The woman with a knot in her hair points at someone. “André, you will be in charge of her now. Be sure to guide her well.”

A man with a grey shirt and shorts strolls towards them. He looks very casual compared to the rest. “Well hello there, I’m André. Nice to meet you.” André holds his hand out.

“I’ll be in your care then, André.” ‘Blue’ grabs his hand and shakes it. André leads her off, presumably for a tour.

The woman with a knot leaves with that. ‘April’ goes back to lying on her desk.

Someone taps her shoulder, disturbing her peace. ‘April’ sighs and looks up. “What now?” Three women stand behind her.

“That new girl, what a weirdo. Who has a colour as name?” One of them says.

“Exactly. And she went off with André, I hope he won’t fall for her tricks.” The other says.

‘April’ sighs again. “Sara, ever heard of Pink? Scarlett? Or Violet even? There’s enough. Also why would she use tricks?”

Sara raises an eyebrow. “Jess, you do know that André is the hottest guy in this place? Everyone has a crush on him, everyone. Right Lola?”

Lola nods her head like a good follower. “Did you see the way he walked to her? He’s so cool.” She almost drools.

“And the way he holds out his hand. I wish I could’ve taken it” The last woman says.

“As if he would take your hand, Ria.” Sara spits out.

“He wouldn’t take yours either.” Ria responds.

“Take this conversation elsewhere, I’m not interested.” ‘April’ responds.

“Are you not interested in André? Are you gay or something?” Lola utters.

‘April’ rolls her eyes. “Not everyone has the same tastes.”

Sara takes a step back. “I knew it, you’re actually gay!” She shouts.

“Wait what? Not liking the same guy you all do, like some idiots, makes me gay? How does that work?” ‘April’ responds surprised.

“How could anyone not like a hot guy? You should at least find him hot!” Ria adds.

‘April’ frowns. “Not at all? I don’t like guys that act like they’re too cool for this place. This is a business, not his home. He should wear a suit, or at least a bow tie.”

Lola smirks. “So, is that Blue girl your type then?”

‘April’ almost falls out of her chair again. “Uhh… What?”

“Why aren’t you working? Get back to work before I’ll hold it back on your check!” A voice shouts.

“Yes boss!” Sara answers and heads back to her own desk. The rest quickly does the same.

‘April’ falls back down on her desk like nothing happened.

The vision fades as Blue wakes up.

‘That was chaotic. Didn’t seem to follow a timeline, maybe that’s what dreams do?’ Blue thinks.

She looks around and sees Julie awake. “Did you get some sleep after your nightmare?”

“Hmm? Sure.” Julie shortly answers.

‘She seems tired, did she actually sleep?’ Blue wonders.

“I’m hungry.” April randomly says.

“Get used to it.” Julie sighs.

April rolls her eyes. “These people have food, yet they don’t give it to us. When we were on our own we at least got food.”

“We thought ourselves as humans, living beings. Can't say the same for them.” Julie mutters.

“What if we’re not humans?” Blue wonders out loud.

“Then we will still think of ourselves as living beings, not as items.” Julie frowns.

A voice interrupts them. "Get up, there's work to do!"

"And another day of work starts. Fun time." Julie rolls her eyes.

Once again they are brought to the mine, going through same points as yesterday.

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"Why are we still doing this?! It's useless, we're too weak for this!" Natasha complains.

"Speak for yourself. I'm not interested in dying though, so don't ruin it for us." Julie remarks.

"So you rather stay here your whole life? Come on! Dying is better at this point." Natasha sighs.

"Unlike you, we're trying instead of complaining." Eve adds in.

'We're? Is she planning something with someone?' Blue wonders.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

Natasha turns around to face Eve. "I don't see you trying anything. Aren't you all muscle and no brain?"

Eve raises an eyebrow. "Wow, you don't have muscles or a brain. If the trying is obvious enough for you to see, I can guarantee you the enemies would too."

"Ugh, are you trying to insult me?" Natasha stares pissed at Eve.

"Just playing the game you're so familiar with. It's always nice to beat someone at their own game." Eve grins.

"I'm so done with you. Ray, let's go." Natasha shrugs.

Julie jumps in front of Natasha. "Haha, where do you think you're going." She frowns.

"None of your business." Natasha tries to push Julie away.

Julie easily dodges the push and grabs Natasha's arms. "If you want to live, stay here. If not, you're free to go wherever you want, to the guards or deeper in the cave. I don't care."

"What if this cave has an opening on the other side? And you're just missing out on an easy escape?" Natasha points out.

Eve rolls her eyes. She looks to the roof and sighs, before tilting her head in Natasha’s direction. “There’s so many flaws in there. Do I really need to point all of them out so you realise it?”

“Don’t act smart, you clearly don’t know anything. If you did, you would've said it already.” Natasha remarks.

Eve takes a deep breath. “First of all. We got no rations. You head in deeper, you’ll die of hunger. We don’t know how big this cave is, but it isn’t small. If it was we would’ve felt the wind, that usually leads to an exit. This cave goes down, for an exit you need to get up.

Assuming there is an exit nearby, the people here would’ve found it already and blocked it off. And if they didn’t, then you can assume that finding an exit is hard. We can't do it if they didn’t manage it. They have rations and adults who are trained and thus stronger than us, how would we do it?

Another point that ruins exploring, we’re not dressed to stay warm. Caves get cold, really cold. We have nothing to stay warm with.” Blue noticed that Julie shivered at that part.

