"I can't bewieb yur working fur snop!" Kelly sniffled through her stuffed up sinuses.

"Are you sure you're okay? I asked handing her a tissue.

A wet blowing sound was heard as Kelly emptied the contents of her nostrils with unprecedented force.

"I'll be fine." she replied. "It's just dusty in here. We need to celebrate your new job!"

As Kelly turned back to her cleaning supplies I gave a slight shy smile. We had been friends since kindergarten and I had always admired her energy and confidence. I always wanted to date her but was scared that doing so would scare her away. I wished in my heart that we could be together forever.

"Ah here we are!" Kelly announced pulling out a small box. On the side of the box was the familiar logo of 'Snop Cleaning Gel' "This is fitting for your first day working for my favourite cleaning product manufacturing plant!" she replied with a smile.

Opening the box, Kelly proceeded to empty the contents; a small ball of yellowish putty like material, into her hand which she used to clean up the dusty shelves.

"Nobody knows how they make this stuff but for an allergy goer like me it works wonders!" she announced satisfied as the yellow putty slowly turned black leaving a clean shelf behind.

My phone alarm went off announcing that it was time for me to head out to my shift. As I stood up to get ready, Kelly looked up at me expectantly.

"Are you suuuuure you can't tell me how they make this stuff?" she sniffled pleadingly. That look was unfair but I shook my head in response.

"They had me sign like 20 NDA's even to apply for the job and they haven't even shown me anything. Whatever their secret ingredient is, they're holding it pretty secret. All I know is that they wanted someone to come in for late night shifts of manual labour. The pay is good and the medical benefits are amazing, so I thought why not?"

Kelly sulked in her usual cute fashion as I patted her on the head.

"Get to bed early tonight." I advised. "Even with allergies you're pretty stuffed up tonight."

"Fiiiiiiine" she groaned before giving me a big hug.

"You're getting me discounts ya know." she whispered into my ear making me blush at the unexpected closeness.

Waving goodbye I headed off towards my new job.

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"Ah! You must be the new blood!" my trainer called out to me as I entered the Snop manufacturing plant.

"Yes sir!" I replied shaking his hand firmly. "Today's my first day. I'm nervous but excited to work here!"

"Well you're in luck!" my trainer replied. "They just opened a new mine today. We get to be the first ones to check it out!"

"A mine?" I asked confused. "But we're in the middle of the city?? Do we have to commute out?"

The trainer turned to me with a knowing smile. "I guess it's about time you learned the big secret about Snop's secret formula!"

I was led down a series of elevators to a giant corridor filled with doors. Each door had a heavy metallic sliding door, as well as numerous cables attached to them. My trainer led me to a shiny new door at the end of the hall labelled "Mine KG"

"Here we are!" my instructor exclaimed to me as I looked at him confused.

"Haha, I don't blame you." he laughed. "I gave the same expression my first day here. See, the owner of Snop is kind of an eccentric genius so to speak. He invented some special portal technology... takes you to a place like nothing you've ever seen before. Only the CEO knows how to enter the coordinates! All that crazy smarts and what does he use it for? To create the best darn cleaning supply known to man!" my trainer laughed as I continued to stare at him confused.

Seeing my lack of understanding; my trainer hit the button outside of the door. Instantly it opened to reveal a long dark cavern that seemed almost alien in nature. I found myself walking towards it in my awe when my trainer placed a firm grip on my shoulder.

"I get that you're eager and all to see this new world, but let's give the warning first." he explained. "This here ain't a world like anything you've ever seen before. It's filled with all kinds of dangers that could come back to bite you hard! It's a pretty unstable tunnel too, so be careful what you do in it, or else both our lives could be ending quickly. But more than anything, whatever you do.... DO NOT LEAVE THE TUNNEL!"

My trainer stared at me with such conviction that I could only imagine what kinds of horrific monsters lay outside the tunnel. I gave a slight nod which caused his expression to soften and he let me go.

"Anything else I should know?" I asked as we made our way through the doorway.

