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What ever happen to Travis Cart when he fell down a mine shaft? |
| Monday, May 4th, 2009, about 6:15 AM Ryanston Mining Company Ryanston, Massachusetts A voice of panic erupted from a single mouth, "TRAVIS!" The young, eighteen year old, Travis Cart heard this but could not respond. When he tried to talk, be began coughing out his words instead of speaking them. "What the hell happened to you?!" the male voice said. Travis recognized the voice but could not see the person, because it was too bright outside. Travis then heard the man dialing on a cellular phone. "Hello?" said the voice, worriedly "George Dossen. There is a kid here and he's badly hurt. The Ryanston Mining Company." Impatience soon entered his tone, "I don't know how the hell he got here. Listen, just send a freakin' ambulance for him, okay." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Monday, May 4th, 2009, about 5:05 AM George Dossen's House Ryanston, Massachusetts BEEP BEEP BEEP... Despite the alarm clock's banshee screech, George still was not able to wake up. Eventually his wife placed a heavy hand on the alarm, deactivating the noise. "You slept through it again." his wife said. "Must be adapting to it." Replied George. "Whatever." "Love you too, honey," George muttered under his breath. After all the necessities for getting ready for work were done, George had ten minutes to get to work for six 'o clock. Just as he was about to leave his wife asked, "Sweetie, can you pick up some cream from the store before you go?" "I'm going to be late for work." "That's why I love you." George was then fifteen minutes late for work, but, amazingly, he was the first one there. After he unlocked the gate, he saw, what seemed to him, a terrible sight: It was Travis, John Cart's son, crawling. He was filthy from head to toe, and covered in bruises. On his right hand there was a bloody tube sock tied around it. At that instant, George panicked. He was only able to say one thing: "TRAVIS!" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Friday, May 1st, 2009, about 2:30 PM Ryanston High School Ryanston, Massachusetts As the bell gave out its hideous ring students began rushing out of the classrooms towards the front entrance. Amy Dole, however, had a different intention. She walked up to her boyfriend to ask him a question, "Hey, Travis." "'S'up Amy." Was all Travis could say. "Do you want to hang out this weekend with me?" Amy tried to sound content when she said this. "Anything for you, babe." "Don't call me 'babe', Travis. You know I hate it." "Sorry, Amy, I forgot about that." Travis responded. "What time?" asked Travis. "How 'bout five 'o clock tonight?" Amy said. "Sounds perfect." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Friday, May 1st, 2009, about 4:00 PM Travis Cart's House Ryanston, Massachusetts The whistling of the teapot clearly told that the water was ready. Martha, Travis' mother, walked to the stove and poured the hot water in two cups. "I don't understand Travis,” his mother said, "you haven't spent a single weekend here, in almost three weeks." Travis interrupted, "but-" "And you're failing math. What makes you think it's okay to just spend another weekend at that girl's house." "Her name's Amy, Mom." "Well I may remember her name if she visited you, every once in a while." Travis rolled his eyes. Instantly, Travis had an idea, "Mom, what if I bring my math work with me, and, uh, study with her during the weekend." "Can I trust you to do that?" Martha asked. "Of course," said Travis. Martha added just before he left, "Visit your father first." "Okay." Travis entered his car. Drove off to his father's work. About twenty minutes later, Travis made it to the Ryanston Mining Company, his father's work. Eventually, after entering the building, and walking through the wide but tricky hallways, he made it to the office of his father, John. "Hey there, Dad," said Travis, "Mom told me to visit you." "Right she was, Son. Work's gonna end early today and I need you to buy these items for me." John gave his son the list: Waxed dental floss; mini flashlight; a pack of tube socks. Travis was flabbergasted, "you need these?" "Sure do. Work ends at four-thirty, so just drop them by my office." "By the time I get here this place will be closed for the weekend. How will I get by the gate, let alone, to your office?" John pondered and then he came up with something, "Just take these keys with you, but return them ASAP." Before Travis left, he went to the vending machine and bought a bag of pretzels. All that he could think about was seeing Amy. