Bittersweet Mining
In the decaying heart of Ash Hollow, a place where dreams rot faster than roadkill, seventeen-year-old Draven tries to hold on to the last shreds of hope. He tells himself he is just an average boy, though the hunger in his eyes betrays him. Computers have always been his refuge, a flickering glow in the darkness, but lately that glow has become an obsession.
Ash Hollow offers no future. The town is a husk, drained dry by empty promises and dying industries. Even the wind seems to whisper the same story: nothing here is worth staying for. But then, on a night as empty as the town itself, Draven sees a news segment about Bitcoin. One hundred thousand dollars per coin. He laughs, a hollow, bitter sound. He missed the boom, didn’t he?
Or maybe he didn’t.
Maybe it’s not too late.
Electricity is free at his parents’ house, after all. No one notices what he does in the dead hours of the night. He has a decent rig, cobbled together from scraps and desperation. He wonders if he could make real money, more than pocket change. The kind of money that could buy his freedom. The kind of money that could bury Ash Hollow forever.
The thought sinks its claws into him. He can’t let go.
Crypto mining. It’s just a game, isn’t it? But maybe, just maybe, it’s a game that will finally set him free.
