In the Silence
Brenna Matthews sat up in her cot and checked the time on her watch. The dial read six a.m., time to get her butt into gear. She stood, stretched, and washed her face in the water bowl on the stand by her bed. She looked at herself in the mirror, shook her head at the wrinkles forming around her brown eyes, and finger combed her short brown hair. She opened her tent flap and stood to watch the sunrise. After all these months at the dig in the Valley of the Kings, she never tired of watching the sunrise. She turned to get coffee in the meal tent and a bite to eat. Nicholas Grayson already sat at a table with his coffee. After Brenna had gone through the food line, she went to sit with Nick.
“Morning, Brenna. How are you doing today?”
“Good, Nick. I’m anxious to find the central chamber. We’ve been nursing through this corridor for almost a week now. We should be close. I’ve been translating the hieroglyphics on the wall and they are indicating a king of great wealth is in the tomb. The only problem, they don’t mention his name.”
“You’ve only seen a portion of the hieroglyphics in the corridor. I heard they uncovered additional symbols last night.”
She heard Aahmes calling her name. She turned at waved her hand in the air. When he reached her, he said, “Miss Brenna, they have found the door to the tomb. Come quickly.”
Nick and Brenna hurried from the mess tent, climbed down the ladder into the corridor and rushed to the spot where a door was the only obstacle between her and her destination.
Matt, one of the donors to the expedition, arrived and said, “I hear we have uncovered the door into the tomb.”
“Yes, can you tell the others we open the door in an hour? There are two inscriptions around the entrance. Hopefully, one will let us know who resides in the tomb. If there is no name, then the sarcophagus most likely is not a king. Those that have no names are banished to the hereafter and the sarcophagus will probably be empty.”
Brenna opened her tool kit and used her brush to gently clear the dirt from the inscriptions carved in the rock on the left side of the door.
“Well, we found a name. Lepsius is the one in the tomb. There is also a warning ‘His soul awaits until the rebirth’.
Nick rolled his eyes anxious to get the door open. Brenna noticed another panel of hieroglyphics and cleaned them with her brush and photographed them.
“Have the workers remove the tablets. They will be part of any discoveries in the tomb.”
An hour later, Matt returned to the sight with the two investors, David and Andrew Kingston.
“Nick, would you do the honors?” Brenna said.
Nodding, he picked up a mattock and started breaking the door apart with the pick side of the tool. When Nick punctured a hole in the side of the door, a sound of moaning filled the corridor along with a chilly breeze. Nick paused for a moment and turned to Brenna. She nodded her head to continue and in no time, they were looking in the room of King Lepsius.
In addition to King Lepsius’s casket, the large burial chamber contained a wealth of history. There were a few pieces of gold-covered furniture, jewelry, jars of precious oils and ointments and also food and wine. It took the crew months to remove and catalog everything.
Several months later, the Discovery Times Square Exposition in New York City advertised the opening of King Lepsius’s tomb and contents.
The night of the opening was a private party and a huge success. Everyone who was anyone was at the opening. Donations were plentiful, and the curator could not be happier with this newfound exhibit. Newspapers and magazines took photos of Brenna and Nick as well as the investors of the expedition. No one noticed the eyes of the mummy moving.
The evening of the exhibition ended, and the janitorial crew cleaned up. One of the men said he needed to use the restroom and headed toward the Lepsius display to take a few pictures. He had strict instructions from his wife. “Buddy, you’d better bring back photos of the party and the stuff from the tomb. If you can’t get them, don’t come home”.
He busily snapped the photos when he felt someone watching him. He looked over his shoulder and not seeing anyone, turned back to display. He wanted a few more pictures of the King, but the mummy no longer lays in the open sarcophagus. Startled, he backed away and stopped when something impeded his progress. He turns, and the corpse stands behind him. Ready to shout help, the King Lepsius moves towards Buddy and the bandages started wrapping around Buddy’s body. Shortly, the bandages return to the King and Buddy lays on the floor all bodily fluids removed. The King smiles and returns to the resting place. He felt invigorated by his first sacrifice.
