So I Might Not Look the Same...

Chapter 3: Realization

Rebecca awoke in a hospital bed. There was pain, but not as excruciating, and not in the same place. She lifted up the bottom of her shirt. There, like always, was the thin scar on her abdomen her mother had always told her was a birthmark. How else could she explain it? She knew nothing of Rebecca's being Anck-su-namun, and of her love for Imhotep. Imhotep. She smiled just thinking about him. I have to see him, Rebecca/Anck-su-namun thought.

Rebecca turned to look at her surroundings. Her first shock was seeing her hair so... blonde! The next was the lack of lilies and gold paint. Rebecca/Anck-su-namun felt a jolt to her system. For the first time she knew who she was! It was as if Anck-su-namun's soul had willed her to open the car door, knowing all Rebecca needed to get her memory going was a good bump on the head. She remembered every detail of life in Ancient Egypt, down to the Pharaoh and her rather unpleasant job.

Rebecca's mother came in. "Oh thank heavens!" She cried, "You're awake!" Then she ran to embrace her daughter. Rebecca/Anck-su-namun's mind was still a little hazy. "Where is he?" She said in Ancient Egyptian. "What?" Rebecca's mother asked, not understanding a word. Rebecca tried again. "Where is he?" She said in English. "Where is who, honey?" her mother cooed. "Imhotep." Rebecca/Anck-su-namun said as if this were obvious.

"Imhotep?" Rebecca's mother asked questioningly, "Isn't he that man from that Egypt movie you like?" Rebecca shook her head, then nodded. "Yes and no." She said. "Where is he? I need to see him!" Rebecca's mother looked at her strangely. "I'll see what I can do..." she said slowly, then got up and left.

Rebecca had hopes that her mother would be able to get Arnold/Imhotep to come and see her. Her Aunt, her mother's sister, had done the makeup for The Mummy. Rebecca had tried to talk her mother to go and let her watch the filming, which was in the middle of the Sahara Desert, but nooooooooooooo, she had to stay in school and learn complicated math that would be no use to the average person, or even the smart stock-exchange business man.

Rebecca stayed at the hospital for a week. Almost all her wounds where healed and her bruises were almost gone. She began to lose hope that her mother would be able to persuade famous Arnold Vosloo to come see a psychopath teenager who purposely flew out of a car.

But on the last day she was scheduled to be in the hospital, it happened. Arnold Vosloo, along with a party of managers and bodyguards, was at her room door. He was dressed in a black shirt and jeans, not very Egyptian, but his head was still shaven clean, and he had his charming smile.

"Hi," he said friendly-ish, "Your mother said you were requesting to see me. Calling me Imhotep..." he chuckled. "Yes, a lot of people call me that. Can't remember a decent actor's name, I suppose." Rebecca/Anck-su-namun couldn't think. She hadn't seen this man for 3000 years, yet it was him. Him. Imhotep. Her love.

Rebecca regained her senses. "Erm, can I speak with you for a moment?" she asked breathlessly, "Alone?" The bodyguards did not look happy about this, but Arnold/Imhotep waved them off. He entered the sterilized white room and shut the door, then sat down on one of the chairs by her bed.

He smiled at her. "Do you know who I am?" She asked, wondering if he knew of his *other* existence. His smile faltered, "I have to say that I do not." Rebecca/Anck-su-namun was crushed. This might take some work... she sighed. "Okay, let's restart this." She smiled brightly. "Have you ever had any strange dreams about, oh let's say.... Ancient Egypt?"

His smile disappeared. "How did you know...? I didn't tell anyone..." She smiled. "It's okay," she reassured. "What's said here is strictly between you and me." She had heard her mother say this once to one of her friends on the telephone and Rebecca/Anck-su-namun had always wanted to say it.

"Now, in these dreams," She continued, "Were you...an Ancient Egyptian? Did people call you something that is not your name, yet you responded to it?" He looked uneasy. "Well, yeah." he admitted, "Are you some kind of psychopath teenager?!" he said, a little frightened. "Look," she said, not wanting him to quit now, "What did people call you in these dreams?"

He squirmed in his seat a little. It looked like there was something he wanted to tell her, yet he didn't want to share with anyone, afraid of what jeering taunts he might receive in turn. "They called me.... Imhotep." he said at last. "Yes," Rebecca/Anck-su-namun was excited. She was so close! "Does it seem, I dunno, maybe a little familiar to you? Sort of like your movie?" She questioned. Arnold/Imhotep stood up. "Okay, this is way too creepy for me. I'm outta here."