FOES AND WOES

CHAPTER V: LOSS AND LIES

The shaft slowed down as we reached up. It creaked more at the top. It came to a complete stop soon. We got off it. The view I got was crazy. The grasslands were vast, like huge. All of it was covered in high grass or wheat. It was a flat land and not a single tree was to be seen. The only structure visible was another mineshaft in distance. Some smoke was coming out of a pipe. There was another structure pretty far away from the shaft. It was a hut. It was made of bricks and had a roof made of wheat stalks.

There was a bright light shining on the mineshaft. There were several people inside and outside the mineshaft. From what I could see, Mr. Derving was standing in the distance and he looked pretty frustrated. I immediately took out my camera and pushed it into Jake's hand. Lilly looked offended. I was pretty happy. In the background of the grasslands, one could see the high mountains rise into the sky. There were trees there which had leaves.

I was amazed but Lilly and Jake weren't. Apex and Bruno immediately started running here and there. We would have problem navigating the grasslands as the grass or the wheat (I am sorry I can't distinguish) we're pretty high. They were as long as my knee. The dogs were almost lost in the grass when Lilly decided to get a hold of them.

When I looked back, I could see the vast sea and land coming from both the sides to leave a small opening between the bay and the ocean. In the far distance in the bay, I saw a yacht. It was pretty dirty and big but from this distance, it seemed small. Small Paw was actually really small. I also looked over to the East plateaus and realised how shorter they were as compared to west plateau.
The east plateau eventually did emerge with a dense forest. We walked towards the mineshaft. Mr. Derving was talking to another person. As we neared him, the man said "Okay sir!" and he went to the shaft. Me. Derving turned towards us.

"You guys are late. Do whatever you want to do. Don't disturb me. There has been a problem here."

"What problem father?"

"Some of our coal that we had stored has been lost and we don't know who the hell did it." Mr. Derving looked frustrated.

Mr. Derving looked at us and said "I think I will be going to the main city to talk to my supervisor. He needs to be informed about this. You guys after doing your work, better go back to home."

"Okay!" we said.

We walked away from him and he continued on with his work. Jake looked tensed. "That has never happened before." He said.

"Don't worry, it must have been lost in one of the tunnels. They will find it." Lilly reassured Jake for the first time. Jake looked over to the mineshaft and nodded.

"We should start filming, I guess." I said. Apex and Bruno continued to roam here and there.

Jake filmed me talk geographical rubbish as I walked here and there in the grass. I also pointed to the mountains to show just how crazy this place is. As Jake turned the camera, he recorded that hut in the distance.

"Meh, we don't need that!" he said. He stopped the recording. I walked towards him. "What happened?" I said, "What's wrong with it?"

"That hut just ruins the scenery."

"Okay... why is it so dirty though?"

"No one lives in it."

"Huh?"

"It has been closed for years. People go there and stay if they have nowhere to live. Mostly travellers."

"We can use it?"

"We don't need to, do we?"

"Yeah, you are right."

We continued filming. After about an hour, we were done with the shooting. We had stumbled quite far away from the mineshaft. It now looked a tiny structure. We started walking back when we encountered a cave. The cave was right in the ground and was like an open mouth in the ground. "You should film this place Aiden," Lilly said, "you haven't really filmed a cave."