Untitled Short Story

by CONOR F.

‘No, no, no! You have to row to the left. Row to the left and you turn right!’ I said to my younger brother.

‘I’m trying to,’ he replied.

‘Well you don’t seem like you are,’

‘Jack and William, what are you fighting about now?! This was supposed to be a nice canoeing trip in the south west of France but all I can hear is you two squabbling.’

‘Nothing, mum, I just want to swap canoes.’ I said.

‘Fine, stop at this beach up here,’ she said while pointing at a beach about fifty metres ahead of us, where the rest of the group had stopped to change canoes as well.

A few minutes later I was in a kayak by myself, behind the others who were faster as they all had two or three people with them to help.

‘When are we having the picnic?’ I called to my friend Gavin who was within earshot of me.

‘My mum said were having it in about an hour or so but I not exactly sure,’ he replied.

I sat there slowly rowing for a while, until I could see rapids up ahead and I got myself ready for the challenge. I heard a scraping sound beneath me and suddenly remembered the guide’s words when he said that at the second rapids you must keep left. I was stuck.

‘Damn,’ I shouted. ‘My kayak’s stuck,’ I called to those ahead of me.

‘I’ll try to come back,’ my dad said to me. He struggled to make it up the river against the current but kept being spun around. ‘Try and free yourself we’ll wait at the first beach we find,’ he exclaimed as he fought against the current for the last time.

I had tried to push my boat out from between the two rocks holding it in position, but to no avail. The heat of the sun mixed with the coolness of the river around my ankles distracted me and ten minutes were gone before I had done anything. I turned around and glanced up at the cliff imagining what it would be like to climb it when I spotted a tiny opening only wider than a large beach ball. I stood up and made my way slowly to the hole, carefully stepping on the round soft stones on the river bed. I looked into the opening and saw darkness.

I went back to the kayak and took my diving torch out of the rucksack. I returned and shone the torch into the hole. It was bewildering. It was a huge cave with stalagmites and stalactites hanging from the ceiling and growing up from the floor, with some joining into columns of wet rock. From what I could see it stretched down twenty metres until it became too small to crawl through. I tried to get in but it was too small for me. I picked up a big stone beside me and hacked at the thinner rock around the entrance, until it was big enough to fit through.

I squeezed myself into the cave and started to walked down the tunnel, weaving and ducking to avoid hitting into the pillars of stone. I looked left to make sure I wouldn’t trip up over a stalactite but instead found yet another cave entrance, this one about the same size as the other entrance. I crouched down and stuck my head through the hole. I didn’t see anything unusual so I stood up, and checked my watch. Ten to one. It had been twenty minutes since I had first got stuck on the rocks. I figured I had enough time so I crouched down and crawled through into the other cave.

I shone the torch at the walls and my jaw dropped to my chin. Cave-Drawings. About fifty little pictures painted on the face of a huge wall. It suddenly felt very cold in the cavern. I walked over and touched the wall. It to seemed like a freezer. I tried to get my head straight. How could these be here? How come they weren’t discovered? Should I tell my friends and family? All these thoughts were rushing through my head.

I decided it would be best to not tell anyone. I didn’t want the cave to be turned into a money making tourist attraction. I walked over again and ran a finger through the drawings. Bits of flaky stone and what looked like red and black pollen appeared on my hand. I figured the red and black stuff must be the paint. I sat down in the middle of the room and thought about it. It didn’t look like there had ever been humans here. Or at least modern humans. Was this region known to have cave-drawings? Yes. I remembered seeing a brochure in the hotel for a cave that was filled with them. The drawings weren’t spray paint that’s for sure.

I thought for a while, various questions flowing through my brain. I was brought back to reality by the thought of researching more when I got back to the hotel. I wandered deeper into the cave, seeing more and more. There were outlines of hands, pictures of men hunting with spears, even primitive drawings of horses with beautiful borders and frames around them. I checked my watch. It was ten past one. I had better be going. I made my way to the front of the cave taking one last look at the pictures. I slid out of the cave, and made my way back to the kayak. It was hard to free it from the rocks just using your body so I used a branch off a tree to lever it up, and after that all I had to do was pull it back over the rocks put it in the water and row. I thought to myself as I rowed away that I would remember those drawings for the rest of my life.

Then I was rowing as quick as I could downstream, anxious to get back to the group. I realised I was hungry, and I knew we had a picnic ready. I found them just around the bend from a group of low trees that touched the water surface. The others had already started eating.

‘God, I’m hungry,’ I called to them.

‘Finally,’ my dad said joyfully. ‘We didn’t want to start without you but we were all really hungry as well. What took you so long?’ he asked.

I hesitated. Should I tell them. Yes or no. I quickly thought back on what I decided in the cave. I was right, best I shouldn’t tell.

‘Oh I was just fascinated by the dragonflies hovering above the river. Sorry if I worried you,’ I told them.

‘Come on, sit down,’ Gavin said. ‘Have a sandwich, here.’

‘Thanks,’ I said as he gave me a baguette filled with ham and cheese. I ate it very quickly watching other canoes drift by the water rippling behind them, the sun beating down on them. It was a beautiful day.

Published in BOX OF VOICES Issue #1.

Posted: October 1st, 2009 under Box of Voices, Fiction.