Dark Museum

Josh

No matter how they tried, the floor to ceiling shelving unit was too heavy to lift from its face-down position.

"Unless you've got The Hulk out there," the voice under the shelves said, "there's not gonna be enough room for me to get out. Probably drop the damn thing when I'm halfway through and slice me down the middle."

"I can't hold it," Sophia said, her eyes screwed up in strain.

"We're putting it down," Josh said. "You good in there?"

"Go for it."

"Easy — watch your fingers—"

The unit banged on the floor.

"Everyone okay?" Josh asked.

They nodded, massaging their hands.

"It's too big," Sophia whispered.

"This thing is solid wood," Ajay said. "Ten feet square, you think? There's no way it's coming up with us."

"No, no, no!" the voice from under the shelves shouted. "You have to do something."

"What's your name, fella?" Josh asked.

"Kieron."

"Okay, listen to me, Kieron: we're gonna figure this out. We just ... we need a minute to think."

"Oh," Sophia said, her eyes bright with an idea. "I saw something—" Before she finished speaking, she'd run out of the gallery.

Josh and Ajay glanced at each other.

"Getting seriously claustrophobic in here."

For all the freaky pieces in the room, none of them looked solid enough to get through the heavy shelving. There was no way to fashion a lever and fulcrum from the birdcages for hats and shirts that buttoned over the face.

Josh rubbed the back of his neck. Ajay shook his head.

Sophia grunted around the corner.

"What the hell is she doing?" Ajay mumbled.

"What the fuck, you guys," Kieron said. "Anyone out there?"

"Sorry, we, uh ..."

Sophia re-entered, her face flush, clutching a solid silver ax.

Ajay backed away with his hands raised.

"It's pretty heavy," she said to Josh.

"Where was this?"

"That statue in there was holding it. I accidentally broke its hands off."

Ajay grabbed the weapon from Sophia, to her indignation, and stepped onto the shelving unit.

"We found an ax," he said, thumping the handle on the wood.

"Oh, god," Kieron said, and knocked his location. "Please don't chop my goddamn head off."

Ajay swung, splintering the wood. After struggling to pull the blade out, he hacked again and again until the thick cabinet backing split open.

Ajay buried the ax head in the wood so it stood on its own and wiped his forehead with his sleeve, then pulled his shirt off and rubbed it down his face and chest. Before continuing his work, he tossed the shirt toward the wall and waggled his eyebrows at Sophia.

"Help the guy or give someone else a turn," she said.

"Guess we know what time of the month it is," Ajay said to Josh, and swung the ax.