Night at the Museum: The Pharaoh's Desert Flower

The Hourglass of Time

                                                                  TORI'S POV

  "It says here that the new artifact came from Persia. It happens to be 'The Hourglass of Time'. Which holds the 'Sands of Time'.", Larry looked concerned.  I was dumbfounded. "Ok, I need to know what the heck is going on here", I shouted. I just saw water being thrown midair from one of the other monkeys in the other exhibits. "Tori, do you believe in magic?", Larry asked me.m"I....uh. I believe if I can see it and I can touch it then it's real. That's what I believe, but I guess it is real from what I just saw.", I began to pace the room and breathe unevenly. "Tori. What Larry is trying to say, is that magic is real.", Ahk said in a calm voice. "Yeah, I gathered that.", I said trying to keep my voice calm. "Victoria. You may want to sit down.", Ahk calmly told me.  

  "Oh no. I'm standing. I can take whatever piece of information you're gonna throw my way.", I sounded more than upsetting I intended to.  "Victoria. We (and by 'we' I mean all of the exhibits.) Come to life at night.", Ahk winced as if ready for a harsh response from me. I laughed hysterically, "Right. You. Come to life.", the last part of the sentence came out rather strained as I remembered the laws of gravity and the the water that the monkeys threw should've fallen to the ground and made a big puddle on the floor, "At night." I finally sat down. It was getting hard to breathe, "I-is it warm in here." I fiddled with my shirt trying to calm myself and cool myself down. "I-I....I'm gonna need some more explanation, Ahk.", I tried to sound calm. "There is this tablet. It is called 'The Tablet of Ahkmenrah' and rightfully so because it was given to me by my parents.", he looked calmly at me and waited for my response. "I-I....you....we..." , I flew out of my chair and ran down the hall to check if the monkey's thrown water still remained motionless in mid-air. When it was confirmed by my eyes, I blinked twice and pinched myself. No, this wasn't a dream. This was real. My mouth hung open for a while. I must've stood there for a long time, because the others caught up to me. 

  "Victoria. My desert flower, please try to understand.", Ahkmenrah tried to calm me down. "We....", I tried to finish the sentence with difficulty,"We.....we...we kissed." Ahkmenrah sighed and smiled,"Yes. I would very much like to do it again." I backed away from him shaking my head, "You....you..." "Victoria, please understand I did what was best for my people by shielding you from the truth.", Ahkmenrah tried to reason with me. "You know.....most girls get shocked with the news of being cheated on or the news of their boyfriends not actually having a job and living with their parents....but this....Is. Just.", I couldn't finish the sentence. "Hey there, gigantorina, this is just a big piece in Ahk's puzzle. It's how he can talk and walk. If that tablet of his wasn't there, we all would be wax figures and figurines. He's the same guy, he's just limited during the day.", Jed said in my direction. "S-so you're telling telling me that during the day you all are not alive, and he....", my eyes bugged out a bit at the thought. I backed even further away, "And you couldn't tell me? Why? Because you didn't think you could trust me?", I started to get upset. "I have done what was best for my kingdom. Any ruler would see fit to make sure that his kingdom was secure.", Ahkmenrah said in a powerful, commanding tone that made my heart flutter a bit. "You couldn't say before we kissed," I was yelling and walking up to him and noticed him blushing when I said the word, 'kissed', " Oh, I don't know, 'Hey, babe by the way, during the day I'm a 4,000 year old mummified king?'" 

  "I AM STILL A KING! At night!", he yelled in my face and his breathing was ragged. Our faces were inches apart and the sexual tension was thick in the air. So thick in the air that everyone who wasn't frozen cleared the room leaving us with all of the frozen people and exhibits. "I'm just gonna....scadaddle on out of here.", Jed said as he and Octavious ran to his remote controled jeep. Suddenly, he kissed me forcefully. (Not that I complained.) We might've been kissing for hours, I didn't really notice. Besides, time was still frozen and it seemed like we had all the time in the world. That is, until we hear someone loudly, and awkwardly clear their throat. We turned to see it was Larry. Ahkmenrah still held me close, but we paid attention to Larry. "Hey, uh you guys...I know you wanna...you know....have a make out session, but we need to, you know...find out who stopped time, and get things back to normal.", he then motioned for us to follow him. We cleared our throats and awkwardly shifted out of each other's arms and followed. Ahkmenrah grabbed my hand as we walked, causing me to blush. "Larry, what do we know about this new exhibit?", Ahkmenrah asked in a calm voice. "Well the artifacts just came yesterday, so I wasn't told there would be a new one. At least not yet. I'm sure McPhee would've let me know by now, but he's...well he was busy...", Larry stated. 

  We all walked to the storage part of the museum to see empty boxes and a bunch of confused exhibits. "Hey guys. I'm Larry.....the night guard. This is Ahkmenrah,", Ahk inclined his head,"but I just call him Ahk. He has a tablet that makes everything come to life at night. I'm sure you guys are confused but Teddy here will fill you guys in on everything else. Teddy?", Larry looked to the 26th president. "Lawrence, I think we better check on the hour glass while we are here.", Teddy whispered to Larry before turning to the new exhibits,"Alright. I am sure that most of you are little disoriented and confused. What Lawrence has said is true. You can come to life only at night, and I am sure you would love to roam free out of this building, but we have some rules around here, and those rules are to be followed for the safety of other people, other exhibits and yourselves." Teddy went on to tell them the rules while Larry, Ahk, and I searched for the hour glass. We had looked everywhere but we couldn't find it. Then we looked down to find large human-sized box. Larry and Ahk opened it to reveal a sarcophagus. Then they proceeded to open it and a rather large mummy stared up at me. I backed away. 

  The mummy took off the wrappings of it's face and revealed an older looking guys in his late thirties. He smiled at me, and I backed away. Ahk took a spear and held it at the guy's throat. He then said something in a different language and from the tone of his voice, he was pissed. The man looked at me,"You have a beautiful mistress, Ahkmenrah. She looks of your age, young and is of exotic beauty." He spoke English, and in a Mediterranean accent. "DO NOT FLATTER ME WITH YOUR WORDS, IMHOTEP! I KNOW YOU WERE IN LEAGUE WITH MY BROTHER!", Ahk angrily shouted. "Imhotep? So he's a real ancient Egyptian?", I spoke quietly. "Yes darling. I am very much real. What is your name, young flower?", he reached out his hand to grab my hand and Ahk smacked it away. "YOU WILL NOT TOUCH HER! YOU WILL NOT TALK TO HER! IN FACT, DO NOT EVEN LOOK AT HER!", Ahk yelled at him.