Dark

• Banjo Nitschke, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2020

I stared up at the accumulation of basalt boulders. The only exit was blocked. I suppose I was lucky. If I hadn’t looked up at the cloud choked sky and seen that the great wooden platform that had protected the cave entrance from incessantly falling rocks for decades, had given way that would have been the end for me. These pages would have never been written if I hadn’t leapt away from those boulders. Aside from some light grazes, I wasn’t injured. Nevertheless, I had no way of returning home. Well, that technically wasn’t true. There was still the Chasm Of Nightmares. But of course, it was a forbidden pathway. Not one living thing could escape it. Nothing ever had. I stared at the sun as it went to rest and the moon took its place. If I stayed here, I would die anyway. Wolves roamed in these parts. Their gargantuan jaws could break the even the toughest bone. I had no choice. I had to face the menacing cave.

As I crept deeper into the cave, the light of the entrance became fainter in sight. Soon, the only things I could see were the thick, toxic vines that gripped the cave walls like a thousand thick, scaly snakes. It felt like I had been in there for hours, and as I went deeper into the cave the vines became thicker. Suddenly, a voice. “Come.....” it said, in an eerie tone. I stopped. My spine froze into ice. “Who’s there?” I called in a shuddery tone. My voice echoed across the walls. “Come....” said the alluring voice again. Finally, I spotted the source of the sound. A small, pink flower faintly glowing through a cage of heavy vines. I was immediately attracted. I slowly motioned towards it. I reached out to touch it. Suddenly, the vines took a tight grip on my arm. I screamed and tried to pull free. The vines suddenly slithered around my body. I couldn’t move. I was trapped.

I screamed as the slithering vines tightened their grip around my body. I tried to kick, punch and even bite, but no difference was made. I was now dangling from the ceiling of the cave, which gave me an idea. I started to swing myself towards the cave walls, gaining more speed as I went. I eventually slammed into the flower. The vines loosened their grip slightly, just enough for me to escape. I then realised, that the magical flora must be controlling the vines. So I ran up to the plant, and slammed my fist into the centre. It suddenly throbbed with bright red light. The vines suddenly began to wither and die. The flower finally stopped pulsing, and began to shine a bright, steady glow, revealing not one, but several exits, shrouded in dead vines. There were exits all along, I just couldn’t see them. I smiled as I ran towards the light, as it brightened the cave walls.