Dragons...They were in almost every culture, Chinese, European, and even American history. But were there actual truths to this. This was something I had wondered many times over my 14 years of living. My name is Tiffanik and I'm currently moving with my Mom and Dad to California. My Family can't stop getting new fricken jobs!
I'm sorry Mom and Dad but even if this makes you two more money it is not at all cool for me, I've left a consecutive 3 schools because of this cycle and my friends that I only text online. To make it worse is that this is California, known for some of the most earthquakes from being a part of the Ring Of Fire.
And plus the Memes on the Internet do not help in the slightest. When I told my best friend Michelle that I was going to have to move to California she freaked out and actually started apologizing to me! I haven't felt so embarrassed in awhile.
I shouldn't get my hopes up though because there's a chance something Amazing can happen. Anyways My Mom and Dad were driving down the road in our Trailer, I rode in the back in order to stay next to the inbuilt charging port so I could ignore the world that forced me to keep changing.
"Okay...Wikipedia...go" I mumbled as I scrolled through Wikipedia. Since I had infrequent school Hours I learned on Wikipedia on my own. This is also how I learned to love Animals more than people. They had such an interesting way of working. It's like a Giant Jigsaw Puzzle, Every piece is able to fit just right and all the pieces rely on each other to maintain the full picture.
I eventually look up the Powerful Predator known as The Komodo Dragon. It's a bulky animal with some of the best Venomous Capabilities in the Animal Kingdom. I'm getting a bit carried away about this.
Anyways the Trailer came to a stop and I fell forwards slightly from the lurching motion of the Vehicle's owner making a Stomp on the breaks.
"Dah!" I had to grab onto the window ledge in order to stop my falling.
Coming out of the Trailer I step onto the state ground and grind my shoe into the ground. If felt kinda nice and smooth with a touch of crunchy.
"Alright Tiffanik, I'm Sorry this has been a slightly bumpy lifestyle but if me and your mom get this new job and secure it then I think this could be our official Home" My Dad said as he laid a hand on my shoulder.
I could tell he was trying to be sympathetic for the fact we were switching homes left and right but it wasn't working. "ugh...I'll try and Adapt" I replied as I rolled my eyes.
Sensing my reluctance to accept this new lifestyle he just went back to unloading the Trunk.
I went to check out our new house. It was one of those houses that you'd see in a trailer park but a bit larger and a dark brown paint.
There were four windows in the front of the house and 2 in the back with 1 on the sides.
It was a weird design but because there were other houses with this very same layout just with pales and white colors it wasn't too weird natively.
I peered under the porch stairs and used the Flashlight from my phone to check if there was anything interesting.
There was a lot of mud under there, and the underside of the porch was eroded from rainfall and allowed Moss to grow under it.
However something else caught my attention. Sticking out from under the mud like a buried treasure. "What's this?" I beamed my flashlight to the muddy terrain and saw it looked like two pointy rib bones sticking out.
I rolled back my sleeves and grabbed the object by one of the bones and pull at it. It came out fairly easily and took some mud with it's wake.
It was not a bone but...a helmet?
I used my sleeve to wipe it off to get a better look and saw it was no ordinary helmet, but rather a helmet from all the way in Scandinavia? or maybe Iceland? Clearly a Viking helmet but why was It here?
I decided to stash it in my backpack for later studying. I decided to go talk to my mom about this house a bit. "Oh, well It might be a shock to you but this was my house when I was a child" My mom said which caught me off guard.
"Oh This was your home? You never told me that" I said rather taken aback.
"Well You never asked" My mom said as if she was waiting to say this word already.
"Touche, Mom" I said as I walked with her into the house as she was carrying a Box of dishes.
I decided to investigate the inside of the house a bit more. Walking to what was supposed to be my room I opened the white door and the first step I took into the room I felt gravity yank me down and the floor gave way.
"ACK!" I exclaimed as I felt my foot go deep into the ground.
When I looked to see what had happened it turned out that i had stepped on a floor vent and there was an unstable piece of floor which my foot just so happened to smash through.
"Oh mannn, Mom! help please" I called into the Living room. My mom came to help me and came in the door. "Tiffanik? did you lodge in the vent? oh my" She said as she grabbed me by my outstretched hands and pulled me out.
I dusted my leg off to get the stuff from the vent off and looked at the hole I had made.
"Dang, that goes really far" My mom said as we can't see a bottom.
"I'd say we should patch it up with Tape, I'll buy some tomorrow" My mom then said as she went back to sorting boxes and stuff she brought with us.
I went over to the bed that was already in this room and laid on it. It was an adult sized bed so I couldn't help but wonder if this was my mom's bed when she was living here before or maybe it was Grandma or Grandpa's.
I hooked up my phone charger and computer charger into the wall and laid down on the pillow. The Pillow was comfy at least and had a picture of the sun on it. "I guess this is comfy...Might not leave my room" I mumbled.
As I lay there being lazy I couldn't get my mind off of that hole in the vent. I decided to not bother it until it was night time so I wouldn't get discovered.
I continued to read the entries on Wikipedia but I then heard the Vent's cooling system turn on.
(FWOOSH!) The Vent goes as it filters the cool air. "That's better..." California is a Notoriously hot state, not to mention constant Wildfires and Earthquakes so something Chill would be good to have.
Night Woke and I had finished dinner, I had brought home one of my Fillet-Fish sandwiches so I could eat it whenever My parents were busy.
I close the door to my room and decide to check out the Vent. I got on my hands and Knees and peered down into the hole I had made. It was now that I did see there was a bottom and it was right beneath the house.
"huh...It must be because the house is slightly elevated above the ground" I commented.
