A Student's Story: The Gold Mine

Students were asked to write a horror story for class. Olmo, one of our higher-level students, wrote the story below, and we thought it was so good that we had to share it with you. So, if you dare to enter the mine, keep reading…

A man lives near an abandoned gold mine. Local legends say that huge amounts of gold have been left there after a mine collapse. He wants to find it so he spends a large amount of time planning this venture. The mine is 1000 ft deep, the only way to access it is through a mineshaft that runs parallel to all of the levels.

An old rusty mine elevator stands atop the shaft. The wind brushes against the structure, creating all kinds of high pitched metal screeches. The complex machinery is housed inside a metal shed found near the elevator structure. A friend of his is going to operate the heavy machinery, while he descends into the mine alone.

He steps into rusty elevator cab, he thinks about the men that entered into the same cab, only to find their dooms. He pauses for a moment, then after a deep breath, he gives his friend the signal to go ahead.

Like a bear waking from a deep slumber, the elevator starts loudly groaning, steel scraping against steel. After staying still for a few moments, the cab shakes violently, and with a loud scream it starts slowly moving downwards, enveloping it in the darkness of the mineshaft. Gradually the air grows colder, the cab light flickers, dust and debris falls from the walls of the shaft, it sounds echoing throughout the mine. Suddenly the cab jolts to a stop, its quick movement startling him, he slowly opens the gate, revealing a tunnel that seems to lead to nowhere. The mummified remains of a fox lie next to him. Slowly, he regains his composure and he cautiously starts proceeding down the tunnel.

The Cyclic sounds of his footsteps sloshing against the puddles are only interrupted by the occasional distant tumbling of rocks. He gets to an intersection and, without hesitating, he takes a left turn. He continues down that path for what seems like hours, blazing past a couple of more intersections without even noticing what path he is taking.

Slowly realizing the mistake that he has made, he tries to mentally retrace back his path, but he is not able to. He abruptly stops, his breath growing louder and louder. He turns back and  he starts walking at a great pace to what he thinks is the path to the exit, only to get more lost in the maze of corridors, every tunnel looking the same. The seriousness of his situation dawns on him. He starts running , in his panicked state he doesn’t realize that he is standing on old scaffolding, which suddenly gives way, plunging him into a pit below. He hurriedly tries to climb its walls, but he just ends up causing gravel to fall in. Hours pass, the hope of being found fading, his voice tired from shouting at the top of his lungs, slowly his lights dims, the darkness of the mine finally swallowing him.