Catherine's Paradise

The Innocence

    The freezing evening air greeted me at the mouth of the mine. Staring out into the bright orange sky, the sun steadily began to dip. The standard work clothes which consisted of a brown shirt and pants offered little warmth against the wind.
   

 Gazing back at the mine, it stuck out like a sore thumb. It was lodged against the mountain side, with little shrubbery and trees placed haphazardly all over the mountainside. There was the mine at the foot of the mountain, with its iron beams which created the opening.

    From the belly of the mine, workers marched out the mine, side stepping around me to get past. It was in this moment that bile began to rise at the back of my throat. For I knew that she would be coming up from the mine soon. Taking a deep breath, I turned away from the mine and joined the line to march towards the collectors, while the carts hobbled along the way.

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"Come on" the boy whined, "you are so old and slow."

"I'm only eighteen, Peter." the girl breathed out as she tried to catch her breath. "When i get my hands on you, Peter." she continued to wheeze.

"You couldn't catch up to me even if I started to walk backwards, Hope." he continued to taunt the girl as she struggled to hike up the side of the mountain. "We will miss seeing, Henry and the others."

  Out of spite, Hope came to a complete standstill, grabbed one of the small bushes to use a cautionary foothold and sat down all the while giving Peter a nasty look. Peter grimaced in response, tapping his foot impatiently as he urged silently for Hope to get a move on.

"Why am I even up here?" Hope thought to herself and her brow became furrowed. Unfortunately, she remembered that Peter had lured her here with the idea that she could find violet on the mountain side. Violet was a stone with the magical potential to give life, despite the power it contained, no one dared to give it a special name so the stone like the others was named after its glow. Hence the name Violet, however none of the fallen were allowed to have anything that could possess magic but it would not stop the most determined.

"Of course, Violet" she whispered under her breath as she tugged at the small plants around her "The Life Giver." However Hope's day dream was interrupted with a loud sigh from Peter. Agitated, Hope paid little attention to the boy and noticed that he was pointing to a small area of level ground, just to the right.

"Let's stop heading up, we should be able to see when they are walking the trail to the coin counters.

"Why did we even climb up here then, Peter ?" she asked.

"To see, Henry of course" he said with a smile " Also to find your little stone, Hope."

"We were already at the bottom of the mountain, he would have to come to us, Dummy and there has been no trace of Violet anywhere." Hope continued to persist and complain as she returned to fidgeting with the plants.

"You chose to come." Peter stated coldly, which caught Hope by surprise causing her stare blankly at him.

    After-all, he was quite the scrawny boy, even though he was twelve years old, he always seemed underdeveloped at best. Despite his frailty, he had a pale complexion and brown eyes which suited him finely. 

  Sensing the tension that was building between them, she sprung up from her resting place and began to move towards him. However he stepped back and lowered his gaze which caused a sinking feeling in Hope's chest.

  Turning away, he began to shuffle toward the level ground, which overlooked part of the trail to the coin counters. Standing vicariously on the edge, he watched the line of workers walk to the counters.

"I just want to make sure my friends are safe." Peter explained, while gripping his arm tightly.

   Hope's heart melted as she finally realized the point of this trip. She ran behind him and threw herself lightly on his back, careful as not to hurt him and fully embraced him.

"They are all okay, I swear." her voice becoming tender, almost motherly. "Let's head towards the coin counters."

"Why?' he asked.

"To find...Henry" she replied, confused at his question.

"No." shaking his head. "Why is that person being carried out?"

    Following Peter's gaze, she saw a small body being carried down the trail and her blood went cold. No one had the privilege of being carried along the trail, she realized this person had to be dead. However, Peter twirled around with a toothy smile and a twinkle in his eye. 

"It's nice that they will carry you out, if you faint."

"Um...yes..faint..that's why." Hope started to stammer at his observation, stunned that he believed that the person had simply fainted.

"Before we look for Henry, lets help them, it...." 

"NO!!" Hope shouted, interrupting his train of thought, startling Peter which caused the boy to jump. "Lets look for Henry."

   She urged him to come down the mountain and forget the one who was being carried. With slight hesitation, he took one last look at the trail and took Hope's hand and began their descent.