The Mysterious Cave Painting

It happened on an afternoon in the summer a few months ago. One middle aged amateur archaeologist was on his knees  digging in the rubble at the mouth of the recently discovered cave in my grandparents' ancestral place. I don’t know why I was with them, perhaps I have been assisting the kid who was so persistent to explore the cave with his dad, the archaeologist.

Suddenly, from the depths of a side chamber, came the muffled scream  of his ten-year-old son, “A cat! Papa, come quickly!”

Alarmed, the man dropped his pick and darted into the area where the little girl stood frantic pointing at the ceiling. Raising his flashlight in the direction of the girls fingers, I know, like me, he felt his hair stand on end as he saw the drawings on the cave wall, not only a cat, but prehistoric Saber-tooth Tiger, magnificently painted in lifelike poses, standing, pawing the ground, lying down, curled in sleep, rolling in the dust or dying of spear wounds. Exploring further in the labyrinth, we found dozens of other painted and engraved animals, like lions, wooly mammoth, rhinoceros, and so much more.

The momentous discovery was to open a great door on a totally unsuspected era of human history. The archaeologist knew immediately that the murals were unimaginably ancient. Most of the animals so vividly depicted were either extinct or had disappeared hundred centuries ago. 

Everyone in the village celebrated that night with the archaeologist and his son. I got bored with the singing, eating and laughing, so I have decided to go back inside the cave. An old woman appeared as I was about to enter, and told me that she also wanted to take a glimpse of the ancient drawings. 

We went in and I was so surprised to see her lying down staring at the drawings in the ceiling. A few minutes later, I was lured into imitating her. While lying down on my back in a padded niche of the rock platform, I had been gazing up at the huge scary tiger for perhaps five minutes. 

Then the old woman murmured in our dialect, “Do you see it yet?”

“See what?” I asked.

“Keep looking,” she said.

I stared for another few minutes until, suddenly, it hit me. “They’re breathing!” I gasped. “I can see their muscles quivering!”

“Yes,” the old woman nodded with a smile. “Hundred of centuries old and still alive,” She continued.

She grabbed my hand, and I woke up from my sleep. It’s already morning.

Ah! Yes! Just a dream, lol! This must be the result of binge watching Jumanji with my niblings. All weird things can happen really.

I've been missing in action for some days, sorry guys, I'll be catching up.

Before I end, heaps of thanks to @Pichi28 @Bloghound @JLoberiza @Infinity for the sponsorship renewal.

Thanks for reading!

I remember I wrote a story for promptlyJonica about myths;

The Mysterious Cave

Then, a prompt about a dream vacation;

Out Diving in Coral Sea

How about a crazy rich influencer for a day?

Meet the Land Baron

Lead image and article photo from Pixabay (free to use image)

All Original Content (unless specified otherwise)

10/09/2022

©️ LykeLyca

Write articles and join us! Click read.cash

Make some noise by writing short posts. Click noise.cash

Join us on #Club1BCH Discord Channel