My Love Will Laugh With Me (Before Morning Comes)

Setepai

Lelah shrieks.

It rings through their ears like a death knell.

Two bright lights race towards Lelah: never stopping.

Jenny and Nick yank her to the safe side of the road.

"Get out of the road, wanker!"

The car barely dodges Lelah continuing to speed pass.

"Fuck off, motherfucker!" Nick retorts not letting go of her shoulders.

They stumble to the center to a circular field. Lelah shakes in Nick's arms: eyes glazed over. She can't breathe...can't stop moving. Jenny touches Lelah's forehead and her cheeks. Lelah doesn't react.

"What the hell do you think you are doing?!"

Lelah blinks breathing heavily.

"I-I-"

Lelah looks at Jenny then back to Nick.

She's speechless.

"You gotta say something," Nick says and points at the road. "Cause I need to know why I just saved your ass."

Lelah sighs heavily.

"The curse," she says haltingly. "It's real. It's so fucking real."

Jenny draws back, biting her lip and shutting her eyes for a moment.

"The mummy...Ahmanet...she wants me and she's been sending Nick's friend to get me."

Nick bites his cheek.

"You're telling me, Chris Vail, my best friend who I shot three times and killed, is working for the cursed mummy?"

"I know I sound crazy," Lelah says staring right into Nick's eyes. "But I woke up in the morgue with his white eye staring right at me."

Nick narrows his eyes and stands up taller.

"How does he look?"

"Dead," she says curtly.

Jenny intervenes stepping between the two.

She looks at Nick warily before turning back to Lelah.

"The doctor said you have a low-grade concussion," she says but Jenny won't look Lelah in her eyes. "We've survived a plane crash. We saw many people die in front of us. We were exposed to liquid mercury. It's entirely possible you're hallucinating from such things. I know a doctor in London who can help-"

"Don't switch up on her now," Nick retorts stepping closer. "I'm not saying I believe she's seeing Chris. I think your 'angering the gods' comment," he says making quotation marks with his hands. "-has her fucked up."

"I'm cursed," Lelah insists before saying quietly. "I've seen Ahmanet. She calls me her chosen: setepai."

Jenny pales.

Nick swears quietly kicking the ground.

"You really need to see that doctor in London," Jenny says giving Lelah a concerned look. "He can help you."

Nick shakes his hand.

"She doesn't need a quack. She needs to see the mummy coffin herself."

"Sarcophagus."

"You two read the writing on the damn box. Wasn't there a curse?"

"Sarcophagus," Jenny corrects loudly. "The hieroglyphs did mention a curse. It said if Princess Ahmanet was removed from her prison, she'd take over the world with the power of Set: god of death."