I Remember {MJ FANFICTION}

Chapter 10

Finally, the day had come.

If it wasn't due to my last remaining hope of leaving this place, then lord knows I never would have bothered to stand up and shake myself awake for what I perceived would be a very long, drawn out and thankless night spent performing for the Pharaoh's birthday party.

We'd been rehearsing tirelessly for what I'd tracked as an entire month. At the end of each day before collapsing from exhaustion, I'd marked the day on the wall with a sharp white chalky stone that I had dug up from the sands of the cell. Somehow I'd managed to keep my head held high and my faith intact with the meagre prospect of being set free with my debt finally payed in full; of course with that hope came the possibility of instant death at the hands of an inebriated ruler.

Due to his meticulous perfectionism and rocky turbulence, I knew I'd have to skip and manoeuvre my way through the night keeping mostly out of the Pharaoh's way, at least long enough for the night to draw to a close; hopefully with my head still planted firmly on my shoulders and my ears in place, ready to hear the queen announce my expedient rapture away from the lonely cellar that I had yet to graduate from.

I'd been rotting away and slowly slipping into psychosis for a while now and wasn't sure how much longer I'd be able to put up with it.

In a way I'd become desensitized to the darkness.

Losing all relation to life or humanity. Drawing hope only from Fai-hon's infrequent trips down to feed me daily and the queen's sporadic visitations that occurred every now and again. I'd conversed with her on more than one occasion about the imaginary place in my head called America and all the equally as "imaginary" things I would do if I ever got the opportunity to go there in real life.

The audacious queen had been the first person to tell me of the Pharaoh's impending and formidably final request of my skills that I'd have to deliver on to ensure my freedom.

But even without her needing to say so, I knew by intuition alone in the final days that there was something she was not telling me. There was a cold distance and a sense of longing that bled out of her. Longing to tell of some kind of truth I often imagined but she was just too cold to probe for information, she was closed off especially when questions were not invited first by her.

It was just something that spoke through her eyes though we never discussed it out loud.

Later on, after the queen had informed me of what was soon to be my duty performing for the Pharaoh, Fai-hon had appeared and reinforced her message, of course adding in all the parts the queen had left out, like what a notoriously bloody occasion the Pharaoh's celebrations often turned out to be. Especially if he drank too much. Which I also heard was often the case. Years prior he'd supposedly had several slaves sliced open where they stood just to quench his blood lust and show his guests something that was unforgettable.

Knowing the grave inconsistency of the Pharaoh's hot temper, naturally it was my strategy of choice to remain as far out of his line of sight as possible, although I'd already been informed that all of the musicians would be required to remain seen and keep the night lively with song and dance. That even long after our rehearsed performance was over and some strange ritual called laylat 'iiedam, or "night culling" had ended, we were supposed to honour any special requests for songs made by the remaining guests.

Despite the lingering atmosphere of uncertainty, I'd affirmed to myself each day when I woke up that I only needed to make it to the morning after the Pharaoh's birthday and when I did, Fai-hon would come down to this very same cellar and release me. In my mind I could already smell the fresh earthy air, hear the birds chirping and the rush of water flowing over the Nile and felt my freedom within reach, it's closeness always left me aching for the time when I'd finally be let off the hook for my perceived crimes.