Before On Miscalculation…
"Scared." I said
"Why?" Ric asked
"Because once we leave. I'll have to go back to my relatives… it's late I'm going to go to sleep." I said
I rolled over to my side and closed my eyes.
The next day we were back down in that chamber. Jonathan and Ric lean the sarcophagus against the wall. Evelyn walks up behind them.
"Oh, I've dreamed about this since I was a little girl," Evelyn said
I'm standing a little bit behind Evelyn.
"You dream about dead guys?" Ric asked
"Look, the scared spells have been chiseled off. This man must have been condemned not only in this life but in the next." Evelyn said
Johnathan opens the thing from yesterday and puts it in the spot on the sarcophagus.
"Tough break," Ric said
"Yeah, I'm all tears," Jonathan said
Jonathan turns the object almost like how one turns a safe wheel.
"Now, let's see who's inside, shall we?" Jonathan asked
Once he's done. Evelyn steps back and Ric and Jonathan pull the lid off the sarcophagus. Once the lid is off the mummy that is inside pops out like a picture in a pop-up book. We all yell I grab onto Evelyn's leg and hid my face behind her leg.
"Oh, my God, I hate it when these things do that," Evelyn said
"Them popping like that is normal?" I asked
"Sadly," Evelyn said
"Is he supposed to look like that?" Ric asked
"No, I've never seen a mummy look like this before. He's still…still…" Evelyn said
"Juicy." Ric, Evelyn, and Jonathan said
"Yes. He must be more than 3,000 years old, and, well, it looks as if he's still decomposing." Evelyn said
I look down at the lid of the sarcophagus to see scratch marks. I pull on Evelyn's pants leg. She turns and looks down at me.
"Look," I said
I point down the lid of the sarcophagus. We all move over so we are looking down at the lid.
"What do you make of this?" Ric asked
"My God, these marks were made with…" Evelyn started
"Fingernails," I said
"This man was buried alive. He left a message. 'Death is only the beginning?'" Evelyn said
Once Evelyn is done talking a breeze blew and it sounded like a person talking. We all look at the mummy, whose face looks like it was frozen in a scream. Ric and Jonathan left the room I stayed down there with Evelyn she was looking at something at the bottom of the sarcophagus. She finds these weird bugs, she picks them up and carries them back to the surface I follow behind her. We walk past the Egyptologists trying to open a black book. Evelyn stops walking, the man stops trying to open it and looks up at us. Eve and I both notice the same lock thing that was on the sarcophagus is also on the book.
"I believe you need a key to open that book," Evelyn said
We then head towards where we were camping. We see Beni sitting next to Ric. One of the Americans walks past our campsite.
"Say, O'Connell, what do you think these babies fetch back home?" One guy asked
"We hear you boys found yourselves a nice, gooey mummy. Congratulations." The one with glasses said
"If you dry that fellow out, you might be able to sell him for firewood." the last one said
Evelyn and I walk up.
"Look what I found," Evelyn said
Ric turns to Beni.
"You're in her seat. Move. Now." Ric said
Beni stands up and moves out of the way. I move and sit in the sand on the other side if Ric.
"Scarab skeletons, flesh-eater. Amara and I found them inside our friend's coffin. They can stay alive for years feasting on the flesh of a corpse. Unfortunately for our friend, he was still alive when they started eating him." Evelyn said
"So somebody threw these in with our guy, and then they slowly ate him alive?" Ric asked
"Very slowly," Evelyn said
"He certainly wasn't a popular fellow when they planted him, was he?" Jonathan asked
"Well, he probably got a little too frisky with the pharaoh's daughter," Ric said
"Well, according to my readings, our friend suffered the Hom-Dai, the worst of all Ancient Egyptian curses, one reserved only for the most evil of blasphemers. In all my research, I've never heard of this curse having actually been performed." Evelyn said
"That bad, huh?" Ric asked
"Yes, well, they… they never used it because they feared it so. It's written that if a victim of the Hom-Dai should ever arise, he would bring with him the 10 plagues of Egypt." Evelyn said
There are a few moments of silence, before the American from plane breaks it.
"Amara how did you end up out here again?" he asked
I look down at my hands. Then back up at everyone.
"My Uncle left me out here," I said
"Why were you with your Uncle and not your parents?" the man in the glasses asked
I didn't say anything.
