Chapter 5 Museum

##################Part 1 In the room########################

The morning sun sheens its glory through a leafy and crooked tree in front of Susan¡¯s window still. The sunlight irradiates on the sleeping Susan, irking her to wake up.

¡®En¡­¡¯ Susan turns around and hides her head under the pillow.

Susan¡¯s mind starts to drift into dreamland.

¡®Shhhhh¡­.¡¯ Unawares a sneaking bunch of girls tiptoe towards Susan. A girl makes a signal and starts to count ¡®One¡­Two¡­Three!¡¯

¡®SURPRISE!¡¯

Susan¡¯s mind immediately becomes sober. Awaken from dreaming, Susan shouts from under pillow, ¡®OH MY GOD! FOR GOD¡¯S SAKE WHAT ARE YOU DOING???!!!¡¯ then Susan pops her head out and stares at them.

¡®Hahahahaha¡¯ the girls burst out.

¡® It is¡­¡¯ Susan checks her clock, ¡® 7 AM in the morning, school doesn¡¯t start in an hour!¡¯ Susan scowls.

¡®School???? You forget so quick, Suzy.¡¯ It was Amanda. Susan¡¯s second best friend.

¡®Forget what?¡¯ Susan was puzzled, ¡® I didn¡¯t forget to do my homework did I?¡¯

¡®Come on, Susan. You should remember. Today¡­¡¯ It was Katherine this time.

Amanda completed the sentence: ¡®We are going to the Ancient History Museum! Remember?¡¯

At once, Mrs. Klaus red flaming eyes, the terror of losing her parents forever, the unexpected destiny restored her mind again.

Susan¡¯s face was white.

¡®Susan? Are you OK?¡¯ Amanda sat beside Susan and held her hand.

Susan had to make her quickest, toughest decision ever. ¡°I will face what I need to face. If it has to come, I will have no where to hide, I can only face it, face the fate that I was meant to look out on.¡± Susan made up her mind, although she didn¡¯t know if this was right or wrong, she took the risk.

¡®Amanda¡­¡¯ Susan spoke with her eyes shut.

¡®Yes?¡¯

¡®I¡­¡¯ there was a pause, ¡®I need to get dressed so can you leave this room for a moment?¡¯ Susan opened her eyes and gave a big a smile at Amanda.

¡®Susan! You frightened me to death! Lord!¡¯

¡®Haha, that¡¯s what you get for waking me up like that!¡¯ Susan pushed lightly on Amanda, telling her it was only a joke.

¡®Oh, you. Come on, girls. Let Susan dress up and we can get going.¡¯ Amanda pulled out the girls that still stood there not knowing what happened.

As soon as the door locked up, Susan¡¯s smile disappeared. She checked the clock again, 7:13. ¡®if you aren¡¯t there, then I guess your parents will be meeting you in hell.¡¯ The menacing words of Mrs. Klaus flashed through Susan¡¯s mind.

¡°I¡¯ve got to hurry. Can¡¯t let Klaus kill family!¡± Susan thought.

Susan raced around the room getting changed, brushing teeth, combing hair and the usual daily stuff. Just 2 times faster.

Susan was ready. She checked the clock, it was facing the other way. ¡®Oh!!!¡¯ Susan turned the clock around, it was 7:21. ¡®Fabulous, quick enough.¡¯ Susan putted down the clock, then for the first time in that day she noticed the ticket she left yesterday. Slowly, Susan fetched for the ticket. The heat had faded away. ¡°Mmm¡­Maybe it was the factory. So Klaus isn¡¯t a real devil after all.¡± Susan thought as she walked towards the door.

¡®WOW! You¡¯re quick today! He, no wonder, you are just as excited as we are.¡¯ Jane spoke for the first time.

¡®Come on, let¡¯s get to breakfast before it is too late.¡¯ Susan ran off, leaving the rest in amazement.

¡®What happened to her?¡¯ Lucy asked.

¡®How am I supposed to know?¡¯ Jane answered back.

¡®Who cares. You heard her lets go to breakfast before it¡¯s too late!¡¯ Amanda went chasing after Susan.

¡®Wait for us!¡¯ the four girls all rushed for breakfast.

######################Part 2 Before the trip######################

¡®Ding dong. Ding dong. Ding dong.¡¯ The school ring rang.

