Oubliettes

Chapter 6: Is that a Mummy?

Zoe waved goodbye and the door closed behind her leaving Blue alone in a badly lit white room. The blinds had been shut and the only source of light came from a small lamp on the desk that lined the back wall. On the desk next to the lamp sat a huge book. As for the walls, they were covered with small screw hooks; some had keys dangling from them and others weren't holding anything. Blue thought the room kind of looked like a hotel lobby for the biggest hotel in the world.

Blue walked up to the desk and rang the call bell. As she waited for Jerry, Blue realized the pungent odor was particularly strong in this building. She started to get a bit dizzy from the smell. She rang the bell again with more urgency. She just wanted to get the hell out of there, but she figured if Zoe had brought her here there must have been a reason. She rang the bell ounce more and heard a rustling coming from behind the desk. Blue looked over the desk and saw a hidden staircase leading down a room lit by a quivering light. The young woman walked around the desk and stopped at the top of the stairs and called out:

"Hello? Jerry?"

Blue heard a faint whimper coming from the room. Blue listened carefully half hoping she had imagined the noise and half hoping whatever or whoever was down there might be a clue as to what this place was. After a few seconds, Blue had convinced herself she hadn't really heard anything and was about to leave and go back to Zoe when she heard the whimper again. Blue knew she had to go down and see what it was if she had any chance of ever getting out of this town. She braced herself and covered her mouth and nose with her arm to protect herself from the ever-stronger smell. The closer she got to the bottom of the stairs, the louder the whimpering got. When she reached the bottom, Blue had to take a moment for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. The only source of light was a nearly completely melted candle that sat on a small table at the bottom of the stairs. Blue heard the noise again; it came from the back of the room. She squinted her eyes hoping to make out what it was that made the noise, but she could only make out a sort of rectangular shaped box. Blue looked for a light switch but couldn't find one.

"Hello?" she squeaked. The whimper answered her, this time louder and more insistent, like a cry for help.

Blue reached for her phone suddenly realizing she could use the flashlight to see what she was dealing with. She taped the screen waiting for the lock screen to appear, but nothing happened. She tried turning it on, but again, nothing happened. Blue thought it was weird, she was certain it was fully charged just a couple of hours ago. It should have battery left. She wondered if something in the town made her phone unusable. She didn't have much time to ponder the question as the whimpering started again. Blue braced herself once more and slowly started forward towards the sound. The closer she got, the worst the smell was. Blue couldn't quite figure out what the odor was, one moment it smelled like rotten eggs and cabbage and the next second it smelled like feces and garlic.

As she got closer to the rectangular shape at the end of the room, she began to discern some movements coming from on top of the box. She must have been a foot away when she spoke again:

"Is someone there?" she asked with a small voice.

At that moment, the whimper started again, and something chillingly cold grabbed her arm surprisingly tightly for how faint the whimper had seemed.

Blue screamed and backed away. The thing kept its hold on her, and she heard a hard thump as it fell to the floor making it whimper much harder. That made it let go and Blue took the opportunity to take several steps back. She felt something tickle the back of her neck and she pulled on it to get it off and the whole room lit up. Blue realized she had just found a cord switch light bulb.

She turned to face the thing that had grabbed her and to her horror she saw what she imagined must have been a person before. On the floor in front of her squirmed a human shaped monster. Blue really couldn't think of any other words to describe it. It looked like a very weak yet definitely living mummy. Blue didn't know much about mummies; in fact, the only thing she knew about them was what she'd seen in the Mummy trilogy, and she wasn't sure it was the most accurate depiction of what mummies looked like. Regardless, the skin of the person she was looking at had definitely dried up to the point of mummification, that much she knew. The "mummy" looked up at Blue. To Blue's horror, where the eyes should have been there were only two empty orifices. It stared blankly at her, and a whimper escaped its mouth once more. Blue looked down at the mouth and noticed the creature didn't have any teeth and its skin was so dried up that it couldn't close it which explained the sound it had been making all this time.

Now that the immediate shock of what she'd just discovered passed, Blue regained the full use of all of her senses which alerted her to the fast and heavy approaching steps that she could hear on the floor above. Soon they reached the top of the stairs and before she could do anything, a tall and bulky man was standing in front of her towering menacingly over her.

"You're not supposed to be here," said the man angrily. "Get out!"

Blue hurried back toward the stairs not wanting to anger the man any more than she already had. Before she climbed up the stairs, she looked back towards the man and saw him gently lifting the "mummy" with a worried and pained look. She wondered who the "mummy" was to him and why he was so mad that she had been down there.

Blue reached the top of the stairs and walked around the desk waiting for the man to come back up. She wanted answers and she had a feeling the man had some. It took a few minutes before he came back up. He looked annoyed to see her standing by the desk, but his anger seemed to have faded.

"You're still here," remarked the man.

"Yes, Zoe brought me here. She said Jerry'd "take care of me"," said Blue now realizing she might be in more trouble than she thought. Had Zoe led her into some kind of trap.

"Right," said the man. "I'm Jerry."

He took a step toward the desk which made Blue instinctively back away.

"I won't hurt you," said Jerry with a saddened look. He opened the huge book that sat in front of him.

"What's your name?" asked Jerry.

"Blue Williams," answered Blue.

Jerry flipped through the last pages of the book probably looking for the Ws. He stopped at a page and Blue saw his eyes travel the page for her name.

"There you are. Building 17 465. Room 8 945."

Jerry walked around to Blue's side of the desk and walked passed her. He reached the left wall and looked through the multiple keys hanging on it until he found the one he was looking for. He handed it to Blue. She took it, but before she could retract her hand, he held it in his firmly enough so that Blue couldn't free herself, but gently enough so that he wasn't hurting her. Jerry looked her straight in the eyes and Blue could sense his desperation.

"Please don't tell anyone about what you saw down there," asked Jerry.

Blue didn't quite understand why she couldn't tell anyone, but she agreed to it.

"If you don't mind my asking, who is it?" asked Blue.

"No one," answered Jerry as he let go of her hand. "Now leave!"