"Tell us everything, because the day you left the museum you looked scared," Evelyn said
"When I was around 1 and a half I was left on their doorstep with a note. My Uncle said that the note said that my parents didn't want me anymore so they were leaving me with them. My Uncle made it a point to tell that no one wanted me that I was a freak which is why my parents didn't want me. My Aunt who was my mother's sister said that my parents were freaks and that I must have been too much of a freak for even them. My room was a cabinet under the stairs. I spent most of my life in there. When I turned two and a half Petunia started my chore list. As I got older it got longer. I had to do it perfectly and quickly and if it wasn't to my Uncle's standards I was hit or kicked then sent to my cupboard under the stairs and I wouldn't get food or water. I was allowed to go the bathroom three times once in the morning once around lunch and then once at night. I was to make the food and if I burnt it then Uncle would burn me. I only did it once. I wasn't allowed to eat till they were done, and my Uncle and cousin could eat, and when I did eat it was little. Usually, when they went on vacation they left me home. Either with the neighbor or they locked me in the cupboard. I should have known when they said I was coming that something was wrong. I had six rules to follow when I left the house which was only a handful of times: one don't talk to anyone, two don't touch anyone, three, stay under the radar, four don't draw notice to you, five don't leave the hotel room, and six the most important one of all don't do anything freakish. I broke quite a few the day I meet Evelyn but I hadn't cared I had read about Egypt and I wanted to see some of it. I got back before they did. I went to sleep in the corner they put me in and when I woke up it was to Vernon throwing me from the car." I said
I hadn't looked up, I looked at my hands the entire time. I felt someone arms around me and tensed up not use to hugs. I look up to see that it was Evelyn.
"Now I know why you said you were scared of going back," Ric said
"I don't want to. I don't want to go back to that place. I didn't even know my name or my age until I read the letter my parents left with me. I want to go to school. I want friends. I want to be with people that will love me, and care for me, or want me." I said
I started to cry. Evelyn's arms tightened around me. I relaxed and wrapped my arms around her.
"We'll figure something out. You won't have to go back to that." Evelyn said
I looked over Evelyn's shoulder to see that the guys looked mad. I didn't understand why. I didn't know any of these people and I just told them everything. I knew there was nothing they could do. I would have to go back the Dursley's.
I stayed in Evelyn's arms for how knows how long. I looked up at her to see that she was looking towards the Egyptologist who had the black book.
"Is that the book you wanted to find?" I asked
"Yes, well one of them," Evelyn said
"Then let's go get it. I mean we do have the key." I said
"Your right we do," Evelyn said
"And he's asleep isn't like he will know you had it," I said
"Let's do it," Evelyn said
We got up and quietly made our way over to him. Evelyn gently takes the book from him, and we quickly make our way back over the campsite. Evelyn lays the book down and I sit down next to it. I thought Ric was asleep but when Evelyn passed him I realized he wasn't.
"That's called stealing, you know?" Ric asked
"According to you and my brother, it's called borrowing," Evelyn said
She finds the key in Jonathan's pocket then comes over to the book. Ric moves so that he is on her left and I'm on her right.
"I thought the Book of Amun-Ra was made out of gold?" Ric asked
"It is made out of gold. This isn't the Book of Amun-Ra. This is something else. I think this may be the Book of the Dead." Evelyn said
"The Book of the Dead?" Ric and I asked
I also heard the voice in my head. I hope she doesn't plan to read from it. If it is the same book I read about in school. It would be a bad book to read above the body of a dead mummy, who was given the Hom-Di.
What does it do?
Brings the dead back to life.
"Are you sure you're meant to be playing around with this thing?" Ric asked
"It's just a book. No harm ever came from reading a book." Evelyn said
She puts the key in and turns, the clasps keeping it closed pop open. Evelyn opens the book and a weird wind blows that almost blows out the fire.
"That happens a lot around here," Ric said
"It does," I said
Evelyn looks back down at the book.
"What's it say?" Ric asked
" 'Aumn Ra. Amun Di.' It speaks of the night and of the day." Evelyn said
She then starts to read from the book. Once Evelyn is done reading there is a loud scream. The Egyptologist shoots up from his bed.
"No! You must not read from the book!" Egyptologist yells
After that, there is a weird noise coming from outside the ruins. We all get up to take a look, we see a swarm of locus flying towards us.