"Ah yes." my trainer exclaimed suddenly remembering something. It gets windy in the tunnel so... mind your step!"

No sooner did he warn me than I was nearly knocked onto my face by a powerful gale of wind. I would have toppled over had it not been for an equally strong wind which immediately blew the opposite direction. My trainer watched laughing to himself as I stumbled around for 5-6 minutes attempting to gain my posture. Eventually however I did manage to get my sea legs.... or "tunnel legs" as it would be, and got a chance to view my surroundings.

The tunnel was dark. The only light we had to rely on was that from our mining helmets. The walls appeared to be a dark tan colour and were fairly soft and slippery. Strange scraggly black vines grew out of the walls where they curled and twisted. Attached to a number of them were clumps of clear/yellowish slime.

My trainer walked over to one of the vines and gingerly chiseled away some of the slime. "This here is the secret ingredient to Snop!" he exclaimed holding the clump towards me. "And this here is what we are going to be mining for the next 6-8 hours until the whistle blows!"

Over the next few hours, my trainer showed me the ropes. Snop came in various consistencies. Sometimes it was liquid, sometimes it was solid. The most valuable ingredients was sort of a putty like substance in between. Getting it separated from the black vines was tricky as it often clung on fairly tightly, but gentle persistence paid off. The wind that blew through the caves occasionally had a slight tone to it which reminded me of Kelly's voice. She wouldn't believe the secret to Snop even if I told her at this point. I wondered if I tried, would I have a better chance at asking her out.

"It's been a while since I've seen a mine this plentiful..." my trainer exclaimed as he sloshed through ankle deep liquid. "I wouldn't be surprised if they have us come back here often. It seems to be swimming in resources."

I was about to ask how commonly mines were depleted when I suddenly slipped on a patch of liquid material. In my panic I grabbed quickly onto the vine to stop me from falling. Instead the vine was wrenched from the wall.

"STOP YOU FOOL! YOU'RE GOING TO KILL US ALL!" my trainer cried out tackling me to the ground, but it was too late. The whole tunnel shook as the wind blew towards us at an alarming rate. We both held our breaths as the wind continued to increase but then it stopped.

My trainer let out a sigh of relief before returning to his feet.

"I'm sorry, but as I mentioned these tunnels are highly volatile. Putting too much force on the walls or on these vines can cause a freak tornado. As strong as that wind we just experienced was, the wind that would come from the other direction would shoot by us at 100x the force! Our bones would be turned to putty before we were even blown out of the tunnels!"

I got back up to feet while making a mental note to myself not to ever damage a black vine again when a familiar voice carried over to my ears.

"Mmmmm, Kyle..." a groggy voice echoed all around us.

"Kelly??" I instinctively called out. The wind was clearly playing tricks on me again, but I could have sworn I heard Kelly calling out my name.

"What's the matter lad?" my trainer asked with a concerned look on his face. I was about to respond when the voice rang out again.

"Mmmm, Kyle... I love it when you touch me.... Why won't you ask me out already you coward?"

There was no way that was the wind. I ran towards the tunnel's exit. I knew that voice instinctively!

"Boy! Slow down!" my trainer cried out desperately. "Remember what I told you! Don't exit the tunnel! You'll never come back alive if you do!"

His voice sounded sincere but I couldn't stop now. Seeing the dim light through a titanic opening I ran all the harder. I ran past the exit to find myself blinded by the change in light.

As my eyes began to adjust, I found myself standing on a soft surface staring down at what appeared to be a colossal body. The ground shook as a massive crevice opened up before me blowing up a warm gust of wind.

"Oh Kyle, you make me soooo hot... Tell me you love me..." the familiar voice of my best friend and life long crush rose from its depths.

Looking around I could scarcely believe my eyes. I was standing just outside Kelly's left nostril. I had just spent the past 6 hours mining away the snot from within her nose!

The sheer beauty of her body at this scale was beyond me to even comprehend. Leaning down to her cheek, I kissed the ground I stood on.

"I love you Kelly." I whispered. "I want to stay with you forever.