Terror Caves

• Bradley Lucas, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2012

I heard drops of water dropping from the roof. They were making stalactites or stalagmites; I could never distinguish what name was right for what one. I thought to make myself forget where I was. The day was a blur. Sometimes I just think “this can’t be real, it’s a dream” but I always know it’s not. My breathing was short, fast, jerky sobs. What was going to happen?

I lay in the dark, wondering what to do. I knew that just this morning I had been chasing a pesky fox around the paddock my heart feeling like it was going to explode as the itchy grass rubbed against my legs. I brushed my hand against a slimy stalagmite. As I recalled the events of the day in intense frustration, thinking about the weird cave opening in the ground, I heard something. It sounded like something wet and slimy sliding against a rock. My heart pounded. A giant snail? Some other sort of disgusting mollusc? Was this the end of Jack McFerguson?

I looked around in a fast, apprehensive manner. I could not see a thing. If there was a deathly outline of anything looming over me I would not know. I heard the sound again and I felt something with wet brush against me. I scrambled blindly away desperate to escape. I fell over scraping my knee in blind panic. I saw sunlight. The entrance had been above me. I was angry at myself for my stupidity. Then I saw it.

It was a slimy, fleshy pink with green bumps all over it. It was disgusting. I ran into the sunlight. It was a millipede, sort of, without the shell. It was the most disgusting thing I’ve seen. It had hundreds of slimy pink legs. It skittered along, wet dirt falling of its segmented body. I had to escape! Then I had an idea.

I ran out onto the top of the cave. I jumped around on the top of the cave, feeling the ground shake beneath my feet. Little bits of dirt exploded on the back of my legs. Dirt ran down the back of my legs, collecting in a puddle at the bottom of my shoes. The ground trembled and a booming crack of thunder seemed to make the world itself shudder. Lightning surged downwards through the clouds, like a ghostly white sword piercing through flesh. Small fissures appeared in the ground and small chunks of the ground fell downwards. The cracks got wider and the ground seemed to rumble. Suddenly, the earth gave way and hissing scream pierced the air.

As the ground gave way, I jumped out of the way and sprawled onto the edge of the hole. A pink leg writhed, and then fell off. My brown hair was wet from the rain. The beast was dead! I scanned the wreckage. How careless, but lucky I had been to explore these caves. As I ran to my house I thought, who would believe this?