My fascination with caves started in elementary school.
Whenever there was a promise of a cave at the end of a long hike, I would take it.
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| My dad and me at wind caves in CA |
Caves have found their way into a lot of my short stories I wrote growing up. I'm not sure why exactly. Perhaps because they are so mysterious and kinda spooky. Whatever the reason, they are still finding their way into my stories today. Here's a snippet from
Strange Luck:
At one point, I
made the mistake of leaning over the edge of the staircase, only to see the
cave walls disappear into a dark foggy abyss. Like a whirlpool, smoke swirled
before it was sucked into the middle.
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| My visit to Ruby Falls in Chattanooga, TN. |
And here's one from Book II in the Strange Luck series,
The Nightmare Birds:
I must’ve walked for over an hour—at least I thought I did. A patron had once brought a book to Strange Luck called Troglodytic Offerings. It chronicled the accounts of people who had voluntarily lived in isolation in caves without any light. Though the scientists reported that the volunteers were physically and mentally healthy when they finally emerged, their sleep patterns and perceptions of time had been drastically altered. They had lost track of entire weeks and had even slipped into 48-hour sleep cycles. The book also included some of their unsettling hallucinatory drawings. One drawing of a disturbing winged creature gave me nightmares for a week. Although the book was interesting, I didn’t purchase it given its lack of supernatural qualities. There was nothing worse than being trapped in darkness alone, even voluntarily. Yet here I was doing that very same thing.
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| Garden of the Gods in Colorado |
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| Do the catacombs in Paris count as a cave? |
For this month's #TBTWriter post I thought I'd share the very first story I wrote about a cave, simply called
The Cave. Original, I know. :) My elementary school teacher gave me a 23/25 on it. Woot!
The Cave
Suddenly, the lantern sputtered and went out. It was my worst nightmare. I heard many strange noises, and screams. I was so scared, even more when I heard footsteps. They came closer. Just then I knew I had to leave. I tried feeling around so I would not crash. After a few minutes I found the wall. I tried with all my might to climb it. When I was just about to give up I saw a light. Ohhh! I listened for the footsteps. They came closer and closer and then they stopped. I shivered in fear. I tried again and I made it. When I got up, I thought I was in some sort of an attic. But I didn't see where the light came from. I then heard a crash and things falling. I knew someone was after me.
I tried to run but I was stuck. I felt to see what was holding me. It turned out it was an old trap, and I was caught in it. The footsteps came back, and it sounded like a group of them. I thought, oh no! I then just remembered my magnifying glass. The sun shown through the ceiling. I held the glass up to the sun, and in no time I had a fire. The room lit up with flashing red and yellow flames. Now I could see the trap. I carefully unwound it, and ran for my life.
I ran down halls and through doors. I then found myself trapped again. A huge door was in my way. I pounded on it when the footsteps were once heard again. I thought I could never escape because the door was made of the roughest metal and the hardest iron. Just then the footsteps stopped. I had finally lost them.
I started walking and found a torch. To me it looked like a giant tunnel. I walked ever so fast to find my way out. I hardly noticed a sound. But this one I noticed.
The sound was rough, loud, and shaky. I remembered it was the sound of water. If the tunnel filled up with it I would die. I ran as fast as a swift fox, but instead the water beat me. I was swimming for my life. The water was cold as ice. I looked over and saw a door and it was open. I swam, and swam, and swam.
After a few more seconds which seemed like hours I reached it. I pulled myself up on something which turned out it was the person after me. At that moment he moved in back of me. The whole time he was looking at my head. I very gently lifted my hand and tapped the man on his back. He turned around. Hello, he called, and then turned back to me. I was gone.
I turned in the first hall and to my surprise I found a hidden staircase. I jumped up each stair and found the way out. It was a misty night, a light moon, and a cold temperature. I wanted to go home, and that's what I was going to do. I walked home and disappeared in the mist.
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| High school me and my very first pug (Gomer) |
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So there it is. My first cave story. Between the thing with the magnifying glass and finagling my way out the trap like it was nothing, I must've been watching a little too much MacGyver. :P
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