The Dream Mine

The Dream Mine

…

How long have I been in this cave? It can't be too long; my phone says it's only been 8 hours since I got up this morning.

The cave I’ve been crawling around in is very dark and my only illumination is my quickly dying iPod's screen. The cave walls are encrusted with huge reflective crystal formations. Could this perhaps still be the mine that old man bought?

The area I woke up in has black scorch marks in the area. The crystals are cracked, and some might have been obliterated. If the glitter-like substance around my feet is any indication, it's likely an explosion occurred here. Is teleporting really that violent?

I was hoping to sit here and wait to see if anyone might rescue me. But how would anyone know I was in here? Where ever I am... Since it's winter, it's freezing in these caves, and if how pitch dark it is without my Ipod is an indication, I’m probably really deep in this cave.

It's time to start trying to find a way out...

As I stood up and started walking, I started to think about all the events that led to my current situation. An insatiable curiosity combined with peer pressure from a friend is how I discovered a secret organization. A secret organization that created a portal to who knows where.

Sounds absolutely batshit crazy, right? But to make the most sense I have to think back to the day Ezekiel came to my home, and the legend that planted the curiosity in the first place...

…

The story

…

‘The Dream Mine’, they call it. Apparently, decades ago a farmer once had a vivid dream that the mountains to the south housed tons of silver. He dreamt of leaving his life of farming, starting a mine on these mountains, and striking it rich. According to old maps of the place, they dug a third of a mile into the mountain, but only ever found 10 ounces of silver. A decent amount, but not enough to pay for the miners, and maintain the mine.

The mine was abandoned...

… Not until the late 90's. If you climb up the trail that leads to the “Dream Mine” now, you'll find it to be guarded. Not by military, or any law enforcement agency...

Privately. Owned. Guards.

What the hell could they be guarding in there?

What's so important that no outsiders can know about it?

That's what my friend Ezekiel oh so desperately wanted to find out.

…

One day earlier

…

*beep* *beep* *beep* *beep* *beep* *beep*

Uhhhhhhnnnnggghhhh

The alarm clock is going off.

Which is a good indication I should wake up.

But I don't want to… It's Friday and we have an extra day off from school. Why did I set my alarm in the first place? This is bullshit.

I managed to force my eyelids open a little and look towards my window. The sun was just peaking up above the stark white mountains to the east. I rolled over on to my left side to view my alarm clock.

10:31 AM. And its still beeping.

*beep* *beep* *beep* *beep* *beep* *beep*

I gave my alarm clock the death stare, but to no avail. I'd have to do something about this personally. I pulled my arm out of my cocoon of bedding, extended it into the cold air and flipped the switch to ALARM: OFF, effectively silencing my adversary.

I shifted myself into a sitting position on my bed, with my knees tucked towards my chest. Out of habit, I sat my head on my knees and rested my palms on top of my head, feeling the very short stubble growing in from my scalp.

What am I going to do today?

Ripping the sheets off my body, I proceeded to lazily roll off of my bed and onto the floor.

Once I stood up I walked towards my window to get a better view of my street.

It must have snowed last night. There's at least 6 inches of fresh snow on all of my neighbors' lawns. The sidewalks were all shoveled and the snowplows have been through to clear the roads already.

Most of the children in my neighborhood were out playing in the snow; the majority of them were having an epic snowball fight. A few other groups along the block here and there were making snowmen. It was a picturesque scene.

A wave of nostalgia hit me as I remembered myself doing the same as a young child. But now, at the age of 17 all I want to do is get back to sleep. The only problem was if dad found me sleeping past noon he'd kick my ass.

Releasing a deep breath, I turned around, opened my door, and walked to my bathroom just across the hall. Leaning my arms on the granite countertop, I looked at myself in the smudged, dirty mirror. I could certainly see the dark stubble of incoming hair on my face and the top of my head.

I opened one of the many drawers under the counter and grabbed a black disposable razor and a light-blue canister of shaving gel.

F.Y.I., shaving your head hurts like a son of a bitch. The razor blade will constantly catch on your scalp hair, and cause many cuts.

