Mystery cave on Mountain Pass Road

It was a cold winters day in West Middleton, snow had fallen heavily for the past few days, and there was no sign of the weather improving, so much so that, the usually busy Mountain Pass Road, (the road that passed between the mountains), was blocked, by a massive drift of snow, and at this point there was nothing anyone could do about it, as it was feared that any attempt would cause an avalanche, now this suited 8 year old Peter Covington an his sister Jenny, and their friends, as it meant that they would spend their time playing on the snow blocked road, building snowmen, and/or taking it in turns to pull each other up and down the road on their sledges, But sadly for the children, all this was soon going to have to come to an end, because as lovely as the mountain pass road looked all covered in snow,It was the only road in and out of the tiny village of camberwell, a tiny area within west Middleton, and this meant that supplies in the village were running low, and someone had to come up with a plan to get the road open., That evening at around seven there was a meeting in the village where the residents could come up with ideas, Mick Covington, father of Peter and Jenny, suggested that he and a few of the guys should go down there and take some explosives to force an avalanche from the mountain before using a snow blower and a couple of ploughs to clear the road, and as no one else could come up with anything, it was agreed that this should be tried, so about an hour later, Mick and a few of his friends set off. Once at the entrance to Mountain pass road, Mick and his mates started to place explosives along the road, the plan was not to cause any

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damage, but to make enough noise to bring the snow down
from the cliffs, and to make it safe to use heave machinery to clear the road, once done, the team set back to a safe distance, and detonated the charges, immediately, Mountain Pass Road became a wall of white dust as the snow fell from all directions, and then within about half an hour, the air was once again clear, and from where they were standing Mick and his friends could see that the cliffs were cleared of the snow, so now it was time to move in with the machinery, firstly they used a large snow blowing machine to move the snow from the road and move it to the area along the side of the road, this was followed by a couple of snow ploughs and gritters to make the road safe, the team worked hard through the night, and half way through the following day, until they were satisfied that the road was safe.

He following day when Peter and Jenny saw their father, he told them that he and some of the other kids dads had been successful in clearing Mountain Pass Road, but warned them that the area could still be dangerous, he said that although the snow had been cleared, there was still of danger of falling rocks, he said that there was no way that these could be checked, so he warned the children to stay away from the area,
and although both Peter and Jenny agreed to this with their father, they both had their fingers crosse3d, which to them was a secret code for, we will make our own plans, and later that day they got together with their friends, and decided that together they were to be known as the mountain pass gang, and to them this meant that they were some kind of official group from the area, and their mission was to take care of the mountain Pass Road, and their first job, was to investigate the road and check for any changes in the rock formation, the gang consisted of Peter and Jenny Covington, Liam and Stacy

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Edwards, Robert Peterson and Steven Dunbar, two days after being warned to stay away from Mountain Pass Road, the gang decided to cycle through there and investigate the area.

The next morning at about 8 am, the six of them met at the village square, where Peter told them that they were to cycle through the pass, and see if the explosions had changed anything, the others agreed, and off they went, Mountain Pass Road was only about a mile away from the square, so it didn't take long to get there, upon arrival they pulled up, and peter said that they should split up and three of them travel down one side of the road,n while the other checked the other, good idea said Robert, and he volunteered to lead one group, OK said Peter and told Liam and Stacy to go with him, while Peter took Jenny and Steven, and away they went Mountain Pass Road was about five miles long, which meant they would have about a ten mile trip ahead of them. That was with out the mile trip back to the village, anyway the gang started their journey along the road, they hadn't gone far, when suddenly Jenny shouted stop, placed her cycle on the ground and started clambering over rocks on the side of the road, what's the mater
Peter called out, look, said Jenny, I haven't seen that before, she continued as she pointed towards a cave on the side of the mountain, come back here, Robert called out, we can place something here and take a look later, Robert said as he removed his jumper and placed it on a rock by the cave, yes said Peter, it looks dark we will need torches if we are to see what's in there, yes said Robert and some rope so we can use it as a guide in case we get lost, OK said Jenny reluctantly, and they all continued along the road, the rest of the journey was uneventful as nothing else had changed along the road other

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than a few large rocks had fallen, so after turning round at the other end of the road, the gang made their way back to the
village, but all the way back Jenny couldn't help thinking about the cave.

