The Forbidden Cave

Anika

Lots of people in my town have heard of the legend of the Forbidden Cave. Whenever I hear people say it, I always wonder why it was forbidden. When I was eight years old, I asked my mother about the forbidden cave. She was surprised that I asked, yet she told me the story. She said that the legend of the Forbidden Cave started way before I was born. A explorer named John Kingdom was traveling around the globe to find a cave that was filled with treasure that has never been found in years. He had a map of an island that would him there. He wanted all the treasure to become the richest explorer in the world. So, he found a cave with a golden light shining at the top of the inside of the cave. He went inside, not noticing that he had fallen into a trap. And yet, he never came back. I was surprised. I noticed that everyone wanted to stay away from the cave for safety. My mom told me stay away from the Forbidden Cave, and I promised her, hopefully not breaking the promise. 20 years later as I was walking toward the plaza, everyone was still talking about the Forbidden Cave, but this time, they said that 3 teenagers and 6 adults were missing. Something to me wasn’t right. Were they told not to go near the cave? Whatever’s going on, someone has to find out what. “Another missing update?”, a voice said behind me. I turned around and saw my best friend, Vin, a tall, blonde teenage boy who loves adventure and mystery. “So, what’s going on?”

“9 more people went missing”, I said. “Something is wrong here.”

Vin started to think. “There’s no way the missing people would leave the town of Unity without saying anything.”

“I know.”

“We have to stop this.”

“I know!”

“This is an important issue!”

“I KNOW!”

Vin stopped talking. Anika took a deep breath. “Sorry. I just know that we have to find the missing people and bring them back to town. But, we’re going to need some help.”

“Who exactly?”, Vin said, confused.

“ I don’t know, but whoever it is, they have to help us.”

“Who are you guys talking about?”, a voice said behind me and Vin. We both turned around and saw Frank, my brother, skin more darker than mine, and a little taller than me. “Nobody”, I said to him.

Frank raised his eyebrow. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, Frank. Why? Do you have someone in mind?”

“Yes.” Frank paused. “Okay, no.”

Vin laughed. I slapped my hand on my forehead. “What an idiot.”

Frank frowned. “Just because I don’t know anyone in mind doesn’t mean I’m an idiot.”

“It actually does.”, I said while rolling my eyes.

Vin stepped between me and Frank. “Guys. We should start heading to the cave.”

Frank’s eyes widened at the sentence. “You don’t mean the Forbidden Cave, right? Because it’s that cave, then I’m gonna step out of this.”

I smiled. “Yes. It’s that cave.”

Before Frank can say anything, we noticed that a person was standing in the middle of the street and their eyes were wide open. They whispered to the man who was standing next to them. He looked at us. “We should start moving.”, Frank said.

I looked at Frank. “You’re coming with us?”

Frank turned to me. “Don’t push it.”

We ran to my house and gathered our supplies for the adventure. We walked over logs and stepped down carefully on the hard rock steps. As we approached the Forbidden Cave, we saw a small beam of gold light, like the one my mom told me about. We pushed the boulder out of the way and saw a mysterious object floating inside the cave.

Vin stepped forward. “I’m having mixed feelings about this.”

Frank nodded. “Me too.”

I stepped inside the cave. “Well, we’re doing this.” I continued stepping inside. Vin and Frank followed behind me. We noticed some strange marks we never seen before on the walls. I stopped and saw a marking that looked like the mystery object. A necklace covered with golden stars. It looked beautiful.

I turned to Vin. “Vin. Are you seeing this?”

Vin looked at the marking of the star-covered necklace. “Yeah. I see it.” He turned to me. “Could it be the reason why the citizens are going missing?”

I turned to the marking. “I’m not sure.”

“Hey, guys!”, Frank called out. “You gotta come see this.” Me and Vin ran to Frank. What he spotted was a golden statue of a familiar face. I looked closer at the face of the statue. I held a picture of John Kingdom. The face of the statue looked just like him.

“No way.”, I said.

“That can’t be.”, Vin said.

“It is.”, Frank said.

I stroked John’s golden shirt. “What happened to you?”, I whispered.

“His pride happened to him”, a voice said behind us. Me, Vin, and Frank turned around and saw the same person who was at the plaza earlier. The differences that we noticed was that their eyes were golden, their outfit was half white, half gold, they were wearing a headband with golden flowers on the top, and their skin was as bright as the sun in the morning.

I stepped forward, confused. “What do you mean ‘His pride happened to him’?” The person also stepped forward. “Have you heard the clandestine part of John Kingdom’s story of this cave?”

I turned to Frank and Vin who were behind me. They both gave me a shrug.

The person pinched the bridge of their nose. “Unbelievable. Perhaps, I should tell you what happened.”

I turned to the person. “Ok. But, may we ask for your name?”

The person’s eyes widened. “No one has asked me for my name before. I’m Daze.”

“Nice to meet you, Daze.”, I said. “I’m Anika.”

Vin stepped forward and waved. “I’m Vin.”

Frank also stepped forward. “And I’m Frank.”

Daze smiled. “It’s a pleasure to meet you all.”

I smiled back. “Thanks.” But something that Daze said got me to frown. “What really happened to John Kingdom?”

Daze frowned also. “It was long before your town was told to stay away from the Forbidden Cave. I was outside the cave, finding some flowers with my dad. Then suddenly, we saw John’s ship coming towards the shore. We didn’t know what he wanted, until my dad saw the light from the cave. We told John and his followers that if they go inside the cave, they would turn into golden statues. John laughed and told us that the warning was ridiculous. So, he went inside the cave, reached his hand out towards the star-covered necklace, and suddenly noticed that he ignored the warning and turned into a golden statue.”

Vin, Frank, and I were very surprised. What Daze told us was very horrifying. We finally understood why the people went missing. It was because of their pride that got them into this mess.

I turned to Frank and Vin. “We need to get out of here.” The boys nodded. “Agreed.”

I turned to Daze, who remained standing. “Thank you for telling us. We understand now.”

Daze smiled in return. “You’re welcome. Get home safe.”

So we waved goodbye to Daze, stepped out of the cave, and walked towards home

Once we went back to the plaza, my mom was there, pacing along the street. She turned to me and gave me a big hug. “Where have you been?”

I didn’t know what to tell her, so I said, “Just went on a walk.”

My mom smiled and continued hugging me, feeling glad that I was safe. After that, Vin, Frank and I went to our treehouse that we made when we were little. We talked, laughed, and enjoyed the nature. We were glad that we learned an important lesson. Never let your pride put you into a trap, and appreciate what you have.

The End