FRANK PAYNE AND THE MYSTERIOUS CAVE

-- Chapter 3 -- The Revelation

Frank showed Barbara the piece of rock he had taken from the sea and told her the whole story, how she got to him, the voice that seemed to have heard inside his head, the hallucinations, among other things.

Barbara didn't want to say anything at the time, but this story was touching Frank too much, as in twelve years she had never seen her friend so elated. He was flustered, irritated and even at times rude, therefore he was always a loving person, kind, caring and extremely intelligent, even after having suffered a lot with losses in the last seven years.

The most recent about five years ago was his father Douglas who disappeared on a business trip without ever returning home. As far as she knew, Douglas Payne was an executive at a major pharmaceutical company and always had to travel on business to many countries around the world. Whenever he returned, he would bring back souvenirs for the two friends, from sweets and treats to replicas of historical artifices that he bought at a stall or souvenir shops.

One day Douglas had to travel in a hurry and went to say goodbye while Frank prepared to go to school. He said that he needed to sort something out urgently, but that he would come home in two weeks, but he never came back. The searches ended after three months of intense searching, without ever having found a body, only the memory of the funny and dedicated father was what was left for Frank. His mother Elizabeth had strangely met the same fate, disappearing from the map two years earlier.

They only received the information of his death later when they found the body of a woman who was recognized by Douglas as his wife. Since then, Frank had been taken care of by his grandfather Walter Payne. A very dedicated gentleman, who taught the subjects at school that Frank had difficulty with, cooked, cleaned the house and always led him to a fair and correct path. He was one of the boy's closest friends, who with Barbara formed the Fantastic Squad.

That was the name they dubbed the study group of the Universe, enigmas and treasure hunts, and even at 68 years old, Walter still had a physicist to envy any gentleman of his age, of medium-tall height, thin body and big, strong hands cultivated in their youth. His few white hairs and his skin already scratched by the years lived were what gave away his age. Walter Payne never mentioned his past and when asked about what he did when he was young or where and who taught him the things he knew, he always changed the subject to something that most interested the teenagers and they ended up forgetting.

As soon as Barbara put her beautiful blue eyes on the stone, she could understand the reason for his excitement. It was strangely beautiful, with a bizarre appearance, unlike any other rock, exceptionally light and with black flecks. It looked like it came from another planet, as she had never seen anything like it. She noticed that these dots were super aligned, that they looked like ancient writings, but extremely small, imperceptible to the naked eye.

She turned towards her friend and saw him looking like a child with a toy he had just been given, waiting for his parents to put the battery in so he could play with it. She went to her bookcase and picked up an exceptionally large and heavy copy, which looked to be an incredibly old age from its visible wear. It was the symbol dictionary, used by her to decipher many of the riddles, which they loved.

She flipped through the book to the letter P and then only stopped until she came to what she was looking for, the word "Stone". She began to read aloud:

"Stone (birch, diamond, emerald, jade, jewel, pearl), traditionally, stone occupies a place of distinction. Stones are not inert masses; living stones that have fallen from the sky continue to live even after the fall. It plays a key role in the relationships between heaven and earth. Several peoples of the Pacific, such as Australia and regions between Indonesia and North America, consider some species to be fragments detached from the sky or the celestial throne: it is the instrument of clairvoyance of the shamans. Stones fallen from heaven are, moreover, often speaking stones, instruments of an oracle or a message."

"A lot of this text reflects exactly what I felt when I first saw it," Frank said. — It seemed that the stone wanted to show me something, as if it were my own oracle, manifesting something that will happen or a hidden revelation. But what does it want to introduce me to? I can't understand anything else.

Barbara went back to reading another excerpt from the book:

"There is a close relationship between the soul and the stone. According to the legend of Prometheus, procreator of mankind, the stones kept a human odor."

"That's it!" Frank yelled. "When I went into a trance, I smelled my father's perfume. I can't believe this stone is trying to tell me where his whereabouts are. It can't be right."

Frank was overjoyed at the prospect of finally discovering where his father might be hiding. Deep down, he never-came believed he had died. The boy never really managed to say goodbye, because he knew, that he would be reunited with him again. But where? How were they going to find a clue that would lead to him? It was then that he remembered the tiny inscriptions and turned to Barbara.

"Bah, have you been able to identify what is written on that stone? It's so tiny that my magnifying glass couldn't enlarge enough to identify it"

Frank was giving his magnifying glass so that Barbara could analyze the scriptures, but Barbara opened the drawer of her desk and took out a professional pair of glasses, with led lamps at the ends and lenses with six different magnifications, up to ten times larger than her friend's.

"Now you're talking!" Frank joked.

"I'm seeing some disjointed letters forming sentences I can't understand," Barbara said. "They look like inscriptions from an unknown language or from some remote place:

Mungnga pumåra manhongge!

Mahålang yu' nu todu.

Hu guaiya hamyo na dos!"

"I've seen something written like that somewhere, but I can't remember..." Frank said.

"I think we should talk to your grandfather, who knows he can help us unravel this mystery. He loves that kind of thing, and his knowledge of foreign languages is something extraordinary."

"Great idea, get your book and your funnyglasses. I hope grandpa is home."