After giving the same treatment to my face as I did my head, I rubbed my hands along my now baby-skin smooth scalp. Appreciating my work, I removed my plain white t-shirt and pajama bottoms and looked in my spare clothes drawer. I picked a light blue t-shirt with Kurt Cobain plastered on the front and NIRVANA in white lettering adorning Kurt's waist-line. Those and a pair of dark blue Levi jeans.

Giving myself one-last look over before I proceed down stairs, I stared deep into my dark-brown eyes and thought to myself:

I'm going to be productive today!

After giving myself a grin in the mirror, I was off downstairs.

...

I was sitting on my couch playing Call of Duty when I heard the knock on my door.

*knock knock knock*

I turned my head to look at the same minute my in-game character got knifed, and thus died.

"Ffff-!" I started, but decided shouting a vulgarity wasn't a good idea with a guest in ear-shot.

"One sec!" I stood up, walked towards the door, and peered into the peep-hole...

"God damn it." I muttered

I unlocked and opened the door to reveal my good friend, Ezekiel Lewis. But I always called him “Zeke”. Ezekiel is such a pain in the ass to say. It sounds like what a Russian kid would say on Call of Duty for killing an AFK player.

“ ‘Sup, asshole!" He said while proceeding to jab me in the gut, causing me to slouch over and grunt in pain.

"Hey..." I replied.

Why today? Can't I have just a day to relax? I guess it was going to be a boring day anyway. Maybe the spastic, off-the-wall behavior of my friend here will help spice the day up a bit.

"Playing Cock 'o' Dooky, I see!" Zeke said while he jumped onto my couch.

Like literally jumped.

Feet first.

"Zeke, I told you not to do that!"

"Do... What exactly?" Seriously?

"Jump into my couch! You'll break it!"

"Calm your tits!" He yelled back at me, taking his black beanie off and pelting me in the face with it. His originally brown faux-hawk was now dyed blond.

"Dyed your hair?" I asked.

"Sure did! You like it?" He asked back, seeking my approval.

"Meh." I said plainly.

"What do you mean 'Meh'?!" He quickly stood up.

"Okay! Okay! I like it!" I quickly responded, not wanting to start conflict.

"That's better." Zeke said giving me a large toothy grin. "So, what do you want to do today?"

I didn't feel like going out and doing anything, it was nearing 15 degrees Fahrenheit outside.

"I don't know, I was thinking of staying indoors today." Zeke gave me the most disappointed and appalled look he could muster.

"Indoors?! We can't let all your excess energy go to waste!"

"Energy? I don't have any energy! As long as we don't do anything involving excessive physical exertion I'll be down for anything." I said, hoping Zeke would just agree to stay indoors.

"Well, that leaves us next to nothin'! Wait... You got any money?" I knew he would ask that. But I wasn't giving him any money to shop around the mall for an hour.

"No." I said flatly.

I sat for about ten minutes just listening to Zeke constantly vocalizing his thoughts.

"Um..."

"Uh..."

"Well.." Finally Zeke perked up, and looked at me with a look of realization on his face.

"You know, we could go up to the mine." The mine?

"What, you mean the Dream Mine?" I asked. Zeke nodded at me.

"Yeah, yeah, it's been on my bucket list to go up there to the mine since I heard about it, and I know you've always been curious about it, too! You know, see if we can get inside. See what all those guards and shit are protecting up there."

"You actually believe those stories?" I deadpanned.

The mountains to the south had an ominous looking white building on it for as long as I could remember. When I was younger I pretended it was an evil fortress. My mom told me a while back that a farmer had a dream of starting a mine on the mountain, thus it was called the "Dream Mine". He dreamt of striking an ass load of silver and becoming rich, but due to there being little to no silver, it was abandoned. Allegedly, there are armed guards to deter any possible sightseers, now. A lot of people believe they are hiding something from the mass of the public.

Which is bullshit. Although, allegedly, the guards aren't from the army, nor are they cops, which I found odd.

"Yeah, I believe the stories! Let's go and drive up there, what do you have to lose?" He asked.