Eve continues her explanation. “Even if we find an exit, what then? We’ll be hungry, cold and tired. We don’t know what’s on the other side, and what if we’re on an island? We would be stuck here then. At least here we get some food and have a place to stay warm.

But if you still want to go, follow the footsteps. If you don’t see marks that anyone has been there before, don’t go there. It means it’s a new unexplored path, and that’s not what you’re looking for. Follow the deepest marks, that means a lot of people use that route.

Good luck finding them without a light though, caves have no light at all. There’s nothing to adjust to, so you won’t see anything at all. Don’t let us stop you from your suicidal trip though.” Eve ends with a smirk.

Natasha just stands there with her mouth wide open. “Uh.. What?”

“Oh sorry, let me say it in idiot terms. If you go in there, you’ll get lost, can’t see anything and either die of hunger or freeze to death. Whatever comes earlier. Eve rolls her eyes.

“Still want to go?” Julie smiles, stepping back to let Natasha leave.

Natasha’s face turns red. She stomps off, disregarding any warnings. “Ray, come with me.” She orders.

“....” Ray just stands there, not moving.

“Ray!” Natasha shouts.

“Don’t shout, what if you cause a cave in?” Julie remarks with a sigh.

“I DON’T CARE!” Natasha runs away.

“A cave in can happen just by us working here, it’s not exactly safe.” Eve points out.

“I know, I just wanted her to shout, which worked.” Julie laughs.

April waves at the empty cave. “So, would we see her again?”

“Depends on if she decides to return early or late. The further she goes the less likely she’ll make it back.” Julie answers.

“She’s not like us, she’ll run out of energy soon enough. She won't be able to make it. And when she realises that, it's too late for regrets.” Eve shrugs.

----------------------------------------

A few hours pass by. Natasha hasn’t returned yet.

“Should we go look for her?” Blue asks worried.

April frowns. “You’d risk your life to save someone who doesn’t care about you?”

“Every life matters! Even if someone doesn’t care about me, it doesn’t mean I should ignore them when they need me. If I can help, I should.” Blue declares. Clenching her fist she stands strong, not planning on backing down.

Julie shakes her head and laughs. “I admire your stance on this. I’ll help.”

“I already said I would follow you anywhere, this still counts.” April adds in with a gentle smile.

Eve sighs. “You’re way too innocent. But do it your way. I’ll stay here or else we won’t have enough coal to deliver.”

“Let’s follow the footsteps.” Julie suggests.

April laughs. “Not much else we can do.”

----------------------------------------

After a while of tracking footsteps the cave gets too dark to find anything.

“I can't believe she still went further in. I can't even see my fingers with this darkness.” April points out.

“Stubborn girl.” Julie sighs.

“So now what?” Blue asks.

Julie stands still to think. “I can try something. Both of you close your eyes, please.”

“Usually closing your eyes doesn’t lead to us being able to see.” April says.

“That isn’t the point, I just want to try something.” Julie sighs.

“Alright then.” April mutters.

Blue closes her eyes. Maybe April did too, but she can’t see that.

“Keep them closed, until I tell you to open them.” Julie adds.

“Yes, boss.” April sighs.

‘The silence, it’s weird. It’s… Just silent? All I can hear is the breathing of us, with a slight echo?’ Blue thinks. ‘If I was here alone, it would drive me crazy. It’s scary, but with them it’s.. Relaxing? Also the smell. It’s kinda earthly, with another smell I can’t place.’

Julie breaks the silence. “Okay, now don’t get scared or anything.” She says.

‘Scared? Of what?’ Blue wonders. She doesn’t have to wait long as something grabs her hand. “Don’t open your eyes, it’s fine.” Julie orders.

‘It’s hard to not open them.. What does she want?’ Blue wonders.

Blue doesn’t have to wonder for long. The hand starts leading her forward. It’s not too fast, but a gentle guiding so that she isn’t going to trip.

“Okay, it’s a bit narrow here, so you’ll have to crawl a bit. Just feel the walls, you’ll be fine.” Julie calmly says.

“Why would she go through a narrow part? Also why are we going through?” April questions.

“I don’t know why, but I do know she did. That means we are too.” Julie sighs.

Blue kneels down, Julie guides her hand towards the wall. “There it is, now hold on and let me go first.” Julie says.

“Okay.” Blue answers.

Blue sits there and waits. Still holding onto the wall, she would lose it otherwise.

“Are you there yet?” April’s voice sounds from behind her.

‘It’s weird, to hear her voice come from nearby, yet I can’t see her. I know she’s there, I can feel that she’s there. But also I know where Julie is, somehow. Like I can sense her.’ Blue thinks.

“Stop thinking and start moving. Or do you want to live in these caves?” Julie teases. Her voice echoes through the tunnel.

“Do you even want us to come?” April responds.

“Gotta think about that one. Come back to me in a day to ask again.” Julie laughs.

Blue carefully crawls forward, using her hands to feel the course walls. ‘It hurts, why is it sharp..’ Blue complains in her head.

“You’re here. Come, stand up again.” Julie’s voice comes from in front of her.

Julie helps her up. “Can I open my eyes?” Blue asks.

“Uh, sure.” Julie casually answers.

Blue opens her eyes. It’s really bright, and she needs a moment to adjust.

“Surprising, right?” Julie asks.

“Wow, that’s amazing.” April’s voice comes out behind Blue.