Susan stuffed her last piece of toast in her mouth, took her bag and power walked off.

¡°7:55, I must be there in time, to face Klaus. Or maybe I can even meet my parents in time.¡± As she kept pushing herself, she walked faster and faster, ran faster and faster until she was spanking down the playground.

The 3 tourists¡¯ buses parked just outside the school gates. There wasn¡¯t anyone there. Susan looked around if there was someone in her sight she was expecting.

¡®7:57. Good work, little Susan. You made it on time.¡¯ The ice cold sound of Mrs. Klaus¡¯s voice vibrated into Susan¡¯s ears.

Susan turned around to where the voice came from. There, in the shade of a maple, stood Mrs. Klaus ¡®evil¡¯ body.

Few red maple leaves fell as the breeze passed through the 2 silent people.

¡®Why should I go to the museum?¡¯ Susan used the coldest tone she had to speak.

A few more maple leaves fell.

¡®hen¡­Because¡­Hehehehahaahahaha¡­.¡¯ Mrs. Klaus sneered, ¡®it is your fate¡­¡¯ Mrs. Klaus turned and disappeared down the quiet street filled with the brightest red of maple.

¡®Susan! Here you are!¡¯ Amanda, Katherine, Jane and Lucy came calling.

¡®Hi, guys.¡¯ But Susan still stared at where Mrs. Klaus disappeared.

¡®What are you staring at?¡¯ Lucy asked.

¡®Nothing much.¡¯ Susan turned to look at the closest people in the world she had.

¡®Then, quick! We need to get our name checked. You forgot?¡¯ Amanda pulled Susan¡¯s hand to get her going.

¡®Ah! Amanda, don¡¯t go that quick!¡¯ Susan shouted.

##################Part 3 In the Museum#########################

It was a 2 and a half hour drive, but it was short for Susan. She had too many to think about, to worry about.

The attitude of Mrs. Klaus was extremely weird to Susan.

All the way long, Susan couldn¡¯t throw the feeling that something big was going to happen in the museum, ¡®it must be the mental feeling of that word ¡°it is your fate¡± it has nothing to do about the real life, so stop thinking, just stop¡¯, this swirled in Susan¡¯s mind, but the strong feeling didn¡¯t decrease a little.

¡®Ok, everybody off. Quick, quick. Chop, chop, and get off. We are already late, we have a huge day in front of us!¡¯ their Year Adviser, Ms. Ample hastened the noisy bus of students.

Susan fetched her bag from Amanda and stepped out the bus.

¡°Ok, this is it. No matter what is going to happen, be calm, Susan.¡± Susan comforts herself.

Susan saw a guider came out of the museum entrance with a loud-speaker. ¡®Welcome, Elisabeth Girl¡¯s High School, to the Royal Ancient History Museum. Today, everyone will have a whole day, exploring the greatest wonders of Ancient History. As you can see, this is an enormous building, and you will be the only people in here, so I hope everyone keeps quiet and give all your respect for these ancient spirits.¡¯ He was about to end the speech when an officer came, and whispered to him about something. ¡®And according to the new rules, our museum will kindly ask you to not walk in pairs or groups. Do your best to be independent. I hope everyone will follow these rules. Thank you, and wish you the best.¡¯ Susan saw the officer came running towards the guider and they quickly walked away.

Whispers and chatting spread around the crowd of students.

¡®Hey, Susan. Why did they want us to work independent? Wouldn¡¯t it be safer for them and us to be in groups?¡¯ Amanda asked.

¡®Yeah.¡¯ Agreed Lucy, Jane and Katherine.

¡®I don¡¯t know Amanda. We¡¯ll do what we are told.¡¯ Susan guessed that this was done on purpose, but why? Did it have any connections with her destiny?

Ms. Ample came standing where the guider just stood and shouted on the top of her voice. ¡®QIUET!¡¯

Everyone stopped talking and stared at Ms. Ample.

Ms. Ample cleared her throat and said, ¡®You heard what they said, don¡¯t travel in groups or pairs. Now, remember if you want to eat, there is a caf¨¦ on the third level, you may go there and eat, and you can only eat there. Secondly, the tour will end at 9 PM, so everyone should be here at 9 o¡¯clock sharp. The bus will leave at 9:15, if you miss it there will be no way for you to get back to school. Now everyone may enter the museum with their ticket we gave out yesterday.¡¯

With that everyone rushed to the entrance, leaving Susan and her friends behind.

