Summary
It is Jason's fourteenth birthdayand he is spendign his day at the beach with a friend. but the day has an unexpected twist. When they discover a cave while snorkelling it will have a change on their life they will never remember.Another Ancient Wonder
By Casey
It was a warm day as the sun blazed down on two young children playing at the beach in Sanctuary Cove. They were too busy to notice the ever so slowly tanning and eventually burning of their fair skinned backs. Their day was going to end differently to how either of them expected it too. For underneath the crashing waves a mystery was unravelling in the unknown perils of the deep water.
Today was Jason’s birthday and he was turning fourteen. Because it was late in the afternoon, all of Jason’s friends had already departed from the beach. Only Amanda remained.
Both children ran towards their parents who were busy chatting as they lay under the shade of an umbrella.
When they reached their parents, they chorused, “Can we go snorkelling, please?” with pleading voices.
“Oh, okay, just don’t be too long,” their parents replied mimicking the same tone as their children. As they ran away they could not prevent themselves from releasing large grins upon their masked faces.
They hurried to put on their snorkels, goggles and flippers. As they walked awkwardly towards the glistering water they grabbed an oxygen tank each. The refreshing and soothing motion of the waves calmed Amanda and Jason.
For a while they only snorkelled in the shallower waters, but after ten minutes Amanda let out a sigh.
“We’ve been snorkelling here for ten minutes and I have seen every grain of sand to the biggest of fish. I am bored!” she moaned.
“We’ll go diving then. After all we do have oxygen tanks,” he replied instantly.
“Okay,” exclaimed Amanda eagerly. They both took a big breath before plunging under the water.
At first it was pitch black. Gradually their eyes adjusted to the dark. Around them swam fish, many differing in size, shape and colour.
“The coral is beautiful,” sighed Amanda, but to her amazement only bubbles escaped from her mouth.
Something caught Jason’s attention. He motioned for Amanda to join him. Jason wanted to explore, while Amanda was moderately more mature and tried to delay him. Finally, Amanda gave in and reluctantly followed into the unknown waters.
When they arrived they noted that it was a cave. While Amanda was momentarily distracted Jason saw his chance and with no warning dashed into the cave. Amanda was surprised and sped off after him.
Amanda hauled herself out of a hole in the middle of the cavern floor. The cave was well above ground level making it able for a human to live in it, but surprisingly there were no signs of one. After checking that Jason was alright, she wasted no time in taking off all her extra belongings apart from her swimmers, as did Jason.
Situated in the middle of the cave was a rock. Amanda leaned in closer for a better view, overcome with curiosity. She realised it was engraved with writing.
“It’s written in a different language,” stated Amanda.
“This is the eighth ancient wonder of the world. This is the Aboriginal treasure cave. Once you depart you will never have any memory of this place,” muttered Jason.
“How do you know that?” quizzed Amanda.
“I don’t know,” insisted Jason.
The ground began to shake. They looked around, the walls were now covered in pictures of the dreamtime. Jason let out a whistle but apart from that he was silent.
The two of them studied the pictures for an hour before coming to the decision to leave, and rejoin their parents. A spell came upon them and they dropped to the ground in a dead sleep. From the back of the cave emerged an ancient Aboriginal, guard to the eight ancient wonder of the world. He slung the two children and their belongings over his back and made his way back to the beach.
When the two children awoke, they remembered nothing about the cave. And so that is how the eighth ancient wonder of the world has remained a secret.
