Chapter 3: Cave of Shadows

A Chapter by Sarah Morin

Chapter 3

Time had lost its interest to my sister, but she slowly came back to it. The world had become boring, but she came back to that too. She felt like she had forgotten and remembered who she was.

Something was tickling her fingertips of her outstretched hand. Does this mean her limbs have returned to her? The tickling spread down her fingers to the rest of her hand. It felt like hands were digging through dirt to get to her, and they were getting closer. They reached her arms, and then she felt the soil around her face shifting. She heard muffled voices through the earth. The hands dug away the soil from around her head.

“Another survivor!” said another.

They sound like children, thought Eva.

They gently pulled her out of the ground. “She’s so cold. Let’s bring her by the fire,” said a boy.

Eva was carried a short distance and sat on a warm stone slab. She rubbed the dirt from her eyes and opened them.

All she saw, at first, was a blinding fire she was sitting near. As her eyes adjusted she saw she was in a huge cave. It was different than the tunnel she had been in; the walls were stone, there were stalactites glistening. It was shaped like a dome, with the fire in the middle.

Around the fire were a few dozen children. Some were Eva’s age, some younger, some older. The younger ones crawled, the older ones had toys. They were dressed in all manner of clothes. Some had different colour skins than Eva had seen before, and they were all watching her.

“Are you hungry?” A girl asked.

“Are you thirsty?” said a boy.

Eva’s stomach growled the answer. She nodded enthusiastically.

A bowl of soup and a mug of hot coco appeared and they gave them to her.

As she feasted some children came and sat down around her. The other children whispered to each other, glancing at her.

“Hi,” a boy said.

“Hello,” Eva said back, smiling, recalling how to greet someone.

They sat in silence as Eva finished her food. The other children grew tired of watching her and began to talk and play.

Eva watched how the shadows of the children danced and shimmered off the walls of the cave from the light of the fire. She began imagining shapes and forms in those shadows; animals, and people. She wondered how these illusions looked so alive and why they looked so different from the children casting them. She was curious if people were shadows.

This made her wonder if these children were the people Ananda had talked about. “Know Ananda?” Eva asked the boy sitting next to her.

He shook his head.

Eva wanted to know if they were near the forest Ananda had said to go. “Where?” she said, trying to ask him where they are.

Even though she could barely remember how to speak, he understood her.

“Some people call this place the Apothetae, Summerland, Bardo. There are lots of names.”

This made Eva unsure if this was where Ananda had told her to go.

“I’m Eva.”

“My name’s Leon,” he said. He looked about ten years old. He had sandy brown hair and dark eyes.

He said, “I’ve been here for a long time. I remember falling, and then woke up here.”

Eva thought maybe he had escaped the Greens just like she had, and she attempted to ask him about it by mimicking soldiers with guns. He paid attention, took a moment to consider, but said, “I’m not sure.”

He got up off the rock and beckoned her “Don’t worry, its okay here. Let’s go outside. I'll show you around.”

She followed him across the cave and through a large crack in the wall. A path led them through a tunnel and outside.

The sun was sinking into the horizon, casting a red light on rocks, trees, and grassy meadows " and children; there were even more children outside, playing in the evening sun, as far as she could see. They were staring at her, smiling faintly.

Eva hoped that one of these children knew where her soul was.

“Who are they?” Eva asked, her words slowly coming back to her.

“We’re survivors, so are you,” he answered.

“Survive from what?” Eva wondered if they were running from the Greens too.

“We’re survivors from suffering,” He said, grinning as if it was an obvious question.

“I’m safe here?” said Eva unbelieving.

“Yeah, we all are. We all escaped misery before coming here. That’s all behind us now.” He was without doubt.

Eva shivered. Was this real? Ananda had warned her about being lost, was she now lost? But she didn’t feel like it at all.

“You look exhausted,” he said. “Come, I’ll show you a great place to sleep.”

prev chapter

next chapter

© 2016 Sarah Morin

My Review

Would you like to review this Chapter?
Login | Register

Featured Review

Poopewpachoo

And the mystery continues!

I didn't mention this the last chapter, but I like the way you have Eva communicate with others. The way she has a hard time thinking of how to say things (and sometimes resorting to body language instead) makes it painfully obvious how long she must have been imprisoned for. If that was your goal, then awesome job!

Some hope is finally shining down on her, much like the sun, so hopefully Eva starts to get some answers soon. I know I'm ready for some!

Once again, keep up the nice work, Sarah!