Rebirth - The mummy love story

Prologue

2020

Detroit Metro Airport

Aaliyah eyed the plane tickets she was holding nervously. At 29 years old this would be the first time she would make such a drastic life change without having any back up plan in case things fell through. Her nerves were frazzled and had formed a ball in the pit of her stomach. Clutching the ticket to her chest, Aaliyah headed into the airport, checking her bags before making her way towards security. Waiting in line, she anxiously checked her phone, a small part of her hoping that he would call. The other part of her wanted to turn the phone off just in case he did. Taking a deep breath, she let out a small huff before compromising with herself turning airplane mode on instead, her nerves beginning to relax some.

Finally making her way through security, Aaliyah eyed a couple of the shops she passed on her way to her gate. Glancing at her watch, she quickly stepped into the nearest one and purchased a bottle of water before continuing on her way. Stopping at gate T1, Aaliyah settled into a seat overlooking the tarmac as she waited for them to begin boarding the plane.

Fiddling with her phone, she sagged a little in her seat as she tried to push back the anxiety that was starting to form again. Snapping her eyes shut, she managed to force herself to calm down, taking slow steadying breaths. Feeling someone sit next to her, she wearily glanced over before going back to playing with her phone. Hovering a finger over the photo app, Aaliyah hesitantly clicked on it, slowly scrolling through the photos. Scowling to herself, she quickly began sorting through the photos, deleting the photos she no longer deemed important enough to keep. Pausing at one photo in particular, Aaliyah gave a sad smile before scrolling past it and continuing to delete any photo with him in it. Finishing, she closed the app just in time as the woman over the speaker began the usual spiel before announcing who was to board the plane first.

Gathering her things, Aaliyah stood and made her way to stand in line as her section was called to board the plane. Taking a reassuring breath, she handed her ticket to the woman and made her way up the ramp and into the plane. Quickly finding her spot, Aaliyah sat down, peering out the window as she watched the workers below finish loading the passengers luggage.

Slowly the plane began to fill up, Aaliyah let out a happy sigh as she realized she'd lucked out and no one would be sitting next to her during the flight. Turning her attention to the front, she watched as the flight attendants went through their safety speech, before tuning them out. Looking out the window Aaliyah watched as the airport began to get farther away as the plane taxied down the tarmac. Holding her breath, she gripped the armrests as the plane took off, feeling weightless briefly as the aircraft quickly gained altitude. Feeling the plane even out, she hesitantly opened her eyes again.

          Gazing out the window, Aaliyah admired the view as the clouds passed by,a small smile settling on her face. Relief seeped through her body. Finally after so many years, she had a chance to be happy again, she was finally starting anew. Relaxing further into her seat, she blinked her eyes tiredly before finally letting a peaceful sleep claim her.

                                                                                                 ~ x ~

Opening her blurry eyes, Aaliyah quickly became aware that something was wrong. Wiping the sleep out of her eyes, she glanced around feeling her heart stop. Sand. All around her was nothing but sand. Where was the plane? It couldn't have crashed, there would have been wreckage! How the hell had she gotten off the plane in the first place?! Panic began to consume her, tears of frustration welling in her eyes, she shakily got to her feet. Spinning around, she looked for some sort of clue as to how she had gotten here, wherever here was. She had been flying to Missouri , as far as she was aware there should be no reason she could have ended up somewhere with so much sand!

Running her hands through her hair, she tried to think logically, could this be a dream? Tugging at her hair, the sensation of pain the sharp tugs brought told her that it wasn't, this was actually happening. Falling to her knees, the tears finally began to fall down her rosy cheeks as the reality of her bizarre situation came crashing down on her. She was stranded, lost and had no clue how she had even gotten off the airplane in the first place. In the back of her mind she had a nagging feeling that she was missing something else, something important.

Hearing a high pitched bleating sound, Aaliyah spun around, looking for the source of the noise. In the distance a blurry figure began making its way in her direction. As the figure got closer, more began to appear behind it. Focusing back on the first figure Aaliyah was confused to see someone riding on top of a camel. Aaliyah bit her lip, she had the distinct feeling she wasn't even in the states anymore. Focusing back on the rider as they came closer, Aaliyah was able to tell the rider was male though he seemed to be dressed in an odd looking ensemble. The expression he wore was one of worry and confusion as he eyed her cautiously.

"Little girl? What are you doing out in the middle of the desert by yourself?" He questioned worriedly, sliding off the camel in front of her.

'Little girl? I'm twenty - nine- years old, ' she thought in confusion. Though now that he was standing at full height next to her, there was a pretty odd height difference. Tilting her head to the side, she opened her mouth to reply before snapping it closed. She couldn't speak! She hadn't had that problem since she was a child! Trying to speak again, tears of frustration began to form again as Aaliyah struggled. Sensing there was a problem, the man knelt down in the sand next to her.

"Are you lost little one?" The man asked softly, eyeing her foreign clothing with interest. Sending the man a small nod, Aaliyah let out a small hiccup as she tried to stop crying. Shooting her a soft smile, the man gently wiped the tears off of her face.

"I'm not sure how you got here, but you're safe now little one." Aaliyah could only nod in response as the man picked her up before gingerly setting her on the camel and climbing on behind her. Aaliyah wasn't sure what was going on, but hopefully she would get some answers soon.