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He walked into the cave. The entrance was so high and open that he didn’t even need to duck down. This wasn’t a quiet, tiny cave where animals hid. This cave was more like an open hallway.
“It’s dark,” she whispered.
“I can see fine. Don’t worry.”
Felix wasn’t sure why he was being careful with her, but he somehow knew that he needed to be. She was the kind of person who needed to be cared for.
Protected.
He carried her into the darkness and down the cave hallway. Suddenly, it ended abruptly. This was where most animals would stop, turn around, and go find a better hiding place. The end of the cave was visible from the entrance, which was why nothing ever seemed to come here.
Felix did, though.
He came here a lot.
It was the one place Ursula had never seemed to be able to find him when he’d been allowed out of her home, which wasn’t much. It was the one place he’d been able to come to be alone and to hide the things he’d stolen over the years.
Most of his life, she’d kept him chained up. Every so often, she’d allow him to walk around outside for exercise or to stretch. Whenever he was allowed that freedom, he took advantage of it. He’d scurried away, disappearing for hours upon hours. Eventually, someone always found him and dragged him back. There would be a beating or some equally boring punishment, but then the cycle would repeat.
This was his special place, though.
Nobody had ever found it, and he’d never shown it to anyone before.
There was a large boulder at the back of the cave, and Felix set Tabitha down on her feet. He knew the floor of the cave was likely cold, and he hated the fact that she might feel uncomfortable for a moment, but he knew this was how things had to be, at least for now. It was only for a minute. He had to open the inner-room.
“Stand here for a minute,” he told her.
Then he pushed the boulder.
It moved slowly, but not impossibly, to the side. He pushed it only far enough to allow them both access to the interior portion of the cave. There was a secret room back here. It was just the right size for both of them. He guided Tabitha inside, and then he followed close behind. There was another boulder inside of the doorway, and he pushed that one over, completely blocking
the opening from view.
“What is this place?”
“You might say it’s my Fortress of Solitude.”
“Hey, you remembered.”
“That conversation was like three minutes ago,” he laughed. “I remembered.”
She shivered again, and he realized he needed to get moving. The cave wasn’t particularly cold, but they were both wet, and he wanted to help her warm up.
“Can we have a fire in here?”
“Of course,” Felix said.
There were openings along the top of the cave room that would allow the smoke to leave, and that permitted fresh air to come inside. He started a fire quickly in the fire pit in the center of the room, and almost instantly, he heard Tabitha gasp.
“Wow,” she whispered. “It’s beautiful.”
He looked around the room and smiled.
It was kind of beautiful, wasn’t it?
He’d done this.
He’d made this place.