"Run!" someone yells
We all turn and run.
"Go. Go." Ric yells
We run as fast as we can, some of the diggers weren't fast enough and were attacked. We run past the Egyptologist who just stands and holds the book. He is covered in locus but they haven't hurt him yet. We are now running inside the tunnels, we've spilt up from the Americans. We are walking behind Ric who is waving a torch back in forth. Evelyn has my hand tightly in her grip. As we're walking the tunnel shakes, and an anthill type things come up and scarabs come pouring out of it.
"Scarabs." Evelyn yells
We start backing up away from the scarabs.
"Run, Evy. Amara." Ric said
"Go, go, go. Run." Jonathan said
Ric throws his torch at them, then starts to shoot at them. We run down this weird bridge thing, still being followed by those things. Ric and Jonathan jumped one way while Evelyn and I jump a different way. We push our backs against the wall. The wall falls away and we fall backward. Then the wall closes back up. Where we have fallen is dark and somewhat cold. We look around then hear a noise, we turn and see Mr. Burns.
"Oh, Mr. Burns. Thank goodness. I was just starting to get scared. We've lost everyone else." Evelyn said
Mr. Burns turns around and he is missing his eyes and tongue. Evelyn and I both scream and stager backward.
"My eyes. My eyes…" Mr. Burns said
We turn around and come face-to-face with the mummy. Evelyn and I scream and we back up, we continue to back up till our back hits a wall. We look from the mummy to Mr. Burns. I grab onto Evelyn.
"Please help us," Evelyn said towards Mr. Burns
The mummy turns to look at Mr. Burns.
"My tongue. He took my tongue." Mr. Burns said
Mr. Burns who is on the ground is scooting backward.
"Please don't leave us," Evelyn said
The mummy turns back towards us. He looks at Evelyn.
"Anck-Su-Namun." the mummy said
The Mummy keeps stepping towards us. He says something in Egyptian the only part I understood was Anck-Su-Namum. He holds his hand out for her.
"Leave us alone," I said
The mummy looks down at me, and reaches down towards me, he grabs on to a piece of my hair. Evelyn pulls me back and closer to her making my hair fall out of his hand. We hear a noise of people running by, and we see Ric.
"There you two are! Will you two quit playing hide-and-seek? Come on. Let's get out of here." Ric asked
He runs and over to us, he has yet to see the mummy. He turns and yells and staggers back once he sees the mummy. Ric points his gun at the mummy, and Jonathan comes running in with the Americans following behind him.
"Evy," Jonathan said
He stops and drops his torch once he sees the mummy causing the Americans to run into him. The mummy turns to them and screams. For some reason, Ric screams right back, then shoots him with his gun. He then grabs Evelyn's hand and pulls him behind her, me still holding on to her other hand.
"Move." Ric yells
"Yeah, right," Jonathan said
"Did you see that? It was walking. It was walking." one of the Americans said
We quickly make it back to the surface, we turn and stop when the men from before stand with guns pointed at us. They also have the Egyptologist with them who still has a hold of a jar and the black book. The man that Ric spent most of the time-fighting steps forward.
"I told you to leave or die. You refused. Now, you may have killed us all, for you have unleashed a creature we have feared for more than 3,000 years." the man said
"Relax, I got him," Ric said
"No mortal weapon can kill this creature. He's not of this world." the man said
He then moved to the side, two men come forward they have Mr. Burns with them. They hand him to the Americans.
"You bastard." the dark-haired one said
"What did you do to him?" the blonde asked
"We saved him. Saved him before the creature could finish his work. Leave, all of you, quickly, before he finishes you all." the man said
He turns his head and looks at his men, he says something in Egyptian. They lower their guns and heads towards the entrance.
"We must now go on the hunt, and try and find a way to kill him." the man said
He walks past us, as he's talking.
"I already told you, I got him," Ric said
The man stops and turns to look back at Ric.
"Know this, this creature is the bringer of death. He will never eat, he will never sleep, and he will never stop." the man said
With that, he turned and headed into the tunnels.
"If they feared he was going to rise and be all these things. Then why did they put the curse on him?" I asked
"Because they are stupid." the blond American said
We moved and climbed onto camels and horse, and we headed back towards the city