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Friday, May 1st, 2009, about 4:40 PM Ryanston Mining Company Ryanston, Massachusetts Screeeeeeeech! Travis was in such a hurry to get to Amy's house, that he did not bother to park in the lot. He did, however, put his car to a dead stop and parked his car as close to the gate as possible without getting in trouble by authorities. When he came back to the mining company, he rushed through the gate, and instead of going around the first elevator, he ran over it. Then he proceeded to run over the next one but that did not work out the way he wanted. Within an instant he lost his balance, and fell right on the elevator marked "E2". His cellular phone went flying. He tried to stand but before he could even prepare him self to stand up, the elevator fell a few feet. That put Travis in a fearful position. The shaft that the elevator was on had a downward diagonal path that was about seventy feet long. As Travis finally stood up, the elevator fell a few more feet and stopped. Then it zoomed down the shaft. Travis found himself hanging on for dear life. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Thursday, February 19th, 2009, about 3:35 PM Ryanston Mining Company Ryanston, Massachusetts The closing of the door echoed throughout the hall. "What the hell's wrong with you, John!" John's boss, Steve Plone, was obviously not happy with him. "Listen, all I'm sayin' is that if you're gonna have our men work in those mines, at the very least you could give them elevators that are safe, and that work." John said. Steve then said, "but to tell me that in front of them. What the hell's up with that?!" "You said if there was anything I had to say, I had to say it there." "I'll let you off the hook this time. But we're not done." Fired Steve. Then he left making a grand exit by slamming the door to John's office again. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Friday, May 1st, 2009, about 4:40 PM The Bottom Of The Mine Ryanston, Massachusetts CRASH! Travis was thrown forwards, and landed on his right hand, and tumbled. He found it extremely painful to get up. He reached in his bag for the mini-flashlight. "Ahhh!" Travis shrieked. He looked at his right hand, after turning it on. It was pouring buckets of blood. Travis paused in fear for a few moments. Wait a minute he thought. He reached in his shopping bag and out the pack of tube socks. He struggled to open it. He then tied one of them around his right hand, using his mouth and left hand to tighten the knot. He could not stand the unbearable stinging. I gotta get outa here Travis thought; and he proceeded to climb. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Friday, May 1st, 2009, about 5:20 PM Amy Dole's House Haverhill, Massachusetts Amy's cellular phone began to ring. Excited, she picked it up to see who was calling, hoping it was Travis. Disappointment struck her when she realized that it was one of her friends. "Hello, Jenny." Amy said. "Hey, Amy, there's a movie openin' tonight, and all of our friends'll be there. Wanna see it with us?" "Sorry, I can't. I'm hanging out with Travis this weekend." "Again?" "Yes, again." Amy paused, then added, "What's so bad about that?" "It's that you’re still dating this Cart kid, that's what. You should so dump him. Amy? Amy? Amy?" Jenny finally noticed that Amy hung up. Travis where are you? was going through Amy's head. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Friday, May 1st, 2009, about 5:20 PM Travis Cart's House Ryanston, Massachusetts The refrigerator was closed so loudly John could here it from the other side of the house. "Dinner almost ready, Honey?" John asked. "It is ready, dear." "Um, Martha," John said, "Where's Travis?" Martha answered, "You know where he is." "Oh. Her house." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Friday, May 1st, 2009, about 5:20 PM The Bottom Of The Mine Ryanston, Massachusetts "HELP!" Travis screamed at the top of his lungs. It was apparent that no one could hear him. He it found so difficult to climb the slope that he eventually gave up due to sheer frustration. He looked at the path that lay ahead of him. Unfortunately, it forked in three separate paths. "You have got to be kidding me." Travis said aloud. He remembered that he bought dental floss, and he decided to use it to his advantage. When Travis arrived at the fork he took the path that he assumed led closest to the first elevator. He ripped off a piece of the dental floss and placed it in an obvious and visible spot, and used it as a marker. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Monday, May 4th, 2009, about 6:50 AM Anna Jacques Hospital Newburyport, Massachusetts The ambulance's sirens rang throughout the city of Newburyport. "Son," said the EMT, "I need to know your name." "Travis Cart." wheezed Travis. "Can you tell me what happened down there?" Travis replied with, "Dad... why?" