Underneath

Trapped

As he stirred awake, Alex opened his eyes and looked around, but all he saw was darkness. After he realized what was going on he cried out frantically, jumping up and running to where the entrance would have been. A large wall of heavy rocks, nothing even budged. The cave was now considerably smaller and more cramped, all except for a single ray of sunshine peeking through the ceiling. A slit had been created where a couple rocks were pushing away from each other with their sharp edges. 

Alex quickly raised his mouth to the hole. 

"Hey! Hey, I'm in here!" he shouted.

After there was no response, he dug into his pocket and pulled out his phone, only to find there was no service. He pleaded and raised his phone to the hole, and nearly gasped as a single bar lit up on the screen. The first thing he did was dial his mother's number.

"Alex? Where have you been?" his mother's voice asked.

"Mom, you've got to help me. I'm trapped at the rock quarry. I-"

"Hello?"

Alex looked down at his phone, then raised it back to his ear.

"Mom, can you hear me?" he asked.

There was no response, and he realized his microphone was probably damaged during his tumble earlier. He checked the time then quickly went over to text messages and began to type.

mom help me im stuck in a hole at the rock quarry

Alex hit send, and a small orange triangle popped up saying that the message could not send. He realized his one bar was now gone and threw his phone onto the cave floor in frustration, unsure what to do. Finally, he dropped down in hopelessness. 

...

Alex had sat there for about an hour with his arms folded and his head between his knees before finally getting an idea. He knew he had to find a way to signal the construction workers outside, and he quickly got to brainstorming. Finally, he decided to unzip his bookbag and dump everything in it. A large pile formed on the floor as he examined all his belongings.

As he dug through the contents of the pile, he realized he had a few things like paper, notebooks, and some art supplies. He also had a bag of chips he was going to eat today along with his lighter he planned to smoke with. After a moment of thinking, he had an idea and grabbed a few sheets of paper, rolling them up with one end very wide and the other end very tight with a tiny hole at the end, sort of like a funnel. He raised the paper funnel to the hole in the ceiling and stuck the fat end up to the hole, trying to remember how this worked.

There was a trick he had half-learned in science glass, and he grabbed the lighter and lit the small end of the funnel aflame. If he had done it right, the paper funnel would create a small line of smoke that would reach several feet high. However, his funnel was quickly engulfed in flames. Something wasn't done right, and the funnel was decimated in a matter of seconds. He needed something that didn't burn quite as easily, and he quickly wished he had paid more attention in his science class. 

As he wondered what to do, he turned to his notebook on the floor. He quickly tore off the cardboard cover and made another funnel of similar shape, jamming it into the hole. After another moment of thought, he realized that maybe he needed some tinder as he struggled to remember the science lesson. He grabbed another sheet of paper, tore it into shreds, and stuffed them into the top of the funnel before lighting the small end once again. This time he kept the flame well away from the cardboard to hopefully let the process take its own course.

Finally, a small orange flame burned on the paper. He quickly dropped the lighter to the floor and watched as the flame caught onto the rest of the cardboard, and then nothing happened. Alex yelled in frustration and dropped the useless funnel to the ground, growing desperate. Suddenly, he jumped und planted his mouth to the hole, speaking as loud as he could.