The Cave: An Original Short Story 8-10 minute Read

A man climbed a snowy mountain; he trained for seven months to reach the top. As he toiled for days his mind was only focused on the top of the mountain. He couldn’t quite see it from his point of view, but he knew it was up there. So that thought kept him going slowly and steadily up the mountain. The man was running out of supplies and instead of turning around and going back down he kept treading the mountain. In his journey up the mountain he fell into a pit and broke his leg. It was dark, and he panicked when a voice spoke to him.

“Why are you troubled?” the voice said. The man began to panic more and he scrambled to find his flash light. As he fumbled in the darkness through his equipment in a far distance he saw a light. He was dumbfounded as he stared at the distant light seemingly coming closer. As the light got closer the floor trembled slightly with a faint vibration. The vibration became a tremble, and the tremble became a quake. As the ground shook the voice silently spoke, “Be centered, climb the mountain and be one.” The vibrations shook the darkness and the man started losing consciousness. The growing light in the darkness started to dim and the man felt no fear; he slowly closed his eyes and laid his head on the vibrating ground.

The man awoke in darkness, seemed he had been out for hours but he was not sure. He slowly came to, and he thought he was previously dreaming until a soft light brightened across from him. Another man sat there, against what seemed to be a cave wall. The man had a slender build, his clothes were torn but his face was clean. As he emerged from the shadows of the cave he had a soft smile on his face, and peered at the man as if he knew him. “Who are you?” the man asked confused. “What’s your name?” “I don’t have a name.” the strange man replied. “How do you not have a name?” “I just never had one, because I never needed one.” Well everyone needs a name, it defines who you are.” The strange man laughed softly, “A name is not needed to be myself, those things do not last the test of time, my deeds and my thoughts will.”

The strange man reached into a bag and pulled out a bread roll and motioned toward the man. “Are you hungry?” The man shook his head to confirm and reached and grabbed the roll from him and began eating it very fast. “Now slow down, the bread is not going anywhere.” The man chewed what was in his mouth slowly and replied, “But I am so hungry, I feel like I haven’t eaten for days now.” “What makes you say that?” The man looked over at him and was confused. “What do you mean? It just feels like I haven’t eaten for days.” The strange man looked down and replied, “Time doesn’t exist in our world right now, meaning things can’t be measured by time. We just “are,” we exist right now and time and space are not needed for our existence at this very moment. How do you know you haven’t been down here for years? Your perception is limited based on your reality, which is most likely false.” The strange man continued while fiddling something in his hands. “What do you have there?” The strange man interrupted him. “So why were you climbing?” “I am not sure why.” The man replied back. “I just felt compelled to, life makes no sense.” “How do you mean?”

“It seems life has very little use, we go to school, and we work, have kids and die.” “Isn’t that what you strive for?” the strange man replied. “Family and work is good I guess, but isn’t there more? Is this all that comes with our existence?” The strange man looked and seemed a loss for words, not that he didn’t have them, but the ones for the man to understand. “Though all things manifest are finite doesn’t mean they are not important. Take the path less traveled and perfect yourself in the flesh that was given to you, only then can you understand your purpose on that plane of existence.” The man looked puzzled. “How do I do that?” The wise man came a bit closer and said, “By realizing that you know…..nothing. To know that you are a small fish connected to a giant one, and that you have been climbing your whole life but you never realized it.”

The man looked at the wise man and the light got brighter. “I feel like I have to get out of here.” The wise man stared at him and looked down at his hands. “You never answered me, what is that?” The wise man smiled and held up a hat. It was all red and had a star upon it. “This is your way out of here, but you have to really want it, do you?” The man looked up and saw a tiny light far away above him. “Yes I do.” The wise man stood up and as he looked down at the man the tiny light shined over the wise man’s head. “Here you go, the key to getting out of here.” The wise man placed the hat upon the man’s head. The man felt a warm sensation overwhelm his body, and he laid his head back and closed his eyes.

The wise man started to climb the rocks towards the light which seemed a far distance. As he climbed his fingers began to ache, his legs weakened; but he continued. He looked down and saw the man still sitting there, knowing that it was his turn to climb he treaded on. As the fatigue hit him, he closed his eyes and envisioned the other part of the cave and the top of the mountain. The hairs on his neck stood up from the chill of the wind and when he opened his eyes, he as on top of the mountain. Looking at the vast landscape the sun shone through the clouds and blanketed his face. He knew he had made it, he knew the struggle was over. The wise man smiled and disappeared.

Later on the news…..

“This is Akida Marshall with the channel 47 news, and the police are still looking for Leon Yeb, the multi-millionaire who went missing for three days now. We got word from his assistant that he abruptly left office and went mountain climbing. He was last seen boarding a flight to Tibet and has not been heard from since. The police department has tried to ask the Tibetan government for help but they have found nothing yet. Hopefully we can find him soon because the Leon Yeb Shopping Center is scheduled to open this week. Back to you John.”