Unplanned Exploration

There was a dark mouth opening from the earth. It beckoned inviting the bold to explore its depths. Danielle knew cave exploration could be dangerous. Still she had Todd with her and she'd told their mom where they were going.

The wind was blowing into the cave; it pulled Danielle's strawberry blonde hair in front of her face. She tucked it back behind her ears.

"You really want to go in there? We're only wearing flip-flops," Todd said. "What if there's a stalagmite and one of us trips on it?"

Older brothers were so boring! He always wanted them to play safe. "Had Lewis and Clark played it safe?" she retorted. "No, and only one dude died and that was from appendicitis. Thanks to their sense of adventure, they'd become the first Americans to see the Pacific."

"If one of us gets hurt, I'll go back to the entrance and call 911," she said. "I'll call mom if we get taken to the hospital. Otherwise we just make up a story about you slipping trying to look in a tidal pool."

Her brother stuck his hands in the pockets on his khaki shorts. "Hey! Why do you always assume it's me who gets hurt?" Todd complained. "We've both gotten our share of broken bones and bruises."

"Exactly my point," Danielle said. "Now let's do this."

The sand extended a good ways into the cave. The noise of it shifting underfoot was amazingly loud as it echoed off stone walls. The sunlight was swallowed up by the cave's interior and the siblings had to use the flashlight on their phones.

They couldn't see much. Just enough light to know where they were going. "Good thing this isn't like Minecraft," Danielle said. "At least there's no zombies or Enderman in here."

Todd rolled his eyes, silently judging his nerdy sister.

When the sand finally gave way to solid rock, it was surprisingly smooth. Like someone had taken a sand blaster and eliminated all the imperfections.

Todd's flashlight glinted off something in the dark. He nudged Danielle in the arm. "Look, there's something over there!"

The figure was three times the size of a normal person. But it had an intricate bronze mask and a carapace covered in intricate copper and gold decorations.

"I wonder if it's from a strange mystery cult. It looks super old with that patina on the copper," Danielle said.

"So? The Statue of Liberty is only a little less than a hundred and fifty years old. It's turned bright green.