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Part 2

Marty and Jean decided to play hooky from school that late autumn early afternoon. Their summer hangout at the lake was windy and chilly, and so they decided to walk down into the gulch for shelter. Normally hidden by trees’ leaves, as they rounded a boulder on the path, they saw an eye-shaped cave entrance, low to the ground. Marty and Jean looked at each other and nodded.

Climbing down to the entrance was fairly easy. As they got closer to it they realized it was bigger than first appeared, as tall as a person at the apex. This meant the sun was able to reach in several feet. The floor of the cave was also rock but strewn with branches and leaves with splotches of grey.

“I bet we could make a fire in there to warm up.” said Marty.

“Good idea!” said Jean.

They gathered dry branches and tinder and assembled it in the cave as far in as the light reached. Jean pulled out her lighter and lit the brittle tinder. As the fire crept along, the grey splotches acted as accelerant and the fire was soon ablaze, its smoke curling upward. Almost immediately the teens heard a chittering above them. Looking up, both of them felt tingles in their spines to see the roof of the cave wriggling with the furry forms of bats.

Marty said, “Look, they aren’t flying. They’re OK with us being here.”

Jean suppressed a shudder and said, “But am I OK with them being here!”

Marty and Jean snuggled together by the fire until they were warmed. Marty wondered if the bats appreciated the heat also.

The next time the teens visited the cave they brought flashlights and explored its reaches, which they discovered were substantial, including a bat-free chamber 100 yards in, under what they called the hidden mountain. It was dry and cool, with a small opening in the ceiling that carried their smoke away when they built fires. After several visits and being settled in to their hideout they began to notice the fire revealing markings on the wall. Getting close up with the flashlights they made out several human and animal drawings. Men, women, children, dogs, deer, snakes, bears, eagles, partridge.

“What’s that?,” said Marty.

In the drawing, the beast was surrounded by a circle of men with spears and dogs. On the edge of the drawing were bodies of women and children lying near what looked like this very eye-shaped cave, some missing arms, legs, — and heads.

“Hmmmm dinosaur?”, said Jean.

“That’s like no dinosaur I ever knew of.” said Marty.

Jean pulled out her cell phone and snapped a picture.

“You’re not telling anyone about the cave, are you?” said Marty.

“No, we promised we wouldn’t.”

“Cool.”

Tourmaline’s Halloween Challenge

Read part 1 of my story here.