Important Discovery

“Important Discovery” is one of the outstanding stories of the first biannual International Short Story Contest 2018 written by Nilai Bugeja, St.Clare's Collage, San Gwann, Malta.

Important Discovery

It was April first, a very warm and sunny Spring day. I decided to call my friend Joe, to come for a walk with me. He is the most adventurous person that I know, so I told him to come with me to explore the hidden cave that I have noticed last time while having a picnic with my family at the very end of Bourveg Town.

He agreed to come with me, and so we decided to meet near the new playground to start our adventure. It was a very long way till the cave and all that walking had tired us out, but our enthusiasm gave us all the energy we needed! When we finally arrived at our destination, we couldn't find an entrance to the cave and it didn't help feeling the warmth after all that hiking. So we decided to sit down on the first rock we encountered. While we were quenching our thirst by sipping some water, we noticed a bush that seemed to be having a secret entrance behind it…so I was right, there really was a cave after all! We looked at each other and jumped with excitement.

When we went inside it was like living in a magical, crystal dream. All the walls were covered in colourful crystals. The cave was very shimmery and shiny. Nobody was in there, no animals or insects seemed to be living there. We couldn't even take one single step that a crystal didn't come up from under our feet. After, we saw a small tunnel made out of glass. We both ran towards it and we crawled into it to see where it ends...there were small waterfalls coming down from all the crystal glass walls. It was amazing. The water looked crystal clear, very fresh and pure to drink from, and so Joe decided to taste it. He really enjoyed the water's taste. Next, was my turn to try some of the water…it tasted very fresh and sweet. The tunnel ended at the other side of the cave which was huge. Soon, water droplets were coming down from the ceiling. The temperature was now getting very cold.

The air was getting very heavy. We were getting very hungry, but soon I remembered that in my backpack, I had a tasty lunch prepared for the two of us and two jackets. We sat on a crystal rock, and started to eat. After, we decided to walk a bit further on. After taking a few steps, we started to hear a beautiful melody that was coming from the tunnel that we had passed by earlier…could it be possible that there was someone else in the cave? We hid behind a rock and looked towards the tunnel. Much to our surprise there seemed to be nobody…yet the same chiming melody continued!

It was getting very late, so we decided to get out of the cave. We went back home and planned that the day after, we would go to the police station, to tell them about the cave. The next morning, we went to give the news to the police. They told us that the cave was never noticed by anyone. Soon after, some scientists and experts came to investigate the cave, and they told us that there was some kind of magic in the cave, but nobody knows how…the experts also said that the crystals have been there for thousands of years. We were truly amazed by our discovery. We encouraged the police, the local council and all the people in authority of Bourveg Town to make it possible for the public to visit the cave. The cave is now named after our initials, ' N.J Crystal Cave ' !