The Unexpected Journey

"Thud", "I'm here" said James as he landed his feet on the ground after a three-hour flight from his home town to a remote location in western Europe. The weather was warm but there was a slightly cold chill in the air. "Where's my coat" he said as he pulled his dark green anorak from his satchel bag holdall. "I hope it doesn't rain" he thought as he made his way to the airport checkout. "Jen I'm here" he said as he called his wife from his phone. "Oh brilliant", how was the flight?", "It was ok, I guess, I had my magazine and listened to some music on the way", "Excellent", well have a good time and call me if you need anything". "Ok, I will, speak to you soon". James put his coat on and headed towards the entrance door of the airport which was strangely quiet. It was just after midday in the afternoon and the queue for the check in was long. "Oh there's everybody" he thought. "I think I’ve got my ticket and passport in my pocket", He found his documents and remained in the queue which was getting shorter. He looked around and noticed that people were being asked to present their pandemic virus test results to ensure entry into the country. This was following a recent worldwide pandemic and the flight operators were quite strict on travelers due to restrictions and the risk of catching and spreading of the unknown but serious virus.

James had his test results which were negative from the local airport from which he had flown from. "Hi, can I see your passport and ticket please?", "Yes", James passed the attendant the passport which was then stamped and the ticket which was scanned for verification. "Thanks, can I also have your virus test results?" "Yes, here you go". James passed the attendant the test certificate and awaited a response. The attendant looked at the test but insisted that another test was required for clearance into the country. "Ok" said James as he was told to head to the right of the airport following an attendant to a testing area. "Hi, how are you?" said the nurse. "I'm ok,” said James. "Ok, so were going to test you for the virus and then after that you should be clear to go to the transfers area". The nurse conducted the test and then asked James to wait for a few minutes until the result was obtained. As he was waiting, he noticed that people were going to their transfers to the hotel and the airport was getting quieter. "Your good to go" said the nurse as she put her thumb up towards James with a smile. "Brilliant, thanks a lot,” said James. James walked towards the exit doors where people were finding their transfer options and asked one of the representatives of his flight to help as his coach had presumably left. "Oh, there's a taxi here for you", "Oh, cool, thanks". He made his way to the taxi driver and knocked on the window. "Hi", I think your my transfer to the hotel resort where I am staying". "Ok, which hotel?", "It’s the Le Greena Resort", "Oh, Yes, Yes". He got out of the taxi and helped James put his suitcase into the boot. "Thanks, I'll keep my holdall with me". The drive to the hotel was nice, James looked around and everything looked new but different. On the way there were large fields with large cranes and development sites. There was also a shopping centre. James got to the hotel and checked in. The hotel was grand and had a bar situated near the entrance. James walked towards his hotel room and opened his door. The room was inviting and looked like a wooden cabin style room. There were toiletries and other amenities in the ensuite bathroom and some drinks on the coffee table. James placed his suitcase on the floor, I think I'll go to the beach for a bit. The weather was now really hot and James changed into a t shirt and shorts and headed through the resort to the costal beach. The sand was warm. James spent a short time on the beach looking at the sea and then headed back to his room as he was going on an excursion to a local cave area of which nobody had yet been to according to the brochure. James was an archaeologist and studied modern and ancient history and this was an excursion for him and a group of others of which he had not yet met to explore an area to see if there were any findings. "I've got my journal ready for tomorrow" he thought as he got ready for bed.

The next morning James woke up early to an early morning haze through his window from the sun light. "I think I'll have a coffee", He made his coffee and then sat on his bed for a while and prepared for the day ahead.

The excursion was to a remote part of the island and the group of four including James were to board a small boat and sail across a small area of sea to an area of caves which had never been travelled to before. The caves were well known to the local residents of the area for this reason as they were on an island which had no residents and holiday goers were not able to travel to the caves as there was no infrastructures to support anyone staying on the island. James got his bag, phone and pen and walked to the waiting area for the coach that was due to pick him and the others up. "Hi", said one of the other archaeologists. "Are you going on the excursion to the island of caves?", "Yes", said James I'm really looking forward to it. "My names Kate, how are you?". "I'm ok, a bit nervous for the boat journey". "We'll be alright, as long as there aren’t any sharks as it’s a small wooden boat". "Hey there", said another voice from across the car park, "I'm Sam, nice to meet you" Sam had dark brown hair and had modern looking earphones in his ears. "Ready for this?" "Yeh we just said as long as there isn't any sharks we'll be ok". "Oh no, hopefully not". "Who else is joining us?". "I don't know, there were supposed to be four of us." "Hi everybody" waved a young lady "My names Rita" "Hi". "Were all here so where's the coach?" "Beeeep". went the horn. It was the driver of the coach who must've seen that all four of the archaeologists had arrived. "C'mon lets go". They all headed for the doors of the coach, walked up the short steep steps and sat on the empty coach. The coach driver signaled the gate opener and drove.

James started his journal:

9:15 - awoke to coffee and got ready for the day

9:30 - Met my fellow explorers

9:45 - Boarded the coach and made my way to the boat journey. looking out the window this morning and there is a haze in the air almost as if the sun has not fully risen on time. Got my coffee in my flask and my kit equipment for any surprising findings. Not expecting to find anything because this is the first time anyone has been to these caves so not expecting a lot from this journey.