"I'm not going out in the below freezing weather to go storm a mine. Even if there are guards, they're going to make us leave anyway!" Why would Zeke even suggest this? It was pointless either way. Cool, an abandoned mine, or cool, guards telling us to go away.

"That's why we sneak inside!" Oh hell no.

"Dude-" I started, but was quickly interrupted.

"No! When was the last time you did something exciting? And when I mean exciting, I mean something you could tell to chicks to try to pick them up!" Good question.

"Um-"

"Exactly!" he interrupted again.

Zeke proceeded to pull one of the worst 'puppy-dog' looks I've ever seen. "Pleeeeeaassee dude! It can count as my birthday present!"

"Your birthday is in three months..."

"So?!"

I thought for a bit. I guess doing something like this would be fun, but dangerous.

Fun, but dangerous... Hmm...

"Fine, I guess so."

"Sweet shit, dude!"

A feeling of dread hit me. A feeling that something bad was going to happen. Was it something I ate?

I looked outside. It was getting pretty late. My parents will be home soon. "Hey dude," I started.

"What's up?"

"Can we do it tomorrow morning though? We won't have much time to do it this late, anyway."

"Sure shit, dude! I guess I'll show myself out then. See ya first thing in the morning!" Zeke started towards the door.

"For sure!" I called after him as the door shut behind him.

...

"Scotty! Dinner's ready!"

"Alright! Be right down!" I closed Google Chrome, put my computer to sleep and rushed downstairs.

I walked briskly into the kitchen to see my dad sitting at the table and my mom putting a load of spaghetti on everyone's plates.

"How was work today?" I asked both of them while seating myself.

They both gave the same neutral answer, "It was fine".

My mom sat to my right and my dad sat directly across the table from me.

"How was your day, Scotty?" My mom asked sweetly.

"Same old, same old." I said in between mouthfuls of my food. Damn this spaghetti was good.

"Oh." I remembered my conversation with Zeke today. I'd better let my parents know I won't be home. "Oh, um, i'm hanging out with Zeke in the morning."

My dad looked up from his plate and frowned, "I wish you'd stop messing with that kid, he's gonna land you into trouble one day." Dad never really did like Zeke.

"Dad, he's fine, I know he's a bit off the wall but he'd never get me in trouble on purpose."

"Yeah, on purpose." My dad nodded. "Well, be sure to be back home at night. We wouldn't want to get worried about you."

"For sure, dad." I reassured him.

We all continued to eat our food in peace.

...

I was sitting on my bed listening to music when my mom walked in. "Hey, Scott."

"Oh, what's up mom?" I asked.

She came and sat on the edge of my bed. "You know your dad is just worried about you, right?"

"Of course I do. Why do you ask?" Her response surprised me.

"Well, we've both been worrying about you. We just don't feel that you're safe when you around Ezekiel, and I know he's a sweet guy, but he's just, well, reckless."

She's worried about me? Why? Does she know about the mine?

"Mom, I know you and dad don't like Zeke, but I assure you, we'll be fine! We're probably going to do something boring and unexciting anyway."

"Well, if you say so." She paused. "Just be careful tomorrow."

"I will, mom."

After saying goodnight and turning off my light, I wrapped myself in my blanket and went to bed without a worry. I had no way of knowing what kind of shit I was about to be in the following morning.

...

The following morning

...

It was Winter, my favorite season to be sure. The mountainside was beautiful in this snowy weather. The light snowfall accented the leafless trees in the area nicely. It was a good day to be drinking a glass of Hot Chocolate at home, with Christmas specials playing on TV.

That's what I would be doing. But I'm up in the mountains attempting to breach a heavily guarded and supposedly abandoned mine.

“Zeke, this is such bullshit! Let's just turn back!” I pleaded to Ezekiel, as we hid in the bushes overlooking the mine.

“No way you puss! Are you really that scared?” he asked me.

Charming.

Zeke, was wearing his usual Gold's Gym workout clothes (which to me looked douchey, but if he's proud for staying fit,

let him be).

