Another YouTube Fairytale: Nate's Life In The Prisons; Book 2

Chapter 1 - The Diggers

The Diggers were a peaceful race. They lived in the deepest levels of the dungeons, so deep that no one could find their way through. The genius of the dungeons were that they were so complex that if a prisoner went in, they never got out. No one had ever been able to navigate through the dungeons, except for the jailer, a very young man named Joey. He had a bright red rope attached to his hut where he practically lived, so that no matter how far he strayed, he could get back. 

But the only ones who truly knew the dungeons were the Diggers. They were the true masters of the prisons. Nevertheless, they still stayed far away from anyone else. They were very quiet, the human equivalent of mice. And they were good at hiding, too. No one could ever find them, no matter how hard they looked. 

Once in a while, the Diggers would rise from their hideaway, the deepest levels of the dungeon, and talk to the prisoners. Sometimes, if they found a prisoner with a truly good heart, they would break the prisoner out, so they could live happily, peacefully, as part of their little community. 

The Digger community was small and warm. Most of the houses had sunk into the ground, but after years of care, they were able to stabilize them so that they just served as little underground homes. It was always dark, but the head of the Diggers, a group of fairly old men, (and one young woman,) would ignite the community in torches and candles, spreading the warmth in their hearts to the rest of the community. 

And one of their youngest members was Nathan Smith, only 12 years old. 

At the time, he was sitting in his bedroom, fairly sparse save for a humble cot and a single book. It was incredibly modest, for everyone in the Diggers, but it was perfect for them. He sat on the bed, next to his best friend, the daughter of the youngest, and only female, community head. 

"Did you string it up, Cristina?" Nate asked. 

Cristina nodded. She and Nate had spent all day building this; a series thin ropes, stretched tightly across the room at various lengths. Nate knelt down. "I'll play low, you play high." 

"If you can keep up." She said. 

"Oh, it is on." He paused. "Maybe we should test it." Cristina nodded again, still smiling.

Nate plucked one of the strings. It made a low sound. He laughed excitedly. Cristina pulled one of the top strings. It was high. They started laughing happily. 

Nate plucked a few of the low notes in a row, then sped up the pattern. Soon, he had a pretty cool base melody going. 

"Nice. Try this." Cristina pulled a few of the top strings, picking it up just as quickly, if not faster, than Nate.  Nate smiled and played his base melody again, and Cristina adjusted to match it better. Soon, they were making music together. Cristina was amazing, but Nate found himself getting lose in the music. He played faster and faster, reaching up to Cristina's section, until finally, she stepped back to watch him play. 

Nate's fingers moved like lightning across the strings. The music he played was beautiful. But then it stopped, when he moved too close to the wooden frame. "Ow!" 

"Oh, you okay?" Cristina knelt down, looking at him through the strings. "What happened?" 

Nate squeezed his finger. "Splinter. I should have looked." 

Cristina scoffed. "Stop squeezing it that way, you'll get it deeper." She pulled his arm through the strings, looking closer. "This might hurt." 

Cristina squeezed the splinter in the correct way, popping it right out of Nate's skin. He sucked in a breath of air through his teeth. 

"Yeah, well, I told you it might hurt you idiot." Cristina dropped his hand, looking back at him. His eyes were big and dumbstruck. 

"What?" She said with an awkward laugh. 

"N-nothing. You just... the candlelight. It... makes your hair really pretty."

Cristina, like Nate, was only 12. She had never really been flirted with before, but Nate didn't really know that he was flirting, either. Cristina blushed and brushed her hair behind her ear. They both kind of wanted to lean in, despite looking at each other through the strings. Nate reached out through them and brushed her hair away from her face. 

"You have really pretty eyes." He said quietly. 

Both of them suddenly crashed back to earth. Cristina picked up her cloth bag. "I should get going. Mom will be done with work soon, and..." She trailed off. "Sorry." 

"No, I get it, it's okay." Nate tried to brush away the tension, but it was still so thick you could cut it with a knife. He stood up and pushed the stringboard against the wall. "I'll see you tomorrow, then?" 

"Actually..." Cristina paused. "Mom said that I can go into the main part of the dungeons next week. She said that my heart-picking training is done, so I can go up." 

Nate sat down. Cristina was lucky. Since her mom was a head, she was expected to take up her mother's place. And that meant that she had to study heart-picking. Once a month, they would go up to the higher levels, and find the prisoners with the purest hearts; then they could break them out, to become a Digger. Cristina got to learn it. Nate didn't. 

"I was wondering if you would like to come with me? I can smuggle you out." She said, a wry smile playing at her lips. 

Nate jumped up. "I-I can go outside? I can go see the prisons?" 

"Shh!" 

"Sorry." Nate calmed down. 

"I take that as a yes?" 

"Of-of course!" Nate grinned. Cristina did too. 

"I'll pick you up when it's time then, okay?" Nate nodded, as he watched Cristina leave. 

He could not be more excited.