The Glass Cave

The Glass Cave
Chapter 1

It was a beautiful May evening. The shadows in the woods on both sides of them were just starting to darken. They had found the old logging road off the blacktop secondary highway. Now, all they needed to do was to find the red mailbox that marked the turnoff to the cabin. Shelly was tired, the children, Jacob (Jake) 11, and Amy 9, had been bickering for the last fifty miles or so, their voices getting louder and angrier. Shelly was on the verge of spouting some useless ultimatum, when Jake screamed, “Mom, she broke my nose. She hit me in the nose with her doll, and now it''s broken!” “Did not,” Amy yelled. “Did so,” Jake yelled. “You hit me in my nose.” “I did not hit you in the nose,” Amy yelled. “I hit you in your eye cause you called me a whiney baby.”
Shelly was looking in the rear view mirror trying to see if Jake was bleeding at the exact moment they drove past a rusted red mailbox, almost hidden in the over grown weeds. “Oh, come on now, guys,” Shelly pleaded. “We are tired, it's getting dark, and I really need your help finding the red mailbox.” “Are we almost there?” Amy asked. “How far is it? Jake asked. “I don't know,” Shelly told them honestly. “All Daddy said was, 'It's a ways up the logging road, and the logging road is a little rough.'”She thought about that day, over two years ago, when Doug told her that he bought a little mountain cabin in the woods. She was so angry. They couldn't afford another bill, but he had been insistent, and assured her they could make it. How thrilled she would be when she saw the cabin. He couldn't wait to show it to her. Before they got the chance to go to the cabin, Doug was killed by a drunken driver.
The insurance settlement paid everything off. She intended to sell the cabin, but hadn't gotten around to it. Maybe she couldn't bring herself to sell something Doug had been so happy about. “How long are we going to stay in the cabin, Momma?” Amy asked. “Until the sickness is gone,” Jake told her. “Is that right, Momma?” Amy asked. “Yes,” Shelly said as she thought to herself, sickness right, it's a man made epidemic started in the Middle East. At first there was finger pointing. Some people blamed terrorists, others blamed Israel, and still others blamed the United States. Now, it didn't matter, those that would have known were dead. Now, there was just a scramble to stop it, find a cure before the entire human population was wiped out.
As soon as the first case was reported in the United States, Shelly had packed up everything she could think of to survive an extended stay at the cabin, and headed out with her family, two children, two dogs, and a cat. Thank heavens the animals, Golly, Jessie, and Misty, had been quiet. Golly was a German shepherd, and Border collie mix. “By golly,” was the first thing Jake said on his eighth birthday, when he opened the box that held the puppy. Amy's dog, Jessie, was a Chihuahua – Maltese mix that had arrived pretty much the same way as Golly on Amy's sixth birthday. Misty, Amy's cat, appeared last year. Running in the back door one rainy night, she decided that Amy belonged to her, and that she was now home.
Shelly shook her head, wondering how far they had driven. It was dark, and the logging road had gotten more than just a little rough. In fact, the road had ended. It was deep woods on three sides from what she could tell. Other than the trees in front of them, lit by the head-lights, it was pitch black outside. “Are we there now?” Amy asked from behind her.“No baby, I think we missed the mailbox,” Shelly told her. “We are going to have to go back,” When Shelly put the SUV in reverse the backup lights lit a break in the trees behind the SUV and to her left. Well, a three-point turn it is, she thought. Better than trying to back out this SUV she had decided.
What Shelly didn't see was that it wasn't a break the trees she saw, it was a drop-off down the side of the mountain they had steadily driven up. She eased the SUV back, and felt the back-end drop. Just a bit more and I'll clear that tree, she thought. The SUV went over. Shelly slammed on the brakes, but they kept sliding. She gripped the steering wheel and stood on the brake pedal, Amy started a high-pitch scream that didn't stop. Jacob kept yelling, “Mom, Mom, Mom” over and over. Golly was barking, Jessie was whining, and Misty was howling. Shelly was pleading with God, or Doug, or somebody in the universe to stop the SUV. It seemed to go on for ever. The noise inside the car was nothing compared with the sound of tree limbs squealing and breaking along the outside of the vehicle. Oh, please don't blow up, Shelly thought. Please don't tip over. She wanted to hold her babies. They came to a stop with a hard bump and everything was quiet. They were all holding their breath. “Breath,” Shelly gasped. She heard an intake of air from the back. “Is everyone all right?” “Are we at the cabin now, Momma?” Amy asked as Jake snorted.
Shelly laid her head down on the steering wheel. She was shaking so bad that she couldn't let go of it. “Should we call 911?” Jake asked. Shelly pulled the phone from the charger and handed it to him. “You do it,” she said. Shelly just didn't have the energy to ponder if there would be a signal this far away from everything. “No signal,” Jake reported, then asked. “Do you think we are at the bottom or will we fall more?” “Mommy?” Amy said. “What is it baby,” Shelly sighed. “I got to go tinkle,” Amy said. As Shelly was helping Amy, trying to stay patient with the child complaining about wet shoes and no way to flush, she heard a noise on the other side of the car. “Jake, are you out of the car?” Shelly questioned sternly. “Get back in the car, Jake.” “I'm right here, Mom. I just had to...you know,” Jake reported. “And you know Mom, we hit something.”
Shelly ran her fingers through her hair, and told Amy to get in the car. Of course, they hit something. They had just rolled who knows how far down a mountainside of boulders and trees. Heck, we could have hit a big foot, she thought, feeling her way to the back of the car. Jake was standing on the drivers side of the car with a flashlight shining on what appeared to be a window, a big window. “What is it, Mom?” Jake asked. “Some kind of glass house?” “I don't know, Jake,” Shelly replied. “How far does it go?” “Can't tell how far,” Jake said. “It's past how far the light goes.” Shelly cautiously cupped her hands around her eyes to cut the glare of the light bouncing off the glass and leaned her head forward. “Shine the light over this way, Jake,” she instructed. “Maybe I can see what's on the other side.” Jake turned the light toward his mother, making a slow arc of the beam. All she could see was woods. Shelly backed away thinking to herself, I sure wouldn't want to be the window washer for this place.
“Let's get back in the car,” Shelly said. “I just can't think of anything sensible right now.” “Mom, are we going to drive back up?” Jake asked.“Not tonight,” Shelly replied tiredly. “We'll sleep in the car, and then see what it looks like in the daylight.” After staking out the animals, Shelly dug sandwich makings out of the cooler. Jake and Amy pulled out pillows and blankets from the back, with Amy demanding Jake find her unicorn pillow pet. Shelly wondered what had happened to her sweet baby girl. When had this little drama queen taken over her body. Well, it is going to stop, she thought. Not tonight, but soon.