I, however, was wearing my Kurt Cobain shirt for the second day in a row, with a thin red hoodie jacket to help the cold. Which, it really didn't.

Now here I was… Ready to storm an abandoned mine... That is, until I found out the mine really

IS guarded.

“Of course I am! Look at that guy! Does he look like a pushover to you?!”

The rumors were also true, in that it wasn't guarded by any military or law enforcement agency. The uniform was nothing I could recognize. The guard wore dark green button up shirt and ankle long khakis. Their shirts had a symbol on the front right breast pocket: a crescent moon with many star bursts surrounding it.

What was it supposed to mean?

Who knows… Something having to do with astronomy?

Not to mention these guys were armed, a pistol of some sorts with three extra magazines of ammunition strapped to his belt. I was most definitely having second thoughts.

“Besides, what do you want to bet that door is locked and needs a key?” I was pointing out the steel doorway the guard was standing in front of.

“They say the guards will just give you a warning if they see you, hows about I get his attention, and once he starts walking towards me to give me the 'you can't be here' routine, you open up that air vent next to the door and slip through?”

The mine's exterior was a three-story tall building. Each story jutted out a different distance from the mountain with the bottom level coming out the most while the top-most story was hugging close to the mountainside.

The air vent he was talking about sat right next to the door. I could see that I would barely fit

through it. Noise would be a problem too. It opened with a latch at the top. If it was rusted out, I would be heard for sure.

I pressed my hands into my face and muttered, "Dude, if I get caught sneaking in there i'm fucked."

Zeke tried to console me, however. "Nothing bad will happen to you, man, I promise!"

Zeke wasn't letting me go back, so I begrudgingly agreed. I swallowed down the lump of anxiety in my throat. “... Okay.” Those guards better give me a warning. Getting domed is not the way I want to go out.

We both positioned ourselves accordingly.

Zeke was a pretty good actor and he showed it off here. He walked out of the shrubbery, looking completely lost and confused. The guard immediately perked up at the sight of another person.

“Sorry kid, you can't be anywhere near here...”

He starts to say some line he has probably practiced to himself a thousand times, while moving towards Zeke.

I was starting to have cold feet, but Zeke put his neck on the line for me to get into this damn mine… I wasn't going to let his efforts be in vain! I rushed as quietly as I could towards the air vent, sitting a few feet from the front entrance.

“Sir, I’m lost. Do you have a phone I can use to call my mom?” Zeke asks with a sniffle.

“Sorry kid, just go back the way you came...” The guard said to him, but I can hear Zeke start to whimper, as I get to the air vent and kneel down. I look back for just a second and Zeke's on his knees with his face in his palms sobbing madly. And the Oscar goes too...

I slid the latch of the air vent to the 'open' position. Eureka. Surprisingly, it opened without a sound. I slowly eased the vent guard down to the ground.

I knelt down and started to crawl into the mine as I faintly heard the guard begin to moan his exasperations.

“Jesus Christ, seriously?-”... I pulled the vent guard closed behind me.

...

Crawling on my arms and knees through the ventilation shafts was quite the experience. Barely able to fit, and cold drafts causing me to get goosebumps. Good shit.

The shafts were barely illuminated by a light a few feet ahead of me and around a corner. Which i'm guessing there will be another vent guard.

As I turned the corner however a trio of rats were sitting next to each other at the vent opening. Seeing me, they quickly scrambled to get away from me, the obvious direction for escape being directly towards me.

Obviously.

As the rats ran in between my arms and legs, I, for obvious reasons, flipped my shit.

"Fucking hell!" I yelled in a panic trying to hit the mice away with my arms.

Immediately realizing my huge mistake I quickly covered my mouth with both hands. A useless gesture, the vulgarity had already left my mouth.

After sitting there for ten minutes, I reasoned that nobody heard me, so I continued towards the vent guard while I tried to locate the latch.

Found it. Opening the vent guard with a slight squeek I stepped into what appeared to be a large hallway. It went a long distance in either direction with many doors and small windows opening into who knows how

many rooms.

I’m in. I thought to myself as I started strolling through the mine... Laboratory... Place.

