Mysteries At The Museum: The Mummy awakes

                                            The mummy awakes

It was a clear sunny day outside the museum of Ancient History, as the crowds grew larger to catch a glimpse of the most recent find in Egypt, The Mummy of Cleopatra VII. Cleopatra and her possessions were on a world tour starting in London. In the longest line ever three teenagers waited to catch a glimpse of the famous queen of Egypt. Mark the oldest, 17yrs old and studied ancient history at London’s school for fine boys. He was tall, dark brown hair, kind of shaggy cut and had hazel eyes. He accompanied his girlfriend Rose and his little sister Monica both had long light brown hair. Monica 6yrs old always watched her brother do his homework on ancient history, she too was interested and wanted to learn more, Rose who was only two months younger than Mark studied in modern history and only agreed to come to keep Monica happy.

By 3:30pm they were allowed to enter the museum an hour before closing time. Mark was told by his teacher to write a report on the exhibit and the mummy and that it needed to be done in one week. So the first exhibit the group went to was the mummy exhibit. While passing by the dinosaur exhibit loud noises were made to represent the creatures as they were once before. This however upset Monica and she clung to Rose tightly until they had left the exhibit. Then they entered a large room full of people walking around glass cases, pictures hung on the wall of the tomb and its secrets that it had held for two thousand years. The large glass case in the centre of the room was the home of Cleopatra. Mark went up close and took out his sketch book, he was also very talented in art and as pictures and prints had been released the museum didn’t mind sketches of the exhibits being done, the only thing was no flash photography was permitted.

As Mark sketched away Rose and Monica sat looking at the wonderful golden necklaces and jewellery that the queen had buried with her. One in particular stood out, a gold necklace with a wing spread hawk.

“It’s very beautiful isn’t it Monica”

“Yes Rose”

“Wouldn’t you like one too” Rose asked as Monica stared deeper into the red circle on top of the hawk.

Just as they were looking at the other items an old man in a white jacket and bowler hat started to speak.

“I see you two are looking at the pendant of Cleopatra”

“Yes sir” the two girls replied nervously.

“well I am sir Henry Cascade, I discovered the mummy and tomb two years ago, this little item was so impressive it had its own box with an incantation inscribe on the lid, I have poor eyesight so my assistant decoded the message a protection spell I believe he said to protect the queen in the afterlife.”

“Really that’s incredible” Mark said coming up to the group, he’d finished his sketch and was ready to leave. He checked his watch five minutes to four o’clock.

“Great we will be gone and home in time for dinner, mums making spaghetti”

“Ok” Rose replied, before turning to Sir Henry Cascade “Thank you for the talk, I hope we can come back and talk again.”

“Certainly my dear you and your friends are always welcome, it’s so good to see young people taking an interest in history, well goodbye then”

“Goodbye” the group said together.

And they headed for the main entrance, just before they reached it Mark remembered he had left his pen behind.

“I need to get my pen”

“Ok well I will take Monica to the toilets so she can wash her hands and we will meet you back here in five minutes”

“Ok”

With that they parted, Mark ran back to the exhibit, he found his pen on the seat were he left it, then he heard a loud ‘thud’ he walked out to find one of the other exhibits closed off by a security alarm and gates. He quickly made his way back to the entrance were he realised the doors there were locked too. Rose and Monica soon found him. They were all shocked to find they had no way out. They searched for the night guard but couldn't find him so they went back to the mummy exhibit Monica didn't like the idea of staying with a mummy for the night but she settled down next to rose who had planned an afternoon snack in case they got hungry, Salmon and cucumber sandwiches, and pasta salad and apple juice.

They went for a walk around the other exhibits that weren't locked, after they had eaten; they were on the third floor of the museum overlooking the foyer, this was where the bug exhibits were. Then suddenly they saw a great golden light coming from the mummy exhibit. The three flocked to the room as fast as they could in time to see the mummies eyes glow a deep red, then in front of the case a great golden portal just floated in mid-air, a bolt of lightning hit the glass case and made it transparent then the mummy rose through the glass, as this happened Monica Screamed, the mummy moved fast, she took Monica and fled into the portal Mark and Rose dived in after them. Then the portal closed and everything in the museum returned back to normal, excluding the missing mummy and three kids.

On the other side of the portal Mark and Rose found themselves in a desert, sand surrounding them for many miles, lush green trees and fields grew along a flowing river and wild animals ran free. Giant buildings stood on either side of the river and to the east their stood a pyramid, much grander than anything ever built before in Egypt. Rose and Mark couldn't come to terms with what had just happened, then in the distance they could hear Monica screams they ran in the direction of her voice but found nobody, then they came to a palace a grand luxurious building and standing on the balcony was the mummy with Monica.

The mummy called to them to follow the guards and come to her. Mark and Rose complied, Rose was standing strong but Mark could see that she was terrified he reached for her hand and smiled. When they had reached the mummy an assistant came to hold onto Monica. The mummy spoke:

“My name is Cleopatra VII I am the last true pharaoh of Egypt, Welcome to the Afterlife dear children, I am sorry for taking the small girl but I need your help”

“What makes you so sure we will help you, you took my sister”

“I know and I am truly sorry but I needed you to retrieve an artefact for me, you see I normally don’t look like this, every night I journey to the afterlife to tend my kingdom but since I was disturbed I return looking like this” Mark and Rose looked at the queen and agreed that two thousand years didn’t help her skin.

