The Last Time I've Seen the Sun

"Mom, I'm leaving! Don't forget to take your medicine!" I said as I walked away.

"Yes, sweetheart, be careful—𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩!" replied my mother, as she coughed.

I was really worried, but I should go to work.

𝘐 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘺 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘴𝘰 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘶𝘺 𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘵. 

𝗧𝗮𝗽 𝘁𝗮𝗽 𝘁𝗮𝗽

I walked while looking around.

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘐 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘵𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳, 𝘢𝘴 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘳𝘶𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘫𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘢 𝘯𝘦𝘸𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘺 1, 1932—𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘢𝘨𝘰. 𝘐 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴, 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘳𝘶𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴 𝘣𝘦 𝘳𝘶𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴.

The sun this morning was blindingly bright, so I had to lower my gaze. 𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘯—𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘥𝘢𝘻𝘻𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘰𝘵, 𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐’𝘮 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨—𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦. 

I work as a miner, just like my father once did. Because this is the 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 work that exist in here. I disguised myself as a boy. Mines don't accept girls.

Cutting my hair and wearing a leather miner's cap with a carbide-based lamp attached to it—really helped me blend in. I managed to work in the mine for weeks, and they never suspected a thing.  

𝘔𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘥. 𝘉𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘱𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘣𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘮. 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘰, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦'𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭𝘴, 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴. 𝘉𝘶𝘵, 𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘨𝘰 𝘴𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦, 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘴𝘩—𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘮 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘣𝘵.

. . .  

I arrived at the mine. A couple of people greeted me.  

“Wow, Reiho, you’re really diligent. I thought you were just a soft boy, but these past few weeks proved me wrong!” 

"Hey Reiho, you arrived so early. Better get to WORK before the foreman yells at us!" 

Said some of my fellow miners.

“Ah, right, let’s get to WORK!” I replied with a smile as I walked toward the depths of the mine. 

Once there, I immediately started working using the pickaxe my father left me.

. . .

My family was just me and my mother. I was an only child, my father 𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘥 while working in the mines. He passed away when I was a teenager. Now, I work to pay my family's debt also to support myself and my mother that have illness. I don't hate this kind of life or even hate my parents, I love my parents. Also, this is 𝗺𝘆 𝗳𝗮𝘂𝗹𝘁 though. 

"Reiho! Watch where you dig! You are almost tearing down the entire cave!!!" 

"Y-yes sir! Sorry!" The foreman scolded me. It seems I got drowned in my thoughts, I must focus on working. 

𝗖𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗴! 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗴!

I kept digging, sweat rolled down from my forehead, but I didn't have a chance to wipe it off. Until don't know how deep my excavation was. 

When in the middle of digging, my pickaxe collided with something solid, way harder than stone. I had a feeling it was high-quality material or something precious. I'm really happy. So, I dug out the surrounding stones eagerly.

I kept digging and digging stones, while imagining how happy my mother will be when I come back with a lot of money and food.

... ... ... 

A vivid light coming from the crack

Finally, I can see it now, it was an... Crystal?

𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵-𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘳𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘭. 𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘺 𝘣𝘪𝘨. 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘧 𝘐 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴.

𝘚𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘐 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥? 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘧 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘪𝘵, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦. 

𝘉𝘶𝘵, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘧 𝘐 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘨𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨? 

𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘐 𝘥𝘰, 𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵. 

I took the beautiful heart-shaped crystal, this still had rough surfaces. 

"Woah!" I amazed, my eyes were widening and glimmering.

It's strangely beautiful, how could a crystal like this form naturally, also the colour was dark crimson and the size is bigger than my palms. 

When I was amazed by the crystal, I'm not aware of my surrounding. The tunnel trembled. 

"Huh—"

It's was already too late for me to run—it collapsed and buried me alive. 

A large stone fall onto my left leg, I can hear the cracking sound from it.

𝗖𝗥𝗔𝗖𝗞!

"AGH! MY 𝗟𝗘𝗚! HELP! SOMEONE! HELP ME! 𝗣𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗘!"

I screamed as hard as I can. But I realize, it was pointless, I trapped deep inside the cave, screaming only waste of energy. Negative thoughts flooded my mind, What if I die? How about my mom? I cried hysterically.

"Help... 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘮𝘦... 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦..." I can only mumbling with my remaining energy.

Eventually, the oxygen ran out, I saw the heart-shaped crystal glimmering with a faint crimson light and floating above me. It shattered into pieces right before I fainted. I had no idea, maybe it was just my imagination. 

. . .  . . .  . . .

Who knows how long I fainted, but lucky enough, I'm still breathing. I'm still alive. 

Slowly I open my eyes, pickaxe and torch still in my arms. My body was full of bruises, wounds, and my left leg was 𝘤𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥. 

Is so dark in here, so I activated my carbide-based mining helmet lamp. 

𝘐'𝘮 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘐 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘴. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘴? 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦? 

I observe my surrounding, it was a cave — without excavation remains, wooden poles, or even torches in the wall — it was entirely different cave. 

I forced myself to get up, sharp pains instantly shot through my body. I grunted in pain. 

"Ack!..." I got up in sitting position and leaned against the cave wall. 

I looking from corner to corner while gulped down my saliva, my body trembled from pain and panic. 

𝙄'𝙢 𝙨𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙙, 𝙄'𝙢 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙛𝙪𝙨𝙚𝙙, 𝙣𝙤 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙥 𝙢𝙚. 

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘪𝘳𝘥. 𝘈𝘮 𝘐 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘢𝘷𝘦? 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘐 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦? 

𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘤𝘦𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘐 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭, 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘰𝘧𝘧. 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘰𝘸, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘺, 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘐 𝘢𝘮. 𝘐 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘨𝘰 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬, 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴.

𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘨𝘰 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵.

I sobbed pathetically while curled into a ball.

I know just crying like this won't change anything. So, I wiped my tears and build up new determination: 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘐'𝘮 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥, 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘶𝘱. 

 𝙄 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙖 𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙛𝙖𝙘𝙚, 𝙖 𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙜𝙤 𝙝𝙤𝙢𝙚.