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Friday, May 1st, 2009, about 7:00 PM The Bottom Of The Mine Ryanston, Massachusetts Filled with ire, because of how long he was there, Travis yelled, "GOD DAMMIT!" He began loathing the mine with a burning passion. Hunger kicked in. Despite the fact that Travis bought the pretzels, he refused to eat them. He was worried that he would be thirsty from the salty pretzels. Travis always thought that being thirsty was worse than being hungry. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Saturday, May 2nd, 2009, about 5:30 PM Travis Cart's House Ryanston, Massachusetts The music was so loud, that Martha could not hear herself think. She walked in the room where all the noise was coming from, and turned the stereo off. "It's time for dinner," said Martha. "I- I- I'll call you back. Alright, bye." John hung up his phone. "Who was that?" Martha asked curiously. "Don't worry about it, Honey." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Saturday, May 2nd, 2009, about 5:30 PM A Random Street Ryanston, Massachusetts The car began to produce an ugly revving noise when the man turned it on. He felt his cellular phone vibrate. "Be quick, John." "My son left the materials in my office." "What is all that crap I hear in the background?" "It's only on so that my wife doesn't hear us. Now can we go back to the plan?" "Alright. Okay, so what do we do, now?" "On Monday, you're going to place the second piece." "Is it the last?" "Of course it's the last! Remember, be to work by six, in the morning. That'll give you a two hour time frame to do this." "And do I take a sick day like you did, from the first piece?" "Seems like a good idea." "Are you sure this'll buy us some time to fix the elevator?" "It's our only hope. Oh, George, don't go down elevator, E2. That's the one that needs to be fixed." "I know. You got it. I just feel a little worried about this. Do you think that it's a good idea?" "I- I- I'll call you back. Alright bye." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Monday, May 4th, 2009, about 7:20 AM Anna Jacques Hospital Newburyport, Massachusetts "WHERE'S MY SON!" Martha said in distraught. "Ma'am, who's your son?" said the nurse trying to calm her down. John answered, "Travis. Travis Cart." "He's fine, ma'am," the nurse reassured. John said "That doesn't explain where he is!" "Right this way, please." the nurse led the couple to his bed. "I'll tell him that you're both here." The nurse walked around the curtain for a few seconds. She then walked back to the parents. "Are you his father?" She said to John. "Yes. Yes, I am." "He would like to speak to you alone." John walked around the curtain, and saw his only son bandaged and injured. There was a tube running through his nose. It was easy to tell it was for him to breathe. "You wanted to see me?" John asked. All Travis could say was, "I... hate... you." John, right at that moment, new why. "Your son may have to be here for a few weeks," said the nurse to Martha. "Why?" "Because he has too much dirt in his lungs, so we need to fix that." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Monday, May 4th, about 6:10 AM Bottom Of The Mine Ryanston, Massachusetts Travis screamed as loud as he could. He was in the mine for more than two and a half days. The bag of pretzels was sure looking delicious to him; but his will power was tough enough not to eat them. Then rapture came to him. He saw light not from his flashlight! As he ran toward it he saw the elevator button. He hit it, summoning the elevator. He was so excited that he accidently dropped his flashlight. He went to pick it up but then he saw something: Tightened waxed dental floss and a pair of tube socks. The tube socks had five distinct dirt marks on it, almost as if they were used for gloves and the dirt marks were where the fingers were. As he walked closer to the socks he, unwittingly, stepped on the floss and broke it. BOOM! A few hundred feet away the mine collapsed. Travis jumped on the elevator and pressed the button that read "UP". The elevator wasn't fast enough. With the all the adrenaline running through Travis, he was at last able to climb. He was already a quarter ways up the shaft, thanks to the slow elevator; but he wanted to get there faster. He began climbing as fast as he could. Travis never felt him self breathe so heavily. Eventually, he made it, but by then he found it difficult to breathe. Then he heard someone yell his name, "TRAVIS!" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Wednesday, May 13th, 2009, about 8:30 AM A Local Cemetery Ryanston, Massachusetts Silence. That was all there was at the funeral for Travis. Martha couldn't stop crying. John tried to soothe her, but guilt was all he had. When flowers were placed on Travis' coffin, John waited to be last. The preacher caught a glimpse of the note on the flowers that John held. It read, "I'm sorry." The preacher looked at John and said, "It's not your fault." But John knew better, "You'd be amazed." END |
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