¡®Susan, why don¡¯t we just stick together. Who cares about those stupid rules.¡¯ Lucy suggested.

¡®Lucy¡­¡¯ Susan was going to say that they should stick to the rules when Ms. Ample called out to Susan. ¡®Susan William, come here, I have some questions to ask you.¡¯

¡®Oh well. Guys just go in, I will try and find you afterwards. Bye!¡¯ Susan ran off without looking.

¡®Ms. Ample.¡¯

¡®Susan,¡¯ Ms. Ample looked at Susan through her shiny glasses, ¡®yesterday, when we were giving out the tickets where were you?¡¯

¡®I¡­I¡­I was with Mr. Klaus.¡¯

¡®Mrs. Klaus¡­mmm¡­Ok, well um.. do you have your ticket?¡¯

¡®Yes, it is in my bag you want it?¡¯ Susan began to flick through her bag.

¡®No, no. It¡¯s fine, no need to let me see. I guess Klaus has given it to you.¡¯

¡®Yes, Ms.¡¯

After a long pause, Ms. Ample began to speak again.

¡®Susan, when you first came to our school, Klaus told me that you were very special. She will take are of you, so I never really asked about you. Susan, do you know why you are so special?¡¯

¡®No, ms. I don¡¯t know. I was just sent to this school, because I didn¡¯t like to be in an orphanage.¡¯ Susan had to lie, but it was true she didn¡¯t know herself.

¡®Mmm¡­strange.¡¯ There was another pause.

¡®Ms. Is there anything wrong?¡¯

¡®No, no there is nothing wrong. Come on, you¡¯ll have to start your trip. Enjoy.¡¯ Ms. Ample then walked away.

Susan didn¡¯t know why this was all happening but she still kept in her mind that she had to keep on searching for her destiny.

¡®Good morning.¡¯ The ticket collector greeted.

¡®Good morning.¡¯ Susan handed over the ticket.

The ticket collector smiled and took the ticket. He looked at the ticket, his smile faded. He stared at the ticket for a long time and then stared at Susan.

Susan was puzzled for the 2nd time in that day. ¡®Is anything wrong?¡¯

¡®You¡­.¡¯ He muttered for a while. And then spoke clearly, ¡® Mmm¡­The manager of the museum asks you to start at the Greek Gods section. Please follower that man over there.¡¯ The ticket collector pointed to a man sitting in the corner of the ticket booth.

Then, he tried to tear a piece of ticket, but he couldn¡¯t. Finally he gave up and handed it over to Susan. ¡®Enjoy your tour.¡¯

¡®Thank you.¡¯ Susan held the ticket and walked towards the man. ¡®Excuse me, er¡­the ticket man told me that you would lead me to the um¡­Greek Gods section?¡¯

He looked up at Susan, ¡®You?¡¯ he then sneered.

¡°What¡¯s wrong with all these people?¡± Susan thought.

The man stood up and walked away.

Susan powered walked after him.

On the way, Susan noticed it was really an enormous museum. It was so big that she couldn¡¯t even spot a student from her school.

Susan used her eyes to search for any sight of her friends or school mates, using only intuition to follow the man.

¡®Ow!¡¯ Susan bumped into the man.

¡®Here it is. You can go in using your ticket. Just slide it in that crack over there.¡¯ Susan peered over to where he was pointing. ¡®I will be waiting outside. I have been asked to be your tour guide.¡¯

¡®What? A tour guide? For me? Gosh, what is going on today¡­¡¯ Buy Susan had another thought going on in her head ¡° Is this all a part of my fate? A guide to my destiny, maybe this will be easier than I thought¡­¡±

Susan slides the ticket in the crack.

The big words ¡°The Ancient Greek Gods¡± split into two, forming a pathway. Susan stepped in.

The whole room, or to Susan¡¯s description a Greek temple, was decorated and designed as an ancient temple.

On the right side Susan noticed it was lined with Greek gods, on the left side were all Greek goddesses. Each statue were about 3 meters tall and so well engraved; each having a big stone carving in front telling information, legends and myths about them.

Susan was most amazed to see so many gods and goddesses in this kind of grandiose standard. Susan whizzed around the god statues, and then went finding for her favorite goddess ¨C Eos, the goddess of twilight. To Susan twilight meant hope for her, so Eos was the goddess Hope.

