1 Mine Trip to Olympia

"Persy, get back here!"

Persephone ignored the threatening voice, running faster through the rain. Her hot tears mixed with the cold water pouring from the sky, but she continued to run, barefoot, away from Tom. How could she have been so stupid?!?!

Her friends had warned her that Tom wasn't a good guy. He was rumored to be rough, and more than one girl had claimed he had forced himself on them. But with his charismatic smile and school-boy charm, she had been smitten. When he had asked her to dance with him at the club, it had been like a dream come true. A fairytale, of a handsome, rich man falling in love with a sweet college girl...

She didn't even know he had drugged her until she woke up in his bed.

Now she was running, half-dressed and still cloudy brained from whatever he had spiked her drink with. She had no idea how far he had gone with her, but at the moment, all she could think about was getting away, as far away from him as possible. Why did all the men treat her like this?

Her last boyfriend had cheated on her, with her own sister! The guy before that had stolen everything she had of value while she had been at work. And before that was a string of men who had either used her or abused her, before tossing her to the curb.

Why was finding love so hard?

She tripped and fell over a large tree root, slamming face first into the mud and leaves. When had she left pavement, and gone into the woods? She listened for a moment, scared he would still be chasing her, but other than the patter of rain upon leaves, there was no other sound. She was alone now.

She rolled over and gingerly sat up, aching all over. The drugs were making her tired, but she didn't dare try to sleep here. If she stayed still for too long, who knew what would happen to her here.

"No more love," she swore to herself. "I'm done."

With shaking steps and a stone heart, she stood and tried to figure out where she was. She had no idea where Tom lived, or which forest she was in. With no knowledge of her surroundings, she was completely lost. Her only hope was to try to find some form of shelter until morning, when she might be able to get her bearings and find her way to a police station.

She wandered for a long time in the direction she had been running. Going back the other way seemed more dangerous to her, in case Tom had been following her after all. But the further she went, the more her feet hurt and the harder it became to keep her eyes open. It was all she could do to just put one foot in front of the other.

She looked up, and saw a small opening in the rocky hill in front of her. It looked like an old mine passage, and there were a lot of signs warning against entering. The thought of wild animals and cave-ins made her rethink trying to seek shelter there. She would just have to find a way around. Old mines often ran under ground, in a web-like pattern, and it wasn't uncommon for people to walk over an old shaft, and for it to cave in under their feet. So, she would have to go around, avoiding getting too close to the entrance, and the web of tunnels underneath and around it.

She took a step to the left, and heard a crack!

The earth rumbled slightly, and the only thought that went through her head as it caved beneath her was "I'm going to die". She tried to grab onto the ledge as she fell, but he hand slipped, and she continued to fall. She lashed around violently, until she hit her head on a protruding boulder on the side of the hole. Everything went dark, as she plunged ever deeper, down the old mine shaft.