I'm sorry it took me so long to get this up, but I've been busy messing
around with HTML on my blog/writing a musical about in-school suspension.
I'm not kidding.
CHAPTER FIVE: Realizations
Evie frantically paced around the room, shouting into the phone. "Where IS he?" she yelled. "Where is my son?! He was supposed to be back HOURS ago! Where has that madman flown that plane? Why were they flying in the first place? It was just supposed to be an introductory lesson!" She waited as the person on the other end made excuses. "I don't CARE if my brother killed his brother! Well yes, I do care, but that's not applicable now! My son didn't have anything to do with it!"
Rick gently pried the phone away from her and spoke into it. "Listen, whoever you are, I'm sorry if my wife's scaring you, but we want to know where our son is!" He paused for a second to listen. "That's not even funny. 'It's not like undead mummies carried him off'? Well listen up, pal, that happens sometimes! So don't joke about it!" He listened. "Fine, my brother-in-law will be home if you get any news. I'm not going to sit here and twiddle my thumbs - I'm going to find my son." He slammed the phone down and sat in a chair, his head in his hands.
Evie came and put her arm around him, burying her face in his shoulder. "Don't blame yourself, Rick. We couldn't have foreseen this. Although, I was the one who saw the potential danger - but that doesn't matter now."
Her husband lifted his head up. "We've got to find him. We have before. But, Evie, honey - it's too convenient. After all these years, we meet up with the very guy whose brother was killed helping us, and he has the very thing Alex wanted for some reason - a plane. There's something or someone Alex was looking for. Haven't you noticed how he's grown distant over these past few weeks? And he's grown more curious about his past. How we met, Imhotep - all these things he's known but never been really interested in."
"I've noticed it too," murmured Evie, "but I have no idea what it could be. You know we've barely ever kept secrets from him. We told him a short, fluffed-up version of our first adventure when he was, how old, five? And Jonathon's told him everything he needed to know and then some. It's not like he has a long-lost twin, or something."
"Or something," agreed Rick. "Although it's not like we were present at the birth. You were asleep, and I was -"
He stopped mid-sentence, leaped up, and ran his fingers through his hair. "Evie, do you remember anything about the birth?"
"Vaguely," she commented. "I received the anesthesia, fell asleep, and woke up. Then you said, 'It's a boy!' But I kind of nodded in and out before hand, and I can remember a bunch of voices, and -" She looked at Rick. "I don't know, it felt like, like - like it could have been more than one."
Rick stared at the family portrait on his desk. Beside the smiling blond boy sitting at his parents' feet, there was an empty space. A space that belonged to someone. A space that needed to be filled.
CHAPTER FIVE: Realizations
Evie frantically paced around the room, shouting into the phone. "Where IS he?" she yelled. "Where is my son?! He was supposed to be back HOURS ago! Where has that madman flown that plane? Why were they flying in the first place? It was just supposed to be an introductory lesson!" She waited as the person on the other end made excuses. "I don't CARE if my brother killed his brother! Well yes, I do care, but that's not applicable now! My son didn't have anything to do with it!"
Rick gently pried the phone away from her and spoke into it. "Listen, whoever you are, I'm sorry if my wife's scaring you, but we want to know where our son is!" He paused for a second to listen. "That's not even funny. 'It's not like undead mummies carried him off'? Well listen up, pal, that happens sometimes! So don't joke about it!" He listened. "Fine, my brother-in-law will be home if you get any news. I'm not going to sit here and twiddle my thumbs - I'm going to find my son." He slammed the phone down and sat in a chair, his head in his hands.
Evie came and put her arm around him, burying her face in his shoulder. "Don't blame yourself, Rick. We couldn't have foreseen this. Although, I was the one who saw the potential danger - but that doesn't matter now."
Her husband lifted his head up. "We've got to find him. We have before. But, Evie, honey - it's too convenient. After all these years, we meet up with the very guy whose brother was killed helping us, and he has the very thing Alex wanted for some reason - a plane. There's something or someone Alex was looking for. Haven't you noticed how he's grown distant over these past few weeks? And he's grown more curious about his past. How we met, Imhotep - all these things he's known but never been really interested in."
"I've noticed it too," murmured Evie, "but I have no idea what it could be. You know we've barely ever kept secrets from him. We told him a short, fluffed-up version of our first adventure when he was, how old, five? And Jonathon's told him everything he needed to know and then some. It's not like he has a long-lost twin, or something."
"Or something," agreed Rick. "Although it's not like we were present at the birth. You were asleep, and I was -"
He stopped mid-sentence, leaped up, and ran his fingers through his hair. "Evie, do you remember anything about the birth?"
"Vaguely," she commented. "I received the anesthesia, fell asleep, and woke up. Then you said, 'It's a boy!' But I kind of nodded in and out before hand, and I can remember a bunch of voices, and -" She looked at Rick. "I don't know, it felt like, like - like it could have been more than one."
Rick stared at the family portrait on his desk. Beside the smiling blond boy sitting at his parents' feet, there was an empty space. A space that belonged to someone. A space that needed to be filled.