Susan was even more astonished by the order of the statues. It seemed that the ones she like better were more close to the end of the ¡®temple¡¯, the ones she disliked or un-know where at the beginning. ¡°This is such a coincidence!¡± Susan thought. She followed the rules and ran to the end of the pathway.

There it was, standing right in front of Susan, with her hands spread out letting twilight in, her hair flows down her body with flowers spread on it. Everything seemed so nice, Susan stared at the Goddess carefully; suddenly sunlight pored through a hole in the roof, passed exactly through Eos¡¯s hands and onto Susan.

Susan shut her eyes and covered with her hands, the light was too bright she couldn¡¯t open her eyes. Then the warmth of sunlight languishingly cooled. Susan opened her eyes, everything was normal again. She stared at Eos¡¯s statue face, she realized that the face looked a bit different, it looked more like her face, ¡°No, that can¡¯t be, I must be dreaming¡±. Susan turned around and thought about the second place she was going to.

¡®Back so soon? I thought you were going to take hours in there.¡¯ The man sneered at Susan.

¡®Come on, stop your nonsense, get cranking. Lead me to the second place.¡¯ Susan pushed the man, although it was not taking her anywhere.

¡®He, I am starting to feel that you are that girl¡­¡¯ and he stepped away.

¡®a!¡¯ Susan fell to the ground. ¡®You! You should remind me that your going so I don¡¯t have to hurt myself!¡¯ Susan decided to rub her sore arm, but it wasn¡¯t sore at all, in fact she didn¡¯t feel any sign that she had just hurt herself. ¡°So strange! I mean everything is strange. I didn¡¯t expect all of these weird things to happen. I wonder what else. Mmm¡­I think I am looking forward to my destiny, it is appearing to be more interesting then I think.¡±

Three large words ¡°The Egyptian Gods¡± appeared in front of Susan.

¡®Here you are.¡¯ The man stopped and shoved Susan forward.

¡®Why am I seeing all these gods and goddesses? Isn¡¯t there anything else to see?¡¯ Susan turned back to face him. For the first time she saw his face clearly. He looked quite funny, not too ordinary.

¡®Why? I don¡¯t know. Just go in and see for yourself.¡¯ He then went over to the entrance and flicked his key into the lock. ¡®Open it yourself, just remember to give the keys back.¡¯ And he stood aside.

Susan walked over carefully , slowly Susan placed her fingers on the key and turned. ¡®Dong¡¯ the doors began to open.

Susan didn¡¯t look, instead she faced the man and asked ¡®How come all these doors have locks?¡¯

¡®So people have to go inside and take a look, not just walk past and say ¡°oh yeah, I get that¡±. We make these doors to let people lucubrate the ancient objects and history we have go here.¡¯ The man sounded very random. But Susan didn¡¯t have time to argue with him.

¡®Ok then. I thought it was only me that had to open the doors.¡¯

Susan went in.

Mostly it was what she had imagined, gold, statues of heads, but different from the Greek ones, they were more costliness.

¡°Egyptian gods, they¡¯re just mostly pharaohs or queens, nothing too surprising. But I wonder where they place those real gods.¡±

Susan passed chambers and chambers, this section seemed to be like a maze, it started to be spooky for Susan.

Because she came across the mummies.

The chamber she was is in, imitated King Seti I¡¯s tomb.

As Susan start to walk deeper and deeper, she the more she felt uncomfortable. The air smelled damper.

Susan approached in front of King Seti I. It was the mummified body of King Seti I. There were 2 guards standing beside it, the first sign of life for a whole 30 minutes.

Susan looked through the thick protection glass, she freaked out. But couldn¡¯t pull her pupils away. It was interesting, ¡°that king is so thin, is it because if the mummification? Or maybe because ancient people just look like that.¡± Susan stood there like a mutt, her mind swinging between day-dreaming and real life.

But then she thought she saw the mummy changed, it had more chubbiness, and it was more handsome, it even seemed to have muscles in him.

Susan gasped, ¡®Oh my god!¡¯, right after that, she heard something, ¡®Oh, so this is the great goddess of all fiction, what a joke, we can take her easily, My lord must be very happy when he hears this¡­hahahahahaha!¡¯