Mine Now

Enim placed his hand on the jagged rock framing the entrance to the abandoned mine.

The black hole gaped, ready to swallow him whole. “Say Ahhh,” he said as he directed his

flashlight’s beam into the belly of the beast. A sense of boyhood adventure stirred his chest as he

entered. Cool air breathed over him. Visions of fortune, bled from hidden veins, spurred him

forward. The deed had been an unexpected find in the safety-deposit box left to him by his

deceased great uncle. He had seen his grandfather’s brother only once, at his grandfather’s

funeral nearly twenty years ago. Enim had been eight at the time, but his mother pointed him out.

He remembered because while others had approached to lay a rose on the casket, this grizzled

stranger leaned over and spat on the polished wood. Just as suddenly, the man turned an

unnerving stare on Enim, singling him out before stomping away. The startled funeral director

pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and quickly dabbed at the mess. In the process, a few

scarlet petals fell into the grave under the suspended platform. No one spoke of the incident after

that day, but the memory of a face etched with hate cut into the present when Enim received the

lawyer’s summons to the reading of the will. That had been two weeks ago. This was the earliest

he could get away to explore the property. Giddy with the prospect, Enim swung his light

upward, stopping to examine an overhead beam, a timbered wood fractured with age. It looked

solid enough. “Well, you’re mine now!” he said, stepping forward. But his right foot found no

hold. Too stunned to cry out, he felt a frothy spray hit his face as he fell into the void. “Mine

now...Mine now,” echoed into silence.