Chapter 15
Ahkmenrah sighed as he stared down at the script. Most of the time he enjoyed some light reading, but tonight he only registered scrambled, dull words on a page. Nothing interesting. He was bored.
Where was Teddy? He hadn't seen him all evening, and was for once growing weary of the silent company of the novel. Where was his oldest friend? The ring from the telephone startled him. Remembering his recent lessons in modern communication, he carefully picked up the receiver and held it up to his ear. "Hello?"
"You can answer the phone? Hmm, who'd have thought... Anyway listen, I'm really sorry, but I'm afraid I cannot make it tonight, I've caught a terrible cold. I'm really sorry!"
"I understand. I'm sorry you got sick!"
McKenzie chuckled before sneezing away from her receiver. "It's not your fault! It's just that time of year. Give my regards to Mr. Daley and the others! And Ahk, remember to breathe deeply as you begin to slumber; deep, soothing breaths to the count of four. You can manage! I'm quite confident you can learn to control your dreams."
"I promise I will try." He knew by now there could be no guarantees. He also realized McKenzie felt worse than he did with each failed attempt.
"Good." Her cheerful tone did not prevent the muffled sneeze he heard through the telephone.
"Well, I do not wish to keep you from your recovery, so good night!"
"And I don't wish to impose on you further. Good night!"
"Goodnight," he finished as he heard the dial tone.
So, no therapy tonight. There went one aspect of his limited social interaction. His mind wandered back to his friend; perhaps he was outside exercising Texas. Perhaps he'd let him ride him! Worth investigating.
"Have you ever heard a man being strangled?" The silver-haired man chuckled staring down at Ahkmenrah. The pharaoh was inches away from him, forced to kneel thanks to the smog wrapped around him like some sort of rouge anaconda. For once, he couldn't remember anything leading up to this moment. "Would you like to find out?"
The pharaoh did not like where this was leading. Something jostled at him, tearing at his memory like a gnat buzzing around a mango. What was it? He could already feel the gray fog drizzling down his throat- he had little time left. Think, damn it, think! Was that a woman's voice urging him to breath more slowly and deeply? Difficult to do so under the circumstances! Lord Ra, what was he to do?! "Staring at your hand helps sometimes," the same voice hissed. How could staring at one's hand possibly help now? There was one way to find out. He stared down, certain it would be the last thing he saw in this world.
"Wait, something is wrong..." His fingers glitched briefly and reduced in number from five to three briefly. Not normal! Only then did he remember he was dreaming.
As if that helped his current situation. "Stop, where do you think you're-!" Ahkmenrah didn't hear the rest of the man's sentence as he blinked and wished himself gone. It worked, after a fashion- he was no longer in his exhibit. He seemed to be nowhere, in fact. The only thing keeping him 'grounded' was the sensation of a hard floor beneath his feet. Otherwise, more darkness surrounded him.
"This is not how I envisioned lucid dreaming," he murmured. Where on Geb was he now?! Wherever it was, it wasn't entirely silent- voices began whispering to him from everywhere, urging him onward, wherever that was. Far from succeeding, they only encouraged him to stay planted to the spot.
"SILENCE!" The pharaoh cried, covering his ears in desperation. For the first time in eons, he was surrounded by just that.
The sarcophagus had stopped rattling by the time Teddy arrived. At least this time he wasn't screaming, Teddy thought to himself as he helped Ahkmenrah up. If anything, he looked almost stunned. "Sleep better?"
"Better than before, for certain," Ahkmenrah replied.
Finally, the young lady is proving her worth. Before turning to leave, Ahkmenrah called him back. "Thank you Teddy, for discussing your concerns with me."
"No trouble at all, lad! Anytime you need to chat, let me know," he grinned. Ahkmenrah smiled back quietly. "Now, since McKenzie is still ill, would you like to accompany me on my rounds? God knows I could use the extra set of hands." The pharaoh was more than happy to comply.
It turns out McKenzie required a couple of weeks to beat the sniffles, so Ahkmenrah was able to spend almost as much time with Teddy as he had before the whole Smithsonian incident. So wonderful! Between joining in the obligational Viking ceremony to aiding Sacagawea in giving cartography lessons to Louis and Clark, things actually felt normal again.
Such peace can be rather deceptive.
Over the next few rest cycles (as Ahkmenrah referred to them), he grew slightly better in lucid dreaming, but only in the way of now being able to flick out of the tomb the instant he found himself there. Once he'd done that, he was surrounded by the darkness and voices, yet even those tended to fade after a while. It wasn't a solution, but being in the void was much better than being held by the mad man. Still, it was getting frustrating. "At least you're making progress," McKenzie pointed out as she went over notes.
"Perhaps." It wasn't good enough, and he was aware of it. Though he no longer experienced terror of sleep, his under-eye circles failed to vanish, and some nights he felt strangely sore. Not to mention the headaches! Those were recent, and the most recent revelation of their midnight sessions. "Am I doing it right? I was told I could control my dreams, not merely relegate myself to some eternal void."
"Patience! You're getting there, I'm sure of it. And we're quite close to uncovering the cause!"
Sighing, Ahkmenrah stared off at the corner, where he remembered the first time he and Nicky made hot chocolate- and when he'd discovered his exceptionally low tolerance for sugar and caffeine. "What are you thinking about now?" McKenzie asked.
"Nothing, just a memory."
"Must be a lovely one! I've seen that look before."
"What look?"
"The one you acquire as you gaze off into the distance where you could be back there. Anywhere but here, now."
"Oh. It was a fun one," he smiled.
"Tell me about it!" McKenzie even propped herself on her elbows for emphasis. Staring at her intent, curious gaze, Ahkmenrah relented. "One night, soon after I was released, the guardian's son and I played outside; it was winter, the second time I encountered snow. While warming ourselves by the fireplace, Nicky introduced me to hot chocolate. I'm afraid I became a bit overzealous once I drank it," he admitted shyly.
McKenzie laughed when he described in detail the antics they got into. "I never would have thought you of all people could be hyper."
Embarrassed, Ahkmenrah looked down into his lap. "It was my first experience!"
"Well, I'll have to steer you away from caffeine and sugar if we ever go out," she joked.
"Teddy would agree with you," he muttered. He agreed with them both.
"What was that?"
"Nothing! Let's get back to those meditation exercises, shall we?"
That first success turned into several more, to Ahkmenrah's relief. Yet the problem wasn't solved; he still experienced that awful crawling dread, but now he was able to stomp it down. He was still tired, but no longer to the point of exhaustion. All in all, it seemed things were improving. Yet now the dread was joined by the prickling sensation of guilt, for though he hadn't meant to, Ahkmenrah was now deliberately avoiding the nightmare. He refused to discuss them in therapy beyond admitting the lucid dreaming was aiding him, and he had no idea what the visions were foreboding. Perhaps it was nothing worse than an over-active spirit? Imagination? He'd have to ponder that.
Enjoy! Especially while I'm able to keep posting chapters during the weekends, lol. Thank you all so much for your support and reviews! I can't thank you enough. :)
