One Thousand Meters

DAY 1

Pedro: August 5th. I don't know what time it is. The clock broke in the blast.

Pedro: There was a tremor. A noise that wasn't a noise but the whole world crashing down at once.

Pedro: 33 of us survived. Someone counted. I still couldn't move.

Pedro: The Kid found this notebook in his hard hat. A little spiral notebook. Almost new.

Pedro: He gave it to me because I'm the one who got the most schooling. The one who can write best, he said. Man, I barely finished grade school.

Pedro: But I took it anyway. Just to have something to do with my hands.

Pedro: We're about a thousand meters down. That's what the Shift Supervisor says. The guy who knows about this stuff.

Pedro: One thousand meters underground.

Pedro: I have no idea if this will ever get to anyone. Probably not.

Pedro: But I'm going to write anyway.

DAY 2

Pedro: The boulder blocking the north entrance is about four meters high. We measured it with a rope.

Pedro: No one can move it. Not even Fatso, who jokingly lifts trucks.

Pedro: We have water from the cooling tanks. Food for two days if we stretch it.

Pedro: We have light because the emergency generator is holding up.

Pedro: Someone said the people up top already know. That they're coming.

Pedro: No one said what we're all thinking: how long.

Cata.

Pedro: Cata, this wasn't supposed to be a letter to you.

Pedro: But there's no one else here to write to.

Pedro: My mom can't read. My brother never understood me. The guys here are right next to me.

Pedro: That just leaves you.

Pedro: Even though I know I don't deserve you.

DAY 3