The next morning when the gang got together, they had enough supplies to last them for a week, as well as a couple of ropes and torches, they had all bought a couple of bags of food crisps and sweets as well as bottles of squash, it was almost as if they had planed not to return home, anyway they got on their bikes and headed off towards Mountain Pass Road, and back to the cave they had discovered, the gang wasted no time in getting there, and once they had arrived, Robert tied one of the ropes to a post outside and with their torches lit they all made their way inside, they were amazed to find that the walls inside were not rough as expected, but smooth, like the walls at home, they had also been decorated, with pictures of various animals, I think they had been walking through the cave for about half an hour, when suddenly, Jenny saw a light down a passageway on their left, what's that Jenny exclaimed in excitement, oh said Robert, it's probably the entrance where we came in, it can't be Stacy replied as she checked the rope they were carrying, there's no rope down there, well said Peter maybe it's come adrift and we've been towing it, but anyway he continued, there's nothing here, we might as well go out, and they made their way down the passage towards the light,
they hadn't gone far before they noticed the light was getting brighter, and then suddenly they began to hear the sound of running water, cautiously they continued along the passage, not knowing where the water was coming from, but then suddenly they found that they were tat the exit to the passage, only to find that they were standing behind a beautiful waterfall, this way said Robert, as he found a way out on the

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left, Robert led the way while the others followed, until they found they were in a beautiful garden, and as they turned round they saw two

herons standing guard over the waterfall, who are you, what are you doing, a small voice called out, Who said that Jenny called out as they looked round but couldn't see anybody, down here, a voice came back, and as they looked down they noticed a small black cat, who are you, the cat asked again, We are the Mountain Pass gang, Robert said proudly, pleased to meet you the cat said, now follow me, the animal continued, where are we going Jenny asked, to meet the wise old owl, said the cat, anybody new here has to meet the wise old owl, the cat continued, so away they went, following the cat, Stacy started saying how beautiful the garden was, the sun was brighter and the grass was greener than she had ever seen, and all around there were beautiful flowers and shrubs, everything looked perfect, but what was even more surprising was all the animals seemed to get along, on one side there were two kittens playing with a couple of Robins, and when I say playing, I don't mean they had caught them, no, it looked like they were sharing a joke, while by the pond there was a dog going for a swim with a rabbit, it was amazing, but then as they made their way through the garden, they noticed how things were not all well here, they came across animals fighting, and things not being looked after, there were broken fences, and everything seemed to be overgrown, and then when they reached the residence of the wise old owl, the magpies on guard, told them all to go, as the wise old owl was too ashamed to see anyone, what's the problem, Jenny asked, in a caring manor, take a look around, said the magpies, the wise old owl is supposed to be our ruler, but who is going to listen to him if his land looks like this, we can fix this said

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Robert as he started to clear the over grown area in front of the owls residence, and within half an hour the area had been cleared, the magpies were so impressed, that they insisted that
the wise old owl saw them, and one of the magpies flew into

the residence, coming back a couple of minutes later, the magpie invited the children in, and presented them to the wise old owl, where the owl began to unfold a tale of woe about how the grand beaver had passed away, and there was no one suitable to take his place, so therefore the land had had fallen into such a bad condition, he then looked into the courtyard, at the creatures sitting idle, these are our work crew, but with no one to lead them, then they do nothing, they just wait to be told what to do, it's hopeless the owl continued, don't worry, Stacy said, we can take charge and restore your kingdom, Thank you, said the wise old owl as he placed his wing around her, he then called for the magpie to escort the children to the courtyard so they could be introduced to the creatures down there, among them there were two mice, a snake, and an elephant, each creature was given a specific task, the elephant was to move large items and assist with any building work, the snake was told to weave materials together as to make fences, while the mice were to pack walls with items to fill in any cracks, as the children, apart from recruiting other animals to get involved, would clear the area of all the overgrown material, and before long many other creatures had come forward with offers of help, therefore making the job of restring the area that much easier, and it wasn't long before the task had been completed, The wise old owl was so impressed that he bestowed the title of Guardians of the kingdom upon the children, and said it would be their duty to

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motivate the other creatures to keeping the area up to standard, he also made the children promise that they would keep the location of the kingdom a secret, as he felt that if others found it then it would spoil there way of life, the children agreed to this, and then made their way home. When
finally they got home Peter and Jenny's father was there waiting for them, come on you two he said, we have been waiting to go out, so the two of them got into the car, and drove off towards Mountain pass road and into West Middleton, On Mountain Pass Road, jenny was Surprised, it's gone, she gasped, Nudging Peter at the same time, what's gone, Peter asked, I can't say, jenny replied, as she pointed to where the cave was, that's weird said Peter, what is asked his father, er, nothing, peter replied, as they continued their journey, but when they got home, both Peter and Jenny got on their bikes and went back to the location of the cave, and as there was traffic they couldn't find it, but then when the road went quiet then the cave on the side of the mountain opened up, well, said Jenny, we never need to worry about anyone else finding the cave, especially as it is only visible to us, yes, said Peter, we can at least tell the wise old owl that his secret kingdom will be safe from invasion in the future, and with that they both went home, vowing to go back and visit the wise old owl and the other creatures in the secret land as often as they could.

The End.