Dark Heart - Chapter Two

Present day, somewhere in Derbyshire.

Jack had been told about the cave by one of his family members, who had remembered it from her last visit years ago. He crossed a little wooden bridge, over the crystal-clear bright water of the little stream teaming with tiny fish and paused to gaze at the forever moving reflections the water cast on the bank then practically skipped down a little step and immediately saw the caves mouth gapping open like a big welcoming smile. He paused quickly again aware that he didn’t have much time as the rest of the family was only a short way behind him, and they would soon catch up with him. He looked up into the sky, and done a rapid double-take as he thought he saw a snowflake silently descending, this was a burning hot day, but blinking he realised it must have been a white feather, though if it had of been, all trace had suddenly vanished. His attention was suddenly taken by his young daughter, who was also behind him with the other members of his extended family, she was laughing and skipping about and generally being a kid. She was a wonderful little girl, full of life. She was into everything and anything and was fantastic with people, and very, very talkative. He would have to be quick, which was not his way of doing things, but he had no choice. Sometimes in life you had to go with what you got. It would have to do. He bent down and walked inside, he had to crouch down a little to get inside the mouth.  Once inside it was large enough for him to stand upright. Immediately he noticed the change in temperature, he could have been five miles below the surface of the earth. He stood silently in the womb of the mother, and just listened. There was a constant drip of water to his left. The blackness was intense.  He took out his mobile phone and flipped it open. Even the light the phone cast hardly penetrated the darkness. When he held it up to the rock, you could still hardly see the rocks surface, it was as black as the deepest part of a black hole, (which probably isn’t even black, but you get the idea).

Jack knew the cave wasn’t that big, he had been told this already, but to him using only his eyes, it could have gone on forever or it could have held a secretive big drop of many hundreds of feet.  This cave held no danger, but his eyes could not see that. Jack moved to the back of the cave, only a few feet away, and touched the hard knobbly surface. It was cold to his touch and very damp. The water source came from vegetation above. It smelt Earthy and fresh. The ventilation must be good. He just stood and felt... A movement caught his eye. He looked at the mouth of the cave, and saw his daughter standing there, peering in.
“Is it big inside?” She asked.  
“No it’s not really. But it is really, really, dark. I can’t see a thing at the back. I can’t see much down to the sides either. Can you hear the water dripping?”
“No!” She looked harder, and almost fell into the cave, something that she didn’t relish, as she was a little scared of the dark.
“Do you want to come in?”
“No, I don’t really like it.”
“It’s not scary. I’m here. I’m going to take a photo of you from inside for you, just stay there a minute.”
“O .K. I’m coming in! Will you help me?”
There is no logic sometimes with children.

Jack walked to the mouth and held out his hand for his daughter. She took it and held tightly as she gingerly entered the cave. With Dad’s hand in hers, it gave her the courage she needed to venture around, and once inside she had a good look around and Jack decided to take this opportunity to give his daughter a quick history lesson.
“The Celts would have come to places like this too....” He stopped as he heard the rest of the family on the bridge. Jacks’ daughter quickly let go of his hand and nipped nimbly out of the cave. She really didn’t want a history lesson...again.
Jack quickly got a bit of tobacco out of his pocket, rolled the bit into a ball and murmured,
“It’s not the best of ways of doing this, but thank-you ancestors.” Then he placed the tobacco on a small ledge.
“This is precious to me. “
“Are you coming,” asked his daughter, poking her head below the cave mouth so that she didn’t have to re- enter the pitch black and rather scary cave.

She hadn’t heard what Jack had said, but she wouldn’t have deemed what he said unusual. She went to a church every Friday night to the youth group which she absolutely loved, as they played games and generally charged about, with a bit of bible study thrown in for good measure. She considered herself a Christian, but she also realised that her dad was very different than her. He would never say he was a Christian, under any circumstances. Jack said hello’s and thank-you’s to animals and birds and a big thank you when he ate one, (brought from a shop of course) and he said that there death was honourable, because without their death he would starve, well in the olden days anyway, no matter how they had been killed, he gave them honour. He wasn’t a pagan or a Wiccan. Jack was just Jack. He had no label, and he liked that a lot

Jack touched the wall of the cave before leaving. It was a way of saying good bye.
“Come here a minute,” he said to his daughter. She obliged, still not entirely happy with the darkness. He placed his hand on the damp and gooey bit of wall. Then put his hand in hers.
“Erg!” she said, and quickly pulled her hand away, and ran off laughing.
Jack loved the feel, although it was very slimy, it was the caves feel. He stood in the womb of the world. There was nothing wrong with that!  
A few days later;
It was a beautiful summers evening in Buckinghamshire. The smell of the fresh cut grass was heavy in the air. It was wonderful, (unless you suffered from hay-fever). The birds in the trees chattered excitedly, probably wondering why their territory had been invaded by a few hundred humans, with blankets and picnics. There was also a great big shiny metal thing in one side of the field, just beside the bats fly-way. This of course being the big movie screen erected earlier for the free Fun-in-the-park movie to be shown in about another hour’s time. Jack thought it might be a little later as the sun was strong tonight and it wouldn’t be dark enough for the screen till at least 9 o’clock, which would make it about an hour late. Someone didn’t know the sun very well, or they would have realised that the setting sun was later than the time the movie was planned to start. Jack didn’t care, because his attention was with the sky. There, shone, two false suns. It was magnificent. A double blessing as the real sun was in the middle, in effect now there were three. Each false sun was a mimic of the original.