9:56 - Boarding the boat with Kate, Sam, and Rita. A really cool bunch. Kate has coffee too.

9:58 - Starting the boat journey. Quite frightening as the caves are in sight but seem so far away. On the wild sea but its calm. It's a small wooden boat and the driver is keen to get to the island. We are going to be there for most of the day. I have snacks and a can of fizzy for the day.

10:10 - Made it to the island. The journey was longer than expected. Time to look around and see what I find. Sam's still listening to something or he may have forgotten to take his earphones out. Rita looks odd almost as if she should not really be here but has all her equipment ready.

10:20 - We all walk off the boat onto the sandy shore and walk away from the boat driver who tells us that we have a couple of hours to explore the area and if we should make any findings he would increase the time but we would have to leave late afternoon before any rainfall or it starts getting dark.

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10:45 - I have separated from the group as we all have as I am walking towards a part of the caves that appear to be strangely carved in ominous shapes.

11:00 - Still a haze in the air. An odd day in the weather but focusing on the caves.

11:25 - Had a good look around the initial cave area. The rock formations are quite unique as they appear to be almost made of like a charcoal substance. Haven't seen anything out of the ordinary or even to suggest that the caves have been previously visited. The island looks like it has never been explored. There are a group of small rock caves on the right of the island and then a small forestry area above the caves which I think I will go and have a look at shortly.

11:37 - Having a drink of coffee. Heard a strange noise earlier but I think it was the wind. There aren't any wild animals on the island but hopefully there isn't. Walking into the forestry area which is odd for a cave formation to have. Looking back to see if the others are anywhere near me but no, I think we have all drifted quite far apart from each other now. I have walked a mile or two it seems into the forest.

11:50 - There isn't much in the forest but it is quite dark and humid. There hasn't been any rain but the leaves are wet with dew. The leaves are a bright healthy green. I can smell the bark from the moist trees which signifies a healthy forest area.

12:08 - Walking further through the forest and there's an exit. Heading out of the exit and there are more caves and also some mountainous formations.

12:20 - Found a large cave with a small doorway style entrance. Walking through into the cave. I have my torch so going to use that to help see inside the cave as it's quite dark.

James puts the torch on and the beam of light lights up the inside of the cave area. "Oh brilliant, I can see now." James looks around the cave and look towards the roof of the cave. "Woah, this looks great". There were amethyst looking rocks on the roof of the cave.

12:35 - Walking out of the cave, saw some really surprising amethyst rock formations on the roof of the cave. Took some pictures for the log files.

As James walks out of the cave he notices a small beach area to the left of the cave. It looked like a small beach but was just a pile of sand area shaped in island style way. He looked around to see if anyone was there. He walked towards the beach area a noticed a jar. It looked like an old oil jar or a water jar from an olden time. "What is this" he said.

12:44 - Found a clay jar, looks quite old and the lid is on. Going to have a look at what's inside.

12:46 - Opening the jar and inside looks like a scroll of paper. "I wonder if this belongs to one of the others?". James put on some gloves before he attempted to take out the scroll from the jar and pulled it out slowly to reveal an old parchment paper scroll.

12:49 - Amazed by what I have just found a scroll of writing in an old looking jar. I didn't think anyone had ever been on this island. What a discovery. Looking forward to sharing this with the group.

12:57 - Sitting down for a while and enjoying some more coffee and a few snacks. Going to open the scroll and read the writings if they are understandable.

13:10 - I have opened the scroll and have found some writings on the paper. It seems to be written in a dark ink with a wooden carved writing pen. Not written in English but has an English signature at the bottom of the page in sections of the scroll. "Sightings."

13:25 - "Huh", "what does this mean?, interesting". Going back towards the boat now as its afternoon as I am going to see if anyone else has found anything. Having some more coffee but it's almost finished.

?13:45 - A bit lost now as I tried to make my way back towards the boat from same way I came, but have missed a turn and am stuck in the forestry area and can't see an exit towards the caves.

14:00 - Found the exit and ready to head back to the boat over the small caves and may even explore another cave.

"Hi Rita!". "Oh Hi, found anything on your journey?" "Yeh, I saw some amethyst in one of the caves and found a jar with a scroll inside it".

"Wow, cool". "How about you?", "Not really just some shells and some crustaceans. "Ready to see if we can find the others?" said James, "Yeh, I think so, let’s go".

14:35 - Walking with Rita with my equipment bag and holding a medium sized stone jar in my hands. It's quite heavy but not too heavy. Going back towards the boat dock.

"Oh, there's the others", they were about to board the boat back to the resort hotel.

14:40 - We are all on the boat heading back towards the main island resort. The weather is hot now and the haze seems to have lifted. Going to have some water and sit with the others. Sam seems to have found a couple of things in his bag. Kate is looking out towards the sea.

14:58 - We have made it back to the resort. End of the expedition today and looking forward to analyse my findings.

James walks off the coach says bye to the others and heads back to his hotel room with the jar and photos from the cave. He also had some leaves and bark from the forest and some small crustaceans from the sand. He logged all of his findings and decided to spend the rest of the day on the beach enjoying the sun. Whilst on the beach he thought about the jar and the scroll. "I thought nobody had ever been to the island of caves. Translating the scroll may reveal more as it appears somebody has been on the island and written and left it there. Also, where did the jar come from? I will investigate this further when I arrive back home in the next few days."

The End