Francesca's Dream

The Tunnel

So I just was to say that I am sorry that I didn't publish anything last month. I had homecoming, testing, a unexpected rode trip I partook on, and I entered a local writing competition, that I am writing for now. So again I am super sorry that I didn't publish last month

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"How long have you been working on the tunnel?" Francesca asked Aria. It was dark now; everyone was asleep. Aira lay next to Francesca talking in hushed voices. He laid with her every night until she fell asleep.

"We have been working on it for about two-and-a half months." He whispered. "Are you the only one who knows about it?" She asked. "No, Helena, Audrey, Skott, and Vincent know about and work on it." Aira whispered in her ear. "We will talk more about this in the morning." Aira said sitting up; he scooted out of the lower bunk. Francesca shimmied into the covers; where Aria had laid just moments ago. Aira climbed the shaky ladder to the top bunk and curled into the blankets.

Francesca drifted off to sleep by the smell of Aira; the smell of sweat and pine.

Francesca awoke to the sound of guards shouting and the newly lit dim lights buzzing. Helena jumping out of bed to begin the day; hoping that the guards wouldn't yell anymore then they already did. She grabbed her thin blankets and quickly made her bed.

Francesca rolled out of her bed, threw her thin blanket over her lumpy pillow ,and followed the rest of the prisoners out of the bunk house. She followed the line to the mess hall where they distributed coffee and toast for breakfast. She sipped and the weak watered down coffee and the burnt toast; wishing that she was home with a cup of peppermint coffee, eating a bacon and egg sandwich. Her stomach growled; oh how she longed to be home.

The line made its way to a large shed where the shovels and pick axes were handed out. The line formed into a cluster; dogs and soldiers herded the group into the large fenced in area where they would work for the day, mining emeralds and other precious stones brought up from Atrox held mines miles away. Guards in their towers would watch the group for most of the day, until the night shift workers came.

Francesca worked along side of her friends few a few hours, until it was time for a break at lunch. The group of workers were lead once more to the mess hall, where they were fed slop. The sloop resembled a sort of porridge, it wasn't unusual to find scraps of meat left over from the soldiers. The soldiers were lazy, and wasteful. They often could be found sleeping on night watch, after the occasional night patrol. The only ones who were known to never fall asleep were the watchtower guards, and the guard dogs. This was known because many had tried to escape at night after the guards had fallen asleep. The attempted escapees were always caught be either the searchlight of the towers or they would make the slightest noise, waking the dogs.

Audrey, one of Aira's friends had told this to Francesca this one day at dinner; the tale had sent chills up her spine. Often the failed escapees were tortured publicly by burning or being whipping to death. Francesca begged to hear no more of Audrey's gruesome tales. One of Aira's other friends Skott hated Audrey's tales just as much as she did. Every time she would start telling one he would sit there, plugging his ears until it was over. Vincent was one of Helena's friends, he was tall , with short jet black hair. He often worked night shift; giving him some time during the day to work bit by bit on the tunnel.

Vincent had dug more of the tunnel the previous night; the group was about 300 feet from the first of two layers of fencing. "So how far did you get last night Vin?" Aira said taking a sip of water from his tin cup. "It got another two feet." Vincent said tiredly. "That's it?" Aira said sounding a little shocked. "Yeah sorry, It was raining last night; the tunnel started filling up with water. I had to drain it before I could start digging." Vincent said. "Well thankfully they give us weekends off, so we will be able to get some more done." Helena said trying to left the boy's spirits. "Yeah, she has a point, and I'm sure we will have to put more support beams down there." Skott said shrugging his shoulders. "Yeah, alright who wants to take first shift?" Aira said looking around at his friends. No one answered volunteered. "Alright me and Francesca it is then." Aira said getting up from the table.

After dinner everyone except Vincent came back to the bunk house. "Alright just like before we work in three hour shifts, Francesca and I first, then Helena and Skott, then Audrey ,and then Vincent. We repeat the order after that understand." And with that Aira led Francesca down into the tunnel.

The tunnel was cold, and damp from the previous night. Aira handed Francesca a shovel," let's get to work."