Chapter eight. - Wake up call.
Evie lay with her arms stretched high above her head. The muscles were beginning to ache from being in the same position for so long, and yet she didn't move them. Turning her head from left to right and back again for the fiftieth time, she realised she was cold too. This was underscored as a cold breeze swept across her skin, and she shivered.
Evie sighed. She knew she ought to be scared, and she was to a degree, but she was also bored. Evie always had hated waiting for anything- even as a child- and this was no different.
She almost smiled when finally she heard the door she could not see creak open. That was until she remembered who might be coming through it. As she tried to sit up to get a better view her tired arms pulled painfully, and she was forced to wait until her visitor decided to show himself to her. She sighed once again, and continued the exasperating task of waiting.
My love, a male voice came eventually. I'm sorry I was gone so long, but I am here now, so perhaps it would be best if we began?
"Begin?" Evie asked under her breath. Now full of fear, she desperately wanted to wait some more.
Yes, begin, the voice said as its grinning face came into view.
Evelyn didn't reply, she didn't smile back, but she refused to look away either. She just stared defiantly at the dark ceiling, as inside she begun to cower and wish for boredom.
Rick stood outside Evelyn's door, panting heavily. He had run all the way from the gym, having paused only momentarily to retrieve his sidearms and put his clothes back into some kind of order. His main thought, however, had been to get back to Evie as quickly as possible; he had hardly even noticed Jonathan's silent response as he had called to him his plan.
Now that he was here however, he didn't know what to do next. Taking a deep breath he began to think of all the things that he wanted to tell Evie- if she would allow him that was.
A minuet later, however, a noise from deep within the room stopped all his thoughts dead.
It was Evie, and she was screaming his name.
Evie had frozen at first through pure terror, and in surprise as her assailant's hands had begun to explore her body. She had only started whimpering as the first bruises and scratches were inflicted.
The big silent tears and the pleading with him to stop came as the touching turned more intimate.
She began screaming the name of the man she loved only as the skin on her thighs were ripped to shreds by Imhotep's hands, and she fully realised exactly what he planned to do.
Rick stood in the doorway to her bedroom, watching the scene in front of him with pure horror. He had burst through the broken door and, finding the reception room empty, had continued at full speed through the bedroom doors, only stopping as he saw the woman he was looking for.
Evelyn lay fully stretched on the large double bed, screaming his name at the fullest volume her tired throat would allow her. Her obvious pain was made even more distressing to him by the large tears that rolled down her face as she twisted and turned on the bed, fighting invisible restraints.
"Evie!" Rick cried as he ran to her side. Anger about what he suspected she was dreaming about gnawed deep in his stomach. "Evie please," he began to beg, "please wake up!"
As Evie felt the unique intimate pain that she thought she would remember for the rest of her life, she heard something that made her heart leap. It was a voice calling to her.
"Evie!"
It was Rick.
"Rick?" she cried back questioningly.
Imhotep's laughter echoed around the room before she heard an answer. He's not coming, Imhotep taunted her
"He is!" she argued back, falling into the regular pattern of her dream. "He loves me!"
Ha! Imohtep spat, and repeated the rest of his line.
Evie squeezed her eyes tightly shut.
"But I love," him she whispered, and suddenly Imhotep's laughter stopped.
"I'm here, I'm here," Rick told Evie as he knelt on the edge of the bed. Leaning over he began to shake her gently by the shoulders. "Now you've got to wake up for me."
"He is," Evie argued as she stopped screaming. "He loves me," she continued as she winced in pain.
"I do, I do," Rick whispered, his heart almost breaking as he realised from the desperation in her voice who she must be talking to. "Wake up!" he practically shouted once again, and gripped her more firmly. Holding her by her shoulders, he began to pull her limp body upright and into his arms. It made him sick to see her under the influence of that monster.
"But I love him," she whispered as she lay in Rick's arms
"I love you too," Rick whispered back, past the lump in his throat, before he began shaking her again, more firmly this time. "But wake up!"
As Evelyn snapped open her eyes she was surprised to see that the dark dungeons of Hamunaptra had transformed into her hotel bedroom. This initial relief however paled into insignificance as she realised she was could still feel tight arms wrapped around her. Now free from her shackles, she shoved the person with all her might away from her and began hitting him.
"Get off me!" she screamed, "Get off!"
"Evie!" a voice called, as the person who had been holding her slid of the bed and landed on the floor with a bump.
Surprised by the voice, Evelyn slowly peered over the edge the person had disappeared off, and sure enough it was Rick, who was sitting on the floor shaking his head and staring up at her.
"Whoops," she said as she offered him her hand.
"Whoops?" Rick repeated un-amused, as he got to his feet unassisted.
"I'm sorry," Evie apologised as she rolled onto her back and sat up. "I thought you were..." Suddenly aware of what she was about to say she stopped and looked down, ashamed.
"It's ok," Rick told her as he sat back on the edge of the bed. "You were dreaming. I was just trying to wake you."
"Oh," Evelyn replied, not looking up- or particularly listening. Gently she began to pull the cotton sheet around her in an effort to stop herself feeling so exposed.
"You were screaming," Rick continued, trying to explain and dispel the unease in the air. "And I guessed you were dreaming about... er, I mean were you dreaming about... about what happened?" he struggled to finish.
Evelyn just nodded, guilt washing through her.
"Oh," Rick responded, his throat going dry. "I mean, yeah, I guessed. That's why I tried to wake you up. I...I..." his voice cracked with emotion, "I couldn't let you go through that again."
"Why are you here, Rick?" Evie asked suddenly, looking up. She'd expected him to want nothing to do with her, and to hear him being nice was confusing.
"Why...why am I here?" The question threw Rick for a moment as he saw her unblinking eyes. "I wanted to see you," he admitted eventually, "to talk"
Now it was Evie's turned to look surprised. She hadn't expected him to want to talk.
"Okay," she said after taking a deep breath to regain her composure. "What did you want to talk about?"