The Cave

A child crawled into a small cave near her house. The cave looked like it was made of quartz, untouched by dirt. When she came out, the world seemed brighter. Grass was greener, the house she lived in was more ornate. She wondered at the house. Were her parents there or did a different family live there? She rang the doorbell just in case. Nobody answered. The door was unlocked.

The child had never been left alone before, and dinner was always ready at six, when her mother or father would call her. It was after six, but nobody else was there. That made her anxious. She was hungry and went to the refrigerator. It was well stocked, but she didn’t recognize what was in it. She took out a container of what looked like beef stew. She looked for a plate to microwave it in, but the plates all had gold filigree designs on them. She finally put the original container in the microwave. It smelled and tasted like nothing she had ever had before, better.

She drank tap water from a crystal goblet she had never seen before and couldn’t remember anything so refreshing. She went to her room. It was neater than she ever kept her room. It had a bed with colorful floral patterned curtains all around. Now she was afraid. Was this someone else’s house?

She went back to the cave she had crawled into. It now looked like it was gray rock lined with dirt. It had different kinds of worms and bugs in it. Looking at it made her quiver with disgust. She looked back at the idealized house. It wasn’t home. Maybe the cave was crawling with bugs and worms when she first got in and she didn’t notice. She was dressed in jeans and a long sleeved top, so they wouldn’t be crawling on most of her skin. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and climbed into the cave.

She immediately heard her mother calling for her. She got out and ran home.