I couldn't shake the feeling to study it. I have a Problem with Investigation and studying so much that I've been called Super Nerd at my first school. It was embarrassing but you can't blame me for being curious about the world.
I slowwwwly put my feet down into the hole and break more pieces. They fell a short distance and made a muddy splat sound letting my feet hang now above the underground area.
"Okay..Here goes nothing" I tried to give myself a pep talk and then squeezed down into the vent.
It felt rather uncomfortable but I displaced a bit more of the inside of the vent and fell through too.
I landed right on my Butt and it began to ache. "Oww...That hurttsss" I winced as I rubbed my backside trying to make the aching stop.
I then looked around the surrounding area. It was well concealed but a light caught my attention. I shook my head a bit and focused to the ground. There was a hole in the ground similar to a Sink Hole but looked more polished.
"Is this a grave?" I wondered as I squat walked over to the hole. There were stone steps leading downwards into the hole. The glow had come from crystals embedded in the stony steps.
"Is it a Tomb? no it can't be, I've never heard of Tombs in California" I thought as I took a Picture of this hole.
As the flash of my phone lit up the hole I swore I saw deeper depths in there. I shook my head before walking downwards on these steps as carefully as I could. Two steps. three steps. when I reached the Tenth step I hit my head on a rim.
I wiped the Mud off my forehead and ducked downards. This turned out to be a cave!
This Cave also had these spires in it that were on the ceiling and on the floor. There was also a waterway under here which lead deeper into this dark room. "There's an entire cave under my new house...Did mom know about it?" I wondered as I tip toed down the rest of the stairs until I was standing on a rocky platform.
"This actually makes this moving day a bit more interesting" I couldn't help but smile seeing all the shiny crystals down here.
Then I caught something in the corner of my eye. it was a spider which landed right on my shoulder. Normally when someone sees a spider they'd be such a pansy about it. Most spiders don't cause much harm. But me being the Dork I am didn't flinch much as the small spider stared at me with those 8 glistening eyes reflecting the cave crystal lights.
"Ok off my shoulder Mister Spider" I said as I gently scooped it off my shoulder and put it on one of the spires.
Now to study more of this cavern. As I was walking around I saw another exit to this cave. I put my hand forwards but didn't feel a breeze. This usually meant there was not an exit or at least a wide open one.
I decided to at least take a look so I turned up the Phone Brightness and wandered inside. It was really surreal knowing my knew home had some kind of system of caves under it. As I made my way through I see what I think are axe marks but on closer inspection look to be claw marks, think what a Bear claw can inflict but larger?
Like the closest match would be a Polar Bear claw but Polar Bears live in cold regions, not in California. They had to be tougher I bet so I decided to take a picture of this. This made me wonder what was down here. If it really was a bear then how did it get in here?
I eventually beamed my flashlight over at a corner of the Cavern hall and saw what appeared to be rocks piled upwards covering another entrance. "It's a bunch of rocks? But there's not a cave in?" These rocks hadn't fallen here, it was as if they had been placed here with intent" I said observing how the rocks were placed firmly as if they were The perfect Jenga tower.
"What could have done this?" I got up close and noticed a small line of light that was peering through an opening in the rocks.
I tried to look through but the light was too bright for me to see what was in the room or what the light emanated from.
"Dang, that's too bright" I rubbed my eyes and then checked the time. Crap how long was I down here? It was nearly 5:00 AM.
I didn't know I had been down here for that long so I ran back to the stairs and made sure not to bump my head on the Rim.
I climbed up the Crystal embedded stairs and peaked my head out of the vent. The Sun would not be too far away from peaking up too. I crawled out of the vent and put my Backpack on my door handle before and ready to put my leftovers back in the fridge. Unfortunately I find out that I had dropped it in the cave.
"crap...that was supposed to make it so I didn't have to leave my room to the fridge" I pouted and decided I'd get it again later.
I walked to my bed and plopped on it face first. This all happened so fast. First I Find a cave and evidence of some kind of bear down there then I find some kind of blockade of rocks. I guess Maybe I should get some rest because I used a lot of energy to get down there and back up.
I honestly didn't know how long I was asleep for, but when I opened my eyes again they were crusty with sand. looks like It had been quite a while if this was the case. I sat up and tried to remember what I had done the day before....That's right, the hole in the ground.
I need to check later what that Blockade Is all about. I went to get breakfast and saw my Dad made Bacon and eggs. You would think my mom is the Chef in the house but no It's my dad who's the expert in Culinary Stuff.
I quickly polished off my breakfast and headed down to The Cave again. Squeezing down until I was under the house and then I began to crawl into the stair space. It was relatively the same except there was one difference. There was a Breeze if not a small one. This was strange because when I came down the first time there was no trace of a breeze.
I walked down deeper into the cave and found a Slice of bread on the ground. This must have been from my Fish Sandwich, but why was it empty?
I then caught attention of a weird noise coming from the rock barrier. When I checked I saw there was a section towards the Top that was open and the rocks from it were a few feet away from the Pile as if pushed out from the inside.
I then Peaked up in the hole and what I saw was amazing!
There were crystals everywhere in there. They were large and shimmering. I Suspected they were Quartz due to their diverse colors but there were also prettier green ones set atop them like baby birds.
Was this some kind of Mineshaft? I however remembered something, What ate the Fish in my sandwich?
I began to suspect something was In here so I got down and backed up against the wall. "Hragh!" I slammed into the rocky wall and like a jenga tower it fell inwards and spread dust everywhere like a tsunami.
I coughed a few times from the flood of dust and then entered the Crystal infested room. It was more Spacious in here and had another cave entrance on the other side of the room. It had a lot of Hexagonal plates on the ground too which had indecipherable bones on them scattered like Toys.
What this room held was either amazing or downright horrifying...