Now if you have never seen this, the first time you do, you might well understand why I say it’s very special, because they look spectacular. They each have bright colours, ranging from greens, blues and various colours you normally associate with sunsets, this one being all yellow and orange and they really do look like false suns, the clue is in the name! Jack had seen quite a few in his recent travels. There had been also a big cross of cloud in the sky last week. The weather had been busy showing him signs a lot just lately, know doubt he would understand their meaning when the time was right. This evening had a peaceful fill to it, which was a bit weird as there were so many people who had descended onto the town that evening, just to watch the free movie. There should have been a lot more noise, but the whole crowd was happy and relaxed, even when there was an announcement to say it wasn’t dark enough and the film would be running late, surprise, surprise.

Children played on the field beside the screen, no problems with health and safety, this venue had been well thought out. They kept ducking under and over the boundary rope. Jack kept lifting his head up unconsciously, checking his daughter wasn’t up to any mischief, and that she was safe, Jack then noticed that someone had placed Christmas lights along the fence, although it was mid-summer, they looked really beautiful. A nice little touch, he thought. He silently thanked the person who had come up with that idea, who-ever it was. It is little things like that that make the world just that little bit better. Sometimes small details like that make a big difference, a little piece of happiness.  Everything’s connected, no matter how small.

Two women also wanted to see the movie, they were called Mary and Kia, (pronounced kye as in eye with an ‘ah’). They drove up to the car park and parked the car. They soon retrieved their picnic things out of the boot and crossed the tarmac into the field. Quite a few people were there already but there were still lots of space to plonk down on the grass and rest any stiff legs. They headed for the centre but not too close to the screen. Kia hadn’t seen the film in years. The night was going to be fun. They choose their pitch, laid out the blanket, sat down, and Mary set about arranging everything out of their basket so that it was all nice and neat. She then started to make cups of tea using the thermos flasks which were always at the ready.
“Where are the toilets?”  Mary asked Kia.
Kia looked around.

The town had done a very good job. There were a few stalls selling hot dogs and drink, nothing alcoholic Kia noticed. If you wanted that you had to bring it yourself. All the people were in a circle around the big screen, well semi-circle to be exact. The screen was well placed so that every angle was covered, so no-one got a bad view. The toilets, much to Marys’ delight were sign-posted very clearly. They were located behind the stall but still in view, a really good and easy idea. The best bit was there was no queue. 
Now that was unusual.
“Would you like a cup of tea?”
“Thanks. It’s so peaceful here isn’t it? There are so many people, yet it’s still peaceful.”
Kia gazed around. There were a lot of families; people everywhere were chatting, and there was a good looking bloke to her left that she had quickly noticed. He was watching the children playing under the rope’, they were having a lot of fun it seemed and not causing any problems. If they had of been Jack would have told his daughter off.

Kia thought the lights on the fence were a nice touch. Then she looked back to the man, just for a better view. He was really good-looking. She looked down to see what was on his blanket. Kid’s drink, plus the normal picnic stuff. No beer cans. Good. So he was watching his own child then. Good. There was also a hand game consul on the ground. In case the child got bored she supposed. No fear of that, they were having too much fun.
As she looked up, his eyes met hers. Kia actually felt herself blush, her cheeks felt suddenly very hot, and it had nothing to do with the weather. She wasn’t normally like this. He smiled. Oh what a lovely smile, used his eyes, nice white teeth.... what was she thinking? She smiled back.
Jack thought she has a nice smile, kind of embarrassed, but could be sweet.
“They’ve done a good job here.” He said. “But they’re starting a bit later I’m afraid.”
“Why is that then?”
“The sun’s not going down yet.”

Jack pointed to the false suns, which were still in the sky which had been for about half an hour now.
Kia looked up, it was beautiful.
“Mary!” She pointed towards them. It was one of the most beautiful things she had ever seen, and this was the first time she had seen anything like it.
“They’re called false suns.” Jack said, and suddenly he knew what all the signs in the sky had meant.
“Are you two ladies, Christians?”
After a slight pause Kia replied that they were, and that Mary had been going to church for years, she herself had only been going for a couple of years now. It was a nice church they attended and all the people were very friendly.
“Well there you go then...a couple of false suns for you.”
Jack took a quick swig of water and called to his daughter if she would like a drink, which of course she did. Kia felt like she had just been dismissed.
“A couple of false suns,” she thought. Was he being funny?  What the hell did he mean? No, she was being stupid. He was just a man out to watch a movie in the park, something different to do for a night out. So why did he ask if they were Christians?

Please click here to read Chapter 3