The guard made the nightly rounds and found Buddy on the floor of the new exhibit. His hand is shaking as he reached for the body. When he rolls the body face forward, he screams and trips on his own feet and falls to the floor. Pulling himself away from the body, he calls the curator, and when the curator arrives, he summons the police. When the police arrive, they asked the guard if he had seen anyone in the exhibit.
“No, sir. After the party, the only people on this floor were a cleaning crew.”
The forensic team collected the body and the camera and said they would get back if they had any other questions.
The next day at the museum, the Lepsius exhibit was constantly crowded with eager people to see what the excavation uncovered. A woman admired the jewelry and jars. Men were interested in the gold pieces.
At their mansion on Long Island, the Kingston brothers sat in the den drinking cognac.
David said, “Here’s to our successful adventure in the Valley of the Kings.”
Both men drank from their snifters. The doors to the den blew up and startled David and Andrew. David stood from the settee and walked to the open door. He looked in the hallway and not seeing anyone, shrugged and closed the doors again.
When David turned around, a mummy stood in from of his brother, wrapping him in the bandages. He went to the desk and pulled a pistol from the drawer. He shot two bullets into the mummy. The King walked toward David and David entered the contents of the gun into the body. It had no effect. The corpse stood in front of David and started weaving his bandages around David. When the process completes, the mummy pulled the bandages back. He then performed the same procedure with Andrew. When all the bandages returned to him, the King stretched his arms to the ceiling; he could feel his strength returning.
The housekeeper came to work the next morning and walked into the den to tidy up, and finds the bodies of the Kingston brothers. Both bodies had their fluids drained from their bodies giving a look of mummification.
She called the police, and they arrived within 15 minutes. The police noticed the two bodies were in the same shape as the one in the museum of the exhibit. They questioned the staff members, only to find the two brothers were supposed to be home alone last night. If they had any visitors, it was unknown to the household staff.
Nick was reading the morning paper when there was a knock on his door. He stood up and answered the door.
“Good day, Mr. Grayson, I am Detective Meltzer. I am investigating a few deaths over the last few days. May I come in?”
“Certainly, detective. Would you like some coffee?”
“No, thank you. I just have a few questions. The night of the party celebrating the King Lepsius tomb, we found a dead body after the party was over.”
The detective slid a photograph of the body found at the exhibit across the table to Nick.
Startled, Nick picked up the photo. “The victim’s body looks mummified.”
“We also found the bodies of the Kingston brothers this morning with their bodies suffering the same fate. Can you tell me where you were last evening?”
“I dined with Brenna Matthews at the Gramercy Tavern. We had reservations for nine p.m. and left about twelve-thirty a.m. After dinner, we decided to go back to her apartment and have a nightcap. It was close to three a.m. when I returned home.”
Detective Meltzer wrote the information on a small pad. He stood, thanked Nick for his time, and left the apartment. Nick stared into space thinking about the three bodies. “What did the inscription say? Something about a rebirth.”
Nick dialed Brenna’s number. She picked up the phone and said hello.
“Hi Brenna, this is a Nick. The police were here today asking questions about a body they found near the exhibit. They were also asking about the Kingston brothers. It appears all three of them looked mummified.”
“The detective stopped by earlier this morning. I told him I was with you last night.”
“I feel kind of funny asking this, but do you think the tomb had a curse? Wasn’t there a warning on the outside of the tomb about a rebirth?”
“Nick, there was a message inscribed on the outside of the tomb don’t forget the Egyptians had a strong belief in the afterlife. The words were probably placed there to frighten looters. Do you honestly think King Lepsius is alive and targeting the people that were part of the dig?”
“The photographs that detective showed me creeped me out. Although, the first body found wasn’t someone at the dig.”