She continued “In my tomb a small wooden board, read an incantation that would return me to my rightful self but it is no longer in my possession you two must help me, I promise your sister will remain unharmed until your return but you must find the board before dawn breaks or I will never return to my original state”

“Ok But how will we return it to you, and where would we find it?”

“Those treasure hunters took everything from my tomb so it must be with everything else.

“In storage” the two teens replied.

“Go your journey is about to begin but beware there will be obstacles in your way” and with that another portal opened “when you find the board the portal will reappear” then the two teens leaped into the portal.

When they returned it was midnight, and just as the queen had foreseen obstacle one stood in front of them Infra-red laser beams criss-crossed the main hallway which lead to the stairs. They needed a way to get across without tripping the alarm. Rose sized up the beams and calculated the way across. Since she was four her mother made her take gymnastics and now she finally thought the years of practice paid off. She leaped and somersaulted around every beam and bounced off the wall like she was cat woman. 

Then she turned off the beams from the panel on the wall and let Mark cross safely. They took the stairs down and managed to reach the basement in half an hour. When they found the right section they stood staring at the amount of boxes that they had to go through before they would find the right box. Just then a hand reached out and touched Rose she screamed and fell to the floor sobbing. Then a voice followed as Mark turned to see who it was.

“Oh I’m terribly sorry for startling you, but what are you youngsters doing down here the museum closed.”

“We were locked in Sir Henry Cascade and you wouldn’t believe what has happened ever since we were locked in”

“Let me guess Cleopatra’s mummy has come to life and then disappeared”

“Yes and she took Monica, Marks little sister”

“She said to Rose and myself that we needed to give her a board with an incantation that will restore her appearance whilst she is in the afterlife”

“Well then Mark, Rose we had better get looking then”

“You don’t think were lying” Rose asked

“Of course not I’ve seen her myself”

As the trio got busy looking the time quickly slipped by and just before the stroke of three am Mark yelled out that he had a few small boards, rose and Sir Henry came quickly. And as they examined everything Sir Henry let out a cry for joy as he had found it, it looked exactly like the one that they had pulled from the sarcophagus. As Mark and Rose Held on to it the bright golden light appeared again and the portal opened. Mark, Rose and Sir Henry all stepped through the portal and within a few seconds they were back with the mummy at the palace.

Mark held on to Roses hand and the mummy called for Monica to be brought out, she came running to her brother and whispered in his ear that she was happy to see him. Cleopatra noticed the archaeologist that had disturbed her tomb and before acknowledging him she said the spell on the board. Mark could feel his heart rate escalating to new heights and spoke

“I was very nervous. My journey was about to end”

“What was that Mark” Rose said leaning closer

“My journey of being Monica’s big, exciting brother; I thought it was going to end that I would never get her back again”

Just then another flash of light appeared pure white this time and from it the beautiful Cleopatra appeared in all her glory shining like the glistening seas. As she steeped from the light she walked gracefully towards Sir Henry.

“It was you who disturbed me from my humble rest, sentenced me to look as a disgusting being now it will be your turn” she turned to the three kids and opened another portal “you children are free to leave and return to your own time...” but before she could finish her sentence Rose spoke up.

“You leave Sir Henry alone, if it wasn’t for him we wouldn’t have known it was your spell, he’s been trying to help you and watches you every night leave, he tried to help you rest but it is his job to educate people in the ways of the past and therefore dig up deceased beings like yourself”

“Alright you may all leave, but make sure this wooden board stays with me each night or I will haunt you young children” and as she said this she smiled.

“You are joking, right” Mark said before they left through the portal.

Back at the museum dawn was breaking and as the sun quickly shined through the windows an eerie glow surrounded the room Sir Henry went to his office to make a phone call and Mark, Monica and Rose followed they called their parents and told them that they were locked in the museum overnight and that as soon as it opened they would come home, they explained the power had gone out and that the phones were automatically switched off before 5pm. Mark explained that his mobile had no signal and that he tried calling but it didn’t get through. Their parents where happy to hear from the weary kids, but they were worried sick that something terrible had happened to them. Marks mother made a funny remark before she let her son go:

“I hope you learnt something, Mark i will see you very soon”

Mark looked at every one when he put the phone down and everyone broke into laughter.

THE END

Author's Note

This is one of my first "Short stories" so please rate and give comments.

Reviews

[Icelanna]

I like this but at times it can be a little blunt. The sentences in third persona narrative can be equally as descriptive of that of a first person narrative since someone else is telling the story. Also make sure every new spoken sentence begins with a capital letter.
I also think the speech is a little tight. I don't know any six year old that puts my name on the end of the way they speak. These are teenagers, use slang, merge words together like most teenagers do unless they have a specific way of behaviour ie being upper class. Be more casual in the way your characters speak. They will become more personal and individual.
Overall I like it Well done.