It didn't look a thing like a mine anymore. It looked more like Black Mesa from Half-Life than a mine!

I walked down a few surprisingly unguarded halls... Were most of the guards off for holidays?

The walls were made of a very shiny material, perhaps steel. The illumination came from many very bright light bulbs hanging from the ceiling and the flooring was made of nothing but bright white tiles.

Different signs were posted on the walls at every corner where a hallway led off. I tried to see if there was anything listed that would be worth hiding from the public, but apparently, all the hallways I was near led to such boring, uninteresting places as:

Cafeteria...

Break room...

Equipment storage...

Teleportation test chamber...

Yeah, stupid crap I’m not interes-... Teleportation? They test teleportation here? How does no one know about this?! This is a huge deal! It could- “Who the hell are you?! You aren't supposed to be here!”

I immediately stopped my internal dialogue and turned around slowly.

It's one of the guards... Suit and ugly meat head and all.

“You're coming with me...” But before he could grab me, I started running down a randomly chosen hall.

Shit shit shit shit! What if I'd seen to much?! Are they gonna kill me?!

“STOP! WAIT!” the guard called after me.

I could hear more guards running after me; the one who spotted me probably called for help. But if those god damn meat heads think I’m going to just stop they have another thing coming.

…

I started to lose my breath and my sides began to hurt, but not soon enough for the guards as I sharply turned a corner and busted through a large double door to the chagrin of numerous men in lab coats.

But what was towering behind them made me stop breathing so heavily... Nearly, at least.

A towering complex machine was hooked up to all kinds of computers and generators around the room. It had a 10 foot tall circular arch in the center of a large circle and a walkway beginning at the base which extended to my feet...

This... This is what they were guarding.

I can hear the doors behind me slam open, but before I can start running again they grabbed a hold of

me. They were too strong for me to break free.

“Jesus, kid! Do you know how much shit you're in?! Literally. Like, NECK deep in shit, if only you would have stopped when we told you to!”

“But I thought I saw too much! I thought... you were going to kill me, or something!” I spluttered, still trying to catch my breath.

“Well, we probably are now.” The guards replied shaking his head. I tried to choke out a reply, but not before a loud blaring noise filled the room. It was the sound of an intercom activating.

“Is that the kid?” The voice was chilling, in how uncaring it was.

One of the scientists chimed in and looks upwards, as if the man resided in the upper corner of the room.

“Yes, Mr. Roper. He's seen... the gate.” “The Gate” must be the the thing in the middle of the room. The teleporter.

The intercom blared again.

“So we can't let him leave.” They're going to kill me. I tried to speak for myself,

“I won't tell anyone about this! I swear! Just let me go!” The very pissed off guard on my left, (who had horrible breath, by the way) put his face next to mine.

“Tough luck! You should've stopped when we told you to!” The scientist spoke up again.

“Shall we dispose of him Mr. Roper?”

There's a pause, I’m hyperventilating by now.

Oh man. Please let me go, please let me go... I thought to myself, even though I know it's not going to happen. A dreadful moment of silence follows.

Finally after what seems to be an eternity, the intercom blares once more.

“Is the gate working? Do you know where it goes?” The scientist thinks for a moment.

“Yes sir, the gate does work, but we do not know yet where it leads, we have yet to get any data back from the subjects we've sent in. ”

They wouldn't...

"Well. Let's try, AGAIN. Stick him with a tracker and a weak sedative, then put him through.”

Immediately the lab coats started frantically typing on their computers and flipping switches. The circular gate starts to spin and forms a swirling purple mass in the center. This is crazy! Where's Zeke when you need him?!

“Are you all insane?! What if I turn up miles under the ocean?! Or hundreds of feet in the air?! What if- Ow!” I felt two different needles get inserted into my right upper arm.

I heard a lab coat mutter, “He's going to get quite the surprise.”

I tried to say more, but my whole body starts to numb and my vision starts fading, the guards start dragging me towards the gate as the world around me turned black.

The last thing I hear before I black out is a voice.

“Nothing personal, kid.”