Fate's a Funny Thing

Chapter 9

Rick had Jonathan help him lift the wooden coffin out of the stone sarcophagus and prop it up against a wall, while the sister's stood back and supervised.

"Oh, I've dreamed of this ever since I was a little girl." Evy informed them excitedly.

Rick gave her a quizzical look, "You dream about dead guys?"

Evy blushed but waived him off and continued studying the coffin.

"I remember my first mummy. It was one of the most exciting days of my life." Krista inputted as she reminisced.

Everyone moved forward and began dusting the coffin off, "Look, Krista," Evy motioned her little sister over, "All the sacred spells have been chiseled off."

"Hmm, your right; and the hieratics and hieroglyphs that protect the deceased on his journey into the afterlife, they've been removed." Krista stated, in shock, "This man was cursed..."

"Kridasha!" the same voice from the day before hissed in her ear, and Krista frowned when no one else seemed to hear the voice.

Rick frowned, "Tough break."

"Yes, I'm all tears; now let's see whose inside, shall we?" Jonathan grinned excitedly

Krista frowned at her brother's lack of respect but didn't protest as he began inserting the key. He turned it and the lid cracked open with a hiss and this awful stench began to fill the room. Krista began to gag and had to take a few large steps back.

Rick frowned worriedly over at her but when she waved him off he turned back to the job at hand and began trying to pry the lid off, but it wouldn't budge. Jonathan moved to help and the lid finally started to give way... only for the lid to fly off and the rotting mummy inside lunged out and frightened the entire room.

All four gave a scream and jumped away in fright, for Krista, who was already standing apart from the group, this meant she was nearing the other side of the room. The men began chuckling once the shock wore off and Evy let out a huff, "I hate when these things do that."

But Krista was still frightened, there was something about this whole thing that seemed a bit too familiar to her and now seeing the mummy, she suddenly had this feeling of dread coursing through her.

"Is he supposed to look like that?" Rick asked as he turned to look at his wife, only to shoot her a worried look at her frightened face.

Krista shook her feeling off and began moving closer to the group, "No, I've never seen a mummy look like this. He's still..." Krista trailed off, trying to fine the right word to describe what she was looking at.

"Juicy." Rick and Jonathan both answered for her in sync.

Krista nodded distractedly, "He had to be over three-thousand years old and he looks as though he's still decomposing."

Rick looked away only to see the coffin lid, "Hey girls, what do the two of you make of this?"

The group moved over to look at the lid, and Krista bent down to run her fingers over the marks. She let out a gasp, "These marks were made with fingernails. This man was buried alive."

Evy bent down to study them, "And he left a message... 'Death is only the beginning.'"

Krista felt a shiver run through her at those words. She had a very bad feeling about this expedition.

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As soon as she go the chance Krista left the chamber and went back to the camp site with Rick and Jonathan while Evy stayed behind to study the mummy some more, Everyone was quite shocked that Krista hadn't elected to stay behind as well.