“Why don’t you and I go for an early dinner tonight and we can talk about it further. Maybe what I can say will alleviate your fears.”
“That sounds good. I’ll be picking you up at seven.”
After Nick had hung up the phone, he felt a little better. Also, he had another dinner date with Brenna. He started admiring her during the dig and by now started having feelings for her.
After Brenna had hung up the phone with Nick, there was a knock on her door. When she opened the door, Matt was waiting on the other side. Matt rushed past Brenna and went straight to the bar. He poured himself a whiskey and asked Brenna if she would like a drink.
“Matt, what’s wrong?” asked Brenna.
“The police just left my apartment. They showed me the photos of the man who died at the exhibit and also the Kingston brothers.”
He belted down his first drink, took a deep breath, and refilled his glass. “It’s a curse. I know it! One of us is bound to be next. The curses always happen to the people who go into the tomb.”
“Matt, get a hold of yourself. I'm all right, Nick is fine, and you are fine. The others are just a coincidence.”
Matt placed the glass to his lips and chugged back another drink. While they were standing there talking, the door flung open. Brenna went to the door and not seeing anyone on the other side, closed and locked the door. She turned to face Matt and out of the corner of her eye, saw movement. She was about to say something to Matt but was too late in her warning. The mummy stood facing Matt. Brenna grabbed a vase off the table and smashed it over the mummy’s head. He turned and hit Brenna with the back of his hand. She went flying backward into the wall.
In the meantime, Matt tried to make his escape around the mummy, but the bandages seized him. They slithered around his neck and down his throat. He attempted to pull them from his body, but there were too many. Finally, the bandages encased his whole body. The mummy stepped closer and embraced the bandages. Nothing remained of Matt. King Lepsius went to kneel beside Brenna. He picked her up, carried her to the bedroom, and placed her on the bed. Once again, his bandages left his body and wrapped around Brenna. When King Lepsius finished, Brenna lay on the bed as if in sleep.
He touched her cheek and said, “Wake up my love. Soon we will walk together in your land.”
Brenna sat up on the bed as the King swirled in the wind and left her apartment. She knew what to do.
Nick stopped at Brenna’s apartment and rang her doorbell. After a few moments, the door opened, and Brenna stood looking regal in her outfit.
Nick said, “Brenna, you’re stunning! You should be on the arm of a king.”
She smiled and beckoned him into the room and asked if he would like a drink. He nodded and Brenna poured a martini for them. The slowly sipped the drink when Nick said, “We should get going if we are going to make the reservations.”
Brenna nodded and proceeded to don her coat. Nick hailed a taxi, and they drove to the restaurant in silence. Before they arrived, Brenna turned to Nick and said, “Do you think we could stop by the museum? With all the circumstances going on with dead bodies, I want to check on the exhibit.”
Nick directed the taxi to the museum. When they arrived, Brenna stopped at the security station to show her museum tag allowing her after hours access. She signed in, and they made their way to the exhibit.
When they reached their destination, everything looked in place.
“Did you know, Matt, King Lepsius experimented with the occult? In fact, what I didn’t turn over as part of the inventory, are the scrolls that contained his work in the occult. Remember when I read one of the panels on the tomb door, ‘His soul awaits until the rebirth.' It said, ‘His soul will be reborn on the new moon.' Tonight is the new moon he’s been waiting for.” She walked to the tomb and stroked the mummy’s head.”
Nick thought, “My God, she’s lost her mind.”
Before Nick could think another thought, the body rose
from the sarcophagus. He turned just as the bandages '
started to unfurl and they began to attach themselves to
him. Nick started struggling, but there were too many
bandages.
“Don’t struggle, Nick. This is our destiny. Embrace it.”
Brenna said.
After a few moments, the mummy again occupied the
sarcophagus and Nick stood and adjusted his suit.
He turned to Brenna, stuck his left elbow out, and
said, “My Love.”
Brenna walked over to Nick, placed her hand on his arm
and said, “My King.”
