A warm breeze danced around the people of Santillana del Mar, Spain, and smiles greeted the wind’s presence. Clear blue skies and splashes of color on the buildings around brightened the medieval exterior. Romantic Juliet balconies were fashioned on almost every cobbled building, and people from all walks of life lived, or visited, humbly. The footsteps of others sang every time they touched the ground in different voices. Some soft, some heavy and deep, and some that would wish they could spend more time here. Groups of tourists, like those of Eduardo’s tours, would wander around all of Spain, capturing as much as they could in their tiny blue-lite devices for all sorts of reasons. To brag to loved ones, to relive once the adventure once they reach back home, or to just live in that moment and explore the mystery that every foreign place has to offer. Of course, “the mystery” went by many names like the Bermuda Triangle, Transylvania, etc. Even Santillana del Mar had its mystery.

Phone in one hand and a tour pamphlet in the other, Tara wanted to find that mystery, Altamira. A cave with mysterious drawings on the wall that go back to the end of the Ice Age. It was opened to the public as an attraction back in 2014 but closed as strange occurrences were happening such as odd symptoms visitors were getting, eerie noises in the cave itself, and many more. However, it still attracted some brave souls and Tara was one of them. 

She pushed back her short, dark chocolate hair behind her ear, and pursed her lips, revealing a prominent mole as she stared seriously at the tiny map, seeking a way to Altamira. It should be just around this corner…thank goodness that the tour guide gave us some free time. Weirdo kept ogling me as if I was some sort of monster that joined his group. I was just trying to search for Altamira. Curiosity never killed anyone. With her bronze-colored eyes still on the map, she took a few more steps forward and found the cave, the slightly cooled wind letting her know that she had arrived. The Flintstones would have loved to have this place. She grinned slightly and with no hesitation, jogged into the cave where she had abandoned the familiar wind. The walls, as her steps echoed deeper, got narrower, the cave living up to its rumors about it. Tara slowed her pace and images multiplied on the rugged walls. She pressed her hand up against the blood-red handprint underneath and took a picture. 

However, this one-person adventure soon became two, as another set of footsteps echoed through and were getting louder by the second. Tara stood with her face towards the wall, clenched her phone in one hand and tugged her ear with the other. Her eyes grew wide and so did the anxiety. Breathe, Tara. It’s probably just the wind…if it was the person. Oh god, what if it’s the tour guide or security?  A gentle graze at Tara’s shoulder caused her to flinch, spinning around in the footsteps’ direction and screaming, “Back off! Who are you?”

The figure stepped back and with arms outstretched said, “Woah, calm down! I’m not going to hurt you.” A face finally was added to the voice. With Sharpie black hair, intense auburn eyes, and a firm grip on a phone in his hands, Tara quickly realized that it was Rowan from her tour group. Out of everyone in the group, he was the only one who was glued to his phone when they were playing icebreakers. She did not know much about him other than his name and how he looked. Tara slowed down her breathing and crossed her arms, his face making her get irritated.

“Why were you following me? You finally got bored with your phone and decided to torment someone else?”

“Yeah, right. This is a public cave that anyone can explore, not just you,” Rowan said while rolling his eyes, “I was trying to look up online where it was. Do you think I’d want to stay with that group the entire time? It certainly looks like you didn’t.”

Tara’s cheeks now matched the color of the handprint at his response and shook her head in embarrassment. Great, now I’m in this cave with a random guy who already doesn’t like me. Did you have to jump to conclusions, Tara? Everything is under control if the control button decides to just fling itself out the window. Sigh, I just wanted to live my life in peace. She looked up at Rowan. He too was looking at the different images sprung onto the wall and caressing them, taking photos along the way. He started taking a few steps forward towards the emerging darkness but quickly looked back at Tara.

“You coming?” he asked, “It wouldn’t look great on me if I just left another person in a cave by themselves.”

Trying to lighten the mood, huh? She looked back and then forward, wondering if the wind would give her an answer. “Sure, I’ll come along,” she said. Rowan's mouth eased into a slight smile, revealing two crevices that edged into his cheeks. The two of them walked step by step, uncovering more images and items from the past. They stopped now and then to take quick pictures and glances at each other, making sure the other didn’t disappear from the other’s side. Silence accompanied the two’s footsteps as the venture went on. Only subtle rumbles followed them. 

“Damn it, my phone’s run out of storage. Zeena will probably think I just got these photos from online now,” Tara said, trying to find unnecessary photos to delete.

“Zeena?” Rowan asked.

“Yeah, she’s my younger sister. She told me that when I came back home, I would have to give her full detail of everything I did in Spain. She encouraged me to come here, saying that I should be ‘doing what I love and loving what I do’ or whatever cheesy line it was.”

“Sounds like she cares about you. My siblings would probably just want to see photos I took of this cave and then they would probably tease me about it.”

“You seem to be just as close to them as I am with my sister.”

“Yeah, I am,” he grinned, “but it’s been hard to see them back home since I’ve been staying in Europe for the past 2 months.”

“That seems like a dream to me but I’d probably miss New York too much.”

“I can agree with you on that, except for me home is Ontario, Canada.”

“Canada, aye?” Tara nudged while grinning.

“Don’t even try,” Rowan said while rolling his eyes, the slight smile appearing again.

“Is there a reason why you left?”

“I don’t know, I just wanted to see the world. I honestly don’t understand how someone could stay in one place for so long. Life doesn’t just stay in one place. Life is constantly moving around us.”

“Exactly! There’s so much to see and do. Like…go skydiving into a rainbow or zipline in a rainforest while the monkeys are racing with you,” she said, eyes lighting up the dark scene.

“That’s oddly specific,” Rowan laughed, “but I guess it wouldn’t be that bad if you had good company.”

“Yeah, I guess not,” Tara said laughing while looking at Rowan. Their eyes met while laughing at the childish fantasies, holding onto each other for a bit longer than intended. 

However, they quickly turned away and fell out of the trance as slight rumbles from the ground began growling louder and louder. Their friendly chit-chat caused them to enter the belly of the cave. The rumbles shook more aggressively than the ones before them. Both Tara and Rowan were grabbing onto the rough walls, trying to keep themselves stable, mentally and physically. 

“What are we going to do?” Rowan yelled amidst the noise. Tara looked around, trying to see a way out; trying to go back out the same way they came in would be extremely difficult, as rocks were falling inwards into the cave, blocking the path. 

“Let’s keep moving forward!” Tara said. Rowan nodded in agreement, regardless of the panic in his mind. Tara reached her hand out to Rowan and he took it, running and guiding each other to some sort of safety. 

Dust. It was around the cave. It filled both of their visions, coughs bouncing off the shaking walls. One of their arms was used as a shield in the mighty battle with the cave, the walls coming in closer. The two ran for what seemed like hours in the same direction until the symbols on the wall started fading and matching with the bare stone surrounding them. Panic started rising in them even more and as they kept on running, something finally came into sight. 

Another barren wall, just like the rest only this time, it was a guard that wouldn’t let anyone pass, leaving them stopped in their tracks. Their hearts pounded against their chests, both in disbelief at what they were seeing. What the…where’s the rest of the way? This is a public cave, there should be another way out of here. Tara’s breathing got more shallow and rapid, hands now grabbing onto the side of her head in hopes that this was all just a bad dream. Rowan looked at Tara, seemingly trying to not think of the worst. He took out his phone from his back pocket. It was cracked but it was still able to turn on.

“Damn, no signal,” he said while panting, throwing the useless object to the side.

“Mine too. Nothing’s working, not even the emergency calls,” Tara said.

They looked at each other and then looked in front of them, back against the wall. No words were said as they sunk to the ground. Curiosity, huh? The cave shook even more vigorously with rocks and other objects creating noises to fill the silence between them. Rowan and Tara drew nearer to each other, their body heat trying to calm the shivers. It wasn’t the people in their lives that made them sad, but the lives of the people that Tara and Rowan knew they would not be able to live again. Tears filled the brim of their eyes. Tara slowly put her hand over her whimpering mouth, letting the silent tears fall as she closed her eyes. Rowan took breaths in and out, deep breaths, and closed his eyes wondering what was to happen next. He looked at Tara, all crouched up with her chin resting against her knees, and arms giving them a warm embrace. 

Both of them had scars that marked their beautiful skin with hair that looked like they had just woken up. While still looking forward, Rowan’s pinky brushed against Tara’s. With each touch of a finger, the hands grew closer and closer until all of their fingers were intertwined in the other’s, clasping with everything they had. Tara let out a heavy sigh that matched the weight of her heart and dried her tears with her other hand, small sounds of sniffling followed. Rowan looked at Tara once more, and then with a soft squeeze on the hands, he asked one last question.

“What would we do after we ziplined with the monkeys?”

With a half-hearted laugh, she said, “Probably walk the historic streets and eat some delicious food. We would go dancing in the streets while street musicians played their songs and listened to old stories from village elders. And at the end of the day, we would watch the sunset at the highest peak, until the stars came out to play.”

“That sounds amazing,” Rowan said, a tear falling from his eye.

“Yeah, it really would be.”

The shaking and rumbling dragged on for a few more seconds until the cave was left alone the same way it always was before. Only this time, it had two more handprints added to their walls, waiting for their story to be told to another lifetime.