ear, through all the veins and tubes and fists an icy hand around my heart. I step backwards. The sound of my sneaker dislodging gravel is magnified ten thousand times in the dark.
“Uhh…”
I’m too fucking afraid to say anything else. My heart beats rapid, loud. My breath escapes my mouth unbidden, I swear he can hear it, smell it…
“WHO. ARE. YOU.”
The way a bomb must sound. The voice explodes this time, practically rattles the walls of the cave and I may never hear again, never escape the clutch of that voice but for some reason I’m running, sprinting, flying in the opposite direction. The tip of my shoe hooks something hard, my momentum hurls me to the ground, but something grabs me, a handful of fire digging into, burning through my jeans, my flesh and I scream, howl as the thing lifts me up, dangles me by my flaming leg, and breathes, hot putrid smoke, the smell of matches and Mom’s rusty stove…
Two, red lights flare before my face. Eyes, the most terrible eyes; they bore straight into me, pierce me like knives, blind me with red. Invisible lips curl back, and beyond my vision, something barely moves, sideways, closer…
An unearthly roar.
Teeth.
Then, there is nothing but heat.
---
The boys from Windy Brook Lane sat outside the cave, waiting. The setting sun blazed blood red behind them, an old oak tree casting a black shadow that encompassed them all. Miles had been gone for ten whole minutes, and the boys needed to be home soon.
“What’s taking him?” Lil Cam piped.
“Little bitch probably got lost…” Gary muttered, but something strange shook his voice. “Miles! What’s taking so long!” he shouted into the cave.
Something flew, hurdling with unearthly speed from the depths of the cavern. Gary ducked just in time; it severed the air where his head had been, thudding to the ground a few feet away from him.
The football scorched the gravel around it, releasing tiny plumes of black smoke.
“It says something!” Jav shouted, pointing to thick letters charred black into the rubber. The boys crowded in around the ball, blinking in the rising smoke. Jimmy read, curiously -
“'Stay out’.”
---
Oooch I think this is the end of the line for me, but this was quite fun to write. Comments/constructive crit are always nice. ;]
prompt: canary in a cole mine
(Warning: LOTS of cussing & pubescent boys that think they're tough)
“Fuckin yella bitch!”
Gary’s fat-ass hand shoves me, surprisingly strong for someone that spends half his day shoveling Twinkies, or something, down this throat. I stumble backwards, bony-ass lightweight kid I’ve always been; regain my footing in the gravel. If I’m yellow for not wanting to run into an abandoned coal mine, so be it. I mug Gary’s Hulk-ass down.
“Better go get that shit!” Lil Cam squeaks, jeers at me from behind Gary’s bulk. There’s five of us, all kids from Windy Brook Lane (what kind of wuss name is that, right?). Sundays we ride our bikes up here, out to the old soccer field to throw around Jav’s brother’s football. It’s late today, almost 4 when we got here, and the sun’s started to go down. When Jimmy makes a pass to me the sun flares up in front of my eyes like a fireball and the ball flies straight over my head, bounce-bounce-skids into the fuckin’ coal mine.
Or that’s what I want to call it. Who the hell would put a soccer field (an abandoned one) by a (abandoned) coal mine? Right. It’s just a spooky cave, just a dark, dark hole in the hillside…
“I’m not going in there,” my voice cracks embarrassingly. Fuckin’ great. They’ve spread out now, circling around me, crime mobster movie wannabes.
“Hella scared,” Jimmy spits.
“You better get it, bruh, that’s my big brother’s,” Jav reminds me. His brother’s huge, taller and stronger than Gary.
“I’m not going in there,” I’m a broken record, weak. “That’s an abandoned coal mine!”
They laugh, crack up and guffaw all over the place. I force a little nervous smile on my face.
“Lookit this bitch,” Gary sniggers, points a pudgy finger at my face, “Makin’ up lies ‘n’ shit. That’s not a coal mine,” he grabs me by the front of my shirt, sweaty round face hella close, “And you’re gonna get Jav’s ball.”
Gary pulls me to the cave and throws me in.
I hit the ground with a scream and a thud. They’ll fuckin’ laugh about that, too, for days. I pull myself to my feet, my hands stinging, knees burning from the fall. I feel my pant leg. My jeans are ripped around the knee - Mom’ll kill me for that, I already know.
“Asshole!” I scream at Gary, half turning towards the entrance of the cave -
But there is no entrance. My voice snaps back against the walls of the coal mine cave, surrounds me, dies. It’s pitch fuckin’ black in here.
“Gary? Guys?” the echo is audibly nervous. “Guys!”
I scramble, feet leave the ground but it feels like I’m running it place - I search for the entrance, light, shadows, anything but this deep, endless night.
“Shit!” I choke. “Jimmy! Jav! Lil Cam! - What the fuck!”
My hands are out, grasping wide but there’s nothing, nothing to feel, no walls, definitely no football. I’ve been walking in the same direction for seconds, there must be something -
Hot. My hand burns white-hot and snaps back in shock. I still can’t see but there is something there, something burning, crackling?
“Shit -“
“Who are you?”
A voice from the dark, thick, gravelly, murky, all at once - as if unused to the words, as if its owner had not spoken for a long, long time. The sound slithers down my ear, through all the veins and tubes and fists an icy hand around my heart. I step backwards. The sound of my sneaker dislodging gravel is magnified ten thousand times in the dark.
“Uhh…”
I’m too fucking afraid to say anything else. My heart beats rapid, loud. My breath escapes my mouth unbidden, I swear he can hear it, smell it…
“WHO. ARE. YOU.”
The way a bomb must sound. The voice explodes this time, practically rattles the walls of the cave and I may never hear again, never escape the clutch of that voice but for some reason I’m running, sprinting, flying in the opposite direction. The tip of my shoe hooks something hard, my momentum hurls me to the ground, but something grabs me, a handful of fire digging into, burning through my jeans, my flesh and I scream, howl as the thing lifts me up, dangles me by my flaming leg, and breathes, hot putrid smoke, the smell of matches and Mom’s rusty stove…
Two, red lights flare before my face. Eyes, the most terrible eyes; they bore straight into me, pierce me like knives, blind me with red. Invisible lips curl back, and beyond my vision, something barely moves, sideways, closer…
An unearthly roar.
Teeth.
Then, there is nothing but heat.
---
The boys from Windy Brook Lane sat outside the cave, waiting. The setting sun blazed blood red behind them, an old oak tree casting a black shadow that encompassed them all. Miles had been gone for ten whole minutes, and the boys needed to be home soon.
“What’s taking him?” Lil Cam piped.
“Little bitch probably got lost…” Gary muttered, but something strange shook his voice. “Miles! What’s taking so long!” he shouted into the cave.
Something flew, hurdling with unearthly speed from the depths of the cavern. Gary ducked just in time; it severed the air where his head had been, thudding to the ground a few feet away from him.
The football scorched the gravel around it, releasing tiny plumes of black smoke.
“It says something!” Jav shouted, pointing to thick letters charred black into the rubber. The boys crowded in around the ball, blinking in the rising smoke. Jimmy read, curiously -
“'Stay out’.”
---
Oooch I think this is the end of the line for me, but this was quite fun to write. Comments/constructive crit are always nice. ;]