All The Bright Things

Chapter 1

Claire walked the uneasy path. She could tell it had rained the day before from the smell of earth and, well, damp mud. She looked at her boots. She had just cleaned them a week ago, scrubbing everything the other valley had to offer. Now that she's been put back on duty, her boots were anything but clean.
She finally reached the cottage, near the gates to the forest, where, supposedly, the mayor was waiting for her.

She rounded the house, closer to where there were voices of people talking. The mayor, Thomas, the woodcutter, she couldn't recall his name, but her boss did mentioned his name when he gave her the papers, and another guy who Claire guessed was the mayor's secretary from her uniform.

The mayor grinned widely when he saw her, the other two doing the same. And Claire didn't know how to react, because it had always been Melissa who did the talking and interacting with everyone, so she just stood there, smiling awkwardly.

Melissa was her co-worker. She had wild, red hair. Her head piece was a failed attempt on taming them, although Claire was pretty sure they were there for a fashionable reason. She had a friendly aura and so she was always the one in charge whenever they meet town's mayors or anyone they need to meet, actually. It wasn't like Claire couldn't talk or anything, it was just that, she sucked at it. She learned a lot from being Melissa's co-worker for the past 3 years. She's getting the hang of it, she thinks. She might still stutter and all but she's learning.

"Melissa Hayes?" The mayor readjusted his glasses, holding some papers and looked back to Claire.

"Melissa actually came down with a flu, terrible weather we're having. I'm Claire," She saw a rabbit hop out from the bushes from the corner of her eye, "But our company resent the papers and schedules for our activities 2 days ago, they never arrived?"

"That's odd, we've never lost anything at sea. Not since—" Claire hadn't really been paying attention, but suddenly the woodcutter cleared his throat, and the mayor jumped in surprise, Claire sensed something was off, "Never mind then. Nice to meet you, Claire. I'm mayor Thomas, this is Jonathan, and Tanya."

**

"Oh that is absolutely gorgeous," Claire inspected the shining ore one of her crew brought, "good job."

"Thanks C, there's a bunch down at the fifth level, actually. Do you think it's good enough as sample?"

"I think it's good enough for today. Anyone else still down at the fifth level? I might just check it out. You can go back to the inn."

"What?It's almost 8 PM, C. Why not tomorrow?" Daniel, Claire remembers his name, was two years younger than her. His skills were good, he just needed that extra push . His father had been the leader of a famous mining group 20 years ago, it runs in the blood, maybe. "I'll come down with you."

"It's fine, I hadn't got anything today. Thanks, though. You really should rest." Claire started going down the ladder, Daniel's worried face becoming smaller, and finally, gone.

**

Claire coughed as she reached the bottom of the ladder. The air was thicker and hazier down there than from the level she had been. She was relieved Daniel didn't tag along, he would've gotten back to the clinic instead of the inn if he did. She reached for her flashlight, needed something to hold on to if she knew she was alone. At least she thought she was.

"Hello?" Her hands started to shake, looking at the dark figure standing just a few feet from her, covered by the fog, "Dan?"

"C?"

Claire shrieked, turning around. It was Tex, one of Claire's crew too, "Woah, hey, Daniel said you'd be here, you should get back to the inn, Melissa called."

"M-Melissa?" Claire couldn't really focus, her heart was still pounding. She turned around to see the dark figure again, but it wasn't there anymore. She shuddered. It couldn't have been Tex who was standing there, he came in behind her when she saw it. "Sure, yeah. Let's go."

Tex went up the ladder first, bringing Claire's things. And just when Claire was about to go up, something deep down made her look back. And there it was. The black figure. Only this time, she could make out the piercing blue eyes that were looking right at her.