The Cave

Crisp. Calm. God, I loved fall. The sky was cloudy, but everything had such brightness to it. The orange and red fallen leaves crunched under my feet as I walked down my favorite nature trail. Ii held my camera in my hand with the strap wrapped around my wrist, ready to snap any quick photos I could. My earbuds played my favorite artists as I looked about, enjoying the scenery. So many brightly painted trees. A wind blew and I suddenly saw something move in my peripheral. Ii turned to find what it was, hidden behind a large oak. A cat. Another black cat. It backs into itself, trying to appear scary as I looked at it in confusion. I've seen so many of them today. Were they strays?

"Hey, bud. I'm not gonna hurt you." I whispered softly, slowly removing my earbuds. It kept it's act, but it's eyes looked curious. It walked from behind the tree hesitantly, then leapt out to snag my earbud cord. I laughed a little and set my camera down on the pavement next to me as I knelt in front of the cat. I reached out to pet it and it scampered away a few feet, then turned back to me. I coaxed it, but it stayed still for a few seconds before turning and running into a lightly wooded area.

I pursed my lips as I put the earbuds back into my ears and grabbed my camera. I snapped a quick photo of the treeline before I continued walking.

A few minutes later, I saw the cat burst from the trees, across the path in front of me, chasing a small squirrel into the taller grass. I furrowed my brows and walked over to the tall grass. The movement had ceased. Nothing I could see or hear came from the grass. I walked in to find a small opening, like a miniature cave just past the trail.

I definitely couldn't fit in there to see what it was, but I stuck my camera into the opening and took a few flash photos.After the last one, Ii heard a noise. Like a groan. What the hell?

I knelt down in front of the entrance, peeking in as best I could. I couldn't see a thing. I heard another groan and quickly ran back to the trail. What was that? I left a stray piece of colored paper under a rock on the pathway in front of where I'd found the cave. I was almost at the end of the trail, so there was no use in going back the way I came. As I made it about 30 feet from the opening, I turned to my camera's galley to see what I may find.

Nothing.

I snapped about 10 photos and